“Wow. What a wonderful day!” I think to myself while I’m riding a bike. The sky is blue and the clouds are white, the weather is just as beautiful as the day the disaster happened to me. It’s a memory that I can never forget.
I was three years old and I visited my great-grandmother’s hometown, Hưng Yên, in Northern Vietnam. On the plane to Hanoi, I couldn’t sit still; I “jumped” up and down, giggled, and talked about how much I wanted to see what the countryside looked like. I imagined how my relatives would react when they first saw me.
“Sit down, Quynh. And be quiet! We’re almost there, so stop being so hyper!” my mom glared at me.
Then we finally arrived. “Woo hoo! Finally! Now I can meet the relatives that I have never met before.” my ear-splitting voice drowned my parents’ yelling to rush me to go with them, otherwise, I would be lost. At the end, I grabbed my little luggage and scurried toward them.
We had to take a small bus for about three hours to go to Hưng Yên. I thought I needed a rest, maybe it was because I ran out of energy from the sugar rush I had on the plane. When we arrived at our destination, suddenly I had goose bumps. The wind blew so hard, and I wasn’t wearing any jacket. All of my relatives came out to welcome us with their bright smiles. They were my great-grandmother’s sisters and brothers and they were pretty old, so they all wore traditional clothes of Vietnam, bà ba shirts.
“Have some cookies dear. Enjoy yourself. Don’t be shy!” my great-great-uncle smiled at me and gave me a big hug.
Everyone just kept talking, chortling and hugging each other. I could feel the love everywhere. Even the neighbours came over to our house to welcome us. They brought food and flowers then hugged us, especially me. After that, I went into a small room to meet with a very special person, my great-great-grandmother. Her hair was not grey at all, it was all black; her skin was dark because she used to work really hard on the field; and the brightest thing I could see on her face was her smile; no one could believe that she was 90 years old already. She was lying on an old wooden bed, and all of a sudden, she got up and hugged me so hard. I could feel her tears falling on my shirt. I was speechless because I could meet my great-great-grandmother for the very first time. My eyes became so watery that I couldn’t see anything at all.
Then my grandmother asked someone to go to the market to buy some ingredients to cook. I volunteered. Therefore, my mom had to go with me. My great-uncle gave us a ride on a small bike and I sat in the middle. I could feel the wind gently touching my face and skin; the sun was shining on all three of us; I imagined the cows along the way saying “Hi” to me and that made me giggle; I swung my legs and opened my arms widely.
“STOP IT QUYNH! DO YOU KNOW HOW DANGEROUS THIS COULD BE?!” my mom scowled and scolded me.
“Why does she have to say these stuffs? They’re not important. And how can “sitting on a bike and trying to have fun” is “dangerous”? She totally ruined my joyful moment!” those thoughts kept popping up in my head.
Suddenly, I felt like my ankle twisted, like someone or something grabbed my foot and spun it around in a circle. I didn’t understand or know what happened to me, so I glanced at it, and I screamed, “OH MY GOD! What are all these red drops on the roads? And why are there red “lines” on my foot? Where are my toes? What is this horrific red mess?”
“UNCLE! STOP THE BIKE! THERE’S SOMETHING WRONG WITH QUYNH!” my mom shouted thunderously.
The bike stopped, and I didn’t know what happened to me next. I felt like my head was hit by a huge rock, and some kind of delirious pain ran through my body. Everything around me became so blurry: I saw five people who looked exactly like each other, I could see their lips moving, but I thought I was deaf because I couldn’t get what they said, so I blinked and blinked and then all I could see was the darkest, blackest place in the whole world.
When I opened my eyes, I was already lying on a white bed and wearing a strange white outfit that looked kind of like my pyjamas, except that it had the smell of medicine. My grandparents, parents and relatives were there and they all surrounded my bed.
“How do you feel, honey? Does it hurt anywhere? Do you feel a headache or anything?” everybody just kept asking.
“I’m completely fine. Thanks for asking. Can anyone please tell me what happened?”
“Your foot got stuck in the bike’s wheel, so you were bleeding and then fainted. We took an x-ray test and it showed that your bones are still fine. You were really lucky, because if we were one-second late, you foot could have been cut off. Don’t worry dear, you’re fine now. Take some rest.” my mom explained.
I thought to myself, “Oh man. I can’t believe I almost have only one foot left.”
I’ve finally learned the value of carefulness and also the respect for my mom. She’d warned me, but I thought that she was being mean and she didn’t love me, but the truth is she did that because she cared about me.
“Wow! I feel like I’m the luckiest girl on earth. I overcame the most painful experience.” I smile and just keep riding my bike under the magnificent sunshine.
♥
