Page 77 of The Seekers of Deer Creek

“I’ll be honest. I wasn’t here initially to speak about my father. I began this journey because ofTâm. They said that her life was tragic.”

“You’ve heard of the family curse?”

“Bits and pieces. I’d like to hear it from you.”

Another warning rumble.

“Ever sinceTâm’s drowning, our family has coddled our fear of water. Hard to avoid it altogether, living so near theH?uGiang, and yet we manage. As you might have guessed, our father’s birth was a scandal in the town.Tâmwas an unmarried mother and prone to sadness and oddity. Everyone was a little afraid of her. Her drowning only made people more fearful. So Huy grew up in the shadow of her death, which was as mysterious as her life. If he’d any solace, it came from his adopted mother,Ng?c. A more good-hearted soul you’d never meet. If not for her—well, none of us might exist.”

“She took care of Huy until she married?”

“Even then, she brought my father with her to be raised as one of her own. Such an act of love tied us all together. Huy was lucky he did not drown with his mother. So much tragedy in those days. Lost children, lost mothers. A generation of mourning.”

“AndTâm’s death, people think it was accidental?”

Vivi felt the brush of déjà vu. She’d asked this question, many times, of her own father’s death. Maybe that was their true family curse. Not a fear of water, but a destiny of unknowing.

“That’s more difficult to say. There was a note, but my grandmotherNg?cnever believed her sister died by suicide. She didn’t believeTâmdied at all, truth be told, even though everyone thought she was delusional.Ng?csaid she could still feelTâm’s presence. A sister knows such things, she insisted.”

“Was there no body?” Vivi knew the answer but teased it along anyway.

“None was ever found. It’s not uncommon for things to float out to the delta, then beyond the reach of understanding, but there are always those who need evidence. The evidence wasn’t enough to satisfy all.”

“What did those people think happened?”

He pressed his lips together, disapproving. “Some of the more fanciful in our circle believed thatTâmhad been taken by a river wraith, then transformed into a creature of the water, fated to roam her ancestral home for her sins. Growing up, we teenage boys would dare one another to seek the spirit of our grandmother. Maybe the kids still do. They said if you saw her reflection in the river, she’d pull you in, and you’d become a wraith too.”

In her mind’s eye, Vivi saw the cool planes of a mirror, a river’s deceptively smooth surface. All the doubled versions of the universe, caught through unlikely openings.

“And that’s where your accident happened,” she said.

“Fate can be eerie. It’s a funny thing. Your father was curious aboutTâmtoo. His seemed to be a late-in-life obsession, one he undertook in the months before his death. He’d write with a million questions aboutTâmandNg?c, none of which I could answer with any satisfaction. I never knew why he was so drawn to our grandmother.”

Then Vivi told him what she knew aboutTâm, the woman who became K. P.Lý. The woman who, she was certain, they referred to as the foreigner.Ki`êuwas incredulous, but he didn’t dismiss her theories. He marveled that there was a famous artist in their lineage. It explainedTu?n’s talent, which seemed to have sprouted out of cement, a shoot without origin.

She promised to show him her translations ofTâm’s journal. After all, he had claim to the offering too, whatever it was.

“Can you tell me where the Old House was?” she asked.

“It’s still there. Not, actually, so far as one would think. But the building isn’t very safe. You shouldn’t go alone.”

“I’ll take my sister. But I must see it.”

“I know you do.”

On the way back,Ki`êuallowed Vivi to wheel him down the path, then up the ramp toward the house. He patted the hand that lay near his shoulder.

“You’re home, Vivi,” he said. “No matter what brought you here, my brother would be glad that we’ve met.”

Back in the house, the family had rearranged the bedroom assignments. They’d insisted that the sisters stay the night and join the festivities in the morning. They could borrow clothes from the cousins and aunts. While Vivi was withKi`êu, Calla had accepted on their behalf.

Vivi couldn’t be annoyed when she saw Calla. She’d let someone put her hair in curlers and had changed into an áobàba that a cousin had loaned her. Looking right at home. She was dipping slices of green mango intomu?i ?tand held one out to Vivi.

“Can we please?” Calla cajoled.

“One night.”

“We can start with that.” She winked.