Sometimes I really doubt whether there is love between my parents. Every day they are very busy trying to earn money in order to pay the high tuition1 for my brother and me. They don't act in the romantic ways that I read in books or I see on TV. In their opinion, "I love you" is too luxurious2 for them to say. Sending flowers to each other on Valentine's Day is even more out of the question. Finally my father has a bad temper. When he's very tired from the hard work, it is easy for him to lose his temper.

　　One day, my mother was sewing a quilt. I silently sat down beside her and looked at her.

　　"Mom, I have a question to ask you," I said after a while.

　　"What?" she replied, still doing her work.

　　"Is there love between you and Dad?" I asked her in a very low voice.

　　My mother stopped her work and raised her head with surprise in her eyes. She didn't answer immediately. Then she bowed her head and continued to sew the quilt.

　　I was very worried because I thought I had hurt her. I was in a great embarrassment3 and I didn't know what I should do. But at last I heard my mother say the following words:

　　"Susan," she said thoughtfully, "Look at this thread. Sometimes it appears, but most of it disappears in the quilt. The thread really makes the quilt strong and durable4. If life is a quilt, then love should be a thread. It can hardly be seen anywhere or anytime, but it's really there. Love is inside."