============================================================== To reach ALL SJD members, please send to sjd@satjadham.net ... Do NOT include any other addresses when sending to the list... Include as LITTLE of the original messages as possible........ Message sent by: "Kongkeo Saycocie" ============================================================== In the circle of my friends, I remember only one name. That was Lui. I could say that he was my best friend. Even when I moved to Thakek, I still visited him during the summer vacation. To say the least, he was a strong boy who could carry two big buckets of water from the well to his house. In contrast to me, I could carry only one small bowl at a time. Still, we were good friends. I needed his strength and his camaraderie while my toys and an equal treatment from me were what he liked. His house was at the other corner of the post office compound. It was close to a big playing yard which was used as a soccer field. Also, when we wanted to bathe in the Mekong River, we had to pass his house so it was kind of my favorite place. In general, I needn't have to bathe in the Mekong River at all, but because it was so much fun playing with my friends in the water than taking a shower alone at home. Still, there was one thing I didn't like about taking a bath in the river. The bank was too steep so it took me a lot of sweat to climb up and down while my friends just ran up and down. I guess that was one thing that street boys like them fared well than me. Also, it seemed that my friend, Lui, knew all of the tricks such as where and how to get the worms for our little ducks. At that time, I liked to raise ducks but I had a hard time feeding them for wherever I dug the ground for worms I got pure dirt or, the best, pure muddy dirt. What's more, he could climb the tree so fast and so good as if he were a monkey himself. In a way, he was like my extended hand to get to the far reaching fruit. Without him, I had to use a long pole and still it wasn't long enough to get the red and yummy Mak Nam Nom. At one time, my brother's friend (the pilot) climbed the Mak Nam Nom tree and, with no warning, he slipped off the tree while reaching for the Mak Nam Nom, and fell to the ground. Know what medicine our friends came up with? The pee! And that was the precisely the very thing that saved his life. I don't know how so please don't ask me. A footnote about Lui: I learned from my distant relative that he got shot while attempting to cross the Mekong River in the late 70s. I couldn't tell how I felt at hearing that tragic news. Suffice it to say that I lost my own brother. His story was like our country story - full of promise but was drastically cut short by fate. So it goes Quon Dee Khong Muang Lao again and again! (to be continued) _ ***************************************************************** Visit SatJaDham Homepage at: http://www.satjadham.org (or .net) *****************************************************************