Landing in fairyland

On the Boeing 747 aircraft with the number QH1563, the passengers by the window could see the beautiful blue hue of Phu Yen's Tuy Hoa Airport below the plane's wings. An's heart suddenly sank. There was something like vomit, sickness, or a burning feeling that kept pushing up and choking her throat. Swallowing saliva became difficult. An almost broke into a cough but had to do her best to hold it back. Coughing amid a raging COVID-19 pandemic like this is too risky. If the cough was heard, perhaps hundreds of passengers on the plane would be in a panic. During a long stressful epidemic period, there were too many announcements to find people on flights. 

A bit of anxiety suddenly surfaced in An's mind, but very quickly, she felt confident in the COVID-19 test certificate from the previous afternoon, which had been recorded as "negative". The test results are guaranteed to be valid within 72 hours. On the first flight leaving the "red zone" where the number of infections broke out at an alarming rate and which became the region with the largest number of F0 in Vietnam, to be allowed to go to the "green zone", all passengers must present a certificate that they have had at least 2 shots of the vaccine and tested negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours before boarding. 

However, it is difficult to avoid the feeling of fear that occupies everyone's mind, because most of the F0 in Vietnam are infected with the Delta variant, while in the world the Omicron variant has already emerged and overwhelmed many countries. The vaccine research process takes several years for a finished product, can it compete with the amazingly fast mutation rate of the SARS-CoV-2 virus?

Reassured herself at the exact moment that she had the urge to cough, but at lunchtime, the feeling of vomiting returned when An sat down at a banquet table filled with her favorite seafood dishes. Fresh mackerel with tomato sauce, fried squid with pineapple and bell pepper, special cockle caught from O Loan lagoon… What's wrong? An wondered, trying to inhale the smell of smoky seafood dishes, telling herself she hasn't lost her taste and smell so she should be okay. Maybe she's still safe, hopefully not infected, or if she is then the concentration is still low, not to the extent of spreading the virus to passengers in the same group. 

But again, An was trying to hold it back, if she sneeze, during the epidemic season, surely make the whole guests get up, no one wants to eat the same meal with someone suspected of being a source of infection. When they get to Phu Yen, no one still were hungry. The feeling that can be considered hunger, for Saigon people, has already perished a few months ago. 

Sitting next to An was Binh - an officer of the local Department of Culture. Seeing that An hesitated to pick up anything, Binh boldly offered An a little of each dish. According to Binh, the seafood dishes were all specialties once served to the King. Phu Yen specialties are famous for being delicious and clean. An felt grateful to Binh but still looked at every piece of food in the bowl. She didn't eat. 

- My prosperous Saigon, did you know, has unprecedentedly and unimaginably suffered from hunger, fatigue, and terrible deprivation during the spread of the epidemic. I and other groups of volunteers had to ask charities for boxes of noodles and rice to provide supplies for F0. Nobody thinks that the rice granary in the South of Vietnam could have a day when people lack rice to eat. More tragically, green vegetables became scarce. Many times when the vegetable cart arrived in Saigon, the vegetables were withered, rotten, crushed, and bruised. Zucchini was also damaged but still edible, so we had to select the good ones to supply F0. Many days, I went from 5 a.m. until midnight, didn't have time to eat, couldn't open the mask and protective gear to eat at the moment, only when I got home at midnight I could get a bowl of noodles. I struggled during the two intense months of the epidemic in the most remote and poorest districts. Many alleys the people who live there from the beginning to the end who get COVID-19 and no one dares to walk in, and we still entered. Many families were left with no one after the pandemic. Some people have died for a few days and there was no place on the incarnation station to take them away... - An said. 

- When you volunteered, did you get vaccinated? - Binh sighed

- I hadn't gotten the vaccine at that time. The same goes for other members of the volunteer team, many of whom have not been vaccinated. My best friend, one of the most active members of the team, just tested positive and died suddenly a few days later. I cried a lot that day. She was very young, only twenty-five years old. Our team went to the house to test for F0, bring food, help bring oxygen to F0 who had difficulty breathing. She was healthy and lively, she didn't mind any hard work. But COVID-19 didn't exclude her, because she was... overweight... - An's voice choked, tears suddenly fell on her messy bowl of seafood dishes. 

The wealthiest city of the Mekong sub-region was devastated by the pandemic. Everywhere was locked down, strict distances, everyone stayed at home, no one was allowed to leave Saigon. Those in the "Red zone" are required to comply with the rule: each district, each ward, each neighborhood is isolated from another, and even in the apartment, one floor must be isolated from the other floor. Walking into the apartment lobby is also a violation, trespassing on the common space. Many infected apartments share the same ventilation cells along the vertical axis, causing most of the apartments of the same column to become F0. 

Had half a million patients in a too short time, the sirens of the ambulances were ringing in every corner, at all times, causing An to lose sleep. Millions of Saigonese were sleep-deprived as An. Meanwhile, sleep-deprived doctors, nurses, aides, and volunteers lay in every corner of the hospital. The city lacked medical supplies and ventilators, even lacked burial and cremation facilities, and refrigerated trucks carrying COVID-19 patients to other provinces and cities for cremation have been discovered by the authorities. 

- Let me take you for a walk around Fairy Beach and enjoy the scenery a bit for solace! - Binh's voice interrupted An's reminiscence - You couldn't eat anything, I'll take you to get oyster porridge later.

Binh is right. An's heart softened as soon as the two arrived at Fairy Beach. A dreamy paradise appears on the green hillside with flowers and trees, spreading to the Fairy Beach filled with white waves.

- Just like in the movie! - An exclaimed, standing fascinated, gazing at the scenery of Fairy Beach.

- That's right. This is the place where the movie "I see yellow flowers on the green grass" was filmed - Binh explained. 

But suddenly Binh pulled An back to the harsh reality:

- The beach is beautiful and dreamy, but on the side of the road is a ton of tragedy. When the infection rate in Saigon was too high, people were hungry, staying in Saigon was no way to live, they wanted to return to their hometown but the government was so afraid of spreading the virus that many provinces did not let people return. Along this road, motorbikes still pull together day and night, many people secured all their children and wife, dogs and cats, together with pots and utensils on the Honda motorbike. One mother was carrying two children, a 9-year-old brother holding a 2-month-old brother. One little girl fainted on the way because she was tired and hungry. Dozens of dogs are destroyed because then their owners become F0. Many people decided to return to their hometown to… die. But when he returned to his hometown, the province did not allow him to enter the area and asked him to continue moving to another province. We're still lucky that didn't happen to Phu Yen. Here, the provincial leaders have compromised their political stance to allow the returning people. Their reasoning was Phu Yen is a poor province, in the past people had to go to other places to find food, when the epidemic spread, people want to return, the province has to arrange to pick them up. Phu Yen has welcomed a total of nearly 20,000 citizens, thousands of buses running around the clock, strictly complying with all regulations on prevention and control. Thousands of volunteers also struggled like you, we stayed up many nights to welcome our compatriots, distributed each loaf of bread and water portion, quarantined them, periodically test to classify risk groups. 

For the first time, An turned around, looked closely at Binh's face, handsome, tanned, and stormy. 

Opposing the sea is the extended route that Binh mentioned. An's eyes suddenly blurred and her tears fell.

In a brief second of looking closely at the face of the local Department of Culture official, An's heart suddenly grew sorrowful. Binh looks like Thai - the boyfriend that the pandemic has just taken from An's arms. 

Not receiving a heroic tragedy like that of nurses and doctors who plunged into the pandemic, Thai was very simple volunteered to transport many patients to the emergency. An drove carrying oxygen, bringing food, and quick antigen test to F0's home. Both were members of "nameless" volunteer teams, never mentioned or praised by any media social. 

Every day they try to contact each other to know that their lover is still alive. But in the end, the day of unanswered phone calls and unanswered texts came. 

Thai rented a small apartment, lived alone, tested himself, and got a positive result, so he did not agree An go came there because it would violate the isolation regulations. Unexpectedly, Thai's situation turned bad in only two days, he passed away after some sudden shortness of breath. 

Thai and An have not yet married, the wedding rings are still in their drawers. 

She fell into a prolonged depression, and could not get up. She no longer had the motivation to live. An didn't eat for many days, only drank water. She rushed into all the nooks and crannies, more difficult, more dangerous areas. The strange thing is that every time An's test returned negative. 

An doesn't want and has never told her personal loss story to anyone. During the pandemic, many children have lost both parents, many families have lost their loved ones without even knowing which hospital they were hospitalized at the end of their lives, where exactly they died, at what time. 

The name of "anonymous patient" has arisen associated with thousands of deaths from COVID-19 when the patient, without a piece of identification, was transported to hospitals, they were already in a coma, doctors and nurses couldn't ask for any information, name, age, or address.

For several months of An's depression, no one could solve it because the doctors, nurses, and midwives themselves all suffered from the same syndromes after the pandemic. Almost all doctors, nurses have to visit psychiatrists for treatment.  

- Say goodbye to the sad memories, An. Let's go back to prepare for the Opening Ceremony of the Creative Camp, shall we? - Binh's sudden suggestion flustered An for a few seconds. 

- Yes, you are right! 

Very quickly, An realized that Binh was right. "The Salvation of Art!" – She said to herself, turning back, gently following Binh step by step towards the Pearl Island resort where the creative camp is being prepared for the Opening Ceremony.

Phu Yen, November 2021 

"Landing in fairyland" - (Short stories collection, Vietnam Women's Publishing House, Juin, 2022)