Apple Core

How big is the core left after eating an apple? This question never came up to my mind until I heard a story from my 82-years-old aunt. It is a story about my father when he was escaped from China to Hong Kong in his teenage.
Unlike my stable, cheerful, peaceful and a bit materialised childhood, my father had a very tough time when he was young. He was born when China suffered from the Japanese invasion, and then passed his childhood in the years of Cultural Civilisation. He was not from a rich family but unfortunately, his family’s assets were enough to list themselves in the “Black Five Category”. So, my father and uncles were the targets to scoff, to torture or to attack. He was not given food most of the time as well.
In order to escape from torturing or starving till dead, he chose to leave his village. Different from most people who need to hire a big truck to put all their stuffs when they are moving, my father had nothing to bring with him as he had nothing, even he did not have clothes for changing. What he could bring for his journey was the most basic thing for survival: food. It was not difficult to find food at that time but it was very difficult for a person who categorised as the “Black Five” to find something to eat. At the end, my father was barely able to find dozens of apple for his trip to Hong Kong. Time was even tougher on his way as the only transport he was able to afford was walking, which is a physically demanding exercise when you need to walk for long time in the sun and on the mountains. The longer time he walked, the hungrier he was and less food he had. To maximise the food he could intake, he ate the whole apple included the core, where we believe that is not very eatable nowadays, to make himself felt a bit fuller…..
It is the story about apple core I heard. It is not an interesting nor inductive story but it absolutely makes me think a lot. It also reminded me how big was the apple core I had last time and how I used it. Last time I had an apple was about two weeks ago, during my tour in Kangaroo Island in South Australia. I had an apple as dessert after having an Aussie BBQ. To be honest,apple is not a fruit can raise my appetite most of the time. So, I just had a few bites and left a big core. Indeed, I had another reason to leave a big core. I discovered there had certain possums appeared around a campsite. Some of them were even entered our camp to search food. However, I missed the chance to take a photo at the first time. Therefore, I threw my big apple core outside the campsite to attract some possums to come again so that I could make a photo of them. That’s what an apple core meant to me.
The feeling of guilty come over me......