Chapter 1 - Daydream
Dad, I just had a daydream, Veayuk said, worriedly sharing his thoughts as the two of them traveled by train from Phnom Penh to his fathers hometown in Mondulkiri Province in northeastern Cambodia. It was late 1987, and Veayuk was 15 years old. The rice fields were taking on a golden hue and the seasonal winds were becoming more apparent. Soon the harvest season would get underway, and the fields would be filled with people young and old, all smiling in anticipation of a considerable rice yield.
As a Khmer, Veayuk knew that his name referred to the king of the wind in his native language. His mother hoped that he would grow up to be strong and free, and thus she named him after the wind. Every Khmer name has significance, and most parents believe an auspicious name will shape the fortune and future of their child. For instance, Samnang means luck, while Chey denotes victory or success. Whenever a Cambodian child is born, the parents visit a Buddhist pagoda so that a monk can select a name for their child, usually with consideration given to their birth date.
Veayuk had a dark complexion, with prominent dark brown eyes and curly haira reflection of the ancient Khmer people. He enjoyed good nutrition and had grown exceptionally tall compared to other kids his age. He was as fast as the wind. Strangers sometimes mistook him for a young adult of twenty years. One of his friends always teased him by saying, Veayuk! A kid with an old face! Veayuk never minded the teasing. After all, it was just a joke by a good friend who had no bad intentions. The other students dared not mock him, however, given his size and maturity.
Veayuks athletic prowess led him to be invited to join an adult volleyball team last year, when he was just fourteen years old. Though he didnt really enjoy the sport, he tried his best in practice because he was determined to master every technique. Whenever Veayuk set his mind on something, he would always work to the best of his ability. His discipline at volleyball practice eventually resulted in his defeat of many talented players in school. Ultimately, the coach assigned him as team captain, which caused both admiration and jealousy among his schoolmates. The girls adored him, but the boys were jealous. To deal with the boys, he remained humble and tried to be helpful to them. The girls were his faithful fans, though, and he never did anything to discourage their attention.
The trip to Mondulkiri Province marked Veayuks first visit to his fathers hometown and followed two years after his mother had passed away. In fifteen years’ time, Veayuk had never set foot in the town where his father had been born. Living in the capital of Phnom Penh, Veayuk had only been able to visit his mothers hometown in Kandal Province, which is about twenty kilometers from the capital.
The distance between Phnom Penh and Mondulkiri Province is about 370 kilometers, with the route passing through the provinces of Kandal, Kampong Cham, and Kratie. The trip takes about two hours by helicopter or eight hours by train. Historically, Mondulkiri was part of Kratie Province, but in 1960, King Norodom Sihanouk created the province of Mondulkiri. Mondul means center, and kiri means mountain. Therefore, Mondulkiri literally means the center of the mountains, which aptly describes this area of high elevation. Most residents of the province are indigenous Phnong who believe in animism and practice slash-and-burn farming. They earn a living through the resources of the forest and live as a community under the supervision of an elder clan chief, speaking their own language and preparing meals from their homegrown vegetables.
After Mondulkiri Province was officially created, the majority Khmer population in Cambodia began relocating to this province. Intermarriage between Khmer and Phnong became commonplace and Veayuks father himself had a Phnong mother and Khmer father. The couple had several hectares of farmland in the provincial town of Sen Monorom and raised seven children, five sons and two daughters. Veayuks father was the sixth child in the family.
Unlike most Phnong families, Veayuks grandparents were quite liberal. They valued education and had sent Veayuks father to the capital so that he could pursue his education. Veayuks father was about seven years old when he first came to live with his paternal uncle in Phnom Penh. Before long, Veayuks father had forgotten most of the Phnong language which had been taught to him by his mother.
After graduating from high school, Veayuks father took an exam to apply to a pedagogy school in Phnom Penh. Eventually, he was appointed to teach at Preah Sisowath High School in the capital. The school, named after a Khmer king, was founded in 1873 as a middle school, but in 1933 began providing both middle and high school education. It was at Preah Sisowath High School that Veayuks father and mother met each other as teacher and student. On the first day of a new semester, they discovered one another and the power of love bound their hearts together. They married as soon as she graduated and eventually had four children, one daughter and three sons.
Just now, the train was passing vast fields of rubber plantations stretching handsomely along the horizon under a clear blue sky in Kampong Cham Province. Soon the train would make a short stop in the Chhlong District of Kratie Province before moving on to Mondulkiri. The train from Phnom Penh to Mondulkiri is a mid-speed train, running between 50 and 70 kilometers per hour. The eight-hour trip from Phnom Penh to Mondulkiri has eight stops—one in Kandal, three in Kampong Cham, two in Kratie, and two in Mondulkiri. There are faster trains in Cambodia, which run between 80 and 100 kilometers per hour. However, they usually run on the shorter routes from Phnom Penh to nearby provinces such as Kandal, Kampong Cham, or Kampong Chhnang.
What did you dream about? Veayuks father inquired, looking directly into his sons eyes. Every time he looked at Veayuk, he saw a reflection of himself. Among all of his sons, Veayuk resembled him the most. Like father, like son! The only difference between them was that Veayuks father had developed a beer belly as a result of his comfortable life, which included a job, a car, a house with a small garden, a wife, and four children. His wife ran a small business at home, sewing clothes, particularly school uniforms. Three years ago, their eldest daughter had married a doctor at Preah Ket Mealea Hostpital, where she worked as a nurse. They planned to have their first child next year. For the present, family planning was their primary consideration because having a child would require a sizeable investment to cover expenses for food, education, healthcare, insurance and clothing, all of which would be required to secure a bright future for the child. His second son was pursuing his third year in mathematics at the Royal University of Phnom Penh and hoped to become a schoolteacher like his father. His two other sons, the third and the fourth, attended high school and middle school, respectively.
Established in 1964, Royal University of Phnom Penh is the country's largest university. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in various fields such as the sciences, humanities and social sciences, as well as vocational courses in the fields of information technology, electronics, psychology and tourism. In addition to the Royal University of Phnom Penh, other major universities and institutes include the National Institute of Judicial and Economic Studies, Royal School of Medicine, National School of Commerce, National Pedagogical Institute, Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences, Royal University of Fine Arts and Faculty of Science and Technology. During the 1960s, education was one of the primary goals for development set by the Cambodian government. Everyone valued education, and competing with other countries in the region required that the population be educated.
Veayuks father believes that education has the power to improve ones standard of living and thus lead to future success. As a teacher, he is aware that knowledge has a transformative power, enabling people to devise solutions to all kinds of problems. On the contrary, the ability of uneducated people to understand and exercise their rights always remains limited.
“Oh, it was nothing, Dad, just a dream, Veayuk sighed as he turned to his right to gaze out the window. Rows of rubber trees were still visible. An occasional flock of birds flew over the treetops, freely heading for an unknown destination, living the life nature intended for them. Uncharacteristically, Veayuk was bothered by his dream. Here and there, workers appeared between the rows of rubber trees. They seemed to be inspecting somethingsomething Veayuk had no desire to explore. Maybe he would pursue his curiosity about that on another day.
In Cambodia, latex is collected from rubber trees and then sent to factories where it is transformed into useful materials including auto tires, spare parts, kitchenware, shoes, toys, water tubes, and other products in order to supply local demand. The remaining latex is shipped to Vietnam or China through the port of Sihanoukville. Foreign trade is an important element of Cambodias economy as the country strives to elevate the standard of living of its citizens.
With his chin resting on his palms, Veayuk was lost in thought. He always believed that a bad dream would come true if he revealed it to others. He couldnt remember when he first heard that belief, but the superstition was one in which he still believed. Therefore, he kept the terrible dream to himself in fear that it might one day become reality.
Veayuk had dreamed that his house in the capital had been burgled while his father was visiting another province. Only Veayuks two brothers and eldest sister were home, each asleep in their room. On that particular night, Veayuk was doing homework at his desk, which was lit by a table lamp on his right. He was preparing for a test the following day. His room was rectangular, and the wall, bed sheet, blanket, and pillowcase were sky-blue in color. A thick, cotton curtain in the same shade of blue hung from the window facing east. The curtain was drawn closed, preventing the morning sunlight from pouring into the room.
Next to his bed were a wooden desk and an armchair, both of which were matte black. A box of pencils and a rubber eraser were neatly placed on the desk next to a family photo in a wooden frame. The photo pictured six peoplefour males and two females. It had been taken during a trip to the mountains. The family members were wearing casual dress—jeans, short pants, and t-shirts. Smiles could be distinguished on their faces. Indeed, they appeared happy and carefree.
A yellow Sony Walkman cassette player, a gift from Veayuks grandparents on his tenth birthday, sat on the left side of the desk. Veayuk liked listening to music, even though he had no singing ability and didnt like the sound of his own voice. God grants you one talent and keeps another from you, he always thought. He couldnt be skilled at two things at the same timesports and music. In rare cases, some people could excel at multiple talents, but not Veayuk.
Against his desk leaned a Japanese-made Yamaha tennis racket. Tennis was Veayuks favorite sport, apart from volleyball. He and his paternal uncle went to the Olympic Stadium every Sunday evening to play tennis. Veayuk learned to play tennis when he was eleven years old, and that Yamaha racket had been given to him at that time by his uncle.
The Olympic Stadium had been designed by architect Vann Molyvann. The ground-breaking ceremony took place in 1963 and construction was completed in 1964. Vann made use of massive earthworks to create the stadium by excavating 500,000 cubic meters of earth to shape the site. The stadium played a small role in the 1966 FIFA World Cup when, unpredictably, North Korea faced Australia in qualifying matches in November of 1965. Because North Korea lacked diplomatic relations with most countries, finding a suitable venue for the match proved difficult until Cambodian Head of State Prince Sihanouk, an ally of Kim Il-sung, agreed to host the matches in Phnom Penh. The matches attracted 40,000 fans, half cheering the Australian team and the other half cheering North Korea. North Korea won both matches (61 and 31). Because South Korea and all the African teams had withdrawn in protest against FIFA, North Korea directly qualified for the final tournament, in which they reached the quarterfinal round
Veayuk was uncertain about his future, but occasionally he fantasized about being a national volleyball player or tennis player. He was still young and filled with dreams to explore. At fifteen years of age, he had not seen much of the world and was far too young to determine what he wanted out of life. For him, that goal was a long way off. Who knows? I might want to be a teacher like my father in the future, Veayuk once thought to himself.
Beside his desk was a five-tier bookshelf full of all kinds of books including textbooks, novels, dictionaries, and comic books, in both the Khmer and English languages. Among all the novels on his bookshelf, William Goldmans 1973 The Princess Bride and Dalton Trumbos 1938 Johnny Got His Gun were his all-time favorites. Those two novels were always kept on the top shelf.
A dark closet with two doors stood against the wall, two steps to the left of the bookshelf. A full-length mirror was installed on the right door of the closet, but Veayuk rarely took a close look at his bodya body that caused him to feel both shy and proud at times. A blue, medium-sized, locally-made electric fan was whirring away at the foot of the bed. The air blew from left to right and then right to left behind Veayuk, providing the only source of fresh air to keep the room at a comfortable temperature.
The night was dark, but the sky was filled with twinkling stars. The neighbors were enjoying a pleasant nights sleep. Out of nowhere, a group of four armed burglars stormed into his house from the rear. They had pulled up in a locally-reassembled black sedan. All of them were dressed completely in blackblack hats, black masks, black shirts, black trousers, black shoes, holding a black HK USP 9mm in their black leather glovesresembling the Man in Black in The Princess Bride, except for the sword. Their heights were similar56 tall. They looked identical. Their dark brown eyes were menacing, as if they were prepared to harm anyone they perceived as a threat.
In Cambodia, the law forbids ordinary citizens from carrying a gun, and law enforcement is rather strict about this rule. Anyone who breaks the law faces legal punishment. Yet criminals can always find clever ways to break the law. Within a few seconds, the burglars had successfully and professionally unlocked the back door. Their skills at this maneuver had been honed over their many years in this business. Two of them guarded the door. With flashlights in hand, the remaining two made their way into the house.
Veayuk had been blessed with an acute sense of hearing. He could detect even the lowest sound unheard by most people with normal hearing. He immediately realized that something unusual was going on at the back of the house so he followed the noise, carefully walking in that direction. Veayuk was present but physically invisible to the others. He could walk around the house undisturbed and observe the actions of the burglars, but he could not scream, talk or make any other sound. He hurriedly ran to his older brothers room to rouse him from a sound sleep and tell him about the burglary. His knock was not heardhis voice made no soundhis mouth went dry. Surprisingly, he made his way through the entrance and entered the room without having to open the door; if he had managed to open the door, the burglars would immediately have known that somebody in the house was awake. Veayuk tried to shake his brother, yet he felt no sense of touching him. His hands moved right through his brothers chest to his back. He was dumbfounded. He then ran to his sisters room, next door. Astonishingly, he was able to walk through the wall once again.
What was going on? Veayuk pondered the question, trying to assign meaning to everything that was happening. The prospect of being invisible and the ability to walk through walls haunted him. He tried to rouse his sister from her deep sleep by shaking her. No use. No movement. No sign of awakening. Veayuk gave up trying to wake his siblings and went to check his youngest brother, who was also in a deep sleep.
Soundlessly, the burglars entered his fathers bedroom and stole his mothers earrings and necklaces—which had been wedding gifts from her parents and relatives—from her bedside drawer. Veayuk cried helplessly as he observed the scene. He was in a confused state. The burglars had successfully stolen his mothers beloved jewelry and escaped toward the east, where the morning sun would later rise. Veayuk sat down on the back porch and began to cry.
What should I tell dad about this incident when he returns? What should I do if he is unable to see me, as were my brothers and sister? I became invisible and my voice went mute. Who can see me and hear me now? Mom, are you able to see me and touch me? I miss you.
The neighborhood was dreadfully quiet—no dogs barking, no traffic passing, and no indication of human life. It was like a ghost town. Veayuk continued to weep.
