Sometimes I really doubt whether there islove between my parents. Every day they are verybusy trying to earn money in order to pay the hightuition for my brother and me. They dont act inthe romantic ways that I read in books or I see onTV. In their opinion， “I love you” is too luxuriousfor them to say. Sending flowers to each other onValentines Day is even more out of the question.
Finally my father has a bad temper. When hesvery tired from the hard work， it is easy for him tolose his temper.
One day， my mother was sewing a quilt. Isilently sat down beside her and looked at her.
“Mom， I have a question to ask you， ” I saidafter a while.
“What？” She replied， stilldoing her work.
“Is there love between youand Dad？” I asked her in a very lowvoice.
My mother stopped her workand raised her head with surprisein her eyes. She didnt answerimmediately. Then she bowed herhead and continued to sew thequilt.
I was very worried because Ithought I had hurt her. I was in agreat embarrassment and I didntknow what I should do. But at lastI heard my mother say the following words：
“Susan，” she said thoughtfully， “look atthis thread. Sometimes it appears， but mostof it disappears in the quilt. The threadreally makes the quilt strong and durable. Iflife is a quilt， then love should be a thread.
It can hardly be seen anywhere or anytime，but its really there. Love is inside.”
I listened carefully but I couldntunderstand her until the next spring. Atthat time， my father suddenly got sickseriously. My mother had to stay withhim in the hospital for a month. Whenthey returned from the hospital， they bothlooked very pale. It seemed both of themhad had a serious illness.
After they were back， every day in themorning and dusk， my mother helped myfather walk slowly on the country road. Myfather had never been so gentle. It seemedthey were the most harmonious couple.
Along the country road， there were manybeautiful flowers， green grass and trees. Thesun gently glistened through the leaves. Allof these made up the most beautiful picturein the world.
The doctor had said my father wouldrecover in two months. But after twomonths he still couldnt walk by himself.
All of us were worried about him.
“Dad， how are you feeling now？”Iasked him one day.
“Susan， dont worry about me.” Hesaid gently. “To tell you the truth， I just likewalking with your mom. I like this kind oflife.” Reading his eyes， I know he loves mymother deeply.
Once I thought love meant flowers，gifts and sweet kisses. But from thisexperience， I understand that love is just athread in the quilt of our life. Love is inside，making life strong and warm.
我的初恋
这可能会令人吃惊，因为那时我才13岁。但是，我也不知道怎么那么早就发生在我身上了。我深深地喜欢上了一个男孩，可就在那两个月前我还认为他是个令人讨厌的家伙。
1997年在孟加拉国的吉大港，我和家人刚搬到一所新公寓。由于我们是在斋月搬的家，因此过了几个星期，我才回到学校上学。我在街坊里交了一些新朋友，总和我一起去玩的那个女孩叫艾维。
有一天，我正要去上学，刚出家门就碰到了艾维。她站在住在我们隔壁那栋楼房里的那个男孩的旁边。他跟我打了声招呼，之后我们也只是问对方“你好吗”之类的话，然后我就离开了。但我注意到那个家伙在看我，而且是一种别样的眼神，眼里充满爱意。几天后，我发现我每次上学和放学的时候，他都会站在阳台上朝我微笑。如果他的朋友看到我，而他又不在旁边，他们就会对我喊他的名字。
哦！对了，他叫马蒙。
因此，我对于这些事情也十分恼火。我甚至让艾维转告马蒙不要做这些愚蠢的行为。考试结束后我有个短暂的假期，经常会去屋顶看书打发时间。马蒙也经常去他们的屋顶，两个屋顶之间是如此接近，甚至一跳就可以跳到另一个屋顶。
有一次，我正在看书，发现马蒙也来到他们的屋顶看着我笑，真不知道我怎么了，他甜美的笑容竟然把我迷住了，我不禁也对他笑了，那是第一次对他笑，我永远忘不了那个时刻。以后每次看见对方都互相笑一下，但从来没说过话。我敢肯定他非常喜欢我，因为无论何时他从阳台上看到我在屋顶上，他也马上跑上屋顶。我自己也很惊奇，我竟然深深地喜欢上了他。这种感觉非常美妙，我也很开心。
一天，马蒙来到我家屋顶上跟我说话，但我想让他离开。我不想其他人看见我们说话。因为，在孟加拉国流言蜚语传播很快。我们谈话时，我从他的眼神里看出他对我的爱恋。我并没有和他说太多话，总是对他微笑。
生活照样如此精彩地过着，然而马蒙从来没有告诉过我他喜欢我。我想这可能是因为我比他小五六岁的原因吧。
很快地，我得知我们家就要离开孟加拉国去加拿大了，我彻底绝望了，我哭了整个晚上，但是这无济于事。马蒙知道后，在屋顶上问我到底是不是真的。我说是的，他问我在加拿大会待多久，我说可能是永远，我们要在加拿大定居。他看起来很沮丧，只说了声“哦”，之后我告诉了他航班的日期。
又到九月斋月了，马蒙来到屋顶上与我道别，他要和他的家人过开斋节。那天我心里特别难过，感觉我失去了生命里非常重要的东西。我们互相道别后，他说他认为我是一个很讨人喜欢的女孩，并祝愿我在加拿大生活愉快。哦，天哪！我几乎不能自已，我想我的眼睛里充满了泪水，我不想让他看到我哭了。说完“你也是”，就努力地笑了笑，马上离开了屋顶。
那是我最后一天见到我的初恋。现在我已经在加拿大生活四年多了，我的生活中也有了男朋友，他是在马蒙之后我深爱的一个人，我绝不会失去他。
现在，我和马蒙的事已经过去了。每次我回忆起那些日子里，我们在屋顶上互相望着彼此聊天，我还是感觉很难受。我不知他现在在哪儿，我们能否再见到彼此……但我永远忘不了我的初恋。
My Very First Love
Yes， this may be surprising. Iwas only 13 years old at that time.
But， I dont know how or whyit happened to me so early. I felldeeply in love with a guy， who Iused to think was annoying twomonths ago.
It was 1997， in Chittagong，Bangladesh， I and my family havejust moved to a new apartment ina new area. So， after a few weeks， Istarted going back to school， sinceit was during Ramadan we moved.
Well， I made some new friends inthe neighborhood. This girl whowas always hanging out with mewas Ivy.
One day when I was going toschool， I bumped into Ivy on theway out of my building， and shewas standing next to this guy. Helived in the building right besidemine. He said “Hi” to me， and wejust asked each other “how areyou” and blah blah， then I had toleave. But I noticed that guy waslooking at me. It was a differentkind of look， look with love in hiseyes. A fewdays later， I noticedwhenever I go to school and comeback from school， he was standingin his balcony， and smiling at me.
If he was not around， and one ofhis friends saw me， they started toyell out his name. Oh yeah， by theway， his name was Mamun.
So， I was very annoyed bythose things. And I even toldIvy to tell Mamun to stop suchfoolishness. After my exams wereover， I had a break. So I used togo to the roof and read books tospend my time. Mamun used tocome to their roof also and bothroofs where so close to each otherthat you can just jump from one toanother.
Once I was reading a book，and I noticed Mamun come totheir roof and he looked at me，and smiled. OH MY GOD！ I dontknow what happened to me.
That sweet smile just took meaway. I smiled back at him， forthe first time. I could never forgetthat moment. We used to smileat each other whenever we saweach other， but never had a chat.
I was sure that he liked me a lot，because， anytime he saw me on theroof from his balcony， he would come up to theroof right away. I fell in love with him very deeply.
I was surprised by what I did. The feelings I hadwere so beautiful and made me so happy.
