The gift of happiness

Illustration: Phan Nhan

- Mom, how old were you when you learned to make money?

- Um… Since I was your age, I knew how to catch crabs, collect peanuts, and collect plastic to sell for money. At that time, life was still difficult. There was no rice mixed with corn or cassava to eat. So not only me, but every child had to earn a living from a very young age.

- So children back then didn't have time to play, mom?

- Yes, son. Play after you've finished your work. Actually, I always find joy even when I work.

- So if I want to make money now, will you support me?

- Are you serious? Why are you suddenly thinking about making money?

- Because I want to buy books with my own money. I want to help my mother.

- Um… That's fine. But how do you plan to make money?

- I want you to lend me money to plant a flower garden, then I will breed and sell the flowers. I will pay you back within three months. What do you think of my plan?

Tra hugged May and said lovingly:

- I welcome it. We will discuss it further before you start.

That afternoon, May skipped around the house. Occasionally, she looked out the window at the small garden her parents had just bought. It was a piece of rice field right next to the train tracks that Tra had saved up to buy. Tra needed a small garden for her children, to grow some vegetables and a few fruit trees. Tra had just hired workers to build a dike, stretching iron nets to separate it from the train tracks. Every day after work, Tra's husband would go to the riverbank to bring back a few loads of alluvial soil. Tra had also bought some vegetable seeds. The straw that people threw away was also collected to compost from the previous crop.

The garden is less than forty square meters but they want to grow everything. These days, at every meal, the whole family has been discussing enthusiastically what to plant. The husband plans to plant some ornamental plants or make a guava garden to sell to workers in the industrial park when the harvest season comes. Tra plans to plant some star apple, avocado, mango, and sweet grapefruit trees for the children. The rest will be used to grow vegetables so that the family's meals are both delicious and clean. Women are often haunted by all the chemicals soaked in food sold in the market. They are haunted when they buy those things to cook dishes that poison their family. So Tra gives top priority to growing essential vegetables and fruits to serve life. Little May begs for a piece of land to grow flowers. Tra laughs and says:

- What flowers do you plan to grow?

- I like roses and daisies the most. I saw a flower garden on my grandmother's way home. On weekends, people sell flowers on the sidewalk.

- So this Sunday, we will go together to choose some beautiful flower pots.

* * *

Every afternoon, instead of playing with her friends in the neighborhood, May hangs around the garden. May's joy now is taking good care of dozens of pots of flowers of all kinds. Each small bud, each new sprout is cherished. May learns how to calculate prices, buy and sell to make a profit. The pots of roses with many buds will be brought by May to put in front of her mother's shop to sell. The rest, May raises to graft and plant in small pots. May begins to enjoy reading books on how to care for plants, going online to look up effective grafting methods. Tra buys her little daughter a cute mini hoe and shovel set. She happily watches her daughter engrossed in the garden even though it is sometimes covered in dirt and sand. Occasionally, when she wakes up in the morning, Tra sees a vase of roses her daughter has just picked from the garden and arranged them on the table. Watching her daughter disappear on the way to school, Tra still feels the faint scent of flowers emanating from her pretty fingers.

People call May “the little boss” whenever they visit her mother’s grocery store to buy things. Everyone stops and admires the small flower pots placed in front of the store. This season, the climbing rose bushes have bloomed in small, pretty clusters. Gerbera daisies of all colors compete to bud. Red lilies bloom with velvety petals. Anyone who stops by wants to buy because the flowers are beautiful and because May is quick and lovely. The house is located on the main road running down to the capital and up to the northern mountainous provinces, so there are many people passing by from morning to late at night. Passersby with their backpacks and belongings rush past for a while and then turn back just because “the flower pots are so beautiful”. Tra loves to see her daughter grow up from her job as a flower seller. Seeing her introduce her products, show them how to care for the flowers, and carefully help customers tie each flower pot to the car makes Tra feel at ease. Every mother just wants her child to find joy in work. Tra is a farmer's daughter, born into poverty, so more than anyone else, she understands the value of early life lessons that are sometimes not found in books. When she was a child, she used to sleep soundly in dreams that smelled of mud. There were times when she was delighted when reading Giang Nam's poem: "When I was a child, I went to school twice a day/ I loved my homeland through each small page of a book/ Who said herding buffaloes was hard/ I dreamily heard birds singing above". If she had not lived through the days of herding buffaloes and cutting grass, Tra would not have found the poem so beautiful...

May sat down and smoothed each coin she had just sold from selling flowers. Smoothed it out with her hands full of scratches from rose thorns. May put the money in a small box after paying back the principal she had borrowed from her mother. With the remaining interest, May silently prepared with her father for her small plan. Occasionally, father and daughter would secretly go somewhere together. Sometimes they would go to the forest, sometimes they would go to the stream, and each time they would come back, they would bring a bag of pure white gravel or colorful pebbles. Then Tra also forgot about her daughter's beautiful afternoons. Because she was busy importing new goods, checking inventory, and running around here and there to raise capital for business. The number of customers increased day by day, sometimes just coming to buy a lollipop or a ballpoint pen, she would hang around and chat for half an hour. Tra was busy preparing goods for customers, worrying about the top of the pot of braised fish in the kitchen, and the pan of fried eggs that had not yet been turned. Every day, she was busy with all kinds of things. Before she could even put a bite of rice into her mouth, customers started calling loudly outside the shop. Tra just wanted to sleep soundly in the scent of roses from her little daughter and the clear, babbling sound of the stream. Tra encouraged herself that soon, when her debt was gone, she would live a peaceful life.

Tra was sick. An illness that had been predicted many days before. When she could only sleep for a few hours a day. Occasionally, migraines tormented Tra. But she refused to rest, even when her husband tried to sell the goods. She was afraid that there were too many goods, he would not remember all the prices, and if he sold them wrongly, where would the profit be? May quickly said: "Just leave it to me, Mom. I know the prices of all the goods." But Tra wanted her child to spend time studying and gardening.

Tra was afraid that if her child was surrounded by hundreds of goods, her mind would not be clear enough to study. Tra tried until she collapsed, lying in a delirious fever in her room, listening to the familiar customers calling to buy goods but unable to get up. In her delirium, Tra heard her daughter's voice asking questions, caring handshakes, and a warm towel on her forehead. Tra smelled the clam porridge, heard the rustling of bowls and chopsticks, and the sound of knives and chopping boards in the kitchen, which woke her up from her delirium. Crawling down to the kitchen, Tra saw her husband and children cooking together. The smell of clam porridge, oh my, that was the smell that always made Tra crave food even when she was sick.

- Mom, eat all this bowl of clam porridge and take all this medicine and you will be cured. Then you can go out to the garden and play…

- Dad and I have a surprise gift for you?

- A gift for me? What is it?

May looked at her father to signal for a secret, both of them put their heads together and whispered something to each other, then giggled. Tra sat leaning against the window, watching the scene, smiling slightly. Happiness sometimes comes from simple moments in life that don't cost a penny. Yet for so long, Tra had been busy making money, delaying herself about one day living a peaceful life. Happiness doesn't need to wait, it's not too far away. It's right in the chaos and hardship, it's just that Tra has forgotten it. Now Tra went out to the garden, weaving between the flower pots that were blooming and budding. Suddenly Tra's feet stopped when she heard the sound of a stream flowing somewhere. Babbling. This wasn't a dream, the sound was clearly very close and very real. Taking a few more steps, before Tra's eyes appeared a small stream made of white pebbles and a large rock that May and her father had secretly carried back.

- I promised to bring the sound of the flowing stream back to you, Mom. Do you like it?

Tra's eyes were blurred with tears. She held her child's small, scratched hands against her cheeks and said affectionately:

- You know. Actually, you are the best gift I have in the world. Thank you, my good cloud…

Source: https://baolamdong.vn/van-hoa-nghe-thuat/202504/mon-qua-hanh-phuc-ac879a6/