Bamboo People (15 page)

Sa Reh is clutching the rope around Mango’s neck. He’s chewing betel nut mix, as usual—his favorite habit, even though I’ve told him a hundred times that the stuff stains his teeth and makes his breath smell bad.

“Tu Reh!” he says. “Who are these girls? They’ve been telling us some crazy story that you’re carrying a Burmese soldier….” His voice trails off as he sees the boy’s uniform. “Is he dead? Did you kill him?”

“Can’t talk now,” I pant, still trying to catch my breath. I take the rope from Sa Reh, and Mango nuzzles me in welcome. We heave the boy’s body across her back.

I hand Sa Reh the rifle. “Give this to the old man, will you?”

People are clustered around the grandfather, listening intently to his story, casting worried looks in our direction. Sa Reh takes the weapon from me, disgust in his face as he backs away from the soldier.

I lead Mango through camp, and Nya Meh and Ree Meh follow me. Grown-ups murmur and point at the soldier’s body. Kids circle around us, poking, pushing, shouting.

“Get back!” Ree Meh orders. Her voice is sharp, and they obey.

It’s noon, so most of the kids’ mothers are inside, cooking the midday meal. Mua is nowhere in sight. Suddenly I can’t wait to see her.

Auntie Doctor is eating, but she leaps to her feet as soon as we enter the medical hut. She doesn’t ask any questions about the uniform or the soldier.

“Put him there!” she commands, pointing to an empty cot, rushing to wash her hands. “Who splinted him?”

“I did,” Nya Meh answers.

“You—stay with me. The two of you—out!”

We leave the hut, and I take a moment to stroke Mango’s muzzle. What a patient creature she is! She’s never resisted a load, no matter how heavy. Her coat is clean—looks like Sa Reh or my sister just combed her.

Ree Meh is standing beside me, and I notice her upper arm is bleeding from the bullet that grazed it. “Need a bandage?” I ask.

“I’m fine. I know how to take care of a little cut like this one. I still think I should have stayed with you back there.”

“It’s okay, Ree Meh. I made it. And besides, you had to get help.”

“Grandfather and Nya Meh were doing that already, but it took them a while. You were right about the leaders. Some of them didn’t want to let a soldier into camp, but when they found out it was you who was carrying him, they sent the defenders.”

“I’m still not sure they’ll let him stay,” I say, leading Mango forward. “Come on. Let’s go home.”

But Ree Meh doesn’t follow. She stays where she is, and that lost expression comes back for a moment. Suddenly I remember that she doesn’t have a home anywhere, not even in camp.

“Tu Reh!”

Finally! Mua and Oo Meh are hurrying toward me as fast as they can.

Mua puts a hand on my arm and looks at me for a long minute. “Is your
peh
all right?”

“As far as I know. Going on with the mission.”

Oo Meh is jumping up and down beside me. “Sa Reh took me fishing yesterday,” she tells me happily as I tousle her hair. “We caught three big ones, bigger than the one you caught that day—” She stops, catching sight of the girl behind me.

“This is Ree Meh,” I say. “Her sister’s in the medical hut, helping the doctor. We brought a soldier back with us. A Burmese.”

Mua’s shoulders stiffen. “I heard. Does your
peh
know you’ve done this?” she asks.

“Peh wanted me to carry him to safety.” He didn’t
tell
me to do it, though. And he didn’t say anything about bringing the boy to camp. One decision leads to another—that was all he said. Now look at what I’ve done.

Mua nods slowly. “If your
peh
ordered it, it must be the right thing.”

It was my decision,
I want to tell her, but I don’t. I wonder what I’ll have to decide next. Hope it’s something easy, like where to sleep tonight so that the girls can stay in our hut.

Mua turns to Ree Meh and smiles warmly. “You come home with me. You can wash up there, and lunch is ready.”

“Thank you, Auntie,” Ree Meh says. “But I have to check on Grandfather. This was a long journey for him.”

“He’s inside the president’s hut, eating a good meal. I told him I was taking you home with me, and that you’d see him later. Let’s take care of that arm first. You’re a brave girl.”

Ree Meh, my mother, and my sister head for our hut. I follow slowly, one hand clutching Mango’s rope and the other curled around my bamboo pole. Oh, for a bath, a meal made by Mua, a mat somewhere, anywhere, for a good long rest….

A strong hand grabs my shoulder and spins me around. “Tu Reh! What’s going on?”

It’s Sa Reh, of course, gnawing on his betel mix at full speed. “Nothing,” I say, too tired to answer his real question. “I’m heading home.”

“It’s good to see you back.”

“I didn’t get to finish the mission,” I say.

“Yes, but you caught a spy! Does he have some information about their army’s next move? Is he going to tell us what he knows?”

I’m so tired that it’s hard to think of anything to say. “We’ll have to wait and see. The doctor is working on his leg.”

“You can’t get information from a dead enemy, right? Are we going to have to
make
him tell the truth, or do you think he’ll cooperate?”

“He does what I ask,” I manage. It isn’t a lie—Chiko tried to convince the grandfather to let him stay, didn’t he?

He turns aside to spit out some juice and grins. “It sure looked strange when you came into camp. Seeing you cradling that soldier in your arms like a baby. Who are those girls you brought along, anyway? The older one isn’t bad looking, even with that scar on her face.”

For some reason this irritates me. “Nya Meh’s a healer. She’s helping the doctor right now.”

“I’d sure like to get to know her better. I’m glad the council’s making room for them to stay in camp.”

“They are? That’s good. Because they don’t have anywhere else to go.”

“Who does, these days?” Sa Reh claps me on the shoulder. “You look terrible, Tu Reh. Get some rest. We’ll have fun interrogating that soldier together.”

I don’t have enough energy left to do more than nod, feeling uneasy that I haven’t told him the whole truth. The truth is hard for
me
to grasp—I actually abandoned the mission and risked my life to save a Burmese soldier. How will Sa Reh understand the choices I’ve been making when I don’t understand them myself?

I trudge home with Mango, wishing I could dump the weight of my worries onto her back.

“Home” in the camp is a bamboo hut on stilts. Looks a bit like our old house in the village, but it’s much smaller.

After tying Mango to the stake and making sure she has plenty of water, I’m glad to climb the ladder. I put my bamboo pole where it belongs, against the wall near my sleeping mat. Afternoon sunshine filters through the walls. Sand is piled in one corner of the room, and a pot of rice steams there on a small fire. Mua can make any place on earth feel cozy and peaceful.

The four of us eat quickly. “May I go to the doctor’s to wait for my sister, Auntie?” Ree Meh asks. “She won’t know the way here.”

“Can you find the medic’s hut again on your own?” Mua asks.

“I’ll show her!” Oo Meh says eagerly.

“All right, but come right back, my daughter,” Mua says. “You have homework to do.”

“Do I
have
to go to school tomorrow?” Oo Meh asks.

“Of course. Tu Reh will go also—he’s missed enough already.” Mua ignores my scowl and gentles her voice. “You should go, too, Ree Meh. Your sister is old enough to stay home, but you need to study.”

“I can read and write already, Auntie,” Ree Meh answers. “Grandfather taught me.”

I guess she’s still reluctant to meet the other girls in the camp, and I don’t blame her. She’d probably have more fun kickboxing on the field
with
the boys than giggling in the corner
about
the boys.

“Still, you should go,” Mua says. “There’s so much more to learn in school than reading and writing, and we have an excellent teacher.”

Ree Meh nods. It wouldn’t be respectful for her to argue any longer with Mua, but I can tell she’s not convinced. She starts down the ladder.

I take my sister aside. “Tell her you’ll help her meet everybody at school, will you?” I ask. Oo Meh grins and scampers down the ladder.

After they leave, Mua turns to me. “One hour of rest before you do
anything,
Tu Reh. I’ve never seen you look so tired.”

“No, Mua, I’m going now to talk to the camp leaders.”

I
am
tired, but I don’t want to wait another minute before proving that I’m a patriot. If only Peh were standing with me! There’s no question about
his
loyalty to the cause. I picture him trekking through the jungle with the other men, searching for our people in hiding like they’re treasure. Would his team run into more soldiers? At least now they have some weapons.

“The leaders know you’re resting, Tu Reh,” Mua protests. “They told me to send you there later today.”

“It’s better if I go early. I won’t be able to rest until I do.” But what am I supposed to say about why I saved a Burmese soldier’s life?

I give Mango a pat and head to the building where we gather for meetings. The medic’s hut isn’t far from here, and I spot Ree Meh and Oo Meh sitting on a flat stone outside it. The doctor and the healer must be fighting hard to save the soldier’s leg. If he loses it, he’ll need time to recover. I’m just not sure the camp leaders will let him stay that long. I take a deep breath before walking inside the building to face them.

The girls’ grandfather is sitting with three council members—our president, his top adviser, and Bu Reh, Sa Reh’s father, who led the charge across the river to push back the soldiers. Usually the first to fire, Bu Reh manages our stash of weapons and coordinates our defense plans.

Sa Reh’s there, too, and he grins a greeting, patting the space on the bench beside him.

I smile back, but stay standing.

“You’re early, Tu Reh,” the president says. “Did you rest?”

“Mua said you have some questions for me, Uncle.”

“The old Karenni says you saved their lives in the jungle when the elephant attacked. Is that right?”

Maybe, but I wouldn’t have made it without the loan of the grandfather’s rifle. “We watched out for each other,” I say.

“Your father always has a good reason for his decisions. Why did he tell you to carry the Burmese boy here?”

“He didn’t.” I take a deep breath and describe how we heard the mines exploding and found the dead bodies. “Peh bandaged this soldier’s leg. Then he had to finish the mission with the other men, so he told me to decide what to do next.”

The adviser mutters something to the president that I can’t hear. “So
you
decided to take the soldier to the healer’s hut?” Bu Reh asks. “And then bring him here?”

I can’t help glancing at Sa Reh before replying. “Yes, but—” I stop. How cowardly would it be to pass the blame for that second decision to Ree Meh, the healer, and their grandfather? Besides, I don’t want to make it sound like two girls and an old man practically forced me to bring the soldier here. I was alone when I carried the boy down the hill to the river during the last sprint to camp.

“Why
did
you take him to the healer’s hut?” asks Bu Reh.

I’m still trying to answer when Sa Reh breaks the silence. “I’ll bet you thought we could get some information out of him, Tu Reh.”

“I don’t think the Burmese boy knows much,” the grandfather says quickly. “I questioned him thoroughly once he was able to speak.”

“He wasn’t conscious when Tu Reh found him,” adds Sa Reh, still defending me. “So you couldn’t interrogate him then. Right, Tu Reh?”

Bu Reh grunts in disgust. “Didn’t matter how much he knew. It wasn’t worth saving him. Why didn’t you just leave him? Or better yet, kill him?”

Every eye is waiting for my answer. What can I say? That he called for his mother? That his eyelashes reminded me of Oo Meh’s? I’m not that brave; I hide behind Sa Reh’s suggestion instead. “I thought he might tell us something helpful. We’ll have to wait and see.”

“And your
peh’s
team?” the president asks. “They’re one man short now. What about the supplies you were carrying?”

Finally—an easy question. “Peh’s strong enough to carry most of my pack along with his, and the others will help. And now they have the dead soldiers’ rifles—four of them—and plenty of ammunition.” I look right at Bu Reh as I make this announcement.

“I warned Oo Reh to take a rifle or two along,” Bu Reh says. “Going on a mission without them is suicide. But he insisted we keep them all. A patriot, no doubt about that, but he has some strange ideas. ‘God will defend us,’ he told me.”

I didn’t know Peh had turned aside the offer of weapons. He’s a council member, too, so the discussion must have happened during one of their meetings. Anyway, I’m gladder than ever that his team now has four good rifles. He’s pushing deeper into enemy territory with every passing hour.

“Go get some rest, Tu Reh,” the president says. “We’ll question your soldier tomorrow, and I want you there.”

I don’t like the sound of that—“your soldier.” Doesn’t make me sound patriotic at all. And there’s no smile on Sa Reh’s face as I leave the building. He glances my way, but I can tell he’s confused by my answers. Well, he’s not the only one. I’m not sure I handled that interview well at all.
I probably should have listened to Mua and rested first,
I think as I wearily climb the ladder and stretch out on my sleeping mat.

It’s night before the three girls return, my sister holding tight to Ree Meh’s hand.

Nya Meh looks troubled and tired. “Auntie Doctor had to cut it,” she says slowly.

“Too bad,” says Mua.

I’m surprised by my own frustration. We dragged that soldier all the way here, escaping bullets and an angry elephant, bringing my loyalty into question, and they couldn’t save his leg?

Ree Meh untangles her fingers from my sister’s grip, picks up the broom, and begins sweeping, even though Mua’s just done the job herself and there’s not a speck of dust in sight.