I’d never been on a submarine before, never realized how enjoyable being on one could be. To be honest, it was sort of like being rocked in a cradle, ever so gently. I felt as though I were young again, a babe in my mother’s embrace. It was all like a dream, my first dream after dying. People who are still alive never remember their firsts – not the first colour they see, the first sound they hear, the first dream they have. But for those of us who are dead, all these firsts seem to be waiting for us, and so we remember them all. Not only do I remember this first death-sleep, I also remember when I awoke from it. This is how it was: someone had burst into the room, carelessly knocking over the hat stand that stood near the door, and let loose an unearthly sound that startled me awake. I didn’t know who he was, but he had the look of a seaman. Without saying a word, he hauled me from the bed and dragged me out through the door before propping me up against a small airlock. A moment later I heard Bureau Chief Lü shout, ‘Bring me the sea charts!’

I could now see Bureau Chief Lü. He had just emerged from the corridor.

Su, the same one who’d cleaned me up, appeared with sea charts in his hand. Perhaps it was because of the gentle swaying of the submarine, but the two of them knelt down beside me and spread the charts across my corpse.

‘What is our position?’ Bureau Chief Lü asked.

‘Here,’ Su indicated. ‘Bạch Nhà Loãng beach. We’re about ten nautical miles away from our objective.’

‘What are the wind and wave conditions?’ asked Bureau Chief Lü.

‘Ideal. Under these conditions, by morning it’ll wash ashore.’

Bureau Chief Lü considered the time, then turned to the seaman. ‘Heave!’

The seaman opened the latch and flung me overboard.

I could never have imagined that this would be my fate.

9

My story and my unforgettable experiences advance step by step.

As I’ve said, thirty years ago, due to unforeseen circumstances, people mistook me for Hồ Hải Dương. More distressing, at least for me, is that for these past thirty years this mistake has remained unaddressed, and so I have remained Hồ Hải Dương, for better or worse. It goes without saying that this was not what I wanted and unfair, so I feel it’s important to explain things. Finally, here and now, I wish to clarify my connection with this Hồ Hải Dương.