When I was a middle school student, my father cosigned to be in bankruptcy, which made him stay in bed. He passed away after a long struggle against a disease. My mom had to be the head of a family all of a sudden. She started to sell vegetable for a living. We barely managed to eke out a living. Only registration fees were affordable. We had to borrow some money from others for many other things or sometimes had to give them up.
In the poor circumstances, there were no rich dishes but a poor side dish. Mom used to prepare one dish for my packed lunch, "pickled young radishes." Powdered red pepper was expensive, and the pickled young radishes of my mom's had a little powdered red pepper. Her radishes just looked like radish kimchi. I was too ashamed to show it to my classmates, and I often went without lunch. Only when I was hungry to death, I would eat lunch alone sitting on a ridge between rice fields near my school.
In autumn of that year, I grumbled over the poor dishes for the first time. "Mom, you should be sure to prepare a meat dish for my lunch on the sports day." I told her that over and over again. Mom promised to make a meat dish at my grumbling. Finally, on my sports day, I headed for school in state after the affirmation of the promise. 'I can have lunch with my classmates today.' My steps were so light. I had been waiting for the lunch time all through the morning, and I finally opened the lunch box.
'What happened?' My lunch box was full of pickled young radishes as usual. 'No way!' My eyes were filled with tears that were from my mom's breach of faith. I didn't eat it and hurried home. I threw the lunch box to the ridgeway on my way home. When I got home, I burst into tears. I said to mom, "How could you do that?" She said nothing until I stop crying, and then said, "I covered the meat with radishes so that only you could eat it..." She couldn't continue more.
She had placed the meat dish under pickled young radishes in case my classmates might eat some. My eyes full of tears were looking into her eyes misted with tears. I gave her a tight hug.