In this chapter, Le Ly finally realized that she and her son needed to escape the life they were in, but she did not know where they could realistically go. One day, "Big Mike," the American GI, offered her $400 to sleep with two other Americans before they went home for good. She was apprehensive at first, but agreed when she actually saw the money in his hand. However, the second man left while she was still with the first, and she immediately went home to hide the money.
"I stared at the cash the way a thirsty prisoner stares at water. Four hundred dollars would support my mother, me, and Hung for over a year--a year I could use finding a better job and making connections or, as a last resort, greasing palms for a paid escape."
"I stared at the cash the way a thirsty prisoner stares at water. Four hundred dollars would support my mother, me, and Hung for over a year--a year I could use finding a better job and making connections or, as a last resort, greasing palms for a paid escape."
In 2001, City High came out with a song called "What Would You Do?." It is about a young, single mother who feels forced into prostitution to feed her son, but some of the people she meets tell her to "get up off her feet and stop making tired excuses." It reminded me of Le Ly's situation because both women used prostitution as a way to keep their families alive.
The chorus:
What would you do?, if your son was at home
crying all alone on the bedroom floor, cause he's hungry
and the only way to feed him is to sleep with a man
for a little bit of money, and his daddy's gone
somewhere smoking rock now, in and out of lock down,
I ain't got a job now, so for you this is just a good time
but for me this is what I call life
but for me this is what I call life
About three years ago, I read a novel, Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey, by Margaret Peterson Haddix. In the story, Tish Bonner and her little brother are abandoned by their mother, and she is forced to get a low-paying job to support them. Her manager asked her out on a date, but she really did not like him and refused numerous times. But when she really needed more hours and a raise, she agreed and went out with him a few times. Like Le Ly in When Heaven and Earth Changed Places, Tish did everything she could to support her little family.
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