He had been a (high-ranking) soldier in China and thus could be strict. He certainly had a no nonsense attitude. When we were both much younger he punched out my front tooth. It had just started to move the day before, so I did what any kid would do. I ran around wiggling it around with my tongue and fingers, showing anyone who had eyes. This irritated A Yea coz kids can be irritating, and he thought it was disgusting. He called me over and said he wanted to look at it. I opened my mouth and to emphasize the loose tooth, used the tip of my tongue to move it back and forth.
A Yea held my head with his hands and with one thumb punched in my tooth quick as lightning before I had time to pull my head away. I spent quite awhile bleeding into the lake with my face half submerged to ease the pain while he walked away satisfied that this wiggly thing wasn't going to bother him anymore. It hurt, but at least the tooth came out and I had a new trophy with which to show off to everyone.
He was also like a kid. We got a little older and I didn't get into as much trouble as I used to. I was hyper, had ants in my pants, got into trouble quite often (altho in my defense, a lot of the time I didn't even know why I was in trouble) and had a knack for breaking many, many things I touched. It wasn't unusual to find him with one of his 8 grandchildren on the couch talking and giggling and being silly. He'd ask me about school and if I had a boyfriend, I'd ask about his crazy Chinese opera music, what he was reading in the Chinese newspaper and anything else that came to mind.
He was smart. He spoke English, having gone to school in the States and had lots of stories about the old days back home, in the army, raising his 6 kids with A Ma and later travelling around the world when they retired. He was stubborn, open-minded and was a great influence on everyone around him.
How many people can say they had such a cool grandfather?
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