Sun-thirsty cotton

A bright red wild flower he brought from the forest to plant in front of the house. At first glance it looked like a sunflower, and similar to a peony, but it wasn't. This plant grew more strangely. For it, sunlight was an indispensable source of energy, the key to life, watering life. Strangely enough, the harsh sunlight of the Central region made the flower even more brilliant, pursing its red lips, while other species were withering. She called it Bong Thirsty for Sunlight. He smiled and agreed as if it were natural. Well, Bong Thirsty for Sunlight, like water lily or sesbania. It was a very Southern name. And it had always been like that, her imposition had always been accepted unconditionally by him, without a single objection.

Illustration: LE NGOC DUY

The pre-Tet train to the South was empty. Of course, most workers left their hometowns to go to the South to work at the beginning of the year and returned home to reunite with their families at the end of the year, so tickets for the North-South train had to be booked several months in advance, while the North-South train was sparsely booked. So the ticket seller looked at her and smiled warmly: You can go to any car, sit in any seat. If you're tired, go to the sleeper car and sleep, there aren't many people on the whole train.

She chose to take the train not by chance, but it was the end of a fate with this land, that person. In the past, at this same train station, he indifferently welcomed her and they became lovers. This land full of sun and wind showed her a country with chivalrous people of the Southern style.

Then she fell in love, fell in love with the sun, fell in love with the wind, love seemed to permeate every fiber of her being, as if it could be grasped and caressed. She fell in love with each tragic name of the war, each pain of separation of the gentle river, each wild daisy along the roadside... She fell in love as if she had never been able to open her heart so much before. And now, at the moment when the earth and sky meet, people gather, the ship completes its strange mission of bringing her back to the South like a cycle of human life. She calls it fate.

The train whistle blew long and then it moved away with a shudder. The group of people seeing me off gradually moved away, of course I wasn't among them. This was the first time I picked you up at this station, so I had to see you off for the last time, right? But now I was probably taking my kids to school, and they were arguing about something. The older one liked history, the younger one liked to discuss literature, so I often had to moderate the conversation.

The night before boarding the train, she went to his house - a rural area not far from the city. The three-room tiled house was nestled among a vast array of fruit trees. There was a time when she moved here to live with him, but eventually she had to move to her old house in the city to spend more time practicing. He had a passion for collecting fruit trees and planting them all over the garden.

In fact, she wanted to guide him on the path she had chosen, but she felt that he was sentimental and had difficulty letting go of his own emotions, so she gave up. He told her that when he was young, he used to carry a can of rice and run for nearly a kilometer to feed a beggar woman. Once, on a business trip, he gave his last coin to a poor mother in a mountainous village who was in trouble. On the way back, the car ran out of gas and had to call for help from friends.

Then he got caught up in the worries of everyday life. It was hard for this person to let go of everything, let alone let go of himself. She began her chosen path, learning to ignore his pensive eyes every day, his distant and reproachful words. Then he gradually drifted away from the orbit of married life and focused only on taking care of the children, just as she had intended.

She chose a hidden corner to observe. The house was having dinner, she clearly heard the youngest child calling for her father, the sound of spoons and bowls clanging, and the sound of the water fan whirring. Her older brother had a habit of using the electric fan regardless of the weather, sunny or cold. He asked someone to bring him food. He was like that again, when they lived together, she often complained about him eating on the desk, the source of many illnesses. After the divorce, he lived with the youngest child down here, she still texted him occasionally to remind him.

Let go, I told you!

The teacher said that in her previous life she was a palace maid serving in the palace. What a coincidence, every night in her dreams she saw herself and the princess being chased by a group of people. Then the teacher said that she had a predestined fate, she had to practice, had to let go, let go of all her blood relatives, and the rituals of ancestor worship. Before meeting the teacher, she had found life to be too complicated. Why did she keep getting caught up in the anger, hatred, and love of everyday life, and then embrace suffering? Why did she have to live that life?

She once confessed that she was not a family woman. She did not want to spend much time on that nameless job. Even family life was the same. It made people feel small in front of an endless world.

You have to free yourself, he told her!

Someone asked her to help him edit a book of poems before publishing. His poems were always filled with pain and debt to life and people, so they were not elegant.

You have to let go, my dear, to feel light-hearted and at peace, she told the author. He was thoughtful, knowing that but probably couldn't do it. Oh my, why does everyone have to suffer like this, she sighed.

Almost into the tunnel, someone said, there is Hai Van mountain, how beautiful. The train is like a giant wind python hugging tightly around the mountain pass. In the most wonderful arc ever, everyone on the train has a rare moment to fully admire the shape of the long train rushing into the clouds.

Then the train blew its whistle before plunging into the dark tunnel. Darkness was swallowing each and every car of the train.

Almost to her compartment, she sighed sadly. She quickly looked around, the sun was shining warm rays through the clouds playing on the mountain top.

Time seemed to stop, she was between two halves of the world, in a few seconds, she would drift into the world of darkness. At this moment, she suddenly remembered the flower that was thirsty for sunlight, the flower that she had named.

Minh Anh

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/bong-khat-nang-186073.htm