Aperture on the East (6 page)

The rest of the gang hung out for
another ten minutes before they all decided to call it a day and
went their separate ways.

Ivan did not leave immediately. He
could see Sofia still walking on the beach in the distance, her red
hair standing out against the blue ocean. Ivan said goodbye to the
local kids, and rode on the promenade toward Sofia. When he was
close enough, he got off his skateboard, wrapped it under his arm,
and walked.

“
Hey,” said Ivan when
Sofia stood for a moment to look at the water, which was malachite
with a few shades of turquoise under the late morning
sun.

“
Ivan, what are you doing
here?” Sofia smiled.

“
I was just hanging out
with some friends earlier,” said Ivan, still a little uneasy about
using the term “friends” yet.

“
Skateboarding, I see.”
Sofia looked at Ivan’s skateboard.

“
You are collecting
seashells?” said Ivan, looking into Sofia’s bucket.

“
Nha Trang beach has the
best seashells. If you come out during low tide, you see all
kinds.”

“
This beach is pretty
cool,” said Ivan. He didn’t know of any other beach to compare it
to.

Ivan and Sofia walked a little along
the shore. Sofia said, “I was going to get some durian smoothie. Do
you want to come?”

Ivan didn’t know what that was, but a
girl was inviting him to do something together, so naturally he
said, “Sure.”

They ran across the street when they
saw a break in the stream of vehicles. They walked past a woman
with a conical hat sitting on a stool with a pot of soup next to
her feet. There were a few additional stools around her and a few
customers were enjoying bowls of snails in a lemongrass broth. Ivan
looked at the pot of soup and could hear his own stomach sing to
the aroma, but Sofia led him inside a café instead. Sofia ordered
two cups of durian smoothie. Ivan grabbed a cup and took a sip
through the large straw. Despite the interesting odor, the smoothie
was sweet and refreshing.

“
The actual fruit stinks,
but this is my favorite iced drink in Vietnam,” said
Sofia.

They sat down near the corner of the
café, looking at the passersby through the glass window. Ivan was
thinking about the social advances he had made that day when Sofia
said, “To tell you the truth, I saw you and your friends back
there. You were pretty good on the skateboard. Actually, you were
amazing. I am not good at any sports. I could walk pretty far
though. I am an hour’s walk away from my house.”

“
That’s a long walk. Do
you come every Sunday?” said Ivan. He couldn’t believe that he had
just been called “amazing” by a girl as pretty and smart as
Sofia.

“
I come to the beach
whenever I can. I adore the beach. During the week I am occupied
with school work, but on the weekends I am allowed on the beach for
as long as I want.”

Allowed? Ivan thought that was a
strange word to use.

“
I’m from Novosibirsk,”
said Ivan, “which is a landlocked city. So, I love the beach,
too.”

“
Do you miss
home?”

“
I miss speaking Russian
and hearing Russian, and maybe the food, too. Other than that, I’m
having fun here.”

“
I have never been to
Russia, believe it or not,” said Sofia. “My father is too busy to
take me.”

“
What about your
mother?”

“
My mother died a few
years ago. She had a sick liver,” said Sofia quietly.

“
I’m sorry to hear that.”
Ivan didn’t know what to say next, and they sat silently drinking
their durian smoothie. Ivan liked Sofia’s company, and didn’t mind
the void of words.

Sofia finished her drink and said, “I
have to go now. I will see you tomorrow in school.” She got up from
her chair.

“
Sure. And maybe next
Sunday I will see you on the beach again?” Ivan said nervously as
he also got up from his chair to walk Sofia out of the
cafe.

“
Maybe, and we can have
another durian smoothie, or something else,” said Sofia with a
smile. Ivan could feel his heart melt away in that
instant.

They closed the café door behind them,
and Ivan followed Sofia to the curb. There was a black sedan parked
in front of them with its engine running. Ivan saw the silver hood
ornament in the form of a woman with arms outstretched behind her
as if she were about to fly. Two overlapping R’s were underneath
it.

The driver came around to open the
door to the backseat.

“
Bye, Ivan,” said Sofia.
She kissed Ivan on the cheek, and hopped into the car.

“
She’s not bad,” said Mai,
who was enjoying a chilled Coca Cola with Ana in the Rocking Waves
Nightclub. They were sitting at a table around the dance
floor.

It was ten o’clock on a Sunday night.
The number of people present was more than half capacity. The band
was taking a break, so Ana could actually talk to Mai without
screaming at her.

“
She is pretty good on
stage,” said Ana. “Thanks for coming out with me tonight. I am too
old to come to this kind of place by myself.”

“
Thank Mr. Tran for
letting us off early,” said Mai. “I don’t get to go out much. We
Vietnamese women are not supposed to be coming to places like this.
But I am old school. I see a lot of young Vietnamese girls here.”
She squinted and surveyed the multi-ethnic mix of
patrons.

“
They could be from Japan
or Korea, you know,” said Ana.

“
If I don’t look at those
girls and just listen to the music, I am fine,” said Mai. “The way
they dress and dance is not decent.”

Ana chuckled at Mai’s conservative
ideals of women; she decided to change the subject.

“
It’s funny,” said Ana. “I
gave her that guitar long ago. She loves it more than she loves me.
She sleeps with it. She takes it everywhere. She used to get in
trouble for taking it to school, so she chose it over school, I
guess.”

“
It’s an interesting
design. Where did you get it?”

“
I got it from my first
love, Leo, Zoe’s father. He bought it with a ridiculous amount of
money from some musician. It’s antique, really. It was made in
1965, I was told. Leo got it for me when I got into a band
myself.”

“
What did you
play?”

“
Our music was not very
different from Zoe’s. We were a punk band. I had spiky hair.” Ana
and Mai both laughed. “Except,” said Ana, “Zoe’s all about blood
and death, and I was all about throwing over the
government.”

“
So what happened to Zoe’s
father?” said Mai.

Ana took a deep breath in and exhaled
slowly. It was still too agonizing to talk about Leo.

“
He died when Zoe was
four,” said Ana.

“
I’m sorry. We don’t have
to talk about it.”

“
It’s okay. We were all
very young and foolish back then. People were all of a sudden free
to do a lot of things after the fall of Soviet Union in 1991. Leo
got into heroine, not that it was legal, but a lot of it was coming
in because no one was guarding the borders. Leo owned a tattoo
parlor, and all kinds of people were getting tattoos, not just
prisoners and gangsters. He did these snake tattoos for me.” Ana
showed Mai her forearms. “You can’t see very well because I put
concealer over them. Anyway, he made a lot of money, and we just
partied with heroine.”

“
You did heroine, too?”
said Mai, her eyes enlarged.

“
I tried it,” said Ana. “I
was stupid. Luckily I didn’t get hooked on it. Leo did, and he died
from an overdose. He was the life of the party one night, and the
next morning, he was gone.”

“
I can’t believe it. I
have never known anyone who did drugs.”

“
I hope you don’t hold
that against me.”

“
It’s in the past. I only
look at the present. You seem like an upright person now,” said
Mai.

Ana appreciated Mai’s kind words.
Finally, here was someone who validated Ana’s effort in rectifying
her life.

“
Hi,” said Zoe when she
appeared with her band members in front of Ana.

Ana stood up and gave Zoe a hug and a
kiss. Zoe did not resist it, but Ana could tell that Zoe did not
welcome it, either.

“
Mai, this is Zoe,” said
Ana. “Zoe, this is Mai, the head chef at my restaurant.”

Mai smiled at Zoe, who waved her hand
awkwardly at Mai.

“
So, this is your band.”
Ana, with a smile, glanced at Zoe’s friends.

Zoe quickly introduced everyone. The
other guitarist was Nelly, also from Russia. The bass guitarist was
Aiko from Japan. Tam took the keyboard; she was born and raised in
Nha Trang. Everyone participated in vocals.

“
We’re still looking for
someone to play the drums,” said Nelly. “It’s hard being a metal
band without a drummer. Tam uses the synchronizer on her keyboard
to do percussions.”

“
Which is quite a waste of
her talents,” said Aiko. “She’s been learning classical piano since
she was four, and she went to the Steinway piano competition last
year.”

“
But I didn’t win,” said
Tam. “Anyway I like pop music better.”

“
Your parents let you play
here in a nightclub?” said Mai. She was looking at Tam.

“
I don’t need them to let
me,” said Tam.

All right, it seemed that Zoe had
found a kindred spirit in Tam, thought Ana.

The break was up, and the Cardinal’s
Choir returned to the stage, causing another wave of feverish
clapping and screaming from the audience before they all fell into
a frenzy when the band started to play “Bring Me to Life” by
Evanescence.

“
Well, Ana,” said Mai.
“It’s been fun, but I have to go now. My husband will give me an
earful if I don’t get home soon.” She got up to leave.

“
I’ll stay a little longer
to watch Zoe. This is a side of her I’ve never seen before.” Ana
felt a sense of pride, even though Zoe’s work environment was less
than ideal.

“
Enjoy your day off
tomorrow. See you Tuesday.” Mai started walking toward the exit,
but she stopped and turned around. “Speaking of work, Mr. Tran
wanted me to tell you something. He saw you give leftovers to the
people that came to beg at the backdoor. He wants you to stop doing
that.”

“
Why, no one is going to
eat it. I don’t want to waste it,” said Ana.

“
Well, he doesn’t want to
give free food to anyone. Some people may be pretending, faking
illness to get your sympathy. Just do what Mr. Tran says. He’s the
boss.” Mai turned and left.

Ana was still defending her actions in
her mind when a man came to talk to Ana.

“
Hi,” he said.

Ana was surprised to be greeted by a
total stranger, but she didn’t want to be rude.

“
Hi,” said Ana.

“
I saw the band come to
chat with you earlier. Are you and the lead vocal related?” The man
sat down next to Ana, without asking.

“
Yes, that’s my daughter,”
said Ana, feeling alarmed. “Is there something I can help you
with?”

“
Oh, no, I’m just curious.
They are a really good band. I’ve enjoyed all their music so far. I
just couldn’t help but notice the resemblance between you two, and
I’d like a confirmation. That’s all.”

“
Well, there you go.” Ana
looked away.

“
Do you come and see your
daughter play much?”

Ana, somewhat annoyed, turned to get a
better look at the man. He was probably in his early forties, with
an angular face framed by curly brown hair and a short beard that
was barely there. He was wearing a white button down shirt loosely
with a tan sport jacket, clutching a beer bottle in his left hand.
Ana was not certain what she should do. He was good looking, but
she was not in the mood to be picked up by anyone.

“
I’m McKenzie,” said the
man. He reached out his free hand to Ana.

Ana hesitated for a moment, then shook
McKenzie’s hand and said, “Ana.”

“
Where are you from,
Ana?”

“
Look, if you are trying
to pick up a girl, I am not it,” said Ana. She tried to put up a
stern face.

“
I’m sorry,” said
McKenzie. “I’m just trying to make a friend. I just relocated from
Sydney, and I don’t know anyone yet. You are the only person here
who doesn’t seem to have company at the moment.”

Ana looked around her. It was true.
Everyone else was in groups of two or more. She let her guard down
a little.

“
Sydney, Australia?” said
Ana.

“
Sydney, Australia.
Listen, if I am bothering you, I will leave now.” McKenzie stood
up.

“
Sit down.”

McKenzie sat back down and said,
“Thank you.”

“
I’m from Russia, a city
called Novosibirsk.”

“
Yes, I’ve heard of it.
It’s the Capital of Siberia.”