A novel by Ngo The Vinh
EXTRACTS FROM "THE GREEN BELT" - 1 2 3 4 5 NEXT CHAPTER I
CHAPTER XX
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ven though the morning sun had not completely dissolved a layer of cold mist, already I was present at the airport to join General Tri's delegation to the ceremony which would mark transfer of Daksut Camp, north of Dakto, from American to Vietnamese command. Two helicopters lifted up, carried us away from two mushroom clouds of thick red dust, and headed straight in the northwest direction. After many days and months, this was the first time that my vision was no longer restricted to the confines of a narrow and cramped room: it expanded to embrace high mountains and long rivers.
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Because of an “accident”, which could be called an occupational hazard, I had been hospitalized in the highlands for six months. In the same incident, Davis had been mortally wounded by a bullet through his head and died while being evacuated. For six months, I lived in the hospital bed like an outsider, struggling in solitary with the excruciating pain from my wounds, and receiving no word from Như Nguyện. Her neglect evoked longing in my heart and sharpened the realization that my skylark had spread her wings to fly high so as to abandon the past, which lay behind her as though it had never existed. I had tried to save my soul from dejection by immersing myself in intellectual pursuits and in intensive writing. NEXT 1 2 3 4 5 |
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[The Green Belt, Chapter XX] |
Six
months were long enough a time for a conjuncture of events to affect and
change the whole complexion of the country
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