Everyday someone would kneel before the stone, holding back a tear. There was always one person, whispering a name. Each day that week, someone would scream at God, asking why He had to be so cruel. Someone would always sit by the stone and cry out the name Kim.
Each person went for a different reason. When the Engineer wasn't working, he would take Tam to visit his mother. The Engineer would laugh and scold his little Princess for being so stupid. Tam, on the other hand, hadn't the slightest idea where his mother was. All he knew was what the strange man named Chris would tell him. The stranger Chris told him his mother was underground. Tam would stick his hands in the dirt and dig, screaming "Mommy". The Engineer would take his passport, better known as Tam, away as soon as he began to cause a mess.
Ellen had expected to be in Bangkok for one week. She didn't expect that one week to last so long. Wherever she went, she heard Kim's voice begging her to take Tam to America. Then she'd hear herself telling Kim no. It haunted her. She knelt before the grave, in tears and in deep prayer. Every prayer asked for Kim's forgiveness. Ellen would always tell the stone that she would take Tam to Georgia and treat him as her own. Ellen told Kim that he would have toys to play with, education, all the things she wanted for her son. She felt that Kim was by the stone, listening to her and smiling. "I won't let your sacrifice be in vain," Ellen would whisper, letting a fresh tear fall to the ground. Guilt consumed her.
No one was as guilty as John. He felt if he had told Kim about Ellen, none of this would happen. Perhaps, if he had informed Kim, there would be no motherless child. If he had just let Kim known, a life would have been spared. John still heard the fatal shot in his mind. He only had it in him to visit the grave when Kim's body was being placed in it. John hung his head in shame. He blamed no one but himself, and felt Kim's death was something he'd just have to live with.
The times Chris wasn't kneeling by the grave were few. He lived on the ground Kim was lying in. Chris would remember the happier moments, like the first night they had spent together. He remembered the joy in Kim's eyes when he asked her to live with him. And of course, he could hardly forget the night he proposed to take Kim to America. They danced under the moonlight, until the sun came up. Kim whispered in his ear that they were in the sky together, the sun and the moon. Then, they kissed and dreamt of their future together.
But that was over. Kim was gone now. Chris shuddered, thinking of his nightmares of her. He had thought many times of her being killed by the Viet Cong. It pained him even more to know that she had ended her own life. He wanted to hold her again and kiss her beneath the moonlight. Chris wanted to see the sun and moon again.
Chris knew that he would have to return to America soon. He didn't want to part with Kim. He wanted to see her everyday, even if it was only in his memories. Chris stared at the rising sun and felt the wind brush his face. He imagined that it was Kim, kissing him one final time. He reached for the chalk he had brought in his pocket, and wrote his final goodbyes to Kim on her gravestone.
How in the light of one night, have we come so far?