The Headmaster's Wager
Vincent Lam
Language: English
Pages: 448
ISBN: 0307986489
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Percival Chen is the headmaster of the most respected English academy in 1960s Saigon and is well accustomed to bribing a forever-changing list of government officials in order to maintain the elite status of his school. Fiercely proud of his Chinese heritage, he is quick to spot the business opportunities rife in a divided country, though he also harbors a weakness for gambling haunts and the women who frequent them. He devotedly ignores all news of the fighting that swirls around him, choosing instead to read the faces of his opponents at high-stakes mahjong tables. But when his only son gets in trouble with the Vietnamese authorities, Percival faces the limits of his connections and wealth and is forced to send him away. In the loneliness that follows, Percival finds solace in Jacqueline, a beautiful woman of mixed French and Vietnamese heritage whom he is able to confide in. But as the complexities of war encroach further into his world, he must confront the tragedy of all he has refused to see.
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was a territory of pain—here sharp, there burning. He nodded. “I will give you some relief,” said the doctor, and produced a vial and syringe from his lab coat pocket. “I still need to put a cast on your arm, a temporary splint before your surgery, and I need to move your bones into a better position.” He withdrew some drug from the glass vial with the syringe and tapped out the bubbles. “It is better that you don’t feel me moving them.” He injected some of the fluid into the intravenous.
spent the time pacing the deck. On occasion, Cecilia would appear there and summon him by saying, “There’s something I need from you.” Or she might say, “You’re still here? I thought you had fallen overboard.” He would take her wrist and pull her down to their cabin, the other passengers whispering after them. Sometimes, he would go below deck telling himself that if only he persisted with tenderness, the peace that came after sex might last. On other occasions, at a snickering glance from a
both girls. They stabbed, slashed, unable to wait their turn now that it had begun, as if each man was determined to prove that he, too, was capable of madness. The colonel yelled encouragement, and the girls’ bowels were pulled out by his soldiers. Their agonizing voices filled the square, penetrated the buildings. Percival began to retch. He tilted forward, felt his knees buckle. His hands found the solidity of earth, and he expelled the contents of his stomach into the dirt. He saw undigested
“A favor,” he said, and rushed past her. It occurred to him, as he hurried to catch up to Mak, that he did not know what he was doing, or why. From above, they looked down on the little thatch-roofed dwelling, heard the snoring, and saw the light from the oil lamp still spilling out. Mak poured the rice husks into the bucket and then poured the cooking wine over it. He paused to survey the square, empty. He took a match from his pocket, lit it, and tossed it into the bucket. There was a
honor until the night itself. He had hired Sheng Hing, the most expensive chef in Cholon, and told him to make the best of everything, ignoring cost. He had bought Mak a gold Rolex, to present to him at the meal. If only Dai Jai could be there. He recalled a previous Tet. Two years ago, Dai Jai had helped him arrange a simple meal of a broth fondue and rice wine for the school staff. The whole meal had cost less than one of the courses he had ordered for this year’s feast, but he felt wistful