細個嗰陣，大概中學二三年級，屋企忽然好窮。我記得老竇有晚打電話問人借1000蚊，因為佢連第二日返工車錢都無。
Form Two or Three — somewhere there. Money at home ran out all at once. One night my father was on the phone, asking someone for a thousand dollars. He had no fare for the morning bus.
我記得有一輪早餐晚餐，都係白飯加蕃薯、豆腐或者蛋；食到好驚，但又不能不吃，因為別無選擇。
I remember a stretch when breakfast and dinner were the same thing: white rice, with sweet potato, or tofu, or egg. The sight of it began to frighten me. We ate it anyway. There was nothing else.
終於忍到16歲生日正日，2006年6月23日，對我而言至今最難忘一日，中四期末試剛好最後一日。日頭考完試，晚上我就開始返第一份兼職，做間餐廳，時薪15蚊，包一餐飯。
I held out for my sixteenth birthday. 23rd June 2006 — still the day I remember best. Last paper of the Form Four exams in the morning; that evening, first shift at a restaurant. Fifteen dollars an hour. One meal thrown in.
餐廳經理叫Wendy，副經理叫阿Cash，水吧叫阿蚊，知客唔記得咗。有個人教我一隻手拎四隻碟，叫阿賢；有個好好笑嘅同事叫阿權；廚房大佬閪到不值一哂，但係二佬非常錫我叫阿坤。
Manager: Wendy. Assistant: Ah Cash. Drinks: Ah Man. The hostess — gone from me. Ah Yin taught me four plates in one hand. Ah Kuen could make anyone laugh. The head chef was a pig, not worth another word. His second, Ah Kwan, looked after me properly.
我最記得係，返工第一日，用托盤送第一碗湯畀個客，手騰騰成碗倒落個客度。我驚到去咗pantry喊，經理走嚟無鬧，淨係講「定啲嚟」。更加記得當日收工，我福食鋸到人生中第一塊牛扒。
First day. First bowl of soup, out on a tray. Hands shaking so hard the lot went over the customer. I hid in the pantry and cried. The manager came in — no telling-off, only: steady on. What I remember better is the staff meal that night. I sawed into the first steak of my life.
後來先知道，所謂福食，其實食材通常就快過期，但總教我知道，黑椒汁加厚厚一塊肉，真係可以好食到黐線。
I learned later what staff meals usually were: whatever was about to turn. Still. Black pepper over a thick cut of meat — good enough to send you mad.
到月尾30號，有返工其實只係兩三日，出糧幾百蚊，我就撳晒出嚟，收工放喺屋企飯枱。
The 30th. Only two or three shifts worked. A few hundred dollars. I drew the lot, came off, left it on the table at home.
第二朝五點令鐘，老竇嘈醒我問啲錢邊度嚟。我解釋完，兩仔爺喊咗好耐好耐好耐。
Five the next morning. Father shook me awake — where had the money come from? I told him. Then father and son cried and cried and cried.
之後我同老竇落樓食麥記早餐。
Afterwards we went downstairs for a McDonald's breakfast.
飽到不得了。
Full beyond telling.