The rain is spicy with the smell of ointment...

My mother-in-law passed away so quickly that even now, more than ten years have passed, sometimes we still feel like she is not gone. She is just visiting her next-door sister or Uncle Ut, staying for a few days and then returning.

Illustration: DANG HONG QUAN

There were only three people in the house, so when one of them was absent, it was both a loss and an emptiness. It took us a long time to get used to the fact that our mother was not there. There was no one hunchbacked and huddled in and out. The front porch was bare every summer afternoon, with the neighbors' motorbikes parked nearby.

Because there was no one sitting around, enjoying the cool breeze under the shade of two arched pens. The dining table only had two seats facing each other. The chair in the middle was no longer there, so my husband took another one and placed it next to it to make a pair. And I blurted out: "Mom and Dad must have reunited." Thinking that, saying that, but many times during meals, both husband and wife were stunned.

The initial absent-mindedness of missing my mother has given way to silent regret over time. Because in the sleepless nights, late at night, I still hear my mother pulling the glass door closed and locking it.

The sound of the lock being turned by a pair of weak, sinewy hands did not seem decisive or confident. Sometimes, I heard my mother tearing up the calendar, tapping her feet, humming a few familiar songs…

It has been the rainy season for nearly two months now, bringing with it storms, floods, and tropical depressions. Rain makes me miss my mother even more. I miss her figure in the narrow space of my house. I miss the smell of the oil my mother used when the weather gets cold like this.

My mother-in-law is addicted to taking medicine and applying oils. She likes all kinds of medicine. Whenever my husband buys them for her, she scrutinizes them, reading and re-reading every word in the instructions. As for oils, she has quite a lot of them. She usually uses green eagle essential oil. Then she adds hot oil, oil for aching bones and joints...

There are all kinds and all kinds of uses. Not to mention, Mom remembers all the names of the people who gave them to me. This bottle of oil was from my uncle who went to Thailand, then that bottle of oil was sent back by my sister-in-law, and that box of oil was given to me by my aunt in Cho Gom…

She had a lot of oil, but she knew right away when she lost a box. Someone in the neighborhood borrowed it and ignored it, but she insisted on nagging her until she returned it. I told you, she was addicted to medicine and oil. She used oil all year round and often used it at night, when the weather changed and it rained. The smell of oil filled the house, whether in the living room, in the kitchen or upstairs. It was a strong, pungent smell that sometimes made her feel uncomfortable.

Because of that, it's not uncommon for my two younger siblings and I to grumble: "Mom, no wonder you're always so... slow."

Fortunately, my mother's illnesses are quite common. Minor colds, sore gums due to dentures, backache, aching bones...

Severe pain was the last time in a short coma and then passed away. Mom loved her children and grandchildren and was afraid that she would become paralyzed and that her illness would cause suffering to the whole family.

Mom is gone, but it seems like her scent still lingers. It wafts in during dry, sunny weather and is spicy and dense, every time the weather changes and it rains. At those times, I suddenly realize that this warm home has suddenly become warm.

Suddenly I felt warm and the thought came to me: "There are still three people in my house."

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/mua-cay-nong-mui-dau-ma-xuc-20241124103110627.htm