Aperture on the East (7 page)

Ana chortled and said, “That’s
actually not something to be proud of. I prefer being here than
there.”

“
Nha Trang is beautiful.
No doubt about it,” said McKenzie.

“
So what are you doing
here?”

“
I’m just enjoying the
band and a beer, and getting to know you.”

“
That’s not what I meant,”
said Ana, taking a sip of her Coca Cola, which was now flat and
diluted by melted ice cubes.

“
Oh, you want to know why
I moved here from Sydney,” said McKenzie. “Actually I’m sort of on
a very long vacation. My girlfriend left me a month ago, and I got
tired of my desk job in Sydney. I have some savings and I’ve always
wanted to travel a bit. Nha Trang was on the first brochure that I
picked up from the travel agent. Then I decided that I should
probably work since I’m about to run out of cash. I’m going for an
interview tomorrow at the Sailing Club Dive Center. Did I mention
my girlfriend left me?”

“
Wow, you said all that in
one breath,” said Ana.

“
Sorry, I get carried away
sometimes when I am in good company.”

“
I just moved here about
three months ago myself.”

“
Great. So we can hang
out,” said McKenzie.

“
I only get Mondays off,
though. I work late shift at a restaurant.”

“
Ah, then we can meet
tomorrow for lunch at the Sailing Club after my
interview.”

Ana thought about the luxurious
walk-up beach bar that she had strolled by many times. It was right
on the sand, fenced off by a knee-high, cream-colored wall
reminiscent of a Greek isle villa, with wooden beach chairs and
thatch umbrellas. When she walked by it on the street side, she
could peek in and see those dreamy cabanas, with billowing white
curtains and throw pillows in different shades of cerulean, that
seemed to stretch all the way out to the sea.

“
What do you say?” said
McKenzie after a few moments of silence.

“
I suppose we can,” said
Ana. She was not sure if it was a good idea to go out with a man.
She thought about Eduard, and how she had vowed not to be
romantically involved with anyone after the divorce, not until she
got back on her feet anyway.

“
Good. Meet me at the
Sailing Club at noon. This is my number, just in case.” McKenzie
wrote something down on a beverage napkin, and handed it to Ana. He
got up from his chair and said, “Don’t stand me up.” He turned
toward the exit.

Ana didn’t know if it was a date, but
that was what it felt like. The Cardinal’s Choir was playing “The
Poison of Love” by Dark Princess. Ana felt a little tipsy, even
though she had nothing alcoholic to drink.

Ana took a sip of the chilled passion
fruit juice and relished the sweet and sour nectar as it went down
the back of her tongue. She was sitting at the bar of the Sailing
Club and taking in her surroundings. The sky was a perfectly clear
blue dome, and underneath it the gentle fingers of the South China
Sea caressed the crescent curve of the Nha Trang Bay. The palm
trees swayed in the breeze, the leaves brushing against one
another, adding textural contrast to the sound of the waves,
drowning out the clattering of silverware and the chattering of the
customers.

Ana observed the diners and savored
the aromas and the colors of the dishes in front of them. The
grilled pork stir-fried with vegetables was served in a pineapple
shell. The steamy white rice came in a bamboo log, alongside a cup
of pungent fish sauce. The seared beef tenderloin with ginger and
garlic was directly skewered on blades of lemongrass, garnished by
ubiquitous tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce. The glasses were filled
with juices of all colors of the rainbow. A family with young
children had in front of them a slab of wood, on top of which sat
slices of fresh dragon fruits, mangoes, papayas, and
watermelons.

As she was looking longingly at all
the food, someone tapped on her shoulder.

“
Ana.”

Ana turned and was surprised to see
Vidal standing next to her. She hadn’t seen Vidal for a few weeks.
She was reminded of Vo, whom she also hadn’t run into since the
last encounter on the beach, where she had seen him come out of the
ocean gleaming in the glory of the morning sun. Ana felt warm in
her ears, and tried to stop thinking about it.

“
Well, did you forget
about me?” said Vidal.

“
I’m sorry,” said Ana.
“Hi. I was distracted for a moment.”

Vidal was not alone. Kim was standing
next to him.

“
Mind if we sat down?”
said Vidal.

“
Not at all, please,” said
Ana.

Vidal and Kim sat down. Vidal asked
the bartender for a Saigon Beer, and Kim ordered a fresh
coconut.

“
Are you waiting for
someone?” Vidal said, looking at Ana.

“
Yes, I am,” said Ana. “A
friend of mine is having an interview for a scuba diving instructor
position. We are to meet for lunch afterward.”

“
What a coincidence,” said
Vidal. “We are also waiting for our scuba diver friend, Vo. You
remember him.”

“
Vo is here?” Ana felt a
tingle in her arms.

“
There he comes.” Vidal
nudged his head toward two men who were approaching from the beach.
Vo and McKenzie stopped in front of Ana.

“
Ana,” said Vo and
McKenzie simultaneously. They then looked at each other with raised
eyebrows.

“
You know her?” Vo and
McKenzie said to each other.

Ana pressed her lips together, not
knowing what to say.

“
Okay,” said Vidal, “let’s
get a table and figure this out later.” Vidal got up from his
barstool and ushered everyone toward a large, low wooden table with
wide wicker chairs and beige cushions. A waiter quickly came and
dropped off a few menus. Vo and McKenzie ordered two bottles of
Saigon Beer as well.

“
This is the girl I told
you I was meeting after the interview,” said McKenzie to
Vo.

“
I see,” said Vo. He
looked at Ana. Ana couldn’t tell any emotion from his straight
face.

Vidal extended a hand to McKenzie and
said, “Antoine Vidal. Everyone calls me Vidal.”

“
McKenzie Clark.” They
shook hands.

“
And this is Kim Pham,” Vo
pointed at Kim, who joined her hands and bowed slightly to
McKenzie. McKenzie returned the same gesture to Kim.

Vidal said, “Vo and I have been
friends since we were kids. His mom used to babysit me. I always
said that the fall of South Vietnam was not all bad; it got me
Vo.”

Vo didn’t respond. The waiter returned
with the beer, and left when he was told that no one was ready to
order yet.

“
I am a PADI certified
Divemaster,” said McKenzie. “Vo just hired me to teach scuba
diving. He is the staff instructor, and has agreed to help me with
the open water scuba instructor course.”

Ana nodded even though she wasn’t
paying much attention to what McKenzie just said.

“
Where are you from?” Kim
said to McKenzie in English with a soft voice.

“
Sydney, Australia,” said
McKenzie. “So, Kim, you are friends with Vo, too?”

“
Yes,” said Vo, “she is a
family friend.”

Ana looked at Vo, surprised that he
did not mention that he and Kim intended to marry.

“
I’ve been tutoring Kim
English while Vo is busy with scuba diving and teaching biology,”
said Vidal.

“
You teach biology, too?”
said McKenzie.

“
Yes,” said Vo, “I give a
lecture in marine biology here and there at the schools. My real
job involves a lot of boring research on sea creatures.”

“
Specifically the marine
mammals of the South China Sea, such as the Chinese white
dolphins,” said Vidal.

“
Incredible. What else do
you do?” said McKenzie.

“
That’s it,” said Vo.
“Between teaching scuba diving and doing research, I don’t have
time for anything else.”

Except for courting Kim, thought
Ana.

Kim said to Ana, “Is everything going
well for you?”

Ana didn’t expect to be the next
subject of conversation. She was thinking about how to answer it
when the waiter returned to take their orders. They hurriedly
looked over the menus and placed their requests. The waiter left
again.

“
So,” said Vo, “is
everything going well for you, Ana?”

The way Vo said her name made her feel
dizzy. Ana was dazed for a moment. She only came to her senses
again when she saw that everyone was staring at her.

“
I can’t complain,” said
Ana. “For one thing, I am about to have a feast in a fancy beach
restaurant with a gorgeous view.” She looked at Kim. Kim obviously
did not pick up the intended sarcasm, and was nodding her
head.

McKenzie was curious about how the
others had come to know Ana, and Vidal quickly filled him
in.

“
I have lunch at Quan Bien
Dong all the time,” said McKenzie. “My favorite dish there was the
pakalana flowers sautéed with garlic. How come I’ve never seen you
there?”

“
Well, I do work the
dinner shift,” said Ana.

Ana was glad when their
orders were brought out so that she didn’t have to answer any more
questions. She was having
cá kho
tộ
, braised fish in clay pot, served with
white rice. She thoroughly enjoyed the perfect balance of sweet and
spicy as the caramel sauce with chili and cilantro saturated her
taste buds.

Everyone got quiet for a
few minutes as they dug into their food. Ana eyed McKenzie’s dish;
he was making a mess of the
bánh
xèo
, turmeric crepe fried to a crisp then
stuffed with shrimp, bean sprouts and fresh herbs. McKenzie caught
her glance, and offered her a bite. Ana gladly accepted it. She
washed the bite of
bánh xèo
down with a sip of her juice, and then gave
McKenzie a piece of her fish as thanks. She glanced at Vo, who
seemed to be looking her way, picking at his fried spring rolls
with his chopsticks at the same time.

Kim said something in Vietnamese to
Vo, who then started eating in earnest, and conversed back and
forth quietly with Kim in their native tongue.

“
What are you two doing
afterward?” Vidal said to Ana and McKenzie.

Ana hadn’t planned on doing anything
else with McKenzie after lunch. She was going to put final touches
to some photographs on her laptop, and enter a few into a number of
online photography contests. She was also going to a camera shop to
print a few photographs large enough to hang on her bedroom walls.
In addition, she had to gather educational material and make lesson
plans for the Russian tutoring business that she was about to
start.

McKenzie said to Ana, “Would you want
to catch a movie by any chance?”

Ana finished sipping her passion fruit
juice, and, instead of answering the question directly, said,
“What’s everyone else doing?”

“
I am heading out to Hon
Mun to collect some samples with my team. I will be occupied into
the evening,” said Vo.

“
That’s the Ebony Island,
famous for its coral reefs, right?” said McKenzie.

Vo nodded.

“
Kim and I will go to the
Alexandre Yersin Museum, then. I want to look at those old
machines, smell those old books, and converse with the spirit of
Dr. Yersin,” said Vidal, nudging his eyeglasses upward
slightly.

“
Again?” said Vo. “You go
almost every day it seems.”

“
I can’t help it. I wonder
what could have motivated him to move halfway across the planet and
settle in a place where he had to learn a new language and a new
way of life like a baby would.”

Vidal paused, and then said to
McKenzie and Ana, “You know Dr. Yersin lived here for more than
half a century before he died. He was the one who identified the
bacteria that caused bubonic plague and helped establish the
Pasteur Institute in Nha Trang to study prevention and treatment of
that disease. That’s pretty amazing, right?”

“
Right,” said Ana. “But I
thought the exhibit was mostly in French.”

“
Vidal can be quite a nerd
sometimes,” said Vo. “He can speak and read French.”

“
Oui,
madame
,” said Vidal, and everyone
chuckled.

“
So, Ana,” said McKenzie.
“What do you think? A movie?”

“
Actually,” said Ana, “I
was going to work on some projects at home. My kids will be out all
day. You are welcome to come for tea.” She looked at Vo again; he
was looking down on his plate with pursed lips.

They finished the meal, and Vo paid
the bill despite protest from the rest of the group. They thanked
Vo and parted their ways. McKenzie and Ana decided to walk to her
apartment via the beach promenade. When Ana turned a minute later
to look back at the Sailing Club some distance away, she could
still see Vo standing where they left him. Although she couldn’t
tell for sure, she sensed that Vo was still gazing toward her, with
the same intensity that she saw in his eyes the first night they
met.