<正> When I was nine years old the thought of death petrifiedme.I could not stand the prospect of anyone close to me beingtaken away,nor could I face the eternal emptiness that Ifeared was death.Dead.The very word sent me into panic.One evening,about a year after the birth of my sister,myfather announced that my mom’s mother ,Grandma Hita,wasmoving in with us.(I called her Grandma Hita because she al-