by Meris Lee
Ana got up and went to open the refrigerator, fully aware that there was no more vodka left in it, but she had to check anyway. She closed the refrigerator, somewhat disappointed. She checked all the drawers and cabinets in the kitchen; nothing alcoholic was present. She went to her bedroom and checked there; nothing. She went to the living room and turned on the television, and saw a commercial for Saigon Beer, which reminded her of her first drink since she left Russia. She was with Vo, having a good time at the barbeque restaurant Lac Canh. Thinking of Vo helped her to persevere in her effort to remain sober, but when she remembered that she was to meet Vo’s mother in two days, she got anxious. Her hands started shaking, and she felt nauseated. She got very thirsty, and drank a whole bottle of water to try to quench it. She went to her room and lay down in an attempt to get through her craving by falling asleep. It failed. She got up, took a deep breath, and grabbed her purse. She would just go and walk around in the night market, maybe get a smoked squid on a stick, then get a fresh coconut and enjoy that on the beach. That ought to help, she thought as she went out on the street.
Chapter 29
Lan was standing at the curb of the busy Tran Phu Blouvard, trying to find a gap in the traffic so that she could cross it safely. She was carrying an overflowing bag of groceries in her left hand, while holding on to her purse with her right. She looked to the left, then to the right, and then to the left again. After decades of living in the United States, she had lost the ability to dart across a four-lane road without being hit by a moving vehicle. She was too tired to go to the nearest stoplight, which was five minutes’ walk away.
She had gone shopping in preparation for the meeting with Ana that day. Vo would bring Ana home for lunch, and Lan was going to make bánh canh chả cá, the noodle soup with fried fish cake. It was Ana’s favorite dish in Nha Trang, Vo had informed Lan. Although Lan was not happy about the failed marriage arrangement between Vo and her best friend’s daughter, Kim, she decided to be a gracious host so as not to alienate her son.
Lan was deep in her thoughts when a loud rumble approached her, and before she could react her purse was snatched away by force. Lan fell onto the ground and the bag of groceries broke open. Lan looked up and saw a man on a motorcycle, and he was quickly disappearing into the traffic. Instinctively, Lan screamed for help.
A stocky boy with brown hair came and asked Lan if she was all right.
“My purse, my purse,” said Lan, struggling to get up.
Seeing that Lan was unharmed, the boy hopped on his skateboard and took off after the robber.
A few other bystanders came and helped Lan to a nearby bench. One of them produced a bag and collected Lan’s groceries. Someone had summoned a police officer as well, but Lan was too upset to give any useful details of the robber.
Lan was still panting and trembling from the attack when the stocky boy returned on his skateboard, holding Lan’s purse. He gave it back to her.
“How did you catch up with the robber?” said one of the bystanders.
Just then a group of locals appeared with the robber’s hands bound behind him. They explained that he had run a red light and got hit by another motorcycle. Traffic stopped and people got out of their vehicles to see what happened. He was moaning on the ground at the intersection when the boy on the skateboard arrived to let everyone know of the earlier incident. Some volunteers quickly made a citizen’s arrest and brought him back to the crime scene, while others helped to clear the intersection so that traffic could resume.
Lan gave the robber a disgusted look and wished she had the strength to do him some physical damage. The police officer took him away while the bystanders and the volunteers scattered.
Lan stopped the boy when he was about to leave on his skateboard. “What is your name?” said Lan.
“My name is Ivan.”
“Ivan, thank you so much for helping me,” said Lan. She put her palms together and bowed.
Ivan reciprocated with the same gesture and said, “Please, don’t thank me. It was the right thing to do, and I had a lot of help.”
Lan just kept on thanking Ivan, who finally broke it up by saying, “Do you need help crossing the street?”
Lan nodded.
After Lan made it to the other side with the help of brave Ivan standing in the middle of the road to force the traffic to stop, she suddenly realized that Ivan had been speaking to her in Vietnamese. She thought it was odd, but before she could question Ivan where he learned to speak her language, he had disappeared.
When Lan finished making the noodle soup, she was still thinking about the young hero who came to save her day. She went to rest on the couch in the living room, her anxiety of meeting Ana completely replaced by the delight of having met a boy with such kindness and courage. The door opened, and Vidal came in first, followed by Vo and Ana. Ana was wearing a modest, somewhat formal knee-length dress, light pink, with a pair of sensible pumps. Her makeup was simple. She had her long brunette hair up in a bun, and wore a silver necklace with a single pearl. Lan had thoroughly inspected Ana within the first few seconds.
“Something smells really good,” said Vidal.
After Lan and Ana were formally introduced to each other, everyone sat down at the kitchen table to dine. Besides the noodle soup, Lan had prepared a few side dishes. Vidal commented on how grateful he was that Vo had found him and asked him to come back so that he could enjoy this wonderful meal. Vo and Lan laughed. Ana, unaware of what Vidal was referring to, simply kept silent while enjoying the home-cooked food. She didn’t know what she was supposed to say or do otherwise, this being the first time ever she was brought to meet the parent of a suitor.
“So, Ana, you are from Russia?” said Lan. She put down her chopsticks, and wiped her mouth with a napkin.
“Yes, I am from Novosibirsk. It’s in Siberia,” said Ana.
“What brings you to Nha Trang?”
“I wanted to try and live somewhere warm. My hometown is very cold.” Ana fidgeted a little in her chair.
“I see a lot of Russians here,” said Lan. “I was surprised when I first got here.”
Ana gave a nod, but said nothing.
“It’s a good thing. Tourism brings money,” said Vidal. “Mrs. Nguyen, you should open a restaurant here to catch some of that cash. Your restaurant could easily beat the one Ana works at.”
“I waitress at Quan Bien Dong,” said Ana.
“Oh, I remember now,” said Lan. “You were the waitress that took our orders that night when Vo and Kim were supposed to get engaged.”
Feeling somewhat embarrassed, Ana shifted slightly in her seat.
“Mom, she works there,” said Vo. “Ana is a photographer during the day. She won a contest recently.”
“Did you major in photography in college?” said Lan.
“I didn’t go to college,” said Ana.
“You mean you only finished high school? My son is a PhD and a university professor.”
“And he is the only PhD and university professor that you know of, Mrs. Nguyen,” said Vidal. “Not everyone is as fortunate as Vo to have the resources to get there.”
“How could you take good pictures if you didn’t study it in college?” said Lan. She took a sip of her water.
“I read up on it,” said Ana, “and I look at a lot of photographs, good ones and bad ones. But mostly, I just let my instincts tell me what’s going to make a good picture.”
“So photography is not too hard, right?” said Lan. “I don’t think Vo can become a marine biologist just by reading about it or looking at the fish in the sea.”
“Mom, I do also mostly read and look at the fish,” said Vo, shaking his head.
Ana kept quiet, feeling uneasy. She looked down to avoid eye contact with Lan.
“Ana is also a teacher,” said Vidal. “She teaches Russian. Some of her students are local businessmen, doctors and lawyers. She is teaching PhDs how to speak Russian.”
“That’s true. I am her
student, too,” said Vo.
Ana gave a thankful smile at the two men speaking in her defense.
Lan took another sip of her water and said, “Tell me about your parents.”
“They are both deceased,” said Ana.
“Tell me what they did for a living, what they liked to do for fun, what their personalities were like,” said Lan.
Ana hesitated for a few seconds, then she said, “I don’t really know. They died when I was very young. My grandmother brought me up. She was a seamstress. We didn’t do much for fun. We could hardly get enough food to eat, or enough firewood to keep warm. My grandmother would hum a little tune and twirl me around when we waited in line for bread. I suppose that was fun.” She looked down again.
No one said anything for a while. Ana wondered if perhaps she shouldn’t have mentioned her despairing childhood.
“Any other family in Russia?” said Lan.
“No family in Russia. My two kids are here with me.”
“Two kids?” said Lan. Her eyes enlarged as she leaned forward. She turned to look at Vo.
“Yes, my boy is eleven, and my daughter will turn seventeen soon,” said Ana.
“Did you know this?” said Lan. It was directed at Vo. Vo nodded.
Lan looked back at Ana and said, “So you are divorced?”
“Yes, I divorced last year,” said Ana.
Lan frowned and leaned back into her seat.
“Mrs. Nguyen,” said Vidal, “this soup is delicious. What’s your secret ingredient?” He held his bowl with two hands and dumped the broth in his mouth in an exaggerated loud slurp.
Lan didn’t answer. She folded her arms across her chest, and looked slightly annoyed. She said something to Vo in Vietnamese in a scornful tone. Vo said something back to Lan, sounding equally scathing.
Ana held her hands on her lap under the table, one rubbing the other out of nervousness. Her heart was racing and she felt slightly dizzy and nauseated.
Lan said, switching back to English, looking straight into Ana’s eyes, “You will have more kids, I hope, if you and my son get married. He is an only son. There will be no one to carry on our bloodline if he does not have a son of his own.”
Ana felt as if a gust of wind had blown her into a vacuum and the blood was now rushing away from her head. She was struck speechless. Her mouth was half-open, but no word came out of it.
“Mrs. Nguyen, we can only pray about these things,” said Vidal. “Vo can’t just have a son by simply wanting one. It’s up to God.”
“Mom, why are we discussing this again?” said Vo. “We are in the twenty-first century, for crying out loud.”
Lan was persistent, and she repeated her statement to Ana. She seemed to have her eyes fixed on Ana’s until Ana would give a response.
Vo reached out to hold Ana’s hands, which were trembling slightly, turning cold and sweaty. His hands were warm and comforting to Ana; she would be brave, and tell the truth.
“I had a stillbirth last year,” said Ana, “a week before the due date. My bleeding wouldn’t stop and the doctors had to operate to save my life.”
Everyone was looking at Ana, listening intently. It felt like the center of a tropical storm, quiet and still.
Ana took a deep breath in and said, “I survived, but the doctors had to perform a hysterectomy to stop me from bleeding to death. I-I can’t have any more children.” Ana turned to look at Vo, who gave Ana’s hand a gentle squeeze, and then took her in his arms.
Chapter 30
Zoe didn’t tell anyone that it was her birthday. She met up with Ivan and had a durian smoothie, and listened to Ivan talk about Sofia the entire time. Before they parted Ivan gave her a hug and wished her a happy birthday. She could not recall ever having a more festive birthday celebration anyway. On a typical birthday in the past, she would get a book from her teacher at school, and her great grandmother would buy her a small box of fancy chocolates. Her mother would get her a new dress, but this was not predictable, because her mother did not always remember her birthday.
“What are you thinking about?” said Tam as she came into the restroom. Zoe was standing in front of a mirror, lost in her thoughts until now.
“Nothing,” said Zoe.
“You’ve been really quiet lately. Anything on your mind?”
Zoe had decided not to tell Tam or the rest of her band about Irisa, who had been providing a steady stream of information that Zoe passed on to Tuan. Zoe had been urging Tuan to swoop in to arrest Boris and rescue Irisa, but Tuan asked her to be patient so that he could follow up on the leads. His superior wouldn’t give the go-ahead anyway when he brought it up, he told Zoe. He was instructed to leave the Rocking Waves alone. It was a legitimate business operation, confirmed and verified by officers far more senior and experienced than Tuan. In fact, it was hinted that Tuan might face disciplinary actions if he were to pursue further investigation.
Zoe had also been hiding her bruises from her band. Thankfully, Yurik had not gotten to her face. Boris might not like it, as the Cardinal’s Choir was still a draw for many customers. In order to keep her job, however, Zoe had given in and her band had started playing songs that Boris considered more popular and mainstream. Zoe had to stay in the nightclub to get information from Irisa. Her band members never liked the idea, and wanted to find employment elsewhere, but Zoe persuaded them to stay, as a favor. She wouldn’t explain, however, the reason behind it.
“Zoe?” said Tam again.
“What is it?” Zoe blinked, and looked at Tam as if she just returned from another dimension.
“Never mind,” said Tam. “Ready to rock and roll?”
There was a large crowd that night, and it was already loud before Billie started the band off with her foot-stomping beats on the drums. Nelly took the lead vocal because Zoe didn’t care to sing any of the songs that Boris wanted her band to perform. Zoe was only putting up with it for as long as it took to get Irisa out; she wasn’t even thinking about her own livelihood at this point. She wasn’t certain whether she could find another job if the Rocking Waves got taken down, but that was minor in comparison to her ambition to put an end to Irisa’s suffering.
“Hey, it’s your mom again,” said Aiko. She was tuning her bass guitar during a break when she spotted Zoe’s mother.
Zoe looked toward where Aiko was pointing. Ana was sitting at a table with a man, someone that Zoe had not met before. They were laughing, holding hands on the table, and kissing every now and then. Zoe decided to stay put, and observe her mother from a distance.
“That’s my daughter over there. She’s staring at me right now,” Ana nodded toward Zoe, who looked away.
“So that’s the birthday girl,” said Vo.
“Yes,” said Ana. “I hope she’ll like this dress.” She looked into a gift bag under the table.
“She’ll appreciate the fact that you remember it and want to celebrate it.”
“I don’t know why they are not singing their usual songs,” said Ana. “She normally does not like this stuff they are playing tonight. She’s into gothic metal, you can tell from her look.”
“Are we going to say hi?”
“Let’s just stay here for now. She and I had a fight. It’s too soon for us to start talking just yet.” Ana took a sip of her Coca Cola on ice.
Vo put on a serious face, looked into Ana’s eyes and said, “About the other day, with my mom. She could be a little difficult at times. Normally she’s very easy going.”
“Good thing I am not going out with her,” said Ana.
It had taken Lan more than a minute to fully comprehend what Ana said at the end of their conversation. Lan had gotten up from the dining table and returned to her bedroom without saying goodbye to Ana. Ana regretted that she couldn’t have left a better impression on Lan. It was too late now; Lan had returned to the United States.
“You were brave. It must have been painful to talk about losing a child,” said Vo. “I wish I had known about it bef
orehand, and maybe I could’ve helped steer the conversation away from that topic.”
“You are not upset that I can’t have another child?” said Ana.
“I didn’t know we were planning to start a family,” said Vo. “I haven’t thought about it.”
Ana felt embarrassed, and looked away.
“I was joking,” said Vo. He reached and turned Ana’s face toward him. “I don’t know where fate will lead us, but if we do get married, it’s not because I want a child. It’s because I want you.”
Ana was touched by Vo’s words, and she smiled and kissed him.
“Hey, lovebirds,” said McKenzie. He sat down next to Ana.
Vo gave Ana gave a sheepish smile, and then let go of her hand.
“Hey.” Ana was surprised to see McKenzie, too.
“You don’t have to hide it. I know what’s going on here. Vo, you lucky dog,” said McKenzie. He took a drink from his bottle of beer. Ana felt thirsty all of a sudden; her glass of Coca Cola was gone.
“Have a beer, it’s on me,” said McKenzie. He had brought over two additional bottles of beer.
Vo hadn’t ordered a drink yet, so he grabbed a bottle. Ana wanted to decline, but said nothing. She bit her lower lip instead, while running her fingers up and down her empty glass.
“Come on, Ana,” said McKenzie. “At least do me the honor of accepting a beer from me. I never got a chance to buy you a drink before.”
After some consideration, Ana trusted herself to not get drunk in front of Vo, and reached for a bottle of beer. No one noticed the slight tremor of her hand as she took a sip. Instantly, she felt relieved as her anxiety slowly melted away. She felt good; she had it under control.
“Vo,” said McKenzie, “this was where Ana and I first met. I had every intention to make her my girlfriend, but you beat me to it.”
Ana took another sip of her beer. Then she took a gulp.
“I didn’t think she’d go for a dork like me, to tell you the truth,” said Vo. He was smiling.