Short Story: The Small White Room

This is the story of an elderly woman called Jenny who stays alone in her abode with the company of her cat and kittens. Jenny accidentally poisoned her cat while trying to kill a mouse thrown into her house.

At noon, the sun shines in a small white room with furnishings from twenty years ago; a gigantic old photo hangs on the living room wall. It is the photo of a young couple and their baby boy.

In the photo, the woman holds their baby boy in her arms while a man wraps his hands around the woman’s shoulder.

A blue fabric couch sits under the photo. On the couch is Jenny, a gray-haired elderly woman who is taking a nap and beside her is a white mother cat and her newborn kittens that are enjoying a sound sleep on their own cushion.

With the window of her house wide open, Jenny got awakened by the noise

After standing for a while, Jenny heard no sound or movement in the bedroom, she slowly steps in. In the room, there is a single bed and a small wooden wardrobe.

Jenny looks around and finds no trace of the mouse. She then walks slowly toward another room. This room is much smaller than the other one. She sticks her head out to look inside the room, but breaks into a fit of coughing caused by the dust in the room. The entire wall was covered with the pictures of a boy.

In some pictures, he was smiling; some show him crying; while some others show him lying on his tummy, or savoring a piece of watermelon.

A crib is placed in the most prominent position of the room and next to the crib is a shrine, in which the statue of Buddism Godness Guanyin stands. Plush toys pile up in the corner of the room, with fading colors and covered in dust. Suddenly, the plastic toy hanging on the crib makes a jingling sound. The mouse is dangling on the toys. Jenny strides towards the crib, swings her arms nervously and drives the mouse off the crib. She then exhales a deep