3. The legend of the morning glory lake

The legend of the morning glory lake

I could see from a distance that villagers sometimes came to pick morning glory vegetable near the lake. This area was what was left of the old lake after parts of it were been filled in preparation for a warehouse construction. When I got close to him, I could tell he was a man of over forty years old, looking around and trying to revive memories of the past. Upon further observation, I noticed his tears were pouring down his face and felt onto the ground. Since he didn’t make any attempt to dry them up, I concluded he just wanted to get something off his chest. Still in tears, the man later walked toward the lake to pick some morning glory vegetables. He closed his eyes to force the tears out, then turned his face up toward the sky to look at a flight of birds flying north.
He was frightened when somebody interrupted the silence and asked him a question.  With a pale face, he turned around and soon realized the person who called him was none other than Uncle Thong.
“ It has been quite a while since we met last, Chief”, Uncle Thong said.  He still did not reply, continuing to face the ground, feeling bad about himself and using his hand to wash his face. Uncle Thong moved closer and said: “ Do you still think about this rice field?”
These words acted like magic and forced him to put his knees down, as if he was making a marriage proposal. He was imagining that his parents approached him and his future wife with a big smile and handed him a property deed, including these two 10 hectare rice fields as a wedding gift.
Damlong and his wife sold one of the rice fields to get some investment money. He started a stationery business that gradually expanded into a 100+ employee company, with his wife as general manager. One of the employees was Uncle Thong himself, who was standing next to him at that moment.
Damlong looked at the warehouse and almost choked; his face become pale as if he felt dizzy when the discussion between him and Uncle Thong focused on the construction of the warehouse at this very site.
“ I didn't mean to say that I didn't want you to build a warehouse on this rice field, I just wish you only used part of the field for that purpose and leave the rest as it”
“ Uncle Thong! How could we preserve part of the field since both you and I were in the warehouse business? Who would be left to do the farming?”
“ If we did it that way, at least we would have left part of your parents' heritage untouched, especially the area adjacent to morning glory lake.”
Nevertheless, Damlong didn't dare to argue with Uncle Thong, because after all Uncle Thong is his father's older brother.  All he could do was to mumble like in a prayer.
The difference of opinions between the uncle and his nephew soon became the topic of discussion among the company's employees.
Damlong's eyes, which were staring at Uncle Thong, instantly changed. This misunderstanding flared up because Damlong was the prime mover of this whole affair, giving directions to the construction workers and drivers of bulldozers and the road graders.
There were three knocks at the door. Without waiting for a response, the visitor barged in at Damlong's complete surprise. This was none other than Uncle Thong.
“ Mr. Manager! Are you really going to fill the lake to build a warehouse on it?”
“ We have to do that, don't we?  Our business is growing”
“ Yes, but I'm asking you not to fill the morning glory lake”, said Uncle Thong with angriness.
“ But you don't pick morning glory from there for your meal, do you?”
“ Correct. I don't do that, and neither do you. But people from this area do so every day. We should leave something for their sake; this rice field had supported many generations before us.”
“ Listen, Uncle! Who is the boss here, you or me?" said Damlong, as he walked toward Uncle Thong with his two hands planted on his waist.
"I know you are the boss of this company, but don't forget that I'm your father's older brother", replied the red-face Uncle Thong, as he walked out of the office.
The war of words between uncle and nephew escaladed; their fight for power became scary. Things were really tense, unlike what they used to be earlier.  These two used to be very close to each other, but no more. Everything evolved around power and judgment. Pretty soon,  irretractable words slipped out of Damlong's mouth,
"Fill the whole lake! This property belonged to nobody else but my father!"

The rice field with green grass is now surrounded by brick walls and contains a concrete warehouse. The morning glory lake, where people used to paddle, is now only a couple of arms wide. You can count how many morning glory plants there are.  When you have different ideas, your paths crisscross and break normal uncle to nephew relationship
As a result, Uncle Thong felt like he had been hit by a thunder strike and rendered powerless. He was demoted from company manager to head of the just completed warehouse. Uncle Thong had to swallow his pride to do things he didn't want to do, and accept facts he couldn't accept. His life became sad and he resigned himself to act in a secondary role in dealing with the hundreds of company employees.
“ What did you hear? Has Uncle Thong been promoted to a new position?” joked laughing employees at a time when he felt his heart had been pierced by a knife and somebody sprayed salt on his wound. He had to ignore all those things, swallow his pride, and do whatever it takes to face adversities. Business grew quickly. In no time, the company's income was in the millions.
“ We have to do every thing to beat our competitors.”
That was Damlong's strategy to win the market; anything, including false ads and tricks is allowed. Despite being a blood relative of his, Uncle Thong could only follow Damlong's business transactions from a distance. One day, he stopped by at a stupa located at a corner of the pagoda, and with his tears pouring down along both sides of his cheek, raised his hand above his head and said with some hesitation,
“ My dear brother! Nothing is left from the heritage you left behind.  Please forgive Damlong!”
After deposing the perfume sticks and candles, Uncle Thong moved behind the stupa, closer to the nearby forest. He thought that Damlong would come to pray at his parents' stupas because this was the anniversary of their death. “ I am going to wait and see if Damlong still remember that.”
He waited until noon and continued until one o'clock in the afternoon, but still, there was no trace of Damlong. “ Damlong is not going to come for sure. Such an ungrateful guy", Uncle Thong said to himself.
His hope to see his nephew at the stupas containing the ash of his parents didn't materialize. He returned to the warehouse where many cars were parking outside in a disorderly fashion. He heard voices from the inside saying,  “ There are pure lies!”
He didn't dare to go in, so he hided himself outside to try to listen.  Less than five minutes later, car sounds erupted from inside the warehouse, along with angry voices. He thought for sure that something unusual had happened.
One month later, the news about this incident spreaded out like a bomb. From records of investigations and audits, it was concluded that Damlong had lied and taken advantages of his competitors like a pirate. He had to sell his houses and all of his belongings to pay off his debts, as the court decided he had no recourse whatsoever.
Then, Damlong's life path took on a new course. Before, he might be poor, but at least he still had acres of the rice field he inherited from his parents. Today, he owns nothing.
Uncle Thong looked around the big warehouse and carefully watched Damlong's face. He thought that Damlong was just dreaming about the past. He moved closer and said:
“ At the time, I didn't expect to stay here!”
“Right now, you live here, don't you? That's a lot better than me!"
“ Yes, they asked me to watch the store for them.”
Damlong didn't dare to look straight at his uncle's face. He was somewhat uneasy.  Uncle Thong did not have much time to talk with his nephew because it was already noon and he had to say goodbye. Damlong followed his uncle by eye until the man disappeared behind the trees. He looked around, kneeled down and picked some morning glory, put it in a plastic bag, and walked home in a hurry.