Journalist Mamalay - 5 short stories

Not knowing

As the sun set, the light began to fade, and as I looked around, the entire field was covered in darkness, darker than ever, and then I saw a flash of lightning. Not only did there come a loud clap of thunder, but suddenly a hailstorm began to fall, and the raindrops began to pour down on my face. I lifted my face from the bamboo wall and onto the threshold, wiped the tears and rain from my face with the elbow of my shirt, and then curled up on the bed.

"How many people will leave? The door won't close. It's so wet, it's so wet," Daw Htwe Hla shouted from the front of the house, entering and putting down the umbrella that had been blown away. She couldn't stand the rain and wind and was dragged from place to place, and she heard the sounds of people preparing to light the fire, but she had no desire to move or get up, so she just stayed with both eyes closed.

“Win May, I’m sleeping here. My door is open, and the house is dripping wet, so why are you going out? Why are you still wearing a blanket or something? I wonder if you’re still feeling cold and tired after the rain. I can’t even afford to buy it back. I’ve put on my pajamas. I bought some biscuits from the bakery. Now.. hmm.. hmm..”

“Win May, why are you so quiet? Is your fever coming back? I wonder.. Hug my neck.. Are you crying? My head hurts, Ma.”

"No problem, Auntie, you can get up. Have you bought food yet? Have you talked yet?" Matari asked, reluctantly getting up and sitting down.

"I told you. If the boss comes, I'll even give you flowers. I didn't even have to sit at the machine and sew, so I took half a day off from school because my mother came to pick me up in a big car to give me the money."

“Oh.. the minister is coming to meet you. Did he say that?” “Oh.. I’m coming to drink some cake. My dear friends, my dear friends, my dear friends, the prime minister is coming on the train tomorrow afternoon. My dear friends, we should dress up and give flowers.

And I have to wear a dress like a princess. My mother even called me to sew a dress. I said while eating and drinking. Be quick, be quick, be quick.”

"It's been a month since I last saw you, so I'd like to see you."

"I've done it again, Win May. Please listen to my words. I'm going to be a big fool with this attitude. He's doing well too. And... I can't let you know that I'm a daughter or a mother anymore."

Feeling pity for Win May, who was crying in confusion, he said, "Forget it, Win May... forget it."

"I can't even muster the courage to forget my own daughter, my dear."

"When you gave me milk, didn't you think this would happen?" Win May asked.

"I'm asking again, my aunt. I begged you not to ask me this. If you tell me, I'll go crazy. If I don't tell you who my father is and who my mother is, you'll never know in this life. I'll tell you more than once. It's an impossible life."

"Is his father still alive? Does his father know that I gave him the money?"

The rain had stopped somewhat, and Win May opened the awning she had put up. Seeing the moonlight shining on the green rice fields, she couldn't help but feel sad and went away.

"I didn't give it to you, Auntie," he said sadly, not looking at Auntie, but just staring at the field.

"I am at the nursery school. I know that they will find me and investigate me. I don't know anything else, and I don't ask because I'm crying. I don't even say anything. I'm asking because I don't want to," said Ari Hla, trembling with sadness.

In fact, Ari Hla was a single woman, very kind-hearted, but she had no children to support her. When she came to this city, she was wandering around without knowing where she was. She looked after her mother-in-law like a child. When she was with her father and in Letpandan, she worked and ate with her nieces near their house. Her father was a government employee and whenever he went on a trip, he would stay with her at their house and stay overnight. She also had no mother-in-law, so she loved her as much as she loved her. Soon, Ari Hla did not get along with her nieces and moved to this city to live and earn a living. They separated. Now, when she found out that she had a daughter in this city, she met her. While she was sick, Ari Hla lived with whatever she found.

Win May also let go of the mother and slowly turned her face towards Ari Hla. She saw that she was looking at her with tears streaming down her face, and she could no longer control herself and continued to cry.

“Ari... I’m not a little bit bad about myself. I’m not hiding it. I’m so unhappy that I can’t talk about it. Ari doesn’t know, neither does Ma Ae, a father and a daughter. It was very tense and after Ari left Letpandan, a friend of my father came to our house to investigate whether his son should be admitted to a boarding school in this city. After investigating, he went back and not long after, he brought his son to enroll him. My father also said that even though he was boarding at your school, he would treat you like your own parents’ house, and if there was a problem, he would come and go, and don’t be afraid. He would come and visit my house every Sunday. So, when he came, my father was on a trip. I didn’t have anyone to talk to, so I sat down and talked for a while, and when he didn’t show up, he would come and make coffee, and when I came in, he would come and talk to me in a loud voice. I didn’t just talk, it became a force and a force, and I robbed him of my love. At this time, I was also angry, I was too embarrassed to scream or shout, so I forced her to leave. When my father came back, I couldn't control myself. He didn't come for three weeks. My father asked me to come back because he had something to do, and since then he has been coming back and forth. My father's apologetics forced me to apologize, and after a while I started accepting his love. My father had to move to another city secretly so that my father wouldn't know. At this time, he also finished his exams and didn't want to come back. One night, they went on a date and he said that he loved me so much that he couldn't break up, and that he shouldn't worry. He said that if he continued in college, he would write to me often and come back. Let's say that they had already broken up.

“Shortly after we moved to the city, I started feeling unwell, so I wrote to him, and he was at college. He would call me and make an appointment, but he wouldn’t come. I also cried because I was busy. My father didn’t tell me. My father said that when he got there, he got drunk with his friends. At first, he was very angry, and he didn’t say anything about drinking. So, let’s keep it short. After about two months, he ran away from home and hid with a nun in Sagaing. He didn’t want to tell my father about it in Sagaing. He was angry and wrote to follow a man so that he wouldn’t find him. I applied to school in Sagaing, and after the exams, he wrote that he would come back in a month or a day, and then he didn’t answer the letter. It was difficult to follow, and I was in trouble, my father. So when I was about to see my daughter, the teacher didn’t understand me either. He said that I should go to my sister’s house and see her, so I went to her sister’s house. She was a widow, I was so poor that I had to take care of the little things I brought with me.