He just turned twenty that year. His army unit was stationed upriver of a his home river. His home was in the downstream. Every day after coming home from foraging for firewood in  the forest, he together with his friends went swimming, relishing the taste of his home land. One day over-brimming with emotions of home sickness, he thought about writing to his family by putting the letter into a bottle and floating it downstream in the hope that the bottle would return home.

He did it just for fun, like the old stories. But he did it with great enthusiasm, fetching an empty bottle and then at night getting engrossed in writing to his mother and relatives, expressing the feelings of a son on the battle front.

However he did not write to mother. On the contrary he wrote to a girl friend, even though he had none yet. It was quite normal that one had often wished for something one was yet to have. He wrote those flowery words of a twenty-year-old young guy full of zeal and love to an illusory girl friend.

A love letter not only expresses one's moods and aspirations, but also one's memories. He remembered the love story of his grandfather who had swum across the river to meet his grandmother and had been bitten by a dog  and on another occasion, his grandfather had asked grandmother to meet him in the field just to catch fish and then he pretended stumble in order to embrace grandmother. All these details had been included in his letter to his fictitious girl friend.

The next afternoon, after swimming in the river, he waited until all the people had gone, he dropped the bottle into the river and saw it off, wondering if someone would read it. He thought it would be a letter of the present generation being forwarded to the next generation.

A few days before, there was a squad of all girl volunteers stationed on the other side of the river. During the day time, they had gone carrying ammunitions to the front and late in the afternoons they went back and took a bath in the river, their laughter was heard reverberating all over the river. The girls' appearance seemed to herald a good omen as he had just written the letter. The bottle was floating impartially on the water. He was overjoyed as he had jumped into it to swim after the bottle. In front of him was a bush. He dived through it and when he rose to the surface, the bathing girls appeared before his eyes. But he ignored the sight and tried to swim after the bottle until he saw clearly these girls washing their clothes on the bank. Out of the blue, a girl rose up from the water from nowhere and climbed on to a tree and giggled, her whole body snow white. He was dumbfounded by  the scene and felt dizzy. For the first time in his life, he saw a naked girl. The girl was still laughing, but suddenly she felt something in her bones. She stopped laughing and looked around scared. He quickly dived deep down into the water. The girl was still standing there, her slim body was a wonder. He stopped diving. He had a perfect look at her until she had gone sight behind a bush. The forest had become wild again and the current was flowing like a dream, like an illusion.

Having come back to the barracks, he tried to forget what he had seen. But for days after, he still dreamt about the beautiful naked girl he had seen so much that he could not sleep any further. This continued for a few days more. In the dead of night, that image had again appeared, tormenting him.   

"I've seen her body", he blamed himself, "Even it's purely accidental, it is considered as a debt to be paid later"

But what debt? Who to be paid to?    

One afternoon he returned to the river, but he did not have a bath. He only stood there, looking down at the river, and then he took his clothes and waded through it to where the girl volunteers were being stationed.. Ringing laughter could be heard from afar. There was a big crowd of girls. He walked among the girls, saying that he was looking for an acquaintance, actually he was looking for the girl the other day. But he could not as he had been so flustered before, so how could he remember her face? He looked for her anyway. He went to one tent after another with a vague urge. A real sleep walker he was! Those girls were busy working. Their faces look tense. None of them looked like the naked girl. In short, his girl was completely in his imagination.

It had become his habit that he would wade through the river to visit the girls almost everyday. His girl had now mingled with the other girls in the squad. Once he thought he had met the girl. He was having a chat with another guy when a girl dropped in, asking if they had needle and thread to stitch a rice belt. The other guy lost interest and went away, so he was left alone with the girl. He did not know how to start the conversation. After a short silence, the girl said:

"You've waded through the river many times, haven't you? Are you looking for your fellow-villager?"

He was a little startled. Did the girl see anything? Or was it…. really her? He turned away, asking in a low voice:

"Did you see… see me wading the river?"

"How could I? I've got to transport rice all day long…. But could you fly over the river from over there? Have you got any plan to marry any girl? Or are you looking for pleasure?"

The girl was speaking with vague ideas, so he tried to vague and stated that he had an acquaintance in the squad from the previous military campaign and now he could not find her.

"What's her name?"

"I don't know her name. We only met on the way. I only remembered her shape like this…."

"Like what?"

"Very beautiful… A slim girl… like a dancing girl…"

"What's the use of a dancing girl here?" – The girl said, smiling sadly – "All the ammunition carrier here have got stiff legs and muscular arms, so are you dreaming?"

No, he was not dreaming. His girl was really beautiful, but he did not want to argue with her. The girl he had seen was his own girl and he had dreamt of her in his sleep.

He continued to cross the river, fighting in himself between his wish to know who the girl in the river was and his efforts to keep it secret in his mind. Each time he crossed the river, he always met the girl the other day by accident by the well, in the kitchen or right inside the tent. It seemed that the girl had also tried to find ways to meet him.

One day his unit got ready to hit the road to the front line. He crossed the river again to say good-bye to a boy, his fellow-villager, and the girl. It turned out that the girl was also his fellow-villager whose house was downstream. It was still early before noon and he still did not want to go. But the girl also did not know what to say to him. She had become absorbed in sowing and knitting something. Finally she asked whether he had found the girl he was looking for. He said "not yet". The girl said:

"Why not yet? You, young guys, always forget so easily. Or you're not wishing to look for her or you can't remember her face because of your indifference?"

He again said "No". He had never forgotten her. Possibly she had changed her unit or had gone to her home village, and he intended to write her a letter and put it in a bottle to float down the river.

The girl laughed:

"Please do it!"

"Yes, I will"

"What will you write?"

"I'll write like this…"

"I’m Sure you will write a beautiful letter"

"How do you know?"

It was high noon already. He and the girl made up their mind to cook lunch together. The girl ran to her tent to get something. He helped her with the cooking and after that he lay on the hammock, talking about jungle life with her. It had been a long time since he had had such a peaceful time. It reminded the cosy atmosphere with his family downstream. She girl was busy cooking. He ventured to ask her something. She told him about her family and relatives. He then dropped off to sleep without realising. When he woke up, it was already dark. It meant that he had had a long sleep. He saw the girl sitting by the tray of food. He felt annoyed and remorse. He still lay there, observing her more closely. She was neither pretty, nor plain. And this is the battle front. It was not the place for any beauty, he thought.

"Do get up and have your meal," the girl said to him, "then you've got to be back to your unit for the morning march to the front line, you know"

He got up and still sat on the hammock.

"It's quite windy and fresh on this side of the river, so I overslept. I'm sorry for that"

"Either side will do. Please have some rice. I could not venture to wake you up because I thought you had to have a long march overnight. Have you got everything ready then? What about your dry provisions?"

They had dinner in the dark. Then he went back to  his unit and the girl saw him off to the river bank. The river was flowing in silence. He took off clothes and the girl did not show any shyness.

"So, you can go back now," he said, his heart moved, "So your family is also downstream. When peace is restored in the whole country, we will meet with each other again. Sure!"

"I'll help you find your girl"

"Who's that girl" – he asked.

"Oh, you've forgotten it. You've described her in detail, don’t you remember? I'll find her for you, but I'm afraid I can't meet you. You men like birds, now here now there, while we women get old very quick, so how can we wait for you?"

He got into the water, shivering. Stars were reflected onto its surface. Perhaps she was still standing. In midstream, he turned to look but could not see her there any longer.

The next day, his unit marched to the front. And days after that, the war got ever fiercer with continuous battles, so the image of the naked girl faded gradually from his mind, but the image of the girl waiting for him at the food tray had emerged clearly before his eyes. It was the last image that had stayed in his mind. It really encouraged him during those difficult days. His unit had moved gradually down to the delta areas and on the way he had met a lot of young girl volunteers. However, the image of that girl had never faded from his memory. It always preyed on his mind.

The war was finally brought to an end. He returned home like any other soldiers. He carried on his life in the new period, but he could not forget the good old days in the war. Now after thirty years of peace, his hair has turned white and his legs have became slow walking. His 17-year-old grandson came home from school:

"Grandpa, there is an old woman on the other side of the river who wants to see you for something"

What? He could not remember anything, but he followed his grandson on a motorbike across a concrete bridge over the river and after that the vehicle stopped in front of a house with an old lady waiting there.

"My little granddaughter said that you would be coming," the old woman said, "My granddaughter and your grandson study in the same school, so they have exchanged information every day. Your grandson takes after you very much. Do you think so?"

"I don't know"

"Alright. Leave it at that. I want to meet you not for that reason. I've still kept your letter in the bottle you floated the river years ago. The bottle, you know, did not float far away, so I got it and took out the letter. I read it have kept it ever since"

"So, it's you….?"

"I was the girl who had a naked bath on the river that year and also who had waited for you at the food tray. Your letter sounded very interesting with sweet words, but when I met you, I got bored with you because you did not know how to treat ladies. When I got home and asked the people. I found it out that you had not any girl friend at that time. You only played tricks…."

"So you did see.…. that day?"

"If I did, I've forgotten it completely now. It has become an old story. So please worry a pin about it any more. Do you want to read that letter again?"

"Oh, just forget it…."

"The other day, I heard my granddaughter having a heart-to-heart talk with his mother that your grandson wished to marry her. What a boy of 17 years of age who wants to get married!" But he is much better than you. You were a soldier, but you could not have the gut to say anything to the girl you loved. Did you marry any woman after peace?"

"You can know that already my grandson"

"But my granddaughter now is only an adopted one. When peace was restored, I had become old with lots of diseases, so how could I get married? Please take your grandson home. Where is he? Oh, he’s having a quite talk with my granddaughter, isn't he?".

 Translated by Manh Chuong