Dew falls on mother's eyes

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The afternoon sun sets through the golden branches of the queen flowers, the cicadas also stop singing their melodious song welcoming the summer to give way to the silence of the sunset.

Every afternoon, Mrs. Chinh would sit under the Queen tree, looking towards the gate and waiting. The petals fell silently on her hair, which had turned the color of clouds. A few petals lay silently on her thin shoulders. A gentle wind blew, carrying the petals flying in the air, making Mrs. Chin's figure seem lost in a dream.

* *

- Mom, I just got home from school.

A boy about eight years old ran up and hugged the woman standing under the royal poinciana tree. The woman smiled with loving eyes and stroked the boy's head. His shirt was now covered in mud, and there were even blue ink stains in some places. The woman sighed and asked the boy why he was late. On top of that, his clothes were dirty. The boy kept mumbling and silently clutching the hem of his shirt until it was wrinkled. The woman had to threaten to beat him before the boy finally spoke up. It turned out that he had gotten into a fight with his classmate because his classmate scolded him for wearing torn clothes to school. The woman was both angry and heartbroken.

- Nghia! No matter what your friend says, you can't hit your friend like that. It's wrong for your friend to tease you, but it's also wrong for you to hit your friend.

- I hate you, you don't love me, you let me wear torn clothes, now my friend bullies me, you don't defend me but scold me. I don't love you anymore!

The boy pushed the woman away and ran into the house, the woman silently shed tears. May had passed, summer was almost here, the boy's shirt had a small tear, she saw it when washing it and carefully patched it. It wasn't that she didn't want to buy a new shirt for him because she simply thought that there were only two weeks left of summer vacation, if she bought it now, it would be old next year so she wanted to buy it for the new school year. Only two weeks would have been fine, but she never expected things to turn out like this.

- Mom! Why are you crying?

Seeing Hien, the woman quickly wiped her tears and forced a smile:

- Mom is not crying, it's just dew falling on her eyes.

Little Hien did not doubt or ask any more questions. Little Hien was too young to realize that her mother was just making excuses for her sadness. It was not until she grew up that little Hien understood.

* *

Hien looked at the woman sitting in a wheelchair under the Queen tree with red eyes. Hien's mother was over seventy years old. Two years ago, she suddenly had a stroke and could no longer walk normally. Her legs had no strength left, her memory was poor, and her voice was hard to hear. However, every day, she made Hien push her under the Queen tree, saying that she wanted to wait for Nghia to come home from school.

Nghia, Hien's younger brother, is living in the US. Every year, Nghia returns to his hometown and his mother once, but since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, Nghia has not returned to Vietnam for more than three years. When his mother had a stroke, Nghia cried but was helpless and could not run back, he could only look at his mother through the phone screen. Hien also loves her brother and mother, and also wishes for the day when the whole family can reunite. Hien stepped closer and whispered:

- Please push me into the house, it's dark and there are a lot of mosquitoes!

Mrs. Chin struggled to speak:

- Wait... wait... Nghia.

Hien's eyes turned red, trying to hold back her tears.

- Nghia goes to evening classes, he'll be back soon mom, I'll push you into the house, when he comes back, tell him to come to the bedroom with you.

Mrs. Chin smiled gently and nodded, then gave the shirt in her hand to Hien:

- Shirt... shirt... for... Nghia.

The once pure white shirt was now stained with the color of time. Hien's eyes turned red as she reached out to receive it. It was not the first time she held the shirt in her hands, but every time she did, her emotions were still intact. Perhaps because Hien loved her mother, until the end of her life she still could not forget what she had promised her children. A lifetime of hardship, a lifetime of worry, since her father passed away, all the hardships were shouldered by her mother, raising two children to be educated, successful, and then getting married and settling down.

Tears silently fell from Hien's eyes. An ran from somewhere and hugged Hien's neck, whining: - Mom! Why are you crying? I promise to be good, don't cry anymore.

Hien smiled lovingly and gently said: - Mom is not crying, it's just dew falling on her eyes.

As soon as Hien finished speaking, she suddenly felt startled by her own words, so many memories flooded back to her words. That was a sentence that Hien had heard many times from her mother, when her mother angrily hit Nghia, when her mother saw Hien with a high fever and groaning all night, and even when her father passed away, her mother said the same thing. When she was as young as An, Hien also naively believed her mother's words, not knowing that she was sad and crying.

* *

An did something wrong and was beaten by Hien. He ran into Mrs. Chin's room, crying and screaming for help, "Grandma, save me." Mrs. Chin hugged An, her hands trembling as she awkwardly stroked his head, telling him not to cry. Then she took out a few thousand from her pocket and gave it to him.

- Nghia... be good... buy candy.

An was already used to his grandmother calling him Nghia, the first time he tried to argue with her that it was An, not uncle, his youngest uncle was in America, but when he argued with her, he saw "dew" falling on her eyelids, he quickly called his mother, afraid that she was not well again, he saw her eyes were red. His mother scolded him, later, when she mistook him for uncle, he also kept quiet and smiled. He loved his grandmother, he did not want to see "dew" falling on her eyelids again, she was his savior every time he was scolded by his parents, sometimes she even gave him money to buy snacks.

* *

Today, after school, An brought a piece of paper with a few flowers drawn on it and a line of neatly written words to Hien: "Today is Mother's Day, this is for you, Mom. I wish you always be happy and live with me forever. I love you so much, Mom."

Hien put down the chopsticks, turned off the stove, the fragrant aroma of sour soup and braised fish with pepper made An's stomach growl, he put the paper in Hien's hand and tiptoed to the stove to inhale. Hien smiled and said thank you then told him to go wash his hands and prepare to eat. An's father was away on a business trip, An's sister was studying far away so there were only three people in the house. Grandma couldn't eat by herself so the meal was just An and her mother. While eating, An innocently asked her mother:

- Have you drawn flowers for grandma yet? Have you told grandma you love her yet? The teacher said that today everyone must tell their mother they love her.

Hien looked blankly at An who was still busy eating, Hien suddenly remembered that it had been a long time since Hien had said a word of love to her mother, did Hien love her mother? Of course she loved her mother very much. But to say it out loud to her mother, since she grew up, Hien had never said a word. Perhaps growing up makes people feel embarrassed to say words of love to their mothers. Children can freely express their feelings, but adults find it very difficult. Hien is a close daughter who talks to her mother a lot and still finds it difficult to say words of love to her mother, so how could a son like Nghia say it, especially since Nghia is far away. The sound of broken dishes startled Hien, An sitting opposite her with red eyes frantically apologized, he just slipped and dropped the bowl in his hand on the ground, rice flying everywhere, broken pieces flying everywhere. Hien frowned, not understanding why her chest felt a sharp pain and discomfort.

- Mom! I'm sorry, I didn't mean it.

An saw Hien frown, he was scared, his hands and feet fumbled and sat down to pick up the broken pieces but Hien stopped him.

- Leave it there, I'll clean it up for you. Go back to your room and study.

An happily ran back to his room.

Hien brought the bowl of rice into Mrs. Chin's room. Every day, Hien had to feed her little by little. On the table, there were a few queen flower petals that had sneaked into the room with the wind. Outside, the sound of cicadas signaled the arrival of another summer. Hien was really looking forward to this summer because Nghia would return to Vietnam in June.

- Mom! I brought the food in here, I'll help you get up to eat, mom... mom!... Don't scare me... mom!

Hien panicked and called out to her mother in vain. Mrs. Chin's hands and feet were cold, her face had no blood left, she had passed away. A gentle wind blew by, carrying with it a few petals of the queen flower. Hien's tears flowed like July rain.

* *

Through the phone screen, Nghia saw his mother's portrait placed in front of the coffin, the grown man crying like a child, his cry was heartbreaking.

On the day of Mrs. Chin's burial, people saw on the tombstone the words "Hien Nghia loved his mother very much" which both made them feel sorry and blamed. Some people said that when he was alive, he refused to say he loved her so that she could hear and be happy. Now that she was gone, what was the point of writing it on the tombstone?

The day Hien and Nghia met again, they both hugged each other and cried like the day they lost their father. Hien burned incense and gave it to Nghia. Nghia looked up at the portrait on the altar with red eyes.

- Mom! I'm home!

An asked softly from behind Hien:

- Mom! Is dew falling on Uncle Ut's eyes?

Hien hugged An, gently closed her eyes and let her thoughts drift down to the warm, beautiful memories of the past./.

Snow Always Martial

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