The blue bike

Then my father signaled me to wait quietly… Perhaps for the rest of my life I will never forget the joy and happiness in my father’s eyes at that moment. Then when my father led me from the backyard on a bicycle, I was shocked because I did not recognize it as the old bike that I used to ride to school. The bike had been painted entirely blue by my father, a sky blue color. He painted every spoke, the brake lever, everything in that same blue. My father patted the saddle proudly:

- That's my work of art. Last night while my daughter was sleeping, I stayed up to repaint it so she could have a car to go to school this morning. My daughter would be pretty cool riding this car. Look at the paint, it's already dry.

Contrary to my father’s cheerful expression, I was downcast. Because I wondered how my father could make an already ugly bike even uglier. Look, it was impossible to recognize it as a bike anymore, it looked like a moving green block. At that moment, I just wanted to cry out of anger. I said: “I’m going to make you pay. I won’t ride that ugly bike to school.” The joy in my father’s eyes shattered…

More than 10 years have passed with all the ups and downs of life, but I still remember that morning very well. I rode my green bike to school without daring to look up at my friends, for fear that they would join in teasing me. On the way to school, I was filled with a fear that made my heart suffocate. I imagined that any gaze that looked at me at that time wanted to laugh and mock me. So that class was a torture for me. I tried not to look at the bike parked under the banyan tree. And I just hoped that the bike would be stolen so that I wouldn't have to see everyone gathered in groups of three or five discussing. At that time, I thought it was better to walk 5 kilometers home in the blazing sun than to sit on that bike.

Finally the heavy school day passed. Dad still picked me up at the gate as usual, although he seemed sad. He helped me bring my bike into the house and said:

- Go to the well, dad will draw water for you to wash your face and then come in to eat, the whole family is still waiting.

Dad didn't talk and laugh like usual anymore. During the meal, Dad sometimes sighed. Dad served me more, although I didn't look up once during the meal, but I knew that many times Dad silently watched his little daughter eating. At the end of the meal, I mustered up the courage to tell my parents:

- I definitely won't ride that bike to school tomorrow. It looks ugly and shabby. I don't want to be laughed at.

It was not until later, when I grew up, that I realized that was the cruelest sentence and that sentence also haunted me. I still clearly remember the image of my father leaving his bowl of rice standing up. I clearly heard him sigh but he still smiled and said: “You just eat your rice and rest, tomorrow you will have another bus to school. I promise”. That day, my father kept going in and out alone, quietly like a shadow in the house. The next morning when I opened my eyes, the first image I saw was my father's gentle smile. He was standing next to my bicycle, it had returned to its original state. That morning I cycled to school singing... I didn't know that my father had stayed up all night to meticulously scrape off each layer of paint on the bicycle. Scraping until there was not a trace of the blue color left.

The old bicycle that my parents saved up to buy for me to go to school is still parked in the kitchen corner. Many times I sit for hours next to the bicycle just to try to find any trace of that blue sky. But I know that it was my careless words that day that made my father work hard all night to scrape off the blue sky of love, hope and expectation. It was that blue sky that later urged me to look towards the distant horizon to spread my wings and fly far away with my dreams. And then what I have today also started from the blue sky of love that I carelessly rejected. Sometimes in the bustling crowd, I suddenly catch sight of such a peaceful blue sky. And I miss so much, the father who worked hard all his life for me.

In my dreams, I see myself riding a blue bike, singing loudly on the road to school, full of wild flowers...

Hello love, season 4, theme "Father" officially launched from December 27, 2024 on four types of press and digital infrastructure of Radio - Television and Binh Phuoc Newspaper (BPTV), promising to bring to the public the wonderful values ​​of sacred and noble fatherly love.
Please send to BPTV your touching stories about Father by writing articles, writing feelings, poems, essays, video clips, songs (with recordings),... via email chaonheyeuthuongbptv@gmail.com, Editorial Secretary Office, Binh Phuoc Radio - Television and Newspaper, No. 228, Tran Hung Dao, Tan Phu Ward, Dong Xoai City, Binh Phuoc Province, phone number: 0271.3870403. The time to receive articles is from now until August 30, 2025.
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Let's continue writing the story about Father with "Hello Love" season 4, so that stories about Father can spread and touch everyone's hearts!

Source: https://baobinhphuoc.com.vn/news/19/172770/chiec-xe-dap-mau-xanh-da-troi