-^-for posterity-^-

storefronts boarded up like there was a riot. the streets empty like something’s rotten in the air. all vendors and taxi motorcycles have fled to higher grounds. a small piece of paper blows across the street and your eye fixes on it. the only movement are flags blowing firmly in the breeze. the sky is blue and calm like you’re in the eye of a hurricane.

that’s what tet was like.

streets suddenly swarmed with people on every means of transportation available. people have flooded out from their warm caves and into the town. routine life has picked up again. the storm has passed, the floods have receded, the rottenness that was once in the air mysteriously vanished. all is normal again and all is hectic.

riding down the street on my bicycle, everything becomes an obstacle. buying a large chunk of banh bao for the dog is a chore. the sun is setting and nothing is clear. ghostly bicycles appear out of nowhere and disappear in the same instant. i almost hit a small child crossing the road.

banh bao is a doughy dog treat. it’s warm and soft and the middle is filled with pork and eggs. not a mixture of pork and eggs but rather whole, hard boiled eggs and minced pork.

you set it on the ground and watch the carnage ensue. jota goes right for the middle and devours the eggs and pork in swift gulps. he gnaws at the doughy part eventually polishing off a piece of bread and pork that’s about a third the size of him. he becomes thick and wobbles around. he’ll sleep for the next three hours and barely move after that until all the large, un-chewed pieces of bread and pig find there way through his itty-bitty stomach. he’s an eating machine and long xuyen has returned to normal.