The meal was without my grandmother and mother, I went to my aunt Dieu’s house to eat at my uncle’s house, the garden was getting dark, the house was dimly lit by oil lamps. The peaceful but warm atmosphere of the house always had gentle and kind people today suddenly quieted down because my aunt and mute aunt were no longer there, my grandmother and mother were still on duty outside the infirmary.
At 7pm, I kept walking around the corner of the yard. For the first time, the young heart of a boy who had just entered puberty and was used to having a grandmother and mother who always took care of him suddenly became quiet because of the mute girl’s job. Until now, I always remember and keep in my heart the sudden feeling of loneliness because at that moment, there was no one by my side.
Sitting on the steps, my mood sank and I suddenly felt sad.
Suddenly everything lit up
The sound of bicycles clattering onto the yard
My aunt’s voice was gentle… calling out… have you showered yet… come with me to bring food to the infirmary
Oh, okay, I’ll take a shower later. Hurry up and ride your bike to bring the food out to your aunt or everyone will be hungry.
I closed the gate and rode my bike really fast with my aunt…oh, so at times like this, only people with the same blood and soul would wholeheartedly help each other in times of difficulty, but my grandmother sacrificed herself to take care of a mute girl who was not a stranger…that idea was something I only understood much later, because my grandmother said…if you sow good deeds, you will reap good deeds, God is my witness, my child.
Rushing through the dark night of the first days of the fourth lunar month, the purple village fields along the roadside were covered with grass touching the path of people walking, far away from the electric lights where the infirmary had long been just a moldy 3-room house, roofed with western tiles and bamboo beams, was just a place for the old doctor to sit and sign papers for people to come to the hospital for medical examination every day.
The medicine is just a few cold pills, a few stomachache pills, everything is bright now because the generator is running lightly in the warehouse. My uncle is running around talking and laughing, he said that there is a lot of gas. He tested it to generate electricity all night. He only needs to add coolant every 4 hours, he laughs. The lights are great, aren’t they? It’s all thanks to your grandmother’s efforts.
I wandered away from the delivery room, because I was grown up anyway… my aunt gently brought food for 4 or 5 people… at nearly 9 pm, the sound of a baby crying… was heard in the delivery room inside… my grandmother said that the first cry of every human being when born is the sacred cry of every living being to inform heaven and earth that we have existed in this world and hope for our ancestors to protect us. At that time, I did not believe because that sublime thing was not attractive because I often thought, I followed my grandmother to deliver babies, all the babies cried the same way…
Now that I think back, I realize that
huh, that’s right
Everyone comes from there..Everyone cries..but not everyone has the blessing of their ancestors to protect them..when they grow up they are beautiful, some are skinny and have difficulties, some become famous, some bring sadness to their parents.
I don’t know why Mr. Togiba and his wife still didn’t follow Ms. Nhung and Ms. Sau Phung back home. They still stayed with the doctor to witness the mute girl’s delivery. The next day I found out that it was all because Ms. Ha, the doctor, was really good at the delivery room using Western medicine methods.
She kept telling my grandmother, “I’ve been studying all my life, but today you’ll demonstrate the old method of midwifery that the teacher taught you… If you don’t help me, it will be lost in the future… and my grandmother agreed… the mute woman just lay on the shiny, chrome-plated delivery bed when examining the baby when she was about to give birth, turning the fetus’s head because the baby was in the head position, then the mute woman sat down on the bed… my mother sat with her back turned to make a support for the mute woman to sit on so my grandmother could deliver the baby… It was only later that I found out that the footage that Mr. Togiba filmed for the doctor was valuable material for the obstetrics industry to refer to later.
April night, the moon is clear, the wind is gentle, my aunt stays with the doctor who stays on night duty, my grandmother, the Japanese couple and I leisurely walk home, the village at night is so sweet and peaceful.. my mother said the little girl cried loudly when she came out, her eyes are long like melon seeds, her eyelids are wet and glistening, she looks at my grandmother, her mouth shaking and smacking.
I said so name it Wet Eyelashes Mom…lol
My mother said so, remove one letter… name it DO HOANG MY
The name of the little girl that my mother suddenly said in the rice field full of grain that season… was the golden grain and pearl of beauty that the mute girl left for the world… in front of the gate of the pink girl’s house , mother and child were still awake, me and everyone stopped to let the laughter and talking echo again in the corner of the village at night.
the days when the mute aunt was in labor… every day the doctor’s motorbike whirred back and forth in the village… i was transferred to the room on the big house on this side… on the other side of the house where the mute aunt and aunt Tham used to live… it was again the space of my childhood filled with the sound of children crying… the sound of the doctor taking care of her wet baby.
Because later my grandmother said… Miss Ha and her husband had been married for 5 years but had no children to build up capital… Now that she had a beautiful mute baby girl, she hugged her tightly like the treasure of her life… peaceful days. One afternoon, on my way home, I passed by Mr. Dam’s house, the door was still locked and quiet.
I cycled through the back door into the kitchen. Mr. Dam lay still, his limbs weak. He whispered. “I’m sick, my child.”
I’m bored with you..you’re crazy. I told you..are you too much for Mrs. Binh?
hehe..your father, this week she went to the city to take care of her newborn niece and didn’t come here…
I scraped his back, put the pot of porridge on… there was no meat… suddenly I heard the street vendor’s voice calling out…
Who wants wine? Who wants vegetables and meat?
I ran up, opened the door, ran out to the street and called out loudly, “Miss Hong!”
In just a moment, Ms. Hong’s tray of vegetables, meat and fish has become a pot of delicious meat porridge… Thi No porridge for people who are sick.
The sound of the pink lady climbing and hanging…to die…eating to get well soon…following one after another
I sat watching Miss Hong scoop porridge…smiling…thinking about her accident last year with Mr. Dam…Miss Hong is gone. Mr. Dam said that the happiest thing in a man’s life is to hear the sound of a woman’s voice when he is angry, he explodes…a person like Miss Hong is rare, my dear…hehe…I’m weak, even medicine can only help, my strength will never be able to handle the passion of A Hong, my dear
After eating the porridge, he woke up, sat up, and took some cold pills. He asked about my grandmother and how the mute woman gave birth. He gently stroked my hair and said he wasn’t too interested in many things this year… because age chases away spring. By the way, your family down there has a lot of people. Come up and spend the night with Mr. Tu sometimes.
simple dinner…i talked about what grandpa talked about this afternoon, my grandma said so you go to sleep with grandpa bring your books, tomorrow morning go to school
My mother looked at me silently, a moment later she said…he is good to our family but his life is very complicated, remember to learn what is bright in you
In the fifth lunar month, the rice fields have been harvested. Each plowed furrow runs straight along each plot of rice, a few stubbles are turned upside down, and are carried by the light night breeze. After a few rains, the sound of frogs at night spreads along each field. While cycling, I keep thinking about what Ms. Ha talked about a few nights ago. She said,
Her husband is studying IVF for 2 years far away… both of them have a very luxurious house on the street… but listening to Ms. Phung talk about the story of her sister leaving everything to come here because of something that is not in the books…
she said
his heart looked at you very affectionately
I said it was probably because her family took care of her and helped her, and besides, everyone loved her.
She asked if he had a girlfriend yet. I heard that he used to follow her to help deliver babies a lot..hihi, do you still remember anything?
I told her that when she was 6 months old, her grandmother took her to the delivery room in the village…hihi
Now looking at Ms. Ha, she is so sweet, her eyes are sharp, a city girl with experience… I keep wishing for a distant, strange sky
Looking back…oh I’m out washing the fields, the pink roof of her house juts up into the bright moonlit night sky, the wind blows at night…mistakably,
Suddenly I turned the car around…it was just past 8pm so the lady probably wasn’t asleep yet…