6. Moonless night

Moonless night

That night, there was no moon; only stars. Bounpheng got out of his bedroom, and walked toward the patio. He rested his elbows on a bamboo-made platform normally used to hang wet clothes, put his hands on his chin, and looked up to the sky to watch the stars.
It was freezing cold, a cold that penetrated to the bones, and there was absolute quietness. The only sound that could be heard constantly was from the insects. The beauty of the moonlight invited Bounpheng to think about his happy past, one that was as sweet as a banana that ripened at site. His past could not keep everything intact; on the contrary, many parts of that past had disappeared with time.
He was interrupted in his dream by a sound coming from the door. He quickly turned around and realized it was the voice of his newly wed wife Sichanh. She was heading toward the veranda where he was standing. This couple looked the same, even though she was ten years younger than him.
“What are you dreaming about over here?” his wife asked.
Bounpheng tried his best to keep a straight face, but his wife nonetheless could guess what it was all about. She remembered that when she was young, Bounpheng used to have a girlfriend, who was one of her sister's classmates. She knew for sure that Bounpheng didn't look at her then the way he looked at her now. 
She moved closer, looked at her beloved husband, and asked:
“ Are you still dreaming about your old girl friend Deuane? ”
That question took him by surprise, but it was pertinent. Besides, she knew that Bounpheng and Deuane were once engaged. He swallowed his saliva while still looking at the big sky above him. Sichan stood beside him, wondering about something. For Bounpheng, Sichanh's silence made him feel even colder inside and made him cry. Sichan used her hand to dry his tears and said: “Honey, the past is not the present and the present is not the past. It is better to accept reality.”
Memories of the past still lingered in Bounpheng's mind.  What he had hoped for didn't materialize because his and Duane's families were poor and had many children. This was the main reason why both of them had to quit school to stay home and help their families. They promised to get married after the harvest season was over.
Unfortunately, the rice-growing season was marred by a drought. The lack of water and the resulting army of insects that surfaced completely destroyed the crop and made harvest a non-event, thus postponing the scheduled wedding until the following year. Similar drought conditions reoccurred twice in a row. As a result, it was agreed that Deuane would go into town to find a job to save some money for the wedding.   
Duane has been gone for almost a year without sending back any messages. The wedding date was fast approaching, but still there were no traces of Deuane. Bounpheng then decided to go and search for her.  
Bounpheng temporarily stopped talking and took a deep breath. Sichanh hugged him and watched the stars at the same time.
“Did you find her?”
He shook his head, felt very nervous, and looked at Sichanh, who added with a smile:
“And then what happened? Tell me the whole story.”
When he got into town, Bounpheng went to all those places he knew but couldn't gather any useful information. In the end, he ran into one of Deuane's friends who came with her. She told him that Deuane had become a minor wife of a wealthy old man. She had intended to save money and go home, but got tricked into doing something else.
At first, she was working at a restaurant and initially everything went well. The number of restaurant's customers increased. Among one of those was a generous old man who frequently came in to flirt with her. Deuane rejected his advances, telling him she was already engaged. The old man acknowledged that fact but still wanted to treat her like his younger sister. One day, when Deuane was about to return home to her village, the old man told her to come and get some money from him as a gift for her forthcoming wedding. When she showed up at the appointment site, she did get the promised monetary gift but afterwards she also felt in a trap that he has set up.  Deuane wanted to go home but couldn't because she has now lost her virginity. All she could do was crying her eyes out. The last time she saw her friend, Deuane confided,
"I've lost all hope to be Bounpheng's wife."
From that day on, no one knew where Deuane has disappeared.
Bounpheng stopped telling his story and turned his face down. He was still thinking about the various events he went through while searching for Deuane. After he met her friend, he wandered around aimlessly, from Sikhay village to the bus stop near the morning market. He looked at the houses along the streets; the huge beautiful buildings; the fleet of cars that went back and forth like a colony of ants; and the teenagers dressed in mini skirts. Sometimes, he saw young couples walking hand-in-hand like westerners. He didn't know how he managed to get to the bus station.
Bounpheng stood up, walked toward the rope used to hang wet clothes, and whispered,
“She will not be back.”
“ If you were in Deuane's shoes, what would have you done?” Sichan asked, as she followed Bounpheng to the veranda.
Bounpheng did not say any words, he hugged her and led her to the bedroom and said:
“I'm very sorry. We are now married; I shouldn't behave like this."
 “No problem. The past is the past. I don't blame you at all.”