It has been twenty years since Uncle Tu joined the agency as a security guard. He has not celebrated New Year's Eve at home with his wife for twenty New Year's Eves. During the spring, he only comes home with his wife to visit a few people around, then rushes back to the agency to be on duty.
Illustration: THANH SONG
Uncle Tu was a retired soldier, he rarely told anyone about his past battles. It seemed that for him, war was a fear and victory was never complete. On the day of liberation, he returned to his hometown, limping on his left leg, which was still lucky compared to many of his comrades. The village was desolate, no blood relatives were left, he stayed at a friend's house. Then someone introduced him to a seamstress, and their happiness was patched together. They quickly became husband and wife. After living together for several years, the couple could not have children. Hearing people's discussions and getting a headache, the couple decided to move to the city. At that time, the city was just a rudimentary place, the couple rented a rudimentary room, and then saved up to buy that room.
Since moving to the city, his wife sewed at the boarding house, and he was hired as a security guard for this agency. After twenty years, the streets were crowded, but his family was still poor, single-parent. Whatever money they earned, they spent on daily meals, and every now and then his leg would get worse and they would have to go to the hospital, so there was never any surplus. Uncle Tu comforted his wife, saying, "Oh dear, we don't have any children, so why bother with a house? Guests don't have much money, so why bother being fancy?" His wife felt sorry for her husband, so she tried to joke around, saying that he had the biggest three-story house in town, and that he could open every room in it. Then the couple hugged each other and laughed happily. The couple, who were almost fifty years old, still called each other brother and sister sweetly, probably because they didn't have any children, and they thought they were still newlyweds.
In the office, there are dozens of conferences, anniversaries, and celebrations every year. Actually, the office's ceremonies are few, but other departments rent the hall to hold them. Uncle Tu is in charge of decorating the room and the displays. Then, people pay for a few dozen people. Everyone praises Uncle Tu for his enthusiasm and his many talents, from cutting letters to arranging flowers. He smiles and says that being a soldier, you have to be quick to learn everything. During the difficult times in the jungle, we were able to organize many grand ceremonies.
Every time the work was done, there were always a few flower baskets left in the hall. The bouquets for personal gifts were taken home, but the welcome flower baskets were left there. Uncle Tu finished cleaning the hall, then stood still in front of the flower baskets, not knowing what to do. It would be a shame to throw them away. Fresh flowers cost a lot of money, so it was a waste to throw them in the trash.
The flower seller at the market stopped by and asked Uncle Tu to let her take it home. Uncle Tu asked why? She told him to fix it up a bit, remove the red cloth and then have a new flower basket to sell. Uncle Tu rolled his eyes and said no, that would be like selling the bananas you offered to someone else at the market. The flower seller defended herself, bananas are different from flowers, uncle. The bananas that people offered to their ancestors were enjoyed by their souls, so offering them back would be impolite. But these fresh flowers were just for looking at, and who knows if the people who came to the conference would look at the flowers, they were just listening. So these flower baskets were like tables and chairs, carried back and forth. Uncle Tu heard that it made sense, if he didn't give it to her, wouldn't it be a waste of God's gift to throw them away? So he told her to take them.
Once, two conferences were held one day apart. The flower basket the next day was the same as the previous day, only the cloth band was changed and the words were different. Uncle Tu knew right away but didn't say anything, thinking to himself, well, people do wholesale business, earning every penny they can. And these flowers were only displayed for two hours, so it was better to have them a little fresh than to display fresh and beautiful flowers and then throw them away.
The traditional New Year is also the beginning of the solar year, so there are even more ceremonies. This department organizes a summary of the old year and orientations for the new year, this committee holds a conference to honor typical examples. In our country, there are festivals all year round, traditional festivals are not enough, on Tet, other festivals are suddenly organized. Well, on Tet, no one can stop people from making each other happy. Flowers were brought into the hall one by one. Uncle Tu stood watching, silently counting, five "xi", one "chai"... Money, money. Flowers are one price on normal days, but on Tet, they are three or four times more expensive. His monthly salary as a security guard is only equal to the price of a flower basket that lasts for two hours. Uncle Tu suddenly feels so worthless, no wonder on Tet people go out here and there, while he sits in a corner.
After twenty Tets, he realized one thing: each year the Tet ceremony was more frequent, and the flowers for each ceremony also increased. The woman who asked for flowers back then now had grown children, and Tet brought two more children to bring flowers to the stall to be fixed up. Looking at the fresh yellow and red flower baskets, he suddenly felt sorry for his situation of renting. Every Tet, his wife bought a few Dalat chrysanthemums from the market and brought them home to put in a vase on the small altar in the house. But in the middle of the table, there were no flowers. The small table, with a plate of candy and a teapot, was full. And on Tet, his family only welcomed about five people from the alley to visit, so why bother with the arrangements?
* * *
This year, Uncle Tu planned to bring a basket of flowers home after the last ceremony to display for fun, and also to please his wife. He loved his wife so much, during Tet they only saw each other for a short time, just like the war and bombs, when they were separated. But how would he explain that basket of flowers to his wife? If he said that the flowers were used by someone else and he brought them home, she might be sad, thinking that she was using other people's surplus products. If he said that he bought them at the counter, she would probably regret the money all Tet days. Well, he could lie to his wife and say that someone gave them to her. But, who would give flowers to a security guard? Maybe the agency gave them? Hard to believe, the agency would give them a kilo of sugar, a package of jam, a bottle of colored wine, which would be more practical. Uncle Tu thought for a long time but could not come up with a good reason to bring flowers home so that his wife could still feel happy and secure. Meanwhile, the flower seller had carried the last basket of flowers to the hall door.
- This!
- Uncle Tu called softly as if to hold her back.
She turned back, surprised.
- What's wrong, Uncle Tu?
- Leave it to me... - Uncle Tu paused as he spoke. It would be too embarrassing to ask her to leave it now. He had never begged like that before. Oh my, he had never asked anyone for anything in his life, but now he had to ask for a basket of flowers, which was supposed to be his, and he found it difficult. It was then that he realized that being an honest person was not easy at all.
Then he blurted out:
- ... Oh, never mind, it's nothing.
The flower seller didn't know what he was talking about, stood there for a moment, then nodded slightly to greet Uncle Tu and carried the flowers to the gate.
That day was the last working day of the year, the afternoon ceremony was the office's New Year's Eve party. That meant that now if he wanted to bring flowers home to Uncle Tu, he couldn't have any, unless he went to the flower stand to buy them. Buying flowers, he regretted spending one, but his wife regretted ten. Stop making a fuss.
From afternoon to evening, he kept thinking about flowers. Well, this year was like every other year, the same old rented room without any Tet decorations. Knowing that, he would have risked it this afternoon, endured a little "humiliation" and brought the flower basket home.
Outside the street, the scent of incense wafted. In the last hours of the year, he stayed alone at the office, feeling less sorry for himself than for his wife at home. It was almost New Year's Eve, wasn't it? He asked himself, then glanced at the clock. Eleven forty-five. It was still time to run home. It was impossible that people would break into the office on New Year's Eve and he had to guard it so hard.
So he ran out the gate to go home. He ran as if someone was chasing him. On the street, there were a few people coming home late, and they looked suspicious when they saw him running, but no one paid any attention, in the atmosphere of spring approaching like this.
While walking and running to make it in time for New Year's Eve, his mind kept thinking about flowers. He felt tormented and regretful, knowing that this afternoon he would have risked buying a basket of flowers to bring home, his wife would have been very happy. And he imagined how cold their rented room would be now and throughout the New Year because of the lack of flowers. There would be another spring in a room without flowers. His eyes were wet, not because of the dew of New Year's Eve, nor because of the sweat from running. He cried, relieved with regret and self-pity.
At exactly twelve o'clock, the neighbor's TV started to emit the sound of fireworks exploding. He knew he had arrived home just in time for New Year's Eve, but he was still surprised. He stood in front of his rented room and saw his wife had finished preparing the fruit tray and was leaning her arm on the chair, looking sleepy.
Seeing her husband, the wife could only say a few words and choked up, "You just got home..." Uncle Tu smiled and nodded. Looking over to the table, he suddenly saw a very large, beautiful, and fresh vase of flowers. Looking at the petals that were still flat and soft, Uncle Tu knew that these flowers had just been unwrapped from the plastic. Before he could ask anything, his wife spoke up:
- There is a vase of flowers in our room, right? This afternoon when she brought it, I was so surprised, I wonder if they got the wrong address. It turns out she said she was the daughter of the flower seller at the market, Uncle Tu bought the flowers and asked me to bring them home.
Uncle Tu was surprised, he didn't ask anyone for any flowery favors. Before he could recover, his wife continued:
- I also wanted to buy some flowers to decorate the house to create a Tet atmosphere. But... I was afraid you would blame me for being wasteful, so I gave up. Unexpectedly, you bought them.
Uncle Tu also intended to tell his wife the same thing. But never mind. Why say it when spring is so full of love and flowers.
Hoang Cong Danh
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