Dam!

Short story: VU NGOC GIAO

Behind Ba Doi market is a small, winding, deserted road. A few wild fruit trees grow, and rocks and grass are pushed up after each flood. Naturally, it is a place for motorbike taxi drivers to rest after the market. Sometimes, the deserted road is also a place for ownerless dogs to stay.

When you go to Ba Doi market, ask old man Nhot who sells mats, no matter what people say, "Mr. Nhot raised Dam, a lame dog but really smart!". Mr. Nhot picked Dam up from behind Ba Doi market to raise when he was just a few days old, not yet opened his eyes. It is said that by chance that day, because sales were slow, he carried the mat around to see if anyone would buy it. When he reached the garbage dump behind the market, he heard an animal crying out in pain, the weak cry touching anyone who heard it. So he dug through the garbage and found a weak puppy.

Mr. Nhót took Dam home to raise from that day. After more than fifteen years by Mr. Nhót’s side, Dam was loved. As for Dam, it seemed to understand its own fate, understand the person who saved and raised it, so it became unusually smart. Every day, it followed him to the village market to sell mats. When he took one step, it followed one step behind. At noon, he lay down on a nail behind the market, half asleep, and carried the mat nearby. When he slept, Dam sat watching, no matter what he told it to do, it refused to lie down, just sitting there, looking around at people passing by. When someone stopped to buy a mat, it would come close and nudge him to sit up and sell. When the customer bought the mat, it would carry it away and then follow him a bit, its tail curled up and wagging as if to thank him. So more and more people wanted to buy mats from Mr. Nhót because they loved him and Dam.

Winter. The banyan tree at the market entrance is in the season of shedding its leaves, only a few young leaves remain on the top, a few discreet monsoon winds blow through the small market. People have seen Mr. Nhot go to the market alone for over a week now, without Dam following behind. Everyone feels sorry and concerned when they hear that Dam has stopped eating and lying in one place for several days, Mr. Nhot goes to the market alone, and then rushes back to her at noon.

In the afternoon, as soon as he arrived at the end of the alley, Mr. Nhót had a premonition that something was wrong. Dam’s nest was still lying on the empty porch, the bowl of rice from the morning was still untouched, he hadn’t eaten a bite. He ran around looking for him. He went down to the ferry, into the inner village, to the village market… He asked everyone he met. Everyone he asked was shaken. He waded into the cotton field, out to the mulberry field, down to the corn patch behind the house… Acquaintances in the market also helped him look around the alleys, but Dam was still nowhere to be found.

Dam was obedient and would not leave home without asking him a single question. Moreover, he was sick and had difficulty eating and moving around. In the morning before going to the market, he scooped a bowl of rice to eat, and also scooped a separate bowl for him. There were still two pieces of braised fish in the pot, and he picked one for him. Dam's eyes were now dim and the hair on his back was bald. He was old. His stiff tail always hung down and could not wag when something happy happened.

He also knew that one day Dam would leave like the relatives in his life who had to leave him one by one due to fate. But the way Dam left home without saying goodbye made Mr. Nhot's shoulders droop like a bird with broken wings. After days of searching but in vain, Mr. Nhot returned to sit by the door, sitting with one leg crossed, the other propped up, absentmindedly looking out, his gaze so vague that no one could guess what he was looking at.

One afternoon, the late afternoon sun had receded, darkening the edges of the leaves in the garden. Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind, which had begun to wander: Dogs always love their owners. When they know that the day they must leave this world is coming, they often find a place far away, or a place out of sight of their owners, to leave quietly so that their owners do not have to painfully witness the moment of parting.

Maybe! Your Stomp!

Mr. Nhót stood up quickly, put his hat on his head, and walked back to the end of the riverbank. Beside the dense acacia bush, a moss-covered brown rock lay blocking the turn to the road down to the riverbank. His intuition told him to squat down and strain his eyes to look into the acacia bush. Among the dense, arching grass, Dam lay curled up. He was silent.

Dam's eyes opened wide as if trying to look at him one last time. He trembled as he touched Dam's chest, still warm as if she had just left home, left the place where she had lived for more than fifteen years. He crouched down and hugged Dam tightly in his dry arms, trying to hold back the sobs but they still came out.

Since the day he came to live with his grandfather, Dam had been hungry and full some days, but he still grew up fat and chubby. He drank river water to grow up, ate leaves from trees in the garden to become smart. He became his relative, his close friend for a long time in life.

Holding Dam, he rolled him up in his shirt and returned, placing him on the mat spread out on the porch, the mat where he had sat with him for many years during meals and in the twilight afternoons waiting for him at the wharf.

Still sitting motionless, not even bothering to roll a cigarette, not feeling any desire for anything in this world, he looked at Dam, who was sound asleep. "If only you and I could go back to our youth. But time, no one can resist..." - he whispered, rubbing Dam's forehead.

The hens digging in the back garden seemed to have smelled it, and they gathered around Dam, looking around. Normally, Dam would growl and chase the chickens if they accidentally dug into the ash stove, but when they were in the garden, they were friends. Dam rolled around on the sand, chasing mice, rummaging through worm holes and cricket holes, the hens were running around happily. Their noises made the whole garden chaotic. Now, looking at Dam, she lay quietly with her legs folded together, her eyes half-open as if trying to look around the garden one last time. Goodbye chickens, goodbye pile of dirt, haystacks, goodbye worm holes and cricket holes... The chickens seemed to sense it, circling around Dam, who was slowly closing her eyes, her noises sounded strangely sad.

Rolling Dam up in the mat, he shakily placed him on the ground. He murmured: “Dam! Go to sleep! I am old and tired. One day I will return to the earth, but for now I am still here! Dam… Go to sleep!”

Night. He stayed awake. In the small house at the end of the village, the familiar whining sound was no longer there, Dam had taken it away. Dam left, leaving another void in his life.

As soon as the sky was light, Mr. Nhót carried his basket and went out to the alley. Late in the afternoon, he returned with a jasmine bush that had blossomed white. He planted the bush in the back garden, where Dam lay. In the night, the scent of jasmine wafted in the air, and he sat there as if Dam was still in front of him, sitting there with her head up like the afternoons when she waited for him to return. He remembered Dam's intelligence and loyalty during the more than fifteen years of being his friend, so that he had more memories of love in his life.

"Dam!..."

Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/dam-oi--a187512.html