First They Killed My Father Page #9

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CHOU (CONT’D)

What are you doing?

38.

LOUNG:

Trying to loosen the body to float

down stream.

Loung removes her pails, and with her stick helps to push the

body away. With the two of them beating on it, it bobs and

sways even more. Finally they loosen the leg and the body

floats a few feet down before getting stuck again near the

bank. This time he is inches away from them.

LOUNG (CONT’D)

On three.

After a concerted effort, the body finally floats down the

river, his long hair spreading around. They wait a few

minutes until they believe the body fluids have all floated

past them before fetching the water. They move up stream for

a clean area.

EXT. RO LEAP DINING HALL - DAY

Rain falls. Loung and Chou line up with soup bowls in hand

along with the other girls to receive their rations. The

cooks used to serve them rice gruel, but now there are only

enough grains in the pot to make soup. (the soup is now very

clear)

When it’s Loung’s turn to receive the food, she watches

anxiously as the cook stirs the rice soup. Staring at the

rice pot, she lets out a breath of hopelessness when she sees

the lady take the ladle and stir the soup. Both hands tightly

gripping her bowl, Loung takes her two ladle fulls and walks

to a spot away from all the others.

Loung sits quietly, savoring it spoonful by spoonful,

drinking the broth first. What's left at the bottom of her

bowl is approximately three spoonfuls of rice, and she has to

make this last. She eats the rice slowly. Tears mix with the

food in her mouth. Her heart falls to her stomach when all

the eight grains are gone and she sees that the others are

still eating theirs.

She studies them. Everyone is thinner. They look like the

walking dead.

39.

INT. RO LEAP HUT - NIGHT

Loung can’t sleep. She looks at Chou. How her face has

changed.

Loung hears movement. She looks over in the direction of her

parents. She sees her father caressing her mother. She has

never seen them in such an intimate way before. She feels she

should look away but it warms her to see how Pa loves Ma. He

kisses her neck. (Not sex. Just affection. All very subtle so

nothing would be noticed by guards passing by.)

EXT. RO LEAP - DAY

Standing in the rows of ripe red bell peppers, tomatoes, and

green cucumbers, the sun burns hot on Loung’s skin, drenching

her clothes.

In the next field over, Kim wipes his forehead and continues

his work in silence. As her fingers pluck the green beans,

Loung’s mouth waters. Feeling the fuzzy hair of the beans

between her thumb and finger, she craves to put it in her

mouth.

Loung hears yelling. Chou is suddenly being questioned.

She reveals a bean in her hands half eaten. She begs for

forgiveness as tears roll down her face. Loung studies her

sister. She has never seen her like this. Her heart breaks

for her.

EXT. RO LEAP -DAY

On the way back from work, in line with the other girls,

Loung reaches for Chou’s hand. She holds it for a moment

sending her a silent message.

Loung’s POV of Pa working.

EXT. RO LEAP WELL - MORNING

DRY SEASON #2

A distorted image of Loung.

40.

Loung is looking at her reflection in a pond. She has not

seen herself since Phnom Penh. The blurred child stares back

at her. She touches her face knowing how much it has changed.

She is always so tired. Starvation has done terrible things

to her body. Her body is thin all over, except for her

stomach and her feet. She lifts up her shirt and counts every

rib in her rib cage. Her stomach protrudes outward, bloated

like a ball between her chest and hips.

She looks at her feet. Calloused and dirty.

Loung and Chou roam the area for beetles, and crickets. Loung

catches a beetle and eats it. They pick up a handful of dirt

each, sift it in their hands as the big pebbles rise. They

take out the big pebbles and eat the rest of the dirt

Loung tilts her face up to the sky, forcing herself to look

directly into the sun. The brightness stings her eyes making

her temporarily blind.

EXT. RO LEAP - LATE DAY

The blue sky. Loung’s POV.

DRY SEASON:

Loung notices the leaves have shriveled and the trees brown.

People transporting dead bodies along the principal road to

the village to bury behind the village. They transport in a

very old mat or braided bamboo. One or two people follow the

body with a pickaxe.

A child cries in front of his house. Thin people work here

and there like zombies.

Under the summer sun, the stench of death is so strong in the

village, Loung covers her nose and mouth with her hands and

breathe only the air that filters through her fingers. The

neighbors are too weak to bury all the corpses. Some bodies

of recently dead lay waiting to be taken away. A very skinny

dog looks hungrily at the flesh. The smell permeates the

surrounding air.

She watches as the bodies are collected. Loung has seen the

ritual performed so many times that she now feels nothing.

A KR walks by and gives her a stern look. She stares back.

41.

INT. RO LEAP HUT - NIGHT

Loung lies on her mat. She watches as Pa puts a few spoon

fulls of uncooked rice in the secret rice bag. He puts the

bag, inside a container, and hides it beneath a small pile of

clothes so that the other villagers cannot see it.

PA watches three Chlops passing by on the main road of the

village before hiding the rice.

INT. RO LEAP HUT - NIGHT

LOUNG’S DREAM (KUBRICK STYLE- CENTERED AND COLORFUL)

The shadow of a KR looking towards Loung like in the previous

scene.

Loung is sitting alone at a long table. The table is covered

with all of her favorite food in the world. There is food

everywhere as far as her eyes can see! Red and crispy roasted

pig, brown and golden duck, steaming dumplings, plump fried

shrimp, and all kinds of sweet cakes! Everything looks so

real. She shoves everything into her mouth at once with both

hands, licking her fingers deliciously.

Yet the more she eats the hungrier she becomes. She eats with

great anxiety and urgency, fearing the Khmer Rouge soldiers

will come and take it all away from her. She is so greedy,

she does not want to share the food with anyone. She sees

shadows. She gorges and hides foods.

LOUNG’S DREAM ENDS

INT. RO LEAP HUT - 2 AM

Loung lays awake. Her stomach pains with hunger. She slowly,

quietly, gets up and goes over the others sleeping bodies to

get to the container. With her heart pounding, she slowly

lifts off the top. Her hand reaches in and takes out a

handful of uncooked rice (or snails or crickets) and quickly

shoves it into her hungry mouth before anyone wakes and makes

her put it back. Afraid that the crunch of uncooked rice

might wake the others, she softens the grains with saliva.

When it’s soft enough, her teeth grinds the rice grains,

producing a sweet taste that slowly down her throat. She

wants more but stops herself.

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