Page 139 - Thorn In The Heart

Chinh Nguyên

The floor of the center room was between two large dens on
the left and right side of the pagoda. The classes were opening
on these dens, since the students could turn their head to see the
action of another side, or heard the teachers’ voices. Therefore,
Nguyen always heard the bell singing every first and 15th of the
month. Also, he would listen the collect of prayers flying in the
air from the center floor at his backside and smelled the incenses
perfume.

Nguyen had new teachers and friends after he had lived in
Hanoi Capital. Nguyen had the freedom to choose the game and
friends for playing. He jointed with his friends to talk and
discussed anything that he knew without afraid of the watching
eyes. Sometime Nguyen mind appeared the images of Mss.
Hang or his old friend in the village, so few times he had pay
attention at his friend's’ actions, remembered his grandfather’s
words about Vietminh mystery cadres to defense and scared for
dead.

Also in suddenly, he had haunted by memories of the war
with all the dirty things, which French soldiers and Vietminh
agents had done for the villagers, and his young uncle. It made
Nguyen growing the anguish and anger, he hated them more
than anything else, and the Vietminh’s meeting confession for
the kids in the village, that is never buried in his mind.

A year late his grandparent took a turn to pass away. They
brought the deep sorrowful into another world for the death of
his young uncle Hung and the news about uncle Cao, who
followed the Vietminh’s steps. Then his parent did not let him
go back to the village again since sometimes Nguyen
remembered his grandparent and cries in silence with his fresh
memories and thought of them.

After his grandparents died, Nguyen knew that he would not
have a chance to be back his old village, where he cries for the
first time of his life and grew in the love of a big family. Nguyen
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