“Come in, come in, please.”
She gestured with her chin for him to follow her inside. They sat down facing each other, he on the couch and she on a chair.
“Have you had lunch?”
“Yes, at home.”
“Something to drink? Coffee?”
“Thank you.”
“Hot or iced?”
“Either is fine.”
Mimi looked back at him with a broad warm smile. Somehow Minh could not bring himself to feel any ill will toward her. She seemed not all that different from his sister Mi. The window to the veranda was open and a cool sea breeze was blowing in. The room was quite cheerful. The woman had the television turned on to the American Forces channel. Again the inside of her robe was billowing.
“Everyone is fine at home? Lei, Mi and your mother?”
“Yes.”
After plugging in the coffeepot, Mimi returned and sat with her legs crossed on a wicker chair across from him. The beach robe fastened only from the neck down to the waist, and its lower flaps naturally parted to reveal the thighs of her long legs. Minh shifted his glance here and there somewhat awkwardly. She offered him a cigarette from a pack of Kents. He welcomed the distraction and took one.
“I’ve heard about a younger brother who was in medical school up in Hue. It was Minh, I think?”
“Yes, that’s my name.”
“You don’t look much like Major Pham. But wait a minute, yes, I see the resemblance between you and Lei.”
“Lei and I take after our mother, and Big Brother after our father.”
“What about your big sister?”
“I don’t know, maybe half and half.”
“I’m sorry, I should visit your home often, but I haven’t been there even once yet. What can I do? I’m so scared. I think you can understand. I’m a foreigner, and our lifestyle being what it is. .”
Mimi stopped mid-sentence and rushed over to the steaming coffeepot.
“Your mother doesn’t like me, right? Or, rather, the whole family doesn’t.”
“I didn’t either.”
“Ah, then I’d better make a good impression on you.”
“Are you getting married?”
“We already did. Legally, I’m his wife.”
“Do you believe he’ll actually take you abroad?”
She set the coffee down in front of him, then picked up the cigarette she’d placed in the ashtray and took a deep puff.
“Yes, as long as his plans and mine don’t conflict. I extended the time I’m willing to wait from three months to a year. Quyen is always talking about it: either we go out or we send you first, but in any event the whole family has to leave this country, that’s what he says. Then we won’t have to worry about having a child.”
She was some woman, direct and uninhibited. Minh didn’t know how to respond.
“How did you find the house? Did your brother tell you the way?”
“No. Lei said she was here once and drew me a map.”
“Lei is naughty. She knows where I am and never paid a visit.”
“Are you always at home?”
“I go downtown now and then.”
“Da Nang must be boring for you.”
“Living is more or less the same wherever you are. Have you left school for good?”
“I’m going to enlist.”
“Well I’m sure your brother will find a way to help you out.”
“He probably will. I’ve come to ask a favor.”
Mimi looked at him with widened eyes but said nothing.
“I want to earn some money until I’m ready to go abroad to study.”
“Money? It’s filthy stuff, true, but look at those Americans. With it there’s not a thing in the world they can’t do. Money’s not just a piece of paper or gold.”
“What is it, then?”
“Money is freedom itself. The more you have, the freer you’ll be. No money, no freedom.”
“Madame is not a housewife, but is running some kind of business, I suppose?”
“Both,” said Mimi with a wink.
What little hatred Minh had felt for her by this time was gone. She was different from Quyen. A woman who had pulled herself up from the very bottom, she was frank and generous both to herself and others.
“We’re partners and we love each other. I’m not just wasting time, either. To settle abroad there’s something more convenient than gold.”
“Dollars?”
“No. Money orders — military remittance checks. Occasionally I go to the Sports Club with the finance office staff to play cards and be their friend. We need it. And you will, too, when you take off. Wait, you said you wanted to ask a favor. . to make money, is that what you said?”
“That’s right.”
“Business, that’s what you should do.”
“What kind?”
“In a place like this, the most profitable business, after all, is to buy and sell the goods of those American bastards.”
“That’s why I came here, to ask you to talk my brother into finding a job for me.”
“I’ve got an idea. There’s a merchant named Cuong. He has dealings with Quyen, and maybe you can go there and help with your brother’s trading, right?”
“Is it Nguyen Cuong?”
“You know him?”
“Ah, no. He’s one of the richest merchants in Da Nang. My father used to be one, too.”
“I heard he was in the medicinal herb business. Anyway, don’t worry. Major Pham listens attentively to my advice. You’ll have no problem working for Cuong. What do you say, does that kind of work suit you?”
“Yes, sure.”
“Consider it done.”
Mimi laughed, cracking the joints of her fingers. Minh laughed as well.
“Stay for dinner, won’t you? I’ll call the office right away.”
“Ah, please don’t. Brother will be angry. Don’t even mention my visit to him, please.”
“Well, then how can I bring up the subject of getting a job for you?”
“You can say Lei came by and asked for my sake, and please make it something I was unaware of.”
“Are you afraid of your brother?”
“It’s not that exactly, but he used to get awfully mad if somebody ever went into his room and took a book off the shelf. He’s greedy, you know.”
“True, he’s greedy. Then we’ll keep this as a secret between us,” Mimi whispered with her finger over her mouth.
“Is your country at war now, too?”
Pham Minh’s question came from out of the blue. Startled, Mimi said, “I beg your pardon?”
“I asked if Korea is going through a war now?”
“Oh, it’s subsided now, but it’s not over.”
“Aren’t you ever going back there?”
Mimi shook her head violently. “Never again.”
23
Ahn Yong Kyu was sitting in the Dragon Palace Restaurant waiting for the captain and the sergeant. Three civilian technicians were at another table eating Korean-style bulgogi and drinking beer. The air was stale. As soon as he walked in Yong Kyu identified what the customers were eating. That particular aroma of garlic-marinated roast beef was to be found only one place in the whole city of Da Nang.
He had left Toi behind at Thach’s office in the old market and come alone. They were having an operations conference. Tomorrow was the weekend, so they had to move this very day. Unless they could get the Hong Kong Group safely in their grip, relations with the US forces would deteriorate from bad to worse. The Americans had demanded that the dealings of the Hong Kong Group be cut down to a minimum and that all ties with third countries be severed. But Lukas had tipped off Yong Kyu that in actuality the biggest source of annoyance to the Americans was the growing quantities of Korean beer that had been leaking into the market. In any event, to tighten the screws on the Hong Kong Group was no less urgent for Yong Kyu’s own group. A rundown Jeep with Philco markings pulled up outside and the captain and the sergeant got out and went inside.