The Peculiar Swing
The haunting melody of a lullaby swirls in my mind every moonlit night, leaving me restless and sleepless. Surrounded by trees that are shrouded in mist during winter nights, I sometimes catch glimpses of smoke rising from distant fields. At those moments, the mournful lyrics of the lullaby drift softly through the air, stirring emotions within me.
I have lived here for five years now, enough time to become intimately familiar with every inch of land, blade of grass, and corner of the antique house owned by Mrs. Tam. The house has five levels, not three, and is built in an old-fashioned style. When I was still living in town with my family, we used to call homes like this "old houses" because they looked old and gloomy.
Elderly people often dote on their grandchildren. That's why I was able to stay in the old house for free, with a responsibility that suited me: to teach Tân to study quickly... Outside of class time and teaching Tân, the rest of my time was spent sitting at the desk next to the window frame. Lesson planning, letter writing were all done here. And... I heard the lullaby from here too...
Bà Tám is over seventy. The children and grandchildren work far away, only the two of us and cô Hai are responsible for food and living in the spacious house. So when I come home, the whole family is happy, even cô Hai sometimes smiles when she sees me return from teaching - a rare thing for Tân who usually misbehaves...
Taking advantage of spare time, I often talk with cô Hai. Who knows, when interacting with this older woman, I would satisfy my curiosity about spooky lullabies...
But everything disappointed me, cô Hai always shook her head when I mentioned the lullaby. Her face turned pale when she heard me mention the melody that echoed into the bright moonlit night. As for Bà Tám, she was more determined. Whenever I had doubts, she brushed them off with a concise sentence: "The teacher is busy, so tired of hearing wrong things." I've lived in this house for over seventy years, never heard anyone singing anything...
But not every wish in life comes true! If it did, wouldn't everyone become a fairy? I want a child, but that is my own business and cannot be imposed on others. And when people cannot interfere with personal matters, don't blame fate for being indifferent...
...Sad days keep passing by. Playing with stuffed animals instead of dreams. He becomes more and more absent... I know if I don't have a child, I'll lose him soon. Losing him due to what both of us yearned for. And the most intense burning is still having to face two difficulties at once: keeping my husband and fulfilling a woman's duty...
If one day I'm still alone on this swing, then I can't blame him for leaving a family that only had two people... Sadness is just sadness...!
But for me, if a lullaby accidentally enters my ear on sleepless nights, it's truly happiness. Because the intention of the lullaby is to bring a deep sleep, for an innocent and naive soul...
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