Chapter 30: Chapter 28 – My Cool Grandma Can Fly a Helicopter

The refugees arrive at Guam Island, and they are housed in tent cities while being processed for resettlement by the Refugee Processing Center (RPC). Most of the refugees are resettled in the United States, but some choose to return to Vietnam on a Vietnamese commercial ship named Thuong Tin. Grandma and I decide to return to Vietnam on the ship.

The returning ship docks in a wooded area on the border between Thailand and Vietnam.  There are landed helicopters parked in a clearing, and one of them has its engine running. Men are unloading trunks from the helicopters and carrying them into the woods while singing pirate songs in Vietnamese. 

The helicopters now stand untended on the clearing.

I say, "Too bad. If the pirates were not there, we could walk across the border and into Vietnam, and get home sooner. The pirates may be here for a while. Our flight to the DMZ will be four hours from now. How are we going to pass our time, Grandma?"

"I can fly a helicopter," Grandma says.

"So cool Grandma. How did you learn to fly a helicopter?"

Grandma says, "I was a flight instructor before I met Grandpa. One day, I landed a helicopter on his merchant ship. He treated me to fine dining, gave me diamonds, and would not let me fly off until I promised to marry him. I'll tell you more about this later. But now I can fly us home with a helicopter of the pirates."

We board the helicopter with its engine running. An air traffic controller has given Grandma a taxi clearance to proceed to the DMZ, "Everything looks normal. The next plane in line is cleared for takeoff." 

"Uh-oh! The pirate helicopters are right behind us," Grandma says.

"Quick, Grandma, fly away from them," I say.

Grandma flies the helicopter without coordinates, making sudden turns. She takes the helicopter up high and brings it down in a nosedive. She turns the helicopter upside down and takes it through zigzags and loops and spins. She brings the plane to pass over mountains, valleys, and the ocean with rolling waves.

The helicopters flown by the pirates have caught up with the helicopter flown by Grandma, from different directions. Suddenly H-60 helicopters from the Department of Homeland Security swarm the sky, overpowering the helicopters flown by the pirates.   

Grandma radios the Air Traffic Control, to request an urgent landing on the DMZ. The Air Traffic controller dispatches military security helicopters over to the DMZ. The leading security helicopter announces on loudspeaker, "DMZ inhabitants, take cover from the coming crazy helicopter. This pilot must be trained by the Japanese Kamikaze Team."

On the ground of the DMZ, our neighbors chop down trees with axes and clear a patch for Grandma to land the helicopter. Grandma brings the helicopter down to treetop level, with the spinning blades clipping the top branches of the trees, and neighbors dive out of the way.  The helicopter teeters on the touching tops of a clump of trees. I climb down a tree and run into the arms of Tin and Hoa.

I get a ladder and perch it against a tree trunk, and Grandma climbs out of the helicopter and down the ladder. She stands on the ground, raising both hands high above her head, beaming at the applauding spectators.

"Call 911 to report a crazy Kamikaze."

Fire engines and police cars come. The police have the helicopter towed to the police station.

Tin, Hoa, and I drag our feet into Miss My Lai's class.

"You are late to class," Miss My Lai says, waving the rubber ruler.

Tin says, "Miss My Lai, and please don't hit our hands."

Other students rush forward and push their hands toward the ruler.

"I won't hit my students' hands anymore," Miss My Lai says, dropping the ruler into the trash basket.

Tin lifts the ruler out of the basket. "I'll throw it away myself, in case you change your mind and hit us again with it."

After class, Tin takes Miss My Lai by the hand. "Would you please take me to your house to talk with Mrs. Hen about where my mom might be? I want Mai and Hoa to come along with me if that's OK with you."

"I'd be happy to," Miss My Lai says. 

I say, "I told my mom that Mrs. Hen said that she saw Tin's mom in an area with fortified tunnels and glowing rocks. I also told her that I found glowing rocks on the property behind Bong's house. My mom said that she wanted to help find Tin's mom and to see the property with glowing rocks. Miss My Lai, can we go to my house to get my grandma and mom, and then we go to your house together?"

"Yes, I think my ma would be happy to see you all," Miss My Lai says.

At Miss My Lai's house, Grandma says, "Since Mrs. Stilwell is held at some place where there are glowing rocks, and the backyard of the property behind Bong's house also has glowing rocks. Let's go to there."

As we stand looking at the property with glowing rocks, Mom says, "That's our mansion over there, the one the VCs have been staying in all these years."

I say, "I can't believe it's our mansion. The glowing rocks are in our backyard. Now I can have all the rocks for my cosmetics, and make as much money as I want."

We walk around the mansion. Inside the makeshift chain-link fence enclosing the mansion, prisoners wearing orange jumpsuits move around.

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A prisoner says, "At least we can walk around in this prison camp. It's better to be imprisoned here than to be in hammocks hanging on the trees in the Assassin Jungle."

I say, "Aha! So the POWs in hammocks hanging on the trees were moved from the Assassin Jungle to here!"

Another prisoner says, "Yes, we were moved from the jungle into the Cu Chi tunnels. When the Tunnel Rats invaded the tunnels, we were moved to here." 

One POW has his whole head covered in bandage, on which are left with two holes for eyes, one for nose, and one for mouth.

Tin says, "Oh my God, she must be my mom. I can recognize my mom from the way she moves when walking."

The prisoner with bandage-covered head comes to the fence, and Tin pulls Hoa and me to go and stand in front of the prisoner. Tin says, "Mom, is that you? This is Tin. You're wounded badly."

"Yes, I'm your mom, Tien Stilwell. Thank God you've come here. I've been looking for you. I'm not wounded at all. Mrs. Hen, a cook in the Cu Chi tunnels, told me that she overheard some VC say that your dad is probably being held somewhere in this area. She helped me to disguise as being wounded, so that I could stay in this prison, to look for your dad."

"So my dad is a POW?" Tin says.

"That's what Mrs. Hen said," Mrs. Stilwell says.

I say, "Mrs. Stilwell, I'm so sorry to hear that Lieutenant General Melvin Stilwell from the Hamburger Hill is a POW. But there are eight of us here, including Mrs. Hen, looking for you."

Mrs. Stilwell says, "Since the VC Lieutenant Commander has been captured at the National Military Cemetery, the VCs have retreated from this area. But some VCs are still guarding this camp."

Mom says, "It seems there is a lack of guards in this camp. Let's get these POWs out of here. All, follow me."

Mom leads us to go into a tunnel running under our mansion. We're huddled together at the foot of a wooden tower leading to the outside. At the top of the tower near the roof, the window is slightly opened. Rays of sunlight come in through the opening. There are bird nests on the beams supporting the roof, and sparrows fly out of the opening. We are about to climb up the tower when bats fly smacking into the handle of a rake leaning against a wall. I lunge toward the rake and catch it before it falls to the floor and makes noise.

"Hello comrades," a voice comes out from a room. 

We climb up the tower to get out of the window. Mrs. Hen gets stuck in the window, and the people who have gotten to the outside pull her out.

I'm the last one to climb, and I swing myself up the tower and get outside.

We plop down on a grassy ground just two feet below the window on the outside. The sun makes a long shadow on the grass, and I look up to see the statue of the Virgin Mary, with the twin bell towers behind her, and I make the sign of the Cross. We are on the lawn of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Saigon. The bells are tolling, and people are walking to the church.

Mom leads the POWs to go through the hidden entrance in the rocks, near the haunted house behind our house, and take them into a cave for hiding.

It has been over a month since I last called the President of the United States. With a feeling of great satisfaction and pride, I dial the White House number 202-456-1111 on my mobile phone.

President Truman says, "Oh, you have been rather tardy in responding to my request. Do you have all your facts straight this time?"

"Hi, President Truman, I have your POWs," I say.

"Where are the POWs?" President Truman says.

"In the haunted cave under my mansion," I say.

President Truman says, "Are you that rich? I've always thought I'm a mart man, but you are smarter than me. Your story sounds crazy, but you sound credible. I'll award you a Kid Bravery Medal."

I say, "I don't want a medal. I want my dad back. He's a missing American Army Officer."

President Truman says, "I want to talk to you in person, to see what I can do about your dad. I'll have you brought to the White House."

I say, "You must allow my grandma and mom and my two good friends to come along, because I won't come to the White House all by myself."

"As you wish, formidable genius," President Truman says.   

I want to return the wedges to Tom and Mark. I hope Tin and I will find our dads.

The End

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