Missing October - Short story by Bach My (Da Nang)

- Mr. Hung! Ms. Mi gave you back this pair of new Lao sandals and shoulder pole. Go find me right away! Ignoring what the people at the market said or advised me, I silently pushed my way through the crowd and headed towards Dinh Bridge.

Illustration

Sau's father and son's faces darkened. Without asking any more questions, with the torch of sugarcane residue just lit in his hand, Sau's father pulled the child out of Ms. Men's arms and carried the child in his arms, running towards the district market...

Since last night, mother has not eaten anything. In the evening, after shoveling the beans to the mirror in the back of the house, mother dug up two rows of monkey-faced taro. Mother cut the taro stalks to pickle and then arranged the taro in a basket. Father lit a torch made of sugarcane residue to help mother catch four beautiful roosters sleeping on a guava tree and lock them in a bamboo cage. Sitting there gropingly calculating for the last market of the year, it was already late. Mother went to put up mosquito nets, covered the children with blankets, then sat and stroked the youngest for a long time. The girl's long, wet eyelashes were closed on her three-year-old face full of charcoal smudges. Mother pulled her hand away from her pretty mouth that was sucking and sucking her own worn-out thumb. Perhaps, in tonight's dream, the marble-shaped candies stuck on wooden sticks that mother gave from the stall at the Tet market had filled that dirty child's face with joy and happiness. The roosters, who had been free all their lives, were now locked in a bamboo cage and crowing earlier than usual. Mother got up to light the fire, put on a pot of fresh tea for father, then tilted the rice bin to scoop up the last grains of rice and scatter them into the cage for the four chickens to eat so they would have the strength to go to the market. Mother sat scattering rice, her eyes both joyful and sad. Tomorrow morning, when spring comes, this familiar sound of chickens will be absent. Two majestic, strong purple-feathered roosters usually crow first to signal the change of watch. Two bantam chickens with shiny, colorful feathers dotted with black beads and soft, bright red combs will be the next to harmonize with the early morning music of the coming day. Near Tet, the small, deserted village is even more deserted. The emaciated animals of winter are slowly putting away their agility with their sparse, pale feathers after the cold season. The cows and buffaloes, eyes closed, stand limply in the sun, carefully chewing on a few fresh young corn leaves that the homeowner has kindly given them after the last plowing session of the old year. When all the little food in the fields has been collected by humans to prepare for the Tet holidays, the birds and small animals become lonely and slow in the vastness. The most beautiful roosters, the ones that crow the loudest, are of course the main source of income for a family with little land like Sau's. A tray of offerings to ancestors, a tray of offerings to celebrate the new rice season, is not sticky rice, sweet soup, cakes and fruits, but a really beautiful, really strong rooster that will bring prosperity and strength to the family for the next 365 days.

Mother had all the money from selling chickens and taro on the eve of Tet stolen. In the difficult and miserable circumstances of the eve of Tet, and above all in the atmosphere of waiting for gifts and new clothes for the spring that had been lost, Mother suddenly felt like an unforgivable sinner. The overwhelming sadness pulled Mother away from the bustling crowd of the district market. Meeting an acquaintance from the upper neighborhood, Mother left her shoulder pole and new pair of sandals. The power of sadness pulled Mother away despite all the advice and questions in her ears. What Mother needed now were new clothes for her husband and children and cakes, candies, and watermelon seeds for the coming Tet. In the evening, Mother met a merchant couple who were struggling with their cart on the road. After learning about the situation, the wife immediately put some money in Mother's hand and told her to return to her husband and children.

- Actually, children only need their mother. There is no shirt more beautiful and warm than a mother's arms!

Mom wiped away her tears with her hand, then bowed her head in gratitude and turned back.

The country road, no lights, pitch black. While crossing Khe Gai bridge, mother slipped in the pitch black night…

***

The last bus back to the countryside had been running for more than an hour. Sau stood watching two children holding water hoses spraying each other, spraying the rosewood tree, spraying into the air. Sau was sinking into the mist of water. There were afternoons when his heart felt like a late wave, when the loudspeaker from the sea sounded six times and the announcer's voice gently resounded, "It's 6 o'clock now, the sea is deserted, you should not go far from shore... I wish you a safe and happy swim!". Sau suddenly felt a deep cold, as cold as standing in front of the sea in late autumn, as deep as the country roads Sau traveled every afternoon. Sau felt like a child, at this time he should be at home with his mother, sitting among the sounds of chickens rustling in the coop, the rattling of the cowshed gate, sitting among the steam rising from the bowl of vegetable soup he missed... Sau still had to hold the lamp for his mother to bundle the vegetables, cut the taro lengthwise to pickle, and had to use the lamp with his mother to check if all the chickens were in the coop... The afternoon buses didn't wait for Sau to return. The kids were still cycling around the road in front of their house at that time to keep their legs happy after sitting in class all day. Sau was busy watching the kids washing cars with hoses and playing with water...

- Sau is coming back this weekend. You should postpone one or two nights of rehearsals for the villagers in the commune. Stay home and talk to your child. This morning, Mien, Mrs. Ngu's daughter from the upper neighborhood, came home to visit. She told me about Sau. Now, my child is very thin because of a lack of food and drink, partly because she has to take care of the students in the class she is in charge of. Sau is like you, so she is always worried about unfortunate lives. There are children who no longer have parents or whose parents are too busy and do not have the knowledge to take care of their children. So when the weather changes and their students get sick or have a high fever, she keeps them to monitor and take care of them. If anything unusual happens, she will take them to the hospital quickly. My daughter is only twenty-six but has a lot of children. It has been more than four months since she has had time to visit her parents. Human strength is limited. How can a small girl like Sau both teach and take care of a class of ten or so children? I remember when I first came to you, Sau was also weak because of lack of milk and mother's warmth. Only after going through the stages of growing up of a child do I feel myself wearing out a lot. But at that time I had you, and experienced neighbors to share that difficult work. My child was still young. Although my child was already well-versed in proactive health care knowledge. But the children were other people's children, and the children of our fellow countrymen. If they were safe, it would be fine, but if something went wrong, the responsibility would be mine. Moreover, diseases are changing now, not like before. Although I am not your biological mother, I understand your personality. She wants to prove that love can save the world . "Love and giving as a mission will help me live a meaningful life like my mother did!". That's what my child said when I was lying with her the night before leaving for a new job.

- Dear father, dear mother! Next week, Trung and his family will come to visit our house and hold a simple internal wedding ceremony so that we can live together!

- Why are you in such a hurry, son? We haven't heard anything about love or marriage. Is there something wrong with you? Or have you accidentally…?

- I am not foolish, nor have I made any mistakes, Mom and Dad! As Mom and Dad said, everything that comes to us in life is "fate". Your child is mature enough to accept the fates in life in the most natural and happy way! Just like Mom Nga came to me; loving, caring for and educating me to be a good person. The luggage I carry on my life is Mom's lullabies; the moonlit nights when Mom sat teaching me to knit; the batches of banh in and banh luong, Mom holding my hand to knead the dough, drying them in the dew...; the smell of the herbal bath Mom cooked to help me grow this long, smooth, thick, warm hair!

Mom! I also wish to give this love to Linh - Trung's daughter. Linh is not as lucky as other children because Linh is an autistic child. Linh's mother probably could not bear the difficult life in the mountains and abandoned her when she was born. Trung is a filial, warm-hearted and ambitious man, but because his family is too poor and his parents are old and sick, he stays in his hometown to take care of and support his parents. I believe that I will be happy and with my loving care, I will help Linh have a life like any other normal child.

Mrs. Nga saw her daughter off with red eyes. Deep in her heart, the bitter hardships of a stepmother were like a passing December wind - even though it was cold, that cold was also an element that made the winter rice grow. Who was born without suffering? And happiness is to turn that suffering into something meaningful so that the physical and mental suffering can be gradually reduced through the generations. With all the reasoning of her heart, she helped Mr. Hung feel at peace with his daughter's choice. Mrs. Nga foresaw Sau's sleepless nights because baby Linh was weak and abnormal because she had lacked her mother's warmth since birth, and there was also a child that Sau and Trung adopted a month after their wedding. Cu Ti's parents were swept away by the flood while picking bamboo shoots. The erratic weather now made the children of the mountains and forests - who knew every path and blade of grass - unable to cope with the anger of the rain god because the forest was increasingly eroded. She went back into the house and discussed with Mr. Hung about the plan to apply for a volunteer cooking job at the boarding school where Sau was working, to help her daughter and take care of the needy children in the mountainous area of ​​Hoa Bac. A grandfather - security guard, a grandmother - cook who had accompanied her children and grandchildren, and the school for more than ten years...

***

Letter to Linh's grandparents, Cu Ti and all the happy children in this world!

The scent of October straw has followed the wind down to the sea. This afternoon, standing before a cloud of water, I saw again the image of my mother lying there shivering with a fever, just like that day. I was worried and uneasy, so I called to ask about my mother. Hearing her peaceful voice, I felt relieved!

I want to write a few lines to my mother, so that when the weather changes, she can read them as if I were by her side. When the words are displayed on the page, I feel like I am reliving the peaceful and happy days with my parents and my homeland. In the afternoon, I hear my mother's footsteps coming home. The scent of the fields is preserved by my mother on the bundles of straw on her shoulder, on the strings of young green grasshoppers, on the baskets of straw mushrooms and bean sprouts growing from the straw mats in the fields in October. This afternoon, I showed the two children how to make pancakes with straw mushrooms and bean sprouts. I lit a wood fire in the backyard and the whole family gathered to make pancakes, fry sweet potatoes, roast cassava... (I will send you pictures via Zalo later). With the charcoal, I showed the children how to bake sesame rice paper that my mother sent me during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The two children are definitely my grandmother's grandchildren, baking pancakes for the first time but they look so skillful. After baking, while breaking the cake to eat, Cu Ti broke it into the shape of clouds, and also into the portrait of his grandparents. Linh said she missed her grandparents so much. Linh looked forward to Tet coming back to the countryside so that her grandfather could take her to the fields to ride buffaloes and fish; to pluck gray hair for her grandparents, and then her grandmother would let her lie down on the small bamboo bed on the porch and wash her hair with warm, fragrant leaf water. Linh remembered the nights she lay listening to her grandmother sing cải lương when the full moon had just risen above the bamboo grove in front of the house. When she heard Linh say that, she suddenly remembered herself when she was young. Mom, don't you see, when people love each other, they are strangely similar, aren't they? During this season, the house always had some boiled taro and sweet potatoes to eat with sugar cubes that her father had chopped from the golden cane branches blooming on the surface.

The days living with my parents are the happiest days of my life. Thanks to you, my children have learned to be happy with simple things; to care, share and be considerate of others. I am grateful to you, Mom, for helping me affirm the value of love! In fact, there are no autistic or spoiled children. There are only children who lack love, who have lost their connection with love, right Mom? I always want to tell you: I am grateful to you! I am grateful to the adults who always bend down to support and guide the unfortunate. Everything I have is born from your love. And this love is blooming in our children: knowing how to stop before wild flowers; knowing how to stand silently and watch the young leaves waving in the wind; listening to the birds and knowing that autumn is coming; looking at the white blooming reeds and knowing that the storm has passed... I am grateful to you, Mom, for giving me noble emotions. I am happy every minute since I have you. I have done something that seems easy but is very difficult: loving everyone. Happiness is living a life of giving and dedication. Where I live, there is only the sea, but I can feel the fragrance of flowers and fruits flowing from the river, see the figures of people rowing boats, the bamboo leaves falling into the green stream on moonlit nights of the season of nostalgia. I hear my mother's singing voice rising from the fragrant smoke of the afternoons before harvest. Although we are far apart, we do not live gloomy days. My mother's peaceful energy always helps me to be steadfast. Every day, I find myself gathered together, diligent with positivity and love. And the path we are on is also filled with peaceful happiness. Thank you, mother!

Miss you so much!

Da Nang , October 2023

Dear daughter

Ugly Baby

Rules

Live beautifully with total prizes up to 448 million VND

With the theme Loving Heart, Warm Hands, the 3rd Beautiful Life contest is an attractive playground for young content creators. By contributing works expressed through various forms such as articles, photos, videos ... with positive content, full of emotions and attractive, vivid presentation suitable for different platforms of Thanh Nien Newspaper.

Submission period: April 21 - October 31, 2023. In addition to the forms of memoirs, reports, notes, and short stories, this year the contest has expanded to include photos and videos on YouTube.

The 3rd Beautiful Living Contest of Thanh Nien Newspaper highlights community projects, volunteer journeys, good deeds of individuals, entrepreneurs, groups, companies, enterprises in society and especially young people in the current Gen Z generation, so there should be a separate contest category sponsored by ActionCOACH Vietnam. The appearance of guests who own works of art, literature, and young artists loved by young people also helps the theme of the contest spread strongly, creating sympathy among young people.

About the contest entries: Authors can participate in the form of memoirs, reports, notes, reflecting real stories, real events and must have accompanying character images. The article must express the content about a character/group that has taken beautiful, practical actions to help individuals/communities, spreading warm, humane stories, optimistic and positive living spirit. As for short stories, the content can be composed from real or fictional stories, characters, events... of beautiful living. The contest entries must be written in Vietnamese (or English for foreigners, the organizers will take care of the translation) no more than 1,600 words (short stories no more than 2,500 words).

About the prize: The contest has a total prize value of nearly 450 million VND.

In the category of articles, reports, and notes, there are: 1 first prize: worth 30,000,000 VND; 2 second prizes: each worth 15,000,000 VND; 3 third prizes: each worth 10,000,000 VND; 5 consolation prizes: each worth 3,000,000 VND.

1 prize for the article most loved by readers (including views and likes on Thanh Nien Online): worth 5,000,000 VND.

For the short story category: Prizes for authors with short stories participating in the contest: 1 first prize: worth 30,000,000 VND; 1 second prize: worth 20,000,000 VND; 2 third prizes: each worth 10,000,000 VND; 4 consolation prizes: each worth 5,000,000 VND.

The Organizing Committee also awarded 1 prize to the author with an article about entrepreneurs living beautifully: worth 10,000,000 VND and 1 prize to the author with an outstanding charity project of a group/collective/enterprise: worth 10,000,000 VND.

In particular, the organizing committee will select 5 honored characters voted by the organizing committee: award 30,000,000 VND/case; along with many other prizes.

Articles, photos and videos to participate in the contest, readers send to the address: songdep2023@thanhnien.vn or by post (Only applicable for the Article and Short Story contest categories): Thanh Nien Newspaper Editorial Office: 268 - 270 Nguyen Dinh Chieu, Vo Thi Sau Ward, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City (clearly write on the envelope: Works participating in the 3rd LIVING BEAUTIFULLY contest - 2023). Detailed information and rules are posted on the Living Beautifully page of Thanh Nien Newspaper.

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