Nguyễn Ngọc Già (Danlambao) - The sun slants over the top, pass the noon time. The sun of the season’s changing over. From the raining season to the dry season. Hot and stuffy while preparing for the rains of the end of season. The end of the wet season is always intense.
The garden is a bit large but clearly ragged and gloomy, after more than two years...
Nearly two o'clock in the afternoon.
Mrs Liên is entering her house which shows the signs of running down. Fibro roof, plywood sheet wall looks like the bony frame of the peasant mother, after a lifetime of struggling to protect her beloved children, now it is gradually falling into pieces...
So tired, she takes off the old cloth hat, casually drops it on the table dotted with the yellowish stains. Gently sits onto the old and sloppy chair, she reaches out for the pot containing warm water and gently fills the glass...
The sound water running out of the pot is like the mourning sound inside her broken heart.
Clutching tight the glass with both hands, slowly she drinks one sip at a time...
She drank like trying to swallow all the sorrows choking in her throat, including voices full of frustration of her youngest son, Kha, so hearbroken to hear...
Although just past fifty, her hair was greyer than black. Bird footprints etch clearly on the end of her eyes. Deep-set wrinkles of life like knife wounds, extending from the nose to the corners of the mouth together with the dry stiffed forehead, causing others to be mistaken that she is aged in the sixty. The used to be warm and playful eyes are replaced with full of anxiety and sadness. What left in her are only the two ear lobes still full and unchanged. Only two years have passed!
Glancing at the sun glaring courtyard, waiting for her eldest daughter, said she will be home soon but still no sight of her...
Lean her hands gently on the table’s top to help her standing up, she walks to the altar, reaching up to get the incense sticks.
The altar made of teak wood is the only most valuable item in that ramshackle house. She was very grateful to generous people she did not know, who had helped her with the money to redeem back the altar. Because when the youngest son, Kha, was detained, she was forced to sell it to a local furniture store, to get some money to visit and support her imprisoned youngest son.
She lights up three incense sticks, mounts them on the ivory colour porcelain incense bowl. Clap her hands together then whisperingly prays...
***
Like other village girls, she was born and raised on the rural and peaceful farm land called Thu Thua - Long An.
As per say, she was born in a miserably pouring afternoon rain. She didn’t even know whether her fate has started from that moment.
Carefree, innocent as other farming rural kids, she grew up between the bamboo shoots, gentle banana scrubs. School studying, helping her parents and having fun with local friends. Although being born in the countryside, in a poor peasant family, she inherited from her mother the resourceful personality, striving and self-confidence.
She got married while still teenage. Her husband is a trusted and simple farmer, loves his wife and children. She gave birth to three adorable children. The eldest daughter named Như, the second child was a boy named Uy, and the youngest and cutest son called Kha came to the world.
The birth of each child was a memory filled with happiness, though under the simple idyllic roof. She did not expect anything more, beside seeing the children growing up healthy and have proper jobs. Then start their own family, have children so she can cherishly cuddle them.
Like other rural mothers, she does not know anything about politics or social upheaval, because it is inherently off her reach. Day in day out, year in year out, she clutched tight around the pond, garden and chicken coop, jackfruit plants, coconut trees and garden vegetables that she likes to make homemade delicacies herself for her children and their friends who from time to time gathered and had babarcue in her home, drinking and singing jubilantly.
She thinks her life was so lucky, when her eldest daughter got happily married then gave bith a beautiful and lovely granddaughter, lived in Saigon, brought with them her grandaughter to visit grandparents in the weekends; when the eldest son, Uy, opened a store servicing information technological stuffs and had a nice and modestly gentle girl friend; when the youngest son, Kha, was about to finish college then graduated then got a job, and then just a few years later like his siblings’ life. Equal...
She does not desire anything more. For her, this is quite enough.
She likes music and has clear voice, is most satisfied with bolero melody but not grief. Sing for joy, for relaxing after a full day of the working head-off in the farm. The audiences are only, none other than, the father of her three children.
***
Her life floats peacefully along with the current of the peaceful and gentle Vam Co Tay river, regardless of either low tide or high tide.
Until one day...
That was the most brutal and unforgettable day of her life that she never ever thought would happened to her whole family, when a friend told her that her youngest son, Kha, was arrested last night in Saigon.
She did not believe her ears hearing that terrible news, and asked her friend to repeat. When she realized it's true, she was petrified. The authority said Kha had received money from the reactionaries to act against the State (the communist party). This word “Reactionary”, she had heard many many times before, a few decades ago. Frankly, she didn’t care, because she has fed up with the communist regime for a long time, because miserable conditions with poor people like her family have been laid out so obvious before her eyes. She has always taught her kids to “live the life clean and honest, love the country, love people", willing to help unfortunate people with all they can. Her kids also understood the words she had instilled to them. So when neighbours and friends need help, her children wholeheartedly assist with all they can. Therefore, how could she accept the news that her youngest son did wrong things, just for some hand out.
***
Unable to sleep, she restlessly waited for the sun to come out. She decided to go and searched for the real truth, why her son had become such a person like what implies from the word - Reactionary.
At first she did not know how to go about, where to go to seek for the real truth about her son’s activities. She had no such high education in her belt. Even she had no clue about the word “internet”, what it is and how to use it.
Lots of people knew that Kha was a good young man and were fond of him. They all chipped in to help her in her quest. Her eldest daughter and elder son put on hold with their works, joint in with their parents to fight for the release of their brother. Everyone have chipped in with their ways of assistances. And finally she found out the real truth about her youngest son, Kha. Her son was infact not a bad person as being coated by the communist authority. She was so relieved and happy because her ancesterial moral was not blacken as first thought, due to Kha’s arrest. The authority just made it up stories and thrusted them upon on the kid.
She pondered it was understandable if some bad gangsters or thugs did it on Kha, but instead, the very people who were behind all the culimnations were the State-the Vietnamese communist party! She failed to find right minded explanations why they had done it. Probably because, with the simple knowledge of an innocent and rustic peasant, she thought: The government is created to serve people, not to be created to harm people to make people miserable.
With her simple understanding, neither a police officer nor a judge can answer her querry. The lawyer could just only smiled coyly, when they were facing with the simple reason but so convincing of an innocent simple peasant mother.
On the day of court proceeding, the judges were numbed and tongue twisted as Kha said loudly while standing in front of their court: "I’m not against my Fatherland, my People. I'm just against the Vietnamese communist party".
The trial was finished. The State sentenced her son 8 years jail term...
On appeal, the State reduced the sentence down to half...
She thought, for sure! thanks in part from her lawyer as well as hundreds of people had come to the court to support her, protested in front of the court chanting for her youngest son’s “innocent, not guilty”, resulting with the "bargain sale", cut down the prison term for the kid to half.
She cracked out laughing, when she thought about the court case, like the case of unsalable and near out of date moon cakes, the traders put up for sale with the sign “Buy one get one free” during the Moon Festival time in August.
Last July’s full moon special occasion, she was so busy she forgot to organize the offering session for lost souls and hungry homeless ghosts. About a week later, she tripped, resulted with her head hitting the ground. Luckily the accident was not serious. He neighbours said the ghost did it to purnish her for forgetting offering food to them on the special occasion! She was so remorseful because of her negligence to those souls around her family, because they were homeless and hungry and were in need for the once a year offering from her to be fed and comforted. How could she forget this!
Mrs Sau, owner of the flower and vegie stall is her neighbour. Mrs Sau’s husband had worked as a motorbike porter as well as assists her bringing vegetables to the stall. Last year, he was bashed to death by the police because he didn’t have 200 thousand HCM’s Dong to bribe them. Mrs Sau comforted her: “Not to worry! the dead souls only reminded you. The more important thing is you need to satisfy the living devils (communist police). You go home, find any item worth some money, either sell them or take to the prawn brokers to exchange for some cash money to offer them, so your youngest boy Kha can get lighter punishment while in jail”
***
Early in the morning, digging out some cold rice to eat with seasoned fish, then a quick cup of rainwater before leaving home for the K3 Xuyen Moc prison. Until now she still doesn’t feel hungry. She feels the abdominal lightheadness, just like seating in the boat sailing in the rough sea with big waves in the storm with high wind and heavy rain. It shakes, tosses her around making her feel so dizzy...
So her boy, Kha, has been in jail for more than two years. People say "one day in jail is equal to 1000 days of freedom". Her son has been in prison uninterruptedly for seven- eight hundred days... But he did not commit any robbery or kill anyone. He did not commit any social disturbance like the childen of those high-up government and communist party officers. Further more, he has no money to travel abroad, then goes to supermarkets in foreign countries to steal and got caught for theft, and returning back to the country they were arranged with plum job, and without shame they appear in State-own television channels lecturing the public about rites and good, honest behaviour. She was so angry. She despised this so called people’s government which is only good in bullying the poor and helpless. No wonder people say so correctly that: “coward in front of the enemy, evil against their own people”. It is so true!
Kha’s figure - reappears inside her head - was in languid, in lost, tiredly dragged his body out to the visiting courtyard, in the morning, during the allowed visting session. At that time she tried to keep her emotion in control, because she didn’t want those bastard prison guards to feel satisfying for what they had done to Kha. Now, in the void and still-quiet space, her tears are running uncontrollable down her face, her lips. Hot. She let the crystal clear tear droplets rolling out of her eyes like the heavy rain during the big storm day. She sobbed uncontrollable, one cry after another like a kid being treated unjustly...
In prison, Kha is suffering hemorrhoids, knee pain and high fever, as well as nose infection. Before, at home, in every morning he did exercises, weight training, his body was solid and energetic. Many local girls fell to him. Now look at his wobblingy weakling frame, looking like as old as a middle age man of nearly fourty years old. Tears continued to roll down as she’s thinking about Kha...
Standing up with some difficulty, she steps to the kitchen, washes her face to get some freshness. Before her eyes, the chaotic scene of the kitchen’s wall which collapsed last evening is still lying there on the ground, because of the big thunderstorm last night. She had no time to tidy the mess up yet. She had the strange feeling in her stomach, seeing it as the sign of an ominous. It was so correct.This morning, during the regular visit, Kha told her that a man, who acted so weird, crazy like, mentaly disturbing, was transferred to his cell by the prison authority, probably they wanted to use the man to intimidate, to harass the boy while he was unwell.
Daughter Như and son Uy have also been suffering catastrophic consequences since the jailing of the youngest son Kha.
Her son in law was fearful of being implicated and afraid of his future advancement being affected. Therefore he pushed her daughter, Như, to cut off all contacts with her family. Như flatly rejected that unreasonable demand raised by her husband and his family. She replied that her brother didn’t do anything wrong. Her parents gave him the life, took care of him, brought him up to be a good and responsible young man. How can she cut ties with her parents and siblings? So the couple decided to divorce.
The eldest son, Uy, was about to get married, but because of his actions in order to protect his young brother he was also in trouble with the communist authority. Police, both in uniform and plain clothed, turned up in a large number, acted like a wild herd, hand cuffed and dragged him from the road in broad daylight back to the house. Then the boy was locked up for nearly three hundred days, released with a suspended sentence of fifteen months. His shop had been constantly harassed and intimidated so badly that the business had to be closed down. The parents of his bride-to-be concerned with what has been happenning, they forced their daughter to cancel the planned marriage for good.
Her husband has been sicked for the whole year, from witnessing his three innocent and patriotic children having been cornered and pushed to the dead end by this low line communist government, with no way out...
Facing up toward to the sky, put her bony arms down halfway, the thin and skinny hands clutch tight and trembling, her eyes show the sign of unbearable pain. The crying screams burst out. The creams echo in the hollow and empty space. The screams from her ailing chest are suddenly amplified by some spirited beings, bouncing and reaching up the Heaven. Hearing those heartbroken cryings make the body aching, the heart in pain:
What kind of era is this!
Are you still human beings!
Why ruthlessly crush other people’s family!
Why is this government so cruel and evil!
Heaven!
Dark clouds quickly rush in. Thick, mottled like some invisible hand quickly draws in the open sky the terribly angry face of the God of Thunder. The sky had fallen from the sky tilt, perturbed difference in her purple heart afternoon. Wind howling bouts heard the horror. The deafening thunder turns roar echoes...
Rain. The torrential rain. Rain is like from the giant lake in the sky, which is turned upside down and its water is fell straight down to Earth. Overflowing. Profusely. The rain drops fall straight down onto her head, in the empty and voided space of her kichen...
Wiping down the cool raindrops on the face with her hands, she feels more alert with freshness. Her lips grip tight. Her eyes with full of confidence reappear...
She decides she must and pursue for the human rights of her youngest son.
Regardless whether she has to go to the end of the Earth or Heaven, she definitely will have to do to make certain her youngest son, Kha, as well as all those who are deprived of their human rights. She will go. She must go...
...Despite being just an innocent and simple peasant mum, she will not be alone on the road of fighting for true justice...
(A special tribute to the innocent and simple peasant mum of Prisoner Of Conscience Dinh Nguyen Kha)
05/12/2014
