I still remember the day when we decorated the house, I was ten and it was two weeks before Christmas. I was looking forward to my presents. Since I’m the youngest in the family, all of the family members would give me a gift one way or another. Sometimes it was a cookie or a hug but it was always there. I was the only center of attention and it was feeling good.

My uncles usually would ask me what I wanted before Christmas and that year I knew what I wanted. It was the spaceship I saw in the ads. I was dreaming of opening a big gift box, and it was there. But that year it came in a way that I wasn’t expecting.

It was two weeks before Christmas. Just two weeks. She couldn’t wait. My dear mother told my father that it was time, and then we went to the hospital. After an hour, they told me that I had a sister now. But I didn’t want a sister. I wanted a spaceship. The next few days went so fast. No one was caring about me. Everyone was talking about her and I knew that my life is never going to be the same ever again. I wasn’t ready to grow up, to be a big brother. But it just happened in an instant.

On the day before Christmas, everyone was in our home, talking only about my newborn sister. My family was becoming hers. Even my uncles didn’t ask me anything about the gift. She stole everything I’d ever had, my life and my presents. Thinking about this, I cried to sleep. I had a nightmare (噩梦) and woke up at the middle of the night. Shadows were all around me, and I was defenseless and so weak. I ran into my parents’ bedroom but couldn’t wake up my poor parents who were just too worn out. I was standing near their bed, trying not to cry when I saw her. She was awake and looking at me with her big eyes in her small bed.

Suddenly a long shadow came into the bedroom and she started crying.

After having comforted her, something slowly changed inside me.

On a Monday morning, Jonathan, 5l, was humming(哼着)songs playing on his car’s stereo(立体声音响). His daughter, Brittany, 17 was sitting beside him, worried that her classmates would notice her coming to school in her dad’s old car.

For Jonathan, this car symbolized his pride. It was his first love which was passed on from his father. But for Brittany, it was a shame whenever her dad drove her to school in that car.

As Brittany stepped down from the car, she heard a loud noise from behind. “Hey, look! Old daddy, old car!” some boys laughed Later, when Jonathan came back to pick Brittany up, he was told she’d already left. He was shocked and immediately drove home. “Brit, l was waiting for you outside school. When did you come home?”

“My friend Peter dropped me home in his brand-new car. Come on, Daddy, you cannot expect me to always come home in your old car.” Brittany started persuading him to buy a new car and do away with his old car.

“This is not just a car, it’s a treasure box of memories. proposed to your mother in this car. I took you to Disneyland in this car. So many memories…” At this point, Jonathan could not hold back his tears and stormed out to get in his car. Sometimes, when he felt low and sad, he just talked to his car as though it were a living being. How deeply Jonathan loved that car!

Several years passed, and Jonathan died. Brittany inherited(继承) his treasured car, and in his last letter, he had asked her not to sell it at any cost. Brittany parked it in the garage and forgot about it. One day, she just happened to bring it out to help her with an emergency. As Brittany drove to her office, she made heads turn. It had been quite a long time since anybody had seen such a classic car on the streets.

A 12-year-old boy saw something in a shop window that set his heart racing. It was a necklace with shining pearls. But the price, five dollars would buy almost a week’s groceries for his family.

Reuben couldn’t ask his father for the money. Everything his father made through fishing went to his mother, Dora, who struggled to feed and clothe her five children.

Nevertheless, he opened the shop’s door and went inside. Standing proud and straight in his flour-sack shirt and washed-out trousers, he told the shopkeeper what he wanted, adding, “Once we went to New York, my mum saw a same one. I know she liked it very much, because she fixed her eyes on it. I will buy it for her. But I don’t have the money right now. Can you please hold it for me for some time?”

“I’ll try,” the shop owner smiled. “People around here don’t usually have that kind of money to spend on such good-looking but costly things. It should keep for a while. ”

Reuben respectfully touched his worn cap and walked out. He had made up his mind to raise the five dollars and not tell anybody.

Hearing the sound of hammering from a side street, Reuben had an idea. He discovered that he could collect the hessian sacks (麻袋) thrown away in the street and sell them back for five cents a piece.

Every day after school, Reuben walked down the town, collecting the hessian sacks. On the day when summer holiday began, no student was more delighted than Reuben. Now he would have more time for his “work”.

All summer long, Reuben kept on his secret task. Soon the leaves fell and the winds blew cold. Reuben wandered in the streets, diligently searching for his hessian treasures. Often, he was cold, tired and hungry, but the thought of the object in the shop window supported him.

Eventually, the time had come! It was Mothers’ Day. He poured the coins out and began to count. Then he counted again. He made it! Exactly five dollars, not a cent more, not a cent less.

Holding the money in hands tightly, Reuben headed for the shop.

Mother opened the box carefully, and a shining necklace appeared.