The Girl Hunter
a short fiction by Khmerbird

Part 4

I am still wondering how a picture could be transferred from a negative film to a photographic paper. It’s like a magic. There was an image there, very clear and inerasable. I wonder the same thing, how an image of a person could be penetrated into somebody’s heart.

The raining season is ended. It stopped raining. At the same time as the rain stopped, I stopped writing to Collie. At the same time as the water in TONLE SAP flowed back to the sea, I tried to forget Collie. Would she forgive me for that?

I bet not,

But at least I believed it would be good for both of us. We reached the crossed road where we need to make a decision. Collie has chosen a way. I need to make a decision whether I was going to follow her or I choose a separated way. I though a million time. I though what if I just followed her and marry her. I don’t need to know any goddam other things. Just marry her and she will be mine. I can do the same as my friend Phal or anybody else in this country.

Isn’t true that I am dying to be with her?

YES, but what if I was wrong? What if I was wrong …?

After leaving office, I passed by Le Bonjour, a new branch boutique shop of TOTAL, to buy some fresh Angkor beer. My father likes Angkor Beer. He said if we local people don’t support local product, who is going to support for us? We should take a look at the foreigners, at least wherever they arrived, they always looks for the local product. Cambodian people should start to support the local products.

It was not everyday that I bought some beers and drink with my father. It was because I need to ask him for some advice. My father was a fortune teller. He didn’t have the third eye but people always came to him when they got trouble. He was not like any other fortune teller. My father was a philosopher, like Stendhal or Jean Jacques Rousseau. In other country, we should call him a Psychiatric. I called him Doctor Love, because most of his clients came to him when they got problem in heart. His place was not really a mental health treatment, but heart treatment.

He was good in heart treatment for both men and women. I still don’t understand why so my people came to see him and believed in what he said. I still wonder if anybody dares to ask him “if you are really good in the relationship, why your wife left you to live with somebody else?” I am not sure if he could answer. But I dare not to ask, I know he suffers a lot when my mum asked for the divorce. I saw him cried. He was drunk on that day and when I put the mosquito net for him, I saw him cry.

You cannot imagine how much it could hurt you when you see you father cry. I will never ever ask such a stupid question.

Thida, my sister, left us alone after the dinner. We sat on the Salon and watched TV. I really didn’t know where to start. I thought maybe I should come home at day time and wait for the turn as any other clients. It might be a good start.

-    Work is OK? (thank to god! he started to ask me)
-    Yeah, it’s OK. I got a little small increment of salary for the next year + a bonus for the end of the year.
-    Good, you should be happy with that (he looked at me, seriously)
-    I got some problem,
-    What is it? You did something wrong?
-    No… not really. I don’t know what I have. I don’t know what it is.
-    You don’t know what? Girl? You know someone?
-    Yes, I know a girl… almost one year now…
-    And then?
-    She asked me to marry her
-    You liked her?
-    Hummmmmmmm…
-    Tell me if you like her son? Speak it frankly! I am your father.
-    Yes, I like her. I think I like her a lot.
-    You like her a lot? Mean you admired her. You might feel happy when you stay with her. And when you leave her, you might feel empty. There’s something missing inside you. You missed her. You won’t miss anything in this world, but you missed her. You wish to have another chance to meet her again. You hope to have that chance. You got an expectation… is it the way you feel son?
-    Yeah, I wanted to share many things with her. I don’t want it to be ended.
-    So you got hope, you got expectation… I think something was born inside you. We called it the first crystallization. I guess what you have right now it’s about a doubt. You are uncertain about what you have between her. You hesitate, isn’t it?
-    Yes, it’s exactly how I feel right now, hesitation … How could you see those things? You got the third eye Dad? It’s so true. I don’t even know what I have. Yeah I think I have hesitation. How you do that? How you see things in my mind?
-    No, I don’t have the third eye, but I have it in here, in my brain. When you hesitate, you got some kind of fear. You need to eliminate that fear. Otherwise it is not about it.
-    How to eliminate that fear?
-    You need to be sure, you have to think and be sure. You have to be sure that she also got an admiration on you. Did she miss you when you leave her? Did she want to see you again, to have that kind of moment together again? Does she get hope? Does she get the expectation, to share everything with you? … Does she doubt about what she feels about you? …
At last, and this is very important. You need to feel and be sure that she got something for you, something that no one in this world could give you, except her, only her. Are you sure about that?
-    No, I am not sure. I am certain that I am not sure. I am not sure about how she feels about me. I need some more time.
-    Does she give you the time?
-    No, she doesn’t …
-    Look, if she feels the same thing, it will be the same process. She would give you time because she also needs it. Or she might expect something could happen after the marriage as anybody else. But one thing that I can assure you, at this moment, at the time that we speak, there’s no second crystallization. Without the second crystallization, we cannot be sure. And I can say it’s not about what you are looking for. She might just want to get married as anybody else. You might take risk or you stop.

Finally there was no more hesitation in me. There was no doubt. I didn’t hesitate to say goodbye to Collie. There was no hesitation when you decide to fall in love with someone. It happens the same way when you decide to leave someone. There was no hesitation.

To be continued…

The Girl Hunter
a short fiction by Khmerbird

Part 3

Phal, an old friend of mine, who saved me on the other day, has called me for a drink at FFC. It was 7 pm in the lovely late evening in Phnom Penh city. I prefer leaving the office late due to the traffic jam. I hope one day we could do something about the traffic jam.

I was riding my bicycle passed the independent monument. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The Independent Monument was completely changed the visage. It was delighted all levels, with the water blowing in different colors. I was not the only one who was being surprised, a lot of people slow down at the round point, some people even has stopped and sat there, to watch the new look of Independent Monument.

The 54^th Independence Day was nearly coming …

I met Phal at the courtyard on the top of FFC. I like watching the river, especially this Mekong River. I don’t know why. From the exploitation notes of Henri MOUHOT to the River of Time of Jon Swain, I totally felt the same way that “Sometime a man can lose his heart to a place.”

- Hey! The beer is coming! (Phal shacked my shoulder and cut off my thinking)

- Oh thanks,

- You look not so good, work problem or boy-girl problem?

- How can you know? (I surprised)

- Wow you know what I am doing. I can read your face and know what you are thinking… oh no just kidding, ha ha ha … let’s drink first, Cheer!

Phal, he didn’t change a thing in him. He was always happy whatever happened. I remember he still could smile even the teacher caught him cheating in exams and asked him to stand up at the board for hours. Nothing doesn’t really matter to this man.

- What do you think about my proposal?

- I can’t, I don’t like working with them.

- What you mean you don’t like them? You work with me.

- I can’t forget the figure…

- Which figure?

- 2,756,941

- What is that numbers? 2,756,941 of what?

- 2,756,941 tons of bombs,

- You mean during the Lon Nol regime?

- Yeah, and I don’t like none of Breakfast, Lunch, Supper, Dinner, Dessert, and Snack operations.

- No, but your job is just a reporter. It’s just a night job, few pages to type and send that’s it!

- No, you should better find someone new. I don’t want to do it.

- OK … if you said so. I know you were so stubborn in class and now I still can see how stubborn you are, ha ha ha

- Ok, so forget it then,

- Ok, you need another beer?

- Yeah

- Two more beer please! (Phal ask the woman). So how about you? Are you married yet?

- No, not yet…

- Any girlfriend?

- I am not quite sure…

- Oh you are not quite sure coz you have many girls? You don’t know which one?

- No, I am quite sure if I could call her my girlfriend. We are not very close to each other. I tried to get close but she didn’t allow. Even so, she asked me to marry her.

- So why you are so sad, it’s a good news, isn’t it?

- No, coz I don’t even know her yet, how can I marry her?

- Oh come on! People get married, everybody gets married, and they don’t even know each other. I get married, you see, I didn’t know my wife either before the marriage. But it works like that you will see…

- No, I will not get married just to get married…

- Oh what you expect more? Whatever it will be the same…people get married, have children have grand children … and then die.

- How many children you have now?

- 2, two daughters, I will follow to have a son. They said I will not have a son, coz I was a girl hunter. But I am learning now, I will have a son,

- Ok, let’s drink for a son…

When I back home, I opened the messages from Collie and read them again and again. I really don’t know how to reply. She wrote I was the girl hunter, why not go to ask her parents to marry her, or at least get engaged. She believed I contacted with her was because I wanted to sleep with her. I asked if we could continue a bit until we know each other more and then we will see if the marriage is a good thing for both of us. But no, she asked me to choose whether get engaged or we stop seeing each other. She couldn’t have any relationship with a man without acknowledgment from her family. She did the right thing. There was nothing else to say, really.

To be continued…

The Girl Hunter
a short fiction by Khmerbird

Part 2

I finished the last article related to Nuon Chea’s arrest before I went to see Collie at Calmet hospital. It was raining all day long … It was properly the influence from the Typhoon Wipha that recently hit the eastern China. I put the raincoat and left the office. It wasn’t too much amazing to ride a bicycle under the rain. I was lucky enough that it was not a heavy rain that allowed me to stop at the flower’s shop and bought some roses.

Collie was sleeping under the white blanket … there were few women in the room. One of them gave me a sit.

- I bring some flowers… (I said to the old woman. I guess she would be the mother of Collie. I used to see some pictures on her blog.)

I gave the flowers to Collie’s mother. She brought and put them on the table next to the bed. I just sat there and look at Collie.

- Don’t worry Son! It’s not a very serious injury. It’s just a small wound at the right of her stomach. She would be fine in a couple of day. Don’t worry!
- Oh really?

I felt release after her mother told me about her situation. If anything happened to her, I was the one to be blamed. I was the one who insisted her to go for a walk on that day. It was the only way, anyway, between me and her to be together: being in the public place and always accompanied by her friend or her nephew or her niece. She never let herself being alone with me. She never accepted my date. If I was about to bring her to the cinema or concert, I need to buy more than two tickets and she never sit close to me, not even at the same range as mine. Most of the time she sat one range behind me.

- You study at IFL too son? (Collie’s mother asked me since she doesn’t want to keep her special visitor in silence. Sometime it’s a way to be polite to the guest.)
- No… I … am… I am not the student anymore.
- Do you work? What kind of work you do son?
- I am a reporter.
- Oh…

Collie was wake up… maybe due to our conversation.

- Hi,
- Hi, (she smiled at me)
- I was looking for you. I don’t know where you both disappeared.
- I run, I run and hided in a house. I didn’t know I was shot. Sophie saw the blood coming and she shouted. The owner of the house kept us, until the ambulance arrived.
- I see, so how you feel right now?
- I am good. I got time to sleep all day…
- Well I guess you had a good sleep.
- Don’t be like that! it’s not your fault. Don’t blame yourself! Ok?
- I’m fine. I’m good. I am glad that you are fine…Well I will come back later,

I said goodbye to her mother and everybody.

- Thank for the flowers

Collie said to me before I left. I just smiled at her and left the room.

To be continued.

The Girl Hunter
a short fiction by Khmerbird

Part One

She wouldn’t get wound if she followed me…

We were three: Collie, Sophie and I. It was in the evening, we were walking along the river side before the shooting started. Sophie walked in front of us. She kept a distance because she didn’t want to disturb us I guess.

We heard the gun shooting…

It was just about 50 meters from us. I saw down the street there were few men running. There were two civilians carrying the AK-47 and they were surrendered by Police Militaries (PM). I read few articles from the newspapers said that the AK-47 bandits were taking a lot of actions right now. It came to my mind without any doubt that there were the AK-47 bandits.

Sophie already crossed the road. Collie and I, we just arrived behind a big tree. I laid her down. I thought we could be safe behind the big tree. The gun shooting still continued… I started to think about moving down to the river bank because soon or later they will arrive at our point. They were running toward us… I am not The Jason Bourne, even I have watched the entire Bourne trilogy, I am not that smart but by instinct I thought if we move to hide down the river bank, it would be safer. I shouted to Collie “Go!!!”

Collie didn’t come with me. She crossed the road. She went with her friend. When I moved down the river bank, I saw few civilians carrying the small guns I guess they would be the secret agents. They saw me and they made the sign at me to tell me that would be OK. They were coming closer to me… I just laid down. But when I started to look up … shit!!! A Police Military were pointing a gun at me. He was about to shoot… He was in the position to shoot. I started to close my eyes. I thought I was going to die. Then I heard a man shouted “No…No…No”. It was a voice from one of the secret agent. His face looks familiar to me but I couldn’t recognize, at that moment, who he was.

When we move back to the street, I couldn’t find Collie and Sophie. They just disappeared to nowhere. The AK-47 bandits were killed. They were shot by the Police Militaries. It was the good news to everybody.

Few days later, I read on the blog, Collie was shot on that day. She was in the hospital.

To be continued…