Short story: My book

It was raining and stormy, the wind was getting stronger and stronger. Rainwater flowed down the makeshift house's pillars without stopping. Every five steps, she saw a huge basin at her feet. The already small house was leaking, making it impossible for Mrs. Sau to sleep. She sat up and turned on the light to see if her grandson was asleep. He was probably still in the age of eating and growing, so he slept very soundly, his shirt still revealing his navel. Afraid that her grandson would be cold and get sick, she quickly covered him with a blanket. Unable to sleep, and with nothing to do, Mrs. Sau groped her way to the altar, lit three incense sticks, and mumbled a prayer:
- Ancestors and grandparents are sacred and pray for their children to be strong and healthy.
Having said that, she placed the incense sticks neatly on the incense burner. The rain outside still showed no signs of stopping. I wonder if the sound of the rain drowned out the prayers of this gentle Mrs. Sau, but for all these years, it seemed like she had never had a moment of peace.
It has been a long time since a slim woman with two children, a boy and a girl, appeared in this land. They only know that this person is the sixth in a large family, and came here to work abroad, so they call her “Mrs. Sau”. People here are also funny, whenever they see someone in a certain family, they attach their profession to their name, and it becomes a new name, such as “Mrs. Tu sells meat”, “Mr. Hai sells lottery tickets”…
Suddenly, Tinh, her nephew, who was lying on the bed, turned and sat up. A raindrop must have just fallen on his face and startled him. He saw that his grandmother was still awake, and asked in confusion:
- Why are you still not sleeping, grandma?
- It was raining so much that I was afraid your school bag would get wet, so I left it aside.
Hearing that, it didn't ask anything more, it lay down, grabbed the blanket, covered itself like a cocoon and didn't forget to say:
- When you're done, come sleep with me!
The old fluorescent light on the ceiling gave off a weak, sometimes flickering light, so it was hard to see if any rain had splashed into the corners of Mrs. Sau’s eyes, so she quickly wiped her eyelids with her sleeve. Her eyes were no longer as clear as before, now cloudy due to time and because she cried too much.
Mrs. Sau's husband died, leaving behind two young children. Living in a poor countryside, how could she raise her children, not to mention that her family and relatives were not well-off enough to send them to another place to make a living. Thinking was doing, she carried her son and daughter to another region, determined to let them study properly because her life was hard, so she tried to give her children a decent job. Mrs. Sau at that time sold fish, thanks to God's mercy, she earned some money, not too much but enough to eat. Hai Men was the second brother, knowing that his mother had a hard time raising two children, he thought that since he was the eldest son and strong, he could stop studying until grade 9 and use all his money to raise his younger sibling. Hai Men told her, Mrs. Sau was determined not to let him quit school, threatening to beat him, but he was grown up and no longer afraid of his mother like before. He was determined to go sell fish with his mother, one time he said something that Mrs. Sau always remembered:
- Seeing you raising us alone like that, I… can't stand it.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she hugged her eldest son. It was a pity for the children who were so young and already understood the world. Then she single-handedly married off her two children. Every night she prayed to God, hoping for food and property for her family, hoping for nothing more than to repair the house and give her children and grandchildren money to buy books.
The daughter got married in Sam Mountain, and from then on, she rarely came back to visit, and it was as if she had lost her child. As for Mr. Hai Men, he was married at that time, Tinh was one year old, and fate wanted him to suffer, so he had to suffer. Tinh had just been born for a few months when he fell ill, sometimes hot, sometimes cold, and cried loudly once every half hour. So, all the capital and money that Mrs. Sau had saved up for a long time was used to treat him in the big city. The dream of roofing a house had to be put aside. When Tinh was six years old, Tinh's parents went to work as hired farmhands, and the money they earned was just enough for food. Mrs. Sau was afraid that her grandchild would not have books to study, so she ran from head to toe to ask which house had a child who had finished school and had some extra textbooks or old comic books, so she asked for them or bought them. Every time she brought them back, Tinh was very happy, smiling with his eyes closed. Mrs. Sau was also happy.
It is said that if you catch a big catch at sea, you will get rich quickly. Hai Men wants to have a little more money to have a nice house.
- Mom, I'm back from this trip and won't go again, don't worry.
- I was ignorant since childhood so I don't want my children to be like me in the future. I want them to study and read books to avoid hardship, but now they haven't studied much... I feel so sad thinking about it.
Knowing that his mother was sad because of him, Hai Men actually loved going to school. When he was in 4th grade, Hai Men joined the school's Uncle Ho storytelling team. Men enthusiastically read books and pictures related to Uncle Ho. Heaven does not disappoint those who work hard. Hai Men won second prize. He still remembers that feeling until now, but because he loves his mother and sister, he had to leave it unfinished. Now, his only goal is to take care of Tinh, his son, and continue his mother's and his own dreams.
He said, his voice choked up:
- I know you want us to succeed, but now I'm left unfinished. Now you and I should worry more about Tinh, okay mom?
Looking at her son's sparkling eyes as if he was about to cry, she remembered those eyes as they were years ago when Hai Men lost the book she bought for him to read in his spare time. Hai Men had carelessly and thoughtlessly lost it, he was very remorseful, looking at his hard-working mother, his heart was filled with remorse, the mother's sympathy was not pity for her child, they were just afraid that her child would develop wasteful habits and become spoiled and lose his manners.
Mrs. Sau clicked her tongue and agreed to let her son go. That day, Hai Men left home. Tinh naively asked her grandmother:
- When will my dad come back, grandpa?
- Just a few weeks, son. When your dad comes home, he will buy you some cake.
- So, grandma, can you buy me this book?
- Okay.
Tinh is twelve years old this year, living alone with his grandmother. Every day when Tinh goes to school, his grandmother cooks at home. He only comes home to eat, wash the dishes, and then take out his lessons to study. For the past six years, when the family has always lived in poverty, Tinh has not competed with his friends when he sees them getting new books and good notebooks. He must be like his late father. Mrs. Sau is still sitting on the horse, her eyes looking up at the family altar, next to her is a small photo frame and a separate incense burner. She moves her lips, her voice whispering like the wind blowing through the curtain:
- Hai, try to help your son study well and become a good person.
It seemed that Mrs. Sau's life was always associated with rain, every rain brought pain to this small, kind woman. That day, the wind and rain were very strong, the forecast said that the storm would make the sea rough. She trudged home, holding in her hand the book that Tinh had asked his father to buy, but he had not yet returned. Then the thunder in the middle of the storm, exploded loudly, that was also when she heard that her son could not return, some lives of making a living were captured by the sea. Sometimes nature is so selfish when it takes away the precious things of a family. Mrs. Sau dropped the book, ran out into the middle of the street, it was still raining, and cried loudly:
- Oh God… give me back my child… back to Mom.
The book got wet, the ink ran all over it, blurring the writing as if the book itself knew pain. Tinh's mother took care of her son for a while then remarried, occasionally coming back and forth to provide for him. Tinh has lived with Mrs. Sau since then. Many people think that Mrs. Sau, having gone through so much suffering with almost no children left, only her grandson, must have been mentally unstable, but Mrs. Sau still smiled.
Once, Mrs. Sau asked Tinh:
- What do you want to do in the future?
Thinking for a while, Tinh replied:
- Yes, I work as a storm forecaster. I read a story about this job in a book the other day.
As if seeing her grandmother's surprise, Tinh quickly ran to the bookshelf and took out many books with covers depicting clouds, rain, oceans, etc., with the main color being blue. She quickly showed off:
- Look, I borrowed it from the school library to read.
- There are many other jobs, son.
- Yes, because… I don't want anyone else to lose their father… like me.
Waiting for Tinh to put the books back in the cupboard, Mrs. Sau looked up at the altar, where the incense was still smoking. She believed Tinh could do it. She believed that no matter how much suffering she went through, as long as she tried, she could still overcome it. Sometimes, the challenges God gave were to temper people's will. She was happy that Tinh did not regret her orphaned fate, she was happy that Tinh knew how to orient herself for the future, knew how to find books to study, and to rise up in life.
Remember, Mrs. Sau happily said to her grandson when she saw him sitting and reading attentively:
- Read too many books, later you will become this or that person and forget me forever, you hear me?
- No, I love my grandmother like I love books because she is my most precious book.
No matter how long the rainy night is or how strong the wind blows, tomorrow the sky will be bright, the rain will stop, the warm sunshine will return bringing hope, illuminating my grandchildren's steps to school.