Remember June rain!

Every year, when the rainy season comes, it makes the hearts of those who travel back and forth sink into nostalgia. Born and raised in a hometown with two seasons, rainy and sunny, I have had nearly 40 rainy seasons in my life. Since childhood, the rainy season has been a time of mischief, with experiences that the young generation today rarely has. When it rains, the children in my neighborhood run around on the streets. Each drop of rain splashes into the eyes, into the nose, and into the innocent smiles.

In the rain, we played tag, shooting, and soccer. Every soccer match in the rain had all sorts of situations, from humorous to tense. Because kicking the ball into the goal was sometimes harder than hitting the opponent’s leg. Some of us slid down, our whole bodies aching, but we still laughed heartily. At that moment, a kid from the other team came over, held his friend’s hand, and stood up, smiling like real men.

There were days when we were bored with playing, my brothers and I would take our buckets and go… pick up fish. Literally pick up fish. Back then, there were still a lot of fish in the fields. When it rained, they followed the cool water to find a new place to live. If we were lucky, they would find a better place to live. If not, they would go into my brothers’ buckets. Most of them were snakehead fish, perch, and stubborn field crabs. We could eat the leftovers of the rain for the whole day, sometimes we had to save some for the next day. At times like that, my brothers and I were very happy. The dinner tray had a pan of fish stewed from the spoils we had picked up and it was delicious.

The rains bring back memories of the past.

With the crabs, Mom put them in a pot to boil. The bright red color of the crab shells after half an hour on the stove awakened the taste buds of the hungry children. The rustic salt, pepper and lemon sauce to dip the crabs in brought back the salty taste of childhood. While eating and sniffing, everyone smiled broadly. Now thinking back, the saying "go back to the river to eat fish, go back to the fields to eat crabs" was not wrong.

Then we went through primary school, then secondary school, the habit of picking fish and catching crabs on rainy days gradually faded away. In high school, I completely forgot about looking for fish and crabs and focused on studying. When the rainy season came, the royal poinciana flowers were bright red all over the school yard. The rain soaked the petals that fell on the old, barren tree roots. The rainy season at that time had something desolate, evoking vague nostalgia. I still remember that rainy afternoon, cycling home with someone and not feeling cold! That feeling will probably never come back again. And it is also strange, I don't understand why at the age of eighteen, people like to cycle around the streets of Chau Doc, under heavy rain.

Then, in the final days of high school, we prepared for the “gate-crossing” to university. In those sad drops of rain, my friends said goodbye to each other with a heavy heart. There were red eyes, looking down at the drizzling school yard without saying a word. After the familiar rides, we said goodbye to each other on the afternoon ferry with empty hearts. At that time, people did not have personal phones to maintain long-lasting relationships, so each time we said goodbye, we almost never saw each other again.

Time flies by, the wheels of that year sink into the past. The rains are also blurred by the burden of the future. I am so absorbed in my own goals that I no longer remember the rainy season of the past. It is just that, on the way back and forth, there are still times when I bathe in the rain. The cold of the old days is still there, but "youth never blooms twice"!

Occasionally, I still see children playing under the white water curtain in the space, or white dresses hurrying under the heavy afternoon rain. At that time, I can appreciate the things I have gone through in the past. Then, my heart also burns with determination to stick with the profession, with the path I have chosen.

People in the countryside told me that the rainy season has changed somewhat. There are no longer fish or crabs crawling around the fields when it rains heavily. Children no longer like to bathe in the rain, or organize soccer matches filled with laughter. The only thing that has not changed is that the rainy season still comes, bringing the freshness of the land and sky, adding life to all things.

Until now, I still wade through the rain. Because it is a part of the life of tropical people. It also helps me not to forget a corner of my childhood, with its simple joys or pure emotions of the first days of life. In those rains, I continue with my passion for journalism, with the ups and downs, with the pages of writing that are filled with the breath of life!

THANH TIEN

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/nho-mua-thang-6--a423039.html