Other people's kids were watching cartoons at six. At six, my own older brother scared me half to death with "The House".
Other people's kids went to amusement parks. I went to Beipo Forest Park and came back with aching legs for half a month.
Grandma said, “They used to execute people there.”
At the lock-removal ceremony, I hid under the black wooden table Grandpa had left behind, wearing a five-colored paper hat while relatives stuffed money into it.
Master Sun pulled me out and removed the silver lock pendant I’d worn for six years.
“This child has a spiritual gift. Want to learn yin-yang arts from me one day?”
I thought he was just saying it offhand.
Until twenty years later, when I was alone in front of his funeral shrine and a dense patter of footsteps sounded outside the door.
