Nam Xuong was place Thi Thiet Vu was given birth. She was a beautiful woman, kind and knowledgeable. She got married with a person who lived in the same village, Truong. Truong was a student he often doubted his wife's fidelity. One other side, Thi Thiet knew her husband so she always behaved cleverly to keep family happiness. Therefore, their family was always in peace.
But it’s not long the time of happiness was interrupted enemies invaded their country. Truong was summoned and became a soldier to fight against invaders. The day he left seemed sadder when her wife was pregnant. The separation was wetted by tears of his wife and his mother. They gave him wishes, asked him to take care and hoped he could come back early.
Thi Thiet gave birth to a son after ten days her husband left. She named him Dan. Dan grew healthily each day while his grandma, mother of Truong, turned weaker and weaker the remembering of her son made her get in illness. Though Thi Thiet had tried her best to take care of her, asking great doctors to cure her, she didn’t pass she died. Thi Thiet and kind neighbors who gave her their hands did a complete funeral for her and of course without Truong.
Few winters had passed, Truong still didn’t come back. One son, one wife still waited for him each day. Thi Thiet had to manage to take care of her son, her fields and of course she did them alone. Many nights, he son cried while she was doing homework under lamp light, she always pointed the shadow on the wall and said:
“Don’t cry. Look! Your father goes back. There, he is.”
The child looked at the shadow and stopped crying. It became a habit her son always asked to meet his father before he slept and his mother always responded his request and then the shadow seemed to be one of their relative without both their noticings.
At last, the war finished, soldiers came back from battlefield and Truong was one of them. He was happy when he could meet again his wife and his son but he also felt said his mother had died he couldn’t meet her in the last time.
Dan, now, had been three years old. He could speak few words. Truong hurried held his son in his arms, kissed on his cheeks but his son didn’t feel familiar with him he cried. Truong didn’t pay much attention because it’s normal he had left before his son was born so that his son couldn’t have any sign to recognize him.
Few days later, Truong led his son to his mother’s tomb. When they arrived to the tomb, his son seemed spoiled he cried.
“Don’t cry son”, he said, “I will buy you some presents.”
“You--not father”, said Dan immediately, “Father -- another --only come home--night.”
Something which was broken inside his heart.
“What’s he look like?” asked Truong at one.
“Don’t see face but always follow mother. Mother sits he sits. Mother stands he stands. But he don’t hug me”, said Dan.
The words of the innocent child made him believe that his wife had another lover. The doubt raised his anger on the top. He hurriedly made his way to his home and scolded his wife.
“I have never thought you could be spoiled”, he creamed, “What was you doing while I was absent, doing unclear things with another man?”
He gave her more and more bad words but he didn’t let her know that the thing was come out from their son’s mouth. The argument turned much more violently and he was too hot to hear his wife explain. The argument turned noisy coming to neighbors who made their ways to their house and stopped them. But the neighbors couldn’t do much Truong had strong belief that his wife had betrayed him. At the top of the argument Truong left, found the way to a neighbor while his wife was hugging their son crying. Thi Thiet really fell in such bad mood and just a moment she lost control of herself, she sprinted to river and threw herself into the water.
When Truong came back, his wife vanished and he immediately knew that something bad had happened. He searched anywhere in his home, asked all of his neighbors but no one saw her. At last, he sprinted to the shore of river and wildly searched for her. Later, others came and helped him searched but they didn’t do much the water was strong. It’s getting dark people, one by one, left making her and his way back home. Truong was the last person who dragged his feet to home. His son now started crying he asked for his father. Truong lighted oil lamp to appease him and when the lamp was lighted up, his son automatically stopped crying.
“Look! Dan’s father”, said his son.
“Where?” asked Truong hurriedly.
“There”, said his son, pointing at the shadow on the wall.
Truong that time found out that he had made a serious mistake. I don’t want tell you much about his felling it’s terrible but you should know:
Day by day after his wife died, Truong used to bring his son to the river, look down the water and cried. He didn’t marry with any other growing his son up alone.
THE END
"Translator: Hung Nguyen"
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