Light from the hand!

The historic and tragic Giap Thin flood of 1964, the low-lying village, located on the Tranh River, which brought alluvial deposits, fertility… suddenly fell into ruins. In just one night in October, my grandmother’s warm, bustling house, suddenly drifted out to sea…

That same year, my mother ran away from home to join the army. She fought with her unit in fierce places such as Son Long, Son Thach, Son Khanh, Tien Ha, Tien Canh...

The 20-year-old girl joined the Party ranks, raised her hand and swore “Loyalty to the Party’s ideals”. During a battle, her unit was hit by a bomb, almost everyone was killed, she survived, but was seriously injured. The bomb buried her whole body, her ears could not hear anything, her white, even teeth like corn kernels were also gone…

When she woke up, she found herself at Ben Gieng, she and many seriously wounded soldiers followed the Western Truong Son mountain slopes to go to the North for medical treatment. After nearly a month, on a bumpy bus, full of camouflage leaves, falling bombs, exploding bullets, some people had to lie down on the side of the road, she was able to live.

When my mother was seen sitting in a wheelchair at the Gia Vien seriously wounded soldiers camp, my father started talking to her again. At that time, she had heard the Quang accent and cried tears of joy. From that wounded soldiers camp, she found a fellow countryman, and then became husband and wife.

The American enemy bombed the North for 12 days and nights at the end of 1972. While pregnant, she returned to the evacuation area alone and gave birth to her first daughter in a bunker. But she was happy to see her baby round and healthy, because both husband and wife had suffered from chemical spraying and had many wounds on their bodies.

After the country was unified, she returned home and learned that her parents were no longer there. Regret and remorse squeezed her heart. Because during all those years in the army, her parents' youngest daughter had never once returned home to visit, never once wearing the mourning scarf for the work of giving birth and raising her...

Her husband was a soldier, away on a mission, giving birth to a child alone, and she raised him alone. The hand holding the gun, the hand holding the pen, and then the same hand holding the hoe to clear the land…

Ignoring the matter of being this or that wife, haggling over every penny to raise 5 children, while the only son was infected with Agent Orange, spending 10 months in the hospital out of a year, even though his body was crooked to one side, his hand was cramped, and he couldn't speak clearly, but in the end, my brother was able to call out "Mom!".

Then that hand replaced the eyes! When the wound relapsed, the headaches became severe, and her eyes sank into darkness! That wrinkled hand, again felt everything, groping in the dark "night".

Wrinkled hands, turning the volume of the radio, the heroic melodies of 50 years of national reunification. From her cloudy eyes, tears welled up. She must have remembered the time when she had split the Truong Son mountain range…

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/anh-sang-tu-ban-tay-3153198.html