The Lightest Day of 120 kg - Short story by Truong Van Tuan

Hello uncle!

When it put all its weight on the 40-year-old uncle’s mid-range scooter, the vehicle sagged noticeably. Fortunately, this uncle was also tactful, each time it put its legs on the scooter, he knew to brace himself so that it wouldn’t feel self-conscious about the vehicle swaying.

Ngày nhẹ tênh của 120 kg - Truyện ngắn dự thi của Trương Văn Tuấn- Ảnh 1.

The car had just started moving when the boy started acting spoiled:

- They said the bus will be back tomorrow. No more hitchhiking. So sad!

Be independent!

The young man who responded was Huan. Huan knew Bao, or rather, saw him on the road, three or four years ago when the boy was still a middle school student. Huan often calculated: whenever he was on the way to work, if he saw a chubby boy slowly rolling on his electric bike at this point, he would be on time for work. Every day, even though he was in a hurry, if he didn't see the boy at this point, it would be after 7 o'clock. At the end of the month, he would hear a sarcastic comment: The young men in our office are so attached to their wives and children every morning!

Just like that, the image of the fat boy riding an electric bike became familiar to Huan.

Then the boy went to high school, further away from home, had to cross the big bridge connecting this commune and the other ward. Every day after school, he stopped by the fried noodle shop at the intersection to wait for his grandmother to finish washing the dishes before going home together - she rode a motorbike with the neighbor who worked with her. The shop owner was a friend of Huan's from college. Huan often stopped by to buy a big box to take home for dinner so he got to know more about the boy.

His parents sold pork at the market since he was a little kid. His favorite dish was stewed pig tails. If they didn't save one to cook soup, he would feel sad and hurt, thinking "Mom and Dad don't love me anymore". He ate too much fat, so he gradually got fatter.

- "I'm afraid you'll explode like a balloon!" - Bao once angrily repeated the exact words of an elementary school student - That girl is so rude!

Then his parents' business could not last because of hundreds of millions in debt. The creditor was also a pork distributor, forcing his parents to accept sick pigs to sell, considering it as a way to settle the interest. His parents had to close their eyes and take sick pigs for a while, but after selling them, they could not eat fish or chicken rice, let alone pork rice. His grandparents thought that selling like that was too immoral, so they left to work far away - with the promise: when they had enough money to pay, they would return... When the meat stall was empty, people whispered half-believing, half-doubting about the bravery and righteousness of a debtor.

- Being a good person is so hard! - Bao complained while sitting at the tea table with the two uncles.

Bao trusted his parents but also felt inferior to his friends. Every day at school was a heavy day, he walked with a limp, unable to lift his head. He had no sense of "belonging". The bench in the classroom could not bear the weight of his body and the weight in his heart. He had friends, but they were good students, talented in all kinds of things, constantly praised, he was an average student, only better than his friends by weight. The more cheerful and innocent his friends were, the more lonely he felt.

Time is like a river, pushing the light-hearted one forward, while the heavy one slowly and quietly flows, falling behind every day.

Going to a new school, the feeling of not belonging was still present in him, and also the insecurity because his parents were still hiding from debt and rarely came home.

It was bored, so it often played a risky game: when crossing the bridge, instead of walking, it chose to go downhill, combining braking with dragging its feet on the pedestrian crossing - leaving a clear trail from the middle of the bridge to the end of the slope as if someone had just dragged a heavy object across.

Sometimes Huan saw it doing it from behind, sometimes when passing the bridge he only saw the traces left behind.

- Don't play stupid anymore, okay?

Meet each other at the noodle shop in the afternoon, Huan often reminds me.

After years of watching it from behind and months of greeting each other at the noodle shop, Huan finally had the chance to meet Bao alone at the end of the bridge slope. Yes! Bao used his foot as a brake to slow down again but failed.

His bike broke its neck, cracked its frame, and the battery was thrown out. Luckily, he only had a bruised butt, a scratched knee, and a scratched palm. That morning, Huan stayed with him for an hour, helped him park his bike, took him to a private clinic to bandage his wound, and then drove him to school, even though it was not convenient.

His grandmother decided to buy a new car - the old one was too old. But the model Bao wanted wouldn't arrive in the store until next week.

- Don't be in a hurry! I'll give you a ride to the noodle shop, then give a friend a ride to school. - He said he had a classmate who lived near the shop.

Huan's words made Bao's eyes sparkle:

- So delicious! - It shouted as if it had finally bitten into a stewed pig's tail after days of fasting.

Whenever he sat behind Huan's motorbike, he told many stories.

The story of him "not feeling like he belongs", the story of him always sitting at the end of the row during outdoor activities because he was too fat. Sitting at the end, he couldn't see and hear clearly. Up there, all the good things were happening, singing, dancing, praising, rewarding, laughing and talking happily, very strange and not for him. At his old school, the school yard was still dirt, he often used a stick to secretly dig a small hole where he sat. The longer the activity, the deeper the hole. After digging, he put his hand in it, then closed his eyes to feel the temperature, the sound in the ground - when time was up, he filled the hole.

- My heart is connected to the heart of the earth! - It said like a poet, a philosopher.

In this school, the whole yard is paved with bricks, it can't be dug.

- Can't get into each other's hearts. Damn, so frustrating!

He slapped himself in the mouth after saying the wrong thing in front of adults.

It talked a lot about a girl named Tuong Vi in grade 3. She said she sat at the back of the row mainly because she was fat, and that girl sat at the back of the row because her seat position corresponded to the class list - that's how elementary school classes in this three-level school are arranged.

The first day sitting next to each other in the yard, Tuong Vi saw the stretch marks on Bao's stomach and whispered to her friend:

- His stomach is cracked, if it explodes we're done for.

Bao was very angry and had to take revenge. Every day when she went to school, she wore two braids, each braid had a colorful elastic band, very stylish and skillful. Bao reached out and pulled out a few strands, ignoring the girl's grimaces and protests. Bao used the elastic band to shoot her back, shoot it up into the sky and wait to catch it, or to weave it between her fingers to tie it into a star shape. After playing with it, sometimes the elastic band broke, sometimes it was still intact, Bao threw it back or wore it around his chubby wrist like a pig's leg, considering it a trophy.

For the past few months, Bao has been having fun, every time he stops by the noodle shop he takes off his rubber band to show off.

Of course, on Bao's shirt there were also crayon marks that Tuong Vi made in revenge.

One time Bao looked over and saw a stray strand of hair on Vi's head fluttering in the morning sun. He immediately grabbed it. The girl held her head and glared at her senior.

- Do you know what it said: "For a DNA test, I'm not your mother."

- Huh… So scary?!

- Yes, kids these days are always online and are very rude! - Bao said as if he were very old.

- Be careful, her parents are difficult! - the noodle shop owner once warned.

The boy laughed happily:

- Every afternoon, it just glanced at me and then got in the car to go home. One day, when its mother picked it up, it even waved goodbye to me.

Bao was returning to the refrain: next week he has to go to school by himself, when Huan suddenly stopped the car:

- Come down and help people!

Following Huan’s line of sight, Bao saw an electric bike falling over – probably skidding while going around the roundabout, a few bags of personal belongings falling out to the side. The woman was busy helping her child up to check for injuries.

- No, I'm shy! - Bao said coquettishly.

- Hurry! - Huan snapped softly.

Bao got out and ran to the middle of the road, his chest and belly fat pulsing. He carefully turned off the engine first as Huan had instructed, parked it, pulled it to the side of the road, then ran back out to pick up each bag and bring it in to help.

***

This morning Bao went to school on a new electric bike. He was happy but also felt sorry for wasting his grandfather's savings.

Just after pulling Vi's two rubber bands, the homeroom teacher walked over and held the phone out in front of her:

- The school just received this photo this morning, is it you?

Bao looked at the photo: it was a moment from last weekend, he was pushing the bike of the person who fell to the side of the road…

- Yes… - He looked blank and nodded.

Then she walked away like the wind.

Five minutes later, his name was announced over the school loudspeaker: …Tran Gia Bao, class 10X1. The school's sound system had never been so loud!

He walked slowly through the crowd that was staring, shouting, and whistling. He stepped onto the podium with some unknown strength. The principal came up to him, shook his hand, and solemnly presented him with the "Good Person, Good Deed" certificate that the teachers had hastily printed.

His name was called again, and the whole school applauded.

It feels so good!

Like the pig tail soup mom cooked!

Like when sitting at the table drinking tea with two uncles!

Like sitting behind uncle Huan's bike telling this and that story!

It's been a long time since he felt recognized, belonged to a group.

By the end of the session, he suddenly had a change of heart: Could it be that Mr. Huan sent the photo? Helping someone and then reporting the credit himself, isn't that too cowardly?

Before he could get to the noodle shop, he met Uncle Huan at the school gate. He ran over and showed him the certificate of merit:

- Did you send information to the school?

Huan frowned for a moment before understanding.

- Not!

At that time, there were so many witnesses: school teachers, parents, people who cared about the beautiful things of everyday life...

From behind Bao, little girl Tuong Vi suddenly ran and climbed onto Huan's bike, her voice cheerful:

- This morning, Bao received a certificate of merit, Dad!

The boy was stunned and stammered:

- Huh?… Aren't you… a "lonely old man"?

- I just thought of it!

Bao looked up and wanted to scream but couldn't make a sound.

Default: Uncle Huan must be lonely to have time to help people.

It turns out that every morning, Huan braids his daughter's hair himself. His wife gets ready and leaves the house first, so it's more convenient for her to pick up Vi from work. Huan usually checks the electricity and water, locks the front and back doors, and then leaves the house. He loves his wife and pampers his daughter. Every afternoon, Huan often stops by a noodle shop or somewhere to buy food so his wife doesn't have to cook, and his daughter is happy. When she comes home, she often tells her father, but he knows his daughter is no pushover.

The way to the noodle shop wasn't far, but Bao walked too slowly. Oh my god! I pulled his hair! Said bad things about him! Stealed his stuff!...

Seeing the huge plate of noodles to celebrate receiving the certificate of merit on the table, Bao felt less worried. Vi also moved to the side, patted the bench and invited Bao to sit. Meanwhile, Huan and the noodle shop owner were arguing like two children: fake medicine and fake medicine were one or two.

This morning, Vi took the initiative to give Bao her braid to choose a rubber band, so he didn't have to grab it. But the boy held it in his hand instead of playing with it, he listened attentively to everything. The feeling of being recognized and belonging somewhere was really nice.

Ngày nhẹ tênh của 120 kg - Truyện ngắn dự thi của Trương Văn Tuấn- Ảnh 2.