The worst thing about that dreadful day was the fact that the war ended shortly after my father’s death. He died on the 31st of July, 1954. The war ended on August 1st of 1954. I remember my mother coming home on the 2nd of August. She looked gloomy and lost but brightened slightly when she saw us. We ran at each other and hugged, all our thoughts and feelings delivered through that hug. She kissed each one of us on both of our cheeks saying over and over, “I love you”.
Standing back up, she walked towards her sister while surrounded by us three boys.
“Thanks for watching them while I was gone, Linh. I really appreciate it.”
Smiling, Aunt Linh said it was no problem.
“Truthfully, your boys were so well behaved that I really didn’t have to do anything. And your Nhat is like a little man already. He took such great care of his brothers.”
“Really?”
Suddenly embarrassed by her compliment, I shyly hid behind my mother. The two women talked more about what happened before Aunt Linh left us and went off to find her husband returning home after the war.
“Right. Now that the war is over, let’s go get your sister.” With that, my mother marched off towards Dung’s mansion on the hill. Climbing up the hill, I saw smoke rising from the top. The faint smell of pigsty hung in the air mixed with burning wood.
When we reached the top, we saw some of Dung’s minions tied to stakes firmly stuck in the ground in the center of the pigsty while some of the poor farmers that were always harassed by them laughed and threw tomatoes at them. Dung’s mansion was not as nice as it had looked before. A section of the roof had collapsed and dark, black smoked poured from the hole into the bright sunny sky. We followed mother as she marched into the mansion in search of my sister Ngoc. She went through the rooms, stealing whatever she found. Finally, we found Ngoc sitting on a sack of apples in the kitchen, slowly munching away. Seeing us, she bolted up happily and ran screaming towards us,
“Mommy, mommy, I missed you so much! The big fat man was so mean to me! He made me clean dirty things and I had to sleep with the dogs.”
She pressed her face into my mother’s stomach and softly sobbed. Hearing how her daughter was treated, my mother’s face turned red with anger and she stormed off in search of Dung with Ngoc in one hand and us three boys in tail.
We found him in the garden courtyard. He apparently was tied up in a crouched position with his elbow and knees tucked up to his chest with his ass high in the air. He was tied onto a massive silver plate with an apple tied to the front of his mouth, strangely reminding me of a roast pig. Seeing the scene, me and my siblings howled with laugher while my mother smirked, trying to be responsible. She found some wooden sticks that Dung and his minions used to use on the ground surrounding this display. She gave each of us a stick and told us,
“Okay kids, have a stick. I’m going to show you guys how to properly beat a pig.”
She swung the stick hard against Dung’s buttocks, sending a loud smack into the air. Seeing it as a joyful game, my siblings and I lined up and took turns hitting Dung while he yelped and cried into the apple.
We had a good laugh together as we explored Dung’s house after our fun time with the display. We stole some sparkly items of jewelry and also even brought home two sacks stuffed with food. We were joyful walking home, sacks of food slithering behind us. In the distance, Dung’s house slowly burned. A support gave way and half the roof collapsed on itself, pulling the building inwards sending dark smoke into the air.
Sadly, arriving home dampened our mood. The house leaned heavily on one side, a result of a recent thunder storm; more cracks were littered around the walls as the wood rotted away. The wooden fence around the yard was broken and torn, the dirt was cracked and dry in some areas, in others, it was like a swamp drowning in water.
We built a little shrine for father that day, taking the largest piece of wood from the fence; we made the shrine next to the fire pit facing the door.
