That last rain of the season that day…is a silence until now, it always makes me wonder…
What night was that night..
That rain, like thousands of thousands of falling rains… it was unusual as if there was no warning… but only my grandmother’s old age bone and joint pain, felt and predicted…
The rain was strange, not falling heavily, but in gusts, howling with cold gusts of wind.
I turned to look at the mute girl… ah sister Tam, she must have just finished bathing, the short shirt she was wearing had a wide neckline, revealing the pleated fringe on her chest…
I just wrote it in the notebook, you go out and close the gate… well, never mind, you’re older than me… with this rain, I’m sure the other woman’s husband won’t tell her to be quiet anymore… I pulled the window in, the wind has been blowing sideways through the house, the wind rolled down to the yard, outside… the night wind and rain are rustling, swirling around
Quickly ran out the gate… pitch black, endless night… only reaching the slope leading to the yard, my head was wet like a drowned rat…
Shelf…bathroom…
But why is the rain so cold? The gutter on the porch roof poured down, the water flowed down… it was dark, I quickly took off my shirt and pants… picked them up, took a bath and exclaimed, why is the wind so cold…
Boom…lightning flashed dryly
Burnt,.. burned smell… matches like firecrackers exploding in the sky… I’m scared… trembling..
Quickly ran into the upper rooms…there was only the small oil lamp that the mute girl had lit on the high altar.
The door slammed shut…whoosh, cold wind blew in, the first wind of the season, the wind brought cold air into the house…tonight only me and the mute girl stayed.
I quickly changed my clothes, sat and listened to the breathing in the countryside… the feeling of being reckless in the night, fighting the cold wind of the first season, my head was numb… the feeling of shivering made me scared to leave the house… I wished that at this time my mother… my grandmother was there to protect me…
Suddenly, the mute figure stood in the middle of the door, her hand waving… she quickly walked down to the kitchen, lit a pile of straw… the fire flared up, she pressed me to sit close… I breathed a sigh of relief, it turned out she had seen me bathing in the rain, the cold wind of the beginning of the season…
The bag is warm…
She nodded mutely…
I ran quickly to the side room, crawled into bed, covered myself with the blanket…yawned lightly, exhaled…warm, very warm
I sank into oblivion, despite the rain outside, the cold wind of the beginning of the season gently blowing. A faint sleepiness seemed to want to appear… the scene of the countryside, the scene of her rosy, bewildered cheeks, the sharp gaze of a mature woman…
I fell asleep quickly.
From time to time in oblivion, echoes the call of young men and women on the riverbank, the love of couples preparing to get married, every winter in my hometown is the wedding season.
Rustling as if someone is turning the pages of a book, raindrops falling behind the house, wind, wind rustling the banana leaves… another early winter night in the quiet garden
I opened my eyes, on the other side of the desk, about 3 meters away, the mute girl was still staring intently at the book on the table.
I curled up, turned around…the bed creaked.
She turned back and smiled…
I looked out the door, her door was locked…it’s late, why isn’t she asleep yet…
She turned her back, holding the notebook, I looked at it and guessed the word…
Tu is awake, she smiled gently, her eyes were sparkling, she was dead.
Surely you have been reading Mr. Dam’s book… I occasionally secretly look at it, in which there are many drawings depicting the positions of two men and women having sex…
Oh my god…these days, I only encounter scary things…I think if my mother saw me reading and watching those things…
Then …
I was so scared, I couldn’t think of anything, I covered my head with the blanket… I peeked at the mute girl pulling the chair…
Ket, she sat mute on the chair at the head of the bed…
I tapped the notebook on the blanket and peeked out…to read the words,
Who gave you the cake?
Honestly, her handwriting is not beautiful, her handwriting is fast, sometimes she has wrong strokes, tones, sharps, sharps, sharps, rhymes… but I can quickly guess what she wants to ask.
Oh, oh, the rose sells wine.
Why did you give the cake?
Please pick up the child for me this afternoon.
Suddenly she clapped her hands behind her back… she stretched her white neck… she bent down… wrote a few words…
back pain
I patted the bed, you lie down here…, she quietly went into bed and brought out a blanket and pillow.
Lie down
She was lying on her side, facing me, her back to the oil lamp. Suddenly she reached up and tilted her body as if she was lying on her stomach, diligently writing…who gave you that book…
I lay on my side reading, looking at her face, eyes as if wanting to smile.
She leaned over again, bowed her head and wrote.
so cool
I told him, because one day Tu went to Mr. Dam’s house to cut traditional medicine for her to drink on the day she caught a cold from the rain in the cornfield… after that, a few days Tu often went to Mr. Dam’s house to see the turtledoves… he told many stories, asked Tu if he had reached puberty yet, then let Tu bring that book home to read, Tu only read a few pages…
Hiiii. I smile a lucky smile…
Don’t tell mom, okay? Then I’ll tell you.
She listened attentively, her eyes sparkling, her mouth smiling… lying on her side, legs stretched out, one bent… suddenly she pulled the blanket around her waist… her right hand reached out… as if wanting to intertwine with mine,
I touch ….
I looked at her mute, only saw that she was so beautiful…her eyes were closed gently, half closed…
I asked…
do you miss someone
She turned mute and wrote.
..no…she just feels peaceful
She wrote it a long time ago…let me read it…she misses her mother, misses her mother’s hug…her life is worthless…why does she meet only bad people, only her family loves her
Her tears rolled down gently
I put out my fingertips and gently wiped away the tears…
She smiled.
The oil lamp on the other side was still on… the yellow light… shone into the space of the room, the quiet and warm room in the house across… out there the natural garden was still howling, the cold wind
She closed her eyes and was mute… I didn’t know what to do…
Suddenly she turned mute and wrote…
Tu, what story did you say just now?
childish mind, the first time lying next to a girl, not knowing what fate or luck… I told… about the times I went to Mr. Dam’s house to watch birds… told…
tell about the pink girl
How pink she was, she was mute as if curiously following the story
I was silent
She put her hand on my mouth and laughed…
I don’t know why I suddenly blurted out that sentence…that pink girl was talking to Mr. Dam…her eyes widened…
….
After I said that sentence… scared, embarrassed, I turned around to face the other side, I didn’t know what she was thinking.
Suddenly she put her finger on my shoulder and pulled me back.
She tapped gently, raised the notebook up…two words…tell me…
Then the pink lady and Mr. Dam…like Mr. Dam lying on top of the pink lady, making the pink lady pregnant….
My mouth kept hesitating…
She gently shook my shoulder again… as if to say… continue…
The oil lamp on the other side swayed in the wind. The wind from the crack in the door blew into the warm space of the house… suddenly the wind blew up… the lamp suddenly went out.
The dark space…as silent as silence, the wind, the rain, the early season cold…
I feel less shy… the images of that day come back… I tell you, what my soul was floating about back then.
It started from the time I followed the edge of the rice field, entered the back door to watch the birds…
The scene of the house behind Mr. Dam’s house… was like a movie, flowing with images and obscene sounds, I don’t remember how the story ended… I only remember the sound of the mute girl’s breathing rising and falling on the other side…