Kim Lien
A leper colony, for Christ's sake! Another St. Roch seeking to be cast in the masque of the red death? What kind of woman could this prostitute be? Bringing food to a leper colony. She must be trying out for the role of Mary Magdalene. Ain't no Mother Courage, that's for sure!A cold fog rose up from the dank waters of the canal to flood the yard of this sad cafe with perverted patches of obscurity. Naaman and Lazarus, they came up round her, travellers come to spa, seeking the healer's benediction. But remember, dear Acesis, of ten cleansed, only one will offer thanks. They did not get too close. She reached out to them but they shied away, keeping their distance, voices stumbling dour derisive dirges. In this skull scene, there was constant shuffling and movement around the honest whore, and it was like these diseased creatures, fisherkings of the wasteland, had become a single organism pulsating in order to breathe, in order to show affection for her. In a whirl they were, waddling the whangee, wheezy as whalebacks, whelmed with wheal and whelk. The fire's flame rose and fell, flickered, flashed highlights and then cast shadows. Her face shown crisp through mist sheer as dimity. And he knew it was a face no longer fearful of the seventh seal, a face staring down death on the horizon. She was the center of some ritual consecration, some sacred rite of the damned and the maimed, a dance macabre. A bird or a squirrel or a fox huge and threatening as a kalong flew by, circling and casting a wingspan shadow well over four feet long -- just like the humongous East Indian fruit bat.
After a time, she signaled with her hand for Derek to bring the rice over. He hesitated. She signaled again, more demonstrably this time, challenging him to refuse her request. He relented and came forward, dropping the bag of rice next to the vegetables. Then he quickly returned to the gate. After a few more minutes, he checked his watch: 9:55. Come on lady, dear provider Countess Cathleen, we're all on a special 'Cinderella liberty' here in Saigon -- even you.