Reading response to “The Scent of the Gods”

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 After that day Li Shin and Grandma had argued with each other, they didn’t talk for a long time until the day that Li Shin had to go to fight a war for his country…

            Grandma watched Li Shin packing his things silently. She frowned and said to Li Shin for the first time after that day, “Please, I beg you, don’t go! I already lost my son. I don’t want to lose anyone that I love again!” Li Shin sighed and held her hand, “Grandma, as a Singapore citizen, I have to do this for my country!”

           “But there are already many people joining the army, it won’t be a big deal if you don’t go,” Grandma almost cried and grabbed Li Shin’s hand tightly. Li Shin pushed away her hand, said, “You don’t understand, I have to go,” and he left.

           Starting from that day, Grandma always sat in front of the door waiting for Li Shin’s letter, no matter what happened. None of us knew what happened to Li Shin or even whether he was still alive. Day by day and day by day, when we almost lost our hope, we received the first letter from Li Shin. He told us that they almost succeeded in changing the situation and overthrowing the government. He told us a lot of the details in the army but a little bit about how he was doing. Though it was like that, all of us were extremely excited to hear his news, at least it proved that he had not died!

           Soon, as what Li Shin told us, the revolution succeeded, and all of us, Singapore citizens, finally got freedom! We all celebrated grandly, especially Grandma. She cooked a lot of the dishes and all of them were those Li Shin liked to eat. She prepared the things from the morning to the evening non-stop but still couldn’t see Li Shin come back. Finally, we heard the sound of somebody knocking on the door. We rushed to open the door, but we didn’t see Li Shin. Instead, we saw a man in military uniform and holding a bunch of white flowers. He told us that Li Shin had been already very sick when he wrote us the letter, and he asked the man to come to tell us the bad news and tell us that he never regretted joining the army.

           From that day, we all gained more respect for the people who sacrifice themselves for our country, Singapore!