The King of the Family

By Huang Xidi

My great-uncle was paralyzed after he suffered a sudden stroke. He developed signs of dementia as well, so my greataunt had to run the family operations.

Yet, I still found that the keys to the safe and the box of the account books were hanging on my greatuncle’s belt loop. Whenever something occurred, my greataunt would tell us, “Let me ask my old man first.”

She would sit at his bedside and ask for his opinion. “What do you think?” She asked, holding his hand, and her voice was gentle and soft as usual.

With a dull look in his eyes, my great-uncle would mumble a few words that nobody could understand. However, it seemed that my great-aunt was the only language expert in the house. While taking a clean white towel to wipe away the saliva at the corner of his mouth, she said approvingly, “Sure, you’re the king of the family. I’ll do as you said.”

Before opening the safe or the box of the account books, my great-aunt would also ask for her husband’s permission. “Dear, you said that the account books needed to be double-checked. May I use the keys?”

There would be a few grunts before she cautiously took the keys from him and attached them back as soon as the job was done.

Out of curiosity, I asked my great-aunt: “Does my great-uncle still have consciousness? Do you really understand his mumbling?”

My great-aunt led us to the living room outside where she shook her head and started to speak in a low voice: “He has been a self-reliant person all his life, and I can’t allow him to sense that he is useless now. Even if he suffers from dementia, I still believe he is conscious in his mind. Only by making him feel that the family and I still need him will he have the strength to endure the illness.”

Afterwards, she came back to sit at his bedside, and comforted him softly, “My old man can still manage everything from the bed, right?”

(FromSanmenxiaDaily, June 3, 2020. Translation: Zhu Yaguang)

叔公突然腦中風，癱瘓了，人也變得癡呆了，掌家的責任落到了叔婆肩上。

可我們發現，叔婆家保險柜和賬本箱的鑰匙仍舊別在叔公的腰間，每次處理事情前，叔婆都要對大家說：“我去問問老頭這事怎么處理。”然后便坐到叔公床前握著他的手征詢他的意見，仍如當年那樣聲音平緩地問他：“你說怎么辦呢？”

叔公目光呆滯，嘴里說著別人都聽不懂的哼哼呀呀。叔婆卻似乎聽懂了，邊用干凈的白毛巾拭去他嘴角的口水，邊表示理解地說：“好的，你是一家之主，就照你說的辦。”

如果是要開啟保險柜或賬本箱，她依舊要征得他的同意：“老頭，你說要核算一下賬本，那你把鑰匙給我一下，好嗎？”等他哼哼呀呀兩聲后，她才小心翼翼地從他腰間取下鑰匙，用完后又馬上放回。

我們都很好奇，問叔婆：“難道叔公神志還清醒嗎？您能聽懂他的哼哼呀呀？”

叔婆把我們領到遠離臥室的客廳后搖了搖頭，小聲說：“老頭一輩子爭強好勝，我不能讓他覺得自己是個廢人，盡管他癡呆了，但我相信他的潛意識里是明白的，只有讓他感覺到我和這個家都還需要他，他才有可能戰勝病魔好起來。”說完便又坐回叔公的床邊，柔聲細語對他說：“我的老頭躺床上還能運籌帷幄呢，對吧？”

（摘自《三門峽日報》2020年6月3日）