Drear Tales #2

The Ma-da Grandpa

The year was 1999 in Cai Lay Town. Although the raining season already started two week ago, the heat was still unbearable at noon. On a street, there was a sloppy and dated coach speeding like there was no tomorrow. Inside, the coach was packed with smelly passengers covered with sweat, shouting at each others whenever the driver made a turn. The atmosphere had turned everyone annoyed as soon as they came into the coach, everyone except for a little boy, Thien, sitting with his parents in the right corner at the back of the coach. His mind was still fuzzy because of the early morning wake for this departure.

It already passed lunchtime. Thien's belly sounded like a celebration of drums and all he could think of was food. Since his parents were busy argueing, he did not dare to bring his problem up. Thien drank the water and closed his eyes trying to sleep through the hunger, but the smells of the street food from other passengers kept him wide-awake.

Thien opened his eyes as a cool breeze hit his face. He could hear the sound of relief rattling around, even his parents had stopped the argument. Thien slided the window open and stuck his head out. The sun was gone, the grayness had covered the sky. And far away, on the direction of the coach's moving, there was an area covered by dark clouds. Thien's parents did not tell him anything before they left. But he could tell now that their destination was inside that area and he could not help but feel uneasy about it.

They finally got off the coach, but they were not there yet. The way to the destination was tricky. Thien and his parents had to balance on an unstable wooden bridge filled with holes and a narrow, murky walkway with trees on top and a river on the left side. He noticed that after they passed the bridge, it was like they entered another world. There was no human around, but only animals, chickens, dogs, and sometimes ducks. Houses, or rather old huts had huge distance between each other and were separated by fences. Although it was getting dark, there was no light, not even a kindling.

Thien and his parents stopped in front of a big new white gate of an only house, by definition, in the area. Unlike the gate, the house had the aged look with visible spider webs on upper floors like no one had lived here for a long time. Thien looked around for a doorbell because he always loved being the first one pressing on it. He could not find one. Out of surprise, his dad took out a key then unlocked the gate. Inside, there was a garden of mango trees on the right and a canal that connected to the river on the left of the house. There was also a big wooden hut far away in the backyard. Thien could see his adult relatives inside of the house and his cousins playing soccer in the backyard. He hugged his belly and looked at his parents hoping for some food. They did not care, instead, asked him to go play with the cousins and hurried entering the house.

The cousins were way older than Thien so he had no interest in joining the match – Who would play a game when there was a clear disadvantage? He would rather knew when the food came. He walked aroundnearby the door and unintentionally eardropped the conversations inside of the house. Thien heard that they all came here because his grandpa was in a deep coma and they wanted to discuss about the inheritance. One by one, they kept putting out reasons why they should have more percentage. One of Thien's uncles spotted him behind the door, immediately dragged him to the garden, then went back inside and closed the doors behind. Thien realized this conversation was private and not something he or his cousins should know.

Thien sat quietly under a mango tree wishing for some mangos to fill his stomach. He noticed his cousins' eyeing on him instead of the match so he pretended to look the other way. The thunder rumbled and the rain started to fall down. The children all hurried to the backyard hut to avoid the rain and the adults. As soon as they were in, the eldest of the cousins, Khuong turned on the lights and asked Thien of what he heard from the adults. Although Thien did not understand much of the adults' conversation, he understood that he should not tell his cousins. As Thien's belly made a big noise, the cousins baited him with a sweet bun. Thien hesitated a little then agreed. He told them about their grandpa's coma and the inheritance.