From: hy@alumni (Hy Lam)
Subject: [vn-story]:  Back Home (Part 3)
Organization: University of California Society of Electrical Engineers
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 14:00:40 GMT


This story will appear in the autumn issue of Horizons (of Vietnamese
Thought and Experience)

Thanks Huy Thanh Cao for checking my grammars and sentence structure
and editing my story.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

			Back Home (part 3)
 
I held tight as my brother-in-law rode the motorcycle toward the
market. It was hard to balance and keep from sliding off the seat
because the street was so bumpy, muddy, and slippery after the rain.
Fortunately, my brother-in-law rode skillfully, his path slithering
like a snake's, to avoid most of the muddy ponds. Yes, life in the
countryside was a mess during the rainy season. None of the streets
were cemented except for the highway that crossed this town.
 
When we reached the market around three o'clock, it was not so crowded
with people.  The first thing to strike my nose was the smell of
rotten fish and shrimps. These fish and shrimps were caught at night,
dead in the morning, rotten by afternoon. Fish and shrimps spoil
easily because people could not afford ice to chill. If they could not
sell everything by evening, they would have to throw the rest away or
take it home to eat themselves.
 
The women were sitting on a stool on the muddy ground and staring at
the barrels or baskets of dead fish and shrimps.
 
As we rode by, people looked up and smiled, and some even waved at me
as though they knew me. I might have known them but for the moment I
could not recall.  I smiled and waved back.
 
The middle section of the market was so colorful. Here the women were
selling fruits and vegetables--longans, lychees, guavas, bananas,
coconuts, durians, and all sorts of tropical fruits displayed, though
in small quantity, all over the place.
 
My brother steered an abrupt right turn, taking us out of the market
before I had the chance to see much more. Then we reached the highway.
Along here people were selling pigs and birds, chickens and ducks.  We
crossed the bridge hanging over the river. Once we passed the bridge
there were fewer houses along the highway. After another mile, we were
out in the open--on both sides were vast green paddy fields. It was so
beautiful to look at the landscape as we broke through the wind.
 
The peacefulness of the scene made an approaching truck's loud honk
all the more surprising. If I weren't sitting, I would have jumped! My
brother quickly steered the motorcycle to the right as much as
possible to let the truck pass by. The truck accelerated past and spit
out a giant ball of dark smoke right into our faces. Before I could
cover my nose, I breathed in the smoke and choked.
 
In about five minutes we reached our paddy fields just off the
highway. There were some Mien families living in thatched houses
nearby. My brother waved and smiled to greet them, and then he took
off a small basket full of cooked rice from the front of the
motorcycle.
 
I asked, "What's that for?"
 
"For crabs to eat," he said, smiling.
 
"Huh?"
 
"Well, I mixed the rice with crab poison powder. At night, crabs will
come out to eat and then they'll be dead by tomorrow.  These crabs are
terrible. They are very harmful to the rice."
 
He walked into the paddy field carrying the basket with his left hand
and throwing the rice forward into the air with his right hand. I
stood on the roadside and looked around. On the other side there were
thatched houses flooded with water after the big rain. In the paddy
field, a man walked slowly behind a big dark ox. Once in a while he
raised his hand and then flashed his bamboo stick across the ox to
keep it moving. At the corner of the field a woman was sitting with
half of her body embedded in the water, pulling grass. There was a
little boy walking in the field catching crabs and snails. He bent
down, thrusted his hand under the water, and came up with a crab. Wow,
how on earth did he do that? I wondered.
 
I kicked off my sandals and walked slowly along the bank of earth
which marked the paddy fields. There were a few crabs crawling up the
bank for air. As I approached them, they retreated into the water. The
water was muddy, but still clear enough for me to see the bottom. I
detected one, two, three, four crabs lying at the bottom, deceptively
motionless.
 
When I stepped into the water, it reached up to my knees and felt cool
and comfortable. The soft clay also felt very nice under my feet. But
by stepping in it, I had stirred up mud within one or two feet all
around. I saw lots of crabs, but when I got near them, they
disappeared into water clouds of mud. I held my breath and tiptoed
like a thief, trying not to stir up mud. But after twenty minutes, I
was still chasing crabs round and round without success.
 
By that time, I was determined to stay still for as long as it took
for the water to become clear again. Once the mud settled down, I was
able to see a small crab about the size of my palm lying a foot from
my feet. I stared at it but didn't know what to do. Should I grab it
just like the boy did a while ago? No way, it would bite me. Well, I
had an idea. I slowly bent down and grabbed a handful of soft but
sticky clay.  Luck me--the crab still did not move. With clay in hand
I was less afraid of being bitten. Quickly I pressed the clay onto the
crab, and now it was completely embedded in the clay. I was so happy
and very proud of my catch.
 
I looked at the crab and talked to it. "You think you are smart huh?
You little crab, I gotcha! Hee hee hee."
 
I unwrapped the clay to reveal the crab.  But then I felt like a fool
staring at its motionless body. It was dead a long time ago! I looked
right into its face and could see it grinning at me. I spent another
ten minutes looking for crabs and finally caught one in the water and
two on the bank. By now, my body was soaking wet with muddy water, but
I felt good.
 
"You want to go home now?" my brother asked.
 
"Well, if you want to, sure."
 
We gathered our stuff and drove home.  When I arrived home, dinner was
ready. It was about four o'clock. I was so excited about my catch and
couldn't wait to show them to my parents.
 
I asked, "Can we cook them?"
 
My father smiled and mother laughed out loud and said, "Heavens, who's
going to eat these fresh-water crabs? They have no meat at all. I'll
tell your younger sister-in-law to buy some sea crab for you."
 
"Oh, really? Never mind then." I grinned and shrugged.
 
I gave the crabs to my little nephew to play with. After dinner I
digested for half an hour, then went to the river. There I took off my
T-shirt and glasses and stood staring at the river. I couldn't make up
my mind whether to jump or not. The water was not that dirty but I
couldn't see an inch below the surface. There were countless dust
particles on the water surface. Instead of jumping, I walked down the
steps and submerged my body slowly in the water.
 
Suddenly a small head popped up out of the water. I froze! It was Tam,
the little boy who took the shower in the rain this afternoon! His
little head just laughed and laughed.
 
"Wow, you scared me!"
 
"Sorry. Sorry for scaring you."
 
"I'll get you back another time," I grinned.
 
"Come on, want to play hide-and-seek?"
 
"In the water? How?"
 
"See your house? I'll swim underneath it and you go in there to find
me. It's dark in there and it's a fun place to play hide-and- seek at
high tide."
 
"Are you kidding? No way. I'm not going in there!"
 
"So, what do you want to do?"
 
"Just swim. Ah, how about you chase me?" I asked.
 
"No, you swim too fast--I saw you swim.  I'm not gonna be fooled, hee,
hee, hee! Ah, I got it!"
 
"What?"
 
"You have a raft! Come on brother Hy.  Can we use it to swim?"
 
"Do I have a raft? Oh, I didn't know.  Okay, let me go in and check it
out."
 
I went into my house and a few minutes later pulled out my parents'
bed which they only used once. It was an inflatable queen- size bed.
My parents did not get used to sleeping on soft beds. They preferred
instead the old hard bamboo bed.
 
"Tam, you get onto the raft and I'll push it up the river," I
suggested.
 
"Me? Sure. This is fun! Hee, hee, hee."
 
Suddenly I heard something falling into the water making three loud
sounds, bam, bam, bam. I looked over there and saw three more little
heads popping up out of the water, ready to join us. When they reached
us, they climbed up the raft without waiting for my invitation. Before
I had a chance to push the raft away, two more kids joined. Now all
six of them were sitting on the raft, laughing and jostling and
elbowing one another.
 
To push them upstream, I rested my elbows on the raft while my legs
were half underwater kicking mightily. We moved slowly forward. Soon,
I began to sweat and almost ran out of strength. All of my muscles
stretched and I was able to move the raft only a few yards further. I
was so exhausted and had only enough strength to keep the raft still
against the current. All six of them were having so much fun playing
that they had completely forgotten about poor me, down there pushing
like crazy.
 
"Hey guys, no fair! Somebody's gotta help me! I'm so tired. Can't push
any further!" I screamed loud and hoped they heard me.
 
Tam said, "Yeah, guys. We better help brother Hy. Come on, let's in
the water to help him!"
 
They looked at one another, but no one was willing to jump first.
 
One kid said, "Damn it, you go first Tam."
 
"No, shit, you go first."
 
"No, damn you, you go first."
 
"Damn it. You, Toothless, you jump down first," Tam ordered another
kid.
 
"No."
 
"Damn you."
 
"Damn you."
 
"Damn you."
 
"Damn you."
 
"Damn you."
 
I could not believe it. Here was a bunch of kids who looked so
adorable when they played and laughed together. This same bunch became
so resentful as they cursed one another just because none was willing
to jump first. I was tired, I was frustrated, I was disappointed. I
declared, "Fine. You guys want to fight, go ahead. I'm going in. I
quit playing with you guys. It's no fun."
 
Tam blamed the other kid, "Damn it.  There, see? You started it."
 
"Damn it, you did." one kid said.
 
"You."
 
"You."
 
"You."
 
"You, you, you, you..." they both said simultaneously.
 
I shook my head--they were doing it again.
 
"Stop it Tam!" I screamed. "And you and you and you. Don't argue.
Don't use bad words. Promise? If any of you says one more bad word, I
won't let you stay on the raft. Got it?"
 
"Yes." grumbled Tam, "Damn it. I won't use bad words again, I
promise."
 
"Damn it, you just used bad words again," the other kid said.
 
"You too!"
 
It seemed that in every sentence they had to say "damn it" to make
sense out of their communication. I couldn't help but laugh at the
funny and innocent looks on their faces.  They would go on arguing
like this forever.  It was hard to tell them not to swear.  Suddenly
it dawned on me that because they were busy arguing and I was busy
listening, our raft was drifting slowly down the river, way past my
house.
 
"Uh oh, hey guys! We're floating down the river! Hurry up! Everybody
jump down into the water to help me push! Ah!" I screamed in panic.
 
The kids looked around, lost in confusion for a moment. They forgot
about the fight and I could see concern start to spread on their
faces. Then without hesitation they all jumped into the water and
began to help me push the raft. Soon, we were back to laughing
merrily, screaming excitedly, working together joyfully. In no time we
were able to push the raft past my house, up the river to where we had
wanted it. I was glad to see they all pushed the raft upstream without
paying any attention to whether others worked as hard. We probably
would have gone nowhere if each expected someone else to do the work.
 
"Okay, now guys. Want to play a game?"
 
"Yes," they all replied with joy and excitement on their faces.
 
"Here's the game. I'm against you all.  You all try to push me off the
raft and I'll try to push you all off the raft. Let's see who wins."
They all clapped their hands and we began the game. It felt good to
see the kids laughing.
 
I grabbed Tam first and lifted him up. To my surprise, he was very
light! I threw him into the water. The next kid came forward, a real
fighter. He raised his hands and bent his knees and tried to grab my
leg. Before he could get any closer, big me pushed him on the
shoulders and into the water he went.  The third kid came up
cautiously and looked a little scared. I stepped up and he stepped
back. When I raised my hands he got so scared he voluntarily jumped
into the water! One by one I pushed the rest of them off the raft. I
won. By now our raft had already floated way down the river so we had
to push it up the river again.
 
Tam said, "Hey you guys. We gotta win this time."
 
"He's too strong and big." one kid said.
 
"You guys want to win? There is a way, you know."
 
"How? Please tell us."
 
"You see, you can't win if you try to wrestle with me, one by one. How
about all six of you try to push me down at the same time? All of you
at once, then you might win." I looked at the kids to see if they got
the idea. By this time there were seven of them.
 
"Now, you guys ready? Begin!"
 
Tam ran right into me and grabbed my leg while screaming for his
friends to come in all at once. He wrapped his arms and legs around my
leg like a magnet and there was nothing I could do. I didn't want to
kick him off either because I afraid I might hurt him. I decided to
ignore him and watch out for the other kids. Another kid grabbed my
other leg from behind and would not let go.  With both legs stuck like
magnets, I could not move an inch. In this position, I was able to
push only one kid off (the voluntary jumper from before). Before I
knew what was going on, two of them jumped right onto my back from
behind and down I went into the water like a fallen tree, carrying the
kids along, bam.
 
I was laughing so hard that I could hardly breathe when I reached the
water. Once I was down in the water it was too late for me to regain
my breath. The weight of the kids kept pressing me down and I couldn't
help but swallow some water. Then, the kids let go and I could surface
for air. They were laughing like crazy and so was I. They won. We swam
for a while longer.
 
The sun had already disappeared below the horizon. It was getting
dark, so the kids began to disappear, one by one. They swam away as
quietly and quickly as they came-- all of it was like a dream. The
game ended, but I hoped the joy in each of us would live forever. I
hoped that when they grow up they will still remember our time
together.  Only together were they able to push the raft upstream,
only together could they push me off the raft. Only together will they
be able to share the laughter, the joy, the fun, and the love that
brought them strength.
 
Sitting half-submerged I stared up at the giant thick dark clouds in
their slow race across the sky. Faintly I heard the sharp buzzing of
mosquitoes flying round and round like invisible vampires, waiting to
suck blood out of me. Nighttime is for the mosquitoes to come out to
rule the land. I felt a chill down my backbone and had a feeling that
it would rain very hard tonight.
 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.vietnamese