Victor over the Past - Chapter 9

From: … Nguyen @yahoo.com>
Subject: Nguyen 's Biography
To: thuyhang606@yahoo.com
Date: Wednesday, February 24, 2010, 9:42 AM

Thân tặng TH quyển hồi ký …

" Về chia sẻ kinh nghiệm với bạn bè. TH cứ tự nhiên. Nếu bài học cuả mình có hữu ích được cho đời thì mình nên chia sẻ. Có vậy thì xã hội mới tiến bộ và phát triển được. Những gì mình có thể để lại trên đời này thì mình nên để lại."

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CHAPTER 9

After my mother's death, I stayed with my father until I finished my remaining

classes. Then I was transferred back to Can Tho to live with my sisters Thanh-Tung,

Thanh-Tuyen, and my grandmother's sister. My father stayed in Tra Vinh until he

finished his term at the end of 1973. Then he requested to be transferred back to the front

line. His request was approved, and he took over the position as chief advisor for a

division. He was relocated to another town about two or three hours drive from Can Tho.

Again, we went back to the way we had lived before my father became a mayor; our lives

were separate once more. My father asked my mother's aunt to move in and live with us.

We were fortunate enough that she did. She filled in the void of my mother's absence

very well. Everyday she directed and instructed servants in our house to carry out

different tasks. Then she went out to get groceries, and she told the cook what she

wanted him to cook for the day. Then she helped to prepare the food too. She lived with

us because she did not have any children or family. According to what I heard, she fell in

love with someone in the past. But later on she found out that the man had a wife and

children before he met her. She confronted him and terminated her relationship with

him. Next before we all realized it, she went to a Buddhist temple and gave her vow to

join the priesthood. She was accepted, and she had her head shaved as part of the symbol

of being a priest. But she requested to reside in our house not in the temple. So everyday

besides managing our house, she had to prepare her own food because being a priest she

could not take any meat as part of her diet. Then three times a day, she had to put on the

priest's robe and chant some kind of language that I could not even understand. Yet she

prayed faithfully. Sometimes in the afternoon, I caught her falling asleep during her

praying session. I knew that she felt exhausted because she had put a lot of effort to help

manage us everyday, so I knelt down and chanted the rest of the book for her. After I

finished the book, I tapped on her shoulder to wake her up and asked her to go to bed to

rest. She opened her eyes and realized what had happened. She asked me, " What part

did I leave off?"

 I told her," Great aunt, don't worry. I finished chanting for you already. Now you need

to go to bed and lie down so you can feel more comfortable."

 She asked me again, " So you really chanted the rest of the book for me already?"

I nodded my head and said, " Yes."

 Then she touched my head, and at the same time she got up and said, " You did a

good job. Next time if you catch me sleeping like this again, please do the same; help me

to finish the session. Now I need to find out what to tell the cook to cook for all of you to

eat. You need to go and finish your homework." Then she went out and left me there to

put out the candles on the shrine.

 Overall my great aunt was the best one to fill the void left by my mother. She had no

children of her own, yet she treated us just like her own. She was concerned not only for

our safety and comfort but also for our spiritual growth too. She always insisted that my

sister and I go to church. She knew that I was not interested much about going to church

anymore, but she did not know my experience at Tra Vinh. But because of her insistence,

I had to show up at church just to please her.

 To be continued ...