Chapter 7 — Wind Village Robot Team

Nam was sweeping the yard under the harsh noon sun. A blunt bamboo broom with almost no bristles sweeps long strokes on the cement floor, gathering dry almond left into a small pile next to the tree. His shirt was soaked with sweat, sticking to his back, and there was a new bruise on his left cheek, still slightly swollen.

Khanh Dan stood in the hallway observing for a while before walking out into the yard. She had heard the story since morning: at recess yesterday, Nam fought with a student of class 9A right in the middle of the school yard, in front of hundreds of other students. The supervisor had to pull out to stop it. The punishment was to sweep the yard during recess and after school for a week, plus a review before the disciplinary committee at the end of the week.

"Hello Nam." She said as she approached.

Nam did not look up, continuing to sweep, his movements were more decisive than necessary, as if venting his anger on the broom. "Are you here to force me to write another review? I've already written three, just copy the old form, the content is no different."

"You're not a supervisor." Khanh Dan replied, standing a few steps away from him, not coming closer so he wouldn't feel surrounded. "I'm just curious what happened."

"There's nothing to be curious about." Nam pushed the pile of leaves into a larger pile, so hard that a few leaves flew back to their original place. "He talked about my father. I didn't want to hear it, so I beat him. That's all."

"What does it say about your father?"

Nam stopped his broom for the first time, turned to look at her, his eyes were both challenging and probing, the look of a child who is used to adults asking questions to judge, not to understand.

"He said my dad can only fix cars for the rest of his life and only have enough money to support a bad son. When he grows up, he will only fix rented cars, no better than dad." He spoke, his voice stiff, but there was a very small crack in it. "It also talks about my mother, about her leaving. Do you want to hear it verbatim, or is that enough?"

"Enough." Khanh Dan said softly. She didn't say any more words of comfort, because she knew well that, for a child like Nam, empty words of comfort — "don't pay attention", "he's just talking nonsense" — only made everything more fake.

Nam turned back to continue scanning, considering the conversation ended. But Khanh Dan did not go.

"I heard you've been fixing motorbike engines since 6th grade." She said, suddenly changing the direction of the conversation.

Nam stopped his broom and didn't turn around right away, but was clearly listening. "Who told you?"

"Miss Hien." Khanh Dan half lied — actually, it was Nam's father who told Teacher Toan, Teacher Toan told her, but she didn't want to lead him further into a conversation about what people in this commune were talking about him. "Really?"

"Real." Nam replied, his voice a little less thorny. "My dad fixed the car, and I helped him since I was little. In 6th grade, I disassembled the old Wave car's engine and put it back together and it still ran smoothly. Dad still didn't believe it, so he made me take it apart a second time to show him."

"I'm forming a robotics club." Khanh Dan spoke frankly. "There are two people - Phong from class 8A, Gia Han from class 9B. We just built a successful test run of a line tracer, but the mechanical part, especially the gripper for the robot to grasp objects, none of us are good enough. I need someone who understands motors, understands force, understands how a joint moves smoothly without getting stuck."

Nam stood up straight, leaned the broom handle on his shoulder, and looked at her more attentively than from the beginning. "You invited me to the team, right when I was being disciplined for standing and sweeping the yard?"

"That's right."

"Aren't you afraid that I will ruin your work? Ask Mr. Nghia, my file is very thick, full of bad things."

"You already asked." Khanh Dan replied directly. "Teacher Nghia said that all activities related to you must be reported separately to him. I agreed to do so. But I did not ask Teacher Nghia if I should join the team or not, because that is not Teacher Nghia's decision, nor mine. That is your decision."

Nam was silent, bent down to pick up the few remaining leaves around his feet, his movements were much slower than before, as if he was using that time to think.

"I'm not good at studying." He said, not looking at her. "Don't expect me to join the team and suddenly study well, that's not the case."

"I don't need you to study well." Khanh Dan said. "I need you to be able to make a handle that runs smoothly without jamming. If you can do that, I don't care how much your Literature score is."

There was a long silence. Nam looked down at his hands - the hands of a fifteen year old, but calloused on the palm and fingertips from holding wrenches and spanners since he was young, with a small long scar on the back of his left hand, perhaps from an accident while repairing a car.

"If I do anything wrong, don't blame me." He spoke finally, his voice still trying to maintain a careless tone but unable to hide the change underneath. "I've never made a robot before."

"I've never taught middle school students how to make robots before." Khanh Dan replied, and for the first time in the conversation, she saw the corner of Nam's mouth curl up, not quite a full smile, but enough to see that his defense had just lowered a bit.

"But I still have to be disciplined to sweep the yard for the rest of this week." Nam said, holding back the broom. "What time are the club activities?"

"After sixteen thirty, Tuesday and Thursday."

"I finished sweeping the yard at four thirty." Nam said, bending down to continue scanning, but his movements were now much less vicious than when Khanh Dan first arrived. "I'll come try this Thursday."

She was about to say something more, but thinking back, she decided to let Nam's last sentence stand alone, without adding anything - because for someone who just opened a door that had been closed tightly for a long time, sometimes the best way to not close it is to step back, letting the door decide how much wider to open.

She turned around and went into the classroom, leaving Nam standing alone in the hot afternoon sun of the yard, the blunt bamboo broom still sweeping the last strokes, but this time, he occasionally looked up at the warehouse behind the boarding kitchen - a place that in a few days would become a room with a new name, even though no one had officially given it yet.

***

That afternoon, Khanh Dan stopped by the car repair shop in the market, where Nam's father - known to everyone as Uncle Duoc - was bent over a motorbike with the front wheel upside down, his hands covered in oil. She introduced herself, stating that she was a new teacher and wanted to invite Nam to join an after-school engineering club.

Uncle Duoc looked up, wiped his hands on the rag hanging next to the saddle, and looked at her with undisguised eyes. "You know that Nam just got into a fight yesterday? You still dare to invite him to some club?"

"I know." Khanh Dan replied. "It's because I knew that's why I came to see you. I didn't want you to hear about it through someone else and misunderstand."

"What club?" Uncle Duoc asked, his voice still reserved, but less harsh.

"Making a robot. Nam will be in charge of the mechanical parts - motors, joints, grippers. I think he has real skills, I'm not saying this for fun."

Uncle Duoc was silent for a moment, looking down at the upside down motorbike in front of him, then suddenly burst out laughing, a short laugh, a bit bitter and proud that was hard to name. "That's true. Nam can take apart his bike faster than me, but he's never been able to sit still and do anything for more than a week. How long do you plan to keep him sitting still?"

"I can't promise how long it will be." Khanh Dan said honestly. "But I promise I won't let him waste his time on useless things. If he quits, I won't force him."

Uncle Duoc nodded slowly and turned back to his motorbike, but before he bent down to continue, he looked up and said one more sentence, his voice much quieter. "You just let him try. Since my wife left, Nam has been like an animal trapped in this yard, no one has given him anything bigger than his broken motorbike. Maybe you give him something to do, so he doesn't have to find something to fight about."

Khanh Dan didn't say anything more, just nodded her thanks and turned away. After walking a few steps, she heard uncle Duoc calling after her, her voice was back to normal, even a little joking. "Miss Dan, if your robot's motor breaks down, just bring it here, I'll fix the student price for you, no charge."

She turned around, smiled, nodded, then continued on the red dust road leading back to school, feeling much more relieved than when she entered the car repair shop. Her team was now three people, and each of them was, in some way, carrying something heavier than their fifteen years—only no one had ever asked them if they wanted to put that burden down for a moment, to pick up something else, lighter but requiring more concentration.