Banyan Moon

At Wes’s thrift store, Ann tells herself that she’s only there to look for baby things. Wes is happy to see her again. She tells him that Minh died. Wes is upset that she didn’t tell him sooner, as he would have liked to go to the funeral. Ann and Wes drive to the arcade, where they spend the afternoon playing games and eating greasy pizza. 

At the arcade, Ann catches sight of her best friend from high school, Crystal King. They stopped being friends during their final year of high school and have not talked since. Wes takes Ann back to his house and they have sex. Afterward, Ann leaves, promising to call him.

The narrative shifts back to 1973. The war in Vietnam worsened. Minh’s parents and Xuân’s parents died, as did many of her brothers. With no family left in their village, Minh began to dream of leaving Vietnam. Things were not safe for her as a single mother, and she took to carrying one of Xuân’s knives with her for protection. She took a lover, a wealthy but smarmy widower, and eventually asked him for help leaving the country. His parents worked in government and were able to procure the paperwork for Minh, Hương, and Phước to go to America.

The narrative shifts to 1990. As Hương learns how to swim, memories return to her. She remembers meeting Vinh, Ann’s father, for the first time. They met at the community college bookstore where Hương worked. Vinh was handsome, confident, and persistent in persuading Hương to go out with him. They were married after only six months. For their honeymoon, Vinh borrowed a cabin from a friend. On the way there, they stopped at a convenience store, where they encountered racist attitudes that made them both uncomfortable. The cabin was dirty and moth-eaten, contrary to their expectations, and Vinh’s mood soon turned sour. Hương had never seen his vicious temper before. The honeymoon did not go well, and they fought often. During one fight, Vinh threatened Hương with a broken beer bottle. Hương flinched and cut off the tip of her finger with the knife she was using to prepare dinner. Vinh did not try to comfort her, simply telling her to be more careful.

In the present day, Ann calls Noah and tells him about the baby. Noah feels overwhelmed, especially because Ann does not know if she wants to get back together yet. He tells her that “this isn’t the plan” (195), and Ann wonders aloud if his plan was ever hers.

Afterward, Hương gives Ann kumquats to eat. Ann’s fetus is about the size of a kumquat now. Ann admits to Hương that she does not have much of a plan, but she wants her there when she has the baby. Hương assures her that they do not need men. Ann thinks about her own father, a man Hương told her was named Duy. Duy, Hương said, abandoned them and went back to Vietnam. Ann tells Hương about meeting Noah’s parents for the first time and how they treated her like a curiosity, and like something unclean. Together, Ann and Hương imagine fixing up the Banyan House and building a nursery for the baby, whom Hương calls “Kumquat.”

The narrative shifts to 1974. When Minh and her children first arrived in America, they lived in a trailer park. Minh told Hương and Phước stories to shut out “the drunken fights of the neighbors, the flapping of screen doors that never latched shut, the sound of a baby wailing in the distance” (201). She told them a Vietnamese folktale about a poor woodcutter named Chú Cuội who discovered a magic banyan tree with leaves that could heal any illness. Chú Cuội soon became revered and worshipped for his healing abilities, though he never revealed the true source of his powers. A wealthy man asked Chú Cuội to heal his only daughter, the beautiful Hằng Nga, after which Chú Cuội and Hằng Nga were married. 

They built their new house at the base of the banyan tree. They lived there in great prosperity: They had children, and Chú Cuội continued healing people. One day, he was called away to heal someone in a faraway village. He told his wife to protect the tree while he was gone, as it was “the source of [his] healing” (207) Hằng Nga planted flowers at the tree’s base, accidentally cutting one of the roots of the banyan tree with her shovel. The tree began to shudder and pull away from the earth. At this moment, Chú Cuội returned. Trying to preserve his power, he grabbed the tree’s roots and was pulled into the sky. He became a shadow on the moon. Hằng Nga never saw Chú Cuội again, but at the end of her life, she began to “find her eyes drawn to the moon” (209). 

As a child, Hương thought the ending of the story was silly, but Minh was more sympathetic. She dreamed of having a home like the banyan tree, where she and her children could finally be safe from fear. 

In the present day, Ann tries to draw but finds that she lacks inspiration. She talks to Noah on the phone about what they will do when Kumquat is born, but finds that they have very different visions of what their lives will look like. She considers buying a VW bus and living with Kumquat on the road.

Hương brings Ann some food and sees Ann struggling to draw a portrait of Minh. She suggests that Ann needs a new project. Ann goes to an art store to buy gouache paint and runs into Crystal King. Reluctantly, she agrees to get coffee with her former friend. Crystal is married to a boy she knew in high school. Ann tells Crystal that she is pregnant. Crystal is sorry to hear about Minh, but tells Ann that if she is “looking for a dirge for Minh” (218), she will not get one. Ann is angry, unable to understand why anyone might have disliked Minh. Crystal wants to talk more, but Ann storms out.