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(Brought to you by kat impatientreader.com) We then return to November 22, 1963 in the Philippines where we started, except that we're in the viewpoint of Minh, otherwise known as Lucky. The colonel insists that they switch prostitutes and Minh tries to have sex with his in order to show his gratitude to the colonel who's paying for her, but his heart isn't in it. He can go no further than lying beside her with both of them naked. The next morning, the colonel cries over President Kennedy and makes several drunkenly sentimental statements. Onward we go to 1964. We're in Vietnam in a village near Saigon at the New Star Buddhist temple with Hao Nguyen, the uncle by marriage of Minh. Hao is there for the funeral of Minh's brother Thu, a young monk who burned himself alive to protest the escalation of hostilities between North and South Vietnam. Right now, however, Hao feels nervous about the fact that he just saw an old friend named Trung Than (also known as "the Monk") who went north when the country got partitioned. Today the Monk popped up long enough to get a ride from Hao to the temple, and then he scurried off into the jungle. Hao talks with the Buddhist master at the temple about Colonel Sands who will be coming to the funeral. The master pushes for information about possible American involvement in the war; nervously Hao insists he knows nothing. He tells the master that his old friend the Monk has been trying to extort money from him for the Vietminh cause. The master seems to be in contact with the Monk though the Communists would surely threaten his temple as much as they would Hao's family business. He says he will tell the Monk that Hao has no money to spare. Colonel Sands shows up with a collapsible screen and portable film-projector, plus a Vietnamese lady to translate for him. He intends to show a one-hour film titled Years of Lightning, Day of Thunder to the villagers; it's about President Kennedy's life. Nobody shows up to watch the film, but the colonel plays it anyway. Midway through the film, someone outside throws a grenade into the temple. Fortunately, it turns out to be a dud, and the colonel drops it into the temple well. We then access the viewpoint of Trung Than (also known as "the Monk"). He runs into the jungle after throwing the grenade into the temple. But when he hears no explosion, he starts crying in disappointment and maybe also in relief because he hadn't expected the master and Hao to be sitting right next to the colonel and wouldn't have wanted to kill them. He remembers how his superiors in Saigon had given him only one grenade and told him to kill the American colonel dressed in civilian clothes who would be bringing the film projector. He feels guilty for hitting up Hao for money. He reports his failure to his cadre, and the next morning he goes to a displaced group of Hoa-hao guerillas, all young boys in their teens, who are struggling to survive in the malaria-infested jungle. Though Trung has come to seriously doubt the Communist cause, he makes a revolutionary speech and convinces them to go north with him to join up. |
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