escape, a novel by luong minh dao 5 - 3

                                                                 escape     5- 3
                                                      a novel by luong minh dao 

     " OK."  said Ho-A.
     They went to the starboard side and sat down.   They dropped their feet, and the waves were so high that they almost touched their knees.

    " What worries you the most now ?" Van asked.
    " I am afraid that nobody helps me to get up onto the ship when they rescue us, " Ho-A said .
    Van turned his head and looked into her eyes.
     " Oh! You are a funny young man," Van said, smiling. " You may believe that I will be the last person leaving the boat."
    " No. Just be the person after me ."
    They laughed.   The waves seemed higher.   Some water rolled over the lowest part of the stern deck and fell back to the sea when the boat swung to its starboard side.
    " Another storm is to come?" Ho-A said.
     " I 'm afraid so. "
    They looked to the horizon; whitecaps were thicker and taller.
    " It's time to distribute jicamas, " Van said. " Would you like to help me? Going down there, I felt lonely and painful."
    " I go with you, " said Ho-A.
   When they reached the middle of the deck, Van saw another ship coming from the east.   It was closer than the last one had huge .
    " A ship! A ship!" Van shouted.
    Most of the passengers were climbing up the deck, one by one, through the opening of the roof of the passengers' compartment.  They shouted; they waved their white clothes, 
they jumped; they cried.   The steersman, the mechanic, Dan, and Phu-Oc, on their toes waved their arms, shouting.
   " SOS."
    " Mayday".
    " SOS."
    " Help." 
    Ho-A stood stiff with her back leaning against a life buoy hung on the wall of the cabin.

     The ship passed the boat about fifty feet away from its bow; it brought with it strong waves that shook the boat violently.   Then, the red star painted on its smokestack became a red dot, and then, the shouts from the passengers' deck had been dying away  before the whole silhouette of the ship disappeared into the far waves.

                                                  ***


     Van woke up in the midst of noises of struggling in the passenger's compartment; somebody was kicking and banging on the starboard wall.
    "No !" a woman said. " No !"
   " You cannot keep it forever," a man voice said .
    "No, no! " the woman said and cried." You have no reason to take her away. No... No. "
    " She is dead.  She is dead," said the male voice.
    "Why? Why my little  Pearl ? My little baby?" the woman shouted and cried.  Her voice was louder than the sound of waves breaking on the port side of the boat .

     Van sat up and looked to the connecting door.   In the dim light in the passenger's compartment, he saw the back of a man who  was holding little Peral 's wrist with his right hand.   Her left arm was streched up, her right hand dropped at her side; her body was pulled up, and her legs, from knees down, were dragged on the floor.   She was dressed up like a European doll .  He dragged her towards the bow and into the dark area at the end of the compartment.

     Van  felt totally numb; he could not move his body to lie down until a tall wave hit the window and shook the boat violently; Van felt down beside Ho-A.   She turned her head to Van and then took  the raincoat from the bag under her head.

    " Get close to my back", she said, " share the raincoat with me."   On his side, Van slid closer to Ho-A.   She spread the raincoat above them.   Van put his face beside the back of her shoulder.  
     
    " The littrle girl ..., do you know?" Van asked.
    " Yes, I know, Van".
   Once in a while, a tall wave fell to the window and pured water on the raincoat.
    " Let's try to sleep," said Ho-A.

    Van woke up with a vague memory of the far past and was aware that Ho-A was resting her left arm on his chest and her knee, on his leg.  The others were sleeping quietly Van slid from Ho-A and went to the stern.

    Dan and two youths stood on the deck, talking noisily.   Some supporting beams of the deck roof were ripped  off from the floor.   The two beams that used to support the roof from the rear had fallen down into water, but their bottom ends, held by bolts, did not leave the sides of the stern.   They were pulling the roof floating behind the boat like a connected raft.

     " No, I saw them pushing the boat ahead," a youth said.
    " You can see the waves they left behind," the other  youth said.
   "How could they push the boat ," Dan said; " they are pulled by the boat and slowed it down."
    "No, you cannot do it," holding Dan's hand, the youth said;" let the roof alone ."
     "No; I do not want it to rip off the stern; I have to chop it off."
    Van walked on the deck, from one side to the other.  He wondered why Dan had to be on this boat to listen to that ironic talk after several years of fierce battles on the rivers of the South.
     " If there were no wars," Van thought, " what could be happening ?"
    Suddenly Van noticed that the bolts at the ends of the beams were bent and the screws had been removed.   Van went to Dan .

     " Don't do it Dan," Van said; " you do not have to do anything."
    Van pushed Dan back to the cabin.  They sat down.
    " Why you had to fight and spend your energy for nothing?" Van laughed.  " There are no screws and the bolts at the beams are almost doubled up.   Nothing keeps the roof there forever."
    They laughed.  Ho-A had woken up.   Sitting on the two rice bags in the corner, she was combing her hair with her fingers.
    " How are you?" Van said to her.
    " How are you ?" Ho-A said,  smiling .

     Without the stern roof, the cabin was brighter.   The waves were less strong than last night.  Kim was sitting at her usual place with her two children.
     "How are you? " Van said.
     Kim nodded and pointed to her dry lips.
     " I understand, " Van said.  " They are badly cracked.   You lost too much water; I ' m sorry."
    Van went to the bags of food and took the jicama underneath the bag of shrimp near Ho-A's feet.
     " This is my yesterday ration," showing the jicama to Kim, Van said.
    " No. No," Kim said, pressing her fingers to her lips  and closing her eyes; " I cannot; your lips are very dry too."
    " Please; don't worry," Van said; " I ' ll go down into the water, and all my thirst will go away.    No, this is not for you; it' s for the baby."

    Van put the jicama in Kim's hand;  she looked at it.   Her daughter was sleeping soundly on her lap.   Her older daughter was sitting quietly beside her, looking at Van.   Van wanted to hold tightly the little girl in his arms.   Turning away, he sighed.
    " Let's go out side, Dan, " after a long silence, Van said.
   " You go back to sleep?" Van asked Ho- A.
    She smiled and stood up.   Three of them went to the stern deck.   They sat on the floor under the lifebuoys, leaning their backs aganist the cabin wall.
   " I haven' t seen Phu-Oc," Van said .

     " His friend is sick; he is with him inside," Dan said.  " Last night he stayed late on deck, tried to make a fire, but failed ."
    " I think that we are going northeast; where do you think that we will end up?" Van asked.
    " First, we went east, then northeast," said Dan;" that's why we did not go back to Saigon or  to Nha Trang.   Now, sometimes we go northeast; and sometimes north.   I think we will land up in Hainan or Hongkong ."
    " I thought somehere in China also," Van said.
    " Where would you like to land, Ho-A?" Van asked a long silence,
     " San Francisco," Ho-A said.
     Why San Francisco?" Dan  asked.
    " Because ..., " Ho-A laughed and did not finish his answer.
    " You believe that we can survive until then?" Van asked.
    " Yes, if you know how to sleep like me , " Ho-A said, looking to the horizon.   Then,  she laughed again.
    " Today," Van said after another long silence," I ' ll distribute jicamas to children only."
    " Why ?"
   " Why?" they asked and looked at Van.
   " You know why, " Van answered and took in a deep breath.  " Do you have the courage to go with me , Ho-A ?"
    Van stood up and extended his hands to Ho-A.
   " Alright," Ho-A said, holding Van' shands, she stood up.

     They went into the cabin.   Van put  the jicamas into Dan's shoulder bag, and they stepped down into the passengers' compartment.   At the front  end of the compartment, Van stopped in front of a little girl who was sitting beside her sister.

   " Today, only you have a jicama, you sister does not," Van said.
   " Why? She is very thirsty ... like me , " the little girl said.
    "Because we do not have enough," Van said and understood that he did not really answer her.
     " What?"

    Somebody asked loudly, but Van did not hear anyone answer.   Van handed Ho-A a jicama to give  to the little girl.  Ho-A sat down on her heels and gave it to her lttle girl; she held her face and kissed her forehead.   In the middle of the compartment, they stopped and talked to Phu-Oc and his friend.   They distributed jicamas to about ten children in the passenger's compartment.   When they reached the cabin door, Van saw Ha-Hue and Hue-Tu talking.   They waved their hands to them and continued talking.   Van could not read any clear expressions on their faces, but he hoped that they wanted to show their indifference to the privation of their rations.   Van put the bag on the cabin floor.   He took three jicamas and gave them to the mothers; they received them quietly.

     Van went to the stern, and Dan followed him.   They stood at the end of the deck, looking to the southwest sea.   Van felt lonely. He thought of Di-An and missed her street, the street where she opened a store to buy and sell used furniture.   In the late afternoon before going home, the two young officers of the old regime's Army who were employed in Di-An's store as delivery workers would play their guitars and drink tea with Van.  Once, just once, they played " Post Bellum", their own work.  Their music rose above the sounds of dry leaves running with the wind along the sidewalks and sometimes disappeared into them.  Looking at the thin veils of tears in their eyes, Van felt choked.

    " Do you think of going down into water a while ?" Dan asked.
    " Oh, yes, yes."
   They took off their shirts and pants.
    " Would you like to help Ho-A to go into water? " Van asked; " I think that she can sit on our special raft there."
    " Why not?"

    Van went back to the cabin.   Ho-A was sitting with her chin on her knees and her arms crossed in front of her legs.   When Van came closer, she looked up and half-smiled.
   "  Let us go into the water for a while,"  Van said." I cannot let you be so depressed.  We have a safe seat for you ."
    Quietly, Ho-A extended her hands to Van.   He pulled her up, and they went to the deck.   Dan and Van helped Ho-A sit on the floating roof.   The waves rose up to the chest of her white shirt, and then, fell down on the raft.   Except her dry lips now damp with seawater.   Van could not find any other signs showing that she had been deprived of water and  food for days.

     Gradually Ho-A became familiar with floating in turbulent water, she let the waves bring her up and down with the raft; they drifted behind the boat.
    They left the water when low clouds started piling up.   The sun made only a small bright area in the sky; the sea became rougher and dark gray.
    "Another night of rough sea," van said.
    " I hope not," Ho-A said. 

     The sea was very cold that night.   Van lay close to the wall of the cabin to keep Ho-A from being soaked by water that poured in through the cracks of the window when tall waves hit against the boat.   Van wondered whether she stayed awake or was dreaming.   He could not hear any sound coming from the passengers' compartment but the window shutters flapping against the sides of the boat.   He could not imagine what was happening there.   Van felt asleep, and when he woke up next morning, the raft was no longer floating behind the boat.


     Standing on the deck with his back leaning against the cabin wall, Van was looking at the south horizon.   Whitecaps moved up and down incessantly on dark gray water.   Van heard somebody walking towards him, he turned his head towards the passengers' deck behind him.   Ha-Hue was walking on the swinging deck with the unsteady movements of her body and arms.   She sat down on the edge of the floor, letting her legs hanging down beside Van; her feet almost touched the lifebuoys tied to the wall of the cabin.

   " How are you?" Van asked, turning of the horizon.
    " Pretty good," Ha-Hue said.
    " Mr. Bay," she said after a pause," they do not left her alone ."
    " Who?"
    " The mother of the baby."
    " The woman who shouted and cried last night ?" Van asked.
   "   Yes. last night, she ran around, naked, looking for her daughter,  She woke the whole compartment up.   The tied up her arms and legs until she quieted down.   Now they told her that she was the only person who could save the boat. " 

   " What?" said Van.
   " They told her that ship always rescue persons who drift on the sea, she can give them the information  about our boat when they rescued her.   Now, she is ready for landing on water."
   " I heard them talking about woman sacrifice to the Sea god." Ha-Hue continued after a short pause.
   " They are really insane," Van said.  " Let's take her out of doing it ."
   They went down the passengers' compartment.  The young mother was sitting by a window.   Her yellow shirt was very bright.  Her hair was combed up to make a chignon, her face and her neck were rather plump and statue-like.   Looking at a purse mirror, she was putting make-up on her cheeks.

    " Miss," Van said, sitting down beside her, " you really want to save us ?"
    The woman glanced at Van, then, went back to her make-up.
   " No, Miss, you cannot help that way, " Van continued. " If you go down the water, you are just a little dot in on the ocean.   How can a ship recognize you ? "
    The woman continued her make up, adding a little tan cream to het cheeks.   She did not say a word.
   " And, Miss, how can you stay alive in the cold water at night to save us ? No, you
can' t."
    The woman looked at her mirror.
    "Many of us do not want you to save us this way.  And, I do not want your help, landing on water, you can neither save me nor do anything for me ."

      The woman took from her lap a  small piece of paper on which there were four Chinese characters written with red ink .   She folded and put it into her make-up box and snapped the box closed.

    " Miss ..."
    " May be she' s ready, " said somebody on the deck. " Give her a lifebuoy."
     Van stood up in haste.   He climbed up the deck and ran towards the stern.   He reached the stern deck before the two youths arrived.   Van stood firm in front of the lifebuoys, facing the youths and extending his arms to both sides.
    " No, you cannot let her do it.   It's  a  murder," Van said.
    " She volunteered," a youth said.
    " No, a crazy human being cannot volunteer."
   "  Crazy, you or she ?"
    " The Sea got does or does not exist," Van said." I don't care, either you believe in it or do not, I don't care ".
     The youths stepped slowly towards Van.
    " But, you cannot persuade a desperate woman, you cannot deceive a sick person.   No, you cannot kill her ."
    Staring at the youths, Van stood firm with his arms extended to both sides.
    The youths laughed.
   " You believe that you can get away with this if you survive ?"

    They nodded to each other and suddenly held Van wrists.   They pulled Van forwards and then let his wrist loose.   Van ran some steps and fell down on his knees at the edge of the stern.   Suddenly, Van understood that if he had fallen into the sea, the boat would leave him behind forever.  Van turned his head and saw the youths running on the deck towards the bow with  a lifebuoy . 
                                                           (  to be continued ) 

     luong minh dao