Denatured Beasts Sipping Coffee

[Vung Tau, 11/11/24]

At a busy corner, Cóc Cóc is ideal for traffic watching, a favorite Vietnamese pastime. A block away is Coffee House. Though also at a busy corner, it’s entirely enclosed, so appeals to foreigners and snobbier Vietnamese. Air conditioning on full blast allows patrons to ignore life outside. No lottery ticket sellers are allowed to wander in. Tables are set further apart to afford more privacy. Prices are much steeper.

Cóc Cóc’s owner, Mai, is married to a man from Thái Bình, way up north. They have two kids. Each visit to the in-laws costs nearly $500 in transportation. Though charging just 79 cents for a black coffee and 99 cents for a coconut, Cóc Cóc is doing fine. There are times, though, when I’m the only customer. Among its regular sellers of lottery tickets is a dwarf whose sometimes shows up with her small daughter. The girl’s proportion appears dwarfish. There’s an old woman all bent, desiccated and silent. Just dragging that sallow sack of resigned bones, failing organs and fading memories around under this cheery, unforgiving sun is more than enough to render her speechless.

Twistedly tottering with the help of a four point cane, a man muttered as he passed by, “Then a stroke, so I must suffer.” “Rồi bị đột quỵ, thì phải chịu khổ.” Walking right behind him, I heard that before settling into a comfortable chair at Cóc Cóc. Leaning back, I watched as he struggled to cross the street. At least he wasn’t trying to sell lottery tickets. One such man is a regular at the café on General Uprising. When it rains hard, one of us must help him step on or off the sidewalk. Determined, he’ll be nearly a quarter mile away by mid morning. There’s a cluster of cafés around Artmio Hotel. Though Cóc Cóc is just a tad further, he can’t reach it. He still has to trek home.