Dust Child by Que Mai Phan Nguyen

Author:Que Mai Phan Nguyen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Published: 2023-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

The Danger of Fire

Sài Gòn, 1969

Trang finished her English lesson, cooked, ironed her clothes, ate lunch, and wrote down the words she wanted to say to Dan, yet it was only noon. Over the last two weeks, Dan had returned to her bar three times, and each time he’d sat a short distance from her as he practiced his Vietnamese. Through him, she’d learned new English words. And she learned that she could have normal conversations with someone, conversations that lifted her up and transported her away from the harsh reality of life.

Dan had asked her to meet him again that night at eight o’clock. Arriving at the bar, nervousness prickled her skin. She didn’t want him to see her with another soldier, so until eight o’clock, she pretended to be busy. She ran in and out of the bathroom. She joined Quỳnh and her soldier, chatting with them, telling them silly stories. When the tiger madam pulled her aside, asking why she was not receiving customers, she said she was waiting for someone.

“The one from a few nights ago, who can’t drink?” The madam smirked. “Don’t be such a dreamer. He seems to belong to a good family, and he won’t set eyes on you for long.”

Trang lowered her gaze, staring at the tiled floor. Her madam was right. With her job, she’d smeared not only herself but her family with filth.

“Snap out of it, will you?” The tiger madam lifted Trang’s chin, turning her face toward the bar. “See the guy over there? He looks miserable. Go make him happy.”

She took a few steps forward, dreading the moment she had to talk to another stranger.

“Em Kim, em Kim,” a voice said.

She swirled around. Dan was standing in front of her, a smile bright on his face.

After they sat down at a table in the corner, Dan showed her what he’d brought along: a map of Việt Nam, a small notebook, and a Vietnamese–English dictionary. He pointed at different locations on the map, North and South, and she taught him how to pronounce their names. She gazed at Bến Hải River, which slashed her country in two, and wondered if she’d ever cross it. The names of the Northern provinces sounded so strange on her tongue, as if they belonged to an imaginary planet. The North mystified her. How did the people there survive the American bombings? Were the Northern Communist soldiers as savage and cannibalistic as the rumors, which referred to them as “ăn lông ở lỗ”—“creatures who eat raw meat and live in caves”—and “đầu trâu mặt ngựa”—“creatures with buffalo heads and horse faces”? During the Tết Offensive the year before, the bodies of those soldiers had filled the river near her home. Some neighbors had gone to check on them. They came back whispering that the men looked like pigs, their bodies swollen, rotting.

Talking to Dan, though, helped her forget about the war and all its troubles. He was trying so hard to learn new words that lines deepened their marks on his young forehead.

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