Banyan Moon

In the present day, Ann calls Wes and asks if he wants to go on an adventure. Wes takes Ann out on his boat. Ann sketches banyan trees as they talk. She tells Wes that banyan trees were brought to America from India by Thomas Edison, and that it is now illegal to plant them because they are an invasive species.

Ann also tells Wes that she talked to Crystal the other day, and that Crystal said something cruel about Minh. Wes avoids Ann’s gaze. She also tells him that she is pregnant, but that the father is “not involved.” Wes admits that he has a son who lives with his mother and her new husband in California. Wes has never visited his son and regrets not being a better father. He assures Ann that she will be a wonderful mother.

Summer has arrived, and Hương graduates from her swimming lessons. Her instructor tells her she is ready for the ocean. She goes to the beach and swims, feeling her old fear of the ocean subside somewhat. She bumps into the swimmer, who is impressed by her progress. He introduces himself as Cliff. He tells her that they should swim together sometime. Though Hương is noncommittal, he gives her his number. 

Phước calls Hương repeatedly about the house, and Hương thinks back to when they were children. She took care of Phước while Minh was working, and she was close with him until he became an angry child. He started to set things on fire for fun. Hương tried to get Minh to talk to him, but Minh told her that it was not her “battle to fight” (239). When Phước grew up and became a successful businessman, he rubbed his success in Hương’s face, flaunting his expensive clothes and Rolex watch. Hương understands why he covets the Banyan House, but she no longer wants to see her brother. 

Phước comes to the Banyan House and tries to convince Hương to give him the house. They fight, and Phước calls Hương crazy, like their mother. He flicks his lit cigarette into the dry grass outside and laughs when Hương rushes to put it out.

The sound of the doorbell wakes Ann from a strange dream about Minh. Crystal is outside. She apologizes for what she said about Minh, and Ann asks if they stopped being friends because of her grandmother. Crystal explains that she stopped being friends with Ann because Minh disapproved of their friendship. She thought that Crystal was a bad influence. One night, teenage Crystal and Ann went skinny-dipping in the river, and Minh was furious. She drove Crystal home and told her that if she did not stop being friends with Ann, she would tell Crystal’s parents “what a dirtbag [she] was” (252). 

Horrified at this story, Ann protests that it does not sound like her grandmother. Crystal says that Minh was Ann’s “sweet protective guardian angel” (252), but that anyone she disapproved of was not treated so kindly. She implores Ann not to be blind to Minh’s flaws just because she is dead. 

Later, at an OB-GYN appointment, Ann finds out that Kumquat is going to be a boy. She stares at the sky, thinking of Minh, and tells her that she has not forgiven her, but that she misses her. She asks if Minh has any more secrets.

The narrative shifts back to 1991. When Ann was born, Vinh wanted her to have an American name. Though his parents were Vietnamese, he was born and raised in America. He also resisted Minh’s offer that they all move into the Banyan House together after Ann’s birth, not understanding that this was a common custom in Vietnam. Vinh and Hương’s relationship continued to deteriorate after Ann was born. While Hương was pregnant, Vinh continued to be physically abusive, though he would only hit her in the face. He disappeared the day Ann was born and did not return to the hospital. Hương left the “father” section on Ann’s birth certificate blank. 

Minh took Hương and Ann home from the hospital to the Banyan House and asked Hương to come and live with her so that she could protect her. Hương insisted that she did not need protecting, but agreed to do a two-week confinement at the Banyan House. Vinh came to visit only once during those two weeks and never apologized for leaving the day Ann was born. Ann and Hương eventually moved back home with Vinh.

In the present day, Ann opens the safe containing Minh’s jewelry. Among the gold and jewels, she finds an origami envelope containing a tiny key. The words Gác xép (Vietnamese for “attic”) are written on the paper. Ann climbs up to the attic and finds an old silver trunk. Inside it, she finds Minh’s keepsakes from Vietnam, including a photograph of a man that she does not recognize. Looking at the photo of the young man, Ann sees her mother’s face reflected back at her. The photo is signed in Vietnamese. It says “To Minh, my Little Mouse. All my love, Bình” (268). 

Ann realizes that this man must be Hương’s biological father. She is angry that Minh has given her this secret, instead of telling Hương when she was still alive. Later, at dinner, she almost tells Hương about the photograph, but decides against it.

Hương goes swimming in the ocean again. She feels like learning to swim is the first thing that she has done solely for herself. Hương reaches a sandbar and finds a tiny sand dollar to give to Ann. As she swims back to shore, she gets caught in a riptide. She is pulled under by the current and wonders if she deserves to drown. She finds her will to live and remembers what her swimming instructor taught her about riptides. She swims in a steady direction and eventually manages to get free and make it back to the shore. Cliff runs up to her, relieved that she is okay. He asks Hương out. Hương protests that she is too old for him and that she is not “in a dating frame of mind” (276). Cliff is disappointed but takes the rejection well.

The narrative shifts back to 1990. Minh hid the metal trunk containing Bình’s photo, but she would often find it in other parts of the house, as though it were moving on its own. When Hương and Vinh were on their honeymoon, Minh took the trunk to their house and hid it in the closet in their spare room. She resolved to do better when Hương’s child was born, “even if that only meant loving [Ann] harder than [she] ever loved anyone before” (279).

Present day: Ann spends more time with Wes. They talk about love between parents and children. Despite how much she likes Wes, Ann cannot imagine what a future together would look like. 

Ann and Hương put together a nursery for Kumquat and Ann begins working on illustrations for a fairy tale that she is putting together. Ann struggles with her secret knowledge about Bình. Ann tells Wes about the photograph of Bình and asks him what he thinks she should do. Wes encourages Ann to tell Hương because “secrets never stay hidden” (290), and he believes that Ann and Hương are strong enough to deal with the consequences. Ann starts to see a clearer future with Wes, and Wes admits that she makes him “want to try again” (290), though he does not know yet what that means.