Summary

As the story begins, we meet the narrator, a Vietnamese man named Dao. He tells us almost immediately that he is very old and before long, we learn that he now lives in New Orleans. Dao then tells us that Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese communist nationalist, had "come to him" the previous night, presumably in a dream. When Ho appears before Dao, his hands are covered in sugar and he tells Dao that he is having trouble remembering how to make a special glaze.

Dao and Ho Chi Minh had originally met many years earlier when both men worked at a hotel in London: Dao as a dishwasher and Ho Chi Minh as a pastry cook. The two men quickly became friends. Now, as Ho appears before Dao, he is trying to remember how to make a special glaze. He...