ReadersDigestAustraliaNewZealand-April2018

80 | April• 2018

THE DRIVE OF HIS LIFE

wasthemostpainfulthing–notbe-

ing accepted. His father wouldn’t

speak to him, and his mother said

she was ashamed.

A few years earlier, out of prison

after serving a drug sentence, Duong

had asked his friend heresa Nguyen

and her husband to go with him to his

mother’s home – “Because I want her

to know that I have normal friends,

too,” he told Nguyen. He

could never atone in his

family’s eyes. Nguyen

began to get it, why Du-

ong had been calling her

‘Sister’. Why he’d phoned

her the day her daughter

graduated from college:

“I’mproudofyou,Sister.”Shewasas

close to family as he had.

Ma listened, reticent but know-

ing that sometimes people need to

be heard even more than consoled.

Duong told Ma that Nayeri’s plan

had been to kill the driver on the

beach. But for whatever reason, Nay-

eri hadn’t gone through with it. The

brutal ight the night before had been

over Ma too. Duong couldn’t abide

seeing the taxi driver murdered for

Duong’s mistakes.

Ma said at last, “You should turn

yourself in.”

Duong didn’t baulk at the sugges-

tion. He was grateful for the way Ma

hadn’t judged him. He didn’t want to

call Ma ‘Uncle’ anymore. Given the

circumstances of the past week, Du-

ong said he wanted to call Ma ‘Father’.

T

HE TWO MENdrove south in

Ma’s Civic, with Duong behind

thewheel.WhenDuongsaidto

him, “Don’t be afraid; you’re not in

danger anymore,” Ma snickered to

himself.We’ll see,hethought.Hehad

understood enough of the news to

piece together Duong’s criminal past:

a1995burglaryconvictioninSan

Diego, four years after he became a

US resident; twice pleading guilty to

sellingcocaine;stintsinstateprison;

andthen,inNovember2015,theal-

leged attempted murder of a Santa

Anamanafteranargument.

And yet, in spite of Duong’s past,

there had been, this whole week,

another composite on view: that of a

lawed but compassionate man. Ma

had caught lashes of details but not

the full picture of Duong’s conlicted

life. He didn’t realise how chronic

drug dependency and what Duong’s

friends saw as mental disorders had

pushed Duong down a criminal path

• and he didn’t yet know that Duong
  was the father of two boys, Peter and
  Benny.
  Duong,hiseyesillingwithtears,
  toldMathathehatedhowhiscrimes
  had placed him outside society. hat

THEY BOTH FELT SO GRATEFUL,

SO SURPRISED BY THE

POSSIBILITY OF FRIENDSHIP