That morning like any morning, Kaus Zuag got out of bed as soon as she heard the first rooster crowed. She stepped outside, took a sun-dried gourd that was split in half and seeds scraped clean, to scoop ice cold water out from a giant red-clay jar. The crescent moon’s reflection was still wiggling in the water of the gourd-dipper when Kaus Zuag splashed the freezing water against her warm face. She then lathered a bar soap on her hands and scrubbed her face with the foam. After cleansing her face, she discarded the remaining water onto the ground and hung the gourd-dipper on the side of the jar. She grabbed two worn-out wooden buckets and slid a wooden pole through the buckets’ handles. Positioning the pole on her right shoulder, she left for the stream in the woods.
When the first ray of sunlight shimmered onto the woods, slender bamboos and corpulent oaks were revealed—standing majestically tall over the other vegetation. Birds twittered and squirrels scrambled up and down the oak trees searching for nuts, while the sound of a turbulent, rushing waterfall overwhelmed the quietness of the morning. An efficient walker, Kaus Zuag quickly made her way toward the stream that branched from the nearby waterfall. She took the wooden staff off her shoulder and laid the buckets onto the sandy ground. She then rolled up her pant legs and dipped her feet into the cool, crisp, and clean water. She took a deep breath and put her hands together to form a bowl. She swung her hands into the stream and scooped up a handful of clear water, which slowly dripped away through the tiny cracks between her fingers. She sipped the water, closing her eyes to feel and taste its sweetness and freshness.
Unexpectedly, she heard something flew past her back. Alarmed by the sound, Kaus Zuag’s heart dropped and she turned around. Her water buckets were gone. She looked in the direction where the sound she heard rippled to and observed the back of a lad running away with her buckets. “Hey, come back! Come back with my buckets!” she yelled as she chased after him. But at the moment when her acceleration hit its pinnacle, she rushed into someone and they both tumbled to the ground.
Kaus Zuag felt a throbbing pain on her head, so she took her right hand to massage the painful spot and pulled herself to a sitting position. Then, she remembered the bumping incident and looked toward the person she ran into. He was barely struggling to haul himself into a sitting stance.
She stared at the young man for a few seconds, and a strange but familiar feeling of him blazed through her mind. However, no matter how hard she thought, she could not recall whether she had seen him before. “Have we met yet?” she decided to ask him.
The young man slowly raised himself up. He then looked down on her. “Don’t you have eyes? Why did you run into me!” he shouted angrily. “Don’t you know that it hurts?”
“I’m so sorry,” she answered and got up as well. “I am really sorry to have caused you pain but someone stole my water buckets so I was pursuing him. Look, he’s gone now. What am I going to do?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, sister. I didn’t know that. If you don’t mind, you may use my water buckets,” he suggested with a changed in tone.
“But if I use them, how will you get water too?”
“Don’t worry. I’m in no rush. I can help you transport the water to your home first, and then I’ll bring the buckets back to fetch water for me.”
“Is that a good idea?” Kaus Zuag contemplated.
“Sure, it is,” the young man insisted with a smile. “Come on, sister. Let me help you fill the buckets with water.” As soon as he said this, he had already rushed toward the stream.
“Wait!” Kaus Zuag called.
The young man quickly dipped the buckets into the stream and drew up two full buckets of water. “All done,” he remarked to her.
“Thank you,” she answered with a faint smile.
The young man picked up the wooden stick and slid it between the two buckets’ handles. He lifted the buckets up and placed the wooden stick on his right shoulder. He then slowly walked away.
“Hey, what are you doing?” Kaus Zuag asked.
“Carrying the water for you,” he replied.
Kaus Zuag smiled. “I appreciate your thoughtfulness, but I can take it from here.”
“Don’t think too much, sister. I am glad to be able to help you out. Let me send the water for you so that you won’t have to waste time returning my buckets.”
“But…” Kaus Zuag stuttered.
The young man ignored her and skipped gaily away already. He was so thrilled about this perfectly planned incident that he forgot to pay attention to what he was stepping on. A round and smooth, fist-size rock lay in the path that he took. Without knowing, he tripped on the rock and landed with a pound on the ground—causing the water buckets to fly into the air and tumbled backward, pouring water all over him.
“Careful!” Kaus Zuag shouted and was about to rush over to help him when a similar incident flashed across her mind and triggered her memory of him. “Yes, it’s him…” she mumbled softly. She then marched toward him. “Hey, it’s you. Aren’t you the guy I splashed water at yesterday? Why did you lie to me?” She demanded irately to know the answer.
“Well I…” the young man stuttered to respond.
“Everything that happened…was it part of you plan?”
“I…”
“Get lost!” she yelled. “I don’t ever want to see you again!” She then kicked a water bucket out of the way, almost hitting him. Feeling no remorse, she dashed out of the woods.
The young man sighed, upset at himself for tarnishing an almost faultless plan. “What did I do wrong?” he groaned out-loud.
“What you did wrong, my friend Koob Hmoov,” Pheej commented as he stepped from behind the young man, “was that you were too dashing and overconfident! That’s why you tripped and ruined everything.” Pheej shook his head disbelievingly.
“I’m sorry, Pheej. I really wanted everything to go well but I couldn’t help it,” Koob Hmoov said solemnly.
Pheej heaved a sigh. “It’s alright,” he said, padding Koob Hmoov on the shoulder. “Your buddy Pheej here has many more ideas. I’ll help you come up with something else. Come! Let’s go home and get you new clothes.”
***
Kaus Zuag found Yawg sitting outside sharpening a knife on a stone sharpener when she returned home. She did not want to disturb Yawg and wanted to sneak into the house without him noticing her, but he had detected her presence already. He laid the knife he worked on with the pile of knives he had finished sharpening and looked up to his granddaughter. “You don’t look so good, granddaughter. Why have you returned without any water this morning?”
“A little imp attacked me at the stream and stole my buckets, Yawg,” Kaus Zuag responded angrily. “I’ll ask Pheng to get water later in the evening.”
“I see,” Yawg remarked.
“Yawg!”
“Yes.”
“I have to go to the farm today. The weeds in the rice field must have grown again so I’ll need to go pull them out. Before I go, I’ll make you breakfast so remember to eat.”
“Thank you granddaughter, but go ahead and do the farm work. I can cook for myself.”
“It’s not your job anymore, Yawg. I’ll do it before I head out,” Kaus Zuag insisted with a smile.
Kaus Zuag took a good hour to steam the rice and made a salted as well as a bland dish for Yawg. Afterward, she grabbed a few pieces of water chestnut leaves and packed lunch for herself. Carrying her back-basket and a metal hoe, Kaus Zuag left for the rice field—five miles walk away on the other side of the mountain.
***
Koob Hmoov and Pheej returned home. Although defeated in their plan, their spirit remained high. Koob Hmoov changed into new clothes and jumbled up a quick breakfast meal for the two. “What should I do next?” Koob Hmoov asked as he shoved a spoonful of rice into his mouth.
“I bet she is out at the farm right now,” Pheej answered. “You will need to change into work clothes, take a hoe, and head out to the farm to help her.”
“Good idea, buddy,” replied Koob Hmoov sarcastically, “but you’ll need to come up with something more original because I have no work clothes or hoe. Besides, I don’t even know how to hold a hoe correctly.”
“I thought you would say that. That’s why I came prepared,” Pheej answered and smiled triumphantly. He pulled a traditional outfit out from a bag and handed it to Koob Hmoov. He then shoved a hoe in Koob Hmoov’s face as well. “Go and change. There’s no time to waste!” He said demandingly to Koob Hmoov.
***
The dry rice field stretched for five acres of land over the mountain sides. The monsoon season provided an abundance of rainwater to nourish the rice plants so the crop grew well. It was already waist-high in length in the middle of July, and the plant exhibited a beautiful lime-green color, swaying with the wind when a breeze brushed by. At the base of the rice were yellow and green cucumbers, flickering brightly and crawling like ants in a sophisticated branching pattern throughout the field. In the center of this breathtaking scenery and standing midway on the side of a mountain was a brown bamboo farm hut. A dirt path was carved to and ended at the hut.
When Pheej and Koob Hmoov reached the edge of the rice field, the two could already see Kaus Zuag’s silhouette bending over the rice plants as she plucked weeds away. Koob Hmoov felt nervous, as he had deceived her earlier and was a bit frightened that she would still be upset at him.
“Okay, buddy. We’re here. This is the point where I leave you and you go help her farm,” Pheej said.
“Wait a minute!” Koob Hmoov said, and pulled onto Pheej’s shirt to halt him from escaping. “Aren’t you coming to help me?”
“Well, I’ll love to but I don’t have time. Other urgent businesses are calling to me right now,” Pheej answered swiftly. He then turned his back to Koob Hmoov and ran away.
“Wait! But I don’t’ even know what to do?” Koob Hmoov shouted.
“Just mimic what she does!” Pheej yelled back.
Koob Hmoov sighed at the thought that he would have to conquer the girl alone. “Alright, you can do this,” he reassured himself. He then slowly walked in Kaus Zuag’s direction, and as he did so, his heart began to beat faster and faster. Once he approached her, he took a deep breath and nervously called, “Good afternoon, sister!”
Kaus Zuag turned to look. “It’s you!” she remarked surprisingly, irritated to see the young man again despite her firmness on wanting him to disappear from her sight. “Didn’t I tell you to get lost this morning? What are you doing here?” She questioned angrily.
“Well, I…I saw that you are working alone but have so much weed to remove so I decided to come help you,” Koob Hmoov answered stutteringly.
“Are you stalking me now? Who said that I need your help?” Kaus Zuag asked demandingly. “Go away at once!” She shouted and immediately returned to focus her attention on pulling weeds out.
“Please, don’t push me away. I am sincere about helping you.”
“And I am sincere about not needing your help.”
“But I insist on helping you out!” Koob Hmoov protested. He then glanced at Kaus Zuag’s action and imitated her.
“Hey YOU!” Kaus Zuag exclaimed. “Why?”
Koob Hmoov smiled merrily at Kaus Zuag, confident that he was about to succeed. He said nothing to her and returned to work on pulling weeds out.
“Alright! Since you insist on doing this work, I’ll let you do all the work. Good luck.” Kaus Zuag said with a smile, and padded Koob Hmoov on the back. “I’ll just sit over there at the hut to supervise you work.”
“But I…but you…you can’t…” Koob Hmoov stammered.
Kaus Zuag, however, was unsympathetic and walked away. Koob Hmoov grumbled as he was left alone to do the work. Now and then, he looked tetchily toward Kaus Zuag—who sat leisurely at the farm hut eating bananas and smiling contently back. Soon, she ran out of bananas so she pulled out her lunch to eat.
“Hey, aren’t you going to share that?” Koob Hmoov shouted.
“Sorry, I didn’t bring enough for you! Just keep working! The sooner you get done, the sooner you’ll get to go home and eat,” she answered.
Feeling annoyed by her response, Koob Hmoov hovered back to work. The mid-afternoon sun scorched Koob Hmoov’s back so sweat tumbled down his face endlessly. After a couple hours of work, he saw blisters formed on the palm surface of his hands—making it difficult for him to continue clutching onto the hoe.
When the sky changed from a blue to a red-orange color, Kaus Zuag knew that the sun was going to set soon. She glimpsed at Koob Hmoov and saw him working at a much slower pace now. She picked up her back-basket and hoe, and walked toward him. “You can stop working,” she said, standing firmly in front of him. “I hope that you now understand how hard farm work is, so stay home and don’t come back again.” She stated indifferently and was about to step away from him when he grabbed her left hand. “What is it?” she asked, snatching her hand back.
“Don’t I even deserve a ‘thank you’?”
“Why should you? I never asked for your help in the first place,” she retorted coldly and walked off.
“How cruel?” he garbled. “I’m not scared of hard work!” He shouted after her and lifted the hoe onto his right shoulder. “I’ll continue to come here every day until I can prove to you that I am worthy of your approval!”
That evening, Koob Hmoov returned home feeling exhausted. When he opened the front door, he was startled by Pheej’s presence. “Did I scare you?” Pheej asked with a smile.
Koob Hmoov was dull and he ignored Pheej’s question.
“So, how did it go? Was it fun?”
“Fun?” Koob Hmoov remarked. He then laughed frantically. “Yeah, it was fun. Your ideas are just getting better and better.” Koob Hmoov replied sarcastically as he pulled two small wooden stools outside, one for Pheej and one for him to sit on. “I can barely move now and my hands have blisters all over.”
“Did she make you work alone?”
“What do you think?”
“Hey, at least you survived the day,” Pheej commented with a smile. But, Koob Hmoov brushed off his good intention. “Ah, come on buddy. If you really want to be the winner, you have to endure more hardships than this.”
Koob Hmoov thought for a second and sighed. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Well…guess I’ll go back to farm tomorrow.”
“Alright,” Pheej replied happily. “That’s the spirit.”
***
When Pheej returned home that night, he found Kaus Zuag standing at the doorstep waiting for him. Her arms were locked in a cross, and she looked angry. Before approaching her, millions of ideas rushed through Pheej’s mind—thinking of the right technique to use on his sister so that she would not lecture him.
“Where have you gone to all day?” Kaus Zuag asked when Pheej drew near.
“I was over at a friend’s house,” Pheej answered smilingly. “Sister, why are you always so serious? You should smile more and loosen up so that you may preserve your youth.”
“Stop fooling around!” Kaus Zuag answered and cocked his brother lightly on the forehead. “You should know not to come home so late. Yawg and I already have dinner. There’s some food left on the kitchen counter if you’re hungry.”
“Yes, sister,” Pheej replied, touching his forehead.
“Oh yes, I need you to do a chore for me tomorrow morning.”
“What is it, sister?”
“Today, a thief stole my water buckets so I was unable to bring any water home. We have no more water in the jar. So tomorrow, you must go fetch some water from the stream or else you won’t have any rice for breakfast.”
“Why me, sister?” Pheej asked. “Haven’t you always gone to get water?”
“Because you, my brother, are a very strong young man. If anyone shall bully you, you can defend yourself and the water buckets better than me,” Kaus Zuag replied with sarcasm. “Wake up early tomorrow.” She padded Pheej on the back and left for bed.
Pheej frowned. “I guess this is what I get for robbing my own sister,” he muttered to himself.
The next morning, Pheej got up early and left to fetch water from the stream. He carried the buckets back and emptied them into the large earthen jar. “You’re back already?” Kaus Zuag called as she stepped out into the morning light.
“Yes. Didn’t you want me to bring water back so rice can be cooked?”
“You’re right,” Kaus Zuag answered. She glanced at the water buckets that Pheej used and noticed something familiar about them. “Aren’t those the same two water buckets that were stolen yesterday? Why do you have them?”
Pheej panicked. “Well I…It’s because I…” he stuttered trying to form a response. “It’s because on my way to the stream, I saw these two buckets lying abandoned by the side of the road. When I examined them, I noticed that they look exactly like the buckets you lost yesterday, so I took them to the stream with me.”
“So you didn’t bring anything with you to fetch water initially then?”
“I did…I did sister,” Pheej replied and chuckled. “It was only after I discovered these lost buckets that I brought the first two back home, then went back with these two and used them to fetch water.”
“Why?”
“Because they’re more durable.”
“And you were able to run back in forth that quick?” Kaus Zuag scrutinized.
“You think I can’t, sister? Didn’t you say that I am very strong? That was why you agreed to send me to get water, right?”
“I did, didn’t I? Well, bring a basin of water for me. I’m going to steam the rice.”
“Yes…sister.” Pheej answered and grabbed a tin basin. He filled it with water and took it inside for Kaus Zuag to use. After Kaus Zuag made breakfast, she packed rice and wrapped a boiled whole chicken with water chestnut leaves for lunch. She then placed her lunch inside her back-basket. Grabbing a hoe, she left for the rice field once more.
Author: TT Vang
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