Fortunate Sons

Chapter 31: After Dark

Everyone made their way along the trail back to Dien Ha just before nightfall was due to set in. None of them realized how unnervingly beautiful the trail was at this hour. Up above their heads was the blood red sunset while the paths cut through hills and wound through the rice paddies. The winds whistled through the tall palms and the ancient trees while the damp ground squelched beneath their boots and the rice shoots danced in the muggy breeze. The land was covered in the deep emerald green of the foliage and the grasses that brushed their legs and waists while in the rice paddies, people were just starting to call it quits with the day's work.

Ho Thanh's squadron trailed back over the wet ground, ankle deep in the water and covered in mud, blood and other smells that were almost overpowering. All of them were filthy and desperately wanting rest and some decent food. A few of them scooped up a handful of the water from the paddies and splashed it on their mud and dirt streaked faces and across the backs of their necks to cool down.

As soon as they got to the main house, Lai Thai and the other women began to gather whatever food stores they could for the hungry soldiers. Back and forth they scurried like busy ants, getting together whatever they needed while Lai Thai personally saw to the meal itself.

"What're they making for chow?" Dix asked.

"Ca Chim," Ho Thanh replied. "Ever have it?"

"Nope."

"It's good stuff," Ho Thanh replied. "It's not much, but it holds you over well."

Taylor and the others stayed in the main room while Lai Thai and the other girls kept at the task. He watched every now and again as she cut up ginger, onions, a few pieces of garlic and some sort of green vegetable he had never seen before. The ca chim, the fish she prepared, was placed in a pot to steam while everything else was cooked on the crude looking stovetop. Taylor didn't even realize how hungry he was until his stomach started growling and his hand started to tremble. The pang of hunger was almost nauseating as his stomach kicked him and an ache set into his weary bones.

"All of you try and rest tonight," Ho Thanh told them. "Save your strength for the road ahead."

The battle weary soldiers were happy to finally get off their throbbing feet and enjoy the respite of the coming night. The smell of the garlic and the cooking rice in the other room worsened their hunger, but the spell of rest was welcome.

"You ok Tay?" Dix asked, noticing his friend's sleepy expression.

"I'm exhausted," Taylor replied. "I just want to catch the bastard so we can go home."

It hadn't really occurred to Dix that they had been away from Than Ahn for as long as they had been. It must have been seventeen days or more since they had last seen that small city by the river. Was Colonel Swyft worried about the long radio silence? What about everybody else they cared about? Were they worried too? Dix hated asking so many questions but the thought always seemed to hang in the back of his mind.

Duc came back in a moment later with several small clay mugs in each hand. "You guys start off with this," he said. "If you try and eat anything else your stomachs will hate you later."

"What is it?" Taylor asked.

"Pork bone soup," Duc answered. "Auntie shot a wild hog the other night after it tried to tear up her vegetable patch."

Taylor and the others tried it and couldn't get enough. After four days of being out in the field with no food and no sleep, it was probably the best thing they ever had. Almost every herb they had tasted reminded them of the ones Miss Etta had grown back home, cilantro, a little bit of Solomon's seal, basil and a lot of mint. The pork chunks at the bottom had been the best, chewy but not tough with the liquid steeped into every last inch. They hungrily downed the rest of the pleasantly warm liquid that ran down their throats and put the bones back into the mugs.