My Life Between the Dimensions

Nam, March 1969 Her name was Nam (Nom).  She told me once that that it meant nine or ninth, and referred to her order of birth to her parents in the little village of Di An in the Bien Hoa district of South Vietnam. Her home was in the tiny cluster of huts just east of our Di An ( pronounced as Zee-on) forward base camp and west of the Song Dong Nai River. I never knew her age, but always figured her to be in her early to mid-thirties. Nam was already there when I was assigned my hooch and mosquito netted bunk in late spring/early summer of 1968.  She was what was referred to as a “hooch momma-san”.  Her main chores were to keep the floors, always dusty in the dry season and always filthy with mud in the monsoon season, as pristine as possible.  General housekeeping was also part of her expected chores and, depending on whether you were courteous and considerate to her, she might keep your personal space tidy and neat. She picked up a few extra dollars a...