The Beauty of Humanity Movement (118 page)

T
’s father turns to the old man to thank him for having been there to celebrate every occasion of T
’s life. From his birth to every Tet holiday to his graduation, to the betrothal that T
’s father says he is sure must not be long off for his son, to the marriage and fatherhood that will follow, the birth of a fourth generation who will be blessed to have a patriarch in H
ng.

T
blushes and hangs his head. “I fear I will not be here to see that happy day,” says H
ng. No pressure! thinks T
, looking over at Ph
ng—twenty-nine and not married—for help. But Ph
ng is beyond helping: he is boozy- eyed and useless already, lying on his side, leaning on his elbow, his head slumping toward his shoulder.

T
is about to beg for a change of subject, when thankfully H
ng says, “Let us eat.”

They begin with a mild soup with pig tail and crunchy lotus root, followed by some shredded cabbage and sausage stuffing pulled from inside the roasted pig’s mouth, and then the pork itself, which melts in their mouths, all its fatty parts, its salted crispy skin, balanced with clean rice and water spinach sautéed with garlic, and finally a crunchy salad of diced pig ears and bamboo shoots. Every time T
tastes Old Man H
ng’s cooking he feels as if his mouth learns something new.