Sunbeam

Behind, a huge cardboard box was tilting and tied with frayed rubber bands, threatening to topple over.

Arriving at the restaurant, he used his worn-out sandals to replace the brake pads that had long since ceased to function. Inside the restaurant, the restaurant was packed with customers. The fat Mrs. Tin was running back and forth, inviting them with enthusiasm. Seeing him, she waddled out and hung a fragrant plastic bag on the handlebars. “Hey, we have some fried chicken wings with fish sauce today.”

He smiled. He got on the bike and pedaled away, he could still hear her calling after him, "Remember to deliver the goods early this afternoon!". He didn't care, fat Mrs. Tin always told him that, he never made her wait for long.

Turning the corner, he stopped on the lawn in front of the park and sat down to prepare food on the newspaper.

Jingle jingle… the familiar sound of bells came from afar.

Without looking up, he knew it was the poodle, it was time to go for a walk. At this time, when the street lights were about to come on, the dog would go for a walk. Every time, the dog would come close to him, sniff his hand for a while, then leave. Since when had the poodle and he suddenly become friends, regardless of the owner always following behind.

The lady, he rarely bothered to look over. Today, for some reason, his gaze swept around and stopped at her. In her blue sports outfit and white shoes, she looked so healthy and graceful. After just a glance, he quickly turned away and looked absently at the crowded street.

“Let's go, Mit!” she called softly.

The obedient dog ran ahead, its hind legs kicking each other nonstop. The man watched the long, neatly tied hair sway, and suddenly let out a laugh that sounded like a sigh.

The image was so familiar to him every afternoon, but somehow today it made him feel young again. When he was in high school, he secretly noticed the girl sitting in front of him, her hair was also long, tied up high and swaying like that.

For three years, he silently hugged that hair to sleep, until one day he saw that long hair swaying as he walked into an ice cream shop with his best friend in class. From then on, whenever he saw long hair, he turned away, hiding a soft sigh.

He didn’t know the name of the poodle’s owner, and he didn’t really care to know. He just occasionally called out to her when she disappeared behind the purple Lagerstroemia trees. “Suong! It’s a bit late for Mit to go out this afternoon!”, he whispered after her.

The next day he called her by another name he just thought of, “Mai Ly, it’s only 8 o’clock, why are you letting Mit go home so early?!”. The day after that he called again, “My Duyen…”. He whispered that it was his business, she just went away, it was her business, it seemed unrelated, until one day…

That night, the rain suddenly poured down. Thunder cracked across the sky, waking him up. The streetlights cast a pale light into the attic. He sat up, lit a cigarette, and looked out the window.

In the midst of the pouring rain, a girl holding a yellow umbrella ran back and forth, crying and calling: “Mit! Mit! Where are you?!”. He rubbed his eyes and looked out.

It was her! Oh my god! He couldn’t believe his eyes. In the middle of a stormy night, where was she running off to? Without thinking, he opened the door and rushed out into the street, calling out, “Suong! Suong!”

She rushed towards the intersection, then suddenly stopped and looked around. It took a while to locate the direction of the call coming from the bare black banyan tree. She shivered and walked forward, the umbrella was of no use now as her clothes were soaked.

“You called me?” She stopped before him, her long hair stuck to her forehead, dripping with water, her cheeks pale with cold, her eyes filled with worry and anxiety.

“Ah… um… I saw you running in the rain, and it was so dark at night!”

“I'm looking for Mit, she's been kidnapped! Can you help me?”, she cried out in despair.

The rain continued to pour down, and in no time, the streets were flooded. People passed by, all of them curiously looking back at the girl holding a yellow umbrella and crying on the side of the road. Suddenly, his mind flashed with the pet supply sign at the end of this street. Every time he passed by, he occasionally saw a few dogs with bewildered faces standing in iron cages. It could be! He rushed into the house to find a raincoat to put on, then pulled her along and ran quickly on the deserted street.

At the end of the street, the rain had just stopped. The shop owner was packing up her things and preparing to close. Without waiting for her permission, he rushed to the dog kennel at the back, where a shaggy dog stood shivering, its face looking pitifully bewildered.

“Mit! Mit! It’s Daddy, baby!”, he gently shook the cage door, and his father’s voice came out so clearly that it surprised even him.

As soon as he saw him, the dog scratched at the door with its tail wagging, wanting to come out. She was already behind him, crouching down, crying, "Mit... Mom!"

The shop owner stood still witnessing the emotional reunion. She bent down to open the cage door, took the dog out and gave it to her.

“Yes… auntie, thank you. This morning I had to go out and forgot to close the door so…”, she hugged the dog and cried, her words were broken, after a while she softly said: “Auntie… let me send back the ransom money”.

The shop owner bent down and patted the dog's head: "Okay, take it home! I won't take any ransom! This afternoon, I was sitting in the house when a young man brought this dog over, saying he was working far away and couldn't take care of it, so he wanted to sell it. Seeing how beautiful the dog was, I immediately agreed."

She thanked the owner and hugged the dog and returned. He followed quietly.

Early in the morning, as soon as he took his bike out of the door, he looked up at the sky, secretly wishing that it wouldn't rain this afternoon. Since when did he start to have the habit of waiting. He waited for the jingle of his dog's bell, he waited for the shadow...

After a tiring day of carrying goods, he went to the park and sat down on the grass. This afternoon he had two meals: a grilled sausage and a can of red plums. He was waiting for the moment that seemed so sweet to him.

And then, the familiar jingling sound rang out. Mit saw him from afar, he rushed over like an arrow, rubbing his head against his chest as if he had met his best friend after a long time. While he was tearfully hugging and caressing the dog, she appeared.

She sat down next to him, absentmindedly looking at the street and the traffic, occasionally smiling as if she had just discovered something interesting.

“Eat up, kid!”, he took out a sausage and held it out in front of the dog. Without waiting for him to offer it a second time, the dog bent down and ate it deliciously, wagging its tail while eating, occasionally looking up at him and her as if to ask, “Hey, why aren’t you two saying anything to each other and just looking at me all the time?”.

“Here, this is from Suong…”, he tiptoed and gave her a box of ripe red plums.

A little surprised, she was confused and held the box of plums and said softly: “Thank you! I should have given you a gift to thank you for helping me find Mit…”.

He looked up at the sky absentmindedly. Above, a pair of sparrows fluttered, carrying dry grass, up to a high branch, chirping. She also followed the pair of birds, occasionally glancing at him discreetly and then turning away to hide her smile.

“Um… how do you know my name?”, she suddenly turned to ask.

“I… I don't know either… I just guess.”

"Guess?"

He nodded. “I guessed you by many names, but I don’t know why I called you Suong that day. I was surprised when you turned around.”

She looked at him with wide eyes. This was the second time he surprised her, after the time he found Mit in a flash. That night, she heard him call her name correctly, but she was in no mood to wonder how he knew. After finishing the sausage, the dog crept closer and licked his hand affectionately.

“I’m going now, I have to show Mit around before it gets dark,” she stood up, holding a box of ripe red plums and tilted her head gracefully: “Whenever you invite me to your house, I’ll make salted egg sponge cake to treat you to thank you for helping me find Mit, and also giving me this box of plums.”

He silently watched her figure disappear behind the hurried crowd.

The city had entered the rainy season, the rains came suddenly and then stopped, leaving behind on the street streams of water carrying dry leaves. He was still sitting there, on the familiar lawn, humming a melody he had just thought of. His heart, without knowing when, had entered a warm and gentle ray of sunlight like a leaf sprouting from a crack in the road.

According to VU NGOC GIAO (baodanang.vn)

Source: https://baogialai.com.vn/vet-nang-post561329.html