Quang\'s Freedom in November, I

Quang's Freedom

In November, I boarded an airplane to California with fifty other refugees from my own camp. Of the fifty of us, I was the only one who had a connecting flight to Concord, New Hampshire. Most settled in Los Angeles, and a part of me liked that idea as well. Deep down, however, I knew that I wanted to use this opportunity to create completely new opportunities for myself. No more n?

c m-m for me, I was on my own.

By the time I arrived in Boston for the final leg of my journey, I was completely exhausted. All I wanted was to get to Concord to start my new life. As fate would have it, the flight was delayed. I saw a pair of Chinese engaged in heated discussion -- I didn't normally have warm thoughts about Ch? L-n, but I was already starving for anything that reminded me of home, however tenuous.

I remember clearly this woman sat down beside me, full of life and energy. She just started talking to me, I'm not sure why. At first it was nothing terribly interesting and in my tired state I was having trouble staying awake. Then she began to talk about ghosts. My thoughts drifted to T-t Trung Nguyen, a traditional festival back home when condemned souls are pardoned and released from their hell. I have a great fondness for the spirit world, and I was immediately drawn to what this woman was telling me. I had always viewed America as such a secular place, with no real appreciation for the spirit world. Yet here I was, not yet arrived at my home, listening to a strange woman telling me about a place called Freetown, known for its ghosts and paranormal history.

I never did get on that flight Concord. I sat in the airport as the flight left and then I just walked out the front door, bound for Freetown. I settled in Assonet, one of the constituent parts of Freetown, at the edge of the Bridgewater Triangle, an area that has a long and rich history of ghosts, UFO sightings and odd creatures. We Vietnamese have always believed in spirits. Our ancestors are the most important part of our spirit world, but all natural things have spirits of their own. We learn from a young age how to navigate the spirit world; it is a part of our culture.

Freetown fascinated me from the moment I arrived. In the nation of progress, here was a town that was driven by its past. I felt the spirits immediately -- they were good spirits, but capable of awful things. Whereas the lady at the airport had been all-too-willing to talk about ghosts and creatures in the woods, the townspeople were less enthusiastic when I first arrived, so I took matters into my own hands.

I walked out into the woods. The forest is of a good size, about 15 square miles, and is popular for hiking amongst the people of the area. But Freetown is small, so on a weekday afternoon there is hardly anybody out there. I went by myself, to see the famous Profile Rock. The air was cool but the day was bright. I had not been in the forest for more than a few minutes when I first felt the eyes watching me. The spirits, I do not think they trusted me. I was an outsider to them, something that they feared. I continued my walk until the Profile Rock, and squatted down to have a smoke. I longed for some proper thu-c lao, not something easy to find in southern Massachusetts. I could sense unrest in the spirits, so the next day I returned to the rock with an offering to them.

The locals believe that the spirits haunt the wood and the town as a response to the coming of the settlers, who had purchased the land from the local Wampanoag people, or more precisely from their leader without his people's blessing. The discord that this act brought the spirit world characterized Freetown.

This was ultimately a blessing for me, for after I made my offering at the Profile Rock I knew I had found my true home in America. I set up my practice at once. So many maladies among citizens of this town were directly related to the spiritual imbalance in the forest. Little puk-wudgees caused much havoc among the townsfolk. Oh, at first the people of Freetown had little faith in my medicine, but over time they came to appreciate that I was perfect for their unique corner of the world.

Theirs was a land haunted. People came to me when the ghosts in their attic began to make noise; when they saw lights above the forest at night; when they saw a creature from the corner of their eye. This was life as normal in Freetown. Everybody who lived there simply accepted it, without becoming creepy like such a town would seem on television. But I helped them. I helped them learn the reasons why spirits acted the ways they did. I taught them how to appease the spirit world, how to appreciate the things that they only saw from the corner of their eye.

The native peoples became some of my best friends. I do not suppose I would have made such fast friends with tribes in my homeland. Had I ventured to Sa Pa to visit the Tay or Miao people, I may have found the same kinship, but I never had such an experience back home. I made one great friend among all the Wampanoag, an aged man by the name of George Adams.

George was the local medicine man and he knew the spirits of the forest better than anybody else. I spent quite a bit of time in the forest with George, and he introduced me to every important tree and every important rock. I merely understood the spirits; George spoke with them. Each spirit had its own character -- they were all special. They came and went from our world according to their own schedule. The knowledge I gained from George was invaluable, and it helped me in my work to help the townsfolk with their spiritual maladies. When he passed, I set up a shrine in his honor in the forest. He still guides me.

Today I am as much American as I am Vietnamese. I see the world through both sets of eyes. It was an extraordinary set of circumstances, right down to the lady at the airport, that brought me to where I stand today. Those circumstances were sometimes very difficult, but ultimately it took each and every one of them to make me the man I am now. For that, I will always be grateful.