Butterfly Yellow

After breakfast, Mr. Morgan lists out the tasks for the day, which will keep LeeRoy and Hằng busy and tired until sundown. LeeRoy marvels about how he used to read and dream about cowboy life from the comfort of his parents’ air-conditioned house well-stocked with snacks. Now that he is living this life, he is constantly hungry and exhausted.

Hằng changes into her work clothes, and LeeRoy reflects on how food and the life here has filled her out a little; he even notices that she is pretty and has begun to sneak glances at her when she is not looking. As they begin the day’s chores, LeeRoy notices that Hằng seems perkier than usual; he warns her not to go “courting trouble” for them.

David bikes over to the stable after football practice. He rubs his horse’s neck, whom he has named “Linh,” thinking of how she is the first thing that ever belonged to him. He also feels like he belongs here. He knows he was adopted from a war-torn country by his father, upon whose death his aunt, Cora, became his mother. He doesn’t remember feeling sad at his adopted father’s funeral, just as he didn’t miss his first family; he just felt hollow for a long time, until he encountered a foal for the first time when he was in second grade and finally felt home. By this time, his old family had faded from his memory. Mr. Morgan had promised the foal to David if he tended to her well and stayed on top of his schoolwork.

The “crazy-hair girl” (113) who now claims to be his sister, makes him nervous and Cora angry. He doesn’t remember her and hopes she will leave if he keeps ignoring her, though he doesn’t mind LeeRoy. As he mounts Linh, he feels someone watching him, but the stable appears empty save for the horses. Out on the ride, Linh gets bit by a rattlesnake, and David gallops back screaming. Mr. Morgan calls the vet, and as David rubs down Linh trying to cool her, he resolves to find a way to stay the night beside his horse.

It has been 12 days since Hằng’s brother has been staying in the stable with his horse, leaving only to eat, bathe, and bring back candy for the horse. Hằng follows him now as he leaves the stable and walks to the house, where he chats with LeeRoy who is getting breakfast. After her brother leaves, LeeRoy tells Hằng to stop spooking David, and let him come to her. When she learns that the horse will recover completely in another couple of days, she insists on helping with it.

Hằng hopes LeeRoy will help convince her brother to talk to her; just as he talks a lot, he also has a way for understanding the people around him. He told Hằng that Cora’s father and Mr. Morgan used to be friends, thus Mr. Morgan watches over her like a daughter. Mr. Morgan’s grandfather was the first black landowner in the area. He hopes that his son, a lawyer in Chicago, will take over the ranch someday.

Hằng goes through her tasks for the day before turning to a box, built with LeeRoy’s help, in which she is growing vegetables. Chú Quốc brought her the seeds, along with papers to sign; she is to testify in court about her brother’s kidnapping soon, so that Chú Quốc can legally adopt her and her brother. Hằng hopes she will not have to confess to what actually happened in the airport.

Hằng waits in the stable thinking of all the things to tell her brother, as LeeRoy and Linh come in. LeeRoy signals to her to stay back, and she overhears David stating that Hằng is “trying to make a mess of everything” (123), as he doesn’t want to leave Cora and his home. Hằng runs away, her feelings a “fuzzy mix” of sadness at hearing his words, and happiness that he is happy. She wants to force her brother to understand by telling him her stories, but instantly backtracks, not wanting to burden him with them.

LeeRoy learns of a midnight rodeo happening nearby from Jack, the man who delivers hemp to the ranch. David overhears and wants to go, too, but LeeRoy refuses, and tells him the wrong date as well. On the day of, LeeRoy tells everyone he is off to meet his parents who are visiting close by. He gets into his truck to find David already in the passenger seat. LeeRoy finally relents to take him along when David promises to talk to Hằng every day during lunch until school starts. When they reach the rodeo, they discover that Hằng has been hiding in the back of the truck.

The group rushes to watch the action, but LeeRoy is not allowed to try the rodeo, as he looks like a novice. He is disappointed, but two men offer him another horse to try; he can ride it for free if he stays on for just four seconds. However, LeeRoy is duped, as the horse is saddled with the wrong kind of saddle. As soon as it bucks up, he is thrown against the saddle horn and severely hurts his groin. He falls off and throws up, and Hằng rushes to check on him, unsheathing the knife at her ankle as she does.

Hằng charges at the men with her knife, but Jack appears and holds her back in time, as he turns the men away. Hằng and David wait with LeeRoy as Jack fetches him a cold drink. Other men arrive to help LeeRoy onto a makeshift bed in the back of his truck. Hằng and David settle down on either side of him as Jack drives them home.

Hằng apologizes to David in Vietnamese, detailing what happened, and asking if he forgives her. LeeRoy figures out that David cannot understand the language since he was very young when he left; David affirms this. When LeeRoy repeats Hằng’s plea for forgiveness in English, David doesn’t respond.

Hằng lies down beside LeeRoy and begins to sing what used to be her brother’s favorite song about a butterfly. He doesn’t join in, but as she keeps singing, she can hear him softly humming along. LeeRoy gently squeezes her hand.

Mr. Morgan is furious with the trio for sneaking off and assigns them a heavy workload with a series of difficult talks to complete as punishment. More than the work, LeeRoy is troubled by how, ever since he squeezed Hằng’s hand, she seems to have changed, from “an annoying, grumpy sidekick to an annoying, grumpy girl” (142). His changing feelings and his lack of insight into Hằng’s mind make him irritable, even with her.

Mr. Morgan takes the trio out on horses and marks mesquites that he wants them to yank out by the roots. LeeRoy knows how difficult this will be, as the trees are notoriously difficult to wrestle with, but Mr. Morgan doesn’t give them any further instructions on how to go about the task.

The group arrives at the edge of the Grand Canyon of Texas, part of which runs through the property, and Hằng and LeeRoy marvel at the sight. They discuss Clint Eastwood Westerns, and the others are amazed to discover that Hằng knows The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. LeeRoy and Hằng argue over what the theme song sounds like until Mr. Morgan yells at them to get back to work. As LeeRoy begins to tie the other horses down, Hằng’s horse rides off with her.

Hằng’s horse arrives back at the stable, and she slides off to check on the chickens, cantaloupes, and her own vegetable patch. In her pocket is a notebook with a list of stories she wants to tell David; she has 184 listed down and has told him three so far. She crafts five sentences for each story, which takes her immense time and effort. Her brother has remained silent throughout her stories, so far.

Hằng practices crafting sentences in her head for a couple more of the stories from her list. For one of them, about Linh’s favorite fruit, she decides to draw instead. She finds a rusty old bicycle near the barn and cycles back to the others with her drawing.

Hằng, LeeRoy, and David work all day on the mesquite, but the tree refuses to budge. As the trio returns to the house, Chú Quốc arrives. David ignores him, and to break the tension, LeeRoy asks Chú Quốc to settle the dispute over the theme song. He chooses Hằng’s version, asserting that she needs to do him a favor in return, and escorts her to the car to sign a document.

Hằng refuses to sign the paper until she reads through it herself slowly. It details how a Vietnamese lady and an American man visited her school and instructed the children to bring along a young sibling. The children were driven to the airport and separated by age. By the time Hằng realized they were all labelled orphans, and tried to find her brother, the American man was carrying Linh off, despite both his and Hằng’s screaming. Hằng realizes Bà told Chú Quốc what happened, but states that the account is not accurate; she has a truth to confess. Chú Quốc tells her to tell him something else, “something happy,” if the confession will not help get Linh back.

Father died before he ever learned of Linh. After the war, Bà spent a lot of time trying to track down both Linh and Father’s body; the latter was eventually brought to their house, and Bà buried him in a cemetery plot filled with bodies of soldiers from the losing side. The Communists later announced the plot would be turned into a memorial, so Bà dug up Father’s body in the middle of the night; many others were doing the same, and another old woman showed Bà how to strip clean and wash the bones.

Father’s bones were brought home in a pillowcase. Mother lit incense and everyone chanted as the bones were put in a cab and lowered into a hole dug up inside the house. No one talked of Father after this, but Bà would often whisper to the bones her plans to escape and find Linh.

Hằng is surprised to find Chú Quốc crying at what she considers a happy story; she is glad she didn’t tell him of her eventual removal from school, or the Communist leader who tried to court Mother. She thinks of another story to tell him, but before she can do so, her sobbing uncle drives away, with the unsigned document still in Hằng’s hand.