Townhouse

Thao, still lying on the bed with her eyes half-closed, heard a loud argument. Thao had clearly closed the glass door, but the loud noise from the row of houses behind still reverberated in her ears. The neighborhood was full of four-story buildings, luxury cars surrounding the empty lot, yet the words that came out were no less than those of thugs in a fight. The sound of furniture being thrown into the yard was deafening. Thao panicked and shook her husband awake:

- Hurry, wake up, brother, go out and see what's going on in the next neighborhood.

- What for? They argue every day. It has nothing to do with us.

- But today it seems like there's a big, serious argument - Thao said as she got up, went to the window, and gently lifted the curtain.

The conflict between the high-rise buildings behind originates from the common yard in front of the door. Townhouses, called yards, are actually the walkways for the adjacent houses. Therefore, whoever leaves anything messy in front of the door is an eyesore to others. Each person, each house has their own reason to justify that mess. Some houses park their cars right in front of the yard, others have their railings sticking out into the space in front of the door. Once they have made each other's eyes it's easy to want to kick each other out the next time something happens. From not a big deal to a big deal.

Thao looked around, left and right, keeping a wary eye everywhere. The streets were noisy and complicated, it was impossible to leave the doors unlocked and bolted like in the countryside, the more closed the better.

Although living in a cautious state, no matter what the old saying goes, "sell distant relatives, buy close neighbors", the old saying is never wrong. With nearly twenty households in this street, Thao was able to filter out Uncle Vien and his wife. After all, they were old people, had lived here for decades, knew all the changes like the two of them, and were indeed more trustworthy. Sometimes Thao lingered to chat, bringing this and that to the two of them, so when they were away from home, they still had someone to ask to look after the house.

Last night, Thao and his wife were not home. It was past three in the morning, the neighborhood was quiet, everyone was in deep sleep. Under the misty fog, the lights were sometimes bright, sometimes dim, two shadows hovered at Thao's door. They kept their faces down on the street, then jumped up high. That strange action was to find a gap, to peek into the house. They fumbled, turned around, looked around, not knowing that there were eyes staring at them. Uncle Vien stood silently watching them from the moment they entered the neighborhood, seeing their unusual behavior, he just stood there watching to see what they would do. From the third floor, he cleared his throat, discovered that someone was awake, so they quietly left.

Uncle Vien is a retired cadre, everything from his clothes, gestures, to his words is careful. People in the neighborhood often gossip, he is very modest. People never see him sitting at the tea shop at the corner of the alley, or gossiping about random things. When Thao bought land here to build a house, luckily, the first person Thao met to ask about was Uncle Vien. Maybe it was fate, Thao felt familiar right away.

Before working for a government agency, Uncle Vien had joined the army. He told Thao many stories about his memories of his time as a soldier. Thao looked at him and listened to his stories with great interest because his image always reminded Thao of her father. Now Uncle Vien is old, but his plump figure is still agile, healthy, and exudes a strong, decisive aura. On the contrary, his wife, with her thin figure, always looks shy behind her husband. Every day, his wife just hangs around taking care of the vegetables in the Styrofoam box, and after finishing the housework, she sits and chants sutras. It seems that she doesn't socialize or talk to anyone. She is a typical woman of the past, and doesn't even know how to ride a bicycle, so even when going to the market every day, her husband takes her. Until now, Thao still doesn't know her name.

The bell rang from Uncle Vien's house, Thao's heart sank. Thao quietly went to burn incense. Maybe Thao was influenced by his aunt. Lately, Thao also liked to sit quietly alone, looking out the window, thinking vaguely. The gentle scent of incense dispelled all the noisy noise, leaving only the sound of the bell echoing in the air.

Thao has thought many times, is it the act of chanting and knocking on wooden fish that helps her balance her mind in a narrow space and very monotonous daily activities?

- Sometimes I follow my aunt Vien to learn some Buddhist scriptures to calm my mind, but for the past few months, I've been having headaches every day with all the chaos out there - Thao said to her husband.

- You really are... - Thao's husband breathed out, reluctantly getting up.

In Thao's eyes, 90% of this neighborhood is bad. These past few days, Thao has been frustrated by the way that when driving home, she has to avoid several motorbikes parked in the alley. Sometimes, it's okay, but sometimes, she's in a hurry, trying to save every minute, but she has to get out and bring her motorbike in, her consciousness is like a fly. "I should sell my house and find another place to buy a house", Thao often thinks to herself.

Hai's family just opened a sidewalk cafe at the beginning of the alley. What kind of money-making idea is there to make the most of public space? The sidewalk has been turned into a cafe, and the road is full of parked cars. He can't even get out and park his car, and he can't even pass by skillfully. Whenever a car touches the alley, Thao feels hot and uncomfortable. Several times he almost argued with the customers. But the owner should have known how to arrange and instruct customers to park their cars neatly.

*

Mrs. Lanh spends almost every afternoon wandering around every nook and cranny. She peeks from the corners where people leave their discarded items, unpacks them, rummages through each trash bag, and looks for anything that can be sold.

Thao often frowned uncomfortably, watching her fiercely. Several times she had to carefully remind her husband and children to be careful with their belongings, in case they disappeared without a trace.

Thao whispered to Uncle Vien, as if to express sympathy and to probe Mrs. Lanh's story:

- Uncle, Mrs. Lanh's children don't know where they are, they don't take care of their mother, at that age, they have to earn every penny to eat. It's so pitiful, uncle!

- She was a playboy when she was young, she didn't have a husband or children. Well, she had to take responsibility for her actions. Mrs. Lanh used to own a lot of land that her parents left behind. Thinking about her life, so talented, so rich, but one day she had to collect scrap metal. How sad - Uncle Vien sighed.

- Really? - Thao gasped, surprised.

There are many cases like hers in this town. In the past, this place was a village on the edge of the city, with vast fields and swamps. Households with little land had one or two plots. Households with a lot of land had entire areas. When the city expanded, village land became urban land. The wind turned rice fields into “golden” land, causing many families to suddenly change their lives.

Few people like Mr. Nam, who have the foresight to buy and collect land. At that time, the procedure to convert rice fields into residential land was much simpler than now. He bought land, divided the plots, and sold them for the difference. He made a profit of two, then a profit of four, a profit of four, then an eight... And so, step by step, Mr. Nam became rich until now. Even though real estate was dying after the shock of the Covid-19 pandemic, Mr. Nam was not afraid, because the land he owned was just for savings, if the price was right, he would sell it, if not, he would just leave it there. There were also a series of households in a hurry, dizzy with money, who quickly agreed to sell their land to him, such as Ms. Lanh, Mr. Hai... It was as if they had fallen from the sky, suddenly having so much money in their hands, not knowing how to satisfy that happiness, they had to spend every last penny.

Fortunately, when Thao and his wife decided to buy Mr. Nam’s land to build a house, social evils were almost completely cleaned up. When the land was being sold in a big way, people had a lot of money so they spent all day gambling…

Hai's skinny figure, skinny face, and fierce eyes made Thao nervous and wary. Uncle Vien smiled and said that his background was not ordinary, the son of a rich family, with a high position in the city. When he was young, he got involved with a "brown fairy", so his family's land and land were all gone one after another. His body was ruined, his parents disowned him, and they thought that was the end of his life. After getting married, how could he quit his addiction and start a new life? That's so talented. Now he looks a bit disheveled and crazy, but he doesn't hurt anyone. Uncle Vien looked into the distance and continued the story. He said that life is always strange, being too rich or too smart is not fun. Mr. Nam's huge fortune was the reason why this and that person looked at his son. His son was like a spoiled brat, pampered since childhood, so where did he get the spirit of steel to deal with those cunning people out there. They used all kinds of tricks to lure and entice him, but he was about to follow Hai's path in the past. Now Mr. Nam was in the villa but his heart was not at peace, his mind was always full of calculations, trying to keep his son. Why did life keep going in circles and circles? Today bad things happened to this person, tomorrow it might happen to me. Who knows? So be tolerant, treat each other well whenever possible.

*

Today is a holiday. The shadow of someone peeping in front of the door made Thao startled and look out.

- Dear, each family pays 500,000 VND. To pay for the neighborhood's electricity bill and to repair the electric wires and lights.

Oh, it turned out to be Mr. Hai, Thao cautiously opened the door.

- Yes, you guys hired someone to hang the lights.

- This is the money to buy wire, lights and electricity for the whole year. Just hang it up, we will do it. Tell your husband to come help us in the late afternoon if he is free.

- You guys are wasting your time on the neighborhood. My husband and I work all day and can't help at all.

- We are freelancers so we have time, making the neighborhood beautiful and fun.

- Here, I'll pay. Come in and have a drink.

- I'm going home now.

It was rare for Thao to stand face to face and talk to Hai like that. Usually, when they passed each other on the way home, they would just say hello and then pass each other by. Admittedly, Hai had not done anything to her, so why was Thao so defensive?

The scorching heat that had been pouring down all week seemed to tear the street apart at noon. The alley was deserted. The doors were tightly closed, silent. Only the shadows of the trees remained, occasionally fluttering a few fallen leaves. Thao didn’t even want to stick half an arm out of the window, let alone her bare head exposed to the sun at a time when the weather was extremely harsh. Thao just wanted to relax under the cool breeze of the air conditioner. From the second floor glass window, she spotted a skinny figure bending down on the street. Mrs. Lanh never said a word to Thao when she met her, just silently bowed her head, picking up scraps. She discovered a plastic watering can on the left side of the house that Thao had forgotten to put away. Thao was startled, a bad thought arose, she would definitely touch it to see. That was the new watering can that Thao loved very much.

Thao hurriedly put on her coat and hat, ran downstairs, and ran out the door like a gust of wind. The watering can was still on the left side of the house, and Mrs. Lanh's figure had disappeared from the alley. Ms. Mai, the neighbor, saw Thao's figure and immediately said, "You're not taking a nap, are you? Luckily, Mrs. Lanh often comes in to clean up the excess stuff, so the house is less messy. I took advantage of my day off to clean up and give her stuff. She was always so meticulous in picking up things, but she never took anything that was being used from anyone else's house. You feel sorry for Mrs. Lanh, don't you?". Ms. Mai must have just said that by accident, and didn't know the shameful reason that made Thao rush out the door. But her words made Thao extremely ashamed, she shyly said "Yes", and then went straight into the house. Thao was truly ashamed of her narrow-minded thoughts. People like Mr. Hai and Mrs. Lanh had to pay for their decadent lives with physical changes and emotional damage. Is it necessary to add Thao's prying, discriminatory gaze? Suddenly Thao felt that she was not so good either.

From today, Thao will definitely put the covers, jars, plastic bottles… that arise in family activities neatly on the left side of the house, so that Mrs. Lanh can get them easily.

*

Thao's husband was invited to the neighbor's house to drink. The thing is, all afternoon, the men of the neighborhood gathered to cut down high tree branches, strung up wires and installed more lights to brighten the neighborhood. Suddenly, they hadn't been together all year, but now they had a lively meal, and everyone was in high spirits, so they made a meal and sat together. Men are easy, today they argue, tomorrow they can happily drink down their glasses.

Thao's husband came home, excitedly talking to his wife while drunk: "You two argued the other day, you heard it, and now we're shaking hands and smiling happily. There's nothing strange about it, it's normal that we don't talk to each other, so if we don't like something, we pick it up, one person is upset with the other but doesn't use kind words to tell each other. As for the traffic, I also calmed down, the neighborhood is small and cramped, everyone has to be a little more tolerant of each other. I also reminded Hai to pay attention to the passenger cars today. He looks like he's quite cheerful. Everyone agreed, to slowly discuss a suitable date, the whole neighborhood must definitely have a great party."

It seemed that Thao's husband was very happy after the drinking party. The joy was still evident on Thao's husband's face as he fell asleep.

Thao also felt happy and suddenly realized, it seems that not all townhouses have to be closed, whether you want to open it or not, is clearly in your heart.