Chapter 8: Meeting the Family

Standing in front of the door of Anh’s home, the one she’d just been thrown out of by her son, I knocked loudly and held Anh tight as we waited for a response. We heard rapid, decisive footsteps approaching and figured her son was prepared for a confrontation. The door swung forcefully open, revealing a smallish, slim, but well-muscled man glaring back at me. He was wearing well-worn jeans and an older t-shirt which looked to be three sizes too small. The sounds and images of a crowded household filtered around him: the ticking of competing old-style mechanical clocks, the soft whistle of a tea kettle in the kitchen, the smell of teas, honey and jasmine, the sounds of toys being rustled. The living room behind him was crowded with a variety of household knick-knacks: children’s books, jade and ivory sculptures, small glass ornaments in a worn antique cabinet, and throws and pillows littering a well-worn couch.

I didn’t let his small size fool me as I regarded this man who daily braved the rough environment of a gulf shrimper. For all I knew he was versed in whatever the Vietnamese version of kung-fu or jiu-jitsu was. With a contemptuous glare, he summarily looked me up and down, sneering at his perception of me, before finally addressing me.

“So you’re the mysterious Alex, huh?” he asked dismissively in accented but fluent English.

“Yes, I am,” I answered, returning his glare with a steady, confident gaze. “I believe you have your mother’s things. She’ll be needing them.” I hoped such an approach wouldn’t be considered confrontational, but I still wanted to convey we were willing to stand our ground in supporting Ahn’s interests.

“You’re not going to get her money, you know,” he told me summarily.

“Money? Is that what this is all about?” I asked, a little incensed. “What makes you think I even want her money?”

“What else is a pretty boy like you offering that sweeps a little old woman off her feet? I don’t know what kind of scam you’re pulling, but it stops here!” he hissed emphatically with a dismissive chopping motion. He faced me head on, getting right into my face in a challenging affront.

Ignoring him I stepped forward, guiding Anh around her son, telling her gently, “Get your things,” before responding to him.

“I’m not interested in your mother’s money. We’ve become friends and are concerned for her safety tonight.”

“Yeah,” he sneered at me, “you and all your women? With an old man as backup?” He certainly seemed to be ready for a fight. I’d have to watch myself so I didn’t get him more worked up than he already was. However, I wasn’t about to back down over something I believed in.

“The women are no concern of yours,” I insisted, trying to keep his attention on me and not on the people surrounding me. “They’re friends of Anh’s and are here to help her. The ‘old man’ is my father and is legally responsible for my actions until I reach 18, so he has every right to be here as well.”

“Then he should be preventing you from taking advantage of my mother. You’re ‘friends’ with her? You’ve known her for all of one day and suddenly you know her better than I do? You don’t even speak Vietnamese, how the hell do you know what she wants?”

“I’m pretty sure I know what she wants more than you do,” I challenged. I’ll admit it, I was pretty smug. It’s easy to be smug when you feel you have plenty of people in your corner, but I noticed then the house was full of people watching the two of us; everyone from adults to little kids, Vicky amongst them. She was wide eyed watching the unfolding events.

Suddenly I felt a feeling of panic and dread, and stupidly, I responded by turning back toward Shani and Allison—who I felt sure it was coming from—instead of watching out for myself. Only at the last moment did I detect motion out of the corner of my eye as I focused on his fist, balled up, moving rapidly towards my face. Everything slowed way down and I could see the hand slowly advancing towards me, and I could think clearly about it but couldn’t do anything to move out of the way or respond in any other way. I had time to think ‘I’m glad it’s a regular punch instead of a round-house kick to the head’ and then ‘Man, this is gonna hurt!’ Just before impact I heard, clearly and distinctly, a chorus of “Oh fuck!”, “Watch out Alex!” and a “Damn Bao!” and I remember thinking, ‘Who the fuck is getting so excited’. Then BAM! I went flying.

Again, everything was moving in slow motion. I distinctly felt the fist connect with my cheek, as my face was looking away from him; I think he’d been aiming at my nose. I heard the smack of solid fist hitting damp, soft flesh. I felt my head snap back and my body begin to fly backwards as I descended the stairs without touching them. But strangely I didn’t feel much pain. It seems when my mind snapped into hyper mode and everything slowed down, my nerves had yet to catch up. I think that’s also why my mind was initially distracted when the voices shouted out—I wasn’t able to take in the sudden change of perspective. Nothing made much sense for quite a while after that. I remembered sailing through the air in slow motion, watching the background gradually move past as I memorized each and every event in my horizon. I heard screams, both my family’s behind me as well as the children’s, but whether in horror or support I had no clear clue. I remember hoping Frank, my father, wouldn’t try to defend me, as I didn’t think he was really in any shape to help. Finally I wondered whether Anh would be packed soon, as I wasn’t sure how much more of this I could take before she was ready.

Then I came crashing down hard against the concrete walkway, hearing my clothing tear and my back scrape as I slid backwards. Everything surrounding me seemed to fly past as my senses returned to normal again. It took several long seconds for my backwards motion to finally come to rest, as I kept trying to reach out for something to slow myself down with.

As soon as I came to a halt I rolled onto my side trying to regain my feet, preparing myself for whatever he might try next. Not having a clear view of him, I didn’t know what to expect. Finally standing, facing what I thought was the right direction, I saw four women all beating on Anh’s son at the same time. I assumed this was Bao, since I seemed to recall it had been Anh’s voice which just damned him. Man, were they beating on him with a vengeance. He was shielding his face with his hands as their blows rained down upon him.

“Enough!” I called out, knocking some pebbles from my arm and wincing at the resulting sting. “This is between Bao and me.” Instantly they all glanced back at me in amazement and the women backed away from my opponent. I cautiously stepped forward as a feeling of calm swept over me. I figured it was probably nothing more than early shock taking hold, but I’d put it to as much use as I could before it started incapacitating me.

“You speak of my not knowing Vietnamese,” I got out, my speech slightly slurred due to my mangled face, but still sounding about right to my ears at least, “but it’s not me who forgot the meaning of honor, of family, of respecting the wisdom of one’s elders, of working through one’s problems on one’s own rather than the all too common American habit of beating up on anyone who opposes you before listening to anything they have to say.” Bao’s head tilted, his countenance showing his confusion over this odd tactic I’d chosen, lecturing him during a fist fight.

“You ignore your own mother’s wisdom and experience, as well as her own free will and choice in the matter. You strike before I have an opportunity to either defend myself or explain what happened. You bully me, your mother and your daughter, just because it’s easier than asking yourself a couple of tough questions.” I was on a roll now. I kept the questions coming as I kept advancing on him, forcing him to take a step backwards as he tried to figure out what I was saying. The physical confrontation of my rapid approach and close physical proximity, combined with the intellectual challenge of figuring out what I was asking and trying to formulate a response had him confused and unprepared for it, he tried to step back to gain enough time to fathom it. But since I was advancing on him, I had him off balance, both physically and mentally.

“He’s right, Bao,” came a sharp retort to my right. I glanced briefly in that direction, not wanting to take my eyes off Bao as I briefly slowed my advance. “You forget who you are and where you come from.” It was Anh, sharply rebuking her son from the other direction, and boy, did she look angry. I was stunned to realize I could hear and understand each word she said, but didn’t have time to consider any possible explanations for it.

“You’re familiar with reincarnation, aren’t you? You remember that much of our heritage, at least?” she prompted, to which he mumbled an incoherent response, his eyes flitting about looking for a way out, unable to meet her insistent gaze. “Well, in a past life I was a Vietnamese. Then, in a subsequent life I was a Vietnamese-American. However, now I’ve passed from those lives into an afterlife where I am surrounded by spirits. I see spirits of all living things, and I am surrounded by a family of faithful spirits who are led by a mighty spirit. One who, just like the stories of old you give lip service to, takes on human form in order to walk the physical world. Just like them, he walks in a humble form of a harmless boy, not because he is, but just as a test on the character of the humans around him. A test you’ve failed miserably! You attempt to beat up a young boy just because you can? Alex is much stronger than you. He stands head and shoulders above you in strength, ability and character, as you’ve shown yourself to be the little man you are!”

Whew, was I ever glad she wasn’t this pissed at me! I planned to stay on her good side in the near future.

In the back of my mind, I realized I heard her speaking in clear, concise English, even though I could hear the Vietnamese and could see her lips moving in sync with her native words. But that wasn’t in the front of my mind and I was too focused on what was happening to give it my full attention. Anh seemed to take a deep breath as she reached the end of her speech and waited for a response.

I saw Bao let out a deep, resigned sigh as he seemingly collapsed in on himself.

“You’re right,” he freely admitted. “I’ve fallen victim to my American side. I’ve belittled myself with my assumptions, and shamed my family with my arrogance.” He glanced at me as if pleading for something.

“Will you accept my apologies, Mr. Alex?” I was surprised the fight went out of him so swiftly.

I tilted my head as I took in this change of tenor and then came to a quick decision. “I’d be honored to, Mr. Bao. By your ability to recognize your failings and own up to them, you reveal yourself to be an honorable man.” I held my hand out in the time honored American tradition. My opponent looked at it a moment, then shook it briefly before pulling me into a big hug. I couldn’t believe how this was turning out.

He quickly backed away and looked at me warily. “I still don’t trust you at all,” he warned. “I can’t understand what you seek to gain from my mother, or why you tell her such crazy, demented stories. I still suspect you to be some cherub faced con-man attempting to sway my mother for financial gain. But I’m willing to listen to any rational response you can present.”

“Ha,” I briefly laughed, “nothing I can say is very rational, as nothing I’ve faced recently is very sensible. My story is very disturbed and makes no more sense to me than it does to you. Half of this crazy story has been told to me just as you’ve heard it, both by your mother and by my other friends here,” I said, indicating the determined women who still looked ready to beat his ass given a moment’s notice. “I didn’t set out to gain anything, and even now only seek basic knowledge, nothing more.

“I hope your mother can offer some sense and rationality based on her knowledge of things from your home country, but I’m afraid the craziness will only continue. I mean no disrespect, as I deeply honor your mother, but I don’t know what the future holds for the two of us. However I feel we are intrinsically tied together.” Finally, he asked me to sit and we held a guarded discussion, while the other occupants of the house looked on as if we were both demented. After a while, Anh came out carrying a heavy bag.

“I can see your mother has prepared her things, so I’m assuming she still insists on leaving with us. I honor her wisdom and acquiesce to her desires. Just be aware that it is her decision, not mine, as I do not control your mother.” Anh then proceeded to rattle off a bunch of Vietnamese, which it suddenly occurred to me I couldn’t understand a word of, but I didn’t bother to try to figure it out and just let the language wash over me as it wasn’t directed at me. Or at least I didn’t think it was, as suddenly Anh was glaring at me expectantly, so I quickly jumped up and ran to grab the single suitcase she was carrying. She apparently had a few of them already packed and prepared in her bedroom, so my family rushed to help her out. There were hugs and crying all around, so we just faded into the background as Anh and her extended family got their feelings out in their own language. I felt they deserved their privacy. We finally managed to gracefully exit the house and gravitate to the three cars, my parents’, Shani’s and Anh’s little compact. Not wanting the little woman to travel alone, I got in beside her, and suddenly found the backseat filled with both Cate and Allison, leaving my poor father and Shani to travel back alone in relative ignorance. We finally drove off to farewells and multiple waving relatives.

“What the hell was that all about?” asked Cate insistently, demanding an explanation.

“You don’t understand a simple fistfight?” I teasingly asked, shooting her my best ‘Aw, shucks’ expression.

“I understood that,” she replied, rolling her eyes at my attempt to defray her question, “as much as there was of it, since it was mostly you bouncing off of their steps. But what I didn’t understand was the long diatribe by Anh.”

I turned and glanced back at Allison. “Did you understand any of it?” I asked.

“Yeah, not all, but I got most of it,” she replied. “I’d get much of it, but then I’d hear the Vietnamese and lose a few words and then it would flip back to English.”

“How... ? Oh,” sighed my sister, the realization suddenly blossoming in her expression. “You got an ongoing translation as it was happening?” The tone of her words spoke of her awe, rather than the doubt and skepticism I’d expected.

“Yeah, it was strange, one second they were fighting, then Alex goes all mental and psycho on him, talking a bunch of nonsense, then suddenly Anh starts speaking English.”

“It wasn’t English,” corrected Cate. “I couldn’t understand any of it. Luckily her son was speaking English for most of it.”

“Bao,” I informed her, “and what do you mean ‘most’ of it?”

“He was so excited he was switching back and forth between English and Vietnamese, I could only understand a certain amount of it. And what’s a ‘Bao’?”

“Bao is her son’s name,” explained Allison.

“Oh, that makes sense. Did she tell us that at some point?” Cate asked.

“No, she never really told us about her family. I just heard her using his name,” I responded, not detailing the context I’d heard it in.

“So what did she say which calmed him down?” Cate asked, so I proceeded to give her the gist of what was said. The discussion and explanation took quite a bit of the trip. When it neared the end, I turned to Anh and asked “So what are you feeling about all of this?”

Although I asked the question in English she answered me, and I understood it, even though she answered in steady stream of Vietnamese, which I could also hear in the background.

“I’m fine but exhausted. I was so scared when Bao threw me into the street. I immediately thought of you and suddenly felt you there, guiding me, so I started walking back towards you. I knew it was silly, but I couldn’t stay there. I felt you searching for me and knew you’d be able to find me. I’m sorry I hadn’t told you where I lived before, but you managed to find me anyway.”

“That was Vicky’s doing,” I explained, “she managed to sneak in a phone call telling us where to find you.”

“Well I’m glad of that,” she replied, smiling at me, her thankfulness apparent in her eyes. I noticed Cate giving me confused looks out of my peripheral vision, but Allison proceeded to offer a halting translation as we continued to speak.

“When I brought Vicky home, I proceeded to tell my family I was leaving to follow a mighty spirit on an important mission,” Anh explained to us. “Both he and his wife blew up at that point. The more I explained, the worse it got. When they discovered you were only a teenager, they started going on about American con-men. When Vicky tried to defend you, they started to get really nasty.”

“I can imagine,” I told her. “I seem to be moving from one crisis to the next, one awkward scene after another.”

“Then Bao insisted ‘if he wants you for your money, then we’ll see what he thinks when you have none!” and he physically threw me out of the house. I didn’t have anything with me at the time, but I wasn’t worried. I knew you’d recognize I was in trouble.” She seemed to have lots of confidence in my supernatural abilities which I didn’t share.

“Yeah, I felt you trying to connect with me, but it was only Vicky’s call which allowed us find you.” She didn’t let the fact disturb her recital of facts, though.

“When you finally found me, it was such a relief. I was so glad you came to rescue me. I felt like I had been reunited with my new family after having left my old one.”

“Mi casa es su casa,” I responded, though I’m sure my pronunciation was off.

She smiled at me in response, making me wonder whether she spoke Spanish or whether I was still translating my own words as I spoke. “I’m glad about that, since I seem to invited myself to live with you. What do your parents think about it?”

“Well, Dad didn’t object while the whole discussion was occurring,” I responded. “He told me I needed to be willing to deal with the consequences of my actions just before we arrived.”

“Then you haven’t had a chance to discuss it in detail yet,” she told me. I acknowledged her point and continued, while Cate still tried to follow what we were discussing.

“And we still have to explain to both my parents what happened,” I continued.

“Oh, your mother,” groaned Anh.

Allison immediately whispered to Cate, who quickly dug out her cell phone and started dialing.

“Mom?” she responded when the call was answered. “Yeah, we’re OK. Alex got punched, though. You’d better get some bandages ready.” I winced, thinking of Mom’s reaction to the news. However, the wince also reminded me my jaw was really beginning to hurt. I opened and closed my mouth just to make sure there wasn’t any serious damage, but aside from some stiffness and a general ache, I seemed to be fine. My back stung like a son of a bitch, though.

“No, it doesn’t seem to be so bad,” Cate continued, as I listened to her one-sided conversation with our mother. “He’s a bit bruised and scuffed up but he seems OK. I think his shirt is trashed, though.” My shirt was the least of my worries, though it made me worry about whether I was unintentionally leaving bloodstains on Anh’s car seat. I was sure I’d suffered more injuries from scraping my back than from being punched.

Cate listened to the response before replying. “It’s complicated and I don’t understand it all. Alex is ... explaining it to me.” Cate clearly didn’t want to address my newfound translation abilities, especially not in the middle of her tale about what had happened to me to my already worried mother. That was a subject that deserved a separate discussion, though she quickly came back and to provide some small explanation which might temporarily mollify our mother. “No, apparently he got an ongoing translation as it was happening. The excitement seems to have kicked up his abilities a notch.”

Now that the excitement was over, and we were all decompressing, I considered it. It certainly seemed to have triggered a significant enhancement to our abilities. Before it was a struggle to figure out what someone was trying to communicate to me. Now not only were the messages clear, but I literally received simultaneous translations from other speakers as well. I had understood everything Bao said, not even stopping to consider it wasn’t spoken in perfect English.

“They ended up just sitting and talking. Alex talked about being confused by it all and stated Anh’s son, Bao, said something about not wanting Alex to trick his mother.” Apparently, I’d have to do a better job of describing events when we did it again for my parents.

“Yes, we all stand up for our moms,” Cate conceded, smiling in response to our mother while rolling her eyes for my benefit. “Anyway, we’ll discuss it fully when we get back. Bye, Mom.” She hung up and returned her attention to us. “She’s already talked to Dad. He gave her some basics but no details.”

“You know, mental warnings aren’t much good if you don’t listen to them,” I offered as a general philosophical point to anyone listening.

“Yeah,” responded Allison, smacking me on the arm, “You turn around to see who might be speaking in your head!” I laughed and Anh asked for a quick translation. We still had a bit to work out this mental translation between individuals thing.

“I couldn’t help it,” I replied. “I’m not used to voices telling me to ‘Beware’,” I bemoaned.

“I don’t recall anyone using quite that language,” Allison replied archly.

“No, you didn’t. Still, when I felt the surprise my first thought was to protect all of you.”

“From what, a magic fist which flies through your head to strike us several feet behind you?” She was busy hamming it up now that she had an audience and knew all the danger was long past. I didn’t let it get to me, knowing we each needed this level of teasing to help ease the tensions.

“I’m not defending it as the smartest response,” I protested. “I’m just explaining why I reacted like I did.”

“I’ll call Shani, I’m sure she’s wondering what’s happening,” Cate said. “I’m sure Mom’s busy contacting everyone else already.”

“Hold on, Cate, I want to try something.” I had no idea what kind of limitations we had in these abilities, but our tests at the hotel had shown physical objects didn’t seem to block our communications, as weak as they were then. Neither had distance limited the other girls’ awareness something was wrong. Maybe I could reach Shani on my own.

It took a moment to figure out just what I was doing; apparently what came naturally in a crisis took a bit longer to work out in practice.

‘Hey, Shani?‘ I mentally called out.

‘Ow! A little quieter please, there’s no volume control inside my head,’ she complained.

I apologized, and she continued. ‘Hey there, stud,’ she responded. ‘Man, this is better than Bluetooth! So what’s up? Is everyone OK?‘

‘Everyone but me,’ I responded. ‘Still, I think my ego is bruised more than my face is.’

‘Ha, you were wonderful. You have nothing to be ashamed of,’ she enthused.

‘Thanks, I did feel pretty confident when it was happening,’ I acknowledged.

‘It’s like Anh said. Just follow your instincts and you’ll do the right thing.”

‘I can only hope so,’ I told her. ‘I can only hope so.’

I proceeded to give her a brief update on Anh’s status and told her she could phone the other girls if she wanted before I returned my attention to the others in the car with me.

“Sorry,” I told them, “it took a bit more time to talk it out than I thought.”

“That’s OK,” Allison replied. “I actually picked up some of it. I guess I was listening in somewhat.”

“Are you kidding?” Cate asked, leaning forward in her excitement. “You just stopped talking to us a few seconds ago. Man, I’ve got to figure out how you do that. It’s SO neat! And while you’re driving the car as well.”

“Well, it’s a lot easier than it was before,” I explained. “I guess you were right, the emotional response has a lot to do with it. It seems the basic abilities are the same. When I was in trouble and the adrenaline started flowing suddenly all of us got a kick in our combined abilities.”

“Yeah, we’ll be discussing this quite a bit once we all calm down,” she warned me. “I want all the details and we’ll be conducting more tests as well. The sooner we can understand this, the better equipped you’ll be to handle it in the future.”

“So, anything else the rest of you want to discuss about it now?” I asked after a few moments of silence, figuring everyone was probably as worked up about it as me.

“It was strange,” explained Allison, “I saw this bright angry flare in his aura, and I just knew he was about to hit you. I just got so angry all I wanted to do was to kill him!”

“Yeah, you don’t need extrasensory perceptions to get that.” Cate responded to her. “I wanted to kill him, too!”

“So, if you can clearly see anger, especially if you see it moments before someone explodes, then I’ll definitely pay more attention to it,” I promised, hoping a similar event wouldn’t occur again.

“We can only hope,” Allison sighed, while Anh vigorously nodding her head in agreement. Apparently either I was broadcasting a translation for her or she was just guessing from the context.

“I’ve been hoping he’d suddenly get smarter for years,” griped Cate, generating a cascade of laughter from the women. I’m not so sure smarter would have helped in any of the situations I’d recently found myself in.

We arrived back at the hotel tired and weary. The late hour, long drive and slow let down after all the excitement were doing us in. However, there was a somewhat lengthy explanation for both Mom and Dad about exactly what had happened. Obviously, they weren’t the only ones there when we arrived. Natalie, Patricia and Henry were clustered in my parents’ small hotel room waiting for us, and each wanted a full recounting of events.

Then there was the whole discussion over what the future held. It seems Anh worked as her family’s accountant, numbers being easier to master than language, so it helped as to what she might be able to do in the future. But there wasn’t a very large Vietnamese population in Southern Illinois, so if she returned with us she’d mostly work for us, and we’d still be responsible for providing for her. We’d get some benefit from it, but she couldn’t realistically expect to get many other clients with her limited English skills.

The other girls remained silent through most of the discussion about Anh’s future, as they didn’t want to confuse her issues with their own. After all, my parents had promised them they’d discuss the issue with them tomorrow, so they had no need to intrude on the current discussion. I was still nervous about being responsible for everyone, but with my accepting the obligation of caring for Anh, as limited as my share of that was, I could hardly complain about everyone else moving nearby. They could get a job and be independent after all, thus the only imposition would be on my time and attention. We concluded with Anh telling us she needed to clean up some details near her home.

That got me thinking about the other women. Undoubtedly they’d each need to tell their families something, and it was likely when they did, there’d be questions about a grown woman leaving her whole life behind to follow a young teenager living with his parents. That wasn’t something I was looking forward to. I could just picture their reactions when informed their precious daughters were moving out into the country to be closer to their new, white, teenaged ‘interest’; especially when you combined it with their clear fascination and deference to me, and the potential of somebody blabbing about Angels and Spirits. But that only brought up the fact we’d need a better way of explaining why I suddenly had a group of adult women of various racial backgrounds and ages interested in me. Needless to say, by the time I finally went to bed, I was hardly ready for sleep despite my obvious exhaustion.

“I guess we should make arrangements for renting rooms for everyone,” my father suggested, glancing at everyone sitting around me, “or at least one big room for the women to share.”

Everyone turned to me, as if expecting me to say something. Allison looked particularly upset, her lip trembling slightly as her eyes looked slightly panicky. The others looked like they were already resigned to whatever I decided. Not sure how to interpret their looks, I hesitated before replying.

“Forget it, Frank,” Mom said, laughing at his naiveté. “Since he’s already accepted responsibility for them, he’d best get used to having them around, because he won’t be able to beat them away with a stick at this point.” Dad started to say something, but words failed him. Mom simply stood and moved towards the door, laughing all the way. “You’ll never learn,” she called back. “You keep hoping you can protect kids, but just like Becky, once they start attracting people, there’s not much you can do anymore.”