He’s right there, lolling in Saigon Plaza, plain as day. An old man now, as are we all, but unmistakably him.
Not sure how I should play it. Unless something’s gone seriously wrong, he already spotted me. Knows I am here.
Take a deep breath, walk up to him.
He stares at the empty park through mirrored glasses.
“Did you miss it?” he asks as I approach.
“The place?” I sit.
“The place. The heat. The people, the bugs, the war, the hunt.”
“You really asking?”
“I really am.”
“Tell the truth, the only thing I missed was the food.”
Dear Josh,
A little confused. He missed American food or Vietnamese food. The latter I would miss. Tight dialogue.
Shalom
Rochelle
Like Rochelle, I wasn’t sure which cuisine he missed, but I assumed Vietnamese
I assumed Vietnamese, and he was back visiting for the first time since the war, which I would imagine will bring back a lot of bad memories.
Surely he could only miss Vietnamese food (salivating as I write). Great dialogue – I could hear them.
Susan A Eames at
Travel, Fiction and Photos
Vietnamese food is delicious. Does he know it’s just about universally available these days?
Ah, but most of the food in the US is not the same (according to my Vietnamese sources). Lots of Lao, Hmong, Cambodian and Thai influences, they say.
Could be–I’m certainly not an expert!
Excellent story! I like the depths lurking beneath the simplicity of their conversation.
I was thinking of Robert Stone and Denis Johnson when I wrote it :-)
Terse and to the point.
Thanks
Great dialogue with so much more beneath the words. I’ve lived in and out of Asia for a long time and at the moment I am out. That said, I certainly do not miss the bugs or the heat. I love Vietnamese food though and would certainly miss that.
Whatever was missed, it seems that they picked up right where they’d left …
Im assuming they fought with or against each other in Nam, how could he not miss the food?!! SE Asian is the nuts
I do like the food in Vietnam. Actually I like most things there except the heat and humidity. :)