SAIGON RAIN - HANOI MIST

Turbulence in Little Saigon

Saigon is the jewel of Southeast Asia, an international exchange market, a major business stopping off point of businessmen from all over the world.

Time moved quickly and Christmas was around the corner.  The markets were busy; shops and restaurants were full of people were coming and going.  Christmas in Saigon had become a yearly tradition, especially for oriental Christian believers and other interested parties.  Christmas is the season which brings joy and the exchanging of gifts between family members and friends.

It was after ten o’clock on Christmas Eve.  I left my two partners in charge of our restaurant to go attend a dance contest with André and our friends at Maxim, the number one nightclub of Saigon.

André had invested twenty thousand U.S. Dollars in my seafood and kapok export business to France, Italy and Belgium.  He was one of several investors in my seafood and kapok business.  The truth was, as a staff member of the DAO, delegated by the United States Government, André could not be involved in private enterprise.  However, André was not the only one who broke this rule.  Beside his investment with my seafood and kapok business, André was engaged in the black market.  He and his associates met every Tuesday at his home and on Thursdays met at one of the other’s home where they had a poker party.  André had three close friends who also worked for the United States Government, one with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), one with the Central Investigation Department (CID), and one with the DAO.  They all had business involvement with André, except the one with the CIA, whom was Nathan.

Three months prior to the South Vietnamese government’s order for all the foreigners to leave, all business contracts or connections inside or outside the country were cancelled, whether small or large in nature.  Because of this, my seafood and kapok business were cancelled.  According to my agreement with André, he lost his money including principle and interest.  One time I stopped by to see a married couple, a security Captain with Mission Warden Office, who was married to a Vietnamese woman.  She let me know that our mutual friend, André, had consulted with her and stated his great sadness of the loss of his money with my business and held me responsible.  When I heard that, I was very disappointed because I had a business engagement with a person with no backbone.  Furthermore, André had lost all other business engagements in the black market, not only with my business but everything else he was involved in.  It was out of my hands.  I had no control of this and he was stupid to think it was my fault.  Besides, he ignored all the profits he had pocketed.

I left my restaurant about five in the evening to go to Maxim, where André and our friends were waiting for all us to join together to celebrate the festivities.  That night, after I left my restaurant, gun shots occurred in front of my restaurant.  The police identified a gang leader well known in the city, which the authorities had been looking for.  At the time of this shooting in front of my dinner club, my female singer accidentally caught a bullet to her head while she was getting out of a taxi and was instantly killed.  While running, the fleeing man ran in a zigzag manner, which made him a difficult target.  Unfortunately, the singer stepped out of the taxi at that particular moment, when the bullets were for the fleeing man.  The singer was arriving to perform at my nightclub that night.  When he came in along with other gang members, Tim Cathai recognized them and immediately called the police. In a few minutes, the police arrived and that was the reason the shooting took place.  This was Tim’s manner in expressing his appreciation for my help to him.  During those times of disastrous situations in my lifetime, I always felt there was a supernatural power watching over me to insure my survival.