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Lanh doesn't do fencing, it's tough, demanding work, and male or female, she's pretty tiny, so Don does all of that. But she's seen him fix the fence often enough with and without crimps, so she grabbed the fencing pliers, fence stretcher, vice grips, heavy leather gloves, and a length of new barbed wire off the spool, then headed back to the fence. In just a matter of fifteen minutes she had spliced in a length of new barbed wire and made sure that the wire was good and tight.
"Nice job," said Ralph as he inspected her work. "Did Don teach you this?"
"No, he doesn't let me do fencing. He says it's too hard for me, and I think he's right." She let her sore arms droop down, "I only did that one break, and my arms are worn out." It's tough on the arms to mend the wire and keep it tight.
"Ja, you betcha, it's tough work holding that tension the whole time and getting the wires wrapped good and tight. He didn't teach you this?"
"Nope," she said, "I watched him often enough though. He will do fencing while I go with him and review his English assignments."
"Ja sure, it's a good teacher that learns from her students," said Ralph as they headed back to the tractor shed.
~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~
Ralph headed into town to drop Lanh at her family's restaurant not long after the evening milking was complete. She sat in the back seat of Ralph's truck, happy with herself for being able to fix the fence AND haul down enough hay for not one but two milking's. She flexed her aching arms and Ralph noticed them in his rear-view mirror. He smiled, "You're building up some muscle tone there, missy."
Sandy Robertson, seated next to Ralph, chimed in, "Lord yes! I don't think I've seen Don nor his father work that hard in one afternoon."
Lanh smiled and couldn't wait to tell Don what Sandy had said. Good thing tomorrow was Saturday so after the morning milking she could go back to bed! Duong had invited them over to the restaurant for dinner, which caught Lanh by surprise, her father was notoriously cheap, and the words "free food" were an alien concept to him. But when they pulled up to the restaurant, the place looked packed. In a town where burgers and fries were king, Nguyen Pho was becoming popular, but to be packed that full, even on a Friday evening was unusual.
Ralph found a parking spot right in front and even opened the door for the ladies he transported. Sandy even let Lanh enter first, "Beauty before age," she chuckled when Lanh balked. But Lanh eventually did step in first and was shocked to the core and actually leapt back into Sandy in surprise when the entire restaurant jumped up and yelled "CONGRATULATIONS!" A large hand letter sign that said, "Congratulations Valedictorian!" appeared on the wall.
Her entire family was there! Má, Ba, Tam, Huy, Trung, Bao, and Kim-ly, the entire Nguyen family hasn't been together since Christmas when Don proposed to her. But the room was full! There were several teachers, her entire debate team, and plenty of guys and girls from the swim team! She wanted to crawl into a hole and die, she wanted to laugh and join in the celebration, and she wanted to punch Don in the ribs as hard as she could. Tam scooped her up and spun her around, "A chip off the ol' block!" she cried happily.
"Put me down!" demanded Lanh, but to no avail, her brothers Huy and Trung took her from Tam's happy arms and paraded her around the crowd on their shoulders.
"All hail the conquering scholar!"
"Put me down!"
Her protests couldn't be heard over the cheering and laughing crowd. She knew that this was all in fun, but she really was starting to get scared. She didn't mind when Don carries her in his arms like a baby, she feels safe and secure when he does that, but this feels like she's being tossed around like a rag doll. "DON!" she screamed, where was he?
Huy and Trung were strong young men, they wouldn't drop their baby sister for any reason, but her head was getting close to the hanging light fixtures. Mai and Duong Nguyen laughed along with everyone else, they weren't worried in the least, were used to the antics of their half dozen children. They had to be, especially with Trung, a scholar whose idea of relaxation is playing hockey against semi-professional teams out of Canada and skating away with bruises, black eyes, and broken ribs. Her dad Duong did try to tell them to put Lanh down, but they just turned and headed into another section of the crowd.
"DON!" she shouted again, looking around desperately.
"Don't worry about him, he's safe," laughed Huy. They turned back toward the kitchen door to find Don standing there, glaring at them.
Trung gasped, "How did you get out of the..."
"...broom closet?" said Don, finishing the sentence for him. In answer he handed Huy the doorknob and locking mechanism from the closet in which his future brothers-in-law locked him. Defeated, the brothers lowered Lanh to the ground where she hugged Don, then punched him. "What was that for?"
"For telling everybody! I wanted to tell them!" shouted Lanh.
"Don't blame me, they all knew before I got here," said Don, pointing to a booth where Mr. Mach and his wife Leann were sitting. "Ask him; he was here before I got here."
"Oh," said Lanh who paused then said, "I'm sorry... then that was for next time." Then clinging tightly to his arm, she tried to drag Don with her as she went around the room talking to well-wishers, but he had to pull his arm free.
"I'm still on the clock, baby," and with a kiss he went about clearing tables and serving drinks.
Lanh kept an eye on Don while she greeted well-wishers. Occasionally she would help, and when she could, she'd station herself near the kitchen door, so they could brush against each other as he walked by. At some point, one of the swimmers on the team came up to her and put his arm around her shoulders. "I can't believe he's working instead of celebrating with his girlfriend." It was Richard Dombrowski, a self-absorbed jerk who started hitting on her after regionals.
"He has something going for him that you'll never have," she said while lifting Richard's arm off her shoulder like it was a dead rat, "me." She never did like that guy, luckily Bao came looking for her.
"Grandma Tri is on the phone for you," called Bao from the kitchen door. Lanh dashed into the kitchen and took the wall phone receiver from her brother.
Grandma Tri congratulated Lanh and promised her that she would be in town for the wedding, and she told Lanh that she wanted to talk to Don. "Bao! Get Don! Grandma Tri wants to talk to him!"
Bao turned and shrugged, "She doesn't speak very good English."
"Neither do you! I'll translate, go get him!"
Soon Don and Lanh were cheek to cheek, holding the phone between them so they both could speak. Don finally said "Xin chào bà ngoại Tri," which Lanh taught him before Christmas, it means Hello grandmother Tri.
Grandma Tri started chattering away happily, either she forgot that Lanh had to translate, or she just didn't care. "Grandma says hi... she's happy to hear from you..." Lanh had to ask Grandma to repeat something a few times, then said "Grandma says she's happy you were a good student for me so I could learn and become Valedictorian," then Lanh shrugged.
Don just smiled. "My dad says that the best way to learn something is to teach it."
Lanh translated for Grandma Tri who laughed, then Lanh smiled at Don. "She says he's right."
They kissed gently and quietly, but apparently Grandma heard them because Don could hear her say "No kissy-kissy!"
"Yes grandma, we will be good, we will wait," said Lanh in English and Vietnamese.
"Tạm biệt bà ngoại Tri," said Don.
"Bye, bye Donovan!" grandma called out.
Lanh hung up the phone and led Don out to the dining area where guests were starting to thin out and it was time for him to start finishing up his shift. Seeing Richard Dombrowski was looking at her, Lanh turned and gave Don a kiss that seemed to have gone on for ages. "Mmmmm, what was that for?" said Don, not seeing Dombrowski glaring at him behind his back.
"I now know what the theme of my address will be," grinned Lanh, then she ran off to pack her overnight bag. If she takes either Bao or Kim-ly with her, she gets to stay at the farm on Friday and Saturday nights. It's probably more sexually frustrating than spending the night at home where she could masturbate and ease her sexual tension, but if she stays at the farm, they don't have to say good-bye at the end of the evening, they can say good night. Besides, Tam is staying at má and ba's house while she's looking for a place to live in town, she got a position at Bemidji state and is moving up here. There would be no advantage to staying at home, she shares her room with Tam, so satisfying her urges by herself would be either impossible or embarrassing.
~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~
The weeks and days leading up to mid-June were dizzying. The farmyard was given a makeover the likes of which it has never seen before, including at Lanh's request, a tire swing was put on the big old maple tree on the front lawn. "I want this to be fun for the kids too," she insisted, so two years after she envisioned a tire swing in the front yard, it became a reality, and she was the first one to try it. Even the old John Deere tractor, which was Ralph and Don's hobby project, was cleaned up and moved into a place of honor next to the old Ford tractor which was washed to a gleaming shine.
Huy's wedding gift to his little sister was a wedding photographer whose work was well known for his beautiful, joyful, images. The photographer saw the farm and ancient barn as a delightful challenge, and when he walked around the north side of the barn which faces old highway 32 with the faded remnants of the Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco sign painted on the side, he was ecstatic. He worked with Don and Ralph to set up rustic backdrops made from hay bales and cedar fence sections, but when he saw the tire swing in front of the beautiful old farmhouse, he began to beg Ralph to be allowed to use this farm as a location for future photo shoots.
Lanh and Tam actually moved into the farmhouse, much to Lanh's delight. She was now able to care for her cows twenty-four hours a day if needed, and when the stress of getting ready for the wedding or writing her valedictory address got to be too much, she could always be found in the barnyard with the newborn calves and Marissa who loved the calves as much as Lanh did. "They're not pets, you know," said Tam as she watched Lanh from behind the safety of the barbed wire fence.
"Of course not," replied Lanh, "you can't make soup out of a pet."
Tam just rolled her eyes and went back to the project that she, Don, Huy, Bao, Trung and Ralph were working on in the bunkhouse portion of the farmhouse. Every evening Tam would spend an hour or two on the phone, the long-coiled cord removed from the kitchen phone receiver so someone couldn't overhear her and she spoke on the cordless phone in bunkhouse room for privacy.
"I think she has a boyfriend," Lanh whispered to Don as she tried to listen to Tam through the door between the bunkhouse and the dining room. She was taking a break from writing her valedictory speech.
"Then let her be," said Don, "she will tell us when she's ready."
"I don't think he's Vietnamese either," whispered Lanh as Don pulled her away from the door.
Lanh was about to whisper to Don that if he were Vietnamese, Tam would be speaking to her mystery man in their language, but before she could say anything Tam answered the question. "He's not!" and Tam went back to her hushed conversation.
"She heard me!" gasped Lanh as she raced back to the dining room where she was working on her speech. "I forgot how good her ears are."
"I suppose raising you, they came in handy," grinned Don as he sat next to her. Lanh frowned, crumpled up a piece of paper and threw it at him. "By the way," continued Don as he bent to pick up the wad of paper, "his name is Jake. Jake Johnson."
"How did you find out?" Lanh was aghast.
"I asked her." He ducked out of the room chased by a volley of wadded paper.
~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~
The spring was a whirlwind of activity, and for Lanh the highlight of which was marriage classes with Father Steinbach and Pastor Loomis. Father Steinbach is a short, round, happy man with an iron grip when he shakes hands, and he has a 233 average at bowling. Pastor Loomis is a tall, slim Lutheran minister who can play almost any stringed instrument and has a full-time job installing kitchens and bathrooms. The two men are great friends and were happy to share the limelight at Don and Lanh's wedding as well as the "Pre-Cana" marriage preparation class. The class was exciting for Lanh because it meant to her that it was really happening, she and Don were really going to get married.
Since Don didn't have a mother, Ralph's friend Sandy volunteered to fill that position, but they decided not to use her services in honor of his departed mother. Lanh's problem was the opposite of that, she had two mothers. Mai and Tam both showed up whenever the mother of the bride was called for, and there was never a disagreement about their arrangement.
Their crowning glory was Lanh's beautiful áo dài. An áo dài is the simple traditional outfit of Vietnam and can be worn by men as well as women, it is made up of breezy loose leg slacks and a blouse that hangs down to mid-calf, a perfect outfit for a hot climate. The wedding áo dài traditionally is red but Lanh's was pure white silk, light and smooth, and as Tam discovered, about as transparent as a screen door. Two layers would be sufficient for modesty, but a single layer alone would not, and Lanh was adamant that she would not risk lines with bra or panties. The blouse which hung to mid-calf would cover the silk slacks even though it was split up the sides to the waist, but Lanh was going to need more up top to prevent the guests from seeing her dark pink nipples. In the end, Grandma Tri hand stitched a white silk vest with flowers and dragons embroidered in gold which did the trick nicely.
Mai brought the vest out to Campbell's farm the afternoon it arrived, she found Tam in the bunkhouse. After a tour of how the project was coming, Mai said she wanted to see Lanh try on the vest, but they couldn't find Lanh. "Those kids have been going non-stop since four o'clock in the morning," said Tam. "I swear the only time they get any sleep is at school."
"The last time I saw them, they were cleaning out the hayloft getting it ready for the wedding dance" said Ralph, then he, Tam, and Mai went looking for Lanh and Don. The hayloft was immaculate, they could see several new boards on the floor where Don had replaced old and broken boards. The hay, which took up a lot of room, had been stacked neatly on one end of the hayloft into a haybale mountain easily three stories tall. But that was only part of the hay, a good portion of hay had been moved out of the barn and stacked neatly then covered with tarps on the north end of the pasture.
Mai noticed that a staircase was built out of hay bales on the mountain of hay, so she climbed up the steps and found that on top of that mountain of hay, Don and Lanh had made themselves a nest and were fast asleep in each other's arms.
~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~
Graduation day started for Lanh with a trip to her gynecologist, she wanted a checkup to make sure that she was healthy and ready for her wedding night. "I can help you if you're afraid of the pain," he said and indicated he could "snip" her hymen.
"I just want to know if I'm ready to have babies," replied Lanh. She hated being in his office, but it was something that had to be done.
"You're as ready as you'll ever be," said the Doctor, "you're young and healthy, and my physical exam tells me there's no reason not to... other than being a virgin."
Lanh grinned as she hopped off the exam table, "I intend to take care of that issue in three days."
"Good luck Mrs. Campbell," said the doctor as he left to give her privacy.
Still glowing from being called Mrs. Campbell, Lanh met up with Tam in the waiting room and they headed straight for the door. "Good to go?" asked Tam.
"Yeah," said Lanh without looking back over her shoulder. "He said that those frat parties that Bao and Kim-ly introduced me to didn't cause any permanent damage," as they got in Tam's beat up Toyota. She gave Tam an innocent wide-eyed look.
"You are such a brat!" fumed Tam and gave her baby sister a hug in the car. Lanh never would have said anything like that before she fell in love. "What did that boy do you?"
"Nothing... yet" sighed Lanh.
~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~
"Hello, my name is Lanh Nguyen. It wasn't a shock to me to be selected valedictorian, after all, I worked harder and longer than any of you, and earned higher grades than all of you. Most of you don't know me, but the ones that do know me, know me because you spent my high school years trying to crush my spirit, rape my body, and destroy my relationship with the one man in this school who loves me. You hate me for my size, you hate me for my race, you hate me for my sex. But I earned two letters, I have a perfect GPA, a man who loves me, and scholarship offers from four ivy league universities, so FUCK YOU, I'm leaving you behind me in the dust. Choke on it."
Lanh looked up at her audience who stared at her for a moment, then started applauding. Kim-ly actually rose from her seat and hugged Lanh, "It was perfect baby girl, I DARE you to give that one at the ceremony tonight."
Her audience, composed solely of her brothers, sisters, and Don, surrounded her and congratulated her one last time before they left the hayloft where Lanh held her last practice speech, but she didn't look happy or even slightly amused from her satirical speech. Huy gave Don a crushing one arm side hug and said "I don't know what you did to my baby sister, but I like it. Keep up the good work."
Trung gave him a shot in the arm and added "Two years ago she wouldn't say shit if she had a mouthful, and now, she'd shame a hockey team. It's amazing."
"I've got a gift," said Don without humor. When he got to Lanh, she threw her arms around him and began crying. Huge, uncontrollable spasms of sorrow shook her tiny frame, and Don was crying too, holding her tight, and whispering softly, "It's over em yêu, we beat those bastards, we're safe now..."
"What the hell?" asked Bao, as he and his brothers watched their baby sister and her fiancé cry. Don slowly led her out into the night where they could be alone.
"That wasn't a joke," said Kim-ly looking like she was getting ready to cry.
Tam stood in front of the three brothers with a stern scowl. "Everything she said was true, it was from the heart, those assholes dragged her and Don through hell, this was her way of purging the pain."
"Remember those bruises and black eye Don had when you first met him ice skating?" asked Kim-ly. Her brothers nodded. "That wasn't from a hockey game, they beat him up for dancing with Lanh, after they first conned him into doing it."
"They beat him a couple of times," muttered Tam as Don and Lanh came back in, gathered up their caps, gowns, and honor society ribbons and headed down the earthen ramp outside. "Remember the wired jaw, the arm in a sling, the knee brace, the broken ribs when you had to help Don pull the dock and the boat out of the water?"
"Don said it was a diving accident," said Bao.
"Some assholes decided to gangbang your baby sister," growled Kim-ly. "Don stopped them, and they beat the living fuck out of him."
