Red Thread of Desire

On the Qingming Festival seven years ago Wei Lai stood on tiptoe and raised the origami kite in front of his mother's eyes. His skinny hands under the silk quilt suddenly grasped her wrist bones: "Alai... Is there a red line outside the window?" My mother's eyes were covered with the yellowish color of late-stage liver cancer, but she stared fixedly into the void - there were "threads" that Wei Lai couldn't see floating there.