Christmas With Its Ears Cut Off - Page Four

    Than Quan had been sitting with his wife, Ngoc, and their three year old son, Thuy, around a kerosene stove in a small shack when he heard a shot ring out. Having lived most of his life in Vietnam, Than was no stranger to the sound of gunfire. Motioning for his wife and son to stay put, Than left the small shack, which had the word "Office" painted on its door, to investigate.
    Andy was still debating rather to take both ears or just one as he turned over Anthony Perrilla's body and discovered that he was not an Asian. "Jesus, pal, I'm sorry", Andy said apologetically to the corpse.
    "No offense, but I thought you were a Gook from back there. Hell, I didn't think anybody but that Commie Slant was gonna be here today", Andy explained as Anthony's blood formed a large, red pool. "I mean, what kinda stupid fuck buys their tree on Christmas Day?"
    As Andy look up from the dead body, Than Quan stepped in the center of the row of trees, less than twenty feet away.
    In what can only be described as one smooth, ballet-like motion, Andy rose, turned, chambered a 7 mag, and pointed his rifle at the head of Than Quan. Than Quan felt his legs become stiff and motionless. He could on only raise his hands in weak protest. He searched himself for a voice with which to scream for help.
    Andy took three deliberate steps forward. The first two made loud crunching noises in the snow. The sound of the third was concealed by the noise of the rustling of branches and an audible "whack".
    At first, Andy thought he'd been hit in the center of his back with a baseball bat. The force of the blow had been great enough to not only knock the rifle from Andy's hands, but to also dislodge the necklace of ears from around his throat. The necklace lay in the snow, about six feet to Andy's left.
    Andy was amazed that he was still standing. The reason he was became clear when looked down and realized that he was being held up by a "punji stick" almost three inches in diameter - the pointed end of which was clearly visible exiting Andy's body just below his rib cage.
    Despite the large amount of blood that had poured into Andy's mouth, it was still possible to make out his dying words - "Booby trap."

    Than Quan hurried back to the tiny shack where he found Ngoc using a roll of electrical tape to secure a hand grenade to little Thuy's chest.

    "Và dun con di...", Than began.

    "English, please", Ngoc scolded, raising and shaking her index finger.

    Than's mouth widened in a smile of understanding. He searched for the words. "There will being no need for that", he said, pointing to the grenade taped to Thuy's tiny body. "The trap that is numbered seven has done its job."

    Carefully, Than and Ngoc removed the grenade that had been attached to Thuy, and then the little family hugged. A few feet away, above a plastic nativity scene, a tiny electric star twinkled.