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Chapters (48)
  1. COVER PAGE
  2. TITLE PAGE
  3. EPIGRAPH
  4. PRAISE
  5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  6. MAP
  7. PROLOGUE
  8. CHAPTER ONE
  9. CHAPTER TWO
  10. CHAPTER THREE
  11. CHAPTER FOUR
  12. CHAPTER FIVE
  13. CHAPTER SIX
  14. CHAPTER SEVEN
  15. CHAPTER EIGHT
  16. CHAPTER NINE
  17. CHAPTER TEN
  18. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  19. CHAPTER TWELVE
  20. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  21. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  22. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  23. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  24. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  25. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  26. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  35. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  36. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  45. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  46. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  47. COPYRIGHT PAGE
  48. What’s next onyour reading list?

Colonel Pham regained his smile, satisfied that he and Condley had recovered their normal rapport. “My wife is waiting for you. She was very moved by your offer to go to temple.”

Condley smiled graciously, knowing that the colonel’s invitation was an indication that their relationship had not been hurt by his questions. “I would be happy to pray with her at any time.”

“Then you can come to our house later this afternoon?”

“It would be my honor.”

“Van will be there.” Colonel Pham searched Condley’s face expertly as he made his announcement and found exactly what he had been looking for. “She liked you very much.”

“She is a very beautiful woman.”

“Her French friend Mr. Petain hates you.”

“Then he should learn to control his emotions.”

The colonel laughed at that. “Yes,” he said, with an irony that informed Condley they shared the same view of Petain. “One should never waste his emotions in Asia, should he?”

“What else is left for the French in Asia besides emotions?” Condley checked his watch. “May I come at five o’clock?”

“My daughter is very spoiled, you know.”

“Beautiful women deserve to be spoiled, Colonel.”

“In your country, perhaps.”

“It’s the freedom thing again.”

“Perhaps, but you said freedom is for being foolish. She’s not foolish. Only spoiled.”

“Yes, but I think she is beautiful enough to make other people do foolish things.”

The colonel laughed, scrutinizing Condley’s face once more. Again seeing what he wanted to find, he gave Condley a small wave and took out another iron. “I have to finish my game. See you at five o’clock!”

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER TEN

Dzung sat forlornly in his cyclo, smoking cigarette after cigarette and reading through that day’s edition of the popular newspaper Tuoi Tre. Every now and then he would glance up at the midday traffic, looking for the meter taxi that would announce Condley’s return from Thu Duc. Having been starved for information during the years in the reeducation camps and the other years of near-total news blackouts, Dzung was an avid, even voracious reader. And being the product of a culture that had endured centuries of dominance and hidden resistance, like most Vietnamese he found great pleasure in looking past the surface of each story to guess which reality was being contorted for the benefit of the governing powers. Reading what was said, Dzung was very good at knowing what was not being said. And as always he felt a huge lament that he could not find a way to tell the communists how to fix the country’s problems. For even on this isolated Dong Du Street sidewalk, Dzung knew how and where they could be finding answers.

But I am gia, he thought again. An old Viet Nam Cong Hoa soldier, never to be listened to or trusted.