Jungle Treasures of the Faithful Heart

It was still dark when I woke up.

I didn’t know why, but the minute my eyes opened, I felt like something was wrong. It’s like my brain could tell that an important piece of information was missing, as if one of my senses had failed to do its job.

Hearing was fine. The sounds of insects and birds were just outside our tent, which was pitched under a small banyan tree.

Sight was fine too. I could see everything: the outline of the tent in front of me, the stars and moon high above, and the nearby trees, with their thick trunks and gnarled branches reaching for the sky.

But there was something else that I couldn’t feel -- or smell. Although I knew we were near a river, I couldn’t smell it. It wasn’t until I sat up that I noticed the absence of another scent: Kieu Anh’s perfume. She usually wore this flowery concoction that she called “The Nectar of Aphrodite.”

She had to have taken off her clothes at some point during the night because her silk pajamas were no longer next to mine on top of the pile of clothing we had taken off before climbing into our sleeping bags last night.

Usually, she takes off her clothes as soon as we crawl into bed together every night -- they usually end up strewn all over our hotel room floor by morning -- so it was no surprise that she found herself naked here in the jungle, far away from her favorite little boutique back home in Saigon. But where was she? Where did she go? Why did she take off without me? And what was that faint noise that sounded like someone crying?

That’s when I noticed it. A white light in the distance shining through the trees toward the riverbank. The sound came again -- louder this time -- and it definitely sounded like someone sobbing!

I quickly packed my things away while scanning my surroundings for signs of Kieu Anh, but there was no sign of her anywhere around our tent. There were only a few other tents nearby set up under different trees -- belonging to our new travel companions from yesterday’s flight from Paris to Tana -- but none of them looked disturbed or like someone might be hiding inside them. Wherever Kieu Anh went, it wasn’t toward any of those tents!

I grabbed my spear, took one last look around for any clues about Kieu Anh’s whereabouts, then scrambled out from under the banyan tree and toward the riverbank a little ways downriver from us where I had seen that strange light shining through the trees earlier.

As soon as I reached bare ground and started running downhill toward the glowing light near the water, I heard another sound coming from behind me: someone calling out my name! “Tom! Tom! Wait! Where are you going? What is it? What do you see? What is wrong? What is happening? Tom!!!” It was Kieu Anh racing after me towards the light at an alarming speed! Once again, she must have taken off her shoes because she didn’t seem to have any trouble at all running barefoot through this dense jungle terrain covered in sharp rocks and fallen branches! She moved gracefully through these obstacles while keeping pace with me effortlessly, despite being half-dressed and without any shoes on either! Before long she caught up to me and grabbed hold of my arm just as we approached that mysterious light shining beyond a cluster of giant roots sticking out from between two massive boulders blocking our path along the riverbank!

Kieu Anh pointed ahead excitedly with her other hand and said “Look Tom! Look over there! Can you believe it?!?! Is it really possible?! Did you hear anything about this place before we left Saigon?! Did you even notice how close we are to this treasure?! Did you find anything unusual among your grandfather's things back home during your trip to Vietnam last month?! Was there something there that you should have told me about?! Answer me TOM!!! Tell Me!!! What do you think this is?! This treasure isn't real...is it?! Tell me what's going on!!!" She started shaking my arm violently while looking at me with wide eyes lit up by excitement and amazement before quickly turning around to face whatever this mysterious thing is behind us instead! She kept waving at me frantically while pointing back toward where we just came from while repeating "Look Tom!! Over here!! Over here!!" over and over again while still holding onto my arm tightly with both hands now!

My first thought when I turned around to see what she was pointing at was a giant snake slithering down from between those two massive boulders toward us! Then I realized: No...it couldn't be a snake...because snakes don't make noises like that...and they don't cry...they hiss...but this creature clearly wasn't making any sound at all except for the