2024-03-03 10:36:00
The persimmons that were turning orange all over the neighborhood were waiting to ripen. We are still unable to shake off the late summer heat. The glossy orange peel of the persimmon was smooth and hard to the touch. The firmness did not become soft even when fully ripened in the fall. Sweet persimmons that don’t have much water and are crunchy and sweet, and when cooked until early winter, they become soft and turn into persimmons. The flesh surrounding the persimmon seeds that turn into persimmons is so chewy that it tastes like chewing jelly.
Autumn, when persimmons are ripening, has already arrived, the fields are rich with ripening fruits, and the sky is shining ever more blue.
It was my mother-in-law’s sharpness like the scorching sun that created the white gold in the blue sky. A sharp blade struck the sky and created white clouds.
“Uh huh, what are you doing instead of just getting up?”
The mother-in-law’s anger was directed at Wisu, who was standing instead of stepping onto the floor. I was looking at my baby sister-in-law’s pale face for a moment, but my mother-in-law did not allow me even a moment.
Before Wisu might respond, I followed my mother-in-law, who turned away, and climbed onto the floor. She opened the door, which had bars tightly covered with Korean paper.
The smell of herbal medicine reached Wisu’s nose through the open door. The stinging herbal medicine was irritating my nose. It was probably medicine for my father-in-law, who was constantly coughing.
Just as I was getting used to the herbal medicine in my nose, I caught my eye on the 8-shaped piece made with mother-of-pearl on a black background that was filling one side of the master bedroom, resembling a pitch-black starless night. Rather than attaching mother-of-pearl directly to the wood, it was brilliant to attach mother-of-pearl to the painted base, apply the paint once more, and then polish the surface to reveal the pattern. The mother-of-pearl cabinet seemed to have a large star embedded in it. There were two deer standing on the grass. One of them turned its head and looked like it was looking at the moon floating with clouds above. It was a deer that was clearly missing someone. I don’t know if it was the moon or a butterfly hesitating whether to sit on a tree or not, but it was the bent head of a deer.
I’m looking for something.
Perhaps the deer in the mother-of-pearl cabinet knew that Wisui had to live with his head bent like a deer.
Life at the in-laws’ house began with mother-of-pearl. What made Weisu more intimidated than the harsh look in her mother-in-law’s eyes was the encounter with a deer.
****
The morning was busy. Although Wisu did not have a baby, it was his responsibility to feed and wash his two-year-old sister-in-law. My sister-in-law, who was learning to walk, would fall over even if I looked away from her for even a moment. The gentle stones on the dirt yard did not leave my sister-in-law’s knees still for even a day. The gentle stone got stuck every time it fell, creating a sea of tears.
It was like that that day too.
Wisu was looking into the furnace of the sarangchae for a moment. He had to keep a fire going and cut some ox porridge for the two students who would soon be returning from school. We were heating the room by making porridge using straw, bean threshing, and leftover beans that we had collected throughout the fall. Winter was fast approaching in the countryside, and the cold came one step ahead of it, so we had to hurry to avoid shivering the two gentlemen.
It was time for the cow bamboo to break apart. The cow in the pen was also making a sniffing sound as if it had smelled it.
Just wait a little bit. It’s over. Wisu looked back at the cows and murmured soothingly.
The sound of crying was heard even before the soothing was over.
“Uuuuuuuuuuuuuu…”
Wisu was startled by the sound of crying coming from the backyard and ran. By then it was already too late. The baby sister-in-law’s knee was already bleeding blue. Wisu picked up his frightened sister-in-law and tried to comfort her, but the crying did not stop.
“Baby, that was just a little bit. Don’t cry. I’ll hug you. Yes, yes.”
No matter how many times I consoled her, the crying did not stop. I don’t know how I fell, but my sister-in-law seemed very surprised. Wisoo, who had no experience raising her child, merely comforted her.
What should I do,,,, what should I do regarding this,,,,
There was nothing I might do but shake my feet.
My mother-in-law opened the door and came out due to the constant crying. Blue eyes looked at her front yard and then followed the sound toward the backyard.
“What’s going on that’s so loud?”
“The baby fell asleep while playing in the backyard.”
Wisu, who came out holding his sister-in-law, answered hesitantly.
“How is it that you can’t even look following your sister-in-law, so you act as an assistant to your husband? What’s the point of what you do? You can’t even look following a child.”
Tsk, tsk, clicking the tip of her tongue, the mother-in-law took over the sister-in-law. Even if there was a small mistake, even if the sister-in-law fell while playing alone like today, it was all Wisu’s fault. She can’t even follow a tiny child around, can she?
Ping, tears came to my eyes.
If I had a husband like this, would I be able to rely on him? Wisoo mightn’t help but miss that person who would come every weekend. Her husband had to go to school in the city, so he would only come down on weekends. Also, he tended to skip the exam period. Wisu had to get used to waiting.
The longer I had to spend the night alone in my in-laws’ house, which was like a sheet of thin ice, the deeper my longing for my husband became. After getting married, Wisu learned that even if she did not smile warmly at him, there were times when just being next to her gave him strength.
****
As I was lying on my stomach on the warm floor listening to the story, I looked at the mother-of-pearl cabinet and asked. There was still a deer in the mother-of-pearl cabinet with its neck bent, looking at the moon or a butterfly. I kicked a deer stuck in the mother-of-pearl cabinet with the tip of my toe. It was a deer that turned away with its neck broken.
“Grandma, where is your baby sister-in-law? Aunt Jinju? Haeundae?”
I asked, vaguely thinking it might be one of the two aunts. My mother’s aunts who are not much older than my mother. Her mother’s aunts, who went to school with her mother, who were one of the reasons her mother had no choice but to quit school midway.
My grandmother was silent in response to my question. All I might do was stare at the window, beating down on the winter night.
“Who is it? Haeundae?” After screaming, her grandmother looked at me.
“Haeundae was born later. The child was born the year following I got married.”
“Ah, it’s Aunt Jinju.”
Only then did I get the answer and lay down.
“But, Grandma, Grandma’s mother-in-law, is this my grandfather’s real mother? The stepmother’s child. Aimon’s concubine, Aimon….”
widely.
Before I might even finish asking my immature question, my grandmother’s hand hit my back. I was purely curious. That happened a lot in the past. Just looking at the ‘Honbul’ novel I’m reading these days, there was a wife and a woman he cared regarding. Having a concubine seemed to be common in that era. I asked, thinking it was something that often appears in novels, but only kept quiet following being slapped on the back.
“There is nothing that a grown-up Thorna can say. Who said everyone did that in the past? There is nothing a grown-up Thorna can’t say!”
I was regarding to say another word, but I kept my mouth shut when I saw my grandmother’s eyes looking down at me fiercely.
After watching my grandmother carefully, I snuggled into her arms.
“Grandma, it’s cold.”
Actually, it wasn’t cold.
I just wanted to snuggle into his arms. It was just sad that her grandmother had to raise her young sister-in-law. She wasn’t sure why, but she just dug into it. Into her grandmother’s arms.
Perhaps it was because what my grandmother, who was only two or three years older than me, experienced was colder than a frozen icicle.
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#Episode #Episode #Deer #Turned #Neck
