July 4th

This morning, I went to downtown to farewell and give gifts to my
friends before I leave. Since this action was only planned by last
Friday, I did not tell anybody in my plan that I wanted to pay a visit
before I leave. It is interesting to find out that different American
people celebrate their July 4th holiday differently.

I went to a bank to cancel my account there first. I was told that
banks are opening today. This bank is a federal union only open to
people with a certain membership. It has a small office locates in an
university here. It took me little time to cancel this account.

Everything went smoothly before I arrived the agency I worked as an
intern in the past several months. I was told that the people who I
planned to visit for thanks and gifts are all out on vacation today. I
met somebody that I did not expected to see and give gifts to them
instead.

After that, I went to a river-side apartment. There, I knew a very
kind lady but I only met her two years ago when I paid a service to
her. She wrote me a check to pay this service. Unfortunately I lost
the check until last August, right before I wrecked my first car, I
found the check under one of the seats in the car. I did not know if
the check was still good or not and did not post it at that time. This
spring, I thought of try the telephone nubmer on the check and see if
the check owner can remember the check. The lady told me that she
finally understood why the check she wrote had never been posted. For
two years, she had never moved and her telephone number had not been
changed. What a bless!

The lady had a little finance problem at that time. She asked me to
wait until June 9 and wrote me a new check. The second time I arrived
at her apartment, she was out for business. She had two jobs. The
Vontage apartment looks shabby and old. The day I went to her
apartment for the new check, nobody opened the door. I found the new
check was lying in the mailbox in front of the apartment as she told
me. The amount of the check was exactly the same as the check I
claimed money for. I put the old check in the mailbox and left with
the new check, feeling a little bit of pity that I did not have a
second chance to see her.

When I knocked her door this morning, expecting that she might be not
at home another time, a little girl at her 10 or 12 opened the door.
"Mom," she sticked out a head and found a stranger in pink asking if
Ms. Dawn McNeice was in. A dog tried to squeeze out from the narrow
space of the opened door.

In a moment, a lady looks exactly like the girl came out. I told her
who I am and showed her the gifts I brought to thank her. "Oh, how
nice it is!" The mother acclaimed. "Oh, it is beautiful," she
continued. "Oh, it is so beautiful," the girl echoed the mother. I am
happy that they are very happy to see their life rewards. I am also
happy to see that Ms. McNeice did not show any surprise to see me
coming back for a visit. There is no more expectations except their
joyful words. They don't know me. They don't expect any rewards. They
don't want any further contacts. And I only know that I remembered how
to get to Vontage Apartment B105.