Chapter 1: Chapter 1 – My Mother Has the Classified Documents Concerning U.S. POW/MIA

Vietnam is a country located in Mainland Southeast Asia, a region of peninsulas and islands. Saigon is the capital city and commercial hub of Vietnam. The country has a population of more than 90 million inhabitants called Vietnamese.

Near Saigon, the Mekong Delta region contains rivers, swamps, and islands. The Gold Nuggets River in Saigon and the Mekong Delta River join to form a single channel flowing out to Thienchua International Seaport, which is situated at the beginning of the ocean, on the coast of the South China Sea. Cruise ships and merchant ships come into the port always.

Cu Chi District is near Saigon. the district is the lowest place on Earth in terms of feet below sea level. The Dead Valley runs through the district.

Dragon Kingdom is a neighboring country of Vietnam. Yulu is the capital city of Dragon Kingdom. The country has a population of more than 1.9 billion inhabitants called Dragonese. The military headquarters and the famous Health & Wisdom Game Market are in Yulu.

Yulu and Saigon share a common border. The Gold Nuggets River flows through Saigon. Vietnamese and Dragonese can cross the Herculean Bridge spanning over the river, to come and go between Saigon and Yulu.

The Dragon Mouth Sinkhole is located in the Gold Nuggets River, and the nearby Dragon Way Cave straddles the river. The Dragon Kingdom has claimed possession over Saigon and the Gold Nuggets River, all based on the merits of the word "Dragon" being part of the names of the sinkhole and the cave situated in the river.

For as long as history is recorded, the Dragon Kingdom and Vietnam have wrangled over the territorial status of Gold Nuggets River and Saigon.

The Vagabond Characters (VCs) train in the Dragon Kingdom. They have dug extensive networks of tunnels running underneath the ground from Vietnam to the Dragon Kingdom. The tunnels form the link of VC support bases for VC guerrilla activity.

In Vietnam, the tunnels are heavily concentrated in the underground of Saigon, Cu Chi City, Assassin Jungle, Iron Triangle Forest, and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) next to Saigon. All these places are in the Cu Chi Region.

The VCs launched guerrilla warfare against the Vietnamese. So the Vietnamese Army formed an alliance with the American Army, to fight against the VCs and their harboring host Dragonese.

The VCs often remove the tires from the American military trucks, cut the tires into sandals, and the inner tubes into straps. The VCs don't wear military uniforms, but they wear pajamas and truck tire sandals, making them look like farmers.

The VCs live in the tunnels on the Vietnamese side. They use the tunnels as underground routes to transport communications and supplies. They lay booby traps in the tunnels to capture their enemy soldiers. From the tunnels, they launch surprise attacks on the American Army and Vietnamese Army and afterward disappear into the safety of the sprawling network of tunnels.

I flick my eyes open and listening for a few minutes, I realize I've been awakened by the sound of footsteps pattering outside. I glimpse at my alarm clock standing on my nightstand, reading 3:43 A.M.

I sit up on my bed placed directly under the wrought-iron window that dominates the front wall. I put my face to a lower corner of the window and letting go of the breath I've been holding, I look out of the window.

I see faces peering in through the window, and also see the VCs pacing around all over the front yard.

The front door is kicked open and it bangs against the wall and the VCs rush into our house. I turn on the light.

A VC grabs me by the hand and yanks me off the bed. "Where's the suitcase containing the classified documents relative to U.S. Prisoners of War and Missing in Action?"

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Mom appears at my bedroom door. "Please leave my daughter alone. She knows nothing of this. The suitcase is there on top of the kitchen cabinet."

I recall clearly I'd never seen the suitcase on top of the cabinet before.

The VC Lieutenant Commander straightens his posture and stands with both his arms outstretched. He turns to look at the suitcase with a look of triumph on his face, and barks, "Stand back, everyone. Comrade Marine Gunner, take the suitcase down."

The VC Gunner slowly takes the suitcase off the kitchen cabinet, slightly tilting the suitcase at angles, and there's a weird thumping sound of something rolling around inside the suitcase.

The VC Gunner Lowers the suitcase and rests it on the floor, saying, "Comrade Lieutenant Commander, There's a stick bomb inside."

The VC Lieutenant Commander gestures towards a VC woman comrade crouching down by the suitcase. "Comrade Weapons Detection Specialist, are you able to open it?"

The specialist picks up the suitcase lock with a paper clip and opens the suitcase lid. She motions with her hands to what's lying inside the suitcase. "What is this supposed to mean? All we want to do is just find the POW/CIA documents, but instead, we've ended up with a bamboo flute."

I bought the bamboo flute as a souvenir of my school trip to the Great Wall of Dragon Kingdom. I rack my brain to remember whether I put the flute in the suitcase.

The triumph in his face turned into malice, the VC Lieutenant Commander growls, "We've got intelligence all wrong. Useless VC Informer. After all, someone selected by me should have what it takes to fulfill the VC Party's expectations. I'll let the useless informer know what stuff I'm made of." He waves his hand at his comrades and storms out of our house, followed by the comrades.

At the bottom of our dirt driveway, a mimosa tree stands on one side of the driveway. LED light fixtures installed on top of the poles standing by the tree illuminate the whole area of our house.

From the window, I watch the VCs walk away and come up to the jeeps parked haphazardly by the tree. A man hops out of the nearest jeep, walking over to the VC Lieutenant Commander.

Drawing the attention of our neighbors gathering nearby, the VC Lieutenant Commander grabs the man's shirt by the collar and keeps jabbing his finger at the man's face as he speaks. The man just stands with his head hung low as he listens to the commander.

I see American Military Police jeeps coming from the direction of the Army National Military Cemetery. The VCs all hop back into their jeeps and pull them out of the parking space, the engines surging at a wild high speed and the tires scraping against gravel as they drive away.

The tiled wall behind the kitchen cabinet splits open along a perpendicular caulk line, and in the opening, Mom stands holding a stack of what looks like document papers.

"Mom did you…And the wall?" I stammer but shut up when I see Mom gesture for me to keep quiet. Then she says, "It would be better not to talk about this here. Now go back to sleep, Mai."

The light goes dark behind the wall.

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