Late Love - Tay Ninh Online Newspaper

After days of scorching heat, it rained heavily. The yard was filled with fallen leaves. Mrs. Ha was sweeping and smiling. She was happy because this morning her short story was published in the newspaper. It was impossible to describe the great happiness when she opened the newspaper and saw her story. She shouted like a child when she received a gift.

Just think about it and feel sorry for yourself. She devoted her entire youth to the profession of “teaching children”. I remember the days sitting in the university lecture hall, when her friends were diligently studying General Chemistry, she wrote a sick note, but was present in Literature class listening to the teacher lecture on Kieu.

She was moved by the teacher's wonderful comments; or at times in the school library, when her friends were looking for Chemistry books to look up, she would hug a stack of newspapers, leisurely sit and read, meticulously writing down good poems and favorite sentences in her notebook. All of those passionate actions did not escape the eyes of the class monitor. One day, he came and sat close and said:

- Can I sit with Ha for a moment?

- Sure friend!

He raised his glasses to look carefully:

- Ha copied the excerpts?

- That's right Hung, very good sentences.

- I think Ha loves literature and poetry very much. Why didn't you take the Literature exam back then?

- Because I study in a specialized class of Math, Physics, Chemistry.

- If you are really passionate, you can also study for the exam yourself.

Ha was quite confused by Hung's statement. He calmly asked a difficult question:

- So now Ha continues to study Chemistry or intends to retake Literature exam?

Ha shook her head repeatedly:

- No! I never intended to do that. It was very difficult for me to get in. Hung, you know, the standard score is 12, but I only got 13.5, not 27, 28… like you guys. Maybe, in this class, there are only a few students with low scores like me.

- No such intention! But it's hard to get in but easy to get out. Every year, the number of students forced to drop out of school is not small. - Hung smiled lightly.

Ha turned pale:

- What does Hung mean by that?

- To put it bluntly, Ha is a knife that is not sharp but is not diligent in sharpening. Look around here, most of the students who took the entrance exam had higher scores than Ha but they are very hard-working, studying day and night, but what about Ha? You should look at yourself! I'm telling the truth, if she is lucky enough to graduate and become a teacher, be careful that Ha's students will comment that she has a lot of knowledge in Literature but limited knowledge in Chemistry.

- Never. I will try!

- When you try? When there are so many documents in this library but you don't research and accumulate.

That night, in the attic on Le Thanh Ton Street, Ha could not sleep. Hung's stern gaze and every word like a knife made Ha afraid.

Oh my God! If things had happened like that, nothing would have been worse. I remember the day I passed the university entrance exam, my mother was so happy. She bragged to the whole neighborhood, “My son passed the university entrance exam”, “My son is a university student!”…

I love the Ao Ba (traditional Vietnamese dress) my parents wore with their grandmother’s skillful patch. I love my grandmother’s excessive thriftiness, not daring to sew new clothes, not daring to eat expensive food, saving up for Ha to go to “Sai Gon” like her older sisters and younger siblings. If one day she was expelled from school, not only would my mother be desperate, but my only younger brother would also have no spirit left to study. Oh well! Starting tomorrow, we will start our lives over again.

Hung is a really good friend, often teaching Ha lessons. He is always humorous, enthusiastic and gentle. This is probably the first time he has been harsh. But thinking about it, for a seriously ill patient, strong medicine is probably the right dose. Thank you Hung, thank you for your sincere, straightforward and extremely valuable words!

* * *

After graduating and starting teaching, she realized the importance of the subject. Whether taking the A or B block exams, Chemistry is required. Ha threw herself into teaching and researching tirelessly. She often confided to a close friend: “I love Literature so much, I don’t know when I will be able to live with it. Chemistry is like a husband to whom I have lived with all my heart and soul, and literature is like a person I love dearly but cannot be with.” Her friend smiled and said:

- Writer Son Nam once said that if writing were easy, all the Chinese in Cho Lon would be doing it, not his turn.

Another friend echoed:

- “Writing is not a profession that everyone can have!”. That sentence was also said by a writer!

Hearing her friend's words, Mrs. Ha did not argue but just smiled.

Retired at 55, she began to read some works that she had only heard of before. She greatly admired To Hoai. Wow! 94 years old, 70 years of career, nearly 200 books covering many topics. How did he write to have such a huge group of spiritual children? Surely, he did not wait for the words to come out on their own.

When learning about To Hoai, Ms. Ha learned the viewpoint: “A writer must see writing as a form of labor, even if that form is somewhat special…”; “Writing is a difficult task, not an unusual one. So even if you don’t feel inspired, you still have to write… that is a working habit”; “It is necessary to go into real life to nourish the pen, one must know how to observe…”.

Reading To Hoai’s books, she realized many things, learning from him his persistent working style. Although she had never met him, had never been taught a single word by him, she considered him her great teacher. She also practiced observing, analyzing, synthesizing every detail, laboring, plowing through each word… diligently writing the article and finally boldly sending it. What followed were days of waiting, nervousness… and just as To Huu said:

"Longing for a hundred years, waiting forever.

Today is a happy day, like in a dream…”

When the story was published, students joked:

- In the future people will call her "Young Writer".

Oh! How funny! A 60 year old woman is still considered young.

Young in the profession, miss.

I know!

* * *

The yard was large, with many ornamental plants, some with very small leaves like jasmine, laurel, and mai chieu thuy. When it rained, the leaves fell and stuck to the brick floor. To sweep them away, she had to use a lot of force. This was the job that Mrs. Ha did every day, but today she worked with a different mindset and a different eye.

She thought, sweeping the yard is manual labor, writing is mental labor. Sweeping the yard is cleaning the garden, writing is cleaning the soul. The product of hard work sweeping is a vast yard, looking clean. The product of hard work writing is a short story, whether bad or not, I don't know, but I'm happy that I like it!

Mrs. Ha entered the house, her back soaked with the remaining raindrops mixed with sweat. She smiled again: As writer Phan Cao Toai said, "I am not a talented person, so I will try to work hard to create valuable works."

Mrs. Ha's late love affair with literature has begun to bear fruit, too sweet.

HN

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