The Distant Stars (Những ngôi sao xa xôi) - Lê Minh Khuê

[7] Tasks

 I, a bomb up on the hill. Nho, two that sat on the road. Thao, one by the old bunker.

 It was scarily quiet. The remaining trees were ragged. The earth was hot. The black smoke floated in clumps through the air, blocking the view of things in the distance. Could the anti-aircraft gunners see us? Perhaps they could. They had binoculars that could shrink the whole earth into their sights. I approached the bomb. Feeling the soldiers' eyes upon me, I was no longer afraid. I would not walk stooped. They wouldn't like it. They didn't like the gait of someone walking stooped while he can stand straight and calmly step forward. 

 The bomb lay within a dry bush, its head stuck in the ground. Its other head was painted with two concentric yellow circles.

 I used a small shovel to dig the dirt under the bomb. The earth was hard. Pebbles flew out from under both sides of my hand. Sometimes, the edge of the shovel scraped the surface of the bomb. It made such a sharp sound as if it cut into my skin. I shivered and suddenly realized I was working too slowly. Hurry up a little! The casing of the bomb was hot. That wasn't a good sign. It might be the heat from inside the bomb. Or maybe it had retained the heat from the sun.

 Thao whistled. It meant that twenty minutes had passed already. I carefully packed the sticks of dynamite into the hole that I had dug. The fuse was long, coiled, and resilient. I poured the dirt into the hole, lit the fuse, and then ran back to my shelter.

 Thao whistled again. I pressed myself against the earth wall, looking at my watch. There was no wind. I couldn't hear my heartbeat. The only calm thing, ignoring all the happenings around it, was the hand on my watch. It kept ticking, lively and softly, running past the eternal numbers, while over there, the fire burned along the fuse and entered the bomb... 

 I was used to it. We detonated bombs up to five times a day. Sometimes it was fewer: three times. I did think about death. But it was a vague death, not a detailed one. The chief thing was: Whether the mine would explode? Whether the bomb would explode? If not, then how could I light the fuse the second time? I considered watching my steps as it would be rather troublesome if a bomb fragment hit the arm. Salty sweat dripped down my lips and sand grated against my teeth. 

 However, the bomb did explode. There was a weird sound and it jarred me. I felt a pain in my chest. My eyes watered and it was a while before I could open them again. The smell of the explosives made me nauseous. Three more explosions followed. Dirt rained down, silently disappearing into the bushes. Fragments of the bombs tore through the air with an invisible whine over my head.

 I brushed off my shirt, strained my eyes to see through the smoke, and ran after Thao. If she wanted to wait for Nho to go back to the cave together, Thao would have to come by my place. This time, she was smiling with her white teeth, her scar looked glossy, a small parachute was on her back, and she ran ahead of me. The wind tried to snatch her parachute, but couldn't do it.