Baby Puppet

Tags

New Economic Zone, North Vietnamese, prison, puppet, re-education camp, South Vietnamese

On April 30, 1975, the North Vietnamese Communists succeeded in conquering South Việt Nam. As a result, hundreds of thousands of South Vietnamese military and police personnel as well as civilians were forced into re-education camps. Many would spend years in those camps or die there from malnutrition, disease, or mistreatment.

To this day the North Vietnamese often call South Vietnamese by the derogatory term “ Ngụy” or puppet.

Following is my translation of “Thằng Ngụy Con” a story written by Ngô Viết Trọng. Born in 1944, he was a police officer from 1967 to 1974 before becoming an instructor at the Police Academy in Đà Lạt until the end of the war. He was forced to spend 7 years in a re-education camp followed by 11 years in a New Economic Zone. In 1993 he was allowed to resettle in the United States under the Orderly Departure Program for South Vietnamese refugees.

When they transferred me to the prison in Bà Rịa, I was thrown into a very small cell. There was already another man in it, Mr. Đoàn. The cell door was a rather thick and rusted piece of metal that had been there a long time. There were many holes in the door, finger sized holes. At the bottom was a larger hole that a hand could fit through. Because the door was seldom opened, those holes provided us with a little bit of light into our cell.

One day, while I was utterly despondent, I heard female voices resonating outside. I hurried to put an eye against one of the holes in the cell door. It turned out that the prisoners from the women section were allowed outside to shower and wash their clothes. It was a scene of lively activities. The sound of brass wash bowls were mixed in with voices of people hurrying one another or arguing loudly among themselves. They washed their clothes, showered and cleaned themselves, combed their hair, hanged their clothes to dry. Everyone appeared to be in a hurry. There were too many people and only two wells. Their time outside was limited and everyone was worried they would not be able to complete their chores.

I suddenly saw a small boy jump out into the open. He ran toward two Muscovy ducks that were grooming each other near our cell door. The alarmed ducks flew away. A woman yelled after him:

“Don’t fool around or I will spank you!”

The little boy stopped. After their initial shock, the two ducks came to a stand still and continued their grooming. The boy was pale looking and appeared to be three or four years old. He was cute and adorable. How did he end up in prison? How could he bear the lack of food, the absence of friends, the intense craving for everything in a small dark, crowded and stinking cell? What kind of person would he grow up to be?

He seemed to like the duck couple very much. He was looking at them in awe when his  mother told him to return to their cell. He walked in that direction but his neck kept craning toward the ducks, forcing his mother to yell at him several times.

I turned to Mr. Đoàn:

“In the female prisoner section, there is an adorable little boy. Do you know why he was put in there?”

“Rumors say that his father is a Major, but that he has escaped to the United States. His mother is a member of the Thiên Nga [a South Vietnamese police counter-intelligence team composed entirely of female agents]. I saw the little boy when I arrived here. He was barely walking at that time.”

I laughed out loud and said:

“Later on, his paper records will have to read: at one year of age he had to be sent to a concentration camp run by the barbaric Communists …”

Each day I received two small quantities of tapioca that I used to make soup mixed in with some  salted green cabbage. I wondered whether the little boy was allowed his own daily ration or whether he had to share his mother’s. I told my cellmate:

“That little boy must really crave for sugar and milk!”

Mr. Đoàn laughed:

“Don’t you worry. On visitation days, the cadres allow him to roam at will, and people give him a lot of stuff. Even in their own cell, there are quite a few women who have been mothers or sisters, and nobody would let such a charming boy go hungry. I have seen female dogs that let baby cats suckle. The instinct of women who have been mothers are much higher than that!”

I said sadly:

“Is that so? Then he is more fortunate than my own children. I have three boys, and the youngest must be his age. When I was sent to jail, he had just turned one and could not yet stand. I did not know to economize and save, and I had nothing to leave to my wife and our children. It kills me to think of my poor wife running around to make ends meet and feed our three boys. But regrets are now too late!”

A few days later the female section was again allowed to shower and wash their clothes. After he took his shower, the little boy came over to our cell. He did not see the pair of ducks and sat on a step in front of our door. I put my finger through a hole and poked him in the back. He jumped up and turned around:

“You startled me!”

I liked the fact that a young boy was using a grown-up expression. Knowing that I was only teasing him, he sat down again.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“Baby Puppet!”

Surprised, I asked him again:

“I am asking what your name is.”

“Baby Puppet!”

“Who gave you that name?”

“The cadres did.”

“Didn’t your mother give you a name?”

“She did. She called me ‘Baby’, then the cadres called me ‘Baby Puppet’ and the aunties in our room now also call me ‘Baby Puppet’.”

Heavens! What kind of impression would such a name have on him when he grew up? I intended to ask him more questions but his mother called him back to their cell.

oOo

Then visitation day came around. In a prison, that day was like New Year’s day. Cells with many prisoners were left open so that gift packages could be brought in easily. Those prisoners permitted to see their visitors had to put on clean clothes in good conditions. If they didn’t have such clothes, they had to borrow them from someone else. Thus on visit days, prisoners wore bright and sharp clothes. The cadres also put on benign airs while enjoying the delightful smells of visitations.

Those prisoners who had no visitors could enjoy the fact that their cells were left open to let in a little bit of sunshine and fresh air. They could share some of the visitation food packages given to others, or inherit the daily rations of the more fortunate prisoners who received food packages. Prisoners who were confined to isolation cells were not allowed visitors, but they could at least count on the fact that they would not be subject to the cadres’ bullying for that day.

Thus on visitation days, all prisoners shared a little bit of joy, even if it was only temporary. The one that was truly happy was “Baby Puppet.”

While cadres and prisoners were busy carrying in packages or going out to see their visitors, the little boy ran from one cell to the next. He was very smart and every time he saw a cadre he would politely greet them. No one scolded him or prevented him from doing anything.

oOo

One month went by, and visitation day arrived once again. It rained that day and a cold breeze blew in. I pasted my eyes on our cell door to share in the common joy of everyone else. The little boy was roaming around collecting gifts. Seeing that it was getting cold and fearing that he might get rained on, his mother had him wear a spiffy raincoat over his clothes.

That day, perhaps because he received too many gifts, he braved the cold, took off his raincoat and used it to carry his packages. As he ran happily back to his cell with his gift bundle, he met Sơn, the most loathsome disciplinarian in the prison. Smiling slyly, the cadre stopped him:

“Boy Puppet, you have so many packages. Give me one of them.”

The little boy became agitated, stepped on a slippery part of the path and fell, scattering his gifts in every direction. Cadre Sơn bent down to help him gather them. Then he pretended to take a package wrapped in paper.

“Give me this one!”

The little boy thought the cadre was serious and yelled:

“No! This package must not be shown to the cadres!”

Hearing what the boy said, Sơn became suspicious and opened the package to see what was inside. He glowered immediately and kicked the boy on his chest, sending him sprawling backward. It took a moment before the boy began to cry. No one knew what was going on, but then everyone heard the cadre’s loud and threatening voice.

“Fuck this puppet breed. He just started growing up but has already become a reactionary.”

Turning toward the disciplinary cadres, he shouted:

“Make him kneel under the basketball hoop.”

At once they dragged the boy up and pulled him away. Right after that, Sơn and another disciplinary cadre went to room B5. He stood in front of the door and began talking and asking questions. A little while later, a prisoner who had seen a visitor that morning stepped out of the room. Sơn made the prisoner stand still then began punching and kicking him. The prisoner fell down several times, but each time he was made to stand up again to continue receiving his brutal punishment.

In no time at all, the prisoner was crumbling and coming apart. Sơn had him handcuffed then told his men to take him to the discipline room.

The rain continued to fall, and the wind kept coming in gusts. The little boy was still kneeling under the basketball hoop. Sơn kept moving around to supervise visiting activities.

After some time, unable to wait any longer, the boy’s mother poked her head out and begged for mercy. Sơn made as if he did not hear her. Only after a long hour did he allow the poor boy to return to his cell. His body was cold as ice, he was shaking constantly and could not utter a word.

In the evening, when they brought food to our cell, Sơn bluntly warned us:

“You people better watch out. Don’t use that Boy Puppet to communicate with one another! Even if just to ask about someone’s health.”

I then understood that our fellow prisoner in room B5 had violated the rules. He had sent a gift package with a message to a friend in the female section. I kept thinking back to his punishment all night and I pitied the unfortunate little boy who had to kneel in the rain and cold for several hours.

Early next morning, I was awakened by appeals for help from the female section.

“Reporting to cadre: A5 has someone seriously ill.”

I was startled and thought maybe that person was the little boy. A voice from the guard office asked:

“How serious?”

The female voice pleaded with more urgency:

“Reporting to cadre: someone is dying in A5.”

“I heard you! Wait for resolution.”

Half an hour later, I heard some commotion in the courtyard. The medical cadres had probably arrived.

Then the entire prison became silent. Near sunrise, Mr. Đoàn woke me up.

“Do you hear something?”

I listened carefully. A female prisoner was lamenting.

“Baby, why did you have to leave me? My baby was not even three years old. What did he know that made him a reactionary? Oh heavens, that is so cruel!”

I shuddered. Baby Puppet!

Right after that, I heard a hostile voice:

“You let your child catch pneumonia and would not report his condition early enough. Now why don’t you let us bury him instead of wailing and blaming us?”

The unfortunate and pitiful woman went on crying and sobbing.

You Must Live

Tags

Khái Hưng, postaday, red river, Self Reliance Literary Group, Tự Lực Văn Đoàn, Trần Khánh Giư, Yên Phụ

Following is my translation of a short story published in 1934. It was written by a famous Vietnamese author, Trần Khánh Giư using the pen name of Khái Hưng. He and Nhất Linh (see Shadow in the Mist) were the two founders of the Self Reliance Literary Group (Tự Lực Văn Đoàn).

“You Must Live” (“Anh Phải Sống”) is the first of 13 short stories written by these two authors. It was published in 1934. At the end of World War II, Khái Hưng was arrested by the Vietnamese Communists and executed in 1947.

One summer afternoon on the dike at Yên Phụ.

The Red River was rising and flowing so strongly that it was threatening a small island in the middle of it. Tree trunks and desiccated branches collected from upstream forests were carried by its reddish current. They looked like a never-ending convoy of small boats traveling at top speed toward some unknown destination.

Standing on the dike, mason Thức eyed those pieces of wood, a wishful expression on his face. He turned to his wife and stared at her with an unspoken question. She gazed at the river, inspected the sky, then sighed:

“The wind is too strong, and those dark clouds on the horizon are growing fast. Dear, it will rain soon!”

He also let out a sigh, and began ambling away. Abruptly he stopped and asked her:

“Did you cook yet?”

She answered sadly:

“Yes, but there is only enough for the two older kids to eat this evening.”

The couple looked at each other in silence. Then something seemed to mesmerize them, forcing them to turn toward the river. In the middle of the river, pieces of firewood were drifting steadily downstream.

The husband smiled oddly and said:

“Bold!”

The wife shook her head but did not say a word. He asked:

“Did you go see Mrs. Ký yet?”

“I did.”

“How did that turn out?”

“Useless. She said she will only give us money when we collect that floating firewood and bring it to her. She will lend us nothing before that.”

“Is that so?”

Those words were as solid as the firm taps he made with a trowel on the bricks of a wall he was building. Willing himself to do some superhuman act, Thức turned to his wife:

“Go home and take care of our boy Bò.”

“He has big sister Nhớn and small sister Bé looking after him.”

“Dear, it’d better if you went home. Nhớn is barely five, how can she take care of the two younger ones?”

“I’ll go home then … But you should too. What are you standing around here for?”

“It’s all right. You first, I’ll go later.”

Mason Thức’s wife went obediently back to the village of Yên Phụ.

Seeing their low house, dark and damp, mason Thức’s wife thought about their poverty and felt despondent.

All three of her children were on the bare wooden bed, crying and clamoring for their mother. The little boy, Bò, was wailing, wanting to be fed. Since noon he had not had anything in his stomach.

Big sister Nhớn had not succeeded in calming him and was constantly telling small sister Bé:

“Run out to find mother and tell her to come home and feed him.”

However, Bé refused to go and laid on the bed crying and cursing.

Mason Thức’s wife ran to her son and picked him up, soothing him with words:

“I am sorry! I was out for too long and I let my baby go hungry, I let my baby cry.”

She sat on the bed to feed him. The boy began suckling. But he soon gave up and let go of his mother’s nipple because she had no milk for him. He wailed louder than before.

Thức’s wife sighed, her large black eyes filling with tears. She stood up and walked around singing softly to lull him to sleep.

“I am sorry! I had nothing to eat, and I have no more milk for my baby.”

Eventually, exhausted by his efforts, he fell asleep. The mother told the two girls to go out of the house to let their brother sleep.

She sat down and thought about her life. Her simple peasant mind could not dream or arrange her memories in any order. The things she remembered appeared chaotically, like people and objects on a photograph. One thing she did  remember very clearly was that she had never had a moment of leisure, one moment during which she could enjoy happiness like rich people did.

When she was twelve or thirteen, Lạc began working as a mason helper. Her life went on, day after day, month after month, year after year.

At the age of seventeen, she and Thức worked together, he as a roofer and she his helper. They exchanged pleasantries now and then. They fell in love. They got married.

Five years later, in their dilapidated home at the foot of the Yên Phụ dike, there was nothing that could be considered easy in the life of these two miserable people, their poverty worsening with the birth of three children in three years.

On top of that the times were hard, jobs were few and wages low. The couple struggled from one day to the next, never earning enough to feed their growing family.

Then mason Thức came up with a new way to earn a living. He borrowed money to buy a small woven bamboo boat. Every day, they took the boat out to the middle of the river to collect firewood to sell. Two months later, with their debt paid off, they were making enough money to live comfortably.

That is why this year, amid widespread poverty and hunger, the couple was looking toward the day when the river would be high again.

Yesterday, they saw that heaven had granted their wishes.

Lạc smiled and softly laid her baby down on his diaper. Silently, she stepped outside and began climbing the dike resolutely.

At the top of the dike, she did not see her husband anywhere.

The wind was roaring and the current was strong, flowing fast and noisy like a waterfall. Lạc lifted her yes to look at the sky: it was dark, black.

She stood thinking, her shirt flapping like those strong waves assailing the river bank. Then a sudden thought hit her. She panicked and ran to the side of the dike leading down to the river.

She arrived at the place where they had moored their woven boat. Lạc saw her husband making efforts to tighten the knots holding the bamboo slats together. She observed him silently and waited until he finished before stepping onto the boat and asked:

“Dear, where are you planning to go?”

Thức glared at his wife, shouting angrily:

“Why aren’t you staying home with the children?”

Frightened, she answered:

“They … are sleeping.”

“But what are you doing out here?”

“Where are you taking the boat?”

“Why do you ask? Go home!”

Lạc started to cry. Thức was moved.

“Why are you crying?”

“Because you are planning to go get firewood by yourself, without me.”

Thức was thinking and looking at the sky, the river. He told her:

“Dear, you can’t come along … It’s too dangerous!”

Lạc laughed:

“Dangerous! Then it’s dangerous for both of us … I am not afraid, I know how to swim.”

“All right!”

Those words sounded cold, making Lạc shiver. The river continued flowing strongly while the sky was getting even darker. Thức asked:

“Afraid?”

“No.”

They started taking the boat toward the middle of the river. He steered, she paddled. To fight against the current, he pointed the boat upstream. Still the boat drifted downstream, bobbling up and down, hidden at times by alluvial waves, then emerging again like a dried bamboo leaf on a pool of blood, a tiny mosquito drowning in a tube of lipstick.

Yet half an hour later they had reached the middle of the river. He held the rudder firmly while she collected the driftwood.

Not too long after, the boat was almost full and they prepared to return to the river bank. Rain started falling, followed by lightning which seemed to tear the clouds apart, while thunder threatened to blow up both heaven and earth.

The small bamboo boat filled with water and became heavier. They both paddled, but the current kept taking the boat along with it.

They shouted at the same time:

“Heaven!”

The boat sank. Their collected driftwood rejoined their former ranks and moved coldly forward, taking the overturned boat with it.

He asked his wife:

“Will you be able to swim to the river bank?”

“I can,” she asserted.  

“Swim along with the current … Lean on the waves!”

“I can do it! Don’t worry!”

The heavy rain continued, accompanied by ferocious thunder and lightning. The two felt they were living on the border of some abyss. A moment later, seeing his wife weakening, Thức swam toward her and asked:

“How is it going?”

“I can do it! Don’t worry!”

As soon as she said that, her head sank in the water. She struggled tremendously to come up to the surface. He sped toward her. Then one arm holding her up, he swam with his other arm. She smiled and looked at him lovingly. He also smiled. Some time later, Thức shouted:

“I am tired, hang on to me and let me swim! I can’t hold on to you any longer.”

After a few more minutes, he was exhausted and his arms were beyond tiring. She asked him softly:

“Can you swim some more?”

“Don’t know. If it was just me, no problem.”

“I will detach myself so you can swim to the bank, all right?”

He laughed:

“No! We’ll die together.”

A short while later, although Lạc felt it was as long as a day, her husband asked:

“Lạc! Can you try to swim some more?”

“No, why?”

“Nothing. Then we’ll both die.”

Lạc shuddered and said softly:

“Baby Bò! Nhớn! Bé! … No! … You must live!”

All of a sudden, Thức felt much lighter. She was no longer holding on to him. Lạc had thought about their children and had silently sunk to the bottom of the river, giving him enough strength to swim to the river bank.

Electric lights were shining brightly on the dike. The wind had died, the waves had calmed down. A man with a baby boy in his arms was sitting on the ground, crying. Two young girls stood on both sides of him. The family of mason Thức had come to the river to say farewell to the one who had sacrificed herself for her children. In the vast emptiness, the river kept flowing downstream, unconcerned.   

Shadow in the Mist

Tags

Nguyễn Tường Tam, Nhất Linh, postaday, Self Reliance Literary Group, Short Story, Tự Lực Văn Đoàn

The following is a translation of a short story written by a famous Vietnamese author, Nhất Linh (actual name Nguyễn Tường Tam). It was published in 1934.

My wife was gravely ill, but I had to continue working and I left her at home by herself, without anyone to care for her. One night, she became very weak, fainting several times. That was the night my supervisor ordered me to be the locomotive engineer for the train transporting the Governor General. It was a golden opportunity for me, but I knew I could not leave my wife at home. I went in to see my boss to tell him that I had a sick wife to take care of. He blew up, pounding on his table and chair.

“I don’t want to know about it. Be at the train station tonight at 10! Otherwise, you can leave and never come back here. Get out!”

His words and threatening tone kept me wondering all the way home. Once there, I sat next to the bed and looked at my wife. I saw right away that I could not go to work that night, even if I had to lose my job.

She noticed my worried expression and asked me what was bothering me. I told her what had happened with my boss. After hearing me, her face brightened up noticeably and she said:

“You must go to work! There is nothing to worry about! I am feeling much better already. Go, and tomorrow afternoon come home with some goodie for me.”

Seeing her talk and laugh so cheerfully, I felt more confident. I changed and went to the train station. I arrived there at 10 sharp. But once I got the train rolling, I suddenly began to worry. I knew then that I had been reckless. A strange sensation took hold of me, and I feared that I was not going to see the face of my wife again. However, that feeling only lasted a short time.

The train crept along the mountainous road, struggling up and down one pass after another. I poked my head out of the window, trying to look straight ahead, but all I could see was a thick wall of mist lit up by the train headlights. Suddenly something struck me.

Imprinted on the mist was the image of a woman in a billowing dress waving her arms. I rubbed my eyes, thinking I had seen wrong, but the woman was still there.

I knew I was not dreaming. I knew it was a real image, one that anyone else could see. I grabbed the arm of my helper, pulled him over and shouted:

“Look!”

His mouth opened wide, his eyes bulged, and he yelled in a sudden panic:

“That is really strange! A ghost, boss!”

Whenever the train crept forward, the image of the woman backed up ahead, fading away then becoming clear yet again, drifting in mid air.

Her arms kept waving steadily as if she meant to tell us to stop because there was some danger ahead.

“Something strange is going to happen,” I told my helper.  

“Yes, boss. That image is making signs for us to stop.”

The image had started waving slowly but her movements became frantic as if she became alarmed because I  did not seem to heed her warnings.

“Sir, let’s stop to see. It must be a ghost!”

“No, we can’t stop for no reason.”

At that point, I was like a senseless person who had lost his sanity. Yet, somehow I heard in the distance the voice of the woman telling me:

“Stop, stop!”

I tried to listen carefully. I grabbed the brake lever but could not bring myself to use it.

A moment later, the voice of the woman had become clearer than before.

“Stop, stop at once!”

Without thinking, I pulled on the lever with all my strength. The engine vibrated, the wheels squealed in the dead of the night. The train slowed down, continued on for a short distance before stopping completely. I did not have time to get out of the cab before the chief of the guard detail ran up and shone his flashlight on me.

“What’s the matter?”

I hesitated. Unwilling to tell him the incredible truth, I said:

“There is something strange ahead. Let’s go look.”

At that point, the high officials in the Governor General retinue had also arrived on foot and tagged along behind us. We had only gone a short distance when we heard the noise of a waterfall. I then remembered that we had arrived at the N.G. bridge.

Several days of heavy rain had swollen the river and it was now a thundering torrent. We proceeded to move forward and arrived at the river bank. We brought up our lights to peer into the darkness. Everyone was stunned. The violent waters had grabbed the N.G. bridge and sent it toward a whirlpool where it had broken in half.

If I had not stopped in time, the entire train carrying the Governor General would have fallen into the raging river. No one would have survived. No accident could have been more catastrophic. I was the one who prevented it from happening. I stood there, not understanding completely what had happened.

The leader of the government officials was overwhelmed with joy. He asked me:

“How did you know when to stop?”

“I don’t understand myself.”

The others were also extremely happy and pestered me with similar questions, but I had no answer for them. After a while, everyone stood back to let the Governor General approach. He did not mind that I was a simple laborer and in his joy at having escaped certain death, he grabbed and shook my hand, a hand blackened with coal dust. He praised me warmly.

I was sure that I would be rewarded handsomely later, but I did not care for any reward. I only thought of my wife and wondered how she was faring.

I retraced my steps back to the locomotive and immediately saw some kind of insect stuck to one of the headlights. Looking carefully, I saw that it was an enormous butterfly caught on a headlight. It was flapping its wings to try to escape.

Looking at the butterfly, I at once realized what had happened. The image of the woman imprinted on the mist was that of the butterfly. Her head was the shadow of the butterfly’s head, and her waving arms were the insect’s wings flapping.

I caught the butterfly and was about to let it go, but in the end I decided to keep it. I looked at the clock in the cab. It showed exactly two in the morning.

The following day, when I opened the gate to our home, the little servant boy came running and informed me that my wife had passed away at one in the morning. I am not usually superstitious and thought it was just a coincidence. However, I am convinced that my wife’s soul had taken hold of the butterfly so she could protect me from the terrible accident that could have happened that night. But what use was it for me to have avoided the accident? Wealth and fortune meant nothing to me. I was just like that butterfly, its body was there but its soul was somewhere else.