When Broken Glass Floats: Growing Up Under the Khmer Rouge Paperback by Chanrithy Him Read Free Book Online Page A

of families flee their homes, seeking refuge in Phnom Penh. In a matter of months, the population has more than tripled from about 600,000 to almost 2 million.
    With so many people now living here, prices are sky-high. And so is the corruption among government officials. When my aunt’s husband, an officer in the Cambodian army, is arrested for secretly selling weapons to the Khmer Rouge, my father is devastated.
    “How stupid, greedy. He has sold the country,” Pa murmurs, unable to comprehend the pressure to betray. My aunt weeps, telling Mak and Pa about the sentencing, the bail. Somehow, my uncle is released.
    To make things worse, terrorist activity is seeping into the city. Plastic explosives have now been planted in public places, such as movie theaters and markets. We hear warnings on the radio, which prompt Mak to remind Than to be careful, “ Koon , Than, do you hear that?” The newspapers also say the Khmer Rouge are terrorizing the nation, especially Lon Nol’s government.
    At night Pa updates Mak on what has happened at work or the news he reads. He talks about fleeing families. There are more beggars in the city and, now, homeless families. Children sneak into restaurants and ask customers for leftovers. Proprietors tell them to leave. They vanish for a moment, but appear again.
    That evening he tells me a Cambodian saying. Pa says to me, “There comes a time when a grain of rice sticks on a dog’s tail, and everyone will fight for it.” He looks at me gravely, and so does my mother, awaiting my reaction. It makes no sense to me.
    “Don’t be picky, koon ,” Mak adds. “Eat what we have.”
    “ Koon , there’s a lot of hungry people out there,” says Pa .
    In his eyes I see his concern. Only then do I begin to realize how much my parents love me, how much they want to teach me, to prepare me for the changing world surrounding us. To prepare me for the Year of the Rabbit, for the unknown it will bring.
    Already it is the Time of New Angels. The Cambodian New Year is around the corner, April 13. That’s when families throughout the country begin to celebrate the festivities that traditionally stretch until the fifteenth. On the radio we hear music that tells of old angels who will be sent back to heaven, replaced by new angels who will take care of mortals. Usually, my family goes to Wat Phnom, a beautiful temple perched on a hilltop in Phnom Penh, or the Independent Monument, a parklike national memorial. At home we offer food and drink before the shrines of Buddha to welcome the angels—rice, candles, incense, and fruits.
    But in this year, 1975, there’s no New Year spirit. Fear, not angels, is in the air. The Khmer Rouge have grown big and dangerous. They have seized most of the outer provinces. Inch by inch, they close in on Phnom Penh. They shell the city. The bombing hasn’t touched our lives, but sometimes we hear the shrill whizzing of artillery overhead. Families dig up the earth, create makeshift bunkers and bomb shelters in their yards, using whatever space they can find. Schools close pending further notice. My own school has become a field hospital, a ragtag home for hundreds of soldiers, many of whom are wounded. We must stay close to home, no bike-riding to market. In the meantime, we pray for the safety of loved ones.
    Even though I am only nine, my mind constantly chants the Buddhist wish, something only adults usually do. But I’ve watched, listened to them, and learned. While the crowded population of Phnom Penh braces for the impact of artillery, I chant the wish again and again:
    — Sadtrow mok pe mook ay romlong. Sadtrow mok pe croay ay rarliey. “If the enemy comes before you, make it pass over. If it comes behind, make it vanish.”

When Broken Glass Begins to Float
     
    The New York Times
May 6, 1975
“Victors Emptying Cambodia Cities, U.S. Now Believes”
     
    Washington, May 5—State Department officials said today they believed the Cambodian Communists had