Grandmother cleared a patch of rock for the two children. Worried that sleeping on the stone at night would leave them chilled, she brought two pieces of cloth and spread them out for the boys.
She also reminded them to keep their coats on when they slept that night so they would not catch a chill.
Not long after Grandmother finished, Richie seemed to lose all his energy. He collapsed onto the rock and fell fast asleep.
Seeing that Richie was asleep, Si Ang lay down beside him to rest, hoping the storm would stop by the time they woke the next morning so they could go home.
At six the next morning, Si Ang woke right on time.
Hearing the wind and rain outside, his heart sank again.
Grandmother had woken even earlier than Si Ang. She seemed to need little sleep.
She had still been awake when Si Ang fell asleep, and she was already up before he woke.
Si Ang was very grateful to Grandmother for taking them both in, but he was not good at expressing himself and feared saying something hurtful. After agonizing over it for a long time that morning, he only said one word to her: "Morning."
Grandmother calmly replied, "Good morning," and said nothing more.
Though the cave was dim, they could roughly judge the time by the changing light outside.
Si Ang sat beside Richie, keeping careful watch over him, his gaze fixed on Richie's little face.
Richie remained sound asleep, as though he could sleep forever without waking if no one called him.
At that thought, Si Ang could not help feeling afraid. He feared that one day Richie would never wake again and would leave him.
He always had the feeling that Richie would leave him someday.
The pain