¹The stream flowed from the west, dropped down, slithered, turned, and entered the village limits, dividing the land into two parts. ²Deposited on each shore, there were houses arranged in clusters, alternating with groves of rubber trees, and a fruit orchard on one side of the canal had a walkway sloping steeply until it reached a sandy beach below a bend in the stream which resembled an elbow. ³The stream was droughted and shallow, but still the flow of water was steady. ⁴A lumpaw tree sprouted from the bank. ⁵It spread branches, cast a shadow long and far, covering this part of the beach and stream with refreshing shade.

⁶The day was dry and severely hot, and the land glittered in the burning sunlight. ⁷The grove of rubber trees jettisoned leaves falling clear. ⁸Bared, the branches bathed in solemn sunlight. ⁹It was quiet and the wind was still. ¹⁰The leaves and blades of grass weren't moving. ¹¹Sterile coconut trees stood dead, calm, and stunted above the shore. ¹²Everything seemed to surrender to the power of the sun at noon.

¹³They came together, five of them. ¹⁴Walking in front, there was a boy larger than his friends, followed by three more friends, all boys. ¹⁵Keeping up the rear there was a small girl, wearing no shirt. ¹⁶Her cheeks were a deep red from the sun, along with her shoulders and the small of her back, which was bare. ¹⁷All of them were walking along a path covered in dried rubber-tree leaves, which rustled loudly. ¹⁸When they arrived at the mouth of the path, where it dropped to the river bank steeply, they dispersed, hurtling themselves down quickly. ¹⁹The boys cheered as they made it to the shade of the lumpaw. ²⁰They were gasping for breath, like dogs that had been following a monk.

²¹“The water's really clear,” a smaller boy said. ²²“Today, we got here first. Those other guys didn't come yet,” another one said. ²³“Yeah, we won today!” ²⁴“What about you? You look tired,” the biggest boy said to the girl. ²⁵“You wanted to come along so badly. I said it would be hot, but you didn't believe me.” ²⁶His voice was harsh. ²⁷The girl turned her face in another direction and told her foot to scour the sand which caused a deep rut. ²⁸She kept her hair in the style of a horse, cut tidily in a rectangle covering her forehead. ²⁹Low under her arched eyebrows and fine, upturned eyelashes that flicked often, a pair of large, round orbs were radiant. ³⁰Seen from afar, she looked like a big doll with no shirt. ³¹Her complexion was the same as the biggest boy's.

³²“Let's play in the water,” one of them said. ³³“Today, what should we play? Have any ideas?” ³⁴“Want to play stick-diving?” the oldest boy said. ³⁵“OK! Let's!” ³⁶Then, all of the boys, (they) took off their clothes and threw them on a hump of sand, leaving themselves naked. ³⁷The smallest boy ran out and jumped in the water with a loud splash. ³⁸His friends started to follow. ³⁹“Stay in the shallow water. Don't go any deeper, or you'll drown,” the oldest boy warned. ⁴⁰Then he jumped in after them, leaving the girl alone on the beach. ⁴¹The boys swam in the middle of the stream, where the water came up to their necks, but surely the deepest part of the stream was a pool by the beach, under the lumpaw tree. ⁴²That place was at a wide bend in the stream, so it reluctantly flowed in a circle. ⁴³About two meters above the surface of the water, there was a big branch of the lumpaw tree extended low, spreading out, covering. ⁴⁴It was just long enough to reach the middle of the pool. ⁴⁵A large boy swam cutting across the canal in another direction. ⁴⁶Then, he got out, broke off a small branch, carried it, returning to them, swimming, finding his friends who were waiting while shouting loudly. ⁴⁷“Let's play stick-diving! I'll go first!” ⁴⁸When he had finished speaking, he dove under the water with stick in hand. ⁴⁹In a moment, he came up again. ⁵⁰“OK! Who thinks he can find it?” he said in order to start the game. ⁵¹The other boys dove under the water. ⁵²Playing stick-diving therefore began at that moment.

⁵³The current was so slow, gentle, and clear that you could almost count the grains on the bottom. ⁵⁴The little girl went down and put both of her feet in the water, and sadly watched the boys playing stick-diving together. ⁵⁵While this group swam around together, the surface of the water rippled, reinforced itself, and was hurled against the shore as waves. ⁵⁶They were having a great time. ⁵⁷When one of them dove down and stuck in the branch, hiding it in the base of the stream, the others would dive hunting for it, and if anyone was able to find it, then he had the right to chase and hit his friends. ⁵⁸After that, he dove down to hide it again. ⁵⁹They swam and dived until their eyes were murky like the color of blood.

⁶⁰There was a loud clamor from the river landing. ⁶¹She turned and saw four more boys running at top speed toward the water, whooping with delight. ⁶²The newly arrived group hurriedly stripped off their clothes and rushed to join the boys who were in the water, voices all loud. ⁶³The water surface shattered, hurling spray and frothy bubbles. ⁶⁴In just a moment, that canal, (it) became profuse with naked boys.

⁶⁵The girl still sat in the same place, continuing to sweep sand in towards herself and piling it up into raised rows, forming long dikes, joined on four sides in the shape of a rectangle. ⁶⁶“I'll make a house,” she told herself. ⁶⁷The gleam in her eyes was radiant and blooming while she smoothed the sand. ⁶⁸The moist sand was perfect for decorating. ⁶⁹Before very long, she was surrounded by dikes of sand in the shape of a square. ⁷⁰It looked like a small rice paddy with ridges of sand as perimeter berms. ⁷¹“This can be the bedroom,” she said as she made a new ridge, dividing a large block in half. ⁷²“This is the kitchen, and that's mommy and daddy's room.” ⁷³As she decided where the rooms were, the girl piled sand into tall berms, supposing them to be walls. ⁷⁴She did this repeatedly until three small rooms were finished, then moved back, squatted down and looked at what she had made with satisfaction.

⁷⁵The girl's hands and feet were soiled with grains of wet sand. ⁷⁶In her fingernails, there was earth and sand cram packed into black rows. ⁷⁷She inclined her head and pursed her mouth seriously, resembling an engineer who was examining a building under construction. ⁷⁸Wherever she saw that it still wasn't pleasing, she went back and enhanced her design. ⁷⁹She repositioned herself for a moment, consequently turning towards the group of boys again.

⁸⁰“It's here! The stick is here!” ⁸¹She saw one of the boys hold the branch up over his head, then dive back under the water. ⁸²The girl went back to looking at her sand house once again, then gave an excited smile. ⁸³“I'll plant some trees, too,” she said as she ran off towards a wild embankment near the edge of the beach. ⁸⁴She broke off and carried two or three twigs which had three red wildflowers attached. ⁸⁵“This is a mango tree,” she said as she stuck a twig into the sand near the earthen rows. ⁸⁶“Here's a wood-apple tree.” ⁸⁷She put in another stick. ⁸⁸“What would be good here... let's see... A durian tree would be better.” ⁸⁹Having spoken, she stuck in another, (and) in her hand there remained only the brightly-colored flowers. ⁹⁰“This is the front of the house,” she said as she smoothed out the sand. ⁹¹“The front of the house must have some flowers. I'll plant these red rambutan flowers.” ⁹²The wildflowers with twigs attached were stuck in, forming rows in this area. ⁹³Now her house on the sandy ground therefore had red and green bushes in clumps. ⁹⁴She jumped in and sat in one of the squares, while clapping softly. ⁹⁵“It looks nice,” the little girl said happily.

⁹⁶The noontime sun loitered overhead, so the shadow of the lumpaw tree retracted increasingly shorter. ⁹⁷The boys who were playing stick-dive began coming out of the stream. ⁹⁸Each person, (their) hands and feet were sickly pale and mouths as green as the top of a wai-ling tree. ⁹⁹A tough-looking boy from the group which had come later ran up onto the beach, passing dangerously close to the girl's house of sand. ¹⁰⁰The owner of the sand house cried out loudly. ¹⁰¹“Don't step on it! This is my house!” ¹⁰²“Where? What house? That, it's just some sand.” ¹⁰³He halted. ¹⁰⁴“Those flowers are pretty. Give me one!” ¹⁰⁵The boy came up close and snatched one of the wildflowers. ¹⁰⁶The girl jumped up out of the square where she had been sitting. ¹⁰⁷“Don't take that! It's my flower. Give it here!” ¹⁰⁸The boy ran in a circle around the earthen house, holding the flower out tauntingly, baring his teeth at her, like an infant monkey. ¹⁰⁹“It's right here. Come and get it!” he dared her. ¹¹⁰Then he ran back and forth over the sand. ¹¹¹The girl screamed when she saw that her house was now covered with footprints. ¹¹²“You're stupid! Why do you bully me?” ¹¹³She was nearly crying, paralyzed with anger. ¹¹⁴“Come get me, then! Catch me and I'll give you ten bottles and ten whiskers!” the boy incited as he ran down to the water, tore the red flowers into pieces, crumpled them up, and threw them down so they floated away following the water's flow.

¹¹⁵The girl sank back on the sand. ¹¹⁶Tears flowed, dripping. ¹¹⁷She stared at the sand house which was collapsed flat by footprints. ¹¹⁸The flowers which remained were drowning in sand, damaged, and nearly buried. ¹¹⁹She gradually pulled them out carefully and gently wiped off the sand. ¹²⁰“I can build another one,” she said to herself. ¹²¹Then she began digging in the sand again. ¹²²This time, changing from before by being alongside the water, the girl dug sand out from under the water, piling it up to cover her legs. ¹²³Meanwhile, she knit her eyebrows and pondered. ¹²⁴“I'll build a pagoda instead,” she thought, and she scooped up sand, making a big pile, using her hands to decorate it carefully. ¹²⁵The wet sand held itself packed together. ¹²⁶The girl tried to mold it into a small pagoda having a pointy, tapered top. ¹²⁷“It's like a pagoda at the temple; it looks exactly like it!” ¹²⁸She admired her new handiwork, and then, she started in on another pile just like the first one.

¹²⁹The group of boys raced out of the water boisterously. ¹³⁰The surface of the water rolled itself into big waves that successively found the shore. ¹³¹They washed up over the girl's pagoda-shaped sandpile until it caved in, and kept coming in until the tiny sandpile had collapsed flat. ¹³²“It collapsed again!” she cried, glaring after the boys who were headed towards the pool. ¹³³The large boy who liked scolding her ran in the lead. ¹³⁴He led the group climbing up on a branch of the lumpaw tree which was loose. ¹³⁵His mouth then cried out with a loud sound. ¹³⁶“Who's brave enough to come up here? Come jump in the water together!” ¹³⁷The group which was below ran to follow him up, assembling together in rows like a pack of monkeys on the loose. ¹³⁸The lumpaw branch bent down, almost touching the water under their weight. ¹³⁹It began to quiver and sway dangerously. ¹⁴⁰“One, two, three!” the large boy counted off. ¹⁴¹When he finished counting, he hurled himself down into the water with a loud crash. ¹⁴²The smooth surface of the water was smashed into a sparkling froth, while the branch swung back, throwing the other boys into the water on top of one another's necks in chaos. ¹⁴³The pool spun with confusion, almost becoming a mire. ¹⁴⁴The girl lost interest in those kids after that. ¹⁴⁵She went back to scooping up sand. ¹⁴⁶She began to form it into another pagoda. ¹⁴⁷The lines of waves which buffeted did not stop and made it not easy for her to be able to successfully build. ¹⁴⁸Still, she did not quit trying.

¹⁴⁹“What are you doing?” a voice asked loudly from close by. ¹⁵⁰She looked up and saw the smallest boy from her group standing there watching her with suspicion. ¹⁵¹“Why don't you go play with them?” the girl asked. ¹⁵²Then she went back to her work. ¹⁵³“The water's too deep. I'm afraid,” the boy answered. ¹⁵⁴He sat down and watched her with interest. ¹⁵⁵“What are you going to make? I saw you over here making something for a long time,” he asked again. ¹⁵⁶“Making a pagoda,” the girl said. ¹⁵⁷She was trying to make the pointed top, but already, a big wave from the pool, it swept in and caved-in another side. ¹⁵⁸“It's all gone,” the boy said. ¹⁵⁹“It's not all gone,” the girl said. ¹⁶⁰“It's still here.” ¹⁶¹“Soon it will collapse again.” ¹⁶²The boy moved a little closer. ¹⁶³The girl didn't say anything but she moved her seat from the sandy beach down into the water. ¹⁶⁴She sat with her legs spread straddling the sandpile. ¹⁶⁵Now, she could build it more easily because she had her body to block the waves. ¹⁶⁶The kids who kept climbing up on the branch jumped into the water hard and often. ¹⁶⁷Thanks to this game, they really had fun. ¹⁶⁸The pool spun extremely, splashing, shaking, spinning turbulently, and sending waves hurling towards the shore successively. ¹⁶⁹The girl still didn't lose her concentration. ¹⁷⁰Even though her sand pagoda collapsed several times, nevertheless she hurried on with the duty.

¹⁷¹“It collapsed again. It's all gone,” the boy said again, when the tiny pagoda was smoothed flat. ¹⁷²“It's not all gone,” the girl insisted. ¹⁷³“What do you mean? The sand is already gone; you're not listening to me!” ¹⁷⁴The boy didn't understand. ¹⁷⁵“The sand isn't all gone. The sand is still right here,” the girl insisted. ¹⁷⁶“I told you it's gone. It's all washed away, can't you see?” ¹⁷⁷“It's not true,” the girl countered. ¹⁷⁸The girl scooped up more sand. ¹⁷⁹“The sand's still here, see?” ¹⁸⁰She scooped up some sand for him to see. ¹⁸¹“They say it comes with the water. Sand comes with the water every day. It will never run out. We have to keep building,” she said with confidence.

¹⁸²“And then it will collapse again. Those guys are still playing in the water. Soon, waves, they'll come aagain.” ¹⁸³“So we'll build it again. If we make it as big as the pagoda in the temple, it can't be destroyed. Waves may come, but they won't collapse it. If it collapses, it wouldn't be total,” the girl spoke, her eyes shining brightly. ¹⁸⁴“If we build a big pile...” ¹⁸⁵The boy repeated the words. ¹⁸⁶He was quiet for a moment, then spoke again. ¹⁸⁷“You know—it's true. If we make it as tall as the pagoda in the temple, it won't get washed away.” ¹⁸⁸He nodded and leaned down, digging in the sand. ¹⁸⁹His hands were bigger and stronger, so he could scoop up a lot each time. ¹⁹⁰“We'll make it as tall as any pagoda!” ¹⁹¹“That's right,” the girl nodded. ¹⁹²“Then I'll get some red flowers to put at the top of it, too.” ¹⁹³Her tone of voice was excited. ¹⁹⁴Then, the two of them, (they) laughed loudly, together.

¹⁹⁵The stream was still flowing slowly along. ¹⁹⁶The group of boys still had not quit bounding into the water. ¹⁹⁷The sun blazed over them like a halo in the sky, pouring brilliant, radiant rays on the water, and along the narrow beach, two children speedily constructed their sandpile, which was a giant task.