Coffee near the old school

The old school at that time was just a row of old corrugated iron houses, a warehouse of a unit transferred when the first high school exclusively for girls was established but had not yet built a new school. The old school was located at the beginning of the old Le Van Duyet street, in my memory it was a deserted street, not as crowded as it is now. The school had yellow-washed walls, large windows, and blue-painted doors. That old school was the pride of 12, 13-year-old girls who had just passed a rigorous entrance exam. The first memories of school when we first entered high school were very simple but remained in our hearts until later.

Illustration photo.

The school was located in a yard lower than the street level, behind a row of poplar trees planted close to a barbed wire fence. So while sitting in the classroom, listening to the teachers lecture, the girls occasionally glanced out onto the street to watch the cars passing by, leaving behind a thin trail of smoke. During the rainy season, the low yard was covered in rainwater. In those days, the girls did not play or chase each other, but instead gathered in groups of five or seven in the hallway. I thought that no one would remember what they talked about that day, but they would always mention the story of someone sneaking out the window during class to run to the Xom Moi market to buy sweet soup.

When the new school was built across the street, big and beautiful, the little girls felt a little older, more understanding, less naughty and more graceful. Studying at the new school, the girls felt more proud, but in the few hours a week they studied at the old school, they felt happier and freer than studying at the new school.

Many long years have passed in the blink of an eye, people still think that their childhood has just passed, but everything has changed a lot. The new school back then is no longer there, now it is a newer, bigger and more modern school. The new school has also changed its name, so every time the girls of the past pass by there, they feel sad. Memories and longing sometimes make someone shed tears in their hearts.

There is no trace of the old school left. Le Van Duyet Street has been renamed, raised, widened, and paved with beautiful asphalt running across a series of high-rise buildings. No one who has grown up since then knows that there used to be a school with a corrugated iron roof, yellow walls, and a sky-blue door at the beginning of that street. During recess and after school, that old school becomes bustling with white ao dai fluttering in the wind and the clear laughter of young girls.

Across the street, in front of the old school is now a high-rise building, in the hallway on the ground floor there is a coffee shop that is always crowded with customers in the morning and afternoon. The street is now very different from the past, always bustling with vehicles, at night all the small strings of lights are lit up brightly. People sit there watching the streets, enjoying the cool breezes blowing in from the sea. No one wonders what the street was like in the past, only those who have lived here for a long time have a little nostalgia for the old days. Sometimes I go to the shop to order a cup of coffee, looking across the street, the big houses on that side are so bustling but it is as if I do not see them, in my heart there is only the image of the old school. Suddenly I feel a deep nostalgia, not sad or happy, just feel my heart calm down a little when I tell the person I am with, that side used to be my old school.

LUU CAM VAN

Source: https://baokhanhhoa.vn/van-hoa/sang-tac/202509/ca-phe-gan-truong-cu-4ab792f/