Chapter 6

As the time approached for the reception, Mai and Sandy were concerned that the kids ran off and did something stupid. Duong and Ralph, meanwhile, were positive that the kids ran off and did something worthwhile. The bridesmaids were gathered near the barbeque, listening to Rosa discuss grilling with Billy Odegaard when they heard the tractor returning. Tam looked at her tiny watch and smiled. Just in time, those kids are good she smiled. She turned to Jake, who was sitting next to her, getting ready for the show to start. “When Lanh gets here, check her face, tell me if you find something different.”

“That didn’t take long,” said Sydney.

Rosa sipped her illicit beer. “Never does the first time.”

Tam and Kim-ly laughed at the wisdom from the mouths of babes.

Soon the Campbells pulled up on their John Deere green limousine, Lanh sitting on Don’s lap sideways, and the photographer was there to record their every move. Don parked behind the main tent, and they stepped off the tractor and were able to step around the tent wall and walk right to their seats. To many of the assembled guests, it looked like a planned entrance.

“Did you plan it that way?” squealed Sydney as she hugged Lanh.

“Nah, it was that dipity thing,” answered Don. The wedding party looked at him, then at each other, and searched their minds. “Serendipity? Anyone?” Don rolled his eyes.

“I see what you did there,” grinned Rosa, then her grin turned into a frown. “And I don’t like it.” which caused Lanh to laugh.

“Wait a minute, something’s off here,” announced Tam. “That smile ... Jake, check her out.”

Jake motioned Lanh closer to him and said, “Sorry dear, but I have orders, and as the assembled guests watched, Jake gently ran his fingers over her face. Finally, he leaned to her and whispered, “You shouldn’t be wearing white, should you?”

She whispered in return, “No, not anymore, and we should be back at the pond finishing up the job.”

Her reply made Jake laugh, and he hugged her and said, “I’m going to love calling you my little sister, are you deformed like Tam?”

“She’s not deformed, she’s demented, so yes, I am,” and with a faux innocent smile, she detached and sat in the chair that Don was holding out for her. As she sat down, her brothers Huy and Trung finally showed up with their dates. First, they had reported to Mai and Duong, their dates apologizing over and over for being late. Then they reported to Ralph and Sandy, who were sitting near the head table, then they came up to the head table, which was elevated about six inches, and made their introductions. First Huy came up with a sweet Asian girl who had streaked her hair with silver blond streaks. “Lanh, Don,” started Huy, “you remember Ahnjong, guess what! she’s studying to take the bar.”

“That’s awesome!” cried Lanh and hugged whom she hoped would be her future sister-in-law.

“How’s your Korean coming?” asked Ahnjong.

“Not so much,” grimaced Lanh. “been busy.”

“You should learn, I hear you two are headed for the Air Force, you could end up in Korea,” said Ahnjong with a smile.

Next was Trung. His date was a tall, pretty white girl with thick dark blond hair and green eyes. “Don, Lanh, this is Angela, she’s my ... ahhh...”

“Your reason for being late?” asked Lanh. “You used her for an excuse at Christmas ... and Thanksgiving if I remember correctly.”

“He told me to say I had a blond moment,” said Angela as she hugged Lanh.

Don was laughing at that when Bao stepped up to the table. “Hi, I’d like to introduce my date...”

“Wait, let me guess...” said Don, “Rosa Mendez, right?”

“Yeah!” grinned Rosa. “How did ya guess?”

“There’s not a lot of Latinas wearing an áo dài running loose in north central Minnesota this time of year,” he grinned.

“What’s up here ... you two ... too?” asked a stunned Lanh, looking back and forth between her friend and her brother.

“Well, we got to talking at the rehearsal dinner and...” Rosa shrugged with a huge smile.

Eventually, everyone took their seats and a fellow with a microphone stepped out to the center of the dancing area. “Hi, I’m Paul Mach, I’ll be your MC tonight, if you’ll take your seats...” he smiled and waited until everyone was seated. “A couple things to start with, water and soda are free, alcohol is not. Sorry about that but think of it as a donation to Don and Lanh’s new house. Also, those wooden mallets at your place setting? They’re not for hitting each other, they are for a very special purpose.” As soon as he said that, several savvy guests started tapping their glassware with their mallets. The sound of the glassware ringing was a signal to Don and Lanh to kiss, which they did.

“That’s fun,” smiled Lanh.

“It’s going to get real boring by the end of the evening,” said Don.

“I got some ChapStick for ya if you need it,” said Rosa.

The MC handed the microphone to Duong. “For those of you that don’t know me, I am Nguyen Hieu Duong, just call me Duong.” Duong gave a wonderful speech about coming to America, marrying Mai, raising five healthy children and the heartbreak of a preemie that was touch-and-go for months. The miracle child that somehow survived but grew up without joy.

“And then came Don, a young man who ignited joy in our baby’s life, a child who previously only truly cared for one goldfish. Suddenly, she cared about life, and she blossomed into the joyful woman you see today because of their love. This young man not only loves Lanh, but he loves her family. When a teacher attacked Lanh for her race, Don researched her family and learned of our journey then wrote his theme paper about us, which eventually became a book.”

“While he was farming, working at our restaurant, going to school, winning medals at swim meets, and romancing our daughter, he was interviewing our family and he wrote a book chronicling our journey here to America, to show that teacher just who she was disparaging. And that’s the man that married my baby, and I’m so proud to call you son. Welcome all and please join me in a toast to Don and Lanh Campbell.”

After a rousing cheer, followed by the clamor of little wooden mallets tapping on glassware, Don and Lanh kissed until the clamor stopped. Duong handed the microphone back to Paul Mach, who continued. “The real head honcho at this party, Mai, asked me to continue the introductions,” and he handed the microphone to Ralph.

“For those that don’t know me, my name is Ralph Campbell, please call me Ralph. This farm was settled by my great-great grandfather back in the eighteen hundreds. For years it was me, Emily and Don, and it was heaven on earth for us. Then, when Don was eight, we lost Emily on Christmas day as she held his hand. When she left we lost some of ourselves. I thought for sure at some point he was going to go join her and I was going to lose my only connection to Emily ... Then came that magic day, a high school Christmas dance and a tiny, frail girl came into our lives. She became the lady of the house and brought Christmas back into our lives and lefsa back into our diets.”

“Don was on a losing track and Lanh gave him something to live for. When Duong demanded an A average to date his daughter, Lanh made sure Don had an A+ average. Lanh became one of the most enthusiastic farmers I have ever seen, our milking parlors have never been cleaner, our cows have never been happier, and our calves have never had names before. Four years ago, we didn’t even have a boy scout merit badge in our house, but thanks to Lanh, we have a state championship.” When the applause lowered, Ralph said, “TWO State championships, all because of this sweet young lady.”

When he said that, Rosa, Sydney, and Craig stood and applauded Lanh, followed by Paul Mach and eventually everyone else. Even at a wedding reception, high school sports are #1 in Minnesota.

“We’re not eating until you all sit down,” Ralph said into the microphone, which brought laughs, and then a second chorus of laughter when he was translated for the non-English speaking guests. As the guests returned to their seats, Ralph continued. “Duong and I had regular meetings over our children and we both knew this day was coming, probably before Lanh and Don did and we would like to thank you all for sharing in our joy. Today Duong gave me a description of Lanh and Don that was originally said by Lanh’s big sister Tam, and it describes them perfectly. She said, ‘other people fall in love, but Lanh and Don were made perfectly for each other. They are both halves of one beautiful whole. It’s so much more than love, and it would be criminal to keep these two apart one second longer than necessary.’ My friends, a toast to two halves finally joined. To Lanh and Don Campbell” and he raised his glass to toast their children.

“Hear, hear!” said Huy, and all raised their glasses and drank, then began banging their glasses with their wooden mallets, giving Don and Lanh an excuse to kiss again.

With the microphone back, Paul announced, “We will begin eating now, once the head table has been served, we’ll be calling you up by table numbers. Before we eat, let’s say grace. Father Steinbach and Pastor Loomis tossed a coin to see who would say grace, Father Steinbach won the toss and has elected to pray. Father?” When the roars of laughter died down, Mr. Mach handed the microphone to Father Steinbach, who said a traditional catholic grace.

“Bless us oh Lord, and these, Thy gifts, which we are about to receive, from Thy bounty, through Christ our Lord, Amen.”

After grace, dinner was served, pulled pork fresh off the spit, barbequed chicken, and literally dozens of side dishes and desserts. Craig served Don while Tam served Lanh. Don looked at his plate. It had pork, a chicken thigh, several salads, and crispy skin from the pig. “Oh yes! Plenty of pork skin, thank you sir,” Don said to Craig, “you are truly a scholar and a gentleman.”

“Billie said you loved this,” said Craig.

“Is that what this is?” Lanh said as she picked up a piece of crispy pork skin from his plate. She took a small bite, then fell in love with the treat. “Is there a way to serve this in the restaurant?” Tam ended up going back for more pork skin for her baby sister and to replace the pork skin that Lanh ate off Don’s plate.

Sitting back down, Tam turned to Jake and asked, “Did you find a difference in her smile?”

Jake thought about it for a moment, stroked his neatly trimmed beard, and said, “Yes, and I don’t know how I could describe it.”

“She’s glowing,” said Tam. “It’s the best makeup a girl could wear, if we could put that in a bottle...”

Meanwhile, a small blond girl, no older than four, escaped from her parent, a cousin or family friend, and she crawled up on Don’s lap. “Little kids like me,” said Don as he fed the tyke some macaroni salad. A collective “Awwwww” went up from the guests in the tent when they saw the little girl on Don’s lap.

The little girl pointed at Lanh and asked, “Is she a princess?”

“She is,” said Don. “She’s the prettiest princess in the kingdom, don’t you think?”

The little girl nodded her head vigorously. “Uh huh!”

Lanh leaned over and said, “He’s the brave prince that saved me from the evil dragon, Joshua,” and gave the little girl a taste of ambrosia, a combination of canned fruit salad, whipped topping, and coconut. “That man is my prince charming,” said Lanh as she spoon fed the little girl.

“Really?” The little girl looked at Don with a look of shock and amazement.

Just then, the little girl’s mother came up and apologized profusely and led her back to their table, the little girl telling her mother the whole time how she sat on Prince Charming’s lap. “You made that little girl’s evening,” smiled Lanh.

“There’s another little girl whose evening I plan to make special,” replied as he put a forkful of home-made apple slaw in Lanh’s mouth.

As the main table finished eating, Paul took his place at the microphone. “As Don and Lanh’s coach and guidance counselor, I could tell you some stories...” He looked over at Lanh, who was shaking her head side to side, mouthing the words ‘no! no!’ “ ... so, I think I will. Don was injured in his junior year so he couldn’t compete. Heck, he couldn’t milk his cows or bus tables at Duong’s restaurant where he worked. But Lanh stayed with him and trained him during his recovery. Thanks to her, the words n’yen yen and diddy mau will be in the Grant Valley lexicon for years to come.”

“Before Don met Lanh, he was a C minus student and sinking fast. But since they met, he became an A plus student who wrote a research paper so profound that the school is having it published. Before they met, he rarely showed up for gym class, but with her encouragement and training he received a gold medal in regional competition and state swimming competition. As for Lanh, before they met, she was an A plus student who was ready to give up on school and on life in general. Sad and withdrawn, we were terrified that we lost her, and look at her now ... four point oh GPA, captain of the four-time champion debate team, and every single swimmer she coached medaled in every competition. She coached two swimmers who went to state competitions, and both came back with the gold, one of them set a state record that will stand for a long time. The little girl we thought we lost became valedictorian and student of the year.

“And now here they are, holding hands as husband and wife, wishing I’d shut the hell up. Every teacher has a student that they’ll never forget, I have two, and here they are, Mister and Missus Campbell.” He raised his champaign flute in honor of the couple and the crowd responded with a loud “Hear hear!” The toast was followed by the banging of the little wooden mallets on the glassware, requiring Don and Lanh to kiss.

Paul handed the microphone to Tam, who rose and said “I’m a teacher also, and I pray to God that I don’t ever have to go through what these two put their teachers through...” She waited for the chuckling to die down then continued. “To watch these two slowly slip away from you, and there’s nothing you can do ... poor Donovan, having to watch his mom slowly and painfully pass away, a rural low-income son of a struggling single dad in a suburban school filled with the sons and daughters of affluent people, what does that do to a child? ... poor Lanh, so tiny at birth, so weak and helpless, then isolated at school because of her race and jealousy over her academic achievements, the only Asian in her school ... what does that do to a child?”