Daughters of the River Huong by Duong Uyen Nicole

Author:Duong, Uyen Nicole [Duong, Uyen Nicole]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: AmazonEncore
Published: 2011-04-11T16:00:00+00:00

After all the guests had left, my father began discussing the move. Grandma Que sat silently in the rosewood chair all throughout the discussion, until finally she spoke.

“I just want to know one thing, master.” Grandma Que always addressed my father formally, ong giao, as schoolteacher and master of the house. “Will the girls have a piano?”

“They will share one, yes.” My father removed his glasses to clean them, disturbed.

“Will there be a housekeeper?”

“Not on my teaching salary.”

“Will the children go to French or Vietnamese school?”

“I will decide that later, Mother,” my father replied, his voice rising.

“Will my daughter and grandchildren come back to this ancestral house, one day? Your wife is my only child.”

“My job is in Saigon, and I doubt if we will come back to Hue, Mother.”

I was scared. No one had spoken to Grandma Que in that tone of voice. My mother, unhappy wife and daughter, looked pleadingly at her unhappy husband and unhappy mother-in-law. I sat in a corner twisting a strand of hair, never having felt this sad before.

Grandma Que got up to leave. “I’ll leave so you can discuss your move with your wife.” She let go of her hair and rolled it up again. “I would like my cinnamon log to go with Si and Mi Chau,” she said, decisively.

“That won’t be necessary, Mother,” my father protested. “Si and Mi Chau are children. They have no use for your cinnamon log.”

“The cinnamon log is meant to protect my granddaughters. They should take it with them wherever they go.” Grandma Que sat down again. She was just about to turn her hair loose again from the ivory comb.

“If we need cinnamon for cooking, we’ll go to the store,” my father said firmly.

“You don’t understand, Master, this is a very, very old tree—”

“Then it needs to stay with you all the more,” my father said, interrupting her.

I grew sadder and sadder in my little corner.

“The tree belongs to the girls, and they need it,” Grandma Que said firmly.

“I’ll decide what they need. They are my daughters!”

“And may I remind you, ong giao, they are also my granddaughters.” Grandma Que stood up. She closed her lips, rerolled her hair, and left the room.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.