Grandma's tiger shoes

Author: Li Linjuan

Read aloud: Liu Haiyan

Put on your shoes and run around the house. The kitten, seeing the escape, dare not cry under the bed.

(From Wang Chengrong's nursery rhyme "Tiger Head Shoes")

There is a kind of love called "tiger shoes". The vicissitudes of time are sewn into every stitch, which precipitates grandma's endless affection and explains the unique strong and unyielding spirit of that era!

"Your grandma is going to die..." At the moment of receiving the phone call, my heart thumped and tears could not stop flowing. More than one hundred kilometers, Grandma had already left when she went back. She lay peacefully on the bed, with no blood on her face. I fell on Grandma's body, holding her hand tightly, from warm to cold.

Clean up Grandma's belongings. In the old board cabinet, there are six pairs of tiger shoes neatly placed. The tiger head of each pair of shoes is vivid, the red satin vamp lining two eyes, tiger whiskers, tiger eyebrows, tiger tail decorated with various color lines, lifelike. Aunt said that these were all worn by me when I was a child, and Grandma would not like to throw them away.

My parents are both railway construction people. They are busy with their work. I grew up with my grandma. At that time, I was like a little follower, following Grandma. Grandma cooks and I pull the bellows; Grandma grows vegetables and I pull grass; Grandma fed chickens, and I sowed rice... In summer, I ran wildly under the grape trellis in the yard, and Grandma chased me with a cattail fan to fan mosquitoes; In winter, I played on the hot kang. Grandma covered my feet with her warm hands

In those days, living conditions were not good. In my memory, Grandma's clothes are always patched. But she always gives me surprise and beauty. A cotton doll, a small floral skirt, a small red coat, and even a square checked schoolbag made of colorful rags hide the warm sunshine in the hard times. At that time, I couldn't afford to buy snacks. Only when I was sick, Grandma would buy me some small cakes. At that time, the cakes were not as soft and delicious as they are now, even a little hard, but for me, they were already luxury delicacies. When I was young, I felt that I was happiest when I was sick. I said to her, "Grandma, I like being sick, and when I get sick, there will be delicious food." Grandma was wiping away tears

Many years later, I learned that my so-called happy time was the most difficult time for Grandma. At that time, her parents' wages were not high. Every time she gave money to Grandma, she said she earned enough and refused to accept it. After she put me to sleep at night, she would also help others to make tiger shoes to subsidize their families. Because Grandma's craftsmanship was good, people who asked for tiger shoes couldn't meet her. She was busy until midnight every day. It takes more than a thousand stitches to make a pair of tiger head shoes. She always works as a craftsman. I asked my grandmother curiously, "Why are all the shoes made of tiger's head?" She smiled and said, "A child wearing tiger's head shoes can be as discerning and alert as a tiger, and be stable and disease free all his life. You grew up wearing tiger's head shoes made by my grandmother..." Every time she changed money, she always walked to the county town several kilometers away to buy milk powder, She is always worried about my nutrition. However, every time I have a meal, she always gives me meat. She says that she loves to eat vegetables, and she always lets me eat first. She eats "Fugen". It's her who can't keep up with her nutrition. At that time, I didn't understand the meaning behind Grandma's "not tired, not sleepy, not hungry, not like, not used to

The day is a silent river, so far, the busy figure of grandma under the dim lamp is still vivid. In those hard days, Grandma used her hands full of cocoons to interpret "family customs and family instructions". It was she who planted the seeds of optimism and strength in my young heart and planted the seedlings of diligence and thrift; It was she who taught me confidence, struggle, contentment and happiness

When I grew up, I worked. The first month's salary I got, I bought my grandmother an old man's machine. She was so happy that she could not close her mouth and talked to everyone. From then on, Grandma had one more thing to tell. Even though she had made a phone call, Grandma still had a lot to worry about, although sometimes it seemed redundant to me. When talking about herself on the phone, Grandma always said simply, "I'm fine."

After the job transfer, I was very busy, and I went to see Grandma only a few times every year. But as soon as she went back, Grandma was as happy as the New Year, and carefully prepared a full table of dishes. Grandma has bad legs. She feels heavy and painful after sitting for a long time. But she just made new quilts for my husband and me. And her own quilt was broken and patched, patched and broken, until she left, she did not change it. I can't bear it. How many times I said to grandma, "We don't have much time to come back, so you can cover our quilts". Grandma refused to agree with anything.

Later, I became a mother and had my own daughter. Grandma is old, and her eyes also fall to see the wind and tears. She can't see clearly, and she can no longer make tiger shoes that can eliminate disasters. My daughter's shoes are all ready-made, but they are not as soft and comfortable as Grandma's tiger shoes after all

There is a kind of love in the world called "tiger shoes", which are stitched into the vicissitudes of time and precipitate endless affection. Grandma's tiger head shoes are simple, simple and true. How can we pay for the warm sunshine in spring? Grandma's tiger head shoes are the epitome of the times and the carrier of family style. They exemplify the strong and unyielding life, spur my steps forward, and make every step of my life more powerful!

(e employees of CRCC)