Waking up early in the morning, I watered some green vegetables in the garden. I happily breathed in the fresh air and opened my phone to read a few articles about the aroma of Vietnamese coffee and tea.
Read it, read it again. Finished reading it, then listened to it. The clear voice in my ears, echoing from the distant tea scent in the sky and sea of the Fatherland, heard in the echoes of Trinh Cong Son's voice at a coffee shop in Hue, to the whispered reminder that coffee is not for sipping. Coffee is like a morning kiss, stopping by a familiar shop to find that kiss in the aroma of coffee...
Listening to this makes me feel absent-minded. I drank it early this morning, now I'm sitting in the garden writing on my phone: Coffee leaves a little something... to remember and love.
The day my daughter came home, I asked her to let me sell coffee for hire, from the afternoon of the 30th to the 5th of Tet. After Tet, I came home to study and listened to my father. Hearing that made my heart ache. The teacher's family had a beloved daughter, but couldn't they take care of her? Let me sell coffee for hire for 5 days during Tet. I kept begging, but my mother said: "Let me experience it for myself. Experience it to know the value of money, to know how to take care of things before entering the world...". Listening to my wife, she nodded slightly in agreement.
On the first morning of the new year, following the custom of going back to my hometown to visit my grandparents' graves, I felt unhappy and felt guilty. Everyone kept asking where my child was. They said I was selling coffee. I was selling coffee, my parents were out celebrating the spring, I choked up and didn't dare say anything.
On the morning of the second day, the whole family went out for coffee. They drank at the cafe that their daughter rented. She was the waitress, and her parents were the guests.
The unfinished bowl of noodles was brought out to eat with my parents. The camera was rolling, the owner called and scolded me for not eating at the customer table. The daughter said yes, this is my parents' table.
Sold, no time to eat. Noodles are mushy, soggy, just finished eating, customer calls, quickly run to serve, wipe table, two feet nimble.
Coffee left something... to remember and love.
(Entry to the contest "Impressions of Vietnamese coffee and tea" under the program "Honoring Vietnamese coffee and tea" for the 2nd time, 2024 organized by Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper c).
Graphics: CHI PHAN
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