The Teacher's Collection 老師的藏書

I dreamed I was preparing for the high school entrance exams. At school, I saw my middle school teacher, Ms. Xie. She said she needed help organizing her collection of books.

I volunteered to help her and thought about getting others to join in.

At the school gate, I met my elementary school friend Shuqin, who was holding a bouquet of flowers. I asked her if she had time to help us organize the books, and she agreed.

I also asked her where she got the flowers from. She said they were free to take. I thought to myself that I should grab some cosmos and poppies later since they looked so bright and cute.

Shuqin then found our middle school classmate Yuki and a boy, and we all went to see Ms. Xie. She was surprised that we were willing to help and began showing us how to organize the books.

It turned out that Ms. Xie had an enormous collection. Not only were several rooms on this floor filled with her books, but there were also several floors more.

I thought to myself, “Oh no, I’ve gathered all these people, and now they see how many books there are to organize. They’re probably regretting it just like I am.”

Ms. Xie had high standards. Besides organizing the books, she wanted us to write the characters “菩提” (Bodhi) on the floor in calligraphy. I thought, “This is too difficult! I can’t even write calligraphy well on paper, let alone on the floor.” She also wanted us to paint the walls and had specific rules for how the books should be arranged.

I felt terrible because I hadn’t finished my exam preparations. Yuki, being a top student, had likely studied already, so she could help. But I wasn’t doing well in my studies and hadn’t reviewed yet, so I was worried I’d fail the exams. I regretted agreeing to help Ms. Xie. But seeing so many books, I felt sorry for her having to do it all alone. And those I had asked to help might now feel too embarrassed to back out, seeing how much work there was.

I couldn’t help but ask Ms. Xie, “Have you really read all these books?” She gave me a stern look, probably thinking, “What a stupid question,” and didn’t answer me.

After working for a long time, Ms. Xie finally let us go. I left the school with the boy. As we walked, we passed a bus filled with alumni from Taipei First Girls High School, with Yuki as the event host.

Yuki said she needed people for the event but everyone she asked was too shy to participate. She asked if I could provide some entertainment, and I said sure. She handed me the microphone.

I asked Yuki how much time I had. She replied, “Can you manage 30 minutes?” I said no problem and started telling my life story!

I recounted the various stages of my life from high school to the present in a humorous way, and it was clear everyone was captivated by my story. For me, 30 minutes was a breeze. At that moment, I saw the look on Yuki’s face; she probably didn’t expect I could talk so much.

夢見我在準備高中聯考。在學校，我看到國中導師謝老師。她說需要人手來幫她整理藏書。

我自告奮勇要幫老師，想說找其他人一起來幫忙。

我在校門口碰到小學同學 Shuqin，手上拿著一束花。我問她沒有沒空，我們一起去幫老師整理藏書，她說好。

我順便問她花從哪兒來，她說這些都是免費的花可以拿。我心想好啊！待會要離開的時候，我也要去拿一些波斯菊和罌粟花，這些花鮮艷又可愛。

Shuqin 又找了國中同學 Yuki 和一個男生，我們一起去找謝老師。老師很訝異我們願意來幫她，就開始教我們要如何整理。

想不到老師的藏書超級多，不只這一層樓的幾個房間全都是她的藏書，而且還有好幾層樓。

我心想說慘了，我找了這麼多人來，現在他們看到這麼多書要整理，大概跟我一樣都有些後悔。

老師的要求很高，除了整理書，還要我們在地板上寫書法 “菩提” 二字。我心想：「這也太難了吧！書法已經寫不好了，還要在地上寫。」老師還要我們漆牆壁，規定書要怎麼放。

我心想真糟糕，聯考還沒考完，接下來要考的科目我都還沒唸。Yuki 是高材生，她肯定唸過了，所以她可以來幫忙。但我成績不好又還沒唸，那我不是註定就考不過嗎？就有點後悔答應老師。可是這麼多書，老師一個人整理也很可憐。然後被我找來的人，他們可能現在想退出又不好意思退，因為大家都沒想到老師的藏書這麼多。

看到老師這麼多書，我忍不住問老師：「這些書你真的都有讀嗎？」老師給了我白眼，她大概想：「你這是什麼爛問題？」她也沒有回答我。

我們弄了好久，老師總算放我們走。我跟那個男生一起離開學校，走在路上，經過一部遊覽車，車上都是北一女校友，Yuki 是活動主持人。

Yuki 說她需要人辦活動，找了很多人，但大家都很害羞婉拒。她問我可不可以提供娛興表演節目，我說可以啊！她就把麥克風遞給我。

我問 Yuki 我有多少時間啊？她說：「妳可以撐 30 分鐘嗎？」我說沒問題，就開始講我的人生故事！

我把高中到現在人生各階段的故事，用很逗趣的方式敍述，看得出大家被我的故事內容吸引。30 分鐘對我而言，實在很容易。就在那個時候，我看到 Yuki 的表情，大概她沒想到我這麼能講。