. Short story for the contest DOAN NGOC HA
Women is a cut in my heart. Over there they are very crowd A lot of dresses walk together. They come into my family church’s yard. Women with first name Dao Dinh there is also, my wife’s first name I hate my wife’s family which is both “sexy and honorable”, but today have to recognize, they are still beautiful, women have white skin as porcelain vases. There are also my crossbred, yes it is, he is tall, skinny; wearing backpack, tangled beard as rags, up to this year he is seventy years old. In the theater, the eyes directed to the alley. Being noisy suddenly quiet. People stand as pile. People sit as a toad opens its mouth surprisingly when seeing that bastard go step by step heavy, slowly into the yard. I notice a red list of medals, their faces are irritated. The character of my family Le Vu always purse lips, is serious with chin beard sparse, almost black beard, there are some people who were Patriotic Army with white beard as bulbul. The crossbred, being a rude guy, a child of imperial colonialism, a bastard, God does not tolerate him, why he is still alive, why he can come back here, why he can come to my family Le Vu? Woe! Woe! He looks very polite. Head bow, hands to each veteran to greet, when greeting, he still wears backpack, who nearly touched the roof of the theater so have to break down to greet for allowing to come from the elder. Few old persons are greet several times by him but still sit silently as fossil bones. Hm, you pretend to be obedient, but my family is the heartless family, do not attempt!
However, I can not stand when my wife’s women all hiss, also greet the elder. A girl in charge of celebration, has the same appearance with my wife as young. Looks very similar, or she is my “tiger”, my wife, isn’t she? I intend to plunge to slap then head to the wall to ask, but just remember that, I’m just a soul, something hovering in the world. Moreover, my wife also died a long time ago.
My wife, my misery, my hatred, my craving. She made me very crazy, made me suffer miserable but also gives me the wilderness for my whole life. Oh, that whore, it’s full of my thoughts until I die, when died, there is only a supernatural spirit, she still has herbreasts in my mouth in dreams, making me die many times again!
I fly to find her. Ghosts of the death are crowded to several sky floors. Numerology is the soul of the dead, crying, being heady, being crazy, talking, yelling for revenge, yelling for coming back the life. Cry of injustice, hiccup, screaming. I found her. To everywhere, I also ask about a woman with white neck, face looking like the moon. Someone smiles. Someone plucks. Someone withdrawals knife. Someone is contemptuous. Someone brings a a noose to hang my neck up. No! I’m finding my wife! I yells like that. Sex together in the life, but when died, still want to touch a little bit! Actually, I only want to ask her crime! What’s wrong? Death is the end!
It seems that fights can happen, a women stands by side, as tall as a crane, sharp point head, red lips, holds my hands and say, follow me! I go. In addition to “white neck”, what does your wife have any characteristics? - The crane asks. Back...! - I answer. How nice that the bad back? Are you crazy? The crane questioned, scraped its finger on my cheek. Women is the lord of the wise. I honestly told that I beat my wife with a blow. It said, heavy hatred it is, only when you reduce your rancor, you can meet her!
A big bang. I covered my ears to run. The crane also drowned. There is still war in this world? I yelled, asked passersby running.
Illustration: Nguyen Van Minh
Strange! Actually the explosion in this realm is not as big as the explosion in the human realm, the smell is not equal. It’s nothing to compare the battle we flight Comando, how great it is! Saying “pitted” but in the rebellion of the enemy, we only had a mission to “shoot” some rifle luring the enemy into the mine. But on that day, several battalion of soldiers rushed to the village, covering us. Honestly, I didn’t worry about my life and guerrilla friends’, I only worried about my wife and children. Wife just got married. She is so nice so always want to “bite”. I dared not let my wife run the evacuation, afraid of complications. When our team finished shoot, one went to the bunker. Personally, I took my wife to the bunker. The bunker was quite narrowed. But I liked to have my wife. As tight as we liked. My wife also liked that. Despite on the bunker roof, the enemy shoot as the rain, we were still together. I asked my wife, if you died, would you be happy? Wife, yes, if we died, we would become two ghosts wrapped together. She was very passionate, each time on the summit, she bent, pinched me to the ground in the basement to the obstruction. I yelled, slowly slowly! She, who says death?
It was last times, in this time, the Commando, good fighters entered the village very fast. So fast, I just turned my wife down the bunker, they had been plunged into the yard. Hurrily, I risked my life to the loft. Called at the loft, but actually a dark and wet place, with some bamboo, filled with torn clothes, mats, pots, as fortification of termites, cockroaches. Perhaps look like a very simple leeches’ house so that the enemy could not expect a guy guerrilla carrying grenades in there.
At this time.
In the family church yard, the ceremony is being arranged to prepare the ceremony. At the end of the ceremony, many sitting mats of the women. They clapped their hands. There tens of asses that looks very obnoxious. Very fast, red medallion disappeared, there are only ample celebrating clothes covering the fossil skeletons with white beards. Shouting. Halloo. Cheng cheng sound. Noisy Drum. Wrong celebration. Presentation differs from celebrating. So that drumming to hide. So that have to celebrate again. Master of ceremonies raise his hand, puffy cheeks to scream: “Chủ tế viên tựu vị!”. Immediately one person wearing read celebrating clothes majestic steps out. Suddenly he stops, turns out motioned to the celebrating support. The celebrating support runs to the place where the women are sitting. “Hey guy! My grand-grandfather asks you go out right now!”. It turns out that my offspring are sitting in the wings of women. He trembles, cries to kowtow the celebrating support. “Dear Sir, please tell him for me to sit at the edge of mat!”. “Can not sit at the edge of mat! A lê! Get out!”. Very satisfied. If you want to sit on the edge of mat of my Le Vu family, the groove is nothing. Like the day before, I was “phằng phằng”. Previously, the day I was as a warrior in battle, but just because of hurry when the enemy hit, I did not have time to disguise thoughtfully so they found the hatch where my wife was located. No matter how difficult they are, they drag my wife up. Through a rare crevice, narrow as a line, I just saw the scene below. That was my wife. Limp hair. The neck was not clear and looks like a torn shirt torn shoulder so white skin appeared among the Western troops. Did not listen my wife’s voice. Doors opened. A tall man near the loft touched. Maybe it was an officer, so the other guys stretched out. From above looking down, I only saw a yellow hair and tried my best to see the nose. Suddenly, two dashing explosions repeatedly plugged into the loft where I lay. The Westerner just shot up where he suspects it. The first tear ripped rag at my feet. The second, inadvertently, the Westerner had hacked a hole so that I could see the scene below.
The crowd of the Westerner started to move. He stepped short while others removed my doors. He came very close to my wife. My wife still stood, unmoved. I wished I had a gun. Oh my god, the rifle was no longer a bullet and I threw it into the pond. There was only one grenade in my hand. He pulled my wife’s hair back and lunged like a beast. Strangely, my wife did not resist, not a shout, while her body was almost buried by big muscle. One red, one white. His muscles was tension up. Door sounded up. Damn! In this world, have any man seen his wife raped? Blood rushed to my neck. I tried to listen the door’s sound as a challenge to endurance. Step by step, I grabbed the grenade. Mob! Grenades would kill my wife and would kill me if I’m caught. I lowered my head, closed my eyes to give up everything. But when the door turned into a groan, I grabbed the grenade!
Oh my god! I could see his muscle was pushed up every moment. Satan! Whore! Thunder! God! Please kill! My wife was in love. My wife was only a Whore. No more cowards, I just put my finger on the grenade latch and then at that time from the beginning of the village echoes a bang. Our mines exploded. Furious, the enemy out ...
Should I throw the grenade? If I killed myself, it would be better for my wife to live. She got pregnant. She got pregnant without shame. She got pregnant with happiness. She got pregnant with joyfulness. The pregnancy of stinking colonial guy. And one day a child would be born. He cried. He pee. Yellow hair. ... Indeed, he was beautifully unexpected. Why was he so round, so dense? Why could my wife mix with wretched colonial guy? They rapped my wife, also at that day his staffs also rapped some women in village, including a wife of old man. Indeed, colonial guy’s gun killing people was nothing than they turned off clothes of Vietnamese women. That “gun” was actually a gun because it humiliated and obliterated a kingdom. It claimed on the earth each civilization stream. Damn, they created on the earth each “man stream”!
My whole family grabbed my hair and chopped up on how I fed a hybrid. More than once, I intended to do, just a strangle, it was over! But the “person” in me was very bad, cowardice just reached out my whole body was shaking.
Damn, he was as beautiful as an angel then grew up. What is worse, my wife expected crossbred son. She just cried and told me, please kill me, please don’t reject a child, he does not know anything, if he died, I would die too. I was very angry, That day I was in charge of reconnaissance work I used scimitar to chop into the enemy, ie chop person. I had no grief doing that, but with colonial boy in my wife’s hand, I could not do anything?
At one point, after an extremely intense confrontation, my wife said: I challenge! Really? I took scimitar. She picked up crossbred son and stood. In me, there were thousands of horses running at that time, very angry, I tight scimitar until to bleed. But the whore, still picked up white boy in her arms swing towards the scimitar. I grinded my teeth for strength, but when rising the scimitar, missing hand, it dropped down.
My wife put on a brazen face. I slapped the rosy cheeks which had attracted me before. The more I slapped, she got buckled cheeks plum up the challenge. More crazy I was. So, I slapped non-stop. Blood of jealousy flew. I was extremely jealous. Slap! Slap! My wife gave her cheeks slaps. I slapped until my hands were fatigue but I was still angry. She still picked up crossbred son, tenderness and defend him to take the slap. I was miserable when torturing a beautiful whore to get a whack of it thrown at my face. Handy, I pulled the burden. Looked like fear of the blow will hurt the crossbred son, she run, while running, she still tried her best to protect him. But it was not able to escape when the burden was a terrible blow! she bounced backwards. The child shooted out. Looked like an old lady somewhere rushed out to pick up the baby.
Underneath suddenly stirred me startled and shocked when listening to the story, the son wanted to go to see his step-father.
Ah, you want to visit my tomb!
I don’t understand why he thinks of such artificial imitation? He picks up is package. His package still hold on his back when stepping in the family church’s yard. The package is solid, bulky, very suspicious. Bad guy, do not despise! Maybe later, he knew everything because when burden pulled down to his mother, he was only three years old. People took his mother to an ambulance in the forest, hit by fireworks. Nobody knew where she was buried. Why I have to think of such whore and crossbred boy? After all, I just know he was taken to the South by someone to grow up, then came to US, then to Eastern Europe. Well, it’s been over sixty years. A few dozen years after I died. When I was alive, people told me to continue to live. I also went to some places but when women saw me, they run.
Now Dao Dinh family’s women are increasingly crowded. Why do they come back much? They are white. ... The crossbred boy goes slowly. The package on his back is black. There are now suicide bombings in the world that the backpack goes up and down the white roofs. The elder go very slowly. There are someone using three crutches inox stainless steel There are someone using batoong. But the team is still neat and specially eyes are still on package of the bastard. Such eyes explain for me why they follow him to my grave. Do not worry, they will block your hands before you spark plugs. They will take you to international court. They are still awake! They see lighting inter nation. They don’t need your lies and your poison. They are themselves, you are you. Do not equate it! Do not despise them!
Women scratched by mosquitoes. They open their bags to take candles out. The elder of Le family arrange “concrete” team covering the crossbred. Gradually tight encirclement. Before lowring package, the crossbred bends up, dispel the two hands want to say that they are out. But please follow the strategy “latch on the enemy belt to hit”. Wow! You think you can explode my tomb for revenge? I tell you that in this visit, you have to come the international court. He shakes his head, tries to tell everyone that please dilate, I have to prepare something for my father.
Wow! But the more he dispels, everyone cover him more tight. He speaks in foreign language. He speaks a sentence in Vietnamese language to repeat again: “Please let me place offerings for my father!”.
I see very clearly some hands of them intend to grab the backpack but not timely, he put it down. Dangerous! Very dangerous! I shouted at the volunteers, the women were crowded. They squeeze by ass and breast.
The crossbred becomes relax.
He bowed his hands to the tower of my grave three times.
When finishing, he bends down on his backpack, unblocks and opens.
Ceremoniously, he removes the mantle to reveal the statue with three heads sticking into one, one woman head in the middle, two man heads on two sides.
Silently.
All graveyards. All white clouds on graveyard. Birds. People. Trees. All the words are not heard at all. It can not be heard with the ear. It is only heard by the soul. It is both fragile, both human and angelic. That voice is very rare, it was astonishing and mystical in each of them when there was a stirring event to the original human.
Finishing it, he kneels for a long time. The nose is like a bottle of water. Those who stand ascend to the ground. Suddenly from within the eye socket it pulls out a very tears in the sun falling early. Tears flashed like diamonds. Tears drip on dry land. Soil absorbs quickly. His tear creates a mist on the cemetery with many women of Dao Dinh family, a gift from God. The crossbred cries for me? Cry for his mother? Cry for his serfdom? Indeed, his tears are crystal-clear. Crystal-clear tears, are not tears of deceit.
I have not been able to return to human life. My life is sinful. Why I had intended to kill him (several times)? Why I used a burden to it my wife’s back?
There, the elder has helped him to stand up. Many people cry. Now, tears fills up a thick layer of fog. My wife just comes back. That is my wife. She is still sexy. She does not look at me. Wriggling, she uses eyebrows. I cry. Something in me just collapsed.
- Please don’t resent me. But I still hate you. When the Western guy...
- This woman attracted him to protect my husband!
- I truly despicable with you!
- Not so bad, you are only a fool, don’t know anything about women!
- Pray to you!
- Pray for what. Human life is no longer. I go now. Don’t find me any more.
D.N.H
Translated by LE HOA
VNQD