Flowers On The Battlefield

            "Hey, Bill! Bill!" A beautiful girl, decked in an embroidered Aou Dai, beckoned from the midst of a bouquet of similar beauties.

"Bill!, you come back! I think I never see you again, when you go home. Hey, you don't remember Mai?"

"Yeah, sure! What you doing?" I lied as I tried to gain a clue. My buddies faces showed they were impressed. There were plenty of girls to go around and I sure didn't mind knowing this dazzler.

"I live in Tam Hiep, now."

"Where are you going now?"

"I go home. My friends go to bar down here."

"What bar?"

"You know, Bill, where you come in jeep. I don't work for mama-san any more, but I visit my friends. " She turned to her companions and reverted to Vietnamese with a couple gestures to imitate me. She spun away from the bird like chatter and said, "I tell them 'bout when you come at night with jeep and say "Hey you miss!" to VC." She feigned a deep voice.

            One of her companions twittered a question and she answered I remembered the night. It was during my first trip here. I was detached to a new outfit to do all the dirty work while they moved in. We had been pretty slack about snipers. They never hit anything at night. We, on the other hand had 12 gauge shotguns which were a little more effective if they got too close, so they usually didn't. Ala, easy bravado. I had probably been showing off for a new guy.

            The guys got off at the bar with the girls. Mai and I went to her house and talked like old lovers. She looked nineteen, like someone my own age. She was thirty. I was dazzled. She had a civilian boyfriend. She was faithful but we shared a bond. I couldn't remember what we had done at the bar. I never let her know this. We talked a lot about life.

"I have lost three homes, one to the Japanese, one to the French. I not sure who burned my last." she once related with resignation.

            One day a few weeks later. I had a short leave, fever took me and I stumbled to her door, delirious. She cried and nursed me for three days and nights. I awoke to drink juice and I think to eat soup. Mai’s face and hands are all I recall of a long delirium of hallucinations. Then I went to the hospital. I don't remember what happened after that. I guess I just got better.

            We remained very close. I lost her address when I was transported, wounded, back to the States. I lost a lot of things. It had not occurred to me that my belongings would never be sent after me. I have often wondered about her. I have often wondered about a lot of folks over there.