"The Child Left Behind" by Dai Tran

The weather today is somehow different from other days. The sky is getting darker as the clouds move in. the golden leaves are racing toward the ground from its branches as a breeze blows by, signaling that the summer is over. As the fresh rain of autumn begins to drop, it makes the surrounding outside gloomier than it was. As I walk by the gate that is losing its painted skin, showing its old, rusty yellow self, I can see a chubby four year old boy, Nam, he wearing dirty rags standing alone with his brother.

The noise coming from the motorcycle outside is so loud, it makes the argument among the group of little girls not so far away from me disappear, just like usual, they can’t decided who should be the queen in their childish game. If I’m the king, I will tell them to shut their mouth, and tell them that no one else can pick the queen except the king.

As I look over at Nam, I can see his grumpy face; it look like he does not want to be here, not a bit. Who wouldn’t want to be snoring in bed, instead of going to such a boring place like this in this kind of weather? At least I would.

“What a little kid, his mom must’ve spoiled him.” I say to myself while shaking my head slightly. I can feel that the rain is getting harder as I struggle to get on the yellow, dirty plastic horse.

“Why did they make the horse so tall if they expected a kid to play with it?” I ask myself with an attitude. However, after I get on top of the horse, I felt like the whole world is underneath my feet. When I look over at Nam, I see his brother jumping over the rusty fence that was poorly made and maintained so Nam can’t follow him.

“Bro, where are you going?” He yelled with tears in his eyes.

His brother turns around and looks at Nam with a sad look on his face, maybe a tear or so dangling on the edge of his eyes, just like the scene from the Korean movie that my sister watched last night.

“Take care of yourself, my little brother,” he said softly. “I will miss you a lot.”

“Get away from the fence, you little brat!” yelled the old and drunk security guy. He is so loud, I can hear all the way over here. I look around to see who he’s yelling at, there he is, I found it, It is Nam, he holds the rusty metal sticks that they called a fence as he watches his brother run away into the busy morning street.

“What are you looking at?!” I ask Nam.

“Nothing,” he replies.

“You are not looking at nothing, you are looking at something!” I argue.

He says nothing back, perhaps because he knows that he is wrong and I am right. Of course I am right, I’m always right, that is what my mom told me. Unexpectedly, I spot Nam’s family with all of their stuff packed to go to a place that is really far away from here; a better place with more opportunities and freedom than this poor and communist land. He anxiously waits for the vehicle to get closer so he could see it clearly. No doubt in my mind what I saw was his family, but why? Why won’t they take Nam with them? I bet Nam woulve’ve asked the same question, but he can’t, his mind is busy showering in the sadness.

“Mom, dad, where are you going?!” Nam yells as loud as he could to get his parents’ attention.

“I’m sorry, son,” says his mom with tears in her eyes.

She tries her best to stop the tears from coming out of her eyes, but she can’t. sitting next to her is Nam’s dad, he acts strong in front of his kids, but I can see the tears that he holds inside of him. For a moment, the wind stops blowing, the leaves stop falling and the rain gets heavier as if they are watching this moment.

“Please don’t go mom, I will be a good kid from now on,” Nam yells.

“Take care, my little brother,” says Ty.

His mom can’t say anything else; she couldn’t tell hjim that they are leaving this place forever, and leaving behind everything, including him and his older brothers.
As I walk back into my classroom, I keep asking myself, “who exactly is Nam?” I am Nam. The child left behind.

Surprisingly, I did not cry at all, perhaps because I knew I have to be stronger. I must change to adapt to the completely new life in front of me. When I come home after school today, no one will ask me how my day at school was and what I had learned like my mom used to. I become more mature now; I try not to cry, at least not in front of others.