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postcard the Tien family had sent from the silver city. I heard my grandmother whispering to the duck, tryingto quiet it. I knew from Thant’s light breathing that he was already asleep. The sound of the engine told me my father was watching over the boat. I felt my eyes close.



PART THREE
The Voyage

6
    When I opened my eyes it was morning. My legs were cramped from being drawn up all night into so small a space. My hair and clothes felt damp and clammy. It was only a morning sun, but the light danced on the water and the heat felt like the middle of the afternoon. I looked around me. The boat was crowded with awakening people: old people, families with children, young men, people who were traveling alone, people who looked as if they came from the country, as we had, and city people like Kim and Bac si Hong. The boat was like a small, crowded village coming to life. In a few places where someone had edged into someone else’s space, polite arguments were going on. People were tying their straw hats on against the sun. Some had little tins of water and were washing themselves. A man was going about collecting from each passenger some rice to be boiled. Babies were crying. Some were being nursed. My grandmother and an old man were standing side by side watching the outline of the land grow fainter and fainter. I triedto guess at the number of passengers. Forty or fifty, I decided. It was hard to believe that with so many passengers the small boat could stay afloat.
    Our father was trying to make his way toward us. With every step he took people had to pull in their legs or shift their body to make room for him to get by. My mother was standing up waiting for him. He took her hand. I had never seen my parents touch in public. My father rested his hand for a moment on each of us—Thant first, then Anh and me, and even our grandmother—as though he could not believe we were actually there in the boat until he had touched us. He nodded politely to Kim and her mother, embarrassed that they should see him show so much emotion. “It will be a wonder if the engine continues to run,” he grumbled. “It must be the first engine that was ever made, and the boat timbers are rotted and waterlogged. What’s more, the man who owns the boat, Captain Muoi, is a fool. This is the only map he has.” Father showed us a page torn from a book. I recognized our country and the South China Sea, even though their names were written in a strange language.
    “It must be from an English geography book,” Kim said. “My mother taught me English.”
    My grandmother looked at the strange printing, then at Kim as though she were a witch.
    A voice boomed out over our heads. Looming above us was the biggest man I had ever seen in my life. He was like a great thick banyan tree. He wore an old cap pushed back on his head with bits of tarnished gold braid stuck here and there. Beneath his cap I could see his head had been shaved. Although he did not appear old, his tanned face was cross-hatched with wrinkles. He looked happy, as though he had something pleasant to tell us. “You are the most fortunate people on earth!” he shouted. “You are under the care of Captain Muoi and you are sailing on the finest ship in the China Sea. You must remember that I am your father while you are on my ship. We will all be one happy family. What belongs to one of us belongs to all. If you hoard food and do not turn it over to our cook, Le Hung, you will be a bad child and your father Captain Muoi will have to punish you.” He pointed an accusing finger at a woman who was washing her baby’s face and hands with arag dipped in a small bowl of water. “There will be no washing with the drinking water. Our journey is a thousand miles, and water will be more precious to us than gold. It is only for drinking. A small ration will be given out in the morning to each family. If you are good and obedient children you will find me the kindest father in the world. If