A childhood memory... (September '06)

When I was still a young lad, the Vietnam Conflict was not long in the past. As a result, many Vietnamese and Cambodian families who had fled from the fighting were still in need of aid. Many of these families eventually made it her to the US and even to the little town of Wakefield, RI.

My neighbor was a reasonably well-to-do fisherman who had a large home and an unused guest house. He allowed one of these refugee families to move in to the guest house, and we all started learning to adapt to new cultures.

Now my neighbor was what we call a "Swamp Yankee." That's almost like a redneck, but your family has to have lived in a certain county for eight generations or more. Swamp Yankees are thus a unique breed, and not always the most sensitively attuned to other cultures.

That is all prolegomena to explain how the event in question came about.

My neighbor was very kind, but he teased the Vietnamese family in a friendly way almost daily. Every time he'd leave the property he'd say something to the effect of: "I'd better lock my dogs in the house before I go! I'd hate to come back and find out that you'd eaten them!"

Needless to say, the Vietnamese family was not so very amused by this particular vein of humor.

One day the Vietnamese wife had had enough. After he made his usual taunt--this time in front of some neighbors--she exploded into an indignant rebuttal.

"You no say dat ting! You no laugh! We nevah eat yo' dog!"

We all sat stunned in embarrassed silence.

Until she followed up with the coup de grace...

"How you say we eat yo' dog?! Yo' dog much to old! We only eat dog 6 mont's! One year at mos'!"

I guess she told us.