Free The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh Page A

walking nonchalantly, her long tresses swaying, she would exude a youthful charm that aroused the men. They would stiffen, stop what they were doing, and stare after her with feverish, blatant desire.
    The girls around there hated her, calling her a bitch, a whore, or a witch because of her innocent influence, of which she remained either unconcerned or completely ignorant. Kien felt their passionate hatreds were based on envy and lies. Hanh was a normal, neighborly girl, he felt. "Good morning, sister," he would say politely when she emerged. "Good morning, younger brother, you're really a nice boy," she would say, tousling his hair. At the Lunar New Year celebrations she gave Kien a gift of money, just as she did the other children in the building. Brand-new crisp banknotes, and wishes for a happy school year. "Be a good pupil.Why, you already look almost grown up.Just take care not to be big in body but tiny in brain, my younger brother!" she laughed.
    But it was not very long before she began to change her style of address to Kien. He had turned into a handsome and strong seventeen-year-old and was about to graduate. But he and Phuong, his classmate and sweetheart from childhood, were both so intensely occupied with each other that neither seemed to notice what Hanh had observed, that Kien had matured into an impressively attractive young man.
    War was looming. Hanoi was considered a noncombat area, yet the authorities ordered the population to practice evacuation, to dig shelters, to heed air-raid sirens, and to wear dark clothing. During a lunch break at home from school one day Kien was startled when Hanh slipped quietly into his room. "Hey, younger brother, how about helping me later. I want to dig an air-raid shelter under my bed so I don't have to tear down the street every time that siren goes off."
    "Okay, sister, I'll help you."
    That evening was his first time in a room alone with a girl. It was small but sensitively decorated. Kien wanted to ask her not to destroy the harmony of the room but she had already started on the digging work. He started to dig in the corner by her small bed, about ten tiles in from the wall. He used a crowbar to break into the foundation, then a hoe and a shovel. Bit by bit, through bricks and the rubble of the foundations, they dug deeper.
    Hanh had prepared a nice dinner and bought beer for Kien. After dinner Kien began to feel a little uneasy, but said nothing, starting on the digging again. In the middle of the work there was a blackout and they had no electric light. Hanh brought out a small kerosene lamp and they continued, with Kien digging and Hanh carrying away the soil in buckets. Both worked silently, patiently, for a long time.
    "This is probably deep enough," said Kien, panting. "It's above my chest, which means the level of your chin. Don't make it too deep."
    "Yes. Let's stop there. But let me try it. We might need some steps for me to get down into it easily," she said, holding her arms out to slip into the shelter.
    Hanh didn't look much shorter than Kien, but once inside the shelter in the dimly lit room, she only came up to
    his chin. Her body pressed into his tall, muscular body as he lifted her down.
    She sensed the intimacy and seemed to change her mind, wishing to get back out, but the shelter was too narrow and deep. Her urgent mood transferred itself to Kien, whose body began heaving uncontrollably with a burning male sensation that he'd never felt before. He breathed heavily, trying to cope, but the sensations produced by her closeness, her perfume, her hair, her shoulders, her breasts under her thin shirt pressing hard against him, slowly overpowered him.
    Confused and trembling, out of control, Kien hugged her tightly, bending to kiss her neck, then her shoulders, as she twisted her body to get clear of him. Clumsily he pressed her against the earthen wall, triggering tensions in his muscles, which snapped a shirt button, springing it wide open and bringing