Chapter 1: The End

 

The drive seemed to be pretty uneventful. End of August in eastern Minnesota as I found out was nothing to look forward to. She strangely reminded me of Nikki. The slight drizzle had stopped when I landed in Minneapolis; United Nations Armed personal guarded the International Airport. I vividly remember Baba’s never ending repetition of his years in North Dakota; his first landing at the airport must have been quite different than that of mine. Baba was never secretive, his life seemed like a book in a public library, you just needed a card to check it out and anyone who knew him knew his life story.

 

“Manny, lets go get some ice-cream.” Was a daily saying when he visited.

 

I liked it when he used to come visit us, other than him repeating his stories, the part that I tried to avoid as much as possible. He never really liked my name, he was quite irate when he found out that my parents named me Manny, he thought it sounded too much like a girls name. My mother was white while my dad was brought up in the United States but both his parents were Nepalese. He couldn’t be any “whiter” than my mom but he was still “brown”, 2120 sometimes still seemed like 1820.

 

 â€œManny… Manny… wake up we are here.” Kat, that’s how she introduced herself when we met at the airport, said gently nudging me. I had managed to catch what seemed like a 5 min nap.

 

“Manny, you are not going, its way to dangerous there.”

 

 I could hear my mom yelling as I left the room. My dad had always been a man of few words, he had nothing to say and I could sense my mom going off on him for not forcing me to stay in Kathmandu. My mind was made up; I had joined the United Nations and was going to the largest refugee camp north of the Mississippi 20 years of fighting of who is right and who is wrong had left all of the Americas into nothing more than pile of rubbles. The days of using guns to kill were gone; they chemically tortured people to set an example. Last months TIME magazine had a girl on the cover; they had poured acid on one side of her body, and left the other intact. I guess it was enough to win the Pulitzer Prize for photography. Looking at that picture I tried to imagine how I would have felt in her shoes. What was there to live for, looking like that? Would anyone every marry her? Would she recover from it? Did anyone give a damn? Nothing ever seems to stop, one way or the other it seemed like people always found a way to move on.

 

Fargo, North Dakota, a place that Baba used to talk about like he still lived there when he was alive. Spending 1/3 of your adult life in the same place is a long time. The barbwires and rubbles around the camp makes it seem so bizarre, I closed my eyes for a moment to remember what this place looked like in pictures he had shown me once. The half blown up clock tower merely stood, of what used to be the State University, and could be seen from a camp entrance. It seemed nothing like the pictures, rather serene and calm. The rows of white tents were never ending, the laughter of children playing football around the corner, women talking to each other about, what I figured, how things were before the civil war, and the men sipping their afternoon coffee looking grim.

 

“You must be Manny…. how was the drive, not too bumpy I hope.”

 

 Turning around I saw Asif, Asif Ahmed a middle aged, slightly chubby, about five feet six male of an Asian decent. He had a slight Arabic accent. Asif was the program coordinator for the camp.

 

Chaos cannot be described until felt. “Keep your heads down, Keep your heads down” was all I could hear. This morning was no different that the last two. As I packed my rug sack, I kept trying to remind myself of the all the reasons I was here for.

 

 â€œWe’re ready to go!” Rob announced.

 

Rob was from North Dakota, fairly tall about six four I figured and well built. The ideal America kid I grew up seeing in Abercrombie and Fitch advertisements. Blonde hair and blue eyes the kind of guy who the girls fall for.  He knew the terrain on the back of his hands, I remember Kat telling me when she first introduced us.  Three days had passed since I arrived in Valley City. Kat, Rob and I were assigned to get a few refugees from the Canadian border to the camp.

 

“F**k, it’s an ambush, keep your heads down” Rob yelled.

 

The sound of bullets busting through the glass of United Nation’s SUV, is something one never forgets. The “cling, cling, cling” sound it makes against the aluminum car body would send a shiver down anyone’s spine. AK 47’s were still the prime choice of militia. They had a distinct sound; it’s different than any other automatic rifles. The first Humvee with at 45 cal mounted on top had caught a roadside mine and laid in pieces no more than 50 meters in front of the SUV.

 

“I am hit, f**k I am hit… oh God.”

 

Once that bullet goes past your skin, it has a lot more psychological effect than a physical one. I could see Rob bleeding out of his torso. Kat somehow managed to turn the SUV around and we were back on our way to camp.

 

“God damn it put pressure on the wound Manny”, she yelled from the drivers’ seat.

 

An hour later we arrived at the camp gates with helicopters waiting to transport Rob. That hours ride was the longest of my life, three days into this “expedition” I knew there was no way I’d get out of here alive, emotionally more so than physically. As the chopper left, dust blew all around it like a bad storm was on its way. As the particles settled to the ground and went on about their existence I could see tears rolling down Kat’s face. I heard Asif mumble something to her and he started walking towards me as she walked away from us.

 

 â€œThey used to be a thing you know,” he said, taking me by surprise.

 

“I am sorry what did you say”? Was all that I could manage.

 

 â€œKat and Rob, they used to date till about six months back, I don’t know if she’ll make it”.

 

Watching the sunset over the horizon that night I wondered how such a beautiful sight brought absolutely no joy to me.

 

“Manny, you in there?” It was Kat. I had just managed to fall asleep.

 

“Yeah! What’s up?” I replied

 

 â€œI can’t sleep…do you want to go for a walk?”  She said!

 

Walking through the tents I had nothing to say to her. The quietness said it all, both of us just walked without a single word being spoken.

 

 â€œThank you for walking with me; I needed that, Good Night.”

 

The next week flew by, registering the new refugees, trying to get their tent assignment and the whole nine yards. I hardly saw Kat around the Camp, even when we crossed ways I kept my head down and kept walking. News of Rob’s death had come a couple of days ago. He did not make it, the bullet had gone straight through and he had lost too much blood by the time he got to the UN hospital in Fargo.

 

Dear Manny,

 

I hope this letter finds you in good health. Since you left, the house just seems to be empty. Your dad never did talk much and is no different now; I sometimes wonder why we didn’t have more kids?

 

How is Valley City? I cannot imagine it being anything like Baba used to describe. I heard the news of UN vehicles being ambushed last week, I cannot tell you how worried we were until you called. I still wish you would have listened to me and not left, but I do understand your need of wanting to do something for better mankind.

 

Life in Katmandu is as always, busy work schedule for both of us and of course you know how much your dad’s side of the family likes me. It has gotten better with time though and with you there they seem to care more.

 

I hope you like the care package you receive with this letter, and hopefully you will change your mind and come back soon. We miss you terribly, do keep writing it is one thing I look forward to every forth night. Take care of yourself and be safe.

 

Love

Mom.

 

As I sat there staring at another sunset on a Saturday night, I felt a hand on my shoulders.

 

“First letter from home huh?” She said!

 

Kat seemed a little better; “Yeah” I said not taking my eyes off the sunset.

 

“I remember when I got my first letter, I could not stop crying and it wasn’t this bad two years ago you know.” She was staring at the “beautiful” sunset too. We just sat there in silence; I wondered how someone could live in this God forsaken place for two years by choice. Couple of weeks into it, I was having major doubts if I had made the right decision.

 

“Hey man, you ready, com’n you take too long to get ready your like a damn girl.” Raj said in a high pitch voice. Raj, my best friend, the guy who I grew up with. He was from a higher middle class Nepali family, black hair, slim build, and five seven. I had known Raj since pre-school. We’re neighbors, there are a lot of memories that bind us, skipping school, smoking our first cigarette, betting on who could take the girl home after a night out. He’s always been there for me, bar fights, heartache and foremost he always supported my decision to leave Nepal for Valley City.

 

Saturday nights we usually got the “gang” together and headed out to town, and this Saturday was no different and even more special. It was my last Saturday before I left for North Dakota.

 

“Drink up f**ker, there are thirsty kids in North Dakota” Raj yelled across the table. I could tell he was pretty tanked and I was close to getting there.

 

“If something happens to me, take care of my parents for me will you?” I asked walking back from the bar under the starry sky. He had this ghastly look on his face. If expressions would speak his facial expression would have said don’t you even go there, and then he said it “don’t you even go there.”

 

“Raj, I am serious man, promise me you’ll take care of them for me” I said with all my drunken emotions over flowing. The fact that I was scared to death would be putting it loosely; I just wanted to hear that my parents would be all right if something was to happen to me. I was being selfish.

 

“Do you have any siblings?” Kat asked.

 

“No, only kid, how about yourself?” I replied. 

 

“Two older brothers, I was the spoilt one.” She said. “I am sorry, I have been out of it for the last couple of weeks you know with everything that has happened.” I nodded in what seemed like an approval.

 

It seemed funny how we did not have anything to talk about. Seeing so much distress around you as I realized makes you numb. As we sat there in silence I looked at Kat, even in this turmoil there was something so calm about her. What would I have said to her if I met her at a nightclub, or if we worked together in an office? Lost in these thoughts I did not realize she was looking back at me.

 

“What’re you looking at?” she said with a sly grin. “Nothing I was just thinking”…. I trailed off.

 

“Thinking… What were you thinking about?” she asked.

 

“Oh! Nothing important” I tried to shudder it off. “Tell me, please,” she begged.

 

“Well, I was just thinking how much you reminded me of this girl in college I dated.” I laughed.

 

“Oh really, that’s interesting. Yeah you are kind of hot too.” She busted out laughing. There we sat, two strangers laughing, staring at the sunset, not knowing what tomorrow held in store for us.

 

“Damn, she’s fine” Raj said sitting next to me in accounting. We had just started our junior year in college. We were both majoring in Human Technology Recourses, I remember my dad telling me how they invented these new major but the core was still the same from when he was in college.

 

Raj being himself, offered her his seat next to me.  After class we all went to the college cafeteria, the same old crowd, soccer team with their girlfriends. The nerds with their theories of how the world would come to an end because of video games. Then there were us, the middleman of society so to speak. Liked by everyone, decent in school, caused a little trouble here or there but everyone spoke of us highly.

 

“This is Nikki.” Raj announced. He had already called dibs on her the minute she walked into the classroom. It was just our way of saying I get to “hit” on the girl first, but that never stopped either of us. Not when the girl was this hot. 

 

“You and Maya broke it off again?” I asked under my breath.

 

“No man, you know how she is, she wants to get engaged.” He replied with his brows pointing to the skies. “So what’s the problem? You know she’ll be perfect.”

 

“Yeah, if I was planning on settling down, and you would say that too, she’s your so called sister.” He shot back with a glare.

 

Chapter 2: End of the Beginning

 

“Sometimes the greatest journey is the distance between two people”. Our senior year of college dwindled down, soon Raj was on his way to Australia to start off his MBA program. Nikki and I rented a one-bedroom apartment in the heart of the city. Cozy would really be stretching the fact that it was very small, but that is what we could afford right out of college. Maya was still living with her parents and partnered up with me to open up a Human Resources consultancy like we had always talked about we would do.

 

A lot of nights were spent between the three of us in that small one-bedroom apartment that fall. One had the perfect view of the city in all its glory at night. From the bright lights of the nightclubs and fancy five start hotels to the serene and peaceful “Buddha Stupas”, lit up at night could be seen from our apartment. The vividness of images from what one considers being important under a certain circumstance can vigorously change if the circumstances were different. The first month in that apartment will always just be a blur. With work and getting things organized to fit in that cozy place we had no sense of time.

 

Cutting through the busy rush hours on the street of Katmandu I could not wait to get home.  “Nikki, we booked our first gig,” I screamed as I had one foot in the door.  It seemed like one of the best days of my life. The sense of I had achieved “something”.  She was standing, staring at the bright lights as I held her and kissed her on the cheeks, I could feel her cold hands. “Congrats” was all she said, I for one was dumbfounded and did not really know what to say or how to react. After all this was a big deal for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very nicely written. Please keep on writing.