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

''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.

“I know. But, with me, everything is up to my master. We are the same, Nak. It’s duty first,” Hern said tersely. “So, how shall we do it?”

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

Not a drop of rain has fallen and the fields are parched but Mother's once barren heart blooms with hope

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