The Buddha's Diamonds by Carolyn Marsden

Author:Carolyn Marsden [Marsden, Carolyn; Niem, Thay Pháp]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-7636-8061-9
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Published: 2008-08-23T04:00:00+00:00

“Tinh!” a voice called.

Tinh looked up to see Trang Ton spinning his soccer ball on one finger.

The ball gleamed black and white in the sunshine, untouched by the storm.

“How about a game, Tinh?”

Tinh gestured toward the rubble covering the beach. “How can I just play?”

“Why not?” Trang Ton twirled the ball.

“I need to get my boat out.”

Trang Ton stepped closer to the pile. “Isn’t that yours on the bottom?”

Tinh nodded.

“There are,”— Trang Ton counted — “seven boats on top. You can’t do anything now. You have to wait for the other people to come first.” He paused. “Let’s go.”

“It’s easy for you to play,” Tinh said. He noticed that Trang Ton was wearing a new striped shirt. “You have a rich uncle.”

Trang Ton spun the ball again. “That’s true, Tinh. But you’ll still be happier if you come with me.”

Tinh looked around at the soft blue sea and clear sky.

Suddenly, he thought of the monk’s talk. It was true that the sun was still in the sky. He even saw a pale moon. He was still breathing. As were Ma and Ba and Lan.

Maybe Trang Ton and the monk were right. In spite of the storm, Tinh could be happy. He still had a handful of diamonds.

His heart, knotted in fear, unfolded.

But how could he leave this spot? Leaving, he’d abandon the boat for a third time.

“Let’s go,” Trang Ton repeated. “No one is going to do anything with these boats today, Tinh. They have to fix the houses first.”

Tinh indeed saw no one. He got up and followed Trang Ton, his heart like a boat buried in sand.

Dong and Anh joined them. They threw the ball back and forth as they walked, dancing to avoid the puddles, daring each other to jump high over fallen trees.

But Tinh marched with his hands behind his back. What would Ba do when he saw the boat?

A green snake slipped through the mud, and Tinh jumped back.

As the boys approached the temple, Tinh saw that the soccer field was clear. No trees had blown across it. The hot sun had almost dried it. The place lay ready, like an invitation.

But Tinh wasn’t ready. How could he play soccer? What would Ba think to see him kicking the American ball while their boat lay at the bottom of the pile?

Tinh noticed that a tree had crashed over the temple, smashing the clay-tile roof.

Had the inside of the temple been damaged by the storm?

Tinh thought of the monks and nuns chanting “From the mud of adversity grows the lotus of joy. . . .” Could the Buddha lighten Tinh’s heavy heart?

“Where are you going, Tinh?” Trang Ton called. “We’re starting the game.”

“Play without me,” Tinh called back.

He mounted the temple steps, climbing between the stone dragons still standing on guard, their stone fire unquenched.

No one was in the temple.

Rain and wind had scoured the paint from the plaster of the eastern wall, so that Tinh saw only fragments of the Buddha’s life.

He stepped onto a

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