Too Late: The Journal

By Den Ch.

A journal life story about a boy's life with his family and school.

Waking up in the middle of the night, mom was holding my hand and walked through the dark with her little torch flickering all along the way outside the house headed to the backyard. Feeling frightened with the dark...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: May 8, 2020
• ISBN: 9781716950995

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Waking up in the middle of the night, mom was holding my hand and walked through the dark with her little torch flickering all along the way outside the house headed to the backyard. Feeling frightened with the dark, my brother was walking pass behind us and trying to scare me out even he was frightened with the gloom too.

It’s always been my nightmare and becoming my dreads the whole time when I face the dark notably when I am being scared by someone, and of course, my brother always keeps doing it because he knew that it’s going to work with me.

I felt so much better when we all reached out where people were meeting upstanding and staring to the spot where they believe that there was a star falling down behind my neighbor’s house in the darkest and deep down in the middle of the forest just only backyard of our village.

My brother and I were trying to find to see it if that was true.

Wandering around and looking with our bare eyes in the dark, we still can’t see anything at all besides the glooms and some fireflies.

Where’s the star? I asked my mom

I’m looking for it too darling; I’ll let you know when I see it.

We didn’t look hard for that, and that’s because when one of my neighbor who lived close by said that it’s already gone before my family arrived.

We all felt so disappointed that we haven’t seen anything at any moment we were there but just the tale from our neighbors. We walked back home, and the falling star was carving into my brain as I was in a very young little boy stayed deep down in my memory of mine. I was about three and a half, and that was the only time I start to remember things going on in life.

The morning arrived I still can’t get out of my lovely bed, and then mom woke me up for breakfast time.

It’s not what you’re thinking.

We can only eat porridge and cold rice, maybe sometimes fried and that’s our traditional breakfast.

I had a very odd dream; telling my parents.

They stared and laughed. Mom told me immediately that it was not the dream.

I took you there last night with your brother. She giggled

With my curiosity I was trying to debate with them to find out if that was true or not, thought was a dream and because I remember that there was nothing at all last night beside my naughty brother was trying to scare me out.

Mom was trying to calm me down as I still keep saying that it was not true and people lied.

Perhaps the star didn’t want you to see it yet. Mom said

If you’re lucky maybe next time you will see it, but you have to be up early and be faster than other people before the star left again. She said

I still didn’t get all those stuff but she spoke to me just to fill me out of my curiosity.

Wasn’t really caring about it much but to finish my meal before my brother eats all of it!!!

CHAPTER 2

It was 1995 and a school time was coming, everybody got an absolutely gorgeous dress, bag, school stuff and walked with their parents to school. People gathering together from all over communes just to get their child registered. The front office was really busy with parents and kids surrounding the table, and they didn’t really have a queue at all, just standing wherever they wanted to.

My brother and I and my dad were watching them for the whole morning until we got the space for our turn.

What they actually doing that let kids put their arm around their head.  I asked my brother and dad

My brother didn’t really sure about that, that’s why he didn’t reply to me and dad did.

You’ll find out later. And that’s all I got from dad.

I really found myself strange about this traditional Cambodian culture of going to school. Apart from filling out the form that was given by school they always have this fascinating part to judge whether if that kind can get in the class or not.

Each kid has to be six years old or older on the day they register, and the most important part was they have to put their arm surround their head, and if they can touch their ears on the other side, that means they can get in the class no matter what but had to be old enough.

That was in my generation only.

I had seen many kids that have short limbs cannot pass that test even they have the right age for school, but they have to wait for another next year coming back. That was what I am waiting for because I have one more year to be six to be a student.

I did try the arm surrounding the head with