Laughter through the alley - Tay Ninh Online Newspaper

- Help! Help!

I quickly put down my half-eaten bowl of noodles and ran out to the alley. I didn't know what was going on this early in the morning. Right in front of my alley, the inter-hamlet road ran through a section that was flooded with rainwater and full of sand. The motorbike had fallen on its side, and a group of seven or eight kids were shouting at each other to lift the bike up so Hai Chi could pull out the wooden leg that had been crushed by the bike. I quickly ran over and lifted the bike up. Hai Chi sat on the ground, laughing heartily:

- There's too much sand here, I slipped and fell! Luckily I didn't break my wooden leg. Can you get me my crutch, Nam Minh?

Looking over, seeing that Hai Chi was not injured at all, I handed him the wooden crutch.

- He has a crippled leg, yet he still dares to climb on a motorbike and ride around. I give up, brother!

- Well, it's far from home to school. How long will it take to get there on crutches?

Hai Chi held onto the crutches and slowly stood up, shouting at the children:

- Hurry up! Go to class or you'll be late!

Hang the crutches along the motorbike. Hai Chi put it in second gear and started the engine. The kids ran after him like a swarm of bees.

Mr. Hai Chi, a man as strong as a rosewood tree, although over sixty years old, was the only disabled soldier in Rung Cham hamlet. Although he had lost his right leg, Mr. Hai Chi worked as hard as any other farmer. As the contractor for the Ba Mau fish pond, he not only looked after and rowed a boat to feed the fish, but also swam like an otter. The children in the hamlet, seeing him swim in the water more easily than walking on land, sniffed:

- The teacher with one leg can swim so well!

- Haha! When I was in the army, I could even swim across the river!

There were children in Rung Cham Hamlet who could not go to school. More than a dozen Kinh and Khmer children, from eight to ten years old, ran around all day, sometimes picking up noodles, sometimes looking for fish. Their parents said why study so much. There was no shortage of work in the countryside, so helping their parents a little was good. Hai Chi felt dissatisfied. Children had the right to go to school. Now some people used the excuse that the school was far away and they did not have money to pay for tuition, so he would open a literacy class for the children. Said and done, he sold a cow, hired someone to make some tables and chairs, borrowed a storage room from the temple, cleaned it up and made it into a classroom. Hearing that Hai Chi wanted to open a literacy class for poor children, the hamlet immediately agreed. A primary school teacher volunteered to ask for some old textbooks and brought them back to him. When the villagers heard that the classes were free, only in the morning, they were pleased. Letting the children come for Hai Chi to tutor and teach them, was better than letting them stay out in the sun. Study in the morning, leaving them with plenty of time in the afternoon to help with housework. The most satisfying thing was Hai Chi's wife. He was a teacher, so he didn't have to weed or herd cows in the sun all day. The housework was done in one go with her and Ut. I saw that the writing board was still missing, so I took two old doors, put them together, bought black paint, and brought it to give as a gift. Mr. Hai Chi grabbed my hand and shook it so hard it hurt.

- Thanks Nam Minh! I was thinking of putting up a black tarp to use!

In the morning, when I had just finished cleaning the house and yard, the children’s laughter could be heard outside the alley. They went to class with childlike joy. A moment later, Hai Chi’s motorbike slowed down and sped away with hearty laughter, responding to the children’s excited greetings. Some greeted the teacher, some greeted the grandfather, and some even called out “Chi’s father!”

- No, hello sir, hello dad! You can say hello to the teacher!

The children's voices and the laughter of teachers and students melted into the sunlight, filling the alley of my house.

Hai Chi was a very good student when he was young. He knew his family was poor, so he studied even harder. When he finished the twelfth grade, he was planning to take the entrance exam to the Pedagogical University when the border war broke out. Hai Chi volunteered to join the army. Two years later, he returned home with a wooden crutch and his right leg was amputated up to the knee. On moonlit nights, gathering with friends in the temple yard, Hai Chi often told stories about the old battlefield. He said the Pol Pot regime was vicious, spreading leaf mines as small as cigarette packs, and if our soldiers stepped on them, the mines would explode and tear off their feet. During a pursuit of the enemy, Hai Chi jumped over a rock and stepped on a mine, crushing his right foot. The wound was slow to heal, and because of gangrene, it had to be amputated up to the knee. His friend from the tenth grade, was so heartbroken that she cried and confessed her love to Hai Chi. He had a beautiful, capable young wife without having to flirt with her. Although they were poor, they lived very happily. The three daughters were as talented as their mother, so the family's economy gradually improved. Although he was crippled, Hai Chi did not lack any work. Every morning, he hobbled to the cowshed to clean up the manure, then went to the garden to hoe the land to plant sweet potatoes, and weed the cassava. During the harvest season, his wife and children cut the rice and put it on the bank, Hai Chi alone loaded it onto the motorbike and drove it home. Now he was old, with a few gray hairs on his head, but Mr. Hai Chi had no intention of resting. When his wife saw him open a class, she was very happy. Well, luckily! He thought of a reasonable and appropriate job. A disabled person still toiled in the fields. Poor thing. Some people even spoke harshly and mocked her: "With his war invalid salary, doesn't he have enough to eat and still abuse people?". It was really hard. It was his personality, no one forced him. Hai Chi ignored the gossip. He worked with the will and determination of a soldier who was "disabled but not useless".

The class was about to end, Mr. Hai Chi asked the students:

- Who hasn't bought a notebook yet?

Half the class raised their hands. The teacher gave each child two notebooks, with the instruction: “Keep them clean!” The day before, when he got his salary, he gave all the money to his wife and said: “Buy me thirty notebooks!” She nodded, not asking again. He must have bought them for his poor students. Since he became a teacher, there has never been a month when his salary has remained intact.

- The boiled noodles smell so good! Teacher, I'm hungry!

A student sitting at the table outside shouted. Teacher Hai Chi was about to remind him when he saw my wife walking in with a basket of boiled noodles:

- The teachers and students ate cassava to fill their stomachs. It's noon! The noodles are delicious!

The students fidgeted, but still sat still looking at the teacher. Hai Chi reminded:

- Thank you, Aunt Nam!

The children said in unison:

- Oh...oh...thank you...auntie...!

Ba Tieu's eight-year-old son Teo was as destructive as a bandit. Holding two pieces of noodles in both hands, he jumped from table to table, shouting. Before Hai Chi could stop him, the student slipped and fell, hitting his head on the corner of the table. Teo bit his lip and stood up, ignoring the shouts of his friends around him:

- Blood! Oh my god, my head is bleeding!

He still stubbornly stood still, ignoring the teacher rushing to get first aid supplies. Hai Chi, out of habit, always carried with him a first aid kit with the red cross on it from his time in the army. Inside were red medicine, bandages, and some cold and stomach ache medicine. The bandage stopped the bleeding in time, but the torn part needed to be stitched. Hai Chi led the bike out, shouting at the students to help Teo sit on the back of the bike. Hai Chi ordered:

-One of you sitting at the back, hold on tight!

At the commune health station, the doctor had to stitch four stitches on Teo's head, inject antibiotics, and then let him go home. Taking Teo straight home, Mr. Hai Chi ran into his mother at the gate, along with screams:

- Oh my god! My son's teacher taught him to read and write, but how did he end up like this? If anything happens to him, I'll make that teacher pay!

Mr. Chi shook his head in dismay, not having time to encourage Teo's mother.

The students sat silently, looking at the teacher tiredly holding his head. When the children saw the teacher suddenly collapse on the table, they ran up and chattered:

- Teacher! What's wrong?

Hai Chi tried to move his head and whispered:

- Run over…Nam Minh…tell him to come…for me!

I hurriedly ran after the kids. Hai Chi beckoned me to come closer:

- Low…blood…pressure! Give me…a glass of water…

I understood, ran home, stabbed ginger and mixed it with a glass of sugar water and brought it over. After drinking the water, after about ten minutes Hai Chi gradually became sober.

- You guys go home! Uncle Nam will take me home. Tomorrow is the day off!

The older students gathered around to help the teacher onto the bike, and one of them sat behind to hold him. I only dared to drive slowly, taking the wounded teacher home. Hai Chi's wife seemed to be used to this scene, calmly helping her husband down from the bike and carrying him into the house:

- Your blood pressure is low again! I told you, you have to try to eat something in the morning to warm your stomach.

I shook my head:

- If I don't eat breakfast, I'll faint, let alone him! Are you planning to take him to the doctor? I'll take him!

- No need! Thanks, Uncle Nam!

During the days that Mr. Hai Chi was in bed recovering, the children would sunbathe in the fields, catch crabs and shrimp, or climb trees to look for bird nests. I took advantage of the sunny weather, unable to go out to the garden, to visit Hai Chi. He lay exhausted on the bed, his face pale.

- Brother, try to eat well and take your medicine! Hypotension is just as dangerous as high blood pressure. Be careful of a stroke!

- I know, uncle! Please, when you have time, come to the classroom and fix the chairs with broken legs for me. The kids keep climbing and jumping on the tables and chairs, damaging everything!

Small matter! It only costs a few nails. I can do it in a flash. I'm just worried about your health, you can't come to class early. I asked you, how far do you plan to teach the little students? You smiled sadly:

- Well, try to teach them how to read and write. Just basic addition and subtraction. If they want to study further, they have to go to a proper school. This depends on the students' parents and whether the school creates conditions for them or not!

Hai Chi had been lying down to recuperate for a week, then he got up and demanded to go to school. His wife did not allow it, and even invited a doctor to come to the house to re-examine him and give him medicine. Hai Chi felt sad if the students did not come to visit him one day, bringing all the fruits they had found, from guava, star fruit, rambutan, and custard apple. I was also sad when I did not hear the children laughing and talking through the alley every morning.

One early morning, I had just finished making a pot of tea and poured a cup to enjoy. Suddenly, outside the alley, there was the sound of children's laughter, then Hai Chi's voice reminded me:

- Don't run! Be careful not to fall!

He must have recovered and started teaching.

PPQ

Source: https://baotayninh.vn/tieng-cuoi-qua-ngo-a175515.html