The Haunting Spirit Of Tran Thi Yen And Other True Horror Stories

Part 2- Mother's First Love

In 1977 year of the Snake, my mother was 18 when she met father. He was four years older than mother and  has had a relationship before he met her. My father at that time was only in his twenties but already has had a very hard life. Falling through an early marriage at the same time hiding from the government to escape his civil service. He loved singing and music and follows a traditional performance group to make a living as a singer (gánh hát cải lương). Most people in the village loved this form of reformed music back then. Being a lead male singer in the group, with the bonus of having charming appearance, my father was very popular with the women.

Father and mother loved each other regardless of the disapproval of the two sides of the family. It was their destiny. Life was difficult, father was poor, mother was no better but at least they had each other. Life was full of hardships, my parents lived on a small boat floating along the river. People were suffering from poverty under the ruthless government rules. Father and mother had to smuggle things like sugar, coconut, and rice to survive. House hold essentials that we have abundance these days but was scarce then. My mother had to live through a tough time when Father was in hiding from his national service. She had to do all the heavy work on her own. There was also a time when my father was imprisoned, mother was left working alone saving hard earned money to take care of him. She would send father things like cigarettes, clothes and food. My parents managed through the hardest times of their lives until the day I was born.

Aunty 7 Thủy described my mother as a petite woman but strength like a man. She was able to carry bags of salt of more than twenty kilos from boat to boat. I felt a stabbing pain in my heart. My poor mother.

After a few years of blood and sweat savings, my parents managed to build a small house on land. I call it a house but it was more like a hut made from bamboo and banana leaves. I still remember the house facing the river with red dirt road at the front, which turns to mud whenever it rained. On the front right of the house, there was a tree with white and yellow flowers. Mother used to pick those flowers to make soup (bông điên điển). The house was only about three to four square meters with a bamboo partition in the middle to separate the front living room and the back as a bedroom. They were so poor they didn't even have any furniture other than an old rattan chair and table.

My grandmother (mum's side) told me she once visited mother and father and had to stay overnight. They only had one small wooden bed for the three of us. My father did not know where grandmother could sleep so he had to cut down some banana leaves and put it on the ground for Grandma to sleep on. Although the story was so long ago but still, how I felt my heart breaking for the hardship that my parents had to endure. Nonetheless, I believed god did not callously push anyone to absolute extreme. They were living in poverty but in returns, their hearts filled with pure love and happiness. Grandmother loved her son-in-law as if her own son, always very attentive and caring. When my father was in prison, only grandmother came to visit and care for him. She would bring anything she had to my father to ensure he was not hungry and comfortable in prison. For that reason, my father till these days is certain that my grandmother is the only true good person in this world whom he loves and respects more than his own mother.