War negatives
(Baonghean) - Mrs. Hoa's worry has entered its third day; her husband and children are still nowhere to be found. She is very sad! She goes to the altar to light incense and pray...
On the fourth day, as evening approached, she hurried out of her room and saw her husband, Dr. Kien, arriving in a car with a frail, white-haired man. She was delighted to see her husband, but before she could greet him, Dr. Kien spoke up:
- This is Mr. Thanh, a patient and also your former comrade, the one who carried you to safety from enemy fire during the battle at Lang Vay in the spring of 1972, the one you told me about...
Mrs. Hoa went back inside, switched on the light, and in the bright electric light, she clearly saw the visitor's face. Suddenly, she was startled. "Could this really be Thanh, the man I loved forty years ago?!" she thought to herself. She rubbed her eyes to get a better look. It was indeed Thanh. His receding chin, his deep-set eyes—even though he was old, she still recognized him. But Thanh had died, hadn't he?
After dinner, the three of them watched the world news program. Mr. Kien arranged for Mr. Thanh to have a private, luxurious, and quiet guest room. The couple then stayed in the living room to talk. Mr. Kien spoke softly and hesitantly:
Honey, I have something I want to discuss with you... But... you... have to...
- Just tell me what's bothering you. Why are you hesitating like a chicken with its feathers stuck in a fence?
"That's nonsense," Mr. Kien waved his hand dismissively. "I want to discuss something important with you. I hope you understand and can share my thoughts."
- Whatever benefits this small family, I support it wholeheartedly!
Mr. Kien lit his cigarette, took a puff, sipped some hot tea, and slowly said:
- Mr. Thanh is a patient in my department. He's a war veteran who was exposed to dioxin. He also has prostatitis. Tests show a possibility of cancer, requiring long-term and expensive treatment. Mr. Thanh is currently facing financial difficulties. He has no salary, his parents passed away early, and he has no wife, children, or siblings. He's my former comrade and benefactor. If it weren't for Mr. Thanh saving me, I would have lost my life on the battlefield in Quang Tri years ago. I'm discussing with you the possibility of us keeping Mr. Thanh at our house so he can receive proper monitoring and treatment... What do you think?
Faced with her husband's request for something so important, Mrs. Hoa suddenly felt flustered!
- Please give me some time to think this through. We still need to discuss this with the children, don't we?
- I agree!
That night was a long one for Mrs. Hoa.
Lost in her thoughts, she was startled by the sound of a rooster crowing. She got up and went into the kitchen to prepare breakfast.
After breakfast, Mr. Kien reminded Mr. Thanh to take his medicine on time, told his wife to prepare meals and drinks for the guest thoughtfully, and then got into his car to return to the hospital.
At this moment, only Mr. Thanh and Mrs. Hoa were left at home. They went from bewilderment to choked with emotion. They sat silently in opposite corners of the living room table. Then Mrs. Hoa spoke: “Do you know how long I’ve waited for you? When the war ended, I longed for your return with all my heart. Every day I went to the gate with my mother, waiting. My mother’s tears ran dry as she cried out your name. When we received your death notice, my mother fell seriously ill and passed away in agony. Seeing my mother off to the eternal realm on that bitterly cold winter afternoon, I wanted to die with her. How did you manage to survive? Tell me about it.”
- His sacrifice is real. In 1973, during a fierce battle between his regiment and the 22nd Regiment of the South Vietnamese Army in Binh Dinh, he was severely wounded in his right leg. The enemy launched a furious counterattack, forcing our troops to retreat to preserve their forces. He lay beside the Lai Giang River, captured by the enemy and taken to the Quy Nhon hospital for treatment. After his wound healed, the enemy imprisoned him in Phu Quoc. No one in his unit knew. Everyone believed he had died. The unit's policy department sent a notification to his hometown. After the liberation of the South...
I remember that at the end of October 1969, Mr. Thanh set off for...
"Please forgive me!" Mr. Thanh said, his voice choked with sobs.
- It's not your fault at all! It's all because of the war!
That lunchtime, Mrs. Hoa went to the market to buy clams to cook a pot of clam soup for Mr. Thanh, a dish he really liked...
After lunch, Mr. Thanh called a motorbike taxi and left, bidding farewell to Mrs. Hoa.
"You can't go! If you leave, how will I explain it to Kien when he comes home tonight?" Mrs. Hoa clutched at his backpack.
- I have to go! Don't worry! I'm a soldier...
The motorbike carrying Mr. Thanh sped onto the main road in the biting east wind, while Mrs. Hoa watched it go, her eyes fixed on it.
That evening, when Mr. Kien returned from the hospital and didn't see Mr. Thanh, he asked his wife:
Where is Mr. Thanh?
Mrs. Hoa ran up from the kitchen downstairs:
- Mr. Thanh has left, sir!
Where did he go? Why did you let him go like that? Or... did you...
- She didn't say anything!
- Did Mr. Thanh say where he went?
He said he was going back to his hometown to live with his relatives and neighbors.
Mr. Kien threw his briefcase into the car and sped off. Mrs. Hoa stood motionless in the yard, like a statue. She just stood there, for who knows how long...
Xuan Tuynh
