Fairy Tale In Life (Period 2)
Have been living together for three months, Ha felt so tired\r\nand uneasy to eat that she went to the doctor and realized that she was invaded\r\nthe blood of Minh’s. She felt confused since both of them are lack of\r\npreparation. She did not know what to do and failed to phone Minh. So she went\r\nto his university to look for him, so did the boarding house. But he was not\r\nthere. In the afternoon, she was informed bad news that Minh had traffic\r\naccident and died on the way to hospital.
\r\n\r\nThe afternoon sunlight penetrated the gaps of leaves,\r\ncreating floral shape spotted on Ha’s shirt. Returning to reality after\r\nretrospect, the images of Minh still lingered somewhere. Having been busy with\r\nMinh’s funeral for few days, Ha could not drop any tears. Perhaps when people are\r\ntoo sorrowful, they lose all energy to let teardrop, and all of these are\r\nflowing inside. It was not a true funeral since only few acquaintances visited.\r\nThanks to the landlord’s sympathy, Minh’s corpse was allowed to put at the\r\nbackyard and be cremated after one day. Ha’s fee sent by her mother this month\r\nwith money of some friends was enough for his funeral parlor and incinerator.\r\nNow there was still a few thousand dong in her pocket, but it seemed not\r\nimportant.
\r\n\r\nTears were streaming down on her face. Some people seeing\r\nthis felt really sympathetic; however, they just passed and did not dare to ask\r\nanything. She was crying for both her and his life, for budding her first love,\r\nand also for their wrong superficiality. Now how could she solve while carrying\r\nthe blood of Minh. Her age is too young to become a mother and be able to take\r\ncare of their children. If only they had been more matured in the past, they\r\nwould not been grievous now, but that wish forever never happen. Minh had gone\r\nand left enormous sorrow she never forgets. The baby in her womb was the\r\nconnection and formation of their most noble sentiments.
\r\n\r\nBut the important thing was what she had to do. She could\r\nnot return home because her mother would not be able to bear this shock. She\r\nhad been a burden to his mother; moreover, what her neighborhood, relatives and\r\nfriends thought when a 20 year-old girl being not married but pregnant. And how\r\nher education would be like? Who would care for her baby? Hundreds of thousands\r\nof questions came to her mind. There is only one way, she and her baby would\r\nfollow Minh. No more choice as this would help her mother lessen her suffering.
\r\n\r\nThe sunlight beam of twilight is falling into gloomy space.\r\nGentle wind is shaking a line of Poinciana in the corner of the pagoda, making\r\nwaning flowers drop as if they were crying and blaming ...
\r\n\r\nSuddenly, a voice called softly behind when she stood up to\r\nleave.
\r\n\r\n- The pagoda always compassionately opened for people who\r\nsuffered from miseries. We went there to warm up our mind and alleviate\r\nanxiety. I saw you seemed so much suffering. Sit down here and would you tell\r\nme what happened to you?
\r\n\r\nIn front of Ha, the image of a over 50 year-old nun wearing\r\na light royal blue robe. She smiled gently, making Ha fell tender and cozy in\r\nher eyes. Ha has never talked to a nun before because of being shy and not\r\nhaving opportunity to get exposure. However there was something tremendously\r\npower in the nun’ words, making Ha sit down beside her. She continued:
\r\n\r\n- From afternoon till now, having seen you cried, but I did\r\nnot ask since I wanted to give you a private space to think. This maybe could\r\nhelp you alleviate sadness. Now you were going to leave but still looked very\r\ndistressed. Let tell me something, maybe I could help you; moreover, your sorrow\r\nwould decrease a half when it was spoken out.
\r\n\r\nHa was silent for a moment. Then not knowing what reason,\r\nthere was invisible motivation prompting Ha tell her everything. She listened\r\nquietly, without a response, then Ha cried a lot, a lot, probably from past\r\ntill now, this time Ha cried a lot the most. She patted Ha in her arms, her\r\nhands was soft and warm as Ha’s mother. In the past, Ha’s mother also comforted\r\nher with the warm and soft hands like this. Ha missed her mom and her fond\r\nhouse beside small lines of coconut trees. But how Ha returned home. She let Ha\r\nlessen her cry and said:
\r\n\r\n- In this world, everyone, everything was caused by causal\r\ncondition. We could not live without obeying the principle of causality. You\r\nseeded such predestinated affinity with Minh and your child that you continued\r\nto have a relationship with them. As regard as the life of Minh, because of the\r\nbad cause he had done in his previous life, now he had to suffer a short life.\r\nIn a series of innumerable causation, surely we had to be received proper\r\nresults we seeded. You could not shirk the present and looking for to death.\r\nDeath is not the end, but it was another beginning. If you sought to death, you\r\nwould hurt both yourself and others. Did you think of your mother and your child\r\nor not? I believed that if you did so, Minh would be upset and blame you.
\r\n\r\nShe then advised and explained a lot of things Ha has never\r\nknown. Ha’s heart seemed to be calm because she thoroughly understood a lot of\r\nthings, otherwise the truth of life. Finally, she gave a plan that she would\r\nbring up Ha’s baby till Ha graduated, because her temple also cared for a lot\r\nof orphans and the homeless. She also helped Ha if Ha had financial\r\ndifficulties.
\r\n\r\n- You had mistaken once already, so you shouldn’t do it again\r\nto avoid hurting your beloved. Your unborn child was a living germ of Minh, but\r\nwhy you could have a clumsy thought that you would leave it. It was also an\r\nentity, a creature; also your child had the right to live, so never thought of\r\noccupying that right. Now I would help you with one condition: telling your\r\nmother everything, I believed by the love of a mother, she would forgive you\r\nsince no parent ignore their children. If you needed my help, tell me. Let\r\nstand up, and today you stayed at my temple and recited the Buddhist sutra to\r\naward your soul at peace again. I believed you will overcome this difficulty.\r\nCome in here.
\r\n\r\nGently washing face, Ha looked at her reflection on the\r\nmirror. Only a few days, she was really haggard. Cool water dispelled many\r\ntroubles. A rayal blue outfit was given to Ha and it was quite fit. Ha silently\r\nthought it was sure that the Bodhisattva was efficacious and her pull out the\r\nimpurity of life. Ha did not know how tomorrow will be, but one thing she was\r\nconfident that the rest of her life and her child would rely on the Buddhist\r\ncompassion.
\r\n\r\nThe sound of bells, gongs chanted with sutra reading in the\r\nafternoon:
\r\n\r\n“The supreme Dharma
\r\n\r\nNone of the three realms compares ... "
\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nTranslated into English by Luong Bao Hoang Phuong.
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