This essay was written by one of my classmates back in fourth grade and was published in a national youth publication.

A Porcelain Puppy

In my memory, past events are like one twinkling star after another, some bright, some dim. They form a winding river of light, forever flowing into the ocean of my mind. In this river, there is one star that’s the brightest of them all. It carries my endless remembrance and is difficult to forget.

That year, the Daxing Anling forests in the Northeast suffered a forest fire of epic proportions. Several hundred thousand acres of forests were burned to the ground, and countless people lost their lives or were seriously injured in this cruel fire, causing huge losses. This event touched the hearts of a billion countrymen. The entire nation extended their hands of friendship to the victims, and our school also called on all of us Young Pioneers to use practical actions to help Daxing Anling by giving donations.

When I got home for lunch, the teacher’s words were constantly echoing in my ears: We must use the money we ourselves saved up for donations rather than ask our parents for money. I remembered my coin bank — that adorable little porcelain puppy standing on my desk, with its head tilted, puckering its lips, and smiling at me with squinting eyes. I thought: Do I . . . do I need to break my little “pet” to get the money? I looked at the porcelain puppy so dear to me, and then I thought, “No, no! Grandpa gave me this while he was still alive. He told me to take good care of it!” However, the puppy was a friend who understood my heart. When I told it about the donation drive, it looked at me with begging eyes and said, “Little master, break me open! Grandpa won’t blame you.” I looked at grandpa’s picture on the wall, and he seemed to be saying to me lovingly, “Child, break the puppy. Right now the country is facing difficulties. You must help the country, you must contribute! I won’t blame you!” I thought about it for a moment, and finally picked up my precious porcelain puppy and, with tears in my eyes, gave it a kiss and then threw it toward the floor. Crack! The puppy broke into dozens of pieces. I bent down slowly and picked up each and every piece and stored them in a little box. Then, I picked up the money one by one, counting each one: One fen (Chinese equivalent of a penny), two fen, five fen, one mao (ten fen), two mao … My tear drops fell on the bills.

The next day, after the morning reading session, I handed Ms. Xie, the homeroom teacher, a big envelope with ten yuans of loose change. She asked me gently, “Did you save this up yourself?” “Yes, I broke the puppy coin bank my grandpa gave me …” I said as tears streamed from my eyes. The teacher lovingly petted my head and said, “Li Jing, you are such a good kid. Don’t be sad. Your grandfather’s spirit in heaven will definitely support what you did.” At that moment, the classmates around us looked at me with admiration, and I laughed bashfully.

When I got home from school during lunch, I opened that small box and looked at the porcelain pieces from the puppy. Suddenly, the pieces seemed to move and quickly, they formed my beloved puppy. That puppy said to me, “Little master, don’t worry. The puppy won’t die. It will morph into a big and bright star, forever shining on you, forever, forever …”