Nuoc Mam & other stories

This collection is about war's effects lingering after the killing stops, and the soldiers and their loved ones scarred by the Vietnam war. "The Dancing Man" passed through a time when war and honorable actions were not as glibly connected as they are today. It is about the children and other victims of a napalm attack in Vietnam. The Pulitzer Prize photo of a screaming naked girl, her clothes burned off by jellied napalm captured this horror well. The story is also about the veterans that deny they had any part of the dishonor of war. "Xmas Hunter" is about the isolation, pain, and wintry wind-swept psyches of many of that generation who can no longer believe that the peace and goodwill of the Holiday Season is genuine. For them it is a bitter loss of a once treasured belief. "Friends: One Down, One Arrested" is about a stunted generation that found a way to carry on without bellying up. You see the grey ones sitting in a wheelchair, a bemused smile on their face that says, "Now we all know." Some revisit their nightmares every morning, noon, and night. Or you may see the grey ones on their porch, watching you drive by and wondering what brought a new car up their way. "Rice Paddies," paired with the verdant jungles, were the canvases where the war bled. They provided killing fields as well as places for helicopters to land and grab the dead and dying. This story is about desensitization. A tragedy unfolds, yet beneath it hope survives. "The Accident" turns a corner into the perpetual wars of the mid-east. The legacies of Vietnam have thinned the line between right and wrong. Yet, with a premise that good can never be completely eliminated, this story illustrates how easy it is to morph a crime into something else. "Nuoc Mam" brings us to the present. A 'grey one' gets lucky and is allowed to live graciously. Even decades later after many foul deeds, if there is a will, there is a way to come home. Charles Hayes is an American who lives part time in the Philippines and part time in Seattle with his wife. His writing interests center on the stripped down stories of those recognized as on the fringe of their culture. Asian culture, its unique facets, and its intersection with general American culture is of particular interest. As are the mountain cultures of Appalachia.