Aperture on the East (22 page)

“
Hi, Ivan,” said Sofia as
she appeared behind him. She was wearing a white linen sun dress.
Her red curly hair was fixed in a high ponytail with a plumeria
hair tie. She was barefoot, as she often was when she walked on the
beach. She had told Ivan that she loved to feel the sand sink away
with each step, and she savored the caress of the water around her
ankles as the gentle waves came in.

“
Hi, Sofia,” said Ivan,
awestruck again by Sofia’s simple yet sophisticated look and the
sweet smile on her face. She looked completely different from the
bossy, know-it-all class president that he met the first day of
school a few months ago. As a matter of fact, once summer began,
Sofia had always appeared more relaxed and easygoing, unlike Ivan’s
friends’ description of a competitive, even cutthroat,
overachiever.

Sofia sat down next to Ivan, and he
noticed the glass jar of seashells in her hand. He said, “What’s
that?”

“
These are some of my most
treasured seashells that I’ve collected from the beach
here.”

“
You know that you are
supposed to leave some for the other kids right? Imagine how sad
those kids will be when they don’t find any seashells on their
beach vacations. Plus, aren’t you helping to erode the beach or
something like that?” said Ivan, half-jokingly.

“
I am not sure there is
any scientific basis to your second statement,” said Sofia with a
serious expression on her face

“
Relax, I was kidding,”
said Ivan.

They went on a beach walk hand in
hand, and watched people practice martial arts and line dancing.
They made fun of teenage couples that were necking on their
motorcycles, and laughed at the middle-aged, pot-bellied men
jogging without their shirts. They stopped to practice their
Vietnamese conversation with a group of gray-haired women sitting
at the edge of the water, wearing dresses instead of swim
suits.

Finally, Ivan and Sofia went to the
café they frequently visited to get durian smoothies. They looked
at each other with smiles and giggles while sipping their cold
drinks. When they were halfway through, Sofia’s smile suddenly
disappeared and her face became shrouded by a gloom.

Ivan stopped smiling, too. “What’s the
matter?” said Ivan.

Sofia set the glass jar of seashells
in front of Ivan and said, “I want you to keep these for me while I
am gone. My papa and I are visiting Russia for two weeks. We are
leaving tomorrow. I will be back before school starts. My papa only
just told me last night.”

“
Bummer. I will miss you
the entire time till you come back,” said Ivan solemnly.

Sofia looked out the window and said,
“My ride is here, so I will say goodbye now.”

“
Why don’t we plan to meet
at our usual spot across the street from here when you return?
Right there by that bench under that coconut tree.” Ivan pointed
toward the beach.

“
Sure. Let’s make a
promise.” Sofia showed Ivan her pinky, and Ivan hooked it with
his.

“
So, I will wait for you
on that bench two weeks from today,” said Ivan.

“
Make it two weeks and a
day,” said Sofia.

They said their goodbyes reluctantly
as Ivan walked Sofia out of the café. Sofia turned in the last
minute and threw her arms around Ivan. Ivan’s hands were occupied
by the skateboard and the jar of seashells, so he couldn’t
reciprocate. Sofia gazed into Ivan’s eyes one more time, then
kissed him gently on his lips before she turned around and entered
the backseat of the black Rolls Royce. Ivan stood and watched until
the car disappeared into the horizon.

Feeling dejected, Ivan slowly moved
toward his apartment on his skateboard, holding the jar of
seashells. He hadn’t had any dinner besides the durian smoothie,
but he was not hungry. Sofia said that she would return, but it
felt like they were parting forever.

When Ivan got home, a Vietnamese woman
was standing outside the door. She looked at Ivan and said, “Are
you Ana’s son?”

“
Yes, are you looking for
my ma?”

“
I came for my five
o’clock Russian lesson, but no one answered the door.”

Ivan remembered that it was Monday,
his mother’s day off from the restaurant. He said, “I’ll go in and
see.”

“
It’s too late, now. I
have to go back to work. When you see your mother, please ask her
to call me. My name is Mai Nguyen. I am the head chef at the
restaurant where your mother works. She knows my number.” Mai
turned around, and walked down the stairs to exit the apartment
building.

Ivan opened his apartment door with
his key and went inside. It was dark, with the curtains drawn. He
turned on the light. There was paper everywhere in the small living
room, photographs that Ana was working on and handouts for her
Russian-learning students. Ivan went to the kitchen, and saw a
couple of empty vodka bottles in the trash can.

He went to his room to set his
skateboard and the jar of seashells down. He gathered some clean
clothes and headed to the bathroom. When he came out again, he was
surprised to see his mother in the living room, apparently trying
to tidy it up.

“
Ma, you are
home?”

“
Hi, Ivan, had a good
day?” said Ana. She looked cheerful.

“
It was okay. Your student
was looking for you. Mai Nguyen. She said she was the head chef at
your restaurant.”

“
Mai? Oh goodness. I
completely forgot about it,” said Ana, who stopped cleaning, and
seemed to be going over her schedule in her head.

“
She wants you to call
her,” said Ivan. He was heading toward his room again, when the
apartment door opened and Zoe came in.

Zoe was carrying two bags of
groceries. She gestured for Ivan to follow her to the kitchen, and
removed the contents from the bags. There were fresh fruits,
sandwiches, savory pastries, a jug of milk and a carton of juice.
She even brought a to-go box with stir-fried mixed vegetables and a
whole roasted duck.

“
This should last you a
few days. I will bring some more later,” Zoe said to
Ivan.

“
Sweet,” said Ivan. He was
hungry all of a sudden, and tackled one of the sandwiches right
away.

Zoe opened the refrigerator, which was
practically empty except for some leftovers Ana brought back from
her restaurant.

“
You’re still at the
camp?” said Zoe as she filled the refrigerator

“
Today was the last day,”
said Ivan with his mouth full.

“
And still going out with
Sofia?”

“
Yeah, but she’s going to
Russia for two weeks,” said Ivan sullenly.

“
Oh come on. Be a man
about it. What happened to your skateboard friends?”

“
We got chewed out by a
cop today. He said we were too annoying, basically.”

“
Good, keep annoying him,”
said Zoe with a laugh.

“
What’s this?” said Ana
when she came into the kitchen and saw the groceries.

“
I’m just making sure my
brother doesn’t starve to death,” said Zoe. She finished filling
the refrigerator, and made a move to leave.

“
Wait a minute. I am the
mother. I can take care of Ivan,” said Ana.

“
You are the mother. Then
be a mother!” said Zoe.

“
What do you think I’ve
been doing all this time? Did I leave you two behind in Russia? I
brought you down here to start over, and I’ve been trying so hard
to be your mother, to do what a mother does. You don’t seem to
appreciate it. You’d rather shack up with that thug from the
nightclub,” said Ana, raising her voice.

“
I am surprised you
remember that thug. You were pretty drunk the night you met him,”
said Zoe sarcastically.

“
I’m quitting,” said Ana.
“There won’t be any more alcohol.”

“
So you say,” said
Zoe.

“
Come back home and watch
me,” said Ana.

“
What? Are you
blackmailing me? I have nothing to do with your drinking. Don’t pin
that on me.”

“
Stop it,” said Ivan,
almost yelling.

All three were silent for a minute,
and then Ivan said, slowly and glumly, “I hate my life.” He went
back to his room.

Ana and Zoe stared at each other,
neither willing to take the blame for Ivan’s depressing outlook.
After a minute, Ana said, “Well, are you coming home to stay or
what?”

“
Not a chance,” said Zoe.
“I’m leaving now. And surprise me by staying sober, will
you?”

Zoe left the apartment, slamming the
door loudly behind her.

Ana sat down in a chair by the kitchen
table to clear her thoughts. She had already made up her mind to
quit drinking after Vo came to see her the other day. She had some
vodka left, so she decided to drink up the rest, and then she would
have no more. Nothing alcoholic, not even chocolates laced with rum
or cough syrup with ethanol. But sitting at the kitchen table right
now, feeling defeated by lack of love and respect from her
children, it took all the strength she had not to run out and get a
glass of wine just to help her relax.

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.

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
b
ánh 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.