To Paris with Love.
(Part 1b - continued)OOPS! WHAT A COINCIDENCE!
But … something strange did happen to their destiny and in fact this strange thing happened to all population in Laos (and apparently to other countries in Indochina) … so many changes everywhere- husbands, wives, family, friends, lovers, they all were separate, some didn’t even have any opportunity to say good bye. Laddavanh was no exception, she was separated from her family, her father was sent to a "re-education camp", her siblings had been scattered to different places … Keo left without one word of good bye, he was from a family with "big name" and who used to be very powerful in the previous regime in Laos. For this reason, his family was the first to have to escape from Laos. The only thing Laddavanh knew was that he had gone to live in France and later on, there was another news that he got married with a very beautiful girl whom Laddavanh had seen before at school. This news made her feel very sad for a long while. Those two matched like anything but what about Laddavanh? Well! Broken heart, what else? She thought her heart was so broken she could hear the cracking sound. But what on earth could she do? Plus he lived so far away … There really wasn’t much she could do! However, if she could use a telepathy she would send this message to Keo which she had always wanted to tell him but didn’t manage to do so: " Keo, I do miss you and I always will … You will always remain in my heart … forever".
Times fly and never wait for anybody …With time, Laddavanh has become quite something in terms of life, she has experienced both happiness, disappointment, mistakes have been made and success has been gained alternately… She kept learning new things every day. And surprisingly, there were always new things still to be learned. Laddavanh remembers very well that a lecturer at her University gave one valuable advice to the students as " The more we know, the more we realise we don’t know". What? That doesn’t seem to make sense, firstly that’s what she said to herself. Hahh! That’s a typical academic statement – academia prefer to say something so complex that hardly anybody would understand them. But when Laddavanh thought about it properly she tended to agree that the statement bears nothing but the truth and the whole truth.
Laddavanh chased those thoughts away and opened her backpack in order to bring her camera out. Yes! She intended to take some pictures of "Lycee de Pakse", and planned to keep them as a treasure from the past. Laddavanh was so preoccupied trying to take pictures, moving forwards then backwards, a little bit to the right then again to the left, that’s how she thought she would get the best angles … Suddenly she bumped into somebody so hard her camera dropped from her hands. Feeling furious, she bent down to pick up the camera which was located right at the feet of the culprit whom she just bumped into … She noticed the running shoes and kaki trousers … Laddavanh raised her eyes level very slowly – in fact inch by inch – starting from the leg and up until the level of the waist …where a dark brown leather belt was … Her eyes continued to travel upwards. OK, now she realised that the culprit wore a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up which was suitable for the hot weather. His clothes somehow happened to resemble the uniform of the male students at Lycee, white shirt and kaki trousers.
The culprit must have had no manner at all to have stood there like a pole, waiting for her to bump into him (how could she see him from her back since she had only one pair of eyes which are located at the front of her face anyway?). Laddavanh was still in an angry and agitated mood, which was not unusual of her. There’s no reason why she shouldn’t be, should she? At that point, she heard him apologising and he too bent down to help her pick the camera up … at that very point, his hand accidentally touched her whole hand. The two of them were in the same posture … half sitting … their face were exactly at the same level and their eyes met … suddenly they became as still as a rock … no single movement, their jaw dropped, their eyes were open as widely as practicable, so was their mouth … in that posture, who knows for how long? Since nobody was there to start the time for them. It must somehow be quite a long time because they both started to feel that their jaw ached, their legs started to feel numb, their eyes were sore because they were staring at each other without blinking at all. He managed to speak first; his brains were able to function before hers:
" Excusez-moi… Err… khor thord … Err sorry … Vanh … Is that you?" Ooii! Laddavanh’s head was spinning, her brains stopped functioning. How did she feel? Well! Excited, yes, yes, excited, also surprised and of course happy and … and … Oooiii! A combination of feelings … indescribable!
"Err… Err", that’s all she could say, couldn’t think of any human language to utter – how could she possibly forget Lao language, which was her mother tongue? English which was also the language she used daily was also gone. French? That’s even worse, she had not spoken French, not even one word, for the last ten years or so! So forget French, she’s not going to speak it!
"Oh! I couldn’t believe it, it’s you, it’s really you! I never thought we’d meet again", he kept talking while Laddavanh was still shocked, her eyes and her mouth still wide open. He shook her hands then squeezed them tightly.
"Vanh, do you remember me, Keo?", another question came from him.
"Oii! Of course, how could I possibly not remember you, in fact I was just thinking about you, just a second ago", but… there’s no way she would think it aloud! Never! Why would she have to let him know that she was just thinking so much of him and … what a coincidence! What a mere coincidence! He was just standing there like an idiot, waiting for her to bump into him so hard they both bounced at different direction like this.
"Vanh, do you remember me, Keo, Xaykeo?", this time he didn’t just ask verbally but started to shake her shoulder as well … Well! If she continued to remain silent, her shoulder would definitely become disjointed. That didn’t sound like a good idea at all because Laddavanh forgot to buy health insurance before she left Australia due to … her un-organisational skills and her rush –rush lifestyle. Plus, who on earth would have anticipated that her old-flame-sweetheart would be right here shaking her shoulder so vigorously that her head was about to bounce off the shoulder. Well … the bottom line was … to exchange a disjointed shoulder with meeting an old flame … that doesn’t sound like a bad deal, heh?
"Of course Keo, I remember you … Don’t be silly! I have not lost my memory yet". Only then, Keo managed to smile … Oohh! That smile! … Yes the very smile that used to shake her heart and it still performed the same duty most effectively … Her heart started to be shaken again… quite badly in fact. The Lao proverb "an old flame does not need to be blown" still held true – nobody had even done anything yet, how come this old flame started to become hot already. What will happen if they both start to blow the flame? Wouldn’t the flame be as high as the sky? Laddavanh wasn’t sure whether Keo felt like a flame or not but she herself was looking around for a bucket of water so that she could distinguish the fire which was now heating in her chest … she simply had to control that flame. Otherwise, the flame would spread to outside and Keo may notice it. Oh no! She’d then be embarrassed! Very embarrassed indeed!
[End – Part 1] To be continued.
P Phoumindr
Sydney, May 2000