Wiping her lip with her index finger, she repeated, “You pray for the dead silently out of respect for their condition.” As I drove home, I thought about her words, ‘Out of respect….’ Those words summed up the truth of her beliefs. The effort of thinking made me drowsy during my drive home. I wondered who will carry on her traditions when I’m gone. Who will bury me if I don’t marry? When I arrived home, I was beginning to think it was imperative that I find a wife. I wanted to marry soon because I wanted children. I wanted my aunt to teach my children. Maybe I was like my father. He hid behind his behind alcohol and music. His feeling of insanity was a force behind his anger. Nobody knew he suffered from his war experiences like I suffered from mine. Yet, he was able to marry. I wondered could I find a woman if anytime I thought about anything I thought about Nam. I remember the red light district of Saigon. I remember going to those houses, but mostly I remember the everyday woman walking with children or along the dams of the rice paddies. I thought of Bao’s woman. She was blown apart because she had an American
Wiping her lip with her index finger, she repeated, “You pray for the dead silently out of respect for their condition.” As I drove home, I thought about her words, ‘Out of respect….’ Those words summed up the truth of her beliefs. The effort of thinking made me drowsy during my drive home. I wondered who will carry on her traditions when I’m gone. Who will bury me if I don’t marry? When I arrived home, I was beginning to think it was imperative that I find a wife. I wanted to marry soon because I wanted children. I wanted my aunt to teach my children. Maybe I was like my father. He hid behind his behind alcohol and music. His feeling of insanity was a force behind his anger. Nobody knew he suffered from his war experiences like I suffered from mine. Yet, he was able to marry. I wondered could I find a woman if anytime I thought about anything I thought about Nam. I remember the red light district of Saigon. I remember going to those houses, but mostly I remember the everyday woman walking with children or along the dams of the rice paddies. I thought of Bao’s woman. She was blown apart because she had an American