Mrs.Orn stops working when she saw her daughter walk up the stairs.

“How is Ta Pol and Ta Bua doing?”

“Grandma told you?”

“Yeah…she said Ta Bua came here and met Kimhan too, so how is that working out?”

“He came here to get medicine for Ta Pol and Kimhan was already here visiting Grandma”

Aom tries to tell her mom as little detail as possible about how Kimhan gets to visit her Grandma because she doesn’t want her mom to feel like she is now friend with the enemy.

“When Kimhan knew about Ta Pol, she went and get the doctor to help”

“And does she knows that those two are the one who ambush them?”

“Yeah, the doctor knows too but they didn’t say anything. At first Ta Bua was so scare, he afraid that the doctor going to kill Ta Pol but right now he has to go to the boat dock to get the medicine. He probably won’t be able to fully breathe until he get outta there, he’s scare that they would keep him prisoner and cut him into pieces. You should’ve seen him when Kimhan playfully threaten him at first, he was so scare, he was down on his knees shaking and praying”

Mrs.Orn starting to feel that whenever Aom mentions Kimhan’s name, her voice become gentler than before, but don’t want to say anything about it, so she continue asking.

“So how is Ta Pol doing?”

“The doctor said that he isn’t doing well at all, the malaria went up to his brain already, he might need to get to the hospital but right now they don’t have any free bed so it has to wait. Their situation is pretty bad, all the money is gone because of gambling”

“Hurrr…nothing good ever come out of gambling. It a good thing that the doctor and Kimhan aren’t holding a grudge, rules must be follow but when people need help they also step in and help, that is how a good leader should be. If they would’ve let Ta Pol and Ta Bua get away with the crime before, right now there would be so much thieves, so they have to set an example so people won’t do it. So, what about food? Do those two men have anything to eat?”

“It’s pretty bad, I came back to get some blankets and food for them because right now he’s sleeping under piles of dirty cloth that they find, I feel bad for them”

“I’ll go see them in the afternoon I’ll take it to them, so where are they staying now?”

“At the cabin behind the orange orchard, which seem like it could collapse at any second”

“Hurr…this is what you get when you’re not thankful with what you got, they had a good job with the troop. Oh, Grandma told me you’re going to make dry banana?”

“Yeah, but we’re out of syrup and right now it’s so expensive, so I’ll use sugar instead”

“When is this war going to be over, everything is so expensive and some necessary stuff we can’t even find. I heard that it’s going be drag out for a long time, also the American going to bomb us”

Aom pause as her mom said that “What did you said Mom?”

“There are rumors going around, that they’re going to bomb us by plane but I don’t know where. I don’t even know if it’s true, I mean their country is so far away from here, how is it going to be possible?”

“It could happen Mom” Aom teases her mom

“Oh Honey don’t say that…Hurr…I feel bad for the soldiers if it really happen”

“What about us Mom? Our country have to go through all this and the citizens will get bomb because of them”

“Honey I’m not sure if this rumor is even true, I mean Thai people are not the one at war with them, if they really do drop bombs, it would probably drop at the Japanese soldiers place”

“How are they going to know which is which Mom?” Aom continue teasing

“Well they should research before they do it right?”

Aom laugh at her mom’s comment, “So who told you all these nonsense?”

“Well, people at the market are talking about it, they got it from the radio. If you have free time, why don’t go visit Mike’s dad, so we can know what is going on, I mean you haven’t seen him for a while now right?”

Mrs.Orn didn’t think for a second that what she just said hurt her daughter’s feeling. Aom’s hand shake a bit while going back to making the dessert and think to herself, if they can send planes to drop the bomb, why can’t Mike come back to her!

Kimhan and the doctor walk up the stair while smiling and holding a bunch of bags in their hands.

“Hel..lo” the two buddies said it together while smiling at Mrs.Orn, which she can’t help but smile back

“What are you guys bringing?”

The doctor doesn’t really understand Thai much so he went and put all the bags down, while Kimhan smile and slowly answer Mrs.Orn back in Thai,

“We…wants to pay…back…for yo..ur..help before, you…won’t like…going to the boat dock, so we…would like…to do…it here…”

“Cooking?”

 Kimhan nodded her head while putting down the bags in her hands. Mrs.Orn walks over to see what’s in the bags.

“What are you guys making?”

“Teriyaki”

“Errr…I don’t know what that is, my daughter went downstairs to get some vegetable, she’ll