Anthony

The story of a Viet Kieu [2nd draft] Luc dug down the bottom of his closet and pulled out an old, faded pair of shocks. He nodded after sniffing the "quality" of these long-abandoned items.

"Hmm...Not bad! 3 more days for them would be fine!" Luc finished checking out another pair and brusquely threw them into his luggage which was laying on the bed. The summer vacation was still 5 days away but Luc's enthusiasm caused him to forgot all the time. He shivered slightly with the condensed excitement inside him. Luc zipped his luggage closed, the upcoming “event” momentarily turned him into an extremely hyper 5-year old kid. His body felt restless and the bed became a playground for the nonstop jumping legs.

A moment later, Luc finally lay down, panting. He randomly gazed at the mirror, and caught a figure staring back at him. The boy inherited every trait from his parents: dark hair, a brown complexion. Yup, a true Asian. After all, in 15 years living in France, those are the only things left that are the reminders of the existence of his other nationality, while a pure French lifestyle was already engraved in his every day. The boy leaned closer for Luke to examine the pure-black eyes staring at him, "who are you?" they asked. The reason was unclear for why that question emerged in his mind, in Vietnamese. Hand over his head, he frowned and meditated in deep thought.

The next morning was a very stressful start when Luc received an unexpected shock from his parents.

"We're gonna start the vacation a bit earlier" Luc's dad communicated over the table, with a mouthful of sandwich.

"We had a new plan set out. It's time for you to discover our original birthplace, Vietnam" full of determination, Luc's mom announced.

"We have prepared the passports already!" She emphasized it once more, slid the plate of strawberry jam to Luc.

It was like he’s just been woken up from a coma. Instantly, a vast emptiness thwarted Luc’s mind. “Why didn't anyone tell me sooner?” he spoke through his numbness, although he already agreed that there was impossible to alter his mom’s mind. “Why should I go back to that UNDERDEVELOPED PLACE? WHY SHOULD WASTE MY SUMMER THERE” He raised his tone louder and louder, until he could no longer hold back, he exploded.

The quietness filled in the kitchen for some seconds, and seemed to last a year. “’That underdeveloped place? Do you mean it? You wouldn't even be standing here, if we were not raised up there!” his mom began to talk, her surprisingly small voice made Luke feel even worse.

“We’re very disappointed today, Luc Nguyễn” his father stood up “of the way you’ve been raised up to be oblivious of your own blood.”

“WHATEVER YOU SAY! I DESPISE ALL OF YOU! THIS IS UNFAIR”, he yelled. Luc jumped upstairs 3 steps at a time to his room, slammed the door and locked himself in. He cursed madly after kicking the luggage with his bare foot. The flight departed 2 days later. In the past 2 days, Luc unexpectedly raised the phone bill himself. He sent out various SOS to every pal of his, moaning about the apocalypse vacation and how desperately he wanted to go to the camp with his friends. In the end, he just had to stick with his parents’ schedule. He was looking back all the way on flight, hoping for an unexpected turn around, for any reasons, back to France. After all, you are usually given what you hate the most. Luc’s plane landed the next day, he stepped down onto the soil of Vietnam, dragging his luggage with disdain and disinterest. They have arrived in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.

“This place is not so…modern” Luc yawned, but he knew to keep his expressions in a certain scale, non-offensive towards his parents.

His mom glared at him, but Luc’s father pretended like he heard nothing “Okay! Let’s jump on a taxi and go back to the village now! Can’t wait to see everyone” inhaled the warm air of summer, smiled and said to himself, “Welcome home, the children of Vietnam” Stepping reluctantly on the Taxi, Luc swore to keep his eyes closed all the way, a kind of silent offence. But secretly, he observed everything through his secret half-closed eyelids. Luc might be extremely unpleasant with the trip, yet it was no match for his ultimate curiousness with the scenery around him. Although he tried coating the cold attitude on, his eyes missed nothing as they surfed through the panoramic view condensed on the car’s windows. They were driving on a gigantic green carpet that spread miles away. The large rice paddy fields were so familiar with Luc’s parents, but they glued on the boy’s eyes. This modern, stylish “Viet Kieu” never actually got a chance to see something which has this raw feature of a culture, a 3D lively vision. Before, all of his imaginations of such place completely came from scene, entirely 2D version.

They entered an old, small gate, led the way to an antique village, which is so contrary to the modern vehicle. Luc saw the small boys, diving and swimming on the river, the little shepherds seemed to have their own way of enjoying summer. The road inside got much thinner, in fact they were going on a length of dike. The car finally stopped in front of a small house: They were there! The roof was covered with hundreds of small old, brown tiles in lines while the yard was large enough to park 6 cars with no difficulty. Behind the house was a big garden where a variety of different vegetables growing, several stacks of straws stood like some small golden mount. However, Luc was kept busy by the time he opened the door. A bunch of people from the house flooded out. Luc felt confused by the Vietnamese welcoming style here. He span in one place with round eyes, stared around at the strangers who just got exceptionally amicable in a minute. Quite opposite, his parents looked calm; in fact, they blended into the strange greetings terribly well.

“Mhm…I thought he’d look quite European!” A male’s voice originated from around the corner, spoken in Vietnamese. The owner of it came up with a cheekily grin. The boy came closer; he was taller than Luc and had a darker complexion. He was thin but brawny and well-built. His penetrating eyes seemed to look into Luc's mind. Luc earned an unpleasant sense from him.

"Ah...uhm...I am....uhm... Viet Kieu from Paris" was all Luke had in reply. He stammered in his awkward Vietnamese. The weird accent directed all attentions from the crowd towards the him. He was desperately in need of his parents' rescue.

"I am your cousin, Phát" He continued, "and I am 2 years older than you" Phát said

"Hey L... Lu...Luc? Come to meet your other cousins." Phát waved at him, began his nonstop introductions, "Here are Ninh, Quảng, Linh, Thắng and Hường...This is your auntie, your uncle...."

"This is gonna be a long long summer!" Luc sighed. And from a corner, there came an appearance of an thin, old woman. She was walking slowly, with a hunched back. Her face was drawn with wrinkles. But somehow, under those lines of ages were the bright eyes, burning with great vigor.

"Are you my...my... grandson?" she asked with a shaky voice and looked up at Luc. Luc knew without any verbal introductions: For the first time in 15 years, here was his grandmother. She held his hand, an incredible warmth was surged onto his heart. Drops of happy tears fell down onto the ground. And the shriveled lips curved into a smile.

Luc was struggling for 2 hours to forget the coldness of the rigid mat he was laying on and get some sleep. He got exhausted of the day. At the same time, his sleepiness drove him nuts. However, thoughts from that morning were stubborn and not leaving his head. There was no distant attitude was developed for a kid that they've never met, "Maybe they would be so ignorant?" Luc reasoned. He did not realize that he started dreaming.

The next day did not improve Luc's mood at all. His body was out of control as he scratched and scratched madly. "WHAT ON EARTH IS HAPPENING TO ME??!!" he yelled, unaware of his language. "Huh? are you singing and dancing?" Phát asked curiously, "teach me some if you could, it seemed to be interesting" That worsened Luc's mood. But he supressed his overwhelming itch and asked properly, in Vietnamese "Why is it so itchy??"

"Ah! I see" Phát chuckled, he pointed at the stacks of straws at the backyard "It's harvest time this year, you probably don't get used to it yet. It's gonna take a week"

"Great! I'm gonna take a bath before I'm fed up with it!" Luc ignored Phát behind. He walked uncomfortably to the backyard, avoided cautiously the stinky pigpen and the cow's "mines". He wandered aimlessly in search of the bathroom. Suddenly, his foot felt so light, like he was stepping into...space. With fast reflex, he looked down to check. And within fraction of a second, he was horrified of what was beneath him: A large fish pond covered with black mud. It was too late for any miracles to happen, he fell down. The crucial coldness was a thousand of needles stab into his flesh. The dreadful smell stopped Luc's respiration system. Luc was choking. An incredible pain squeezed his lungs. His limbs' movements were completely frozen, he sank deeper. "Anyone...Help!" He whispered desperately, his vision faded until he could only see the flowing bubbles above.

"I thought he was gonna take a shower in the bathroom, not in a fish pond!" Little by little, Luc opened his eyelids to identify the figures surrounding him. He realized Phát's voice, "Oh my god! are you okay? Honey!" Luc's mom rushed over to her son, checking if he was still in one piece.

"You should have watched him you idiot!", one of the aunties pinched Phát's ear "you're grounded for today!"

"That's not his fault, sis!" Luc's mom spoke with a soft voice, looking at Phát." He saved our kid, none of this would have happened if Luc was not so careless."

"NONE OF THIS WOULD EVER HAPPEN IF I HAVEN'R GOTTEN MY FEET ON THIS PLACE!! I'M ALL STINKY LIKE A DOG NOW! I HATE THIS PLACE, I WANNA GO BACK IMMEDIATELY!!" Luc shrieked with all of his might, like an awakened beast. He himself was also surprised by his super coherent Vietnamese. He walked away and left the others behind so shocked that some were open-mouthed

"What are you doing here? Everyone is looking for you", a deep voice from behind caught Luc's attention. He was sitting on the bank of the river not far from the old house, staring purposelessly at the sky. Luc recognized immediately the figure stood behind.

"I'm smelly, grandmom..." Luc felt like not wanting to show any disrespect for this only person, he replied softly.

"Well, that certainly smells bad. But we've been apart for so long that it's the least to matter!" She sat down next to Luke, "You may be hard-headed, stubborn and troublesome kid. But undoubtedly, your name is Luc Nguyen, my grandson!" And gently, she placed her trembling hand on his chest "So I believe that deep inside, you're a kind, warm hearted boy. And despite of all, your parents love you. You just need time to understand it, very soon, I promise!" Luke felt a little bit disappointed, he was hoping for some help from her to get back to France. But at the same time, he felt strangely calm, all of his madness was gone.

"Haiizz...Whatever nanny! I'm gonna take a shower now, can't stand this" He stood up. A last dim sadness stagnated in nanny's eyes embedded somewhere in a corner of Luc's memory.

The sun rose to its top, and its bright yellow rays landed on Luc's face. It was another unpleasant day, the whole vacation messed up on the day before. He was asked sternly to give an apology to everyone he screeched at. With him, that was much a worse penalty than being grounded. He had prepared himself to face the enormous humiliation as he was making heavy steps towards the living room. However, it seemed like all of Luc's anticipation was turning out a bit miserable these days. A kind of dreadful stillness loaded to the atmosphere. No one spoke a thing when the bad Viet Kieu boy entered, to be exact, everyone was sitting there like a statue. And on the trestle-bed at the middle, his parents' faces were all red, soaked with tears from their dark-ringed eyes. The wrinkles folded on their foreheads. Luc's dad said with a choked, quivering voice, looking down at the non-moving body on the mat "Luc...you woke up already," he tried to hide the drops of tears away, but couldn't, they just kept flooding out "your nanny..." It was like furious chemical reaction triggered when those words reached his ears. His heart experienced an incredible biting frostiness, it squealed horribly. Luc lost senses of his legs, like a soldier who just got hit, he dropped down hard onto his knees, gazed at the body behind his parents. Nanny looked like she was sleeping, her eyes closed peacefully with her comfortable gesture. It was nothing strange if someone said she was smiling, her lips curved the same way when Luc first met her. Yes, she was smiling happily and satisfied, because finally, she got her last chance to see her grandson, even for a really short time.

"Luc, we've arranged for you to flight back to France" Luc's dad said, a moment later when they were getting the funeral prepared.

Luc gave no response, the last conversation with his nanny still echoed in his brain. "I could never have thought that she'd leave this early, too early for any of us, but at least, I fulfilled her last wish. She's known her grandson's face!" Where was his stubbornness? Where were all the oppositions? It was hard to believe that finally, Luc had to admit. He was nothing like his grandmother expected him to be, nothing like that. Luc insulted himself and the devil inside him. All of his parents' efforts were to get Luc to meet his grandmother for the first and last time. However, they were offended by his selfishness. He could never be like that at all, until...

"I'm not going anywhere until her interment is completed!"

"....Luc!"

"And dad! Luc Nguyen is my name!"

"....Someday you'll learn and understand!" His nanny spoke inside his heart, and he felt strong for the first time in a long time. Image URL: []