Aperture on the East (21 page)

“
Vo, be reasonable,” said
Vidal.

“
I am being reasonable.
Did you hear her?” said Vo. “She doesn’t think her daughters’ kids
count? My sisters will cry when they hear this.”

“
She didn’t mean it,” said
Vidal.

“
All the same,” said Vo.
“I was doing fine here by myself, and now you are both getting on
my nerves.”

“
I know. I have overstayed
my welcome a long time ago,” said Vidal.

“
Yes you have. Need help
packing?” said Vo.

“
Vo, that’s too much. I
won’t stand it. You can’t treat your best friend like that,” said
Lan.

“
I don’t know if we are
still best friends,” said Vo.

“
Okay. You two don’t need
to fight over me. I’ll leave now,” said Vidal. He went into the
bedroom where he’s been sleeping in and closed the door.

Lan and Vo stood in silence and
couldn’t speak because of anger. Vidal came back out of the bedroom
with a suitcase.

“
Well, Mrs. Nguyen, thank
you for everything. I will see you back in the States soon, I
hope,” said Vidal. He turned to Vo and said, “Vo, thanks for
letting me crash here. I won’t bother you no more.” Vidal left the
apartment.

“
Vo, you need to make up
with Vidal,” said Lan. “You’ve been like brothers growing up. Don’t
forget he stuck out for you when the kids were making fun of you in
school, calling you and your sisters ‘boat people’ and other ugly
names. You nearly got your skull cracked open if it weren’t for
Vidal who took the blow for you.”

Vo didn’t say anything. His hands,
which had been held in tight fists, began to loosen.

“
Are you mad at him
because of Colette? It wasn’t his fault. We all tried to get you to
marry Colette for years and years, but it just wasn’t meant to be,”
said Lan.

“
I’m not blaming him for
what happened to Colette and me. It’s just that, since Colette
died, something inside me changed. I am just angry at the whole
world. Why does Vidal have to come and stand in the line of fire?”
Vo sat down, rubbing his head with one hand.

Lan took a deep breath, and sat down,
too.

Vo continued to say, “I was trying to
get away from everyone. Vidal should’ve gotten the signal and
stayed away.”

“
He got the signal all
right,” said Lan. “I asked him to come. Actually I begged him to
come. It’s true I was selfish, and I needed him to get through to
you, because I couldn’t. There is this huge gap between you and me,
and I can’t cross it, no matter how hard I try. I thought
everything would be easy compared to the war. What can be more
painful than being forced to leave your homeland? I know now, it’s
seeing your child suffer, and there is nothing you can do to help.
It’s being rejected by your own son, being told by him that you are
not wanted.”

“
Mom,” said Vo, with a
little remorse in his voice.

“
I’m not finished,” said
Lan. “I asked Vidal to come for another reason. He needed you. His
law firm laid him off.”

“
What? He never mentioned
it.” Vo’s anger toward Vidal was somewhat mitigated by this new
piece of information.

“
Many corporates had gone
under in the last few years, and his firm didn’t need as many
lawyers anymore. He values his career as much as you do yours, you
know. He was crushed,” said Lan. “He was already depressed from
losing Colette. He lost you, too, in a sense. So when he lost his
job, it was like the whole world had turned upside down. Did you
even notice that he lost weight when he first got here? I bet you
didn’t, all wrapped up in yourself. Anyway, he moved back home
because he couldn’t afford his apartment downtown, and he locked
himself up in his room for weeks. His mother had to beg him to
drink water. It took a great deal of effort, but we finally
convinced him to come to Nha Trang. We thought maybe you two can
help each other out.”

“
Why didn’t you tell me
sooner?” said Vo in disbelief.

“
Vidal asked me not to. He
didn’t want you to feel obligated to do anything. He just wanted to
come and ‘chill’ with his best friend, using his word.”

“
How was I going to help
if I didn’t know what was going on?”

“
I thought you two would
have figured things out by now. You guys used to be like the two
sides of a coin, always in each other’s head without much help from
us.”

“
We might have figured it
out if you didn’t ask him to get me and Kim together. We didn’t
have time to talk about our own problems. All we did was arguing
over Kim,” said Vo.

“
Fine, that was my
mistake. But you do need to get married. You can’t be a bachelor
forever.”

“
You can’t force these
things.”

“
I should have forced you
to marry Colette sooner. I would have had a few grandsons by
now.”

“
Or granddaughters.
Anyway, like you said, it just wasn’t meant to be.”

“
What is it?” said Lan.
“You used to be so upset when we brought up Colette. I know you
regret it, too, wasting all those years when you could be having a
family of your own. You don’t even sound like you care
anymore.”

“
What’s the use? We can’t
bring her back.”

Lan studied Vo’s face and said, “Is
there someone else on your mind? A new girlfriend?”

Unsure of how his mother would react,
Vo hesitated to answer. But she would have to know sooner or later.
He said, “Actually, yes, there is someone.”

“
Is this why you didn’t
want to go through the engagement with Kim?”

“
I never wanted to marry
Kim. I just didn’t know how to break it to you or Kim’s parents.
Anyway, then Ana showed up,” said Vo.

“
Ana, so that’s her name,”
said Lan.

“
Yes, her name is Ana. I
can’t explain it. I didn’t think I could fall in love again after
Colette left me. I didn’t want to. But with Ana, it just happened.
I’m in love with her. I love her,” said Vo.

“
Marriage is not all about
love. How much do you know about this Ana?” said Lan. “I know Kim
really well. I know her parents. Her mother and I are old friends.
Kim’s had a great college education, and she is a licensed nurse.
She can cook, Vidal told me, and you know how picky he is. And
she’s still in her twenties, so that means babies. Kim is a very
good match by all standards.”

“
Mom, I thought we were
talking about Ana. I’ve heard all about Kim already. I know whoever
marries her will be very lucky, but I am not going to be that
person. I can’t marry her if I don’t love her,” said Vo,
frustrated.

“
Okay, so tell me about
this Ana. I have the right to know. I am your mother.”

“
She’s free-spirited,
kind, witty, and beautiful. I feel so happy just being next to
her,” said Vo, as if recounting a dream.

“
Where’s she from? How old
is she? What do her parents do for a living? What does she do for a
living?”

“
She’s a photographer, and
she teaches Russian.”

“
Russian? She learned it
in school? They teach Russian in schools here?”

“
I suppose she could’ve
had Russian in school, like I had English in school. She’s from
Russia.”

“
What? I thought you were
talking about a Vietnamese girl.”

“
I didn’t think you would
have a problem with that. Colette was not Vietnamese.”

“
Colette was special,”
said Lan. “Anyway, I admit that I prefer to have a Vietnamese
daughter-in-law, so she can speak our language and cook our dishes
when I am old. Well, that’s not so important. Your own sisters
can’t carry on an intellectual conversation in Vietnamese, and all
they can make is pasta and frozen pizza. So, no, I don’t have a
problem with a girl from Russia.”

“
I really appreciate your
understanding, Mom,” said Vo.

“
She’s an artist? That
means no steady income,” said Lan with a frown.

“
Well, she does have a day
job. No, I should say, an evening job.”

“
You are not making any
sense. So, can I meet this Ana before I leave for America? You know
I am leaving soon. My restaurant needs me.”

“
I will arrange for you to
meet Ana. I am sure she will be all right with it. We really just
started going out.”

“
So, you mean you are not
sure whether you will marry her yet? Here I am thinking you are
serious already.”

“
I am serious. We are just
not at that point where we talk about marriage yet. You can’t hurry
these things.”

“
In your case, you’d
better hurry. You took way too long with Colette, and look what
happened.”

“
I promise you that I
won’t take too long with Ana, but there is a customary period of
courtship to be observed.”

“
You really are happy,
aren’t you?” said Lan. “You only talk funny when you are. Well, I
am going to bed. I can’t wait till you are settled down so I can
retire and babysit your kids. Whoever this Ana is, she’d better
give me some grandsons. That’s all I ask for.”

She got up and walked toward her
bedroom. She stopped, and turned around to say, “And don’t forget
to make it up with Vidal. He told me that he’s working as a bouncer
at an American nightclub. What’s a bouncer?”

“
You don’t want to know,”
said Vo. “You will only worry. I will try and find him tomorrow. I
don’t think he will leave Nha Trang so quickly.”

Lan was satisfied with that answer,
and went into her room.

Vo was relieved that his mother seemed
to have forgiven him for the fiasco with Kim, but somehow, he
didn’t think that his mother would be too happy with Ana.
Regardless, it was not up to his mother. He didn’t need for his
mother to approve of a wife, even though it would make for a much
easier life.

It had been a rewarding day at the
Institute of Oceanography. Ivan cleaned the saltwater pools and fed
the fish for the last time, and then gave a short presentation on
the dolphins of the South China Sea to his fellow camp mates. It
was the last day of the summer camp, and after all the students did
their chores and presentations, they went out with Vo on his
fishing boat to Hon Mun. They had a great picnic of Vietnamese
finger foods and fresh fruits, and then took turns kayaking in the
crystal clear water. All the boys enjoyed snorkeling, observing the
coral reefs and their colorful resident fish. They even got to see
some reef sharks and manta rays, a rare sight. They were all
giggling, having the best time of their lives, when Vo announced
that they had to return to Nha Trang. Their faces were sad and long
when they said goodbye to one another back at the port. Mr. Nguyen
gave everyone a hug and then a manly handshake. Ivan was the last
one to leave. He had grown so fond of Vo, looking up to him for
guidance and comfort, that he felt a little sick at this
farewell.

Vo patted Ivan on the back and said,
“If you need someone to talk to, you can always come by to see me,
no appointment needed.”

Ivan bit his lower lip, fought back
his tears and said, “Thank you, Mr. Nguyen. You are the
best.”

“
I’ve enjoyed having you
here as well,” said Vo. He waved goodbye and rode away on his
motorcycle.

Ivan stepped on his skateboard and
started moving toward the city center. He met up with Misha and the
other skateboarding pals at the beach park, and they all had a good
time showing off their new tricks. Ivan had just mastered the tre
flip over the summer, and gathered quite a few compliments on it.
As usual a crowd of local kids came to watch. There were also quite
a few Vietnamese teenagers beside Duong who skateboarded in their
own groups. All of them used the inclined wall connecting the
street and the beach park as a skateboarding ramp, and even
performed some aerial tricks flying down the series of steps at the
promenade. Once or twice someone would lose control and glide all
the way into traffic on the street. This invariably caused everyone
to shout anxiously as the cars came to a screeching halt.
Presently, Koji was the one standing in the middle of the busy Tran
Phu Boulevard. He turned the brim of his baseball cap from back to
front, and sheepishly carried his skateboard back onto the
promenade.

“
Are you okay?” said
Josh.

“
I’m cool,” said
Koji.

Before they could resume
skateboarding, a police officer came to warn them not to get onto
the street again. This might result in a ticket or a visit to the
local police station in the future. They were also warned not to
disturb the locals who were gathering to either exercise or
socialize. The police had received several complaints about their
unruly attitude and reckless maneuvers that sometimes collided with
pedestrians and caused minor injuries.

After the police officer left,
everyone decided to call it a day. Ivan stayed behind as usual to
wait for Sofia. The sun was about to set and the ocean had turned a
grayish blue. The sky was painted in shades of purple. Ivan sat
down on a bench to take in the breeze.