My attention was drawn to her strange images covering all but two eyes,looking like a picking tea -leaves woman,running after a golden dog in the summer sun shine or sitting on the chair of the neighborhood park by surrounded some stray dogs. She had a pet dog wandering in the house ,sitting on the sofa and lying on the bed, just as the another kid.
Since 1973 ,we were coming to a Commercial High School at the same time being the new teacher and becoming the first friend to make the school life manageable. Soon, we were the neighbors and our children were good company with each other. Until someday,she found her baby saying Taiwanese language at first ,she told me politely," My mother tongue is Hakka , it's a weak language hard to hold on learning environment for my child. Would you understand ?"
We respected the different thought and kept my children away ,though an invisible distance more and more between us.
She grew up and came from a tea farm in the mountain far away from the neighborhood, used to be lonely life and stuck to her promise of Hakka culture ,no matter what we do ,we just can't get close friendship. I wonder if she prefers to make best friends with dogs to people.
把握，放下
一個奇特的景象吸引我的注意力，她包得緊密僅露出兩個眼睛，像個採茶女，追著一隻黃金毛色的狗在夏天的驕陽下奔跑或是坐在社區公園的椅子上，旁邊圍繞著幾隻流浪犬。她家養一隻狗自由在家閒逛或坐沙發或爬上床，寵愛得像另一個孩子。
自從一九七三年，我們同時來到一個商業高級職業學校報到成為新進教師，我們是彼此第一個認識的朋友，新環境的學校生活因彼此照顧而適應良好。不久之後我們成為隣居，孩子們成為好玩伴。直到有一天，她發現牙牙學語的女兒初學的語言是台語，她很客氣的告訴我「我的母語是客家語，它是弱勢語言，我很難為了我的孩子學習，掌控學習環境，你能瞭解我的意思嗎？」我們尊重彼此不同的想法，也儘量帶開我們的孩子，但是一個無形的距離在我們之間越來越大。
她成長於山中茶園遠離社群，習慣於獨自生活，堅持對客家文化的承諾，不管我們怎麼做，終究有點似有若無的隔閡存在。我覺得她似乎更愛與狗做好朋友。
