Page 363 - Xuan Giap Thin 2024 FINAL 2

of sovereignty. I also experienced the agony of the loser. In the frustration of the fugitive,

I was fine-tasting. I was still determined to leave. It is better to die on the way across the

border than to live in Communist brutality. Father and son set off back to Cambodia on
the morning of the sixth New Year. When the boat split in the middle of the river, Viet

Cong police patrol boats rushed over, pressing the ship close to the shore. They shined
flashlights on each person's face and paperwork. I gave this excuse for losing my identity

with the signature and red stamp of the police of Binh Thanh district. I bought this excuse

for losing a gold thread. Looking at the paper and taking a close look at my face, they
made me go ashore while my baby was still under the chair. They locked me in the

detention area in the middle of the border police station yard, surrounded by three or

four layers of barbed wire.

About twenty men lay on the dark, exposed ground, like pigs locked in a garden

waiting to be taken away for meat. The cold late-night mist seeped in, and everyone sat
cowering under the dim yellow oil lamplight. When they changed guards, I slipped

through the barbed wire fence and sneaked into the back of their bedroom. Next door is

a small café owned by police relatives, open overnight for smugglers and ferry drivers. I
joined them down the riverbank. Luckily I met the ferry driver who was also looking for

me. He took me down to the chair and paddled across the border. I exit! But this is just
an escape from prison, not a free berth. The crossing line in Nam Vang was broken again,

and Hai Black, the key Khmer organizing the crossing, was arrested. Son, a Vietnamese

who specializes in bringing termites from Saigon, also had to leave his residence to avoid
hunting. I took Huy Manh back to Saigon as an escape. Fleeing the Viet Cong from Saigon

to Phnom Penh, now fleeing Miên Cong to Saigon. Running around still did not escape

the face of the buffalo-headed horse!

When will you ever see freedom?

Chinh Nguyên

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