them… You know, when trees are gone, water gets low, and we moving people will suffer a lot.
You look at my parents---grooves have grown deep on their faces. I know they have to eat much
less, to save up for me, I guess. They have to work much harder…Even so, we lost our farm, and
our flocks. We could not keep our goats and cows…” a drop of tear ran down his cheek when he
remembered these episodes…
Yong sipped in some hot cocoa milk to keep his body warm enough for the chilly weather. He
heard some squeaks of desert owls coming from the distance but he some nothing over the ground-
line. The huffs of the morning winds got louder, and he was worried about another sand storm.
“Ling!” His father suddenly got up from, ran towards the tent and armed himself with a big
staff. He threw over to Ling another one and at the same time ran over to his wife and pushed her
inside the tent.
“Get the goats and cows together----“ shouted his father.
Yong was shocked at their moves and quickly looked around. There was nothing that he
could see.
“Bandits!” Ling shouted as he quickly packed up the remaining food. He swiftly got out a
thick rope and ran towards the drinking herd. His father knelt down to put his coffee and his mug
into the sack, packed up the other sacks, and quickly threw them over to his woman. She moved
them deep into the tent.
At this moment, shadows began to haunt over the not distant edge of the sand dunes. Yong
then clearly saw some gang-like rascals riding on wild asses in the mist of sand, flying in towards
them. Perhaps the smoke from the breakfast fire had caught their attention and they located the
Ling family.
In no time, the bandits were over them. They ruthlessly tried to snatch whatever they could
get hold of from the ass-back. They made an attempt towards the tent when Ling’s father threw a
big blow on the big guy who almost on the sand. He managed to secure himself and tried to fight
back with his rod.
Yong was surprised to find Ling’s parents suddenly turned as fierce as they could when their
properties were at risk. He turned round and found that Ling was fighting with another guy who
tried to release the goats and cows. At this moment, a quick shadow caught his attention and he
realized another man on ass-back was trying to attack Ling from the back. Having no time to
think, Yong used whatever in his hand to defend his pal. He tried as hard as he could to throw his
Galaxy at the head of the man and it did hit him. He bumped onto the sand and yelled with pain.
Yong threw himself over the man, wrestling, tearing at his hair, beating, rolling on the
sand…..he could not remember for how long the struggle had lasted, but he could hear another guy
calling the gang to leave. Then he found himself lying flat on the ground, dazzled by the sunlight.
He got up to find Ling. There he was embracing a tiny goat in his arms, sobbing. Ling’s mother
was checking a wound on her husband’s face. The tent canvas was flapping listlessly in the mist of
the ‘boiling’ sand.
Yong found that the other goats and cows were gone. The tent was there and the Ling family
remained intact, some sacks scattered on the ground. The coffee bottle and the mug were there,
giving out some dull sparkles in the sunlight.
“Ouch—” he began to feel the pain on the back and on his head. He searched fingers
touched blood on his forehead. He got up to walk over to Ling and on his way he stepped on his
smartphone which was already broken into two pieces.
