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For we both knew the central, stupendous truth now was how little those in the developed economy, at least the American economy, knew of the wider world. Eventually, there would be a price to pay for such ignorance.
NAO KAO
“Would you like to come for dinner next Friday?” Rachael Zick asked as I wrapped up my New Year’s Day lesson on Laotian history. Most of the other guests had already departed from her open house.
I paused a beat too long, uncertain how to respond to such an unexpected invitation.
“We often host students for dinner, Nao Kao. But it’s an invitation, not an obligation,” she added.
“That’s very kind of you, thanks. Yes, I’d be happy to join you.”
“Wonderful!” Rachael beamed, her face lighting up unexpectedly. “And why don’t you see if you can convince Liss to come that night, too.”
She walked away before I could respond, leaving me to think what an odd family they seemed to be.
“Ugh, dinner at home,” Liss groaned, when I asked her.
I waited, having learned in class that a prolonged pause could lead to a modification of her initial position.
“Fine, I’ll come. But only because you asked nicely.”
I couldn’t tell whether she was genuinely pouting or putting me on, but when she met me at the bus stop, her eyes sparkled with mischief.
“Oh, Nao Kao,” she said, drawing out the vowels, “there might just be a little trouble tonight.”
She didn’t sound like she minded.
She kept a quick pace, the heels of her boots smacking a steady beat against the sidewalk, shoveled and salted, but still patchy with ice. I tread carefully, the rubber soles of my shoes no guarantee against a winter injury.
“Nao Kao, come in, how nice to see you,” Liss’s parents greeted me in chorus.
I turned to make space for Liss and noted the twinkle of mischief had hardened into a steely glint.
“Nao Kao has just been telling me about his childhood job helping his parents sell produce at their market stall. I told him I knew you’d be interested, too.”
The truth of her statement depending on your definition of the word “just.” I had told her about this earlier in the week, but she met my quizzical expression with a flat, even one of her own.
“Please,” I read on her face, and so I obliged.
Liss was animated throughout dinner, never allowing the conversation to falter, prodding me in her efforts.
“How do you see Laos’s economy developing over the next decade?” she would ask. “What are the biggest environmental threats?”
“Where in the U.S. have you traveled? Where do you most hope to visit before you leave?”
Only as we put on our coats to leave, did I begin to understand.
“Where’s Jake?” Rachael asked Liss, before we could slide out the door, and in the heaviness that settled around us, I understood that this was the question Liss had been dodging since we arrived.
“Liss?”
I was watching a battle of two steel-willed women, the likes of which I had never seen because the likes of whom I had never known.
“Not here,” Liss answered finally, and I saw by her expression that Rachael Zick had won.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
“Who is Jake?” I asked a few weeks later, as we studied in the Union.
