Collateral Damage by H. Terrell Griffin

survive Laos.”
    â€œWhy was that?”
    â€œOh, you know. Two people with raging hormones isolated in a foreign culture. Things happen and then when you get back to your real life you start having second thoughts.”
    â€œDid that happen? Did you have second thoughts?”
    â€œNo. I didn’t and I don’t think Jim did either.”
    â€œChaz said you both wanted to get married before you graduated.”
    â€œYes, but that was because we couldn’t live together until we got married. And we desperately wanted to move in with each other.”
    â€œWhy didn’t you?”
    â€œOur moms. They’re kind of old South and wouldn’t have understood. Neither one of us wanted to disappoint our mothers.”
    â€œI found your engagement announcement in the Atlanta paper. Short engagement.”
    â€œVery short.”
    â€œAny reason?”
    â€œWe were planning to get married in the fall, but I got pregnant. Wedidn’t want to embarrass our moms, so we announced the engagement and rushed the wedding.”
    â€œYour moms again.”
    â€œYeah,” she said, ruefully. “They were college kids during the free love years of the seventies, but I don’t think they ever took to it. Or at least if they did, they didn’t want their children to know about it.”
    â€œYour baby?”
    â€œHe’s doing fine. I’m due in January. Had an ultrasound yesterday. It’s definitely a boy. James Ronald Desmond, Junior.”
    â€œMeredith, can you think of anyone who would want to hurt Jim? Or you?”
    â€œNo. I’ve wracked my brain trying to figure that one out. There’s no one.”
    â€œNobody at the university?”
    â€œNo. Jim got along with everybody.”
    â€œHow about the group you went to Laos with?”
    â€œNo. We were pretty tight. Everybody got along. There was about an even number of girls and boys, and before we came home, almost everybody had paired off.”
    â€œNo jealously? No fighting over the women?”
    â€œNo. Well, there was one problem, but Jim solved it and that was the end of it.”
    â€œTell me about that one.”
    â€œThere was a Laotian who came down from Vientiane, the capital, three or four times while we were there. He wasn’t much older than us, but he was some sort of government minister. Probably a low-level bureaucrat, but the locals treated him with a great deal of respect. He and Jim got into it once.”
    â€œWhat happened?”
    â€œThe guy started hitting on me. He spoke English pretty well, and I think he liked my blonde hair. After the third or fourth visit, he grabbed me and tried to kiss me. Jim hit him pretty hard. Knocked him down. There were a lot of the locals watching.”
    â€œDid he say anything to you and Jim? Any threats?”
    â€œHe screamed something in Laotian that we didn’t understand and left. We never saw him again, but a few days later some men came to the village where we were working and closed us down. We had to get the embassy involved before we were able to get back to work.”
    â€œDo you know the Laotian’s name?”
    â€œNo. It was one of the tongue twisters that so many of the Laotians have for names. Lots of syllables. I never could keep them all straight.”
    â€œDo you remember an Asian man attending your wedding?”
    â€œNo. There were no Asian guests.”
    â€œAn Asian man came to the outside bar that night and wanted a drink. The bartender wouldn’t serve him because of your private party. That apparently didn’t sit too well with the Asian guy.”
    â€œI wasn’t aware of that. The wedding was perfect.”
    â€œDo you have pictures of the wedding?”
    â€œSure. A video and still pictures.”
    â€œMay I see them?”
    â€œI’ll have to send them to you. I have all the pictures and video on my computer. I can e-mail them to you.”
    I gave her my