Heaven & Earth Page #2

to Hanoi or Saigon?

If I can't have my family around me,

what's the point of living?

You always think of only yourself!

The French, the Japanese,

now the Americans are all over us!

It's good they go North.

War is coming, you stupid, selfish man!

Stop it!

Go!

Forgive him, Mama.

Don't cry.

I've made your papa lose face.

If you ever do that to a husband...

...I'll have both your cheeks glowing,

one from him and one from me.

You hear me?

Who's first?

You talk now or it's bye-bye, Charlie!

You dig, a**hole?

All right, it's your ass!

Kiss it good-bye.

You're next.

You talk?

You going to talk?

At my mother's request, a local wizard

examined the umbilical cords...

... of my two soldier brothers...

... who hadn't written in over a year.

The older one...

...is strong and healthy.

The younger one...

...is in a place too gray for me to see.

No, that's not true.

I know Sau is alive.

I feel it in my womb.

Did you hear...

...funny noises last night?

Maybe voices...

...last night in the rain?

I did.

Here is your trouble, then.

Your shrine...

...is too small.

And we have a lost soul...

...who needs to come in.

That's all.

Just build a shrine outside...

...and everything will be fine.

The Viet Cong ingrained

in us a sense of "xa":

Duty to land...

... duty to country.

The ant became our moral model.

We formed cells, associations...

... where no one person

accumulated power over others.

Only in battle or by your own hands

will you be immortalized.

You never moved up in the ant society,

you only moved further in.

If the Viet Cong won the peasants over...

... it was because they lived their lives

with us.

But every time we ambushed

the government soldiers...

... twice as many came back.

Get your sorry asses down there!

One day...

... they came for me.

Papa! Help me!

Tell me quickly.

Why were you on the road?

Cutting grass for the water buffalo.

I didn't tell my parents.

Liar.

Again.

Why were you on the road?

I didn't mean any harm!

Liar!

You are can bo cai...

...VC cadre girl.

You were warning your friends.

Where's the VC base?

I don't know.

How many battles have you been in?

What's your rank?

Please...

I'm just a girl.

I have not done it.

Do you know what this is?

Think what this can do to your body.

How would your baby like you

with no nipples?

Or maybe I could cut some skin

off your ass to make some sandals.

Think about it...

...Miss Viet Cong hero.

And when you're called again...

...be prepared to tell me

everything you know.

Don't move.

Don't move.

I haven't done anything!

I don't know anything!

My mother used my dowry to bribe

a military official to have me released.

And now...

... the villagers were suspicious

of my family's ties to the government.

Finally...

... the Viet Cong came for me.

- She did nothing!

- Stay back!

No respect!

You've no respect!

- I'm coming with her!

- No, the prisoner comes alone!

Stay back!

Our men were betrayed.

The informer's here!

How else could the enemy know so much?

This village is filled with traitors!

Government sympathizers

that would sell us out for a relative...

...for money, for privilege!

So I ask you:

What should we do with these people?

We must give these people a lesson

they will never forget.

See?

See it?

- What is it?

- A grave.

Your grave...

...stupid girl.

What deal did you make

to get out of prison?

Did you promise them some of our ears

for their belts?

No, my mother bribed an official.

Why won't you believe me?

Little rich girl!

You want to live?

My life is in your hands.

What does that mean?

I mean I won't talk to the enemy.

I've been shamed enough in my village.

If you want, I'll go far away.

I'll never come back.

You talk about this, I'll kill you for real.

No, don't!

No, get off!

Shut up!

I was never to understand

why I was raped...

... and not killed.

Or if I had ever really been sentenced

by the Viet Cong.

It may have just been a warning

to my father.

But it ended forever...

... my relationship to my village.

My sister Hai found us a job in the city.

Papa stayed on the land

to guard the spirits of our ancestors.

In Saigon...

... much to our confusion...

... the monks were being arrested.

I've never seen so many cars,

so many people.

The other one.

Madam, they're ready.

This way.

Country fresh. Good workers.

So, which village?

Ky La.

Near Danang?

Ly is wonderful with children.

Perfect babysitter.

How old is she?

Eighteen.

Is she strong?

Yes, she's very strong. She started

to work in the fields when she was four.

They'll do.

Let's go.

You'll be punished for this, you stupid girl!

Making the Master open the door!

Don't be too hard on her.

It's been a long day.

Run off to bed. I'm fine. Go on.

I couldn't sleep.

I couldn't either, Master.

I am not your first.

Yes, you are.

I was raped...

...by the village boys in Ky La.

My poor thing.

Have you bled?

Stupid girl.

You weren't satisfied with a perfect life

in a perfect house?

You had to seduce the husband!

Made him stray from his wife.

Look what it brought you.

That's not how it happened!

Anh cares for me. He loves me.

Do you think a stupid girl like you

means anything to him?

Now you're going to have his bastard.

Perfect!

You'll have to get rid of it.

We'll go see the herbalist tomorrow.

What are you doing?

Oh, I'm sorry, Madam.

I'm expecting a child.

Yes, I know.

We learned it from the herbalist.

Who is the father?

Don't look so surprised.

A boy.

Someone I met in the park.

You don't know him.

Why are you burning incense?

Because...

...I don't want the baby.

I was praying to be forgiven.

In front of my husband's ancestors?

I don't know what else to do.

The boy's Catholic, like you.

I'm a Buddhist.

I see.

Le Ly, I have another explanation.

I believe the father of your baby

is my husband.

Oh, no! Anh... I mean the...

Silence!

You know I'm not well.

But I have given my husband sons.

Beautiful boys.

As fine as any woman could've given him.

Don't think...

...you won't pay for what you've done.

You and your daughter

must leave the house at once.

Leave?

But why?

Nobody knows but you.

Let people think the father is some soldier.

I know, and that's enough.

Men are like dogs pissing on posts.

They go once, they go twice.

But Bay Ly's no threat to you.

She has nothing for a proper man.

She's just a country girl.

An ignorant, stupid, foolish child.

A maid that will never be a bride.

She's nothing! Worthless!

Absolutely not.

I won't have her in my house.

Not as a nanny.

Not as a housekeeper.

Then as number two wife!

What?

You're crazy.

As concubine to the Master.

As your slave to kick around.

To warm your husband's bed

when you have better things to do.

Why waste your health on a man's rutting

when you can leave it to a stupid girl?

You're always number one wife.

The law is on your side.

- Please, Mama!

- Stupid, stop!

They must go now. Today, before supper.

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