CHANGES 

At home, the wife was reading book on the sofa while her husband was watching TV.

She asked, “What are you doing?”

He answered, “I am watching TV.”

She said, “How was the program?”

“Just as usual, nothing special. One celebrity shared her tough life story and then cried.”

“Shall we do something else?” she suggested.

“No, I am tired.”

“Again?”

“Again.”

The wife said, “Now I am leaving to have some fun.”

“What do you want to do?” The man adjusted the way he sat a little.

“I don’t know. Just make some changes.”

“Oh come on, changing is always tiring. And changes bring risks. You don’t know how bad things could be outside the house. Come and watch TV with me.” The man said with his eyes glued on TV,  kept grabbing chips into his mouth.

The wife spoke in a high voice,“But we will never know how wonderful the world is ,we will never know how amazing the scenes are, we will never know how extraordinary we could be if we don’t explore new things.”

The husband finally turned his head toward his wife, rolled his eyes,and shouted impatiently “You don’t have to know by yourself. You can learn through this TV program! And it’s much easier.”

“The process you ,you changed your life is the most important thing, not the result.” She pointed at the TV, said “It is not your life. You don’t understand me. Whatever, you keep 'explore’ the world through that tiny screen. I am leaving. ”the wife shouted back and rushed into her room.

The husband seemed too lazy to fight, his was still staring at TV, but his eyes weren’t focusing.

There were silence for a moment.

Inside the room, the wife wiped the tear quietly.

Outside the room, the husband was in a deep thought. He wanted to go with her but he soon denied the idea. “Most likely ,things will stay the way they are even though we try. I’d better not to change.”He thought.

“So,how long does your ’changing’ takes?” The husband seemed to be clam down.

“I don’t know.” She wife came out with only her credit card and several lipsticks.”Maybe like a lifetime.” And then, she left the house without any hesitation.

She left. And never come back. 

The program was held seasons and seasons, many different people stood on that stage and shared their tough life experiences. The husband have not missed a single second. He just lay in the sofa with his feet on chair ,and ordered pizza and chips by pressing one special button so that he wouldn’t miss anything on TV.

But he also sometimes feel that there were something important was missed in his life. But he was too lazy to make some changes.

As time went by, the husband became fat and lonely, and he had severe heart problem because his heart could not support such a huge body.  The doctor said that he could die any minutes if he does not exercise.  But he still sat in his old sofa watching the program.

“Today we have a special story teller who is 79 years old now, as we all called her'the legend of our country '. Let’s welcome Mrs. Changes. ” the host of the program said passionately.

A elegant lady came out, that was a 40-year-old-looking lady. There were no sign you can tell from her looking that she was 79 years old . The clap and whistle from audience lasted a long time.

She said with a big smile,“Hey, I am Mrs. Changes and I am today’s story teller.” her voice is also sweet and young.

She stepped on the stage and said “I am a old women who owns a famous company ,enviable property and fame . It seems like that I am just the lucky dog who has been given a good destiny . It is not true. I used to be just a housewife who just care about the price of beef and her TV-junker husband.”

The old husband stopped eating and stared at TV super seriously.

“I always wanna some changes because housewife is not my dream，but my husband does not like changes. One day , I can’t bear the boring life any longer. I finally left home with my credit card and several lipsticks. ” She giggled and explained “You know how important lipstick means to a woman.”

Anyone in the world were looking at the different screen of her program with great interests. The passer stopped walking to listen, the typist stopped taping to watch, the chef turned off the stove to see . Everyone were holding their breathe to listen what’s going on in the legend 's life, include the old husband.

“I was poor and I have tried every single jobs for living. I’ve changed in many ways . In every stage of my life ,I close my eyes and think, is it going to contribute of make me happy? With this simple rule, I just follow my heart and working very hard to realize the dream that have been decided when I was 10---to own a large company. After experienced more and more things, I have finally realized the meaning of life ---to change and to be happy. And that’s why I can stand here and talk to the world as a legend.” The tears wet her eyes,and she was more beautiful than ever.

“And I also want to thank my husband , he is also the drive inside me that help me through many long nights with tears and fears . I haven’t seen you for such a long time because I love you so much ,and I am afraid you are still stay the way when I left you. I am here, on your favorite program. Call me at 5201314 if you see me. ” The tear ran over her cheek .

The old husband cried in silence,the cloudy tears just kept falling as a line. “I love you.” He murmured in a hoarse, old voice and fell in sleep. But he never wakes up.

In his dream, he goes with her to make some small changes that day, they count stars in a stormy night crazily, they help each other to endure the loneliness at sleepless nights, they stand together with smiles at that stage to share their days with tears.

Although they do not make a big difference to the world, they lives their life to the fullest...

But it is just a dream.

                                               Andrea Yang

Wake up from your dream and make each day count.