Night, Again by Linh Dinh

Author:Linh Dinh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Seven Stories Press
Published: 2010-05-10T00:00:00+00:00

Translated by Peter Zinoman

IN THE RECOVERY ROOM

Mai Kim Ngoc

1.

“Thanks for coming to see me. Thanks for everything. There’s no one to talk to in this hospital; it gets lonely…

“You lived in Hue for a long time, no? Back when you came to visit Dung, you were in ninth grade, weren’t you? Time flies. Now even your kids are married. Me, I’m old, so old…

“What time will they operate on me tomorrow, do you know?… Is it eight? Maybe the nurse will wake me up before then…

“That nurse Kelly came to prepare me for the operation a while ago. She was shaving me, and she said the hair on my chest was denser than on a true American… She used up two Bic shavers to do the job… You don’t know how many women have fallen for this chest of hair, what a shame…

“With you, I can talk about anything. Our relationship is kind of strange, don’t you think? I know you’re different from me in many ways, but you still respect me. The other thing is, since you married Trang, you should be addressing me as father…

“But I think you and I, we can’t be calling each other dad and son, not only because we’re used to calling each other uncle and nephew before, when you were still finishing high school. But I feel that it would ruin our relationship if we were to call each other dad and son.

“Between uncle and nephew, we can talk about everything, including stuff about men and women. Fathers and sons have their problems, it’s not like they can be totally open with each other. Trang’s the same way. She’s always treating me as though outside of my duties as a father, I have no other life. She’s always resented me. She doesn’t say more than a thousand words to me in a year, shorter than a page of your short stories.

“Sit, do sit down…

“I’m not afraid of dying. I’m going to live longer than those they say have the longevity of Co Lai Hy. You know, when you took me to Dr. Hung, I had not wanted to have an operation. But all of you told me to go ahead with the operation. My friends at the Elderly Association too… They’re like you, they keep saying I may be old but I still have a strong body, with the heart of someone in his fifties, the cancer growth is still new, get rid of it and I’d be all right. After the operation, I’d still have enough of my lungs left to live on, easily. Of course, I’d have to give up tennis, but I’ll still be able to do all other things…

“Are you laughing at me? I know what you’re thinking. Are you laughing because I said ‘other things’? You’re like Trang, always accusing me of being a playboy. Heaven gives me strength; Heaven gives me more life force than other people; even if I didn’t want to, I’d still have to be a playboy…

“But I’m only a playboy because I love my wife, you know.

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