More than ten years ago, my uncle had to keep the tree tall and straight no matter what he planted.
His farming milestone began when my grandfather's spinal disease became severe.
- Please! Sit still!
My grandmother negotiated urgently, but he reluctantly gave up the "home garden stage" to his uncle.
From then on, every tree in the garden had to be straight. The red and yellow hibiscus were no longer hibiscus bushes but had to become hibiscus-trees: a single trunk supported upright, only when it was over a meter tall did it begin to branch out and hold branches. He looked at it and regretted the thicket he had watered, but he tried to stay calm so his blood pressure wouldn't go up or down.
The old yellow apricot tree, but its short stature, was not to his liking and was moved along the side of the house. He searched for and asked for new trees, pruned all the branches near the corner, leaving the tops to grow up high as if they were about to compete with the coconut shoots.
- What a strange taste! - I don't know if my grandparents are complimenting or criticizing.
Lagerstroemia, Indian almond, and black star trees are also arranged in neat rows behind the house. Without explanation, people understand his goal: if they are straight, they will survive, if they are crooked, they will be replanted.
My grandfather didn't seem to like it because the tree was inedible, so why plant it and take up space?
Then one time, the conflict of ideas also turned into action: my grandfather had not done anything for a long time, so he moved to the front yard, holding scissors to trim the two bougainvillea pots into round shapes. The healthy young branches that my uncle had been nurturing to grow tall for the past three or four months were cut down by him. My grandfather preferred bushy branches and abundant flowers. As for what my uncle expected from the future, it was unclear; he only said that tall was beautiful.
In the afternoon, looking at the short treetop, he was so angry that his face turned black and he turned his car around and went back to work. I predicted that he wouldn't come back for three days - when my grandfather was still healthy, he could have been free for a week or two. But the next afternoon, my grandmother called and cried a little: father and son couldn't have turned against each other because of the treetop, so he came back. That's right, if you're angry, you turn against each other, but relatives can't turn against each other.
Since then, no one has interfered with his work. People secretly thought that because of his hunchback, he hated anything that was curved. He was young and had no illnesses, but his back had not been straight since he was a child - that's exactly it, not exactly hunchbacked. Straightening each tree was his way of reacting to his own defect - I think.
Among the trees that he planted, the banana trees behind the house were the most praised by everyone. The banana trees were straight and unbranched, which must have pleased him. There were all kinds of bananas in that area, and he provided them to anyone who needed fruit, leaves, or seeds. I didn’t like eating fruit, but I liked the smell of banana leaves when making cakes or wrapping food. The smell of the leaves was sweet and had a very unique fragrance. I vaguely thought that the success of the dishes was often determined by the banana leaves.
After getting married, my uncle's days became busier. He took care of his own house - with my grandparents and his wife and children living with him. Every two or three days, he would go to his wife's parents' house to do odd jobs. He was always present at parties and events in the neighborhood. He would help with difficult jobs and jobs that people were hesitant about. It seemed like every locality had someone like that. For example, I met a deaf-mute man who ran errands at a coffin shop. Not only did he do the work he was hired to do, he also volunteered to help with many odd jobs at the deceased's house. Thanks to that, the coffin shop owner got extra points for his service. There was a woman who had no husband or children and often helped take care of lonely people, took paralyzed people to the hospital...
Now, for me, going back to my paternal home is called going back to the countryside, because my paternal home is no longer there and I chose to move closer to my workplace a long time ago. On that land, my uncle's house still follows the same direction, just with an additional roof, looking more spacious than before.
The trees he planted now have lush, cool canopies. The bougainvillea stems in front of the house are nearly two meters tall, with rough skin like a sunburned middle-aged man. The bougainvillea canopy is in full bloom and looks like a giant floral fabric umbrella - looking radiant from afar, and cool from underneath.
Years ago, children ate longan and threw the seeds into a narrow alley between the upper house and the kitchen, in the damp rain. There grew a stunted longan tree, with a thin but straight trunk, reaching up to find the sun. Everyone planned to cut it down and clear it away, but he chose to keep it. The old longan tree with big seeds that had no economic value that year now stood firmly and thoughtfully next to the old kitchen, emitting lingering afternoon smoke, creating an ancient and beautiful scene, looking from any direction, it was evocative and poetic.
It’s Tet, the row of apricot trees that he planted along the path leading to the house doesn’t bend or spread their arms and wings. That row of apricot trees only from two or three meters high gently releases its fragrance in the wind, its petals falling down to people’s shoulders. The Lagerstroemia, Cau Bang, and Sao Den trees in the garden are now very tall, standing along the ditch looking over to the row of areca trees on the other side like a pair of parallel sentences. That piece of land is no different from a part of an eco -tourism area that I’ve visited before.
Banana bushes with straight trunks were planted scattered around the house. Oh, when a boy described the banana tree, he asked me how to compare it. The ripe yellow banana was curved like a smiling mouth or like a crescent moon? The banana trunk was like a house pillar? The leaves were big and flat like a fan? “Ah… like a green roof, each roof high and low”. Because when I was little, I saw birds standing under those overlapping leaves to shelter from the rain or make nests. I used to do the same, picking a leaf to cover my grandmother’s head when we took my grandfather to the garden.
The trees he planted more than ten years ago are all straight now. In terms of beauty, they are very beautiful. In terms of price, they are also valuable.
So I was wrong.
The upright tree is not to compensate for any inferiority complex.
It is upright because of its foresight, upright because it wants to protect and shoulder.
Truong Van Tuan
Source: https://baodongkhoi.vn/cai-cay-ngay-thang-30042025-a145975.html
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