Beginning
I. The protagonist, Ben, is alone and looking out the window of his train compartment as the train slows down in a small town in northwest Vietnam. It is 3 am, and too dark to see the name of the station. The station lights shine on a group of working class men squatting under the platform roof eating soup. The rain is falling hard and splashing at their ankles. The train starts to move again and pulls into the darkness.
II. Ben comments on the resourcefulness of the Vietnamese train companies that are using refurbished trains from the pre-war era to cheaply move people across the country without providing any of the current expected comforts. The compartment windows open wide, the bathroom toilets slosh with water, and the train has no air conditioning. The warm humid weather makes the compartment stifling. He'd open the train window, but the rain would come straight into his compartment.
III. Ben opens the compartment door to get air and comes face to face with a young white woman dressed in vintage 1940s clothing carrying a violin case and a suitcase. her pale face is glowing in the dark train corridor. She's completely dry and without an umbrella. She is startled by the door opening and explains that she just boarded the train and was looking for an empty compartment. Ben eyes her violin case, then her face, and says she is welcome to share his otherwise-empty compartment. She thanks him and enters. She stores the suitcase under the bench and keeps the violin close to her body.
Middle
I. Ben strikes up a conversation with his new compartment partners. He is intrigued by her vintage fashion and anxious air, and he is particularly interested in the fact that she might be a musician. He asks her what the name of the town was that she got on. She names the town and says she doesn't know it well - she had been visiting an old friend.
II. Ben hears a faint French accent in her voice and asks where she is from. She says she grew up in Saigon and asks if he did, too. He explains that he's American, but his family immigrated from Vietnam after the war. He's come on a journalism assignment about the Chinese-Vietnamese boarder. He asks where she is heading on the train. She pauses and says that she is heading to Sapa City to play the violin in a concert in the city's church. Ben mentions having noticed her violin case and says the violin was his first passion. Her face brightens briefly and then fades back to the placid state it's held since she entered the compartment. He continues to say that he abandoned it as a young man to focus on a theoretically more stable career path. He misses it, though, and is jealous of her career.
III. The woman tells Ben that the violin was a gift from a music teacher she had as a young woman in Hanoi. She describes the instrument's legend - it was crafted in Germany in the early 19th century and was of extremely high quality. It traveled to France with a young woman who left her husband and children to pursue music in a bigger, more progressive city. The legend says she became so obsessed with her art that she never left the opera house where she played. She lived in an apartment above the rehearsal space. After a particularly moving performance one night, she and her violin disappeared from the opera house. She was never seen again, but the violin reemerged and eventually ended up in the hands of the mysterious woman's teacher. He brought the instrument with him when he emigrated from France to Saigon in pursuit of a man he loved. He used all of his money to follow the man, and then his lover left him for a respectable life in the government. Her teacher never left his apartment again. He just played mournful music and got students to bring him meals. When the woman turned 20 she decided to leave her family in Saigon to become a musician in Hanoi. Her teacher offered her the violin as a parting gift to his most talented student.
IV. Her eyes narrow as she assesses Ben. She asks if he wants to play her violin. He balks and says that it's too late at night. She comments that the train is rattling louder than the violin could ever play. He says that he's out of practice, and she responds that playing the violin will return to him like water rushing into a crack in the stream bank. Ben gives in and picks up the violin. All of a sudden he remembers how to hold the instrument, where to put his fingers, and who he was when he was letting himself go in his music. He starts playing a Chopin nocturne he still had memorized and the mysterious woman smiles.
V. She tells Ben that the violin is his now. Ben protests, but she continues to say that the violin is his. She tells him that the violin found him and sensed that he was longing. She also says that she hopes he enjoyed playing it, because he will do nothing but play it for a very long time.
End
I. Ben looks at her confused. Her calm face is turning maniacal. She says that her teacher told her the same thing - that the violin chose her. He offered her the instrument and she took it. No student before her had done so when he offered it to them. She was the one, and she couldn't go back. Just like her teacher took the violin from the woman in the opera house. He came up to her apartment to see her after that brilliant show and she offered it to him as a goodbye gift because he was heading to Vietnam and he could never go back. Everyone's train just keeps on moving, and you were a lucky one if you managed to get off.
II. Ben realizes that he has played a cursed violin, though it's unclear what the curse is. The woman stands up and says something like, "Well, here's to the fourth owner of the violin! May you find the next in line sooner than I did. I hope you get to where you are going to." She flings the compartment window open and jumps out into the night. Rain starts to pour in and Ben, in shock, rushed to close the window. He sticks his head out of the train to see if he can see her body glowing in the darkness. He feels an intense magnetic pull bringing him back to the train. The train keeps going.
I. The protagonist, Ben, is alone and looking out the window of his train compartment as the train slows down in a small town in northwest Vietnam. It is 3 am, and too dark to see the name of the station. The station lights shine on a group of working class men squatting under the platform roof eating soup. The rain is falling hard and splashing at their ankles. The train starts to move again and pulls into the darkness.
II. Ben comments on the resourcefulness of the Vietnamese train companies that are using refurbished trains from the pre-war era to cheaply move people across the country without providing any of the current expected comforts. The compartment windows open wide, the bathroom toilets slosh with water, and the train has no air conditioning. The warm humid weather makes the compartment stifling. He'd open the train window, but the rain would come straight into his compartment.
III. Ben opens the compartment door to get air and comes face to face with a young white woman dressed in vintage 1940s clothing carrying a violin case and a suitcase. her pale face is glowing in the dark train corridor. She's completely dry and without an umbrella. She is startled by the door opening and explains that she just boarded the train and was looking for an empty compartment. Ben eyes her violin case, then her face, and says she is welcome to share his otherwise-empty compartment. She thanks him and enters. She stores the suitcase under the bench and keeps the violin close to her body.
Middle
I. Ben strikes up a conversation with his new compartment partners. He is intrigued by her vintage fashion and anxious air, and he is particularly interested in the fact that she might be a musician. He asks her what the name of the town was that she got on. She names the town and says she doesn't know it well - she had been visiting an old friend.
II. Ben hears a faint French accent in her voice and asks where she is from. She says she grew up in Saigon and asks if he did, too. He explains that he's American, but his family immigrated from Vietnam after the war. He's come on a journalism assignment about the Chinese-Vietnamese boarder. He asks where she is heading on the train. She pauses and says that she is heading to Sapa City to play the violin in a concert in the city's church. Ben mentions having noticed her violin case and says the violin was his first passion. Her face brightens briefly and then fades back to the placid state it's held since she entered the compartment. He continues to say that he abandoned it as a young man to focus on a theoretically more stable career path. He misses it, though, and is jealous of her career.
III. The woman tells Ben that the violin was a gift from a music teacher she had as a young woman in Hanoi. She describes the instrument's legend - it was crafted in Germany in the early 19th century and was of extremely high quality. It traveled to France with a young woman who left her husband and children to pursue music in a bigger, more progressive city. The legend says she became so obsessed with her art that she never left the opera house where she played. She lived in an apartment above the rehearsal space. After a particularly moving performance one night, she and her violin disappeared from the opera house. She was never seen again, but the violin reemerged and eventually ended up in the hands of the mysterious woman's teacher. He brought the instrument with him when he emigrated from France to Saigon in pursuit of a man he loved. He used all of his money to follow the man, and then his lover left him for a respectable life in the government. Her teacher never left his apartment again. He just played mournful music and got students to bring him meals. When the woman turned 20 she decided to leave her family in Saigon to become a musician in Hanoi. Her teacher offered her the violin as a parting gift to his most talented student.
IV. Her eyes narrow as she assesses Ben. She asks if he wants to play her violin. He balks and says that it's too late at night. She comments that the train is rattling louder than the violin could ever play. He says that he's out of practice, and she responds that playing the violin will return to him like water rushing into a crack in the stream bank. Ben gives in and picks up the violin. All of a sudden he remembers how to hold the instrument, where to put his fingers, and who he was when he was letting himself go in his music. He starts playing a Chopin nocturne he still had memorized and the mysterious woman smiles.
V. She tells Ben that the violin is his now. Ben protests, but she continues to say that the violin is his. She tells him that the violin found him and sensed that he was longing. She also says that she hopes he enjoyed playing it, because he will do nothing but play it for a very long time.
End
I. Ben looks at her confused. Her calm face is turning maniacal. She says that her teacher told her the same thing - that the violin chose her. He offered her the instrument and she took it. No student before her had done so when he offered it to them. She was the one, and she couldn't go back. Just like her teacher took the violin from the woman in the opera house. He came up to her apartment to see her after that brilliant show and she offered it to him as a goodbye gift because he was heading to Vietnam and he could never go back. Everyone's train just keeps on moving, and you were a lucky one if you managed to get off.
II. Ben realizes that he has played a cursed violin, though it's unclear what the curse is. The woman stands up and says something like, "Well, here's to the fourth owner of the violin! May you find the next in line sooner than I did. I hope you get to where you are going to." She flings the compartment window open and jumps out into the night. Rain starts to pour in and Ben, in shock, rushed to close the window. He sticks his head out of the train to see if he can see her body glowing in the darkness. He feels an intense magnetic pull bringing him back to the train. The train keeps going.
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