Song Win Latt - 5 short stories

"I bought it. My friends from the ship also bought it. Let's eat on the ship, and be friends."

At the end of Maung Phone Myint's words, their faces broke into big smiles.

"Hey, man... then, let's get two handfuls of dried shrimp from your house, and let's eat salad with oil over there."

Hnin Thu urged his friend. Then the three of them took a bath together. The water was cold but not very strong. The soap and soap didn't lather well. Ko Phone Myint washed three old clothes and a face towel.

"Please call me in, I'll get some dried shrimp and wait for you at the tent."

The unfortunate man with a million feet left without saying a word. The man who had previously destroyed the shark tent briefly entered.

"Hey... I'll give you a shirt."

As he ran up to the tent, a pregnant woman came out and handed him an old Ajinomoto brand of sweetened condensed milk. He grabbed a piece of coarse cotton that was hanging on the clothesline in front of the tent and changed it into a wet cotton one.

Maung Phone Myint looked around the front of the tent. He hadn't seen the big mosquito net hanging up earlier, but now that he was back from the well, he saw the big mosquito net hanging up, and he was surprised to hear a child crying inside.

"What's wrong? Is the baby sick?"

Maung Phone Myint asked worriedly. Hnyin Thu smiled.

"Feeding two children while covering their heads with mosquito nets is like crying while eating," he said, making me even more surprised.

"How...how, I set up a mosquito net and fed them."

"Yes. There are flies in our village, so even when we serve food to guests, we have to put up mosquito nets and feed them inside the mosquito net." "Aw..."

Maung Phone Myint could only open his mouth, "Oh... two." I don't know why, but as the two of them walked, Maung Phone Myint's thoughts were filled with a strange imagination.

The handsome young teacher from the city who was teaching at the village primary school, and the handsome daughter of the betel nut farmer from the house of the chief who was paying for his meals, they met face to face in the large mosquito net while they were picking and feeding the children.

The children were so excited that they were embarrassed and they ate the wrong bowl. The child couldn't bear to see the rice stuck in his throat. He didn't even bother to open the mosquito net and went to get some water to drink. The picture of the rose flower falling from the top of the waterfall was so beautiful. When he reached the seashore, Maung Phone Myint's thoughts were lost.

The fishing boats had arrived, and the children, each carrying their baskets, were running down the river, their cheeks covered in sweat.

After loading the fish from the boat into baskets and placing them under the fish drying racks covered with coarse mats, they had to sort out the big and small fish. In fact, they were the same all day long. It was impossible to tell the fish apart from them.

"Drink, don't be shy."

As they gathered around the boat, Maung Phone Myint and the two villagers from Damin Seik were treated with friendliness and hospitality.

Maung Phone Myint and I had a wooden boat, so we sat in the bow. The sun was setting on the tip of the Kalakauk Island, visible in the distance, and the winter wind was blowing.

“We’ve got the shark liver fried,” Ko Tin Sein shouted from the stern of the ship while the potter was cooking, so Joseph went to get it. “It’s quite delicious.”

The captain, Ko Win Kyi, commented: The two villagers from Dhamin Seik were drinking heavily. They were also eating heavily.

They also asked for gifts back home, saying, "Give me some diesel fuel to light the house when I return."

The sea was dark. The village of Dhaminseik was also dark. On the other side of the pine creek, I saw that a small, bright light was being offered to the mountain pagoda.

At that moment, I heard the sounds of girls talking to each other, laughing, and laughing from behind the rocks on the beach of Dhaminseik village. “What are you doing? In the pitch black darkness?”

Maung Phone Myint asked.

"It was at this time that the girls gathered and came down to the beach to have a big party."

The old man laughed as he poured two handfuls of alcohol into the glass.

“There are so many flies in the village that no one has a toilet.

So they built their tents close together. If they wanted to go, they had to go down to the seashore. The young women went down at night. When we were young, this was the time to go on dates with our boyfriends. When the old women who looked after the young women came back from the White Sands, they would buy them a beautiful piece of batik longyi, and it would be a good idea.”

He was laughing loudly and saying this.

Maung Phone Myint couldn't help but laugh.

"They're in trouble in the rain," he said with concern.

"How can I do that?"

"During the rainy season, all the people in the row of huts along the shore suffer from this. In the inner village, there are fewer flies in the farms and houses near the fields, and there are pit latrines."

Listening to his further words, Maung Phone Myint quickly gulped down a glass of alcohol mixed with a little water.

I looked again at the foot of the Dhamin harbor, where the children of light were shining one after another.

The sound of young white people joking and laughing with each other can still be heard in the darkness. On rainy nights, those who wear hats are cold, and those who wear old long-sleeved shirts are warm.

A bright and cool bathroom, a clean and safe flush toilet, Bogyoke Market and Sein Jun Market, a beautiful and welcoming place, the smell of glue wafting down the streets, a quiet and dark movie theater, TV and video, beautiful cars that make an organ sound every time you step on the brakes, a dining room in a house with a mosquito net and iron bars. I recited each of these.

Maung Phone Myint wondered childishly, "If I asked the village of Damin Seik to choose what I liked, what would it choose?"

Shumawa Magazine, March, 1984