ReadersDigestAustraliaNewZealand-April2018

74 | April• 2018

BY PAUL KIXFROMGQ

THE

DRIVE

OF HIS

LIFE

“T

AKE US TO WALMART,”said the man who settled into

the passenger seat. he driver, Long Ma, 71, recognised

from his voice that he was the one who’d called for the

taxi, telling Ma that he and his friends needed a ride

home from a restaurant. His name was Bac Duong. He spoke to Ma in

Vietnamese – their shared native language – and wore a salt-and-pepper

ILLUSTRATIONS BY FRANCESCO FRANCAVILLA

DRAMA IN REAL LIFE