Angel in the Full Moon. Don Easton

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alt="Image"/>ng heard Ngc Bích yelling and the pounding clang of metal being struck with a pipe.

      The cargo doors were opened and the women rushed to stand beneath as fresh air and rain came in from above. The crew member took only the first few steps down the ladder before cursing and going back up. He returned a few minutes later and tossed down a mop while ordering another woman to bring up the plastic pail so that it could be dumped overboard.

      Three weeks passed and, despite the promise to be allowed on deck at night, had that luxury rescinded because of severe storms. The ship rocked and creaked as it was blasted by the wind and heavy waves. During this time, the cargo doors were closed again to prevent flooding. It was also the time when most people were sick.

      On this night, the storm was worse than usual and H

ng was one of the few who had managed to keep her food down. She waited until most of the others were asleep before deciding to take the opportunity to squat over the plastic pail.

      She balanced her steps on the rollicking floor of the ship as she headed for the pail, only to see that it was overflowing. She wondered what to do just as the ship gave another violent heave, sending the pail sliding across the floor and tipping over. She decided to wait.

      On the following night, the storms abated. It was January 29^th, this year’s official beginning of the celebration of T

t Nguyê;n án, or “TET,” as it is commonly called, marking the lunar New Year. This year was the Year of the Dog. Today, their daily rations of rice, noodles, and fish soup was replaced with ample quantities of chicken, pork, and vegetables.

      As soon as darkness came, everyone was allowed on deck. It didn’t take H

c Bích long to find each other. They decided to speak Vietnamese to each other. Tonight would be a night to relax. Even if they couldn’t be together on the ship, they promised each other they would remain friends when they got off. Then there would be plenty of time to practise English.

      They watched as a couple of the crew members waved bottles of wine and invited some of the women back to their rooms with them. Some of the women went and H

c Bích as she stared after them.

      “The crew ... their rooms will be warm,” said H

ng. “Is it wrong to drink wine?”

      Ng

c Bích turned to Hng and smiled and said, “You are a child, my new sister. It is not just wine that these men want to put in the women.”

      H

ng felt embarrassed but said, “The women, maybe they will just enjoy the warmth and then say no, and leave.”

      Ng

c Bích shook her head and said, “That is why the men will share the wine. These young women will be too drunk to say no ... and if they do, the men may not listen. Never dishonour your family by such behaviour.”

      H

c Bích would even feel the need to convey that to her. “I never would. Yuk! Never!”

      “Good. No man would ever want you for his wife then,” said Ng

c Bích seriously.

      “I will never dishonour my family,” replied H

ng solemnly. “My father has told me about such women. Greedy women, who give their bodies to men.”

      Ng

c Bích nodded. “Always respect what you do and respect yourself. In America I am going to be trained to give massages and work at a hotel where the very rich go,” said Ngc Bích. “I will make lots of money and then,” Ngc Bích paused as her eyes twinkled, “when a man with a bottle of wine invites me to his room ... I will go.”

      “You will go?” exclaimed H

ng.

      “Yes. Because that man will be my husband.”

      H

c Bích joined in. Hc Bích’s comments made her realize how lucky she was ... or would be in three weeks when they arrived. She was told that the home of Mister Pops was so large that she would have her own bedroom. He was even so rich that when Linh came, she would also have her own bedroom.

      Pops turned the radio on to maximum volume before flushing the toilet and crouching down to hurry through the short passageway that led to the television room in his basement. Once free of the passageway, he pushed the square doorway shut behind him.

      He stood panting for a moment. Not that he was out of shape. He was a big man with a narcissistic drive that compelled him to maintain a daily routine of bodybuilding. His panting was not from physical exertion. It was from excitement.

      Pops’s house was a four-level split built over the side of a hill. In the basement of the home, he had discovered a small trap door leading to a dead space in the earth behind his foundation. The trap door was intended to gain access to some plumbing pipes that led from the upper levels down to the run-off pipes in the earth below.

      When Pops first stuck his head in the hole and shone a flashlight around, he saw a space that ran the width of his house and was several metres wide. It was partially back-filled with dirt and debris from when his house was built. The area was completely sealed off by cement foundations that supported the upper levels of his house farther back on the hill.

      For many months, Pops lay awake and fantasized about what special use he could make of this newfound space. His fantasies were about to become real.

      Now Pops stood and held his breath

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