Chapter 3
The chapter opens on a dusty road in a “beautiful country.” A woman in her twenties, Lan, cradles an infant girl wrapped in a sky‑blue shawl. Two young men—one with black hair, the other with a yellow moustache—approach her, armed with M‑16 rifles, forming a makeshift checkpoint of concertina wire. The woman hums, fearing she is alone, and the rain begins to fall, staining the dirt with red‑brown marks. As the soldiers draw nearer, Lan’s thoughts drift to the first letter of her daughter’s name (C) and to a market called Go Cong where she bought a shawl for the girl.
The narrative shifts to a garage lit by fluorescent lights where five men sit around a table, drinking vodka from shot glasses stored in bullet casings. A stooped white‑haired man leads a macaque—a dog‑sized monkey with burnt‑red hair—into the room on a leash; the animal has been force‑fed vodka and morphine. The men fall silent as the monkey is placed under the table and restrained. The scene intercuts with Lan’s backstory: she was called “Seven” at birth, fled an arranged marriage at seventeen, gave herself the name Lan (Lily) after a night of escape, and later learned the name from a street vendor.
Back at the checkpoint, Lan confronts the soldiers, pressing her daughter to her chest as rain whistles. The soldiers issue commands in a broken language, “Yoo Et Aye numbuh won… No bang bang,” while Lan repeats the phrase, pleading for her life. The men in the garage toast and prepare to cut open the macaque’s skull, believing the brain will cure impotence. They drink, the monkey’s screams are muffled, and they plan to consume its brain.
Lan’s internal monologue continues, recalling the moment she named herself and the painful dialogue with her mother. She discovers the tag on the soldier’s chest, which bears a name beginning with C, linking to the market. The narrative details the soldiers’ youthful appearance (eighteen‑twenty), their green eyes, and their uneasy handling of the rifle.
The chapter culminates as the Huey helicopter returns, the rain intensifies, and the rifle’s muzzle reflects the daughter’s mouth. Lan steps forward past the checkpoint, the women’s shawl drenched in indigo, while the men in the garage finish their ritual, the monkey’s brain consumed, and the fluorescent light flickers once and stays on. The scene ends with Lan moving toward the guard, glancing at the rifle, and the rain continuing, symbolizing survival in the “beautiful country.”