Duong Huong - The Zenith

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because they think we are people of the mountains: trustworthy and stupid; that we would not dare to do so.”

“Good. Because we are stupid, we will escape death. And they are from the lowlands and smart; therefore, they hold in their hands certain death. Now there is not much time. We have to get to the train station; hopefully we will not miss the train, thanks to the public security pass that you have.”

“But… what about my clothes and money in the barracks?”

“Are you crazy? It’s better to live naked than die draped in a military uniform in a coffin. Let’s go.”

They biked straight to the Hang Co station. There, the two bought tickets for Vinh to the south. As An predicted, Nong Tai’s public security pass helped. It gave them priority to buy tickets under the justification of being sent on “special duty.” As soon as they boarded the train, its engine whistled and it pulled out of the station. An put down his duffel behind his back then sat down, his eyes gazing out the window.

“Farewell to you, city of my enemies; a city I had dreamed of for so many months when I was still at the northern front; a city I thought was a paradise but which has now turned into a hell. This is the very place that will be the dark tomb in which my loved ones will be buried forever. Farewell, you gigantic and atrocious monster.”

So he thought as he set eyes on Hanoi for the last time.

“Brother Thanh,” said Nong Tai, “Brother Thanh, I am thinking…”

“About what?”

“Why are we going south? By advancing deeply into the flat plains of the central provinces, we will be like foxes caught in the open fields, like fish thrown up on the hills. Why don’t we turn back to That Khe? There we know all the main roads and shortcuts. We know the streams and forests. Anywhere we hide, we can dig up roots or trap animals to keep ourselves alive.”

“Stupid: That Khe is the first place they will look. We cannot hide forever in the woods. Moreover, even if we escape the encircling net and cross over the border, we will fall into the hands of Chinese soldiers. They will immediately turn us back over to the Vietnamese government.”

“But in the central provinces, a strange place?”

“Only in a strange place can we hope to escape. It is much shorter from Vinh to the border with Laos than from our homes to the northern border with China.”

“How do you know that?”

“I must know to save myself. I must learn all the necessary details before I start the journey.”

“But on the other side of the border is the land of the Lao. Do you know them or not?”

“The Lao and the Chinese are like the deer and the tiger. We cannot compare one with the other.”

Their whispers were buried in the loud grinding of the steel wheels on the rails. Then An said, “Go to sleep.”

“I am not sleepy yet. And it’s hard to sleep with an empty stomach.”

“Right. Nobody can sleep when they’re hungry. Go to the cafeteria to buy some bread. After we eat, we will drink lots of water. It’s easier to sleep with a full stomach. We must sleep to have strength for tomorrow.”

Nong Tai got up and went to the cafeteria at the end of the train to buy two big loaves of bread sprinkled with salt and pepper and two containers of water. The two ate quietly then fell asleep sitting up. The train shook their heads as if they were bouncing rubber balls. They slept very soundly until the loudspeakers announced:

“The train is arriving at Vinh. Please check your luggage.”

An opened his eyes wide. The train moved forward then stopped completely, and they got off, passing along the station platform in a fog. It was only four a.m. Horse carriages were lined up in a row outside the station. Their drivers sat around drinking tea or wine in the row of stalls along the street. To get government transportation you had to line up for at least ten hours until you could purchase a ticket.

An took Nong Tai for a stroll then focused on a driver with a daredevil air and a handlebar mustache.

“Hello to you. We have a special assignment up on the border. Do you think you can help the two of us?”

“Who are you?”

“We are public security and a military officer. Here is an identification certificate for the two of us.”

“Public security and a military officer enjoy priority for government transportation. Every three days there is a car going to the border crossing. You comrades rent a room and inform the local police to make arrangements. There will be a departure the day after tomorrow in the morning.”

“Our assignment is an emergency. We cannot wait.”

“But you comrades cannot hire our horse carriages. Going up the mountain road is very expensive. Here, we usually take passengers going only to towns around Vinh.”

“We can pay no matter how expensive. The agency will reimburse us.”

The horse carriage driver looked at them with suspicion: “A carriage usually takes eight passengers.”

An interrupted him: “We will buy eight tickets plus the cost of luggage for eight. We hope you accept.”

“OK…let me see.”

“And we will pay additionally for the feeding of the horses on bad roads. If you need to change the horses along the road, we are ready to cover that, too. As long as we can make good time to complete our assignment.”

“OK!”

The driver stood up with an unexpected swiftness. He pulled out some change to pay the woman for his tea then took the two men to his horse carriage.

An gave him two-thirds of the fare, adding, “The balance I will pay when we see the border post appearing before our eyes.”

“Comrade, you are a very generous person. Therefore heaven has led you to meet up with me. To say it straight, my horse is number one among all the horses that run in this town,” he explained with great pride. “No horse would dare go against mine up the road to the border, because I am the only one who feeds his horses corn mixed with honey. The others feed their horses only hay all year ’round.”

After carefully putting the money in his shirt pocket, the driver climbed onto his seat and turned the carriage completely around to go west.

As he listened to the galloping of the horseshoes on the road, An stuck his neck out to look around.

“Vinh is not much larger than the town of That Khe. But the style of the houses here is a bit different. Why are we seeing all these red-painted barrels like that one?”

“You comrades are here for the first time, right?” asked the driver.

“Yes. Exactly correct,” An said.

The driver pointed his whip to the rows of rolling mountains at the horizon ahead and said, “The Lao wind blows from the west. It is so fierce that wherever it blows, everything dries and easily burns up. The government distributes those red-painted barrels for families to store water. Lazy ones who let the barrels get low will be reported and will be warned or disciplined.”

“The city fire department is paid with government salaries to do this work. Why force all the people?”

“The fire department here is three times larger than in other cities. But even if there were twenty times more firemen, they could not put out the fires brought by the Lao wind. The Lao wind is also called a fire wind; it starts the fires, no need for people’s negligence in addition.”

“Really! That is scary,” An replied, thinking to himself: “Lao wind! How dangerous; and we are going toward that cavernous oven. No disasters are more dangerous than those created by people. There is nothing in nature more cruel than people going after one another.”