Hanoi at Midnight by Bao Ninh

Author:Bao Ninh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Texas Tech University Press
Published: 2023-02-21T04:46:30+00:00

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9 Military Region 4 includes these provinces in the North-Central region: Thanh Hóa, Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh, Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị, and Thừa Thiên Huế.

Evidence

The more Minh thought about his youngest son’s courageous act, the more upset Minh became. His son had almost died while trying to save someone else’s life. When Minh visited me, he told me about the incident. He was so distracted by his own thoughts that he looked pathetic.

Indeed, Hùng, his son, was brave. He and his team were on a truck crossing a deserted pass in the mountainous area in western Quảng Nam. The driver, the fourth person in the truck, was reckless and, as a result, the truck flipped on its side and got lodged not quite upside-down on the road. One of the other members in Hùng’s team tumbled off the side of a cliff but was saved by a tree branch. The driver was also injured, so that only left Hùng and the last squad member, who happened to be a woman, to help. Hùng himself climbed down the cliff and rescued his friend from the deep canyon.

Hùng’s act of bravery was not uncommon, because many people in his situation would do the same thing. For Minh, what was hard to believe was the height of the steep cliff. According to the man Hùng saved, the distance from the truck to the bottom of the canyon was over three hundred feet. That was preposterously deep and Minh knew his son all too well: Hùng might not have a heart condition but he was deathly afraid of heights. Normally, he wouldn’t dare look down due to his acrophobia. When Hùng was a kid, it had been a nightmare for him if he was anywhere near a precipice, causing him to freeze in his tracks. He couldn’t even scream. When he grew up, he remained obsessed by his fear of heights. He didn’t climb trees or jump off diving boards into swimming pools. He never sat on a windowsill like other boys did when they chatted. As a grown-up, he would sweat and close his eyes when he saw someone parachuting out of an airplane on TV. Even now, it was a tormenting experience when he boarded an airplane. He would quietly struggle to keep his composure so that he wouldn’t look too panicked to other passengers.

Hùng didn’t tell his father about his courageous act. Minh only learned about it from the man his son rescued, who stopped by the house with his parents to thank Hùng. Minh talked with his son the following day, warning him about the risks, but also praising him for his unselfish act. But Hùng shook his head, explaining that what made him do it was not that his friend might die; rather, it had to do with the cliff itself. His explanation didn’t make much sense, but Minh realized that the accident offered his son an unexpected opportunity: after so many years Hùng was finally able to overcome his fear of heights while rescuing his friend.

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