| The Night That Never Turned Dark |
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By Lydia Yao Scarborough, Ontario Our plane drew near the Arctic Circle. We were above the clouds. The sun cast its glow on the cotton-like clouds, making them luminous and satin-like. It was well past the usual sunset hour, yet the sun lingered. During the whole flight the sun was somewhere in the sky but invisible to us passengers. I was watching the constant but marvelous changing of the clouds when the sun suddenly came into sight from nowhere. A shining large red disk was hanging over a grayish horizontal line. It began to sink gradually; yet, at the same time, pretty quickly. Its charming face became smaller and smaller; now, a half, in a second, a third, a quarter… Soon it turned to a narrow burning band, hastily hiding behind the distant edge of Earth. The sun was gone. However, the sky wasn’t dimmed. The horizon took on a glistening orange color sticking to the border where the sky and Earth met. So captivating was the scene that I couldn’t move my eyes elsewhere. I waited for dusk to come. I was eager to see how night would fall in the Arctic region. Five minutes passed, ten minutes passed, twenty minutes passed, yet the sky stayed bright, not a bit darker at all. The orange-red horizon remained glittering on the edge of the sky, giving the world the touch of mystery of a fairyland. What a sight it was! The sky never darkened! What was it? A white night? A night that was as bright as broad daylight! All of a sudden, my neighbor screamed: “Sunrise! Look!!” I looked hard through the window but couldn’t see the sun. “Do you see the narrow scarlet streak on the margin of the sky?” My neighbor exclaimed in a repressed tone. Then I caught sight of that scarlet stripe, tiny but brilliant. It was the rising sun, the very one that had sank some thirty or forty minutes ago. The brilliant scarlet stripe grew bigger and bigger; soon the sun revealed half of its face; in a moment I saw its full face. A large round golden shield, splendid and mighty with its dazzling radiance blazing in all directions, made the world fresh again. The sky was shining; the clouds were shining; I could feel the plane shining; every face as well as other things in the cabin was shining. Thus started a new day after a colorful luminous night over the Arctic Circle. Background InformationI went back to China in late 1994 for a visit after three-years in Canada. Then, in May 1995 I boarded the Beijing to Vancouver plane to return to Canada as scheduled. Instead of following the usual air route straight across the Pacific, the flight took a route first northeast over Siberia and Alaska, then turned south to Vancouver via the Arctic region. It was the first time I had ever traveled into and out of the Arctic Circle. I can never forget the flight because I had witnessed a miraculous undarkened Arctic night on my way to Vancouver. I have since made two other trips to China; however, I didn’t have the good fortune of seeing the bright colorful night again. That Beijing to Vancouver flight was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me. ---Born in Beijing, grew up and was educated in Guiyang and Harbin, China. ---Taught Russian and English in universities in Guiyang, Guizhou and Kunming, Yunnan since 1954. ---Retired in 1988. ---Came to Canada in 1991. ---Studied in adult learning centre in Waterloo and Toronto (1996 – 2000). ---Have been to the 10 provinces in Canada with a desire to see and learn more about the country. I am an open-minded senior who likes learning new things, making friends, offering help, enjoys the challenges of life, and am particularly interested in leading an active, healthy life, both physically and mentally. |
