tonight jack and i jumped on our bikes and headed off to mr. tri’s house. they invited us over again for a round of fish curry.
the traffic was thick it was already dusk. people were moving in all directions like a disturbed school of fish. we giggled and talked as we pedaled.
tri’s house is behind their small sporting-goods shop. tri was slouched over on the curb playing with one of his roosters. the rooster was well proportioned and ambled carelessly near the street. its feathers glisten and it’s black with patches of red. it walks as only a bird that can no longer fly does.
we strolled in past the man with terrible teeth who was still stringing rackets and said hello to everyone. everyone was happy and it felt nice to be there. supper was the world famous fish curry. it was served in a thin, white bowl. it consisted of tomatoes, fish and lots and lots of curry. it’s rather good, once you get past all of the bones.
we spent the meal talking about food from different countries. they wanted to know what kind of fish we normally ate where i was from. i said we didn’t normally get good fish. the one we were eating was breathing only this morning.
after the meal was over we went to see tri’s roosters. he said that we could only see one of them tonight. the others were sleeping and it wasn’t appropriate to wake them. this morning he was forced to say goodbye to one of his roosters. it was much too old and he exchanged it for a younger one. he said it was very sad.
we walked out to the street and the rooster was still walking around on the sidewalk. i was surprised that it hadn’t run away or gotten killed. mr. tri has a habit of boasting about his roosters. he says that they are very, very intelligent and that they are very, very loyal. he told us about a trick that they know: he snaps his fingers and they turn around in a circle.
i was impressed. i had never known that chickens were able to perform tricks. i imagined mr. tri snapping his finger, smiling and laughing as a beautiful rooster danced in a small circle. i was eager to see.
mr. tri bent down and put his finger next to the rooster’s head. he snapped his fingers and the rooster turned towards the snapping. mr. tri moved his fingers a little further along and snapped his fingers again. the rooster followed. snap, turn, snap, turn, snap, turn.
mr. tri was very pleased. he stood up and smiled broadly. “you see, he turns wonderfully.” the rooster had bored of our simple conversation and went to the side of the road to inspect a small, brown puddle. it hopped off the curb dangerously close to traffic and began to drink out of it. mr. tri smiled, “he’s thirsty.” the rooster walked into the middle of the puddle and stood mindlessly.
the night ended and we went home. i went home happy to be in vietnam. i love this place: the people, the food, everything.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment