The Beauty of Humanity Movement (77 page)

T
takes a run at Ph
ng’s bedroom door; he cannot continue to manage all these thoughts on his own. He smashes his shoulder into the skull and crossbones, once, twice and a third time, when the door finally gives way. He collapses onto the mattress where Ph
ng is lying in the same heart-covered boxer shorts he was wearing days ago, again with his headphones on, the bottle of rice whiskey within reaching distance nearly empty.

T
doesn’t even greet his friend. He rubs his shoulder and says, “You should see some of the crap that gets passed off as art today. These deviants are getting paid thousands of dollars to shit all over canvases! I couldn’t hold my tongue today, Ph
ng. The Vi
t Ki’êu lady from the hotel was admiring this artist’s work and I told her exactly what I thought of it.”

T
lies back and covers his eyes with the crook of his elbow. “I bet he comes from Saigon,” he says, and they both know what
that
means— drugs and prostitution flourished there during the war, ruining the morals of one generation then the next.

Ph
ng sits up straight on his mattress. “Put these on,” he says, passing T
the headphones. “Listen to the words.”

It’s some gangsta rap about a killing spree. Alleys full of dead niggas and pregnant hos.

T
is nodding his head to the beat when Ph
ng suddenly yanks the headphones off his friend’s ears. “Ugly, no?” he says. “And violent. Very, very violent.” Ph
ng’s eyebrows are flying up his forehead. “So maybe the U.S. is not just tall buildings and Disney World and movie stars. It’s not all progress and pretty.”

That’s very true, thinks T
. It’s a world without morals and dignity. Miss Maggie’s indifference to the insult and indecency of Mindanao’s work tells him more than he needs to know about Americans. How can he possibly continue with this tour? His New Dawn facade has officially cracked. What if more of his opinions start leaking out? He’ll be fired; perhaps his tourism licence will be revoked. Better he should make a pre-emptive move and quit this assignment, despite the request coming from so high up.