“My brother always planned for me to go to Malaysia or Thailand and open a private clinic and settle down.”
“Then, this will do. Tell him you want to earn money so you can go study abroad. Be careful not to arouse any suspicion.”
“Yes, sir.”
Nguyen Thach got up from his chair. “We’ve talked a lot today. I hope everything can be done by Monday. At any rate, let’s solve these things one at a time very carefully.”
They emerged together from the warehouse. Thach pointed toward the iron gate.
“That’s the way out.”
Pham Minh turned around. “How should I address you?”
“Let me see. . I’m senior to you, it’s true, so that’ll do. And, there’s one other thing I forgot to tell you.”
Thach put one hand on Minh’s shoulder and spoke gently. “I own a car service shop to make a living. And in my office there’s a Korean military intelligence agent. Like the Americans, they’re trying their best to gather information on black market dealings. Among other things, that Korean is sure to be nosing around trying to uncover business connections with the Front.”
“I don’t quite understand, sir,” Pham Minh said in a perplexed tone, and Thach’s usual kind smile reappeared on his lips.
“To know the precise location of a land mine is always safest, don’t you agree?”
“I’ll see you on Monday, sir.”
“Take care of yourself.”
Pham Minh left the brick warehouse behind and walked along the blacked-out streets. Every now and then a sentry jumped out of the darkness to check his ID, then let him pass. It happened three times before he reached his house. From outside he could see that a light from the window was casting a milky white glow onto the leaves on the ground. Lei was awake, for he could see from the shadows which room the light came from. Cautiously he tiptoed in through the hedge.
The small front yard exuded a familiar fragrance of flowers. In the dark he could make out that the wisteria was still winding its tendrils around the rails of the porch. Cold droplets of water fell on his face as he brushed past the wisteria leaves. Sister Mi must have watered it that evening. He paused for a moment and then went around the right corner of the house. Light was flooding down brightly from the last window.
With her long hair hanging loose, Lei was sitting by the window, studying. She was wearing a white blouse and silk pants instead of ahozai. The picture of his family did not seem real to Minh. Out at Atwat along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, no scene as peaceful and silent as this was imaginable. This was a shadow of false peace built on the stage of the colonialists, just like the gorgeous gardens of Angkor Wat he had seen in a photograph.
Lei was lucky. Passing through Long Long, Khetinh, and Thatra, Minh had seen countless hamlets left with horrible scars from massacres. There, girls had been trampled, torn, and murdered. The search-and-destroy patrols of the ARVN or the Allied Special Forces regarded the girls in enemy territory as spoils of war. The rapes and other atrocities had provided the most vivid sagas of gallantry at the close of nearly every battle. Ah, Lei, my baby sister. Pham Minh laughed in the dark and steaming tears fell down his cheeks. Standing before that window, Pham Minh realized anew that he had reached adulthood, with no turning back.
“Who’s there?”
Lei must have sensed someone’s presence, for she dropped her book and stuck her startled face out the window.
“Lei. . it’s me,” whispered Pham Minh. Lei was dazed, then she stretched out her hand and fumbled to feel her brother’s face.
“Why, brother. . ”
“Quiet. I’ll climb in.”
He placed his hands up on the windowsill and vaulted up into her room.
“Where are you coming from? From Hanoi?”
Suddenly Lei looked around and then hastened to try to close the window. Minh sat cross-legged on Lei’s bamboo bed.
“Leave it be. Hot, isn’t it? Who’s home?”
“Mother’s sleeping and Mi also went to bed early tonight. Big brother is. .”
“Not in?”
Lei let out a short laugh. “He said he got married.”
“Then the sister-in-law must be at home. Big Brother married? Hard to believe.”
Lei quickly changed the subject. “I know, but I’ll tell you about it later. You haven’t eaten, have you?”
“Yes, I have.”
“So, why are you back? I thought I’d never see you again.”
“How’s Mother?”
“Same as always. So you didn’t join the Front?”
Minh shook his head helplessly.
“No, I couldn’t gather the courage. I’ve been to Saigon. I should continue studying, after all.”
Lei took his hand. “You did the right thing, Brother. Shoan’s been so wretched and pitiful. Every time she sees me, she asks if there has been any news of you.”
He suppressed the urge to ask after Shoan. “So. . our big brother got married. Don’t they live here?”
“No, I hear they have a place in Son Tinh. We haven’t seen it.”
Pham Minh knew very well what kind of area Son Tinh was.
“I have a favor to ask. Tomorrow, on the way to school, call brother Quyen for me.”
“Where, at his office?”
“Yes, just tell him I came back home.”
“All right, I’ll do it. Really, aren’t you going to see Shoan tomorrow?”
“I’ll contact her later.”
Minh placed a finger on Lei’s lips.
“And not a word about me to your friends, either. Promise?”
“Sure, I promise.”
“And what sort of woman is our new sister-in-law? How old is she?”
Lei shut her mouth. Then, all of a sudden, with tears welling up in her eyes, she put her arms around Minh’s neck.
“Big Brother has lost his mind. She’s a Korean woman, and they say she was a bargirl. So Mother is crying all day long.”
“It’s all right. I’ll see him and you shouldn’t worry about it.”
Minh patted Lei on the shoulder.
“I’ll bring you some green tea.”
“That’d be very nice.”
Lei went out to boil some water. Meanwhile, Pham Minh was sitting alone in her room. On Lei’s desk stood a palm-sized frame with a discolored snapshot inside. It was a picture of the two brothers and two sisters when they were children. Wasn’t it right after the Geneva Accords were announced? Sister Mi was a schoolgirl in an ahozai, Pham Quyen a young boy, and Pham Minh was holding little Lei who had on a white nightgown. Minh lifted up the picture, scrutinized it for a moment, then quickly set it back down with the image facing the wall.
22
“It’s for you, sir,” said Lieutenant Kiem, handing the receiver to Pham Quyen who was standing by the window, his morning cup of coffee in his hand.
“Who is it?”
“She said she’s your sister.”
Pham Quyen frowned. Chances were she’d be relaying his mother’s usual complaints.
He reluctantly took the telephone.
“It’s me. . what’s up?”
There was a pause on the other end of the line. “I’m busy, speak up.”