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ESCAPE
FROM VIETNAM Page 9 The woman who cooked the food the day before cooked some more rice again. However, the boat was rocking much more now because of the waves, and it made it much harder to cook the rice. Also, she suddenly realized that there was not so much gasoline or firewood to cook with (the boat owner didn't even have to foresight to stock up these items), so she ended up cooking only two pots of rice for the 60 persons on the boat. The rice had to be rationed, each person had only a handful of rice. Not only that, it was only half cooked. I took my share and ate it in just one minute. A few people on the boat who were smart enough to bring some foods along with them ate at the envy of other. They didn't offer to share the food with anyone else. They ate sparingly, then wrapped up the food and keep it right next to their bodies, as if they were afraid that other people may steal the food from them. I suddenly realized that these people expect the worst in this journey and these morsels of food might just mean the difference between life and death to them. By night fall, I was feeling so hungry, but there was nothing to eat. The cook said that she only would cook once a day. There was not that much rice anyway, and we must eat sparingly in case the journey last more than a few days. There was only enough rice to last us for 3 more days! The wind was getting stronger and colder. There were some dark clouds gathering in the horizon. The waves also become more violent. I went inside the boat and prayed to Buddha for protection. The captain was very worry. He announced that there might be a small storm coming our way. At this announcement, almost everyone fell into a state of panic. I could hear many people chanting and praying to God, Jesus, and Buddha for protection, to help us pass this storm alive. It was difficult for me to believe that this small boat would be able to withstand any kind of storm at all, and apparently, it was also obvious to everyone else on the boat. The scene in the cabin was a mixture of a comedy and a drama. Some people just lie still and stared at the ceiling. A family was sitting together, praying to Jesus, while a woman next to them was chanting incantations from a Buddhist book that she brought along. The cacophony of prayer and chanting created an eerie, foreboding feeling of disaster. I was exhausted, hungry and very thirsty. Even the drinking water, contaminated with gasoline and God knows what else, was rationed. I only got a small cup of that cursed water for the whole day. I curled up to a comer of the engine room and found a piece of foam to plug my ears. I tried to lull myself to sleep by silently praying to Buddha. Slowly, overcame by exhaustion, I fell into a very tired and uncomfortable sleep. In
the eye of the storm A painful feeling in my head woke me up from my slumber. It took me a few minutes to realize what happened. The boat was rocking very violently, careening from side to side. In my sleep, the motion of the boat slid my body toward the wall of the engine room and knock my head right into it. There was a small bump on my head. However, I was overcome by fear to even remember the pain. We were now right in the middle of the storm. It was raining heavily. Occasionally, there was the deafening sound of thunder in the distant. Outside, 4 to 5 feet high waves keep coming toward the boat, lifting it up then threw it right down. It felt exactly like a roller coaster ride, except that we didn't have any seat belts to keep us in place, and if the boat didn't get over any of these deadly waves, then we were lost. The winds were also blowing violently, bringing the rain water inside the boat. Not only that, sea water were coming right into the engine cabin through the window every time the boat descended down to a trough. Before I realized what happen, a torrent of sea water splashed right all over me. The engine room, already slippery, became even more so now it was all wet. Everyone in the boat was awake. The children were crying like crazy, while their parents were not in much better shape. Many people huddled together again and prayed to their Gods. Nobody needed any explanation to know what we were in. The cacophonous music of terror and fear was paralyzing. I tried to find something on the wall of the engine room and slowly made my way toward the window of the engine room, to take a look outside. I lost my hold a few times and slid right back to where I started, crashing against the corner of the engine room. However, I just didn't feel the pain. Eventually, I succeeded in reaching the window. To avoid getting sucked out right into the sea by the violent winds, I locked my feet securely against a crevice and used both of my hands to grab the railings of the window. The sky was pitch black, and it looked like the sea was raging with towering waves. The rain drops struck against my face and body, creating a stinging, painful feelings. The boat was also turning from side to side such that I thought sometimes it was making a 45 degrees angle with the surface of the water. Sticking my head out of the window, there were instances that I thought that my face was just inches away from the surface of the sea. The mechanics, who locked his arms and feet to a corner of the engine room to keep himself from sliding, yelled at me to get away from the window. He thought I was crazy to even get near it. If I lost my holds and fell into the water, then there was nobody or anything that could save me from certain death. After a minute, I had seen enough. Slowly, I crawled back to the corner where the mechanics was, all the while holding very tightly to some holds with my hands and feet. I asked the mechanics when did the storm start. He told me that the sea was just turning rough about 10 minutes ago. He even told me to start praying to whatever God I worshiped, because even if the towering waves don't bury us at some point, the constant waves crashing against the hull of the boat would eventually break it into pieces. If this storm lasted for more than 3 hours, there was no chance we would survive. The rocking motion of the boat became steadily more violent. As the boat came up to a very high wave then descended down to a deep trough, one of the water barrels flew from the engine room to the dock, then crashed through the railings and fell into the sea. As it rolled through, the barrel was just inches away from crushing my feet. it was an act of God that the barrel didn't roll the other way and fell into the main cabin. If it did, many people would have been killed or seriously injured. |