Carrot Quest

 Percival wanted a carrot.

He had everything else. Everything to make a Banh Mi. He had the pork, the baguette, the garlic, the fish sauces, the daikon radish, all the spices. Was the grated carrot absolutely necessary?

Yes, it was. If he wanted to be thoroughly transported back to Saigon (now known as Ho Chi Minh City - something he would never get used to), then he would need the carrot. Smell and taste were the ultimate time machine.

Why would he want to? There were so many awful memories of that time. Why remember any of it?

Not all of it was bad. The Ben Thanh Market and its buzz and activities were something he did not want to forget. Especially since that is where he met her. Mai Bingh. From the moment their eyes met, he knew she was the one. 

Her feelings for him took a bit longer. But within a day or two, she never wanted to leave his side.

They couldn't always be together. But as a Saigon MP, he was stationed close to where she lived.

As an MP (Miltary Police), it was his job to chase down AWOL soldiers. Most often, they were not deserters but just on an alcohol-fueled bender. Percival often bordered on being AWOL himself but was careful to skirt the border of disobedience. Of course, it helped to have the inside track with his MP buddies.

So, Percy (as he was known) and Mai Bingh were together so frequently they even had their own private bungalow above the Hoa Ma restaurant on Cao Thang Street. After making love, he would stare at her and think of himself as the luckiest man in the universe to have found his one true soulmate.

When his tour of duty was up, he wanted to marry Mia Bingh and bring her to the states. However, he could not get her to leave her family. Mia's mother was very ill, and she would not leave the country while her mother was alive.

Percival had dark thoughts but did not give in to them. Instead, he urged her to stay in touch and that he would return to get her when she was ready. She promised she would. They hugged and kissed and cried and made love one more time. And then he was gone.

He wrote her every day for a year but heard nothing back from her. It broke his heart. He stopped writing.

Two more years passed, and he received a card with a picture. It was Mai Bingh sitting in front of the Hoa Na Restaurant. She was not alone. On her lap, looking out towards the camera, was a little girl, not more than two or three years old. She had Mai's eyes and Percival's hair - black and curly. Her skin tone was light brown.

Within days of receiving that picture, Percival returned to Saigon. He went to Ben Thanh Market, searching and showing everyone the picture. No one could tell him anything, and the loft above the Hoa Na was rented by somebody else, and they didn't know where the previous tenant had gone. He could not find any of Mai's family.

He stayed and searched as long as he could, but his resources were drained. He thought about staying. He made the horrible decision to return to the states and await further word. This was a decision he would regret for the next five decades. She had never contacted him again.

Percival shook himself out of his memories and decided to go to the store and get the carrot. This was the anniversary of the last time he saw her, 55 years ago, and he would fulfill the ritual completely. 

He put on his jacket, moved as quickly as he could on his arthritic knees, leaving his dingy apartment, and headed down the road to the local market, Assi. It was just three blocks away, and although Korean owned, it carried other international foods, mainly Asian. It was no Ben Thanh, but it would do.

He grabbed a cart, helping to balance his uneven gait, and went to the produce section. They didn't sell individual carrots, but he would buy the smallest bunch he could.

A few feet ahead of him, a woman examined the cabbages, carefully inspecting them. She wasn't a young woman, maybe in her fifties. He couldn't see her face until she turned his way, holding up two cabbages, trying to decide which one to take.

She had her eyes. She had his hair. Her skin was light brown.

Time froze. He forgot to breathe.

To be continued...