The Refugees

Phuong’s father (Mr. Ly) had named his second set of children after his first, and Phuong, who is the oldest of this second set of children, had believed throughout her life that her older siblings were much more blessed. The first Mrs. Ly had sent many letters and photos over the years from America, and the first Phuong (who goes by Vivien) seems much more beautiful and more accomplished, as the letters say that she is a pediatrician in America. Mr. Ly had laminated each of the photographs to protect them.

The children had never written them letters, however, until Mr. Ly receives a letter from Vivien. Phuong thinks that she must have taken her name from Vivien Leigh, star of Gone with the Wind—her father’s favorite film. Vivien plans to come to Vietnam for a two-week vacation and hopes she can stay with them.

When Vivien arrives, she is wearing enormous sunglasses, glossy lipstick, and has crimson luggage. Phuong is thrilled to see that she bears no resemblance to the Vietnamese people around her. Even after a week, Vivien is more easily mistaken for a weary Japanese tourist, her makeup melting under the sun.

When Vivien takes the family out to dinner at Nam Kha, however, she is clearly more in control of her domain. Phuong had worked as a hostess at the restaurant for two years, but had never eaten there because it was too expensive—yet Vivien insists on paying for the family. Mr. Ly and Phuong’s mother object to the expensive tourist prices of the restaurant. Phuong, on the other hand, says she could get used to this treatment.

Phuong observes the other guests in the restaurant, all white except for one Indian couple, who take pictures and comment on how the people are so “delicate and tiny.” Night after night she had observed comments like this and was often forced to pose for pictures. She had pretended not to be a hostess but instead a model, or a starlet, or Vivien. She never knew what she really looked like, however—no one ever sent her the pictures.

When Vivien had arrived, she carried an itinerary of sights she wanted to see. Mr. Ly, who worked as a tour guide, told her that he couldn’t have made a better one himself. Mr. Ly rarely praises anyone, except his first three children. The first Mrs. Ly had fled with them after the war, when Mr. Ly had been banished to a labor camp for five years and his mistress had come demanding money. When he returned, he married his mistress (Phuong’s mother) and had three more children.

Mr. Ly often compared Phuong with Vivien as she was growing up, which gave her a sense of yearning for her sister and also jealousy. Sitting in the restaurant, Mr. Ly asks Vivien what she’d like to do the following day. Phuong’s brothers, Hanh and Phuc, ask if they can go to an amusement park. Mr. Ly suggests that she come take his tour instead. Vivien agrees, and they clink glasses.

Mr. Ly comments that they are a lucky generation. When Phuong tries to protest, he says that she has never appreciated what she has. He talks about his experiences in the labor camp, where he ate roots and rice with worms in it to survive. Every week, he says, he had to come up with a different way to criticize himself for being a capitalist. Phuong sighs; she’s heard this all before.

Vivien, who has been listening intently, asks Mr. Ly why he named his second set of children after his first. He says he knew she would want to come back to see the daughter he named after her. Vivien glances at Phuong before toasting once more with her father.

Mr. Ly had never asked Phuong to take one of his tours. Though she had never wanted to go, she thinks that it might have been nice to be asked. Yet Vivien doesn’t seem to appreciate her father’s special regard. Instead, as they take the bus to his tour, she complains about the heat and the mosquitos, even though she wears T-shirts and short shorts and neglects to wear mosquito repellant.

Mr. Ly gives his tour in English, showing off various remains of the Vietnam War: a trapdoor for capturing soldiers; a tunnel where guerrillas would hide and attack Americans; a shooting range where tourists can use a machine gun. Phuong is confused why tourists would want to visit, but Mr. Ly explains that the war is all they know about the country.

The American tourists take pictures, and Mr. Ly asks for volunteers to go into the tunnels. When no one does, he scowls and raises his fist, crying “We reunite our country through courage and sacrifice!” Phuong assures Vivien that this is an act, but she also knows that the tourists cannot tell the difference between a Communist and a man that the Communists had exiled. She grows frustrated, realizing that all Vietnamese people are the same to them.

On Vivien’s penultimate evening in Saigon, she and Mr. Ly drink four flasks of milky rice wine at a Chinese restaurant. While Mr. Ly and Phuong’s mother go on a walk, Vivien and Phuong go upstairs to the room Phuong shares with her parents. Vivien takes out a gift from her suitcase: lacy black lingerie. Phuong blushes and protests that her parents would never let her wear them, but she tries them on. She is thrilled by sight of her body in the underwear.

Phuong puts her pajamas back on and she and Vivien lie in bed together. Vivien says that she wants to tell Phuong a secret: that she doesn’t love Mr. Ly, because she doesn’t remember him. They hear their parents climb the stairs, and become silent. Phuong realizes, in the darkness, that her sister has brought her to the realization that she pities her father and does not respect him.

At the amusement park the next morning, Mr. Ly takes photos of his children with the disposable camera that Vivien had brought them. They drive the bumper cars before moving on to the Ferris wheel. As Vivien and Phuong survey the park in their own cabin, Vivien reveals that she once worked at an amusement park so that she could meet boys. Vivien tells Phuong about her boyfriend, Rod, and how they would drive home together and kiss on side streets.

Phuong, who is still wearing the lingerie from the previous evening, tells Vivien that she hasn’t had a boyfriend because doesn’t want anyone holding her back. When Vivien asks from what, Phuong says that she wants to be like Vivien—she wants to go to America and be a doctor. She doesn’t want to spend her life waiting on people. She doesn’t want to marry a boy with no future and have children too soon.

Vivien reluctantly confesses that she and Vivien’s mother did not tell the truth about her life. She is not a doctor, she is a receptionist. She had dated her boss, and when he broke up with her and she lost her job, she decided to take a vacation to Vietnam. She used her severance package to fund her trip. Phuong is shocked, but she still presses her case, saying that Vivien doesn’t have to be a doctor to sponsor her.

Vivien starts to cry, saying that when she gets back, she has to put her life together. She has to pay off her credit cards and her student loans, and she won’t have time to worry about a little sister. The Ferris wheel has made a full rotation, and Vivien steps out, followed by Phuong. Mr. Ly snaps a photograph, but when it is developed, Phuong realizes that Vivien is visible, but Phuong cannot be seen.

A month after Vivien’s visit, the family receives a letter from her with a stack of pictures enclosed. The letter recounts her memories and how much she wants to come back. Mr. Ly instructs Phuong to have the photographs laminated so that they’ll have something to remember her by until she returns. Phuong contemplates telling him the truth about Vivien, but refrains. All she can think about is how she will leave Vietnam someday, as well.

The next morning, Phuong is alone in the house and she decides to look at the photos. The first picture is from their last stop at the amusement park that day—the Ice Lantern, an enormous refrigerator with ice sculptures of the world’s landmarks. Phuong had taken a picture of Mr. Ly and Vivien, who looked more like her father than her sister. It is clear to Phuong now that their father loved Vivien more than he loved her.

Phuong lights the photo on fire with a match, dropping it into a bucket. She feeds the fire with more photos until only one is left: a photo of Phuong and her sister at the airport. Vivien is smiling, but Phuong is not. She lights this final photograph and scatters the ashes in the alley next to her home. A gust of wind catches them and sweeps them up into the clear blue sky.