Yes, I'm an ordinary run-of-the-mill rural municipal-school teacher. It's the status of headmaster --Or "kru yai"

Its eyes are opened wide -- empty and staring, like the eyes of a sinful, aimless, unhappy human being.

A breath of cold wind made the woman shiver. The old man held her in a shaky embrace, saying: ''What's gone is gone.''

She knew that her man would be shot down like an animal the moment he came within their rifle range.

''We won't be as poor as at home. Got to be brave. There are a lot of jobs in the city. We will find something.

"Are you singing, Mother?'' My eyelids are so heavy that I have to force them open to ask my mother.