BTO - At high noon, the dirt road was deserted. Everyone wanted to stay indoors, away from the scorching heat. A woman who bought scrap and old bottles trudged silently into the neighborhood, her baskets swaying from a pole on her shoulder.

– Scrap… any scrap to sell?

She had nearly reached the end of the lane and still had not found anyone wanting to sell scrap. Seeing a young woman busily hanging a few children's shirts on the fence to dry, she struck up a conversation.

– Anything to sell, miss?

The young woman shook her head, then turned and went back inside. The scrap woman hesitated, standing close against the wall.

A moment later, the young woman cried out in alarm: “Thief, thief!”

The scrap woman grabbed her baskets and hurried off almost at a run, the young woman hot on her heels. A few curious neighbors poked their heads out of their doors to look. The young woman snatched back the children's shirts the scrap woman had hidden in her basket and shoved them in her face:

– You look decent enough, but you're a cheat! Poor as you are, you still don't give people a reason to feel sorry for you!

The scrap woman hung her head.

– All right, then! Go ahead and take them!

Suddenly an older woman stepped up beside the young woman, took the bundle of children's shirts from her hands and pressed it into the scrap woman's hands. The young woman was taken aback.

– Oh… Mom… What are you doing?

The older woman signaled for her daughter to keep quiet. The daughter frowned and turned away in annoyance. The scrap woman murmured:

– Thank you, ma'am!

She put the shirts in her basket and hurried away. The young woman immediately turned to her mother:

– Mom, what's wrong with you? That thief is lucky she wasn't handed over to the police! Why on earth would you give her things as well!

The older woman clicked her tongue and sighed:

– Poor thing! I saw her belly was showing a little! She must be pregnant! She'll be a mother soon, too! Just like you!

Đinh Thị Thu Hằng