In May, when it’s not so hot as to turn on the air conditioner, afternoons inside doors are pretty enjoyable. With golden sunshine leaping in through the window, I often sit by the desk, reading my favorite books leisurely. When I lift my head from the world inside books to reality, a ring of light always come into my sight, reducing me to smiles. In the quietness, my heart softens and calms down. The bottle, from which the light comes, has made the feeling all the more special.
Standing at 20cm, the present bottle has a mouth, a neck and a body. Stuffed up with some brown wood plug, the mouth has no freedom to “talk” too much, but never have I felt what come out of its stomach are redundant. The slimly designed neck with purple ribbon around it is as delicate as that of a swan. It is through this neck that wisdom of life goes into the body. When coming out of the shop, the bottle contained nothing but a few paper stars and fake grass, but now, it is half full of many hand-made flowers with encouraging words on them. To tell the truth, the flowers are by no means beautiful; what make it so special to me are the efforts she took to make them.
I still remember when she casually handed it to me, how I laughed at her terrible handwork and pretended to be unwilling to take it home with other beautiful presents, and how she jokingly forced me to accept it, or she wouldn’t talk to me any more. As it turned out, those beautiful presents, which were well packed from the shop, have been missing soon afterwards, while the bottle, which was like ugly duckling, remained where it was carefully set from the day I got it. The reason why I treasure it so much is not because of the bottle itself, but because of the pure friendship it stands for, which needs neither polishing nor packing. Common in appearance, it is the most beautiful swan in my heart. Just like nameless flowers on the meadow, not eye-catching but real, true feelings will stay fresh in memory forever. |
