It is a box, medium size, made of cardboard; and there is a piece of gummed tape stuck at the top of it. Therefore, before we open the box, no one knows what kind of things would be in it. To me, it looks like a Pandora's Box and full of mystery. When it opens, there are twelve materials that jumped into my eyes, which are leather wallet, ruler, blanket, stamp, canoe, jar, plate, wooden head, African statue, three chestnuts, a small model manor, and a drumming guy carving. As I think, in this natural world, everything has its own life and stories even a piece of leaf. These twelve materials would appear in a story about the friendship between two old men from the different countries, and a brave young man's amazing journey. It reminds us of the most important things in our lives. Now, the story is opening its heavy curtain.
William, who is a farmer, lived with his unique grandson in the manor. It is really a nice manor, old William and his wife built it by themselves. They planted a cherry tree in front of their house, raised a donkey near the tree, and dug a well in their garden. It could be said that this manor memorized the happiness and sorrow of William’s family. One day, William told his grandson –Billy a story about him and his Chinese friend –Luo lun. To Billy's surprise, his grandfather was an explorer when he was young, and he got a friend on his way back to home. They exchanged one of the things in their pocket, and made a promise that if they could remember or have the chance to meet with each other again, they would exchange their own things back. William said that he is too old to have a journey from here to China, and asked Billy to achieve this promise. Billy looked at the stamp which his grandfather gave to him, thought about it and nodded his head finally. Then, he started his journey with his favorite leather wallet.
At that time, the transportation is not that convenient as the one in today, so Billy decided to go there on foot. He walked and walked, climbed plenty of mountains. One day, he met a big challenge, which meant he had to pass a rapid river. It looked safer to make a canoe and to use it to cross the river. Then, he used cortices, wood, and feathers to create a canoe. Unfortunately, the water flows too fast, and the canoe could not afford that heavy strength, so it began to break up in a few minutes. Without the canoe, the water rushed Billy to the downstream, his head knocked into a stone in the river, and he felt nothing at all. Fortunately, he was rescued by the local people in that area. When he woke up, he found that he himself slept in the bed with a coarse blanket on his body, but he did not remember anything about himself. He felt that there is something in his hand, he got his hand out of the blanket and saw a stamp. He was really confused about it, but he knew the words at the bottom of the stamp. Then, he decided to go to China to find the answer. He thanked the people who rescued him, and kept going on his journey.
On his way to China, he found a lot of interesting things from different places. He met with a drumming guy, who guided him to visit a bazaar in his living area. During the time he stayed with that guy, he had the chance to see the North African Statue, to know the history of the plate with red, black, and white images, and to learn how to carve a wooden head. When he arrived in China, he started to find the owner of the stamp, but he did not know where to go, and someone told him to go to the place which is famous for making stamps. As he reached that small town, he asked other people if they are familiar with Luo lun. A guy pointed out the way to Luo lun’s house, and Billy found that house finally. He stopped outside of the house and knocked on the door. A few minutes later, an old man opened the door; he looked at Billy and said, “Who are you?” Billy said that he wanted to find the owner of the stamp. The old man got the stamp from Billy’s hand, looked at the stamp, and began to smile with tears. He said to himself, “Fifty years, you did not forgot me, William.” William? Billy was shocked; it is his grandfather’s name. Suddenly, all of memory came back to Billy’s mind. After that, the old man invited Billy to live with him for a few days. During that time, the old man talked a lot between William and himself about their young age, cooked traditional chestnut dishes for him, used a ruler to calculate the size of the clothes, and made new clothes for Billy as a present. At the last day, the old man gave Billy a jar, and told him that it is his grandfather’s jar, and now it’s the time to return back to him. After saying good bye to the old man, Billy started to go back home.
During the story in the box, we can know that no matter how long we are separated; how far apart we live; and what happened in our lives, the rare memories will stay in our minds forever.
