Chapter 38 — Summer After the Rain

One week of continuous sunshine, the newly repaired roof dried quickly under the harsh sun. The theater opens for reading during the day and shows movies in the evening as a new routine that has gradually stabilized. Linh realized that people do not only come because of the fascinating stories being told, but simply because this place has a cool place to sit in the sweltering heat of summer.

Minh opens a free repair class every weekend for children in the neighborhood. He taught them how to disassemble and assemble an old electric fan, but strictly prohibited them from touching the theater's precious projector. Hau asked to participate in the trial lesson, but as a result, he lost two important screws in the first session. Minh said that was the tuition fee he had to pay for the first lesson.

Linh's mother is now familiar with being in charge of the ticket counter. She smiled much more than the first days she returned, and sometimes even told some funny stories about life in the city to guests. Linh and her mother have not yet completely returned to their normal state as before, but at least now they can freely argue about the price of vegetables at the market without ending in heavy silence like before.

Linh and Minh started dating in their own unique way: working together to revise the movie schedule every night. One time the two decided to go out for a nice dinner, Minh brought three screwdrivers in his coat pocket. Linh asked him if he was going to use them to eat. He replied seriously that he had learned how to hold chopsticks properly since last week.

This summer there is not as much rain as before. The riverbank is bright in the sunlight, and the paint on the outdoor cinema wall has completely dried. However, Linh still kept Minh's familiar yellow raincoat in the ticket office, because he often forgot it after each visit.

Minh discovered his raincoat lying there and asked her if she intended to keep it and not return it. Linh said raincoats have now become the common property of the entire community. He said, then I have to apply for a loan according to the correct procedures. She gave him a homemade loan slip, stating the return date was "when it rains or when you remember you used to have it."

The theater's movie schedule is now in a stable routine. Every Friday night is a screening of old, nostalgic movies, Saturday is dedicated to children's movies, and Sunday is a cozy community storytelling session. People not only came to watch movies but also voluntarily repaired broken chairs, planted more trees around the yard, and took notes on stories they wanted to be preserved for future generations.

Linh received an invitation letter from her old company in the city, asking her to return to work with a higher position and a much more attractive salary. Her mother asked her if she intended to go. Linh said she needed time to think carefully, not because An Binh was trying to hold her back emotionally, but because for the first time in her life, she had a real choice that was not dominated by fear like before.

When Minh heard the news, he did not appear overly worried. He just asked if she really left, who would collect the monthly electricity bill for the theater. Linh said it would probably be Hau. They were both silent for a moment before that risky prospect.

That night, they screened a short film about a person returning after many years of separation. The main character in the movie stands in front of his old house, wondering whether to enter or not. Linh sees her own image reflected in each frame, but she doesn't want to turn every movie she watches into a mirror reflecting her own life.

After the screening, Minh returned the raincoat to Linh. He said she could keep it if she wanted. Linh said that it is the community's common property and cannot be kept for oneself. But she still hangs it right next to her desk, in a position where she can see it every day when she walks into the room.

Linh wrote a reply letter to her old company, asking for another week to make the final decision. She doesn't want to completely leave life in the city, but she also doesn't want to turn An Binh into a new prison for herself. Mom said that going and coming back are not opposites; The most important thing is that she can honestly tell the people who are waiting for her in both places.

Minh personally made a wall calendar, marking Linh's days in the city in blue and days at the theater in yellow. Hau asked what the red color was used to mark. Minh replied that it was for days when unexpected emergency electrical repairs were needed.

On her first day in the city to study a new management course, Linh rented a small room near the classroom area. She was not used to the feeling of sleeping in a place where she could no longer hear the murmuring sound of the river every night. In the first lesson, the instructor asked each student to describe the community he or she is serving using just three numbers. Linh opened her notebook, intending to write down the number of seats, the number of screenings held and the total amount of available funds. But then she crossed it all out, and instead wrote her mother's name, Minh's name and the name of the little girl who wore a yellow raincoat during the outdoor screening.

The lecturer asked why she chose to answer like that. Linh explains that data helps people see problems objectively, but it is the specific names that help people always remember who they are doing this for. After class, a classmate asked to hear more about the story of Ha Vang. Linh even mentioned the part of the theater that was used to hide records in the past, not at all painting everything into a perfectly beautiful story. That friend said an imperfect project is really a project worth learning and gaining experience from.

That evening, Minh video called her. He filmed the scene in the projection room, where Hau was labeling each wire with oddly humorous names. Linh looked at the phone screen and suddenly realized that she was no longer the only person responsible for maintaining the theater. She sent Minh a photo of the assignment she had just completed. After reading it, he told her to write a little longer than necessary. Linh replied that he also talked more than needed to fix a simple projector. They both laughed through the screen, and the distance between the city and An Binh suddenly seemed to narrow significantly.

On the first weekend away from home, Linh took the bus back to An Binh even though her homework was still unfinished. She wanted to check for herself whether the new assignment schedule actually worked smoothly without her there. Returning to the theater, she saw that everything was still going on as usual: her mother was selling tickets, Hau was cleaning the lobby, Minh was repairing a chair with a broken leg. No one frantically called her for help like she had feared.

That feeling both made Linh relieved and made her feel a little unreasonably sad, as if she was discovering that she could live well without her. She told it to her mother in the evening, sitting on the steps overlooking the river. Mom laughed, saying that's exactly how someone who's done a good job feels like: building something that doesn't collapse when you step out of the frame. She said she wished she had understood this sooner, instead of thinking that leaving would mean destroying everything she left behind.

Linh sat silently before her mother's rare confession. She realized that between mother and daughter, there was a similar fear that had been silently passed from generation to generation: the fear that their love was only valuable if someone stayed to guard it every minute and every second. She held her mother's hand, saying that perhaps it was time for both of them to learn to trust what they had built enough to allow themselves to leave without feeling guilty.

That Sunday, before taking the bus back to the city, Linh spent the entire morning sitting with Hau reviewing the entire weekend operating process. She didn't correct much, just asked him step by step, so that he could see for himself what he did right instead of just listening to her empty praise. Hau, for the first time, clearly presented the entire process from start to finish without Linh reminding her, making her surprised at his silent progress over the past few months.

Before getting in the car, Minh gave her a small lunch box prepared for the trip, telling her not to just eat bread lightly like always. Linh received the lunch box and kissed him gently on the cheek in front of the whole group standing to see him off, causing Hau to turn away and pretend to be busy looking at the clock. The car rolled away from the station, Linh looked back at the Ha Vang theater that was gradually disappearing behind the trees along the road, her heart felt much more relieved than the first time she left.