How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa

Author:Souvankham Thammavongsa [Thammavongsa, Souvankham]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781526610461
Google: 9d7LDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2020-04-15T23:00:00+00:00

IT WAS WHILE the bride and groom were having their first dance as husband and wife that Mr. Vong made his bold prediction.

“Just you mark my words,” Mr. Vong continued. “The marriage will last less than a year. “

“Ai, why are you saying this for?” Mrs. Vong said. “Keep your voice down!” she urged, slapping him on his arm and glancing around at the people seated at their table to see if they had heard. But everyone was paying attention to the bride and groom, some reaching for their spouse’s hand, musing over their own first dance in front of family and friends, or eating the food on their plates so they could go and get seconds. The guests had just been served a nice meal of papaya salad, spring rolls, sticky rice, minced chicken with fresh herbs and spices, and sweets wrapped in banana leaves.

“Less than a year. That’s my prediction. And you know I’m always right about these things. You know,” he said, pointing to his twenty-seven-year-old daughter. She nodded her head in agreement, and he went on. “If I paid for a whole lobster, I’m going to get it.” He was referring to how whenever they ordered a lobster dinner—the most expensive thing on the menu—Mr. Vong just had to make sure that he got what he paid for. The lobster shells might have been cracked open or chewed to a pulp, but he told everyone to put the shells back onto the main plate so he could rearrange the broken bits, unfold the bones to their original shape, and reassemble the lobster’s body back together to see if there was something missing. Once, there was one claw, half a tail, and some legs missing. Mr. Vong knew it! He called the waiter over, made a big show out of being cheated, and made sure the whole restaurant knew he was not one to tolerate such a cheat.

“I know. I know these things,” he said. Then he returned to his meal, gathering up the minced chicken with a flattened ball of sticky rice.

True enough, in less than a year the bride and groom were divorced.

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