Eve

“Seriously, I think we should go back.”

“You see the village ahead. Why don’t we stop and see if we can get some directions and something to eat? I would rather anything than those protein bars I bought. They’re gross.”

“Okay, but then we turn back. It’s going to be dark soon and we’re already going to have to hump it to get back in time.”

The village was small, but there were a couple of small selling post set up. Callie got herself something to eat and as I looked on at the tiny blonde, I still wondered where it all went. She was always hungry, but never gained an ounce. It was infuriating at times.

I was pulled to the small table that had the oldest and most beautiful looking vases that I’d ever seen. They were almost three foot tall and there was one that I loved the most.

“I see you like this one. How much?”

The old woman came up from the side and I’d somehow not even seen her. I don’t know why that was, but she was smiling at me.
How much?”

“Yes, how much for this.”

I hadn’t thought to really buy it. We had a trek ahead of us and the last thing that I needed was to lug it around, but it was beautiful. I couldn’t help it. Her English was good enough and I made an offer. I thought it was kind of low, but I didn’t really know much about the vase, just that I wanted it.

“Okay. You take.”

She handed it to me and I gave her the money. It was quick, and she was gone before I could thank her.

“What is that?”

Callie was back, and she had a smile on her face, signaling she was finally full.

“A vase. I guess I’m taking this back with me.”

She looked at me skeptically. “You’re going to carry that all the way back?”

I looked down at the vase and agreed. That was exactly what I was going to do. I really liked it.

“Yep. So, did you figure out where we went wrong?”

“Not exactly, but I figure someone here will be able to help.”

“That woman spoke English, but I don’t know where she took off to.”

“What does she look like?”

I described the tiny woman to her and we both walked through the small village looking for her. In the end I couldn’t find her, and we were forced to try someone that didn’t speak English. We were in their country after all and I pulled out the translation book, sure that it would fix all our problems.

Before long, even with the translation book, it all came down to a game of charades. I was doing a lot of pointing and gesturing. I knew the name of the town we were staying in and went to a default rendition of repeating it, trying to get someone to give us directions back and tell us how far it was. There had been a couple of alternate routes that we’d taken and the map I had now seemed useless. I think I knew the way back, but I wasn’t sure. I didn’t want to get lost this close to nightfall.

It was getting later, so we just started back without much more information than when we started. I had gained a headache and a ten-pound vase though. I knew that it was going to be a long walk, made worse by this vase that seemed far heavier after only an hour than it had been when I first picked it up. It was old looking and seemed fragile. I had no way to wrap it up, so I just started to set it down every now and again, changing positions and arms that was affected.

“I can’t believe that you’re actually going to carry that back to the hotel.”

I didn’t say anything. I was regretting it now and since it was almost dark, there was no way that I could walk any faster because of it. We were going to be stuck on the road at night and I didn’t like the prospect of that very much. The fact that we should have turned back before was now blaring in my ears.

I tried not to get spooked as night fell, but I was. We were in a foreign country and I was starting to think we were lost as well. The final fork was not coming ahead, and I stopped, unsure what to do.

“What?”

“Are you sure we are going the right way?”

Callie shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m not the best at directions. You know that.”

I sighed to myself and then straightened up when I saw lights ahead of us from a vehicle. I was really hoping that we could get some help and I started to feel some relief. Everything was going to be okay.

Then there was shouting in another language I assumed was Vietnamese and though I couldn’t understand what they were saying, I knew that we were telling us to stop. It was the police, but when I tried to pull out the translation book, they raised their weapons and I froze. The sinking feeling was right. We should have turned back.

There were two police officers. They were young and both male. They wanted to know why we were there on the street so late I would imagine, but even when I pulled out the book, they didn’t understand me. I tried pointing like I had back at the village, but it didn’t seem to help. He kept saying Cambodia and I wasn’t sure what that meant. I knew we were close to the border, but not that close. We shouldn’t be anyways.

One of them was interested in the vase that I was still carrying. He took it from me and I didn’t think that saying too much was going to help me out. He didn’t look like he wanted to talk about it.

The next thing I know, we’re being arrested or something of the like because we were put into the back of their car and taken off the way we had just came. I didn’t know where the hell we were, but I knew that I didn’t want to be here. This was not part of the plan.

I saw a sign that said Cambodia, several and it made sense why I couldn’t understand or communicate even the simplest of terms. I was speaking in the wrong language! How this happened, I don’t know. All I know is that we’re in the wrong country and I’d heard about borders being an issue here.

Callie hadn’t said much. “What are we going to do Eve?”

Now she was worried.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure it’s going to be okay. We’re American citizens and we weren’t doing anything wrong. This is just all a misunderstanding and we will be back at the hotel before you know it.”

I wanted to believe it myself, but I knew deep down that it wasn’t going to be the case. My gut said that we were in trouble and when the car pulled up to a rough looking jail, I knew that my gut was right this time.

“I wonder if you get a phone call here?”

I didn’t know if she was joking or not. I was already thinking about who I was going to call. My parents were gone. I was going to have to call my brother and see if he could help me out. I wasn’t sure what kind of help I needed, just that I was going to need some and quickly.