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by Do Thi Hong Van Trang was at the district People’s Committee headquarters waiting to have some documents notarized. "Trang! Trang! Is that Miss Trang?" a call resounded behind her. She turned around to see a man of about fifty, with an imposing gait carrying a bundle of papers in hand, elbowing his way across the crowd.
"Oh wow! Huy! When did you start working here?" "Just recently. Your papers need to be authenticated, don’t they?" he asked her. "My office is very crowded today, there is no way to certify them before the afternoon. I’ll work on them later. How about a drink outside?" he suggested. "No, please go ahead with whatever you were doing, because you’re still at work," she replied. "Would you mind completing them for me as soon as possible? It’s boring to just sit here waiting, especially when I’m so busy!" she said anxiously. They shook hands. "OK, it’s just a small thing!" he agreed. "I haven’t seen you for ages. I’m really happy to see you. Here is my business card. Could you give me your number?" The next day was beautiful. They met in a small quiet restaurant by the shore of the lake. Warm spring sun beams nestled on the slender cluster of bamboo near the window. She was wearing a flowered blouse dotted with light yellow patterns and green leaves. Her black hair was trimmed in an oval shape, hanging down over her lilly-white neck. Her rosy face looked chubby. She was sitting there, staring at the surface of the lake. Huy was deeply moved. With a bit of a trembling hand he reached for the packet of cigarettes in his pocket, then lit a fire. Raising her glass of brandy, she smiled brilliantly. "Congratulations on your promotion," she praised him. "How fast time flies! Over twenty years have passed. But I can’t forget our days at school," he recollected. Trang bent her head down to bully him a bit. "You were very mischievous back then," she said. "Your bike chain snapped at my trousers while you were pedaling to class. What’s more, you threw several guava at my head from the tree in your orchard. How many tricks did you play on me?" she accused him. He burst into childlike laughter. Even the wrinkles on his forehead were stretched. "I’ve never thought that you might still nurse ill will against me!" he responded. "Hm… now, who set dogs out to chase me away? Who hid my bike key, so that I was punished for coming to class very late? You seemed to treat me terribly over and over, didn’t you," he asked. All of a sudden his voice turned down regretfully. He told her about the miserable period he had after leaving college, especially the unrequited love affairs he had after a hasty marriage when he passed the age of thirty, and so on and so forth. Trang listened to him sympathetically, slightly stirring her coffee. "Dear me! How pitiful you were! After we broke up you avenged yourself in life by marrying a fair lady? Needless to say, I must congratulate you on your achievements," she consoled him sarcastically. "How can you have the heart to say it like that? I’m totally upset." Suddenly, his phone rang. "Why are you still away from home at this hour?" yelled an angry female voice. "I’m awfully sorry. I must go out to take this phone call," he said while walking away. A few minutes later, his phone rang again. "Nothing special! My daughter pressed the wrong button," he explained when he came back. "But in any case, it’s already late. I should go home right now because my wife, Loan, and our daughter have been waiting for me," he added. "I’ll have to head home too," said Trang. "This Sunday, come with me to my childhood home, will you?" he invited her. "We’ll go fishing. There’s a bird nest by the pond with two tiny eggs. Mum still misses you very much. Even though twenty years have passed, she can’t forget you," he went on. "Really? What about the guava tree? Does it still stand in the garden? And the grapefruit tree, perhaps it’s in bloom now. I like grapefruit blossoms very much. And I do like lemon blossom as well," Trang told him. Then they enjoyed the holiday of their dreams. *** Trang made circles around and around the edge of the pond. She pulled at a grapefruit branch, and she enjoyed the fragrance of white lemon blossoms. In the meantime, Huy was climbing up the guava tree. "Watch out for these guavas, or you’ll have some bumps on your head," he warned her jokingly. "Now, catch this one, will you?" he said to her. Afterwards, they dropped a line and waited for the fish to bite. A few minutes later, she reached into the hedge to look for the bird nest. It was there she found three light blue eggs as small as cherries inside a soft round nest. In her lifetime she had never seen such wonderful lovely things. Silently, she picked them up, one after another. Eyes wide open, she breathed lightly in amazement. By her side, Huy was engrossed in her clear laughter and her soft voice. Huy’s mother smiled at the sight. Ever since his wedding day he had never been that joyful, she thought. Suddenly, she knew that her son was truly happy by the side of his old flame, and that these were very rare blissful moments in his life. Back in the kitchen, Huy’s mum cooked a dinner of fried fish, taken from the pond with vegetables picked from her kitchen garden. They immensely enjoyed the meal and ate to their heart’s content. Dessert was several sweet-smelling "royal bananas", a bit bigger than human toes. After dinner, Trang made a few quids of betel and areca-nut. "When My, Huy’s daughter, was two years old I went to town to visit his family," said the old rural woman. "It was lunar mid-month, when I arrived. In the evening I put some betel leaves and areca-nuts on the altar to worship and pray to our ancestors for prosperity and safety. I had hardly finished the service when his wife tossed them into the waste-paper basket," said the kind-hearted woman. "At once, I asked her why she had done such a thing, and she replied that these offerings would only make my teeth dirty and leave nasty red stains in her home. I told her that if she wanted to cast them away, she should have asked me first, because chewing betel leaves and areca – nuts was a long-standing habit of mine," the distraught woman went on. "Right at that moment, Huy came home. He had reproached his wife seriously. Say you’re sorry at once, then go to the market to buy her replacements!’ he warned." Can you imagine her impolite answer?," his mother now asked. "Mum, let bygones be bygones," Huy entreated. "No! I have never forgotten it, although it was six years ago. I still remember your wife saying: ‘I don’t have to say sorry. This is my home and I can do what I wish’. I left town immediately and returned to my village. I’ve never gone to her home again, you see," Huy’s mum disclosed. "What’s more, I was once greatly surprised by what I heard her teaching My: ‘If you fail to do well at school and find a good job later, you’ll end up a street-walker.’ "Poor little thing!" My granddaughter never wants to go home after she comes to visit me," she concluded. The old lady wiped away the tears that had formed while recounting her bitter old memories. Trembling, Trang tightly held the shoulders of Huy’s mother. He turned away from the scene to avoid a longing look at his old flame. That afternoon, they visited the Tran Hung Dao Temple to pay homage to the 13th century national hero. Afterwards, they sat beneath a banyan tree. Enjoying the fresh and sweet-smelling breeze blown across the tender rice plants, Trang inhaled the wonderful fragrance of the countryside. Huy was busy crushing some buds and dropping them to the ground. "Many times, I was going to divorce my wife, but she wouldn’t agree. For a long time, I’ve borne a grudge upon that ghostly beauty. I’ve been unable to avoid her horrible claws. Perhaps I’ll return to my native village to be near my beloved old mum. That I enjoyed such a wonderful day as today beside you, I can now die without regret," Huy whispered to her. In despair, Huy glanced at Trang. But her eyes seemed to be staring blankly ahead, at the distant horizon. She was feeling sad for Huy’s destiny. "Don’t place too much hope in me, Huy," she urged him. "We met again, visited old places and enjoyed some fresh air. What else do you expect?" she added. "Anyhow, you should do something to end your misery. Oh, and by the way, you should place some more stone steps at the edge of the pond for your mum to sit on while she’s washing vegetables, or she might fall into the water some day. Well, we better go home. It’s rather late." That Saturday afternoon Major Hung, Trang’s husband, returned home from his barracks, which were about a hundred kilometres away. While they were having a joyful dinner together as a family, there was a knock at the door. Waiting for them on the other side was a stout, ferocious looking young man and a beautiful young woman. It was Loan, Huy’s wife. Loan pointed at Hung’s family. "What a vision of happiness! Hm… Mr Hung, do you know that your wife has cuckolded you?" asked the wicked woman. While Trang was dumbfounded and turned pale, Hung stood up and stared at the two strangers menacingly. "You’ve made a big scene while we were having dinner. It’s such impolite behaviour. We do not have relationships with such people. What do you want here?" Hung asked. "Sorry for my sister’s jealousy. She’s only a young lady, no more, no less," said the youth. "Go ahead with your meal, then we’ll have a few words with you both. Loan, sit down, will you?" At once Hung told his two children to go upstairs and finish their lessons. When everybody was seated quietly, Loan pointed at Trang, clenching her teeth tightly. "Your wife slept with my husband during their trip to his home village in the country. She has earned lots of money from my husband that way, did you know that?" Loan said to Hung. "No, never! There was nothing as nasty as that! Stay calm so that I can explain," Trang said to her in a quivering voice. Huy and I returned to his hometown just to visit his mother, that’s all," Trang pleaded. Throwing a collection of photos on the table, the angry woman said: "What are these? These were taken outside, but what you did together inside the house, God only knows," she said to Trang. Hung picked up the pictures. In some of them, Huy was helping Trang to fish or to look for a bird nest. In others Trang and Huy were standing by the edge of the pond picking grapefruit blossoms together, smiling broadly. "Yes, these photos are real. But what do they imply? What shortcomings have I committed?" Trang asked the strangers. "What a cheek! You’ve made my husband hate me!" Loan spat back. Turning towards Hung, she said in tears: "Look, my husband beat me black and blue, you see. When he returned home from work the next day, I asked him who had gone with him to please his old bitch of a mother, and he ill treated me like this," she entreated. "Had I been your husband, I’d have driven you out of my house to punish you for your rude attitude toward my mum," Hung retorted. Loan’s ruffian brother stood up and stared at Trang, "Lucky for you to have your military officer husband beside you today. You know what would have happened to you to make you pay for the sin of smashing the happiness of another woman?" Immediately, Hung blocked the doorway. "I’ll teach you to be rude to us and threaten us right in our own house," he said to the youth in an angry and threatening tone. "What will you do, if I show these photos to your wife’s colleagues?" Loan warned menacingly. "I’ll take legal action against you if you present them to the public. You’ll be charged guilty for blackmail, too," Hung said to her seriously. Both of them hurried away without a word. *** "Are the photos true, darling?" Hung asked his wife when they were finally alone. "Quite right." "Living beside each other for so many years, I’ve always regarded you as a virtuous woman. But in all frankness, the pictures sting my eyes," he commented. If you were me, what would you be thinking about these troubles?" he asked. "I’m awfully sorry for what I did." "I showed my indignation towards them, but in reality I could hardly deny their claims, especially when the proof was in their hands. Of course, your career has always made you quite liberal. We’d better not squander our precious time and effort on such ridiculous things," he advised her. "Yet, since I got married, I’ve never been away from home. I have even failed to learn our district street names by heart…" Turning back, he looked intently at his wife’s wet eyes. "You seem to have some regret about our marriage, don’t you? What if I hadn’t been home today, what would have happened to you?" he warned her. "I know, I know, I’m very grateful to you for the safety you’ve given to me. If only that hooligan had killed me – I would not regret it, for I see no prospects for the future. I could say that nothing is keeping me to this meaningless life," she disclosed. "How can you dare to say so? What about our children? Obviously, in the grand scheme of things, we live for their sake – for loving and caring for them." "Exactly! We women live only for our children, but we almost all forget that we must live for ourselves as well, for life to be meaningful for us, too. Otherwise, we poor women become slaves to keeping a cozy nest without even knowing it. Meanwhile, the stronger sex tries to take full advantage of this reality." Hung closed his eyes, his face looking stern. "You’ve gone too far. I only want to deal with today’s incident. Frankly speaking, I can’t stand these vague issues. I’m an officer. Soldiers need things to be explicit. I will not discuss this a second time," he made clear to her. Trang stood up, leaning her back against the wall. Her unkempt hair covered her face. "For so many years, I’ve been wrapped up in my jealousy of other people. What’s more, I bear a grudge against two kinds of men: feeble, mean men and conservative, bossy men. In your opinion, I shouldn’t even go out. As for those photos, I’ve got nothing else to say. By the way, I declare that from now on I’ll give up household chores such as going to the market, washing up, cleaning the toilets and cooking meals. Take up your own time. This family is by no means my own house, etc," she ranted on and on. From then on, quarrels were frequent in the house. Hung’s visits became fewer and fewer. Trang’s luxuriant black hair began turning grey. When Nha, their daughter, secured a good job and Khang, their son, passed the university entrance exam, Trang applied for a teaching post on an island. As soon as she had her new job, she left, sending a petition of divorce to her husband. *** Trang was taking a stroll along the seashore. It was autumn and the beach was quite deserted. Glancing out at the blue sky and a flock of seagulls hovering over the waves, she felt happy to enjoy her freedom in solitude. Lost in thought, she dreamt of writing a memoir about her life on the mainland. All of a sudden, she heard her name called out from afar. "Trang, Trang, my darling!" and "Mum!" She turned around slowly. In front of her, Hung and Nha were standing behind a sand dune. "Mum! Why did you leave town for this remote island? You’re not afraid of the solitude?" Nha asked, eyes brimming with tears. In the meantime, Hung, with his hair blowing in the wind, stood silent on the sand. A breeze swept over them all. His heart hurt, when he saw no interest in her eyes. What could he do to re-kindle the cold flame behind her vacant eyes as they entered the sunset of their life? "This Sunday, an engagement ceremony for our daughter will be held," he told his ex-wife. "Come home with us! I’m going to retire from the army," he added in a sad voice. In the sand, the shadows of the three people elongated as dusk settled over the day. Translated by Van Minh Nguồn: http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/
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