Short Story

Returning home after a busy afternoon in the peach field, my father wearily sat down on the wooden plank bed and rubbed the dirt off his trousers. Then, he picked up the thuốc lào (tobacco pipe), put a small pinch of tobacco into its bowl, struck a match and began smoking. He seemed so lost in thought that he nearly forgot my presence in the hut. To me, he was worrying about his peach field. In these silent moments he remembered how he had given up everything behind in the city: his profitable job as a doctor in a renowned hospital and his beautiful home close to his parents’ place, so he could settle down here on a rented plot of land near the river bank in the countryside to grow peach trees, whose blossoms he liked best. * * * Growing up, I was often a silhouette beside him, always busy at work in the field. Most of my memories about the brilliantly-lit city, about my father, with his spectacles and scrubs were vividly etched in my … [Read more...] about The dead peach blossoms

I am a songwriter and she is a singer with the sweetest voice. We once tried to come together but everything was against us. After that, we lived far from each other for a decade. When I had no inspiration to write, she could sing beautifully, but when she lost her voice, I could write. I tried my best to write a song for her, but they never worked for her. Yet, she could sing other people’s songs. What was wrong with me, I wondered? I eventually became a household name after winning a songwriting contest. But things changed when I wrote a song for her and sent it to a contest. I was lambasted, with the jury saying the song was “very private”. Why? Why should I write something that I don’t believe in? Why had I suffered such a cruel rejection? I had to stand on own feet. I continued to write and submit my work to singers, but they all dismissed me out of hand, or asked me to write about and for them instead of my love. After … [Read more...] about A love song in a deserted garden

Dan Nam is a river passenger boat that sails from Thuong Dan to Xuyen Nam. When Trieu Tai began working on it as a ticket seller, the boat was decades old. At that time, a new road had opened to traffic from Thuong Dan through Xuyen Nam to Trai Sat. Fewer and fewer people were using the boat. The boat company decided that the September service would be the Đan Nam boat’s last voyage, ending half-a-century of operations. The night before the closing date, Trieu Tai could not get a wink of sleep. He got up and walked to the river landing where the boat was bobbing in the water. He had worked on the boat for five years. Trieu Tai was devastated. When he was a high school student, he liked literature, but failed the university entrance exam, so went to work on the boat. The vessel had cruised along the river on a timetable, starting on Monday from Thuong Dan and arriving in Xuyen Nam in the afternoon. He stayed overnight there and Tuesday … [Read more...] about The last river boat service

For a whole year, whenever Hung, a doctor, worked a night shift, his wife Ngoc would also be away from home, but Hung’s aunt Hai wasn’t worried about that. But today, Hai suddenly felt very nervous when she saw the doubt in Hung’s eyes in the afternoon. She was feeding her grandniece An when Hung came home. Hai was dumbfounded: “What! You’re home so early today!” Hung said that he had left something at home. Hearing his daughter crying, he asked: “Where is my wife?” “She, she said she was going out with her friend and she would be back soon,” Hai said falteringly. Hung wasn’t working the night shift today. He knew his wife wasn’t at home when he worked a night shift, he could guess where she was. He raced to where the Don ca tai tu (a typical southern folk art) singers and cải lương (a theatrical art in the south) performers met. He stopped in front of a restaurant … [Read more...] about Our Founding Fathers