Short story: Mrs. Nghiep's buffalo

Mrs. Nghiep sat on the porch, her nearly two-year-old grandson was sitting in a bag, squirming, wanting to crawl out. She smacked her lips and sighed, her face showing worry. Times are different. In the past, people only wished to have more fields to work on, and every little bit more they could earn was a joy. But now, when you give away your fields, no one will accept them even if you try to be nice or beg them.

Lately, Mrs. Nghiep often had a strange dream. In the dream, she saw her buffalo, which she had just sold last year. It stood in the middle of a green rice field, looking at her, its eyes oozing blood-red tears. Then suddenly it reared up, lay down in the field, its body gradually growing larger, covering her entire field. The buffalo rampaged, destroying the entire rice field. Sometimes it stood up, its body covered in mud, with a whole clump of rice stuck on its horns, its eyes glaring as if it wanted to rush at her, using its horns to throw her up...

***

Nghiep and Dien fell in love on the nights they went out to water the rice fields. Those were beautiful moonlit nights. The moonlight was as soft as silk, spreading down on the dew-drenched grass banks. The boys and girls stood in pairs on the banks of the stream, each holding a bucket in their hands, bending down and up to the rhythm of the water being splashed. The moonlight shimmered on the stream, the water was scooped up by the buckets and then burst into the rice fields. The sound of water being splashed. The sound of chatting. The sound of teasing and matchmaking. The sound of giggling. Everyone was excited and happy. Strangely enough, they paired a man and a woman very skillfully, with no one left out.

Then they became a family. When they moved out, they lived in a house with walls made of woven bamboo and plastered with earth, and a roof thatched with palm leaves. There was nothing valuable in the house. At night, lying together, the young couple wished for a buffalo.

Finally, the couple had a buffalo as they wished, after several years of hard work, saving and borrowing. The buffalo stood there, under the jackfruit tree at the gable, and they thought it was like a dream. Nghiep walked as if running down to the edge of the field, picked the greenest grass to cut and bring home for the buffalo to eat. Seeing the buffalo chewing the grass deliciously, the couple was so happy that they cried. Farmers are like that, having a buffalo in their hands is like holding the whole crop, seeing each rice sack filled to the brim.

Nghiep and his wife loved their buffalo very much. Every time the buffalo came up from the pond, they would find and catch all the leeches that were still attached to its body. Whenever he went to work in the field, Nghiep would cut a load of grass to the top and slowly carry it home to feed the buffalo. Nghiep and his wife also set aside a field near their house to grow elephant grass. Nghiep was very diligent in asking for banana trees, cutting them up, then chopping them up and mixing them with corn bran and rice bran to feed the buffalo during the dry season when fresh grass was scarce. On summer evenings, mosquitoes flew all over the buffalo pen. Nghiep burned soapberry fruit to create smoke to repel the mosquitoes, and Dien used an electric racket to swat the mosquitoes until they exploded. Hearing that sound, Dien laughed out loud with glee.

That buffalo has helped Mrs. Nghiep and her husband in many ways. The house they live in was built from that buffalo. Every time they sell a young buffalo, the couple gets a decent amount of money, and with the money from plowing for hire and raising pigs and chickens, they can build a house. Then the marriage of the eldest son and his younger brother was also done with the money from selling the buffalo.

As time went by, the buffalo grew old, so Mrs. Nghiep and her husband had to sell it. It was a difficult thing to do, because it was too old and weak to plow. It was the buffalo that had been with them from the early days of poverty until they had everything. But they still had to sell it. The buffalo was herded onto the back of a truck and taken away. Mrs. Nghiep did not dare to look, she sobbed, tears streaming down her face.

The old buffalo was sold, Mrs. Nghiep and Mr. Dien left its son to work as a draft animal. After plowing for a few years, the village began to change, plows and harrows appeared. People competed to hire machines to do their farming. It was not surprising, the young people in this village went to work as laborers, the rest went to work as hired laborers, construction workers, and construction workers. Many people of Mr. Dien's age worked as construction workers, and the wages were also high. It turned out that in a month, they only spent a few days working to get the fields and fields in order. So, there were more buffaloes than enough, and people competed to sell them. Some families raised a whole herd of buffaloes just to sell the meat, which was also a profession.

At first, Mrs. Nghiep was determined to keep the buffalo. Mr. Dien and his children persuaded her for a long time, but she finally gave in. On the day the buffalo was sold, she saw the buffalo looking at her pleadingly, two streams of muddy water flowing from the corners of its eyes. Turning away, her heart ached.

***

Mrs. Nghiep breathed a sigh of relief when she found someone to work the fields. It was finally done, she felt like a burden had been lifted off her shoulders. She remembered one time when she saw her mother had to go back and forth many times without finding anyone, her children told her: "Why don't you just leave the fields empty? It's best to return the fields to the commune, Mom." Hearing that, she was very angry, but she didn't say anything. Let them be. They have their own way of thinking, and she has her own reasons. Granted, farming now isn't much, hiring people to plant rice, plow, harvest, plus the cost of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, if not careful, there could be a big loss. However, farmers have to keep their fields, if they don't need them now, they will need them at some point.

Mr. Dien also worked as a construction worker for the construction workers. There were times when he went all the way down to the city to work and would only come back late at night. During those times, the two of them were at home, and the older children were at school, so the grandmother didn’t bother with meals, and lunch was just a quick one to get things done.

The weather has changed these past few days, Mrs. Nghiep felt pain all over her body, her knees ached so much that she couldn't sleep. She lay there thinking, she regretted and longed to work in the fields. She remembered the old days when everything was done by human power, but the couple had struggled with the fields for so many years, and now that it was convenient, they had to abandon the fields. The more she thought, the more she missed the fields, missed the fields so much. Suddenly, a buffalo appeared before her eyes, her own buffalo, it stood still, staring at her, its eyes oozing two streams of blood-red tears. She walked towards it, intending to scratch its head, when it suddenly turned around and ran straight into the fields. Mrs. Nghiep ran after it, calling out to the buffalo, it ran even faster and then rushed into the ripe rice fields, trampling them all. The rice stalks were trampled down and mixed with mud, the rice grains were scattered on the grass banks, making Mrs. Nghiep feel sorry and cry out in panic. Every time she dreamed about the buffalo and woke up, Mrs. Nghiep would wander in her thoughts until she heard the flapping of wings of an escaped chicken, then she was startled to know that morning was coming.

- Mrs. Nghiep! Open the gate for me.

- Who is it? Wait a minute.

The call startled her and she looked out the gate. Mrs. Nghiep recognized the woman from the village below. She was working in the fields for her family. It was a custom that after drying the rice, she would bring her several dozen kilos of rice to feed the chickens. She always said she wouldn't take anything, she would keep whatever rice she could to eat, but people were still shy and kept bringing it.

- Grandma! I want to tell you something, please forgive me.

- Yes, go ahead. We're just villagers.

The woman hesitated for a moment and then told her that she wanted to return the field to her next season. Before, her children were still young so she stayed home to work in the fields to look after them. Now that they can take care of each other, she wants to go to work as a factory worker. Mrs. Nghiep sighed. Now no one is interested in working in the fields anymore, if they are, they will try to work on their own fields...

***

Since the beginning of this year, the villagers have heard rumors that an investor will come to build an industrial park on their village field. People often whisper about this, making Mrs. Nghiep feel nervous and confused. Then, the news that has been of interest to everyone for a long time has become true. The investor's representative went to the commune committee hall to discuss and get people's opinions. In less than a day, the agreements between the parties were completed.

Today is Sunday, the children see that their parents have a day off so they can't let go. Mrs. Nghiep has a free day, leisurely strolling to visit the fields. Mrs. Nghiep just stood there, stunned. The golden rice field blurred. Her buffalo suddenly appeared from somewhere right in front of her, it stood looking at her, making her surprised. Then unexpectedly, the buffalo turned its head and galloped out into the middle of the field. Mrs. Nghiep just stood there watching the buffalo's shadow. Her eyes were wet, she vaguely saw the tin roofs of factories, the bright high-pressure lamps, the scene of workers bustling after work. In her ears suddenly rang the cheerful words of her daughter-in-law to her son, which she accidentally heard last night: "So we're going to be able to go back to work in our village's industrial park, aren't we?" Mrs. Nghiep suddenly smiled. She should be as happy as them. Life is changing, progressing day by day, and tomorrow future generations won't have to work with mud on their hands and feet. Then she blamed herself for being backward, for someone like her who would always regret things that would only be in the past. Mrs. Nghiep laughed again, but her throat tightened, tears welled up and wet her cheeks. Ah, she must still be thinking about the buffalo!