Ca leant back in the passenger seat feeling content. He noticed the speedometer read 120km/hr.
“Slow down,” he said, putting his hand on the nervous drivers shoulder to reassure him. “We aren't in any hurry. The hard part is over.”
The driver eased off the accelerator and the car slowed to 80km/hr.
Ca looked at the driver. “Are you okay Tuong?”
Tuong’s knuckles had turned white from gripping onto the steering wheel and with his voice trembling said, “Yes, fine.”
Ca smiled. “Just relax we will soon be there?”
He then looked at the passenger sat on the back seat, smiled, and in a soft tone, asked. “Are you okay?”
The passenger glared at him, but said nothing.
Still smiling, Ca faced forward, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes as his thoughts drifted back into memories.
****
Ca was born in 1970 in the small seaside village of Phan Yar, a few kilometres South West of Ky Anh on the north east coast of Vietnam. Within a small bay of clear emerald water and shallow coral reefs, there’s a white sandy beach extending to a lush jungle scattered with coconut trees and shrubs. Off shore, huge rocks jutted from the calm ocean covered in sporadic patches of lush green foliage. These small uninhabited islands were home to many varieties of tropical birds and an idyllic setting for a young boy to grow up in.
Ca’s real name was Gio-A Tho, but given the nickname, Ca, meaning fish in Vietnamese, as he was always playing in the rock pools as a child catching the small spry.
He grew up in a small, wooden shack on the village outskirts close to the ocean. His mother, Diudang Tho, worked sun drying, salting, and curing fish that his father caught, which they sold on the village market.
In 1973, his father Nguyen went with other village men to join the National Front for Liberation of South Vietnam, the Viet Cong, and sent to Cu Chi province to fight the Americans from the underground tunnels.
Young Ca did not know what an American was or why they were fighting, but he and his elder brother Phaol took up their father’s role as fishermen. This was a happy time for Ca and because he was young and small, his brother did most of the work, leaving young Ca to potter around in the rock pools.
Viet Cong soldier’s families received no communications, so Ca had almost forgotten about his father.
One day in 1975, while playing in his favourite rock pool, he heard loud bangs, fireworks, and the sound of people cheering emanating from the village.
Phaol, a muscular young teenager, sloshed his way out of the ocean and went over to Ca.
Ca furrowed his brow, looked puzzled, and asked. “What’s happening Phaol?”
Phaol stood with his hands on his hips looking concerned. “I don’t know,” he said and stood next to his young brother as an old jeep approached.
Ca looked confused as he saw Pu-ed, the head of the village, driving the jeep with his mother and a fierce-looking man with them. As the jeep got closer, he looked up at his brother who trembled, his mouth quivering. “Who’s that man sitting with mother?”
Phaol’s jaw dropped and then he yelled, “Father.” He then ran towards the oncoming jeep, with little Ca stumbling behind, trying to keep up.
Over the next few years, Vietnam changed. The Northern army took the southern capitol, Saigon in April 1975, thus ending the Vietnam War.
The Northern armies backed by the communist bloc were victorious against the South, and thanks to President Nixon’s policy, the *Vietnamization, Americans scarpered and North and South Vietnam unified.
The family went back to a normal routine, and young Ca now understood a little about war, due to his father screaming in his sleep about his dead friends.
He told the brothers about the poisonous centipedes and bloodsucking leaches that roamed around the muddy, dank, musty Cu Chi tunnels and the screams of wounded men in the underground hospital section.
He wasn’t the same man who Phaol remembered. This once peaceful and gentle fisherman now had a cold, vacant expression.
The family were given the land that they lived on, plus a hectare of lush fertile land 500 metres away, for the bravery that Nguyen Tho had displayed during the war.
With the new Vietnamese government having little money and not enough to pay the soldiers, they gave them land instead.
This pleased the family. They went about their usual business of fishing, but now tended their land.
Several months later, while Ca, Phaol, and their father Nguyen splashed the water to scare fish into their net, they heard a vehicle’s horn sound several times.
They went to the water’s edge and saw several jeeps with soldiers in uniform coming towards them. Most of the soldiers they recognised as Viet Cong soldiers from the last war and Nguyen’s old comrades who lived in Phan Yar, along with several of the older village boys.
Nguyen went over to the jeeps where an officer, unknown to Nguyen, greeted him. Nguyen got into the jeep and it drove the short distance to the Tho’s wooden shack and Nguyen and the officer went inside.
The two boys walked the short distance back to their home. They passed the parked jeeps outside, and, as they reached the open door of the shack, they saw their mother inside, before their father noticed them and closed the door.
“Are you coming with us, Phaol?” asked one young soldier from a Jeep.
Phaol puckered his brow and looked bemused. “Why, where are you going?”
The soldier chuckled and said. “To Cambodia, to kick the Khmer Rouge arses.”
The others soldiers laughed, but Phaol did not understand and shrugged.
Several minutes later, their mother, father, and the officer emerged. The two boys walked towards their parents. Nguyen, now dressed in his old beige Viet Cong uniform, got into the front seat of a jeep and looked at his sons.
“Take care of your mother,” he said, and showing no emotion, stared forward as the Jeep pulled away.
The astonished boys looked agog as the jeep drove away from their shack and their mother came and stood beside them.
Ca looked up at his mother’s stern face and asked. “Where’s father going?”
Diudang looked at her bemused son and told them. “Your Father has gone to help the Cambodians who have nasty people in charge called Khmer Rouge. Other Cambodians are fighting them but need help.”
Phaol and Ca looked confused and Phaol asked. “Why? If Cambodians are fighting Cambodians, what does that have to do with Vietnam?”
Diudang looked at her young sons, and with tears welling up in her eyes, whispered. “Because the world’s gone mad son.” She wiped away her tears, went into the small outdoor kitchen area, and shouted, “dinner will be ready in ten minutes.”
Several months later, a Vietnamese government official and a soldier came to the family home in an army jeep.
The official got out and went to speak with Diudang who was drying fish at the side of their shack. He told that her husband was last seen in Neak Loueng, a large tropical-forest on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, where much of the fighting had taken place.
He explained that Nguyen and his troops were engaged in a bloody battle with the Khmer Rouge. Although they had lost control in Phnom Penh, the Khmer Rouge still fought viciously to regain control and bloody battles still raged on the city outskirts and in the jungles. The man told Diudang that Nguyen’s troop had forced the Khmer Rouge to flee further into the jungle, but Nguyen had not reported into base. He said that many bodies could not be found due to the dense jungle vegetation and a wide, fast-flowing branch of the Mekong River, which dragged bodies under.
The expressionless faced man told Diudang that her husband, Hạsĩ, Nguyen Tho, was therefore now presumed dead and handed her a scrap of paper with details hand written on it with a government stamp. Diudang looked at her husband’s death certificate and as her eyes filled with tears the official got back into jeep and it drove away.
The year was 1986. Ca had grown into a small but handsome young man. He still lived with his mother on the beachfront and still fished, but he was now alone, as his brother had gone to work in Ho Chi Minh City a few years earlier.
They employed two boys from the village to tend their land and crops that now flourished. They had rich soil, and although a little sandy, they were able to grow Serrano peppers, luffa beans, aubergines, and other seasonal vegetables.
Vietnam was transformed when a new reformer government came to power led by 71-year-old Nguyen Van Linh, who became the party's new general secretary.
The new government turned Vietnam from a command economy into a socialist-oriented market economy. With the authority of the state remaining unchallenged, private ownership of farms and companies engaged in commodity production, deregulation, and foreign investment were encouraged, while the state maintained control over strategic industry.
The economy of Vietnam subsequently achieved rapid growth in agricultural and industrial production, construction, and exports.
This was an exciting and liberating time for Ca and the Vietnamese people.
Ca frequently visited the discos and night scenes in Ky Anh town and regularly sang along with the local bands. He never had a steady girlfriend and did not want one.
One hot, humid afternoon, Ca sat on the wooden porch of the family’s new brick home that he renovated with funds that Phaol had sent home. He watched as a red Hyundai Excel 1.5 drove towards his house.
‘Who could this be?’ He wondered staring at the car looking intrigued. ‘We don’t get many visitors here, and none driving shiny new cars,’ he thought.
The car pulled up in front of the porch and the driver got out carrying a map.
The man smiled and bowed his head.
Ca returned the bow and the man showed Ca the map. “Hello, could you help me? I am looking for this plot of land which I think is around here, but I am not too sure.”
Ca looked at the map and could make out several familiar tracks close by. He went with the man back to the car and laid the map on the car bonnet in the direction they needed to travel.
A middle-aged man got out of the car and stood beside them, while Ca explained the directions and pointed the way.
The first man smiled and sounding relieved said. “Thanks a lot, we have been driving around in circles for hours. I am Go-Lhom, an architect and surveyor.”
Ca smiled and said. “I am Gio-A but everyone calls me Ca.”
The other man, who looked more official and had a superior demeanour, bowed and said. “Hello Ca, I am Thran Tangh.”
Ca returned the bow and Thran looked at his house. “That’s a nice house; I am having one built on the plot of land where you showed us.” Thran smiled. “So it looks like we will be neighbours young Ca.” They thanked Ca and drove in the direction he had indicated.
Ca went back and sat on his porch. ‘That is a huge chunk of land, so that will be a big house.’ He thought, ‘and Thran looked important in his designer suit and gold watch, I bet he is rich.’ He sniggered.
Over the next few days, bulldozers, builders, surveyors, and Go-Lhom moved into the area and constructed corrugated tin shacks for the workers and their families, turning a construction site into a small community.
After a few months, a large house took shape.
As it was close by, Ca and his mother watched with interest, as did the other villagers, who had seen nothing so grand.
Six months later, the large five-bedroom house was completed, with high external walls surrounding the property and grounds with a large metal gate at the front.
The interior had a wide central staircase leading to the five bedrooms on the first floor, with a large dining room, living room, study and kitchen on the ground floor. A small building to accommodate staff was built at the back of the main property with a swimming pool at the centre of a vast sway of landscaped gardens.
A gravelled pathway led from the entrance gate to the house’s large forecourt and garage.
New plush furnishings arrived a few days later and once set up, the small community of builders dispersed.
Pu-ed, the village headman and market owner felt annoyed when they left after doing a roaring trade from them over the past few months.
Several days after the workers left, a saloon car arrived and went through the gates. It pulled up outside the front door; where three people got out and went inside.
The villagers heard within minutes of the newcomer’s arrival and Pu-ed announced they would throw a party in their honour. He delegated himself to invite the new arrivals.
The villagers rallied around to cook meals and supplied the Saigon beer and rouo qoc liu, rice and kans grass: Vietnamese moonshine.
Twilight saw the corrugated tin sheet covered open community centre alive with music and laughter.
Villagers had set up a stage and a small diesel generator powered the lights, an old record player, and a microphone.
Several villagers played Moon Lutes, and Bing Nams, similar to a harmonica, along with Thungs, bamboo xylophones, with the villagers dancing and singing.
The new family arrived at 7pm, accompanied by Pu-ed, who got onto the small raised plywood stage at the front, grabbed the microphone, and addressed the village community.
“Hello comrades and friends,” he said and held his hand out at the newcomers. “This is Thran, his lovely wife Nga, and their daughter Hern.” He smiled at them and bowed. “Welcome to Phan Yar village.” The Tangh family bowed, smiled at the crowd, and left the stage.
The music started again and the villagers went back to their dancing, apart from Ca, who couldn’t take his eyes off Hern.
He thought she looked to be around 14 or 15 years old and was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.
He and the other villagers looked surprised when Hern strode up to the record player, removed the record, and replaced it with one that she had taken out of a plastic bag containing several black vinyl records.
The villagers went silent and looked at one another as they listened to an American pop song.
Hern went on to the patch of land in the centre where everyone danced. Everyone stopped and looked at Hern now dancing. They all looked bemused for several minutes before they smiled and danced along; even though not understanding the lyrics.
Ca smiled and edged his way towards Hern. He moved closer until he danced in front of her and said, “Hello Hern, my name is Ca.”
Hern looked at Ca and smiled. “Hi Ca, how are you? ”
“I am fine. Well, I am more than fine now,” said Ca with an impish smile. “I met your father a few months ago.”
“Oh, well it’s nice to meet you Ca, and I hope we can be friends while I am here,” she said, and seeing the way the handsome young man gazed at her, she blushed.
“I hope we can too,” said Ca, bobbing his head to the sound of the music.
As the night wore on, the pair danced and chatted until the party finished.
Ca awoke early the next day and walked the short distance into the village centre, to help clean up the mess from last night’s party. The market and village centre bustled with villagers, cleaning and setting out market stalls. Ca helped with the cleaning, and while washing down a piece of muddy pathway in front of his mother’s fish stall, he heard a soft voice behind him. “Good morning, Ca.” Ca swung around to face Hern.
“Good morning,” said Ca, noticing how cute Hern looked in the first light of day. She seemed to gleam.
Hern smiled. “How are you this morning?”
“Fine,” said Ca. “You’re awake early, I thought you city folk slept all day,” he chuckled.
“Very funny, I came to see if I could help clean before we leave for Hanoi this afternoon.”
Ca frowned, gulped, and with a stammer in his voice said. “Leave… But you’ve only just arrived.”
Hern giggled. “Don’t worry,” she said, “we will only be gone for a short while. Father has to work in *Saigon next month, so my mother and I will stay here for a while.” She smirked. “Why? Will you miss me?”
Ca smiled and nodded. “Sure,” he said, “I need someone to dance with.”
“That dirt won’t clean itself Ca,” interrupted Diudang who came out and scolded her son.
Ca smiled and picked up rubbish off the floor.
Hern chuckled and said. “I’ll see you soon,” and walked away.
****
The days dragged on for Ca over the next month. He couldn’t take his mind off Hern. Even though the meeting was brief, he knew she was the girl he would one day marry.
Ca was setting his fishing net one day in the shallow waters of the bay when he noticed a figure walking on the sand towards him.
Hern seeing Ca looking at her, waved.
Ca smiled, anchored his net, and walked to the shoreline. While trying to appear macho, he tripped on a sharp rock, stubbed his toe, and yelped.
Looking in pain, he hobbled ashore and limped his way over to a giggling Hern.
“It hurts you know,” said Ca looking indignant and embarrassed.
Hern put her hand in front of her mouth. “Sorry,” she said, still giggling.
Ca looked at her and smiled. “Never mind, welcome home.”
The next few days were like a dreamy haze for Hern and Ca. While her father worked in Saigon, Hern and her mother, Nga, would stay at their beachside residence in Phan Yar. With the family based in Hanoi, Thran had the property built for the times he went to work in Saigon, which wasn’t too far away for him to commute.
Nga kept to herself in their large home and although she had house cleaners and auxiliary staff, Nga, liked to keep herself busy tending to their large manicured gardens.
Hern and Ca became inseparable, spending balmy days on the beach, with Ca teaching her how to fish, although she spent most of the beginning of her lessons belching out seawater when she tried to go out of her depth.
Hern was well educated and attended the High School for Gifted Students, Hanoi: HNUE. Although intelligent and analytical like her father, she enjoyed the new freedom and social scene that teenagers now enjoyed, especially the western music.
She’d taught herself English along with her father because state schools never had English language on their curriculum. It was a good bonding experience for them both to learn together, and Thran used his influence in the Vietnamese government to have teaching aids shipped over from all parts of the world.
Hern and Ca listened to records in her room, with her explaining the meaning of the lyrics of her favourite song, the one she had played at the party.
Ca thought it made little sense, with no sad story and no happy ending. To him, it sounded a thumping beat of nonsense, but because Hern liked it, so did he.
Nga had noticed the friendship developing, but trusted them because they were Vietnamese, so knew there would be no hanky panky because that wasn’t allowed until marriage.
Ten days later, Thran returned from Saigon, and the following day the family left for Hanoi.
Ca and Hern again said a tearful farewell to each other the night before and the following morning Ca came to their house, stood at the gate, and watched them leave.
He saw Hern in the back seat as the car drove past him and Thran and Nga smiled at him from the front seat while Herm smiled and waved at him from the back.
Ca sighed and felt a lump in his throat as Hern carried on waving out of the back window until the car disappeared from view.
Hern’s father, Thran Tangh, was the deputy minister of public security and an influential communist party member, recently elected to join the national assembly of four-hundred and ninety-three delegates.
Thran and his brother, Lee, had been Trung Tá, Lieutenant Colonels during the American-South Vietnamese and Cambodian conflicts.
However, after the Khmer Rouge were ousted from power, his brother remained in Cambodia as a liaison officer, and helped with the reconstruction of the war-torn, ravished land and impoverished, helpless Cambodian people.
The Tangh family became regular visitors to their beachside retreat over the next few years. Ca and Hern had grown close. Hern taught Ca to read and write Vietnamese and speak English.
Hern wanted Ca to move to Hanoi to work, so they could spend more time together, but Ca refused. He didn’t want to leave his mother, which exasperated Hern. She knew he could better himself and find a well-paying job, but he felt happy being a fisherman. The only other thing he wanted in life was a family with Hern.
They had fallen in love, with them assuming that one day they would marry.
Hern, now nineteen-years-old, worked in Hanoi with her father in the security department as his personal assistant, and although it was a well-paying job, she loathed it and felt she had wasted her education. The only thing she looked forward to was being with Ca.
Thran was a kind but strict father and usually let Hern have her own way and, although he never showed emotion, Hern knew he loved her. Besides, she had her uncle Lee and his new wife to supply the pampering on their visits over from Cambodia.
However, these visits became less frequent, with the Cambodian Royal Family due to return from their years of exile, her new aunt was placed in charge of the reintegration of the Royals as the Cambodian government liaison.
Ca desperately wanted to marry Hern but she kept asking him to wait. She knew her father wouldn’t approve yet. Even though Thran and Ca got on well, her father had made it clear that Hern would marry someone of the same high status and wealth.
One day, Ca and Hern sat on the beach watching the twilight as they did most evenings when she visited. Ca took Hern’s hand, gazed into her brown eyes, and said. “We have been together for many years. I love you and want to stay with you forever, so I can wake up next to you every day for the rest of my life. I will ask your father for his permission to marry you. I am sure he likes me.”
Hern frowned, looked at Ca, and nodded. “Yes, my Father likes you a lot. But I have already told you about the kind of man who he wants me to marry. Wait a few more years. I am sure he will mellow when I refuse to marry any suitor that comes along.” She kissed Ca’s cheek, “I love you so much, but wait...We are happy aren’t we?”
Ca looked at Hern who smiled but her eyes looked sad. He sighed and said, “Yes, we are happy. Okay, I’ll wait a while longer.”
He smiled, and they hugged. However, Ca had already decided that he had waited long enough and would not wait any longer. ‘The worst they can say is wait,’ he thought. ‘They are like my second parents and I always give them the largest and freshest fish daily when they visit, so I am sure they’ll approve. Besides, I am a landowner. They leave tomorrow so I will ask tonight. Hern will be overjoyed when her parents say yes.’ He smirked as Hern released her hug and sat back. She stroked his cheek with the back of her hand and said. “I love you and I want to stay with you, but I must go home soon.”
Ca nodded, and they watched as the sun went down over the horizon like a bright red and orange curtain, followed by a fiery mauve and then dark royal blue as the night set in.
With the moon’s glow bathing the small beach, and carrying small torches, they walked hand in hand towards the Tangh’s home.
Thran smiled as he watched the couple from the window strolling up the driveway to the house. Thran knew Ca and Hern were close, but he assumed they were like brother and sister. He trusted Ca like the son they never had.
Hern and Ca went into the house and up to her room to listen to records, which they usually did until Ca went home around 8:30. However, tonight would be different. Ca got up to leave at 8pm.
“I will walk you to the door,” said Hern smiling.
Ca smiled and said. “No, that’s okay, you are up early, and I know you like your sleep.” He chuckled and left the room.
Hern furrowed her brow. ‘Hmm, that’s strange, he usually likes me to see him to the door and say a long goodbye.’
Thran stood at the living room window, admiring his new S.U.V. parked in the forecourt when Ca came into the living room.
Thran looked at him and smiled. “What is it Ca? You look like you have got the weight of the world on your shoulders.”
Ca, although rehearsing what he was going to say many times over in his head, now didn’t know what to say as his mouth felt dry and his palms sweated. He took a deep breath and with his voice quaking said, “Thran; Hern and I are very much in love and I would like yours and Nga’s permission to marry her.”
Thran looked surprised and frowned at Ca.
Ca looked worried when Thran then looked angry and sounding abrasive asked. “Where is Hern now?”
“She’s in her room playing records. She thought I was going home,” said Ca as he saw Thran’s face changing from a mild, happy looking man into a raging bull as his nostrils flared. Thran stormed out of the room, went to the foot of the stairs, and hollered.
“Hern! Hern, come down here, Now!”
Hern came out of her room and looked down at her father and Ca, who stood behind him looking worried.
“What’s the matter?” asked Hern looking confused and scared.
“Come down here,” bellowed Thran, which woke Nga, who also went downstairs.
They assembled in the living room and Thran glared at Hern and Ca. He then flew into a rage and fired question after question at the trembling couple, about how long the affair had been going on and how many times they’d had sex, etc. He ranted and raved at the confused, frightened, couple. Hern had never seen her father so angry before, seeing a different face of this Jekyll and Hyde, and she did not like it. She looked at Ca, who cowered, hung his head and looked at the floor.
Hern felt furious with Ca, ‘why didn’t he listen when I told him to wait,’ she thought.
The yelling, screaming, and denials went on for twenty minutes, and then Thran wagged his finger at Hern, and shouted. “You know the rules young lady. You will not marry beneath you. Fisher boy here is sole shit. You will not see each other again. Do you understand?”
Hern looked into her father’s eyes as he glared at her. She nodded, sobbed, and with a quiver in her voice said. “Yes Father, I understand.”
He then glowered at Ca and with his hands on his hip leaned forward and through grated teeth said. “As for you Ca; if I see you here again, the repercussions will be hard and permanent. Do you understand?”
Ca looked into Thran’s angry eyes. He knew Thran was rich and powerful, and he did not seem like the same man who he had always regarded as his second father; that feeling disappeared thirty minutes ago.
Ca nodded and stared back at Thran. “Yes, I understand, but I still, and always will, love Hern,” said Ca sounding defiant.
Thran glared at him, and breathing heavy through flared nostrils said. “Get out of my house.” He pointed to the door.
Ca left the house full of fear and confusion; he had never expected that reaction.
He walked down the driveway with his hands on his cheeks looking fraught and thinking, ‘What have I done?’
The next morning Ca walked to the Tangh’s house and hid behind a tree. Twenty minutes later the S.U.V. came out and drove past his hidden position. Hern sat in the rear seat as the vehicle sped away. She never looked back.
Thran only wanted the best for his daughter, somebody rich with high status to make her life easy. A poor fisherman with an uneducated upbringing would certainly not be an ideal candidate. Now his thoughts turned to damage limitation. Although Hern and Ca both denied having sex, it would be hard to find a good husband if the bride wasn’t a virgin, especially in Vietnam. He felt betrayed by Ca, whom he would never forgive. But for now, he would forget and concentrate on creating the best future for Hern.
Over the next few years, the Tangh’s visits became less frequent. Hern hardly ever came, and when she did, she stayed in the house or within the grounds. Unbeknownst to Thran and Nga, she would occasionally sneak out to meet Ca, but their meetings were brief and planned like a military operation.
During one of their secret trysts on the beach, Hern looked sullen as she told Ca what her father planned.
She told him that her father had ordered her to go work in Cambodia. She said that her uncle Lee had procured her a position in the Royal Palace as a maid to Her Majesty, Norodom Monineath Sihanouk.
Ca felt his world falling apart when Hern said that her father would change her name before she went to Cambodia to make it not sound so Vietnamese. So any prospective husbands would not be able to trace her indiscretions.
Vietnamese, Cambodian and Thai people can change their name by simple deed pole, which is commonplace among the rich younger South East Asians
Although she was rebellious and ostracised her father, Hern could not disobey him.
Hern, knowing their time together was short as she had to get home before Nga and Thran realised she had snuck out, and speaking rapidly to lighten the sombre moment, said. “My new surname will be *Doung. Father named me out of respect of the country’s war hero, General Doung Van Mihn, ( or ‘Big Mihn’ as he was better known)
She held Ca’s hands and smiled. “Father let me choose my first name. So to remind me of you, I chose the name of the singer of our special song, Kids in America.”
Ca smiled and seeing tears welling up in Hern’s eyes kissed her and held her close. Ca could feel her heart beating, as they stood entwined in a lover’s embrace for several minutes.
“When do you leave?” asked Ca, his voice sounding hoarse.
Hern gazed into his eyes and said. “We leave here early morning, and I fly to Cambodia the following evening from Hanoi.”
Ca felt like he had been hit with a sledgehammer and stared at Hern, and not knowing what to say or do, he just chuckled nervously.
“Maybe it won’t be so bad. I will write to you all the time, and you can write to me, and when they put a phone line in the village, we can call each other,” said Hern smiling.
Ca nodded and smiled. “I love Hern Tangh,” he said. “But now I also love Kim Doung.”
“And I will always love Gio-a Tho,” said Hern, her eyes filling with tears as she stroked Ca’s tear soaked face.
Ca didn’t want this moment to end, but as Hern sniffed back her tears, she said, “I have to go now.” She released her embrace and smiled.
Ca watched her walking away into the darkness with her flashlight. They both knew this could be the last time they would see each other. Hern never looked back.
Over the next few weeks, Ca received several letters from her saying how much she enjoyed her job and how the royals had been good to her, but she missed him so much. However, the letters became more formal as time went on. Ca wrote back several times, but was unsure whether she received his mail as she never mentioned them in her letters, and after several months, her letters stopped.
****
Over the next few years, Phan Tar village grew into a prosperous community with many of the new wealthy Vietnamese buying cheap plots of land and having properties built.
There seemed to be continuous development, modernisation, and construction work going on in and around the village.
Ca sold the family’s hectare of land to a developer for a tidy profit, using some of the money to renovate and extend the family home. He bought several small long tail boats and set up a fishing tour company for the new tourist invasion.
Thran and Nga no longer came, which suited Ca as he now loathed Thran who he felt had ruined his and Hern’s life. He dreamt of revenge, became a nasty, vindictive man, who could not get Hern out of his thoughts.
It had been many years since Hern went to Cambodia and Ca had heard nothing from her, although thought about her often.
One afternoon, Ca was in the village, drunk as usual in one of the dingy karaoke bars. He sang Di Prolap Chim, Blood on the Hands, a sad Vietnamese love song and one of his favourites. He wobbled and then squinted at a woman stood in the doorway smiling.
Ca gasped when he focused and exclaimed. “Hern!”
Hern waved, went over, kissed his cheek, and put her arms around him.
She replaced the microphone on its stand, led him off the stage, and walked him out of the dark karaoke bar.
They stood outside and as Ca squinted in the sunlight, Hern took his hands and looking serious but sad said, “Ca, I have not heard from you for so long, and I need to speak with you.”
Ca’s heart raced and he couldn’t think straight as he tried to fathom out whether he was dreaming. He stared at her, and apart from dressing finer and speaking more eloquently, it was still his Hern.
Hern smiled at him. “We need to go somewhere private and talk.”
They got onto Ca’s moped, drove to his house, and went into his bedroom.
They sat on Ca’s bed. Hern complimented him on how nice his house now looked.
She then held his hand and told him about her time in Phnom Penh and her new life.
Ca asked why she had stopped writing and had not answered his letters.
Hern looked surprised and said she hadn’t received any letters from him, but said she knew that her father would tell her uncle to block any mail coming from him.
“I knew you would have tried, so I never gave up hope. Even though we have been apart for many years, you have always been in my thoughts. I've always been loyal and had no interest in other men,” said Hern and then looked pensive. “This is the first time I have been home since I left all those years ago.” Ca’s heart raced as he smiled.
He then saw Hern biting her bottom lip and looking upset as she gulped and sounding sombre said, “ Ca, my love, I am engaged to be married.”
Ca gasped and felt like his heart had been ripped from his chest. They had spent what seemed like a lifetime apart, though the bond between them remained strong, and although he had always clung to the hope that they would still be together one day.
The revelation hit him like a truck as Hern told him how her fiancé and her parents arranged the marriage that she’d had no say in.
“Do you love him?” asked Ca with a rasp in his voice and tears in his eyes.
Hern frowned and looked angry. “No, and I never will. He is a horrible old Cambodian man, but rich and powerful. He and my parents are staying at our beach house today and discussing my large dowry and arranging the date. My parents like him and although father is rich, he thinks with this man I will be set for life as they are concerned because I should be married at my age. Father also knows this man would not find out anything about my past and love for you.”
Hern looked forlorn. “Father has ordered this, and I cannot, or dare not, refuse. This man is powerful and dangerous in Cambodia and can harm Uncle Lee, so I am also afraid for him and his family.”
She then smiled and said. “We are only here for one day and leave in the morning. I am supposed to be shopping, but I wanted to see you. I still, and always will, only love you.”
Ca, still feeling tipsy and now morose, put his head in his hands and wept.
Hern stoked his head, stood up, and whispered. “I have something important to give you, something only you could take.”
Ca, feeling confused, looked at her as she smiled at him and then took off her clothes.
****
It had been almost a year since Ca was intimate with Hern and his life had changed. For the first few weeks after Hern left, Ca moped around in and out of bars, getting into fights, and ending up in drunken stupors. After a month, with support from his mother and brother Phaol, he accepted the loss of Hern and married a young girl from the village.
Ca pulled himself together and realising he and Hern would never be together, concentrated on his business.
With the vast sums of money that the Vietnamese Nouveau Riche brought to the coastal towns and villages to build and develop beach resorts, Ca’s business became extremely lucrative with the influx of tourists that followed. The once quiet bay where he lived now bustled with tourists, and jet skis whizzed around the bay churning up the still emerald waters.
Ca now owned six large wooden boats and ran a busy tour and fishing business with his old friend and now his brother-in-law, Tuong, who was also a *Vovinam master/instructor. Ca, although content, always felt an emptiness.
His mother came home one day from the now large village centre and showed him a copy of the Thanh Nien International Newspaper. Although his mother couldn’t read or write, she’d recognised some faces on a photograph on the front page.
Ca read the headline about the marriage of the daughter of a high ranking Vietnamese government official. He looked at the photograph of the wedding in Cambodia with the Cambodian and Thai Royals and the smiling bride and groom, Pon and Kim. He glared at the man standing alongside them smiling. This man, Hern’s father, Thran Tangh, Ca still hated with a vengeance and blamed him for wrecking his happiness.
He then stared at Pon in the photo. ‘Huh, Hern lied when she said he was an old man,’ thought Ca, who threw the newspaper in the bin.
That had happened several years earlier.
Ca, now into his late thirties had two young daughters and several lucrative businesses, including properties in and around the now expanded and modernised Phan Yar village, but life for Ca became mundane.
That was until a few months ago, when the strangers arrived.