Drunken Love by Que Son (to read list TXT) 📖

the leaves and inside the bushes and when they sensed body heat they would spring out and attach themselves silently to the prisoners' legs or any exposed part of the skin and they would suck the blood until they became fat like a thump. Often at the end of a work day, the prisoners would go back and take off their pants or shorts and discovered a dozen or so fat leeches on their legs. They then used the hatchets to scrap the leeches of their legs and killed them, and the legs then looked all bloody. The leeches nuisance was especially bad when the jungle was wet with rain.

 

Six months into the internment, Adam was set up to make his escape. A guard came back from leave and told him in such and such a night and at such and such a time he must be ready to sneak out during the guard's watch. The guard told Adam that while in the city during leave he was contacted by Adam's father who requested that he helped Adam escape. And he agreed--for a fee. The guard told Adam that he would be accompanied by another prisoner who knew the way back to Da Nang and who was also arranged to escape that night. This prisoner had made one escape attempt before but was recaptured. He was a member of Adam's work team and they knew but rarely talked to each other. However, after receiving instructions from the guard they started to glance in each other's direction.

 

On the night of the planned escape, Adam lied wide awake waiting for the signal from the guard. Past midnight, someone touched his foot, but he lied for a few more minutes then got up and walked gently through the rows of sleeping prisoners. He sensed that another person was tiptoeing behind him, and he knew it was his co-escapee. They walked out of the gate. There were no unusual sounds except for the rhythmic buzz of insects and of howling of the night jungles. They walked for an hour on the usual path that they walked everyday to the work sites then turned into a smaller trail. Adam’s companion was familiar with the way because he had been on it before. There was some light from the moon as it was covered only by a thin layer of clouds and they could see the ground they were walking on. They did not say a word for at least three hours, and just walked. Then fearful of what might be awaiting them in the darkness of the jungles and after finding a trail of footprints that they determined as tigers', Adam and his companion decided to stop. They believed that their disappearance would not be discovered until the morning and if the guards decided to pursue, Adam and his friend would have been at least seven hours ahead of them. The pursuers would be traveling on foot like him, and they did not have instant communication to warn their people in the low land about the escape. That night Adam and his companion huddled in the bushes and toward the morning there was a light rain. He was not sure if he had any sleep. But the night did pass and as the sun came up, they resumed their trek down the mountains and through the jungles.

 

They walked for another day and in the evening arrived at a small village by the bank of a river called Giao Thuy, meaning "mixed currents." The reason behind this name was that at certain times of the day there were two distinct flows of water continuously cutting into each other, one was greenish clear and the other was muddy and red. In the dark Adam and his friend knocked on the door of the first house they found and an old man answered the door, looked at them, then invited them in. They explained to the man that they were workers on leave from a collective up mountains and they only happened to pass by as the night descended and would like to ask for a roof to spend the night then they would travel again in the morning. They told the man their families in Da Nang were expecting them--and that was the only truthful part of the story. Without asking too many questions, the man fed them with some rice and let them sleep in a bed in the back room. At midnight the village's police stopped by and complained to the man that somebody had reported that he had killed a pig and sold the meats without permission. That was what Adam heard but he did not remember how the old man answered the police. As Adam had hoped, all during the exchange between the cop and the old man, there was no mention of two escaping prisoners. They got some sleep that night.

 

The next morning they thanked the old man and his wife then caught the boat to Vinh Dien, a five-hour trip which would bring them closer to the city and freedom. Adam had a feeling that the man knew that the real deal was about him and his friend but just kept silent and acted as if they were what they said they were. However, Adam was tense when walking out of the village to board the boat because he and his friend were strangers in this area. And if anyone suspected something, they might alert the village's authority and that would surely be the end for them. They sat on the boat with a dozen other people and tried to talk as little as they could for fear that others would overhear and discover that they were fugitives.

 

They arrived in Vinh Dien late in the afternoon, went into the local market near the river and ate the best meal they had had in months, then boarded a bus for Da Nang. It was a smooth ride, really smooth, literally, because they and the bus were rolling on paved road, not trekking on rocky bumpy mountain paths like they had done during the time they were at the camp. It was a wonderful feeling, like paradise, to sit in the bus, have the wind blow into the faces and know that they were on the last stretch to freedom, and Adam was immensely happy. Once back in the city, they sat in a coffee shop facing the street and looked at the bicycles rolling by; and again, how smooth the bicycles seemed when they slowly rolled on the street. It was as if they were floating just over the surface of the road. That was the first, most distinct, and almost surreal impression Adam had coming back to the city after six months in the mountains.

 

They waited until dark then each went his own way. They did not dare go home in the daylight because the neighbors--who by now must have known they were prisoners--might see them and ask questions and a nasty one of them might even come to the cop to talk about their sudden return and that would be big troubles. Under the cover of night Adam slipped quietly into the house and saw his brother sitting in front. Saying nothing, he walked straight to the back and up to his parents' room. His father had expected his return. Adam stayed in the house for about an hour then his father drove him to his uncle's house in another part of the city and there he would stay in a small room and not come out for at least a month.

 

While Adam was hiding, his father was trying to find ways for him to escape from the country, to "cross the border" into another territory, seeking refuge. Adam's father was determined that he finds a life somewhere else and that was what many people who had the means were doing at the time: get out of the country to look for food and freedom.

 

Adam stayed in a small room at the back of his uncle's house and never came out. His brothers once in a while visited him and brought him news of the family and told him that his father was looking for a snakehead to smuggle him out of the country. Being a fugitive, it was not safe for him to stay in the country anymore. Days went by, Adam was restless and agitated, but tried to keep quiet. No neighbors of his uncle should know that there was a stranger in the house, unregistered. The uncle was taking a big risk by hiding him, but his father was a great persuader, he would talk people into doing things his way. The uncle might be doing Adam a favor by hiding him out of his own goodness, or he was paid by his father to do so, Adam wasn’t sure. A month later, his father informed him that he had found a boat owner willing to take him--and another brother of his--on a freedom voyage, for a fee. His father had placed a deposit for both of them, the rest of the money would be paid to the owner's relatives once there was news that Adam and his brother had arrived safely on the other shore. He asked Adam to be patient.

 

Then one night Adam's father came and told him to get ready to go. He got up, said goodbye to his uncle, then with head down and heart thumping, he walked along the main street, met his brother in front of a movie theatre, and they walked together to the river while his father was following them on a bicycle in a distance. At the river, the two of them boarded a small boat, and once on the other side, they were met and escorted by a man to a house near the river bank. In the house, there were already people hiding under the beds, behind the altar, in the kitchen, waiting for the time to sneak out and begin the journey--into the unknown. At midnight, hearing a signal, he and his brother got up from behind the altar, then with their backs bent forward and their heads down, they walked slowly and quietly to the riverbank and climbed into a boat and lied flat down. It was a moonless night in January. More people got on the boat, all lying down, and soon the engine started, and off they went. The boat was carrying 20 people, men, women and children, including the boat owner. They sailed out of the river mouth and to the ocean without incident: they were not detected. Had the border guards been bribed into looking the other way? There was no way to know. At day break, the boat was way out in the ocean and heading northeast. There was no more fear of being pursued; the only thing to worry about now was how to survive the trip. The year was 1981.

 

The boat owner was at the helm and had a compass to guide him. All young men took turn to throw water out of the belly of the boat. Women and children stayed down. It was his first trip to the sea and in the small fragile boat, the ocean looked and felt mightily intimidating because of the big waves. The boat would be lift up and then sunk down on the rhythm of the waves. The sky was blue and the wind was gentle, like a breeze. And they had enough food and water and fuel. During the day, it was ok as long as the boat was sailing smoothly, but it was particularly fearful at night when all round them was nothing but black and it felt as if they were swimming in a sea of thick and dark liquid. There was no moon and the stars were too few and far between.

 

After two days, they arrived in Hainan island, in Chinese territory. Adam remembered it