Nguyễn Ngọc Già
- 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
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