Aperture on the East (4 page)

“
There we go again,” said
Olga as she walked out.

Mai giggled. She turned on the stove
to heat the frying oil and said, “How do you say spring roll in
Russian?”

Ana replied in Russian, and then she
asked Mai to say it in Vietnamese. They went back and forth
teaching each other the items on the menu in their respective
native languages, laughing the whole time and trying not to get
their tongues twisted.

The kitchen door swung open, and Mr.
Tran came in to say, “Ana, I sent Olga out on an errand. Could you
take care of Mr. Vo Nguyen out there? Be nice. He is one of my
regulars and he is about to be engaged to the daughter of my
biggest investor. I have to go to a meeting across town, or I will
be taking his orders myself.” With that, Mr. Tran left through the
backdoor.

Ana put on the black waitress apron,
and went out to greet the only two customers at the restaurant
right now.

“
It’s you,” said one of
the two men as Ana approached. Ana did not recognize them right
away. The speaker was a handsome black man, with a smooth face and
black rim glasses. His companion, who just looked up from the menu,
was the tall Vietnamese man she encountered on the night she came
for her job interview.

Ana immediately felt warm in the face,
but managed to say, “Hi, I’m Ana, and I’m your waitress. Sorry
about the other night.” She held an order pad in her left hand and
a pen in her right; both of her hands were trembling slightly, and
her heart was doing somersaults in her chest.

“
Oh, I didn’t mean to
embarrass you,” said the black man. “My name is Vidal, and this is
Vo,” Vidal pointed to his friend. “Vo. Say something.”

“
Uh, don’t worry about the
other night. I didn’t remember any of it until my friend Vidal here
brought it up,” said Vo with an intriguing accent, which was also
shared by Vidal.

After a few seconds of silence, Ana
said, “Can I get you anything to drink?”

“
I’ll have a Saigon Beer,”
said Vidal.

“
Same here,” said
Vo.

“
I’ll be right back,” Ana
turned toward the kitchen.

When Ana disappeared from their sight,
Vidal said, “You didn’t remember any of it? Who could forget a
beautiful brunette like that?”

“
I don’t pay attention to
women like you do,” said Vo. He was thinking about the blush he saw
on Ana’s face a minute ago. Her deep emerald eyes were as
mystifying as the waters of the South China Sea.

“
Sure. You are so focused
on Kim right now, you are missing the forest.”

Vo didn’t say anything
back.

“
Which is a good thing,”
said Vidal. “Your mother asked me to keep you away from wonton
women lusting after your money, and help you and Kim ‘progress’ as
fast as possible.” Vidal did air quotes with his
fingers.

“
Kim and I are fine,” said
Vo. He was annoyed by Vidal’s comment. “You don’t need to babysit
us. Plus I am just a poor marine biologist. No one is lusting after
my money.”

Vidal opened his mouth, but Vo didn’t
let him respond. “Speaking of money,” said Vo, “I can’t believe
that your law firm lets you off this long. You are the big shot in
corporate laws. When are you going back to New Orleans?”

“
My orders are to stay
here until you and Kim get engaged. Your mother worked something
out with my boss. You know, she practically owns half of
Versailles.”

“
You are exaggerating,”
said Vo. “Folks just like to eat in her restaurant.”

“
But no one wants to be on
her black list, that’s for sure. If she banned you from her
restaurant, you are as good as an outcast.”

They both laughed.

“
Seriously,” said Vidal,
“I feel responsible for your happiness. I need to see this thing
through. You are turning forty soon and you need to make your
mother a grandbaby before you get too old.”

“
Speak for yourself,” said
Vo. He saw from the corner of his eye that Ana was
returning.

She set two bottles of Saigon Beer
down on the table and said, “So, gentlemen. Are you ready to
order?”

Ana got in at ten-thirty at night. She
went to check on Ivan first. He was sleeping soundly, shirtless
with only a pair of boxers on. His floor fan was going at full
blast. Ana turned down the fan a little, and then went to Zoe’s
room. Zoe was not there. Ana, worried, took a deep breath in and
looked around the room. The guitar was gone, but Zoe’s clothes and
music albums were still there. Ana let out a sigh of relief,
knowing that Zoe would return.

Ana washed up a little, and then sad
down on the bench in the living room to wait for Zoe. She turned on
the television, but was too tired to really watch anything. She
soon fell asleep.

She woke up at the sound of a key
scratching at the front door. She lifted her heavy eyelids and saw
Zoe sneak in with her guitar.

“
Where have you been?”
said Ana, turning off the television.

Zoe stopped on her way to her room,
turned around and said, “Since when do you care?” She went into her
room and slammed the door.

Ana stared at Zoe’s bedroom door,
thinking that Zoe’s behaviors required some kind of a parental
intervention, something like a disciplinary action, a stern
lecture, or a heart-to-heart conversation. But how? How was she to
carry out any of those measures? Her mind was a blank, wishing that
some wisdom would just come to her from above. She couldn’t help
but think that perhaps it was too late, that she should have
learned the craft when Zoe was little. Zoe was fully grown now, and
no matter how hard Ana tried, even if she knew how to do it at all,
she could not shape Zoe into anything else.

Ana looked at the clock on the wall,
and was surprised to find that it was already five o’clock in the
morning. She had slept on the bench all night, and her back was
aching as terribly as her head. Nothing constructive regarding Zoe
was going to come into light. Ana got up, grabbed her camera bag,
and left the apartment.

It was still dark when she got to the
beach, with only a sliver of electric blue on the horizon. The
locals were already gathering for their morning activities. Ana
walked north, observing and photographing the people around
her.

Soon, a little bit of orange crept in
beneath the electric blue, and Ana sat down on a bench to see the
wispy clouds turn pink with purple mixed in. She photographed the
fishing boats in the distance, floating on the calm water that
reflected the bright red globe as it ascended. There were people
talking all around her, but the wide open ocean and its gentle
waves absorbed all the chatters. It felt quiet and
peaceful.

Ana trained her camera on the boats
and the sun until it became an enormous burning orange, and she had
to focus her camera elsewhere. The locals were now cleaning up,
possibly having to go to work. Friends said their goodbyes and
couples embraced. The motorcycles paraded up and down the Tran Phu
Boulevard, and taxi drivers pumped their horns at the audacious
pedestrians crossing the street. The ambient noise, as well as the
temperature, began to climb.

After taking a few shots of the busy
traffic and the stately hotels on the other side of Tran Phu
Boulevard, Ana turned her camera back toward the ocean to
photograph the early swimmers, and as she was doing so, she noticed
a familiar figure in her lens.

The tall man emerged from the water
slowly, taking in rapid but deep breaths. As his chest rose and
fell Ana could see his well-defined muscles gleam in the sunlight.
He removed his swim cap and goggles, and then with a hand wiped the
water from his face. It was Vo.

Ana felt as if her heart stopped for a
second. She let the camera sink to her lap, and gawked at Vo as his
bulging thighs propelled him toward land, toward her. Ana’s head
was telling her to look away, that it was rude to stare, but she
was in a trance. Suddenly, she heard a voice.

“
Ana.”

“
Oh, hi,” said Ana. Her
heart was pounding fast in her chest, and she felt as if she had
just been caught doing something criminal.

“
Morning,” said Vo,
standing like a tower in front of Ana with his hands on his waist,
breathing deep and fast.

“
Morning,” said Ana. Vo’s
eyes, the color of mahogany, were beaming straight at hers again.
She withdrew her gaze from his face to her camera, and stowed it in
the carrying bag.

“
Mind if I sat down?” Vo
was looking at the space next to Ana.

“
Oh, no, please. You need
to rest.” Ana moved a little to the other end, trying to create
some physical distance from Vo. Vo sat down and rested his elbows
on his knees. Ana didn’t know if she was supposed to make small
talk; she was so nervous that she wanted to get up and leave, but
she didn’t think it would be polite.

Vo’s breathing slowed down to normal.
He sat up a little, crossed his arms in front of his chest, and set
his eyes on the other swimmers in the open sea.

Ana looked down; she was digging in
and out of the soft sand underneath the bench with her bare feet.
The sand was still relatively cool compared to the air, which by
now was well heated by the sun. Ana raised her hand to wipe the
sweat away from her brow.

“
You are up early,” said
Vo. “Most tourists get here late.”

“
I’m not a tourist,” said
Ana.

“
Oh, right. You have a
job. You live here, don’t you?”

Ana nodded her head, still looking
down.

“
I am guessing you are
Russian,” said Vo.

“
That’s
correct.”

“
When I first got here a
year ago, I didn’t expect to be living among so many Russians. It’s
been interesting.”

“
In a good way, I hope,”
said Ana, turning her head a little to look at Vo.

“
Good and bad,” said Vo,
looking at Ana. “It’s good you are here. I mean, you can’t be
bad.”

Ana couldn’t help but smile. It was
endearing the way he stumbled to find words. “So, you swim early.
How’s the water?” said Ana.

“
I come to swim every
morning. It’s the best time. Just look at the locals. The water is
calm and cool.” Vo looked at Ana’s camera bag. “I saw your
professional camera. Are you a photographer?”

“
Not really. I just like
to take pictures.”

They sat in silence for a minute. The
vendors were raising the beach umbrellas as the foreigners poured
in and took over the beach.

“
Vo,” said a voice from
behind them. It was the petite woman Ana bumped into the other
night. She was holding a beach towel.

Vo stood up and smiled at the woman.
He said something in Vietnamese to her, and mentioned Ana’s name.
Then he said to Ana, “This is Kim. She walks. I swim. She insists
on carrying a towel for me. I normally just air dry.” He
chuckled.

Kim smiled at Ana and said, “Hello,
Ana.”

“
Hello, Kim.” Ana stood up
too.

“
I guess we’ll see you
around,” said Vo. “Nha Trang is a small town.” He took the towel
from Kim, and they walked toward the street. They stopped at a
motorcycle. Vo removed a helmet that was hanging on the handle bar
and placed it on Kim’s head, buckled the straps and adjusted them
under her chin. He put one on himself, and they both got on the
motorcycle. Kim encircled Vo’s waist with her arms when he turned
on the ignition. With a loud rumble, they rode away.

Ana watched them until they turned a
corner and disappeared. So that was his fiancée, she thought,
feeling somewhat disappointed, but couldn’t say why.

Ana woke up with a fright. There was
an incessant crying of a newborn, the smell of blood and vomit, and
shadowy figures hovering above her. She could hardly breathe, and
she could hear herself screaming. She was trying to stop something
from happening but it happened anyway. She could feel the tears on
her face and her pillow was wet with her sweat. She gasped and took
in a big deep breath, and when she let it out she realized, yet
again, that it was just a dream.

 
She sat up and got
out of bed. The sunlight was peeping in through a gap in the
curtains. She thought of Vo for some reason, and their chance
encounter on the beach. Was that also a dream?

After she washed up, she went to look
for her children. Ivan was eating cereal in the kitchen,
alone.

“
Good morning, Ivan. Where
is Zoe?” said Ana.

Ivan shrugged his shoulders.
“Sleeping, I guess. She’s been coming home late, you
know.”

Ana walked to Zoe’s room and tried to
open the door, but it was locked. She knocked on the door
rapidly.

“
Wake up, Zoe. You’re
going to be late for school.”

“
Ma, Zoe hasn’t been to
school at all,” Ivan said with a mouthful.

“
I know,” said Ana. She
knocked on Zoe’s door again.

“
So,” said Ivan, “the
summer vacation is almost here. I want to do the camp at the
Institute of Oceanography. I saw a poster in school. I’ll get to
feed sharks, and it’ll be awesome.”