There are over two hundred rainy days here each year, and the rest of the days are covered in dark clouds. The sun rarely appears, and the moon is present only a few times during the rare clear periods of the year.
- Maybe that's why this place is named Blue Moon. It makes me think of a distant and beautiful dream.
Illustration
Thuy said so the first time she saw the painting "Bay in the Rain" displayed at the Museum of Fine Arts.
They were in their fourth year of college at the time and their dates took place somewhere familiar like the library, book street cafes or open art exhibitions.
During the last summer of his college years, Vinh promised Thuy that he would spend his first vacation after starting work traveling with her to many places. The first place she thought of was a small town by the sea.
Now Vinh is on his way there but alone. Ten years have passed since he graduated, his job as a civil engineer has taken him to many different lands.
But the strange thing is that he never had the chance to go to Blue Moon, the old appointment has sunk into a corner of his memory covered with the dust of forgotten time.
Yesterday, the project manager called Vinh to discuss some adjustments to the construction drawings for wharf number 5. He will work directly with the person in charge of the partner side to unify the views before the official meeting takes place at the head office.
This morning, as he drove out of the city and onto the freeway, his mind was still preoccupied with the issues that had arisen in the contract. It wasn’t until he turned down the coastal road and passed the first road marker, when his car suddenly entered a blanket of white rain that surrounded him from all sides, that he suddenly remembered that it was Blue Moon in front of him.
The town has changed its name but the rains are still as heavy all year round.
* *
*
The person in charge of the partner side was engineer Le Hoang Vu. He was of average height, with neatly cropped hair, and a face that was beginning to show signs of age but still exuded a very special elegance. They met at a cafe on the hotel's covered porch. In the distance was the lighthouse submerged in a misty rain.
- I'm very sorry to interrupt your vacation so abruptly - Vinh said sincerely as they shook hands.
The old engineer smiled slightly:
- No problem. I read the document my secretary sent me last night and still managed to go swimming in the sea this morning as usual.
He was slightly surprised:
- Swimming in weather like this must be a very different experience.
- It's normal here, the sea is warm and the rain is light in the morning. You should try to relax among the waves and catch the drops on your face, of course after we've finished reviewing the issues that have arisen in this project.
They spent most of the time discussing work, but he also learned a few things about engineer Le Hoang Vu. He had worked in this field for nearly thirty years and was a famous expert sought after by many corporations. Recently, he had begun to think about retiring, even right after completing negotiations on the project to build wharf No. 5. Before officially leaving work, he wanted to take a few days off to think things over.
- The result is as you can see - engineer Hoang Vu tapped his pencil on the paper - I haven't even had time to visit that lighthouse.
The rain seemed to have stopped and they could see the lighthouse standing tall in the middle of the dark grey sea. In a flash of memory, Vinh suddenly remembered seeing it somewhere with a very familiar appearance. Yes, it was the lighthouse that appeared in the painting that he and Thuy had stood admiring together that distant afternoon. Actually, at that time, only Thuy was attentively looking at the painting while he was absorbed in watching her, the girl with eyes as vast as water under her long eyelashes.
- I think some artist once painted this lighthouse. I saw it in an exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts a long time ago, the painting's name was "The Bay in the Rain".
It seemed like a wave was rising deep inside, the two men silently looked out at the rain.
* *
*
There is no way to reach the lighthouse, it has been abandoned since a modern signal tower was built on the other side of Mui Da. Engineer Le Hoang Vu was involved in designing the project. During his stay in this bay to supervise the construction, he witnessed Blue Moon go from a bustling and prosperous town to a place of oblivion.
The rocky mountains spread out to the sea, forming a wonderful arc embracing the Blue Moon Bay, which is also the meeting place of two ocean currents carrying countless plankton as food for shrimp and fish. Since ancient times, Blue Moon has been famous for a type of seafood of special value, which is the rain fish. They appear in large schools after each rain, being the main source of income that brings wealth to the town.
Fishermen fish for rain almost all year round, except for the rare clear nights during the full moon, when the tides are at their highest and the fish begin to spawn. No boats go out to sea then. They gather on the shore, light big bonfires, and sing and dance all night long.
But that year, to meet the unexpectedly high demand, some villagers broke the centuries-old convention of the fishing village and went out to sea during the full moon. Others, seeing the boats full of fish returning, could not sit still, and spent all their time sailing and casting nets across the sea.
That was the last year the town saw a blue moon. After the eclipse, the moon turned a blood red and disappeared into dark clouds. The rains began to fall, but the fish never returned.
- I stayed in this town during that sad rainy season - engineer Le Hoang Vu continued the unfinished story as they had lunch together in a small restaurant on the edge of town - During the decline, the town was almost abandoned, boats rotted on the shore and people left for the cities in search of new opportunities. Only the lighthouse keeper's family remained, he said he would stay here until we finished the signal tower on the other side. I spent most of my free time there, his daughter was an artist.
- A painter - Vinh began to feel suspicious.
Engineer Hoang Vu nodded slightly:
- Yes, she did. She painted “The Bay in the Rain”. That was probably the painting you saw at the exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts that year.
- Did you see that girl again later? - he asked hesitantly.
- When the project was just completed, I was urgently transferred to another project far away. I thought I would come back here soon, but then the work just swept me away like a whirlwind. Once you commit to this career, you will have to go to many places, meet many people and also lose many things. Only now do I realize that I have lost the most precious thing at Blue Moon.
A sudden wind blew up from across the bay. The sea rumbled and cracked in the rain.
* *
*
It was late at night when Vinh finished the report he sent to the project manager. The rain was still falling steadily outside the window, the sound gentle but persistent like a stream seeping into his mind. He had told Thuy before that he could not live in places with much rain, the humid steam made him feel like he could not breathe. Thuy turned to him with a worried look:
- But will you still take me to Blue Moon?
- Of course - he said, completely honestly - I will definitely go there with you on our first vacation. I just don't understand why you always want to go to such a strange place. A place where it rains a lot, you can't swim, even walking is extremely difficult, and everything is submerged in a misty water.
- Because there is a lighthouse there. Don't you realize that? Even when everything has changed, the lighthouse is still there. It gives me a sense of security in a life full of uncertainty and brokenness.
At that time, he held her slender, thin-fingered hand in his warm hand for a long time. Thuy once told him about her sad childhood. After her father died in an accident caused by a tunnel collapse during construction, her mother struggled for a while and then sent her back to her grandparents. She was only 6 years old at that time. Her mother told her to wait there for her to take her to the bookstore. However, she waited forever and her mother never returned.
Thuy went through her lonely and quiet childhood years. When she entered university, she still remained quiet like that among the noisy and vibrant female students of all colors. Only when presenting at forums and scientific conferences of students did she show the sharpness of her intellectual depth and courage. He got to know Thuy and fell in love with her when they were both assigned to carry out a project together. Those were extremely beautiful years.
Not long after graduating and starting work, Vinh was trusted by his superiors to participate in a large project in the south. He was the youngest engineer in the group assigned to that task. When he announced this to Thuy, the most surprising thing was that she did not seem happy with his small progress as usual.
- Are you worried because we will have to be apart for a while?
Thuy was silent for a long time. Finally she said:
- I'm pregnant.
It happened so suddenly that he was stunned for a moment. Finally, he hugged her despite his confused state of mind. That year, he was only twenty-five years old and she was twenty-four. They were at the first stage of building their careers and although they had been in love for a long time, neither of them had thought about getting married. After a few days of thinking about it, many messages that he intended to send and then delete, he finally timidly asked her if she could give him a little more time. He was afraid that he was not ready to be a father.
- I know this will be a difficult and painful decision. But we will have other opportunities in the future, I promise to spend my whole life making it up to you.
Thuy looked at him with a very strange look. Then suddenly she smiled:
- I was just kidding. Nothing happened.
Her calm demeanor made him feel embarrassed. A day later, he went to her room to apologize, only to find out that she had just left. When he went to her company, they said she had quit her job. He panicked and asked all his friends but there was no news. When he went to Thuy's hometown, the neighbors said she had not been back for a long time, and that her grandparents had passed away a few years ago.
Thuy disappeared from his life forever like that.
As the years passed, things gradually calmed down. He met a few other girls, but everything ended in failure. Work was the only consolation in his life.
* *
*
What the artist was thinking when he painted the lighthouse in the rain, that engineer Le Hoang Vu never understood even though he spent many afternoons on the balcony of that small house watching the girl paint each line. That year he was very young, the signal light pole at Mui Da was the first project he participated in.
Perhaps that was why he wanted to come here to see it again before retiring. Like the ancient lighthouse, the lamppost still stood there through the storms and winds. Only the painter he met that year had followed her husband to live abroad.
- So you will withdraw from the job after completing the consultation for the wharf project number 5? - he asked worriedly.
- Surely with your experience, you also realize the problems that exist when we adjust this design in the direction of maximizing profits - engineer Le Hoang Vu slowly said - I will present that opinion in the upcoming meeting between the parties and then leave. Maybe they will listen or maybe not, but that is the responsibility of the profession I have chosen.
- Last night in the report sent to the company I also noted these points, hoping that superiors will consider the problem comprehensively.
After a moment of silence, he continued:
- Excuse me if I'm a little curious, what do you plan to do after retirement?
The old engineer turned to look at the sea. The rain continued to fall. The gray water occasionally churned up a white wave.
- My wife passed away a few years ago and my children are all grown up, so I don't have many ties to my hometown anymore. Maybe I'll start doing things that I didn't have the chance to do when I was young, like painting. You know, I used to dream of becoming a painter, but my parents wanted me to become an engineer because they thought this career was more financially stable. It's funny that I've come full circle for most of my life and then want to go back to the starting point.
This moment suddenly reminded him of the sunny afternoon in the grounds of the Fine Arts Museum, when Thuy stopped in front of the painting “The Bay in the Rain”. What would have happened if that day he had kept his promise to go to Blue Moon with her. The lighthouse was still standing there calmly waiting for them in the rain, only people’s hearts had changed.
* *
*
On his last morning in town, it was raining as usual, but Vinh still decided to go swimming. Crossing the cold, wet sand, he touched the edge of the waves with his feet and slowly walked out into the distance. Just as the old engineer had said, the sea was warm and he loved the feeling of letting himself drift among the calm, rolling waves, letting the drops of water fall on his face.
Back at the hotel, he packed his things and went down to have breakfast before leaving. While waiting for the waiter to serve his food, he suddenly noticed a small bookstore across the street with strange souvenirs.
He planned to go there after eating to buy some things to decorate his empty apartment on the fifth floor. After all, Blue Moon was a special place in his memory and he wanted to keep the memories of that land.
Then, after eating and getting in the car, he suddenly remembered that he had left his umbrella in the hotel room. There was no parking space in front of the shop on the other side. The distance from here to that sidewalk was about six meters, the street was deserted but the rain was still pouring down steadily. After hesitating for a moment, he decided to start the engine and leave.
It wouldn't be too late to come back another time, he thought as he drove along the coastal road toward the highway, leaving behind the town shrouded in mist and rain.
That same morning, the bookstore owner woke up earlier than usual. Normally, she would go to the restaurant across the street with her ten-year-old son for breakfast, but today was the start of summer vacation, so she prepared some snacks for her son. As she walked down the stairs, she paused for a moment at the painting hanging on the wall. Ten years ago, when she decided to leave the city with her newly conceived child, she brought this painting with her to live in Blue Moon.
The painting is called “Bay in the Rain”.
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