September, the first days of September. The peaceful countryside in the afternoon, the wind blew gently.. the old jackfruit tree in front of the yard had a few yellow leaves, the thick, plump clusters of jackfruit had gradually thinned out, it was ripe, picked.. there on the high branches, far away, there were only a few crooked fruits, flat on all sides, not knowing if there were any segments.. but every day, Ms. Cam, or Ms. Tam, held a bamboo pole and clapped it loudly as if hoping..
.it’s okay, she craves fruit..she eats a lot, but the edible fruit is in the village.
I don’t know who often visited my grandmother… pregnant women, their family members came with them, they all brought fruits from the garden, it seemed like it was a small gift to welcome, or to thank my grandmother… the Midwife always cared for the creatures, their pregnancies… also because… only those who lived through the years would understand…
My mother taught for nearly 10 years, her monthly salary was only 38 dong, along with 13 kg of rice… a few food stamps… just to look at… my grandmother didn’t have a salary, every month she received 8 dong in allowance.
The countryside is poor and hard… every time a healthy baby is born, the reward from her is only smiles, a few bunches of vegetables… sometimes a chicken… hehe… the sincere and warm hearts of people in the same situation…
Since I knew my grandmother took care of the mute girl in the situation… she also wanted to guide the mute girl to a career… inherited from her… the mute girl was also in the period of morning sickness, pregnant…
A few chay fruits, a few guavas, late season ripe star fruit… fragrant ripe grapefruit brought a new life… at noon I went to my grandmother’s house to listen, examine the life… the fetus growing from the ground, the village was still poor, only had rice and vegetables, less fish and meat… the village was far from the city. But the people still had a strong will, the village still existed, still progressed because of the name the ancestors had given it.
At noon, she took out her pole and knocked on the jackfruit… the long, crooked jackfruit was lying at the very tip of the branch…
Tu, it’s nine…she ran into the house and gave me the notebook with four words she had just written.
Her smile is like sunshine, I look at her so beautiful…a simple, primitive beauty…only her gait…like she has two rows…the mute girl is plump, the mute girl is gaining weight…the mother’s function is accumulating to nurture the sprout, people say being a girl, being a female…the most beautiful thing is that they get to be pregnant, to be a mother
I just finished eating, put the ladder up on the jackfruit branch… the pole she gave me to hook across,
pop
She brought the jackfruit to the corner of the yard, split it open…there were only a few segments, many fibers, but she silently carved each segment and ate it like people ate candy.
My grandmother said…women are so miserable, when pregnant…each person has a strange way of eating…craving the things people want to throw away…the pregnant woman at the beginning of the village gave birth to 5 children…every time she got pregnant, her husband had to go ask the chef to give her food, my child.
Grandma, did my mom eat like that in the past?
Oh, your mom only has sour star fruit and young grapefruit…the peel is a bit spicy…but your mom eats it very well
She could hear what she said…she just smiled…after a while she put the notebook at her feet and wrote a few words,,,very delicious
Grandma asked, are you going to school this afternoon?
Yes, I have a 1-hour test.
My mom said I’ll go to my friend’s house around 2pm, I’ll sleep there so I don’t have to cycle early tomorrow.
So who teaches you in the afternoon?
I ask you to teach me instead.
Remember to bring a warm coat. The weather has been erratic these past few days. My leg is really aching. It must be raining or the first north wind of the season.
I cycled to school after first period…
recess
My friends and I looked out the window…on the other side were a group of teenage girls, their hair in ponytails, their breasts budding…suddenly a girl from the next class walked past my classroom window and said
Tu, is anyone looking for you outside the gate?
I went out the gate…crazy…Miss Hong again, maybe Miss Hong changed her mind…she looked for me and my heart felt like it was being squeezed.
The stubbornness of a stubborn age… I raised my head. My eyes were fierce… my gaze looked straight at her chest, that place was big, full, thin, heavy… my gaze slid down to the lower abdomen… there it was… my heart suddenly started to beat wildly.
She silently took off her hat, lifted her scarf, her cheeks were red…a woman’s feeling like someone…a man or boy was looking deep into her private place…
She smiled…
Are you mad at me? Why are you looking at me like that?
What did you say to me? I told you I don’t know anything…why do you keep…
The pink lady looked like she wanted to cry…she was sad like she was being rejected by people…feeling like a lonely person, relying on no one for anything
She gently held my hand..
Tu, I want to ask you something.
What did she say?
What time do you get out of school this afternoon?
I’ll check later. I’ll probably be able to go home around 3 o’clock.
Luckily…can you help me…can you pick him up this afternoon and take him home for me…or can you take him home…
Why don’t you come pick me up?
Too bad now I have to go to the market to deliver wine to 3 places…look there are 3 big, heavy cans…I probably won’t be back until 5 o’clock, how can I pick you up on time..
Poor me, I had to walk more than a kilometer to get home..if something happened to me, you would die…
Ah..ah, so that’s it…I thought…you wanted to act brave and threaten me
Her eyes were filled with tears.
Yes, what did she say… help me… I don’t dare ask anyone
This afternoon, she hired a man to chop wood… she was going to ask him to pick her up… but he’s deaf and confused, if he forgets, it’ll be terrible.
Why don’t you ask that guy? I heard him say the other day that he likes you very much.
Oh my god…that old man is so perverted…his wife shouted to be quiet…every time he comes to her house, pretending to buy alcohol, she knows very well what he wants…she has to stay away…she also suffers…my dear.
Every story the other day… she wanted to lose sleep and appetite…
Hiiihihi…I laugh…
It’s okay, teacher…that day I saw you yelling so loud…
She hit my hand lightly… are you smiling at me?
No…I like it too.
Okay, go to school…remember to pick your brother up for me.
….
I know Miss Hong’s house sells wine…her little girl keeps getting yelled at by her dad…Honey, we’re almost at my house.
The main road running through the village somehow has a few extra houses on the west side of the road behind which is a vast open rice field.
Her house was at the end of the row, the fence seemed to be separate from the other houses by a pond… Mr. Tram still used his hand to feel the wood grain to make sure he had the right vein.
Her little girl is in first grade, her face is rosy and pretty, running around the yard.
Three simple and sturdy brick houses… discreetly have a room… small ditch leading to a pond… a few late autumn fish swimming slowly along the edge of the grass
Hey, come play at my house. Would you like to eat some grapefruit? My mom peeled it and left it in the basket.
Carefree children… lonely circumstances, she probably has few friends to play with, easy-going… everyone clings to her… like looking for someone to lean on
I sat on the steps looking out at the fields in the late sunlight, the sunlight in the countryside, the late afternoon sunlight… suddenly thinking of the pink girl… that day… strong. She was also thirsty…, her moans… her legs kicked… wrapped around Mr. Dam’s hips like a pair of snakes in early spring mating… that’s why he was so eager for Mr. Dac… kept drooling.
The sky is turning to winter, the month of October has not yet smiled but it is already dark, the sunlight on the fields seems to have a dark purple shadow… the bamboo tops sway as if a gentle north wind is blowing, the humidity, carrying with it like a sweet cold
Miss Hong fell down and cycled home. Her back was wet, cold and cool, but her forehead was still covered in sweat.
Oh, Tu…I thank you so much.
The little girl ran out, hugged her mother, shook her thighs, and pulled her pants up like a spoiled child.
Mom… Anh Tu took me home, I was very good, I didn’t go to the pond to play, I listened to my dear mother…hiiii
That’s how miserable you are, kid.
Why don’t you ask your husband’s family?
She sat down on the steps and took off her scarf… fanned herself with her hat. I sat on the steps and looked at her white neck… a few strands of hair from her chest exuded the thirst of men, the day he suddenly said he was drooling… somewhere in the wind, the smell of sweat from a day of cycling mixed with the smell of strong aromatic drops of wine… she lightly rolled up her pants.
Oh her plump, pink, white ankles
She stood up, took out some cakes, untied the strings, peeled off the top, and asked her to eat them…thank you.
She smiled, a gentle smile, her eyes glanced sideways…
Tu, everyone is born with their own worries, she also wants to ask her husband’s family for help..
Her husband’s parents have both passed away, her mother keeps telling her to go back to the countryside, but she can still live here, just because
Why?
She was alone, everyone thought she would be a promiscuous person…when you grow up you will understand…why that day happened…
She hesitated..
What day is it, miss?
Hehe, that day I was so full of tears…I was so scared I couldn’t stop staring, hihihi
Not bad, huh? Oh, but why are you talking about Mr. Dam?
She walked away..
Have you gone up to get medicine for grandma yet? If not, I will bring the wine up tomorrow and give it to him.
Why did you give him wine?
Oh, he soaked it in some kind of Chinese medicine and sold it to men.
Oh, no wonder…I’m going home now, teacher.
Hold some cakes for her and her grandmother…
It’s cold today, isn’t it?
I cycled out of the gate…the wind rustled, the cold wind blew back to my neighborhood, the rain was falling down…
The house is quiet, light rain at the end of the season…where are grandma and aunt?
After a while she went silent..
I asked, where is grandma?
She took out the notebook with the words “hien” written on it and wrote quickly… I understood what she meant, she took her grandmother to the clinic in the village, the other woman was in labor… she stayed here tonight, if anything happened her husband would come down and call the mute woman to come up and help her.
I laughed, I know, hiiii..sometimes it hurts, two days later I give birth
She smiled peacefully…the meal went on in silence…I suddenly thought…why did this happen…
She eats very little…
Only I ate quietly… she smiled and wrote in her notebook… the cake was so delicious, she ate one just now…
People give….
Who is it…she wrote in the notebook again…
I told her …secret
The rain fell on the wet yard…not a shower, not spring rain, probably a cold wind blew in, carrying the cold, sowing the rain seeds to fall.
My study table in the evening…the mute girl sitting next to it, she just took a shower, her breath and hands still smelled like ripe jackfruit from the afternoon…
The rain seemed to be pouring heavily…patter, swish…I covered myself and flipped through Mr. Dam’s book…
The mute girl told Tu to close the gate, it’s raining now so no one will come..
Outside…it was raining and thundering continuously, lightning, unseasonal storms, flashes of lightning…who is it, who has gone through the years of ordinary wind and rain?