Thu always believes that as long as there is a light in the heart, no matter how long we are apart, no matter how many ups and downs we go through, we will still go through it together.
Thu sat outside the well, gently scooping up soapberry water and pouring it over her hair. The village loudspeaker echoed with a music program, reminding everyone to remember their mothers and their other half in the month of October of love.
Long just texted that he can't come back this month because the project he's in charge of is in the rush stage of construction. Thu smiled and encouraged Long: "Then coming back a few days late means you won't have to jostle for space on trains and buses." That said, seeing everyone together, Thu missed her lover even more.
Every time she misses her lover, Thu likes to sit and comb her hair. Sometimes she combs her hair under the sparkling morning sunlight, the smooth sound of birds chirping. Sometimes she sits and spreads her hair on a full moon night, the shimmering moonlight flowing through her fingers.
Thu's hair smells so good, but Long isn't here to smell the scent of soapberry mixed with basil leaves. The once-popular hair wash of grandmothers and mothers.
Long must be busy these days, several projects are being rushed to completion before the rainy season. He only calls Thu once every few days, sometimes just to ask, “What kind of herbal water did you wash your hair with today?” So he can imagine the scent of the hair of the girl he loves.
Sometimes, in his fitful sleep at the construction site, Long found himself chasing Thu's hair. He kept running until he touched her giggles and the black locks of hair that hung on his lips and cheeks. Long once said that his whole life of hardships was fortunate to have Thu's hair to hold him back. It was like a ferry dock, a train station, a source of dreams of happiness. Those things he had never had before.
- My mother has short hair, and doesn't need a comb all year round. She likes to keep it that way so it doesn't get in the way. Many times when I come home from a long trip, I look at the door and think there's a male guest in the house.
- So your dad doesn't like long hair?
- Dad loved Mom so much that he loved everything about her. But I once saw Dad bewildered by a head of long hair he suddenly saw on the street. Who can say for sure that Dad didn't dream at night...
Long said and then laughed, running his hand along Thu's hair. The hand of a construction worker was rough and dark. Thu pressed that hand against her cheek, smelling the sun and wind, the smell of the long road, the smell of trivial worries. Long was like a tired bird flying. Thu was just a small flower, a wild grass on Long's wandering path. Thu could only hold him with her long hair and her thoughts about the future ahead.
“I will definitely build a small house for us. To plant rose bushes in front of the house, and mulberry trees, basil and some pennywort in the back so you can wash your hair smoothly. You like sitting on a swing reading a book, right? Do you like a small sewing machine? Do you like planting star apple trees all over the garden? Wait for me, in just a few years I will build this place into a home,” Long once said.
Thu's market was crowded and noisy everywhere except for a small corner selling some rustic plants and leaves. A few leaves for colds, a few medicinal leaves, and a basket of soapberry tied in bunches. Nowadays, there are so many brands of shampoo and conditioner to choose from, but how many people wash their hair with soapberry anymore? Yet, a couple of times a month, there was still an old lady who cycled a few kilometers up there to sell and wait for a few regular customers.
Thu is one of her regular customers, every time she sees her she stops by to buy some. Everyone teases her, “Hair that long costs a lot of soapberries to wash.” Thu just smiles, tucking a lock of hair forward so that when she bends down to sell, her hair won’t brush against the ground. Every time she visits a shop, someone strokes her long black hair and asks how many years it took to grow it like this? Is it inconvenient to keep it that long? This hair must be taken to a salon, washing it at home is so hard, right? Someone even exclaimed, “This hair can be sold for millions.”
Wherever Thu went, her eyes were always fixated on her hair. She was stuck there by her passionate words. Like the woman selling sweet potato cakes, suddenly touching her head, she complained, “Other people’s hair is so beautiful, but mine is so dry. White skin, long hair like that, it would be strange if men didn’t like it.” The woman selling young corn and purple sweet potatoes next to her weighed it for customers and said, “You dyed it with so many chemicals and then you complain. My hair is neither dyed nor curled, but it’s only a clump left.” When Thu passed by, some men joked, “You grow your hair long, aren’t you afraid that your husband will pull it back when you argue?” But as soon as Thu passed by, someone regretted, “My wife’s hair used to be long, but she suddenly cut it short, what a waste…”
When she was little, Thu grew her hair just because her father liked it. Her father told her to grow her hair instead of her mother's so that she could still have long, soft hair at home. Her mother's hair used to be very long, but later on, for some unknown reason, it started falling out. Although it was very regretful, her father had to cut her hair short in the hope that the remaining hair would be stronger. Every bamboo shoot season was the season when the most hair fell out. In the morning, she would gather around the blankets, under the porch, and outside the door, and roll it into tangled clumps of hair. Knowing that her father felt sorry for her, her mother often woke up early to pick up her own hair.
At that time, Thu did not understand why her mother could be sad just because of her hair. Sometimes she saw her sitting on the porch combing her hair with tears in her eyes. When she grew up, she understood that it was because her mother was afraid of losing the gentleness in her father's eyes. And it was said that when he was young, her father had fallen in love with her at first sight just because of her long hair that smelled of soapberry.
Thu never cut her hair because she felt sorry for those two nostalgic old people. Even though her friends changed from one fashion to another. Even though she was sometimes frustrated because her long hair was "rustic" and difficult to match with clothes and shoes. But since meeting Long, Thu suddenly loved her long, jet-black hair.
At home, Thu lets her hair down, but at work, she ties it up high to keep it neat. No need for hairpins or flowers, just the bun alone has its own elegant beauty.
As Long said, if there were no black buns on her head, few people would see the charm of her long neck and white nape. Long had a very cute hobby, sitting next to Thu and playing with her hair. When it was just the two of them, Long liked to inhale the scent of her hair. Long said that later when they lived together, he would rub his head against Thu's hair to help him sleep.
Every time he went to work far away, Long remembered the smell of his lover's hair the most. Long had no idea when he had picked up the fallen strands of Thu's hair, rolled them up and put them in the inside pocket of his wallet. That was all it took for Thu to fall in love with that man who had been through the hardships of life.
Occasionally, a hair buyer passed by the alley. The loudspeaker called out: “Who has long, tangled hair, sell it.” Thu suddenly remembered her mother crying because every morning her hair fell out one strand at a time. She remembered her father’s back leaning under a grapefruit tree, picking up fallen flowers to dry for her to wash her hair. She remembered the soapberry tree in the corner of the garden, thorny but cherished for its smoothness and softness all its life.
Now that I am far from home, touching my hair is touching endless nostalgia. Long's humming voice over the phone mixed with the noise of the construction site at the end of the day: "I'm unfamiliar with all three of my three girls/ I'm unfamiliar with all four of my four girls, who do I know?/ I only know one girl with white skin and long hair/ Her smile is like a blooming jasmine flower." Thu smiled, as if she could smell the scent of her hair on the other end of the line, burnt from the sun. She felt so sorry for him but didn't know how to comfort him, so she just said: "When you come back, I'll assign you a whole day to play with your hair." That's all...
The project had not yet been completed when the rainy season came. Long could not return as he had promised Thu. Lying in the hut in the middle of the forest, listening to the rain falling on the canvas roof, he longed to sit in the small room and listen to the singer. On the stove, the pot of fish soup with pickled vegetables gave off a fragrant aroma that made his mouth water. Thu smiled and said: "Wait a moment, the rice in the pot is boiling. Let me cook you a bowl of clam soup." Long was in no hurry. He leaned back in the chair and looked at his lover's white neck with a few thin strands of hair. Thu had cleverly tied her long hair up "so that no hair would fall into the hot rice and soup"...
A few thunderclaps interrupted Long's reverie. There was no sound of boiling rice or the aroma of cooking in the kitchen. There was only the smell of instant noodles rising from the kitchen, and a few engineers and workers were cooking on a stove made of a sheet of corrugated iron and a few bricks. With such heavy rain, no one would bring food up. Long was rushing to finish installing the radio station in the middle of the forest to return to the city. But it seemed like it would rain all week long, and Long missed his lover's hair so much that his heart ached.
- Do you hear the sound of the rain forest?
- Um… I once read somewhere a poem by Tran Dan. “Rain falls without translation”. Isn’t it great?
- So you probably hear the rain and know how much I miss the city?
- Just remember the street?
- There is someone in the city I love. There is hair waiting for me to come home and comb. Fragrant hair and white nape. You know, why do you ask?
Thu's giggles drowned out the sound of the rain on a busy afternoon. Her laughter continued to echo in Long's mind, so that wherever he went, he still felt like home was right beside him.
The big city is waiting for him to build new projects. The countryside is waiting for him to come and contribute to building a new countryside. Every time she sees him getting on the bus that has just stopped in front of her house, Thu keeps a smile on her lips to make Long feel at ease. Thu always believes that as long as there is a light in the heart, no matter how long they are apart, no matter how many ups and downs they go through, the two of them will still go through the bright and dark roads of life together.
Tomorrow's letter is like believing in the love of two people. Rain then sunshine, apart then close together...
VU THI HUYEN TRANG