The Strange Day Helper (Chapter 4)

On the second day, Luom ran home and reported:

-Brother Quy headed toward Mr. Sau Canh’s house.

On the third day:

-Brother Quy went into Mr. Sau Canh’s place.

On the fourth:

-Brother Quy went into Mr. Sau Canh house but was not inside Mr. Sau Canh’s house.  There was only a bicycle propped up in the front yard.

Tieu Long blinked:

-I think yyour skill has surpassed Sherlock Holmes, Luom.

-Sherlock Holmes is the detective you mentioned last time right brother?

-Yeah, he was an English detective.  He was so skillful that whenever there was an unsolved criminal case, British police had to come to him for help.  All he had to do was nodded and everything was solved.

Luom pouted:

- And you compare me to him?

- You are way better than him! – Tieu Long puffed his chest and suddenly lowered his voice – Hmm, to be precise you still have not surpassed Sherlock Holmes’s skill level.  Both sides’s detective skill are just about equal.

He glanced at the little kid out of the corner of his eyes and made a sound with his tongue:

- To surpass him, tomorrow you have to do an additional task.  Well, this is a little bit difficult, I’m not sure you can handle it.

Tieu Long’s comment, designed to rub Luom’s ego, hit its mark.  The little kid rubbed his cheek, his voice slightly hurt:

- What is so difficult?

Tieu Long patted Luom’s shoulder and smiled loudly:

- This time you won’t “intercept” Quy Rom.  You have to secretly follow him.

- Secretly follow brother Quy? – Luom asked, his mouth dry.

- Right!  I am sure Quy Rom went into Mr. Sau Canh’s place as a diversion.  After leaving his bicycle, he went somewhere else.

Luom slightly twitched and asked:

- He went to the hanging ghost’s house?

- You little! – Tieu Long raised his voice – I already told you Quy Rom invented that that story.  Ghost this and that!

- I’m…I’m…

- Let me ask you this! – Tieu Long interrupted – Do you want to surpass detective Sherlock Holmes or do you prefer to continue the rest of your life carrying his flip-flop?

- I don’t want anything. – Luom’s face reddened.  He bit his lips – But okay, tomorrow I will follow brother Quy!

- That is the way to scare Sherlock Holmes! – Tieu Long smiling broadly – How could you followed your brother Quy for several days just to give up now!

Luom was not sure whether this Sherlock Holmes something is really afraid of him.  However, he knew that he is scared.  He is afraid of the hanging ghost.  Tieu Long was just being overly bold but it is highly likely that Quy Rom didn’t invent the story.  If there is a ghost truly that powerful and violent, surely it will not let those tell on it go easily.  Luom became more shaky the more the thought about it, his chest suddenly started to feel heavy. However, he knew at this time it is too late for him to pull back.

 Truth to be told, Luom also didn’t want to pull back now.  He didn’t want to waste the hard work of the last few days.  Furthermore, Quy Rom’s mysterious movement piqued his curiousity.  Luom has not witnessed for himself a spirit master ridding a ghost before, but he thinks a spirt master’s activity probably doesn’t resemble a bank robber.

Even when he was hiding behind Mr. Sau Canh’s house early morning the next day, Luom still cannot help but starting to feel suspicious.

His suspicion grew as Quy Rom rested his bicycle against Mr. Sau Canh’s wall and hurriedly ran along the narrow trail along the fence.

He left his hiding spot and carefully tailed his older brother.

Luom made sure to stay far behind, carefully kept his body well hidden behind the bushes and observed Quy Rom out of the openings between the leaves.

Ahead of him, Quy Rom moved swiftly like the wind. Luom has not seen his brother Rom moves that quickly before.  Occasionally, Quy Rom would turn his neck to look behind, causing Luom to quickly duck down with his heart beating loudly.

- Where could brother Quy go?

Luom asked himself when he noticed Quy Rom increasingly strayed from the main road.

Suddenly, Quy Rom turned right and headed toward the cashew plantations.

-Ah, he is probably going to hanging out with the girls working the cashew plantations.

Luom muttered to himself.  But upon reaching the dirt road cutting across the pathway, Luom realized he had err when he saw his older brother headed toward the main road instead of turning left.

Luom started to feel his head spinning around as if someone put a spinning top inside his head: My god!  Why does brother Quy has to criss-cross back and forth like that? To walk around quite a distance and then double back to Nga Ba market!  Must he goes around in circle like that in order to disorient the hanging ghost so that it couldn’t follow him?

Quy Rom didn’t know that Luom was trailing behind him, following him while muttering to himself.  Upon reaching the main road, he headed toward Sat bridge.  Over Sat bridge for a distance, Quy Rom followed the dirt road leading to a neighborhood with tile roofing located alongside the main road, he slower his pace.

Luom brushed the sweat on his forehead and exhaled in relief:

- Probably almost here.

The house that Quy Rom entered resembles all the other houses in Tieu Long’s hometown.  A tile roofing house with three sections connected to a thatched kitchen in the back. Behind the thatched kitchen was a pig pen. Behind the backyard is a well, a small edible fruits garden and a fish pond.  This house doesn’t raise cows so it doesn’t have a cow pen and dried hays.

In front of the house is a stoned lined front yard where each evening, the family would spread the bamboo mat and dine outside to stay cool.  During the harvest season, the front yard turned into a place to spread the unprocessed rice out to dry.  The whole compound is encircled by mulberry hedge and bamboo trees. 

At the moment, Luom is slithering outside the mulberry hedge, nicely trimmed with green vines climbing around the bushes. 

Luom encountered several fortunate breaks today.  His first lucky break was that this neighborhood doesn’t have a busy body akin to Mrs. Sau Thom.  Otherwise, he would be caught by the shrill voice of someone yelling “Oh my god, don’t you have better things to do than attempting to catch other people’s chickens?”  It’s true Luom’s behavior resembled a chicken-thief.  Even more so with his second lucky break: this house doesn’t have a dog.

If this house has a dog or if this neighborhood has someone like Mrs. Sau Thom, Luom’s hardwork would surely be wasted.

His lucky breaks turned out to be Quy Rom’s misfortune.

Quy Rom wasn’t aware of Luom observing him from outside the mulberry hedge.  He casually battling ghost.

Naturally, he was battling ghost with his own unique methods.

The first method Quy Rom employed was…using a broom to sweep the house.

Luom, his eyes almost popping out, stared at his skinny brother stooping to do something Luom thought he’d never imagine in his wildest dream.  He had never seen his brother touched a broom, let alone holding it to sweep the house.  To say Quy Rom sweep the house was comparable to saying Luom knows how to fly, meaning one was lying and speaking untruth.

At the same time, the impossible thing is happening right in front of Luom eyes.  Even harder to believe was that Quy Rom was stooping to sweep someone else’s house, a stranger and not helping Luom or Tac Ke Bong to sweep the house.

Luom blinked nonstop, yet he still see Quy Rom holding a broom and briskly sweeping the house.  He rubbed his eyes, rubbed it to the point of both his eyes turned red, yet it still occurred in front of him.  He pinched his own thigh.

He sensed the pain and realized that he was not dreaming nor hallucinating, and not being…affected by the ghost.

As he thought of the word “ghost”, Luom shook and cast his eyes around him. Is the hanging ghost for real?  If it’s real, where could it be hiding?  Did it see me? Luom nervously looked to his right and then his left, looking for the mango tree Quy Rom mentioned but has not spotted it yet.  “That must mean brother Quy fabricated the story!” Luom reassured himself, but then he became anxious, “Might it be the mango tree is outback?”

Luom crept along the mulberry hedge and circled to the back.

Many things instantly came into his vision: A stone well, pig pen, fish pond, and trees such as jackfruit, guava, lemon.  In general, there were all sorts of trees except for a mango tree.

“Without the mango tree, there can’t be a little kid climbed up the tree to pick mangoes.  Without someone climbing up to pick mangoes then there can’t be a story of a little kid fell from the tree, shoved by a the hanging ghost.”  Assured by his rationale, Luom carefully crawled to the front.

Quy Rom already finished sweeping the house. At the moment…he continued sweeping.  On his hands, the brrom has changed to a different type of broom.

Luom suddenly shook in surprise (Luom seemed to shake so many times today!).  His emotion is even worse than if he saw a ghost.  “What happened to brother Quy?” He asked himself and forced his head to come up with an answer.

Luom thinks so intently that vein popped on his forehead, “Maybe this house really has a ghost?  Sweeping the house and the front yard is a way to eliminate the evil air?

While Luom thinks really hard to recall all the stories he have heard about the spirit masters clearing out the ghosts, from the house suddenly came out a shrill voice:

-You skinny punk!  With a small front yard and you can’t even finished sweeping?

Following the voice was someone about Quy Rom’s age and large-built like Tieu Long appeared right at the door frame.  His hands on his hips and his face upraised in a manner Luom despised.

Luom doesn’t know who this guy is.  Base on his cocky appearance, Luom was sure Quy Rom will angrily throw the broom to the ground, at the very least argued a few words. 

He didn’t expect his older brother to soften like a jellyfish.

- I’m almost done!

Quy Rom nicely answered and bended down to sweep vigorously.

Luom opened his mouth in disbelief as if the sky just fell on his head.

Not finished, that guy even growled:

-Okay, leave the front yard for sweeping later!  Why don’t you go prepare food for the pigs!

Suddenly Luom felt his body turning weak with no strength inside.  In place of his legs were two pieces of wood.  Quy Rom turned around and went inside the house for a while yet Luom couldn’t move his feet.  He was really sad!  Extremely sad!

Tieu Long furrowed his brows:

- Are you sure Quy Rom didn’t go battle with the ghost?

-Sure

-Then where could your brother Quy been to all these days?

-He is a house servant?

Tieu Long looked like a bullet just whizzed by his eye.

-What? – He firmly held Luom’s shoulders – What do mean by being a house servant?

- Exactly what I said! – Luom bitterly replied – Meaning he sweeps the house, sweeps the front yard, cooks food for the pigs, and does many other tasks.

- I understand. – Tieu Long exhaled loudly – Please don’t called him a house servant.  Call it helping around the house because it sounds nicer and more civilized.

In the middle of speaking, Tieu Long suddenly spoke out loud:

- Wait! Quy Rom really is helping someone else with the chores?  How could something that strange take place?

His eyes bored intently at the little kid:

- Maybe you’ve snapped something in your head, right Luom?

Tieu Long wanted to shock Luom with his question, but it didn’t cause Luom to be mad one bit.  He sadly replied:

- That question is more suitable for brother Quy.

Not waiting for Tieu Long to follow up, Luom depressingly recounted what he saw occurred this morning.

The two were sitting at the edge of the well out in the backyard.  Rays of light shone on their face but Tieu Long didn’t even notice.  He opened his eyes wide and took in all the details recounted by Luom, his face appeared longer and resembled a cucumber.

- Are you telling the truth Luom? – Tieu Long breathed heavily after the kid had finished.

- If you don’t believe me then come with me tomorrow.

- I believe you. – Tieu Long ran his fingers through his short hair – I’m just asking. It’s all too sudden!

Luom punched the well’s wall. In his anger, he forgot he is not student of martial art like Tieu Long.  Luom punched too hard and he grimaced while grabbing his fist:

- I am furious at the punk inside the house. He yells at brother Quy like a father yells at his son.  I watched from outside the hedge and felt my blood boiling.

- As a day helper working for someone, one has to bear such nonsense.

- If I’m brother Quy, I already threw the broom into that kid face. – Luom grinded his teeth so hard it made sound – Who cares. What ever happened, happened!  At worse, I’ll just walk  home and quit.

- You are starting to speak nonsense, Luom.

Tieu Long gently reminded Luom and looked up at the starfruit tree, sighed:

- There has to be a reason for your brother Quy display of patience.

Luom protruded his lower lip:

- I can’t see a good reason.  Coming back here for a summer vacation, all of a sudden started working for someone else, not to mention bowing down for other people to yell at you.

Luom was not a person who likes to gossip.  However, his words rang true.  Tieu Long knew Quy Rom is someone who has self-respect, he rather died than face humiliation.  But according to Luom’s story, it seemed Quy Rom rather be humiliated than faced a summary dismissal this morning.  “The skinny kid is facing something?” Tieu Long pressed his forehead to the point of caving it in, yet he was unable to come up with something inspirational.

Seeing Tieu Long speechless, Luom pressed on:

- Do you think I’m right?

Tieu Long smiled weakly:

- I think your brother Quy probably is needing money.

- Needing money?

- Right! High school and college students continue to work part time in the summer is a normal course of thing.

- But opportunities abound for someone resourceful like brother Quy.  Moreover, if he wants to work as a day helper, why didn’t he work in the city?  Working in the countryside doesn’t earn him that much money.

One more time Luom was being right and one more time, Tieu Long found his mouth clamped shut. He looked up the starfruit tree branch, and then looked beyond the hedge. Beyond the hedge is a rice field. Beyond the three plots of rice field lay the sugarcane field, and then one reached the stream running through the hamlet.  Tieu Long reflecting on summer of last year when him and Quy Rom sat for hours underneath the bamboo shades by the stream to fish.  Bored with fishing, they would hang out with the two sisters Ti Ti Muoi Muoi or followed Luom down Cat Co hill to see De Lua.  The exciting summer days are gone.   All because Quy Rom been gone all day.  All because Quy Rom needed money, Quy Rom rather faced humiliation than being fired.  Tieu Long was not sure whether to lecture his friend or to sympathize for him.  His heart suddenly became heavy.

- All right! – Finally Tieu Long opened his mouth to say – Tomorrow morning I will go with you.  I have to see what your brother Quy is up to in order to form a conclusion. By the way!

- Yes bros.

- Don’t leak this story to Quy Rom okay.  Pretend like we all don’t know anything.

- I already knew that.

Tieu Long once again reminded:

- Even with Tac Ke Bong, don’t mention a word to him.

- But the last few days he has been peppering me with questions. – Luom voiced his anxiety.

- Don’t pay him any attention.

- He threatened me that if he found out I hid something from him, he will stop herding the cows for me.

- Not an issue. – Tieu Long blinked several times – You keep telling him that you haven’t found out Quy Rom’s whereabouts.  Tell him that your brother Quy is like secret agent 007, it will take about a month, if you are lucky, to find out his whereabouts.

- Who is secret agent 007?  Is this man even more skillful than detective Sherlock Holmes?

- This guy? – Tieu Long scratched the back of his ear.  He had only seen 007’s movie once – Um um…they both are skillful.  Never mind, you don’t need to know who 007 is.  Just remember don’t open your mouth with anyone concerning your brother Quy.

Luom refused to give up. All of a sudden, he became an inquisitive person.

- But why do I need to keep from revealing to Tac Ke Bong? – Luom shook his bros’ hand – I thought I just need to keep the secret from my father and mother.

- Oh Luom! – Tieu Long blinked – Are you not saddened when you saw your brother Quy all of a sudden swept the house, cooked food for the pigs, and then got yelled and screamed at, got bossed around by someone else?

- Of course! – Luom cast his eyes downward.

- If you are Quy Rom, would you like other people to know about it?

- Well, well…no.

- Why not?

Luom bit his lips:

- Because I would be…embarrassed.

Tieu Long swung his hands excitedly, his voice raised:

-Your brother Quy is the same. The reason Quy Rom has to go around in circle because he doesn’t want anyone to see him going to do chores for someone else.

In the midst of speaking loudly, Tieu Long lowered his voice in resignation:

- Quy Rom is suffering in his heart and you rather let Tac Ke Bong knows about it?  Do you want to embarrass your brother Quy?

- I will not tell anyone. – Luom speaking under his breath. Tieu Long’s overly dramatic speech caused his upper nose to feel slightly moist.

Tieu Long slapped the kid in his back, his voice satisfied:

- In the end, only you and I know.  Remember that!