我们本来满以为买了头等舱的票可以好好享受一番海上风光，谁知上了船完全不是这么回事！我们的房间共上下铺四个床位，除了我们两个之外，另一张铺位的上铺是监察委员曹承德，下铺则是一位郭先生。我们房外打地铺的竟都是些国大代表。兴华第一次坐船，常常到甲板上和其他年青人一起看海，而我则因怀孕怕晕船，一直留在房内。隔壁的监委王冠吾常来我们房中聊天，问我们的家庭背景，因为他们想我俩年纪轻轻居然会坐头等，想必不是富豪就是高官的子弟。当我告诉他们其实不然，我们是用了卖家具的钱来买船票时，他们觉得太有趣了，就更加想要知道我们的背景，我也就相实以告，包括和蒋经国先生家的关系和如何拿到了入境证的见证。
大约过了四天，1949年7月21日上午，基隆港已经在望，兴华很兴奋地在甲板上眺望。艙内不时有人进来和郭先生商议（郭先生内向寡言，我当时还不知道他的姓名和头銜。）王委员问我们有没有人会来基隆接我们，到了台北有没有地方住，两件重要的事我们都完全没有考虑过。王委员着急地说，“你们两个年青人太大胆了！快找郭先生帮忙。他是陈诚省主席的机要秘书，办公室室长，有实权的，有能力帮你们。”他这一问让我焦虑起来，心中对主呼求，“主啊，帮助我们！”不久郭先生回到房间来，我第一次对他说话，“郭先生，我们这次同船真是有缘，但是我到现在还不知道您的大名，可否将你的姓名告诉我，他日偶然遇见，也可以和您打招呼。”他马上写了姓名地址给我，然后问我是否有人会来接我们，打算到哪里去。我把我们一无打算的情形一一向他说了。他沉思片刻，然后说，他的车已经答应载许多国大代表了，叫我们上岸后在码头休息，等车去了台北再回来基隆接我们。他又建议我们去台北馆前街的社会服务处暂住，比酒店便宜，告诉他们是郭主任介绍的即可。
我们在码头盛夏正午的烈日下等了几个钟头，又热又饿，我还一度昏了过去。下午三点，郭先生的大卡车很守信地来把我们接到了社会服务处。
1971年时的郭先生Once the entry permit was settled, we started preparing for Taiwan in earnest. We sold the seven-month-old furniture to a colleague at a very low price of $200. That was exactly the price for two first class tickets to Taiwan.
The first class cabin was nothing like what we expected. There were two bunker beds, the other was occupied by two high ranking officials of the nationalist government and outside our door, national assemblymen were all sleeping on the floor! Charles was on a ship for the first time and spent most of his time hanging out on the deck with other young people, while I remained in the cabin for fear of getting seasick. There was a Mr Wang who liked to come over to chat with the other two gentlemen and he asked a lot about us and I shared with him our background including my experience tutoring the Chiang children and the miracle of our entry permit.
After four days, Ji Lung was in sight. Many people came into our cabin to talk to the quiet gentleman in our cabin. Later, Mr Wang came over and asked me whether anyone was picking us up from Ji Lung and where we planned to go and stay in Taiwan. These were important matters that we never considered before setting off. He then told me to ask the quiet gentleman, Mr Guo, for help. It turned out that he was the Taiwan governor's chief of staff, a powerful man. Mr Wang's words got me worried and in my heart I cried out to God to help us. When Mr Guo returned to the cabin, I spoke to him for the first time during our journey, for he was an introvert and listened to his friends most of the time. He brought up the same issues as Mr Wang. When he heard that we were clueless, he thought for a moment and told me that he had a truck picking him up, but he had already promised the assemblymen who asked for his help to give them a lift to Taipei. Mr Guo then decided to send his truck back for another trip to pick us up. (Imagine getting his truck to make that special trip for two young nobodies!) He told us to wait for the truck at the pier. Mr Guo also recommended the Social Service lodging which was cheaper than the hotels and told us to tell them that he was the one who referred us to the place so that we would get a room.
When we got off the ship, it was around noon on July 21, 1949. We waited under the scorching heat of the noon-day sun for a few hours, hungry and thirsty, I even fainted. The truck came back as promised at around three and sent us to Taipei.
没有评论:
发表评论