"THREE SEASONS" "You must be Kien An." "Yes, I am." "Follow me." "Here are your things." "You are here on high recommendations." "I hope you don't let me down." " I will not, sir." "We follow strict codes here." "It is important none are violated." "Teacher Dao is not a forgiving man." "The bell rings early every morning.." "The flowers must be picked and be sold in the city." "Teacher Dao takes pride in his flowers." "Customers take pride in in his flowers." "Thus, you must take pride in his flowers." "Try not to think about it." "Don't let the temple distract you." "It is important to keep busy." "You'll soon forget it's there." "It looks abandoned." "It is the Teacher's home He has not left it in years." "We never saw him." "The older women say his soul left him long ago." "Is this lake what is there as pretty as a lotus?" "Green leaves, white flowers?" "Green leaves, white flower, yellow center." "Yellow center..." "white flower, green leaves." "It is near the mud, yet does not smell of mud." "A woman destiny is like a raindrop." "Some fall in the gutter... some fall in the rich ponds." "You buy for me?" "Chewing gum, cigarette?" "Hai, I've been waiting all morning Did you bring the rubbing oil?" "Yes, the arm still bothering you?" "If it's not the arm, then it's the back." "Let me have some of that." "Maybe you can put a stop to this debate." "What now?" "You see that hotel there?" "What about it?" "I was betting Minh... that the towels there must smell like perfume." "Why is that?" "You ever notice the smell?" "Everyone we drive from there has a fresh smell." "Like I said... it's the smell of money." "Well, it's a waste of money." "We need to work a whole month to barely afford... their cheapest room." "4 star, 5 star they can't match my thousand star deluxe." "What's your thousand star deluxe?" "From my bed, I see a thousand stars." "No roof, just a thousand of stars." "At least you have a bed." "Are you still reading that old book?" "You sure are persistent." "You haven't fixed that?" "It's gonna get you one day." "Come back here!" "Let's go!" "That was close." "What happened?" "Just watch the street." "Drop off at the Marquis Hotel." "Damn, my lipstick is all smeared." "I never let anyone take me home." "It was great to see the look on their face." "Thanks for the fast legs." "Should I wait?" "No, it'll be a while." "I don't mind." "It'll be hours." "I'll get another ride." "Fresh white lotuses!" "Fresh white lotuses!" "Fresh white lotuses!" "Wait a minute..." "Splendid, the white lotuses have arrived." "You must be new." "I've not seen you before." "Yes, sir." "I started this week." "These are nice flowers your Teacher sells." "May I have a bundle?" "Smells wonderful." "So beautiful." "How much?" "$ 5,000." "Thank you." "You again." "Why are you here?" "To take you home." "I said you didn't have to wait." "I didn't mind." "Are you expecting more money?" "I was just making sure you had a ride." "All right." "Take me to District Two." "Tomorrow I will work at the Majestic." "There are wealthier guest there." "They know how to treat a woman." "You got a cigarette?" "No." "It's too damn hot for a smoking." "I could be in a cool room now if I wanted to" "I'd just have to do overnight." "I don't though." "Sometimes I wish I could fall asleep on a large bed... and let the air-conditioner run until I want to wake up." "That's what they all do up there." "I could use a drink right now." "I bet you don't drink." "No." "You don't smoke, you don't drink what the hell you do?" "Besides waiting for pretty girls." "Damn it!" "Not another blackout." "It's the third time this week." "It's damn hot on nights like this." "What's the problem?" "Where are you headed?" "Taking her home." "It's all right." "She lives here." "Let them go!" "Our block hasn't been safe during blackouts." "Some streets have it worse though." "Stop at the lamppost ahead." "Yellow center, white flowers green leaves." "It is near the mud yet doesn't smell like mud." "A woman's destiny is like a rain drop." "Some fall in the gutter some fall in rich ponds." "Can anyone ever know how many stalks are in a rice field?" "How many bends are in a river?" "How many layers are in a cloud?" "Can anyone sweep the leaves of a forest?" "And tell the wind to shake the trees no more." "How many leaves must a silkworm eat... to make a dress of colors from the past." "How much rain must..." "Don't let them bother you." "For many years the old women have been singing the same songs." "They've been here so long they think they own the lake." "I didn't know." "How could you?" "Lack of work makes Mr. Huy look bad to Teacher Dao..." "Thus he punishes severely for it." "After all this years, I still can't stand this heat." "Try to forget." "Throw up a bag of nuts for me." "I'm waiting for the day that corner of ours is replaced by a hotel." "It's so crowded, we just have to live with it." "I hope when I'm their age my life had change." "Tell me something." "You ever notice the American over there?" "I have been watching him." "He has been there for days." "Just him and his cigarettes.." "Days?" "He's been there for weeks." "Someone in the hotel told me." "He sits there smocking all day." "He just stares at that restaurant across from him." "Many American used to stay there." "I bet you didn't know that." "That used to be a G.l. Bar." "I got stuck driving him around town last week." "We went around... looking for a young woman in a photo." "I think he's nuts." "Let's go back to our corner." "Kien An." "Get dressed." "Teacher Dao would like to see you." "Thank you for coming." "Do not be alarmed." "I have a simple request.." "Your song from this afternoon... tell me where you learned it?" "From my mother." "She sang it to me when I was a child." "I would like you to sing the song." "I don't understand." "You weren't brought here to understand." "Your song from this afternoon... I want you to sing it." "Can anyone know how many stalks are in a rice field?" "How many bend are in a river?" "How many layers are in a monsoon cloud?" "Can anyone sweep the leaves in a forest." "And tell the wind to shake..." "You buy?" "Stop!" "Stop!" "Pay money!" "Pay money!" "How much?" "When I fall, To Saint Peter I will tell." "Another Marine reporting, sir." "I've served my time in Hell." "1/9 1st." "Marine Division 68-69." "Isthis shit for real?" "Where did you get this?" "I will give you, $ 50,000 Dong." "For the lighter, how much?" "$ 100,000 Dong?" "You got be kidding me." "I will give you $ 60,000." "Forget the lighter, how much for all.." "What's the matter with you?" "I will tell you what have a seat." "Buku dong." "How long have you been on the streets?" "I have a daughter." "She's here, somewhere." "I have never seen her." "I get a letter that her mother had died." "I figured it was time to find her." "She looks like me, doesn't she?" "I just know it's time to find her." "Maybe, somehow, make sort of peace with this place." "It's all right." "Nobody here gives a shit." "They're all lost in their own world." "This is just between you and me." "And of course, Woody." "You are all right, kid." "Have you seen my case?" "Mister, have you seen my case?" "I hope my private thoughts... have been entertaining." "I'm sorry." "I will leave immediately..." "How much of my work did you read?" "Enough." "Is that right?" "Enough.... to know your pain." "What do you know about pain?" "I too have had a hard life." "Lonely." "Do you know how it is... to have children point and mock as you walk down the street?" "Or when they see you coming.." "to have people close their door?" "Isthat why you hide in the shadow?" "I'm not hiding." "They say you have not left this temple in years." "Nonsense!" "Every morning... my ears escape these windows to embrace the songs of the birds." "My nose pierces these walls and naps in the fragrance of my lotuses." "With every sunrise and sunset.." "my eyes flutter into the air." "And my heart..." "My heart has transcended... above the bondage of man." "Until you have learned more do not come back here." "On fully flapping wings fly" "I Chasing chubby... lazy clouds..." "across the sky." "And herding evening breezes through plains and meadows." "To visit the Seas, my fluttering sails I set." "Brother to the Marlins togheter in the night." "I raise my badly whims on the rising tides." "Oh rise, gentle sun golden in your reach." "And weave, dear Moon, your silvery filaments." "Unveil away the darkness that over me hangs." "Upon a lake a lotus wish I be." "Scenting the day's breath with fragrance and poetry." "Searching in the wind for traces of my former spirit." "This discovery my reflected present." "That was the last poem I wrote." "Before I lost my fingers." "You may leave now." "I will lend you my fingers." "You do not want to be bothered with a bitter man's thoughts." "I would not be here if it was bother." "You should leave before others begin to worry." "Wait." "We could start tomorrow." "We shall start tomorrow." "Have you shined any shoes for an American with a wooden case?" "I haven't shined one shoe in this rain." "Are you following me?" "You said you would work here." "And so what?" "That didn't mean for you to be here." "Did you wait in front all night?" "I just thought you might want a ride." "There aren't too many safe cycles now." "How do I know you're one of them?" "Pull over right here." "This is for you." "I can't accept." "Take it." "I'm usually not so generous." "What are you doing?" "It is very hot." "You're crazy?" "I'd trade places with you anytime." "So pale was the moonlight it could not shroud the pallid lake." "Yet I have found joy admist searing pain." "And I saw the rainbow in the middle of a white cloud." "To write these words is like a striking note." "Plucking a chord... vibrating a stream of light." "It's melody echoes from my forlorn heart." "Did you get all that?" "Yes, I have it all." "Good." "That will be enough for now." "I could go on further." "I can't." "I am out of words for now." "Do you ever plan on leaving this place?" "Sometimes I dream about leaving the temple and go home." "I dream my fingers have grown back and the swelling on my face has subsided." "I dream I have with me a dozen baskets of my best white lotuses... and travel to the floating market of my youth." "As I approach the women I would free all my lotuses into the water." "And watch them float through the market like a white river." "And I had returned home set free and pure." "I would wake up into the black night... and realize it was simply a dream." "One of many that will never be fulfilled." "It's not too late." "It is late." "It is later than you realize." "Don't come back until you find it." "Do you wanna a ride?" "Finally we are going to compete." "Take the brochure." "The winner win U$200." "Who is my challenger this year?" "You know Khoi over there?" "Is he the one to beat?" "Not only is he entering but he'll beat you." "And you, are you entering?" "I don't think so." "You will think I'm crazy, but I enjoy the heat." "What did you say?" "I said I really enjoy the heat." "To most people it's unbearable." "I remember going to school and wearing a white Ao Dai and near our school were rows of Phuong Vi trees with red flowers that blossom during the warm months." "And all the girls would put them in their hair... after wait too long that they fall." "But if we were lucky, a boy would give them to us and we would dry them as bookmarks." "So we wouldn't forget the boy." "You must have gotten a lot of flowers." "Miss.." "How much do you charge?" "Charge for what?" "To spend an evening with you." "U$ 50." "But as you know I don't do overnights.." "Why?" "Do you have some new clients for me?" "No." "Curious, that's all." "Don't think I'm going to be doing this forever." "I have plans you know." "There are other ways to make money." "Like what?" "Like my mother... who died breaking her back for her family." "What did she get out of it?" "That's not going to happen to me." "Have you been in one of those hotels?" "No." "It's a different world in there." "They are not like us." "They have a different walk, a different talk." "The sun rises for people like them." "Not us." "We live in their shadows... and it grows bigger with each new hotel built." "Pay close attention to who comes through those front glass doors." "How many do you see like yourself?" "One day I will remain in that world to become one of them..." "To became one of them." "I'm not sure that's the solution." "What do you suggest marry a cyclo driver?" "Here are your flowers." "$ 5,000." "Thank you." "Could I have some flowers?" "You are selling, no?" "I figured you wanted the..." "Plastic lotuses?" "No." "They're popular." "I've have trouble selling my flowers." "I've yet to sell one." "People have been giving in to their convenience." "It is big and white just like yours." "It will not wither or die." "They even spray the flowers to make them smell real." "Like the real ones." "These days seems to be the trend for everything." "Give me a couple." "How much?" "Thank you." "Is that you Woody?" "I'm being chased." "Quick, get on." "Causing problem again?" "Where is the case?" "It was stolen." "Have you given any rides to an American with a case?" "I haven't seem nobody." "And in this rain it's hard to see anything." "Stay out of troubles Woody." "If I see him I'll let you know." "Watchout for the motorbikes." "Don't disturb my restaurant again." "I'm sorry." "Teacher Dao has terminated your meetings." "Mr. Huy, is something wrong?" "He doesn't have more poems for you to write." "How is that possible?" "He just started writing." "He can't be out of poems." "I can't question him..." "Could I speak to him?" "No." "If you just let me talk to him..." "I'm sorry, but his request is clear." "Enough." "I recommended you return your room.." "Iseverything all right?" "Are you all right?" "Please I have to go now." "It's you!" "What are you doing here?" "What's the matter kid?" "You're staring at me like I'm a ghost." "Where is my case?" "You took my case." "Beat it!" "Quit bothering the customers!" "He says you took this case." "What case?" "At the bar." "You've got to be joking." "What happened?" "He say you make him offer then up and left with his case." "It anyone ran out it was you kiddo'." "I went to the john... and when I came back out you were gone." "I don't know anything about a case." "You see." "He says he didn't take anything..." "I'm sorry about your case kid, but this is my last night here." "So I'm going to drink and forget this place." "I want you to leave..." "and don't come back here!" "I'm glad you could make it." "That's what Binh said last year..." "right before I beat him." "Brothers and sisters, are you ready for the cyclo race?" "Riders, are you ready?" "On your mark." "Get set..." "Go!" " Look, I no longer need a ride from you." "Why?" "It's better for both of us." "Is something wrong?" "I just won't be needing..." " Did you see me race today?" "No." "I won." "Congratulations." "I'll follow you home." "I have 50 dollars" "Should we get started now?" "What is this all about?" "Open it." "Wait... I want you to put it on without your make-up." "Look, what does it matter?" "Please, I've already bought this for you." "Walk back and forth for me." "I want you to sleep." "I just want to watch you sleep." "Can I have some flowers?" "A bouquet." "How much?" "5,000 dongs." "Thank you." "Please, sit back down." "Thanks for coming." "Can I get you something?" "No, thanks." "I know how difficult this was..." "to finally agree to meet." "I made many mistakes in my life." "Most of which I'll have to live with." "When a chance comes around to make a wrong..." "About meeting you today I hope I've made a wrong, right." "I'm sorry." "They're for you." "I've already seat here but it wasn't restaurant." "But that was a long time ago." "I'm not the same man I was then." "A lifetime since then." "I was a young marine." "And this is where I met your mother." "Hello." "What are you doing here?" "I've been waiting at the Hotel, but you haven't been around." "Didn't I tell you..." "I no longer need you." "Besides, I don't work there anymore." "Please leave." "What do you want from me?" "I did what you asked." "Leave me alone." "I want to spend another night with you." "I'll pay you again." "Wait here." "Take it." "I don't want your money." "I don't deserve it." "We didn't make, love." "So you owe me nothing." "You deserve." "You have given me more than you know.." "What are you trying to do to me?" "Why me?" "Have you forgotten that I've been with many men?" "Not with you the way I have." "Open your eyes, Hai." "Can't you see what you're looking?" "I am a whore... and you were just my driver." "That's all." "Please, don't make me feel what I'm not capable of." "Let her in." "Why didn't you tell me?" "There was no need for you to know." "Why now, when you have fought so long?" "Do your words mean nothing for you?" "I have hidden from death long enough." "It's time.." "to welcome it, as my final guest." "Do you know why I made you sing... the first night you were here?" "The song you sang out in the lake that afternoon... had crossed my ears before." "It was the song... of the women of the floating market of my childhood." "I had forgotten my youth." "The only time I was pure and whole... until I heard your song." "I would like you to sing... that song one last time." "Can anyone ever know how many stalks there is in a rice field?" "How many bends are in a river?" "How many layers are in a cloud?" "Can anyone sweep the leaves of a forest?" "And say to wind to shake the trees no more?" "how many leaves must a silkworm eat to make a dress of colors from the past?" "How much rain must fall from the sky before the ocean overflows with tears?" "How many years must the moon have before it become old?" "In the middle of the night, the moon comes and waits nearby" "He who can steal my heart" "I will forever sing joyful songs" "Woody!" "Come join us!" "Are you in?" "I'm in." "Woody!" "What's taking so long?" "He will see you now." "Thank you for coming." "Please have a seat." "Thank you, sir." "He wanted you to have this." "The Teacher was a handsome man." "When the leprosy spread to his face, it devastated him." "He blamed himself and lived a life of self-punishment." "The photo was taken on his 23rd birthday." "Six months later, he was sent to this compound." "The photo has remained hidden until now." "His words will not fall on death ears." "If there is anything I can do for you do not hesitate to present your request." "There is one thing." "You don't have to pretend anymore."