Summer days of childhood in Quang Trung apartment building

(Baonghean.vn) - On a summer morning, after our parents went to work, the children of Quang Trung apartment building, with keys hanging from strings around their necks, gathered at the houses of the older people to participate in games. The boys played chess, Chinese chess, the thin-lipped girls played Chinese checkers, and drew chalk in the hallway.

1.The children who were always yelled at by their parents now got to play the role of commander-in-chief, commanding generals, grand marshals, marshals…what could be better? The children who didn’t have their turn to play were divided into two sides to cheer on the undecided battles.

Khanh and Nhat, who were richer, sometimes brought their seahorses and puzzles to join in the fun... those sessions were very lively, with loud shouting. Occasionally, the old lady Ky, who was over eighty, would come over and gently remind them: "You can play, but don't make too much noise."

Children in Quang Trung apartment building - Photo: Thanh Cuong.

Bored with the game of hopscotch, the girls switched to the game of pass. Tam and Huong asked their mother for an eggplant the size of a ping-pong ball, then pooled together some rice chopsticks to make tools. One hand tossed the eggplant high, the other picked up cards, and sang “One day, one tomorrow, son, mussel,… A couple of me, a couple of sisters… Three banyan leaves, three bodhi leaves. “Chi chi chan chan/The nail blew the fire/The horse died in the chapter/Three kings and five emperors/The judge went to find/U a u ap”. It was so much fun.

Usually, boys rarely play with girls. Only when there are few people do they get together to play hopscotch or tap-poles. Boys can play hopscotch just as well as girls.

2."Here's the newspaper, go get it."

As soon as we heard the mailman and the newspaper announce softly, we, the children of the upper floors, dropped all our fun activities and ran downstairs to receive the mail and newspaper. In the 70s and 80s of the last century, when the internet was not yet popular, letters were a happy connection, exchanging news with relatives. Every family received 4-5 letters every month, some families received dozens of letters.

Our apartment complex has many writers, journalists and teachers, so our uncles also order many types of newspapers, such as Van Nghe newspaper, Quan Doi Nhan Dan magazine, Nhan Dan newspaper, Nghe An newspaper, many friends' houses also order Thieu Nien newspaper, Nhi Dong newspaper...

The most fun is when they go to read the newspaper. Usually, Mr. Duong and Ms. Lan are trusted by the uncles to receive the newspapers for the whole apartment building. At first glance, being a “mail carrier” seems easy, but getting started is not simple at all. At the very least, you have to remember which day, what newspaper is there, and which house it is from. If there is a shortage, you have to ask the mailman immediately to avoid missing or losing the address. At the beginning of summer, some of the naughty kids missed it first, then missed it later and failed to complete their tasks, so they were “dismissed” by the uncles.

Childhood eyes... - Photo: Thanh Cuong.

We kids sat down in the hallway of the building, passing around the newspapers to each other, devouring the ones we had just received. Usually, the newspapers were available after 9 o'clock, and we kids only had about 2 hours to read them, so each of us was glued to the newspaper, especially when we got our hands on the Thieu Nien or Nhi Dong. When we came across good poems or difficult math problems (in the Tuoi Tre Math Magazine), we would huddle together to read or take out our pens and work on them.

Some of us who didn’t like reading newspapers played the “stamp peeling” game. The older kids taught us to use razor blades to separate the postage stamps, then use Sao Vang balm to erase the postmarks for reuse. On days when there were many letters, we would share them and each of us would get a few stamps, and after erasing them, they would look like new. At first, we were scolded by the letter owners, but gradually we learned to only “peel” the stamps from easy-going recipients.

Around noon, Mr. Duong and Ms. Lan would collect all the letters, report them, and smooth them out. The children on each floor would be assigned the task of delivering the letters to the owners of each household. To avoid losing them, they would deliver them, and if the owner was absent, they had to push them through the door slot. They were not allowed to take them home and lose them. We kids listened to them all, because if we didn’t listen, the homeowner would report us, and we would not have the chance to read them tomorrow.

Spinning, spinning… the summer days of us kids in the Quang Trung apartment building. And then, in my dreams of childhood, I see chess games, stamps…

An Thanh