Saring and i and solf

. sarong and    i and soft on m‘! Skin, Sl0W1Y Peeling away g co11ected_ The slippery grass in the water sways  hands them over to Keav. With‘ no soap, Keav takes t 6 Clothes to the edge of the river and scrubs them against the rocks to get them clean.  With Geak balanced  walks Chou and 1 into the pond for our first W3511 in six days. Hand in  my waist. The water feels cool  on one of her hiP5s M3 takes my hand and  ches hand, we stop when the water rea  back and forth to the  rhythm of our movements, 2‘-I~°“dY brushing against my legs. some °fi  the blades slither around my ankles, sending Chills _uP and down my spine. 1 jump and fall into the water,P“11mg Chou with me’ who is still holding on tight to Ma’s hand.When I resurface, they are 311 laughmgat m§_1 amhappy to have all of us laughing together again. In the mornings M3 Wakes °Ve1'Y°ne and We get reédy for our W‘ emh day of walking. The road ahead of us shimmers in the heat, and the dust swells are everywhere, burning my eyes‘ In the distance’ ml’ eyes focus on a lone bicyclist. I cannot tell how tall he is, only that he is very thin. It is strange that he is traveling against the flow of traflic.All of a sudden, I am startled by Ma’s scream. Between loud, halting sobs Ma manages to say,“It’s your uncle Leangl”  With our hands in the air and bodies jumping up and down, We wave excitedly to our uncle. Uncle Leang waves one hand back and peddles his bike faster in our direction. He comes to a stop a few fed from us, and all at once we rush toward him. Blinking his eyes, he tal<€5 Ma into his arms with Pa standing quietly beside them. All the WOW“ and fears of the past few days are now over, for at last he has found his sister. Uncle Leang hands Ma 21 package from his‘ front bike rack, and while she opens the cans of tuna and other food he tells Pa fill?“ this morning other people from Phnom Penh arrived in his village. The  new arrivals told him of the evacuation and how the Khmer Rouge forced everyone to leave all the cities in 9  _ cluding Phnom Penh, Balm” bang, and Siem Reap. Hearing this, he got on his bike and has been looking for us all morning. He then shares with us the glorious new5  that Ma’s oldest brother Heang is on h ' i  the layers of grime that has ,