Thang Nguyen 555

Koa weighed about 4 plus pounds. We saw he get my friend’s genes most notably the resemblance in those eyes.

Crying eyes. Like my friend’s sister eyes, red-eye flown in from Canada to attend next-of-kin funeral.

Phung, Phi, Phong and Phat. Of the 4 P’s, only Phi left to carry the burden of memories: a large family, a house where my now-deceased friend witnessed mass striptease by the ARVN one by one passed by as he used to live right across ACS (American Community School). It was also the last known house I myself visited on my way wandering out of country and city.

Only Koa will grow up, with no memory except what’s written in history (approved) books.

Nam, the Vietnam War, the last day of Saigon, grandpa’s escape, father’s childhood in Michigan, Florida and finally Laguna Hills.

Vaguely, even to Koa’s father, much less him.

He is an American-born, brought up and brimming with hope, dreams and justice in the American way. California dreaming, “all the leaves are brown” (and the sky is less grey now that gas is expensive, hence less pollutant).

No dioxin, no defoliant. No lawsuits, no regrets. Only hope and higher standards of living.

Quality over quantity. Let’s not count the numbers. AI will do it. Now that we already are at 8+Billion bodies on Earth, and a bunch of Trillionaires. Quality.

Beltways, freeways, tollways, walkways and sideways.

At the mention of “Et si tu n’existais pas”, the reflex was (“xua roi”). People now are out for the latest e..g. latest Nolan’s interpretation of Odyssey.

The classics? Who cares, not in the age of TikTok (used to be MTV, then YouTube, then Zoom, then Zelle).

I gave up, except for holding that child, grandchild of my friend. One in my arm, the other, two generations apart, in the open coffin. One weighed about 4 lbs., the other much less after going through mechanical 1800 degrees F oven.

What is life that soon must pass! legacy? love? lust? fading memories? selective dementia? camaraderie? one-upmanship? latest fashion and fad? ideologies and phenomena? clothes that don’t fit or out of fashion?

Between classic and cut-off jeans I pick bell-bottom jeans. Jeans my friends wore in middle school, given they both were tall, innocent and bursting with hope: that someday, we, elite HS grads and beyond, would become “someone”, Vinh Quy Bai To, to bring values and contribute to country, to reciprocate and repay our teachers and fathers, most of all to be loyal to our friends and our flags.

We fell short, and we knew it. Deep down inside. One self-dillusion after another.

Then, we settle for heart rates and interest rates.

That’s all folks! Like the end of Disney’s Looney tune.

Gone and forgotten. Where have all the flowers gone??? (again, xua roi).

When will they ever learn.

The new American, luckily in this case with a surviving aunt, last of the line from a family of four, well-to-do turned first-generation Galang, Canada, Michigan, Florida then California immigrant.

Koa, may you grow up full of amenities and accessories. But never forget, everything comes at a cost. Even Empire which often were built by brick and blood. Then everything would be gone and forgotten. Even Empire.

P.S. Listen to “Dem Dai” written by Nguyen Trung Cang, sung by Elvis Phuong. chilling and “xot xa”, sad and triste.