Linda blushes as she takes out her wallet, and hands the old woman 2 yuan.

“Thank you. You are so kind.” The old woman grinned. “You are a beautiful girl.”

Linda blushes even more deeply at the woman’s praise. It is the first time someone has ever said something good to her!

“You seem to not believe me,” the old woman stares at Linda with a sparkle in her eyes.

“No one has ever said I was beautiful before. I know I am not beautiful,” Linda murmurs. Her voice is like a mosquito.

“Ha ha! Do you believe in magic?” The old woman grins at Linda in a way that makes her feel uncomfortably strange.

“No,” Linda is confused.

“There is magic and it lies inside your heart,” the old woman says as her finger touches Linda’s heart.

Linda just smiles. She feels it is absurd to talk to a complete stranger on the street about magic.

“Thank you for the money. I wish you a good day.” The old woman changes her expression and smiles kindly.

Linda replies with a slight smile.

Linda continues her journey home feeling strange, with a perplexed mind. It is the first time that she is so conscious of herself. It is strange that she is beginning to feel like her real self. When she reaches her home, Linda looks at herself in the mirror for the very first time. What she saw is the reflection of a fat girl. Her waist is too wide to wear a skirt. Her clothes are very tight, even if she wears the largest size. She sighs deeply and thinks, “The old woman was kidding when she told me that I am beautiful.”

She turns on the computer and starts to do her homework. But her spirits are too low for her to do anything. She is so depressed that she takes out her snacks and wants to eat. However, just as she is opening the package, she hears a strange voice. “Don’t eat it. You have eaten too much,” it says.

Linda is scared! She looks all around but finds nobody else is at home. She thinks she is having a hallucination. So she pays no attention to the voice and continues eating.

“Didn’t you hear what I said? Stop eating.” This time the voice is louder.

Linda looks around again. It is impossible as there is nobody in the room. Suddenly, she finds her computer is breathing strangely hard. It is running in a different rhythm from before.

“Is that you?” Linda asks, touching her computer. She is both scared and excited at the same time.

“Yes. It is me.”

Linda sees a mouth on the front of the computer screen. She is so surprised that she nearly shouts.

“Don’t be surprised. He is not the only one who can talk. I can talk, too.” At this moment, the toy car on the bookshelf starts to mobilize itself. It yawns and talks to her.

“Wow!!” Linda is completely dumbfounded. After a while, she utters a gasp of surprise. She can’t believe what she saw or heard. Everything is like a dream.

“Get away from my body. You have put so much weight on me.” The box under the toy car struggles hard and protests strongly to the car. The car grins and smoothly drives itself away from the box.

The box bows and smiles politely to Linda. “Hello. Just call me Box A.”

Linda can’t believe her eyes. “Is this real or am I in a dream?” she says with much emotion.

“Of course it’s real.” The kettle on the table starts talking, too. “We are here to help you to realize your dream.”

“Realize my dream?” asks Linda.

“To make you a better person.” The box smiles gently as it speaks.

“You are beautiful,” the computer say.

“No, I am not.” Linda is depressed again.

“Come on. What you need is confidence and perseverance.” The kettle jumps towards her and touches her hand with its tiny hands.