Free Aperture on the East by Meris Lee Page A

said, “She is very smart.”
    “ And?”
    “ She is very
pretty.”
    “ And?”
    “ She likes durian
smoothie.”
    Vo broke out laughing, then said, “And
you like her a lot?”
    Ivan nodded.
    “ Do you want her to be
your girlfriend?”
    “ Well, I guess we are too
young, like you said.” Ivan lowered his head.
    “ Young people can fall in
love, too,” said Vo. “I fell in love with the prettiest girl I knew
when I was younger than you are now.”
    “ I supposed I am, a little
bit, in love.” The last two words were almost inaudible.
    “ Does she
know?”
    “ I don’t know how to tell
her.”
    “ There are some things in
this world that, if you don’t do it now, you will never get a
chance to do it at all,” said Vo.
    “ Are you encouraging me to
ask her to be my girlfriend, Mr. Nguyen?”
    “ No,” said Vo. “I’m
encouraging you to be honest with your feelings. I know you are not
a rash young man, so I’m not worried about you getting into
trouble. I just want you to remember that it’s okay to talk about
feelings with the people that you have those feelings for, good or
bad. If they care about you, they will appreciate it.”
    “ I feel that you are an
awesome counselor,” said Ivan.
    Vo seemed surprised to hear it. “Thank
you so much. I appreciate it. That was good practice.”
    Ivan took a deep breath and said, “I
want to hold her hand when we go walking on the beach. I am too
afraid to ask.”
    “ What’s the worst thing
that could happen if you ask?”
    “ She might leave, and
won’t see me ever again.”
    “ What’s the worst thing
that could happen if you don’t ask?”
    Ivan thought about it, and then said,
“She might become somebody else’s girlfriend.”
    “ Which is the worse of the
two scenarios for you?”
    Ivan had the answer right away, and a
bright grin came upon his face. He took a big gulp of his Coca
Cola.
    Vo smiled, too, and said, “Well, you
don’t have to tell me. But get your mind off this girl for a few
minutes and go get ready for our snorkeling trip. We are going a
bit far today. I want to leave early so that you can get to your
date on time.”
    Vo stood up, and left Ivan there in
the souvenir shop, drinking his bubbly with a silly hopefulness. He
would ask Sofia this evening, and he would not regret it even if it
turned out to be a total disaster. Mr. Nguyen was the best, and at
least for the summer, he would have Mr. Nguyen to talk to and
confide in, like he used to do with Eduard. But for now, he had
better hurry and join the other camp students for another day of
adventure at sea.

Chapter 13
    “ Bye, Mr. Nguyen,” said
the students as they got out of Vo’s fishing boat at the Nha Trang
Port after their snorkeling trip. Some of them were picked up by
their parents, and others were just going to walk home on their
own. The sun was still up in the late afternoon, and Ivan was in a
hurry to go north on the beach to meet Sofia. He tripped over a
step and fell, but got up without much apparent injury.
    “ Be careful there, young
man,” said Vo.
    Ivan gave a sheepish smile, and left
on his skateboard.
    Vo shook his head, and then sat down
to survey the other boats in the port. He had bought a fishing boat
as soon as he arrived in Nha Trang, one that had the traditional
blue paint and red trims with a small pilothouse on it. He wondered
if his late father had a fishing boat like this before the conflict
between the two Vietnams escalated into war.
    He thought about how his father had
taught him to operate a boat when the family settled in New
Orleans. He and his father sailed all along the Louisiana state
line portion of the Gulf of Mexico, and sometimes they ventured out
even farther. They caught amberjacks and groupers, fish too big for
Vo to wrestle with when he was a boy. They brought the catches back
to their family restaurant in the Village de l’Est, and his mother
would prepare them fresh for the customers the very same day. She
would cut