Love Like Hate Read Online Free Page B

feelings about what happened between us and I still think about you every once in a while. I will never forget that pork stew you brought me while I was in prison. No one can make pork stew like you, not even my new wife. After I left you, I went to Cao Lanh and stayed for two years before I left for America in the Orderly Departure Program with a new wife. My new wife is from Cao Lanh and she also works in the chicken plant with me. I kill chickens, she packs them. Although she doesn’t compare to you, I’m just grateful I’m not alone. I hope you are happy with Sen. Please tell him I do not hate him. And tell Cun I will send him $200 for Christmas
.
    Hoang Long
    A photo came with the letter. In it, Hoang Long stood next to his new wife in front of a red Honda Civic, one arm around her waist, one pointing at his car. Wearing an AC/DC T-shirt, he flashed a bright smile, displaying his new teeth.
    Seeing Hoang Long’s dental work, Kim Lan unconsciously bared her own yellowing teeth and touched them with her fingers. Vietnamese toothpastes had really low standards.
Only $200 for Cun after eight years?
she sneered.
He complains that he isn’t being paid very much, but of course he’s making lots of money. Just look at that nice car. He only writes that because he doesn’t want his son to hit him up. The address is probably fake: There is no Stryker Street, and no Archbold, Ohio. There’s no Ohio, period. You can’t even pronounce it, so how can it exist? He thinkshe can just put down any combination of letters and I’ll believe it. I’ve heard of California and Florida, but Ohio?
    She had already guessed that Hoang Long was in America. All ex-Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) soldiers who had spent at least four years in a reeducation camp were allowed to go to the US under the Orderly Departure Program. If she had dumped Sen, she could have gone to the US with Hoang Long, but no, she had her principles. And how had Sen responded to her incredible sacrifice?
By going to the whorehouses regularly
, she reflected with disgust. But the real reason she had not left with Hoang Long was because she did not want to abandon Hoa. Hoa was the most precious thing in her life, her very reason for living. Provoked by this letter, she wrote one of her own, not to Hoang Long but to Huyen, the neighborhood girl who had married the Viet Kieu:
    Beloved Huyen!
    How are you? I am so happy for you. You are very lucky
.
    How are things in Philadelphia? I think of you often and want to send you and your husband my deepest and most sincere wishes for your future happiness
.
    My mother is doing OK. I’m going to school to study English. Following your example, I’m very fashionably dressed now!
    Perhaps you don’t even remember me, but I remember you very well. You were always the best-looking and the best-dressed girl in the neighborhood. I model myself after you. In case you don’t remember me, I’m the daughter of the lady who owns Paris by Night. I am seven years younger than you, so we didn’t hang out much. In fact, we didn’t hang out at all, but I still remember you very well, because you were my hero!
    I was very reluctant to send you this letter. I was afraid you would misunderstand my intentions. Why am I writing to you out of the blue? What do I want exactly?
    I’ve always wanted to stay in touch, my beloved Huyen, but I was only a kid before, distracted by school and play, and did not know a thing aboutwriting letters. I also did not have your address. But your mother finally gave me your address recently and she encouraged me to write you a long letter. She said you love to receive letters from Vietnam
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    In any case, I just want to congratulate you on being such a lucky girl! I love you very much. I’m not trying to suck up to you now that you have a rich husband. That’s not how I live. But it’s true that my family has fallen on hard times. The café is not doing so well. But a torn shirt need not stink. Just