The Cloak of Good Fortune - Snap Classic

Sieu is a young boy living in the big city of Phnom Penh, but he misses his old life in the Cambodian countryside. The air, the farms, but mostly… the animals. When the Khmer Rouge promises a return to the land, Sieu has no idea how far he and his family will have to go. This story recounts aspects of the Khmer Rouge civil war including scenes of torture and death. Sensitive listeners, please be advised. BIG thanks to Sieu Do for sharing your story with us! There is so much that we were not able to share with you about Sieu and his family’s incredible journey. To find out more check out his book, A Cloak of Good Fortune. https://www.amazon.com/Cloak-Good-Fortune-Cambodian-paradise/dp/1733181903 Produced by Nikka Singh, original score by Renzo Gorrio, artwork by Teo Ducot Snap Classic - Season 15 - Episode 54 Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:08Glynn Washington?

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• 0:53Glynn Washington?

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• 1:32Glynn Washington?

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• 2:26Glynn Washington?

  My mother and I, ever since I was a teenager, we haven't really been on the same page. About religion, values, relationships, nothing really. We haven't been able to close this circle. And that's why a story that a friend of mine, she told a little while ago, why it was such a gift to me. A long time ago, before Uber, before everybody had a cell. My friend, she was flying into Detroit and couldn't get ahold of me. I was at my mama's place for some reason, so she called my mother. She asked if I was gonna come pick her up from the airport. And my mama said, "I have no idea, baby. I don't know what that boy's up to."

• 3:10Glynn Washington?

  And my friend's like, "Oh, no. He said he was gonna pick me up." And then my mom's was like, "Oh, honey, if he said he was gonna do it, that's different. You ain't got nothing to worry about. It's already done. He gonna meet you wherever he said he gonna meet you. Believe that. Because that boy, that boy's a blessing." And when my friend told me this story, I had to stop her. Wait a minute. My mother said "I" was a blessing? Are you sure that's the word she used? Because that word means something very specific to my mama. "I told you." She said you were a blessing. Then I had to be quiet for a while and sit with that

• 3:55Glynn Washington?

  because I never had any notion she thought of our relationship as anything other than a challenge, an obstacle, maybe even a burden. But she views our situation very differently, as a blessing to her. And since then, I've tried to use her word for our quarrels, for our misunderstandings, even for our silences. A blessing. I've tried to use it in all sorts of situations. And it turns out that I am wrapped in more blessings than I ever imagined.

• 4:37Glynn Washington?

  For Dan Snap Judgment, one story from one person who counts his own blessings in a way I never would have imagined. We proudly present The Cloak of Good Fortune.

• 4:51Glynn Washington?

  My name is Dan Washington, and I will not pick you up from the airport

• 4:56Glynn Washington?

  when you're listening

• 5:00Glynn Washington?

  to Snap Judgment.

• 5:40Glynn Washington?

  We begin in the capital of Cambodia, where a young boy is just starting to see the effects of a simmering conflict and know that this journey recounts aspects of the Khmer Rouge Civil War that have been erased from history. The tortures, the deaths, the sacrifices. And while sensitive listeners should be advised about this very real backdrop, please understand that at its heart, today's story is about a kid trying to make his way.

• 6:12Glynn Washington?

  Snap Judgment.

• 6:14Speaker 01

  We begin to see people gathering on the street and then carrying their belongings. So my mom stopped them and asked, "What's going on?" And they told us that they escaped to the city for their safety.

• 6:32Speaker 01

  The rumor was that there was wars going on in the countryside.

• 6:40Speaker 02

  Su had grown up in a village in the Cambodian countryside. And if he'd had any choice in the matter, he'd still be there.

• 6:47Speaker 01

  Where I grew up in Kampung Spu, at that time, me and my brother was running, laughing, swimming and catching fish and shrimps at the river and ducking clams at the hot sands. And we have so much fun. I just miss that so much. And I don't really like the city life at all.

• 7:12Speaker 02

  Su's parents were well-educated. They spoke multiple languages and wanted even more for their four kids. So they moved the family to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. There, Su had private tutors, learning French, Chinese, and Cambodian. He even went to three different schools.

• 7:30Speaker 01

  So, one afternoon after school, on the way back home, I passed by a store and I saw hatching baby ducklings.

• 7:43Speaker 01

  It was amazing to see all those living beings coming out, so sweet. And I stood by the window and looked at the store and no one was there, but only the baby duck was like, you know, running in the tray. And then I heard something. Beep, beep, beep, something like that. And then I thought, wait a minute. I thought the ducklings are in the tray, in the room, inside their store. How could I hear something outside?

• 8:14Speaker 02

  In the alley beside the shop, Su saw a large trash can, and it was overflowing with hundreds of crushed gooey eggshells.

• 8:22Speaker 01

  I hate the smell because it's so dirty. But I heard that sound come from that can. So I was curious. Something must be going on in this trash can. And so I stepped forward to remove the cover. And I looked carefully. Then I saw something was moving.

• 8:42Speaker 01

  I decided to put my hand inside the trash can and I never do this before because I don't like dirty things. And it was yellow color.

• 8:52Speaker 02

  So half buried in that trash was a little peeping duckling and it was still alive.

• 8:59Speaker 01

  At first, I didn't see the duck's face carefully. I only see the body was still moving. And I thought, oh my god, that was a baby duck. It's just like about the size of my thumbs. And all my thought is about helping this little creature to make sure that he's safe and alive. I don't want him to die. But when I look carefully, oh my god, he's big. It's deformed. It's not normal. And there was bubble coming out from his nose. I was worried that he was choking. Then I immediately peel out all the shells and all the slimy saliva, something.

• 9:41Speaker 01

  I just wash it away with my hand to make sure that he could breathe.

• 9:47Speaker 01

  He was trembling and shaking and I was putting him against my chest with my two hands wrapping around him. And I ran straight home.

• 10:00Speaker 01

  So the moment my mom saw it, she's like, oh my god, he's so ugly. And I told my mom, he's just a little duck. Please don't say that he's ugly. I just told my mom like that. And so my mom said, okay, okay, so what do you want me to do for this little baby duck? I was so worried that she's going to reject me to take care of this little duckling. I said, Mom, I promise you, please, I promise you, I won't bother you. I will take care of him myself. And all I need is just a little box and give him some food to make him stay healthy.

• 10:42Speaker 01

  I decided to name him Curly Beak. Because his beak on the top is curly, like this, open. So it's hard for him to eat, you know. So I have to nurse him, I have to feed him. So I got like a syringe and I pumped some rice juice and I injected into his mouth three times a day as a meal for him.

• 11:08Speaker 02

  Each day that Sue fed him, Curly Beak got bigger and got stronger. And soon, he was running around on his own.

• 11:15Speaker 01

  Whenever I look at him, he know that this is the time that he can get food. So he always like speeding up toward me. And sometime, I let him jump to my lap and sit down so I can pat him.

• 11:32Speaker 01

  So I love Curly Beak very much. And I feel like we both have the same fate. Because the day I was born, there was a lot of chaos.

• 11:43Speaker 02

  Like Curly Beak, Sue almost wasn't. The day he was born, nothing was according to plan. The taxi somehow showed up and got a flat tire and didn't have a spare in sight. And there was no local doctor that could make it to their small house in time. So his grandmother was just rushing around the street, trying to find anyone to help.

• 12:02Speaker 01

  And finally, she found a midwife. And she brought her to my mom and helped her delivery.

• 12:10Speaker 01

  And she pulled me out from my mother's womb. And because I was still encaged in the amniotic sac, my grandmother declared I was born with a cloak of good fortune.

• 12:28Speaker 02

  And growing up, he actually learned to believe that.

• 12:31Speaker 01

  I have a feeling like wherever I go, I'm not starving at all. I'm not afraid of getting harmed because I feel like...

• 12:43Speaker 01

  I was born protected.

• 12:46Speaker 02

  So he went all over, wandering the streets of Phnom Penh, sometimes by himself and other times with a friend.

• 12:53Speaker 01

  Chabli is a special friend of mine. He's a very artistic. He draw cartoon very special. He draw beautiful pictures. So he said, "Sue, let's go to my house. I have lots of picture I want to show you." And that was after school. It was around like 3:30. And we were walking back to his home near a theater called Kim Hong. That theater is very well-known in our city. And so on the way back, the street was very crowded and bicycling. It was like people get off from school, parent pick up kids, you know. It's very crowded. And I was very happy, talking and laughing. I was very excited.

• 13:35Speaker 01

  And as soon as we passed by the Kim Hong's theater, suddenly it was like boom, boom like that. And Chabli and I was like, "Oh, my God, what's going on here?" And we heard a doll say, "Lay down, lay down flat on the ground." And I realized, "Oh, my God, that was bomb." And then we saw people rush out from the theater and people screaming. There was blood all over the body and the whole neighborhood was in a chaos.

• 14:03Speaker 01

  I was trembling. I said, "We have to go home." So I just jumped and ran home.

• 14:09Speaker 01

  The war has been raging for the past many years. But then this time, as I'm running home, I realized that

• 14:21Speaker 01

  the war is now here in the city.

• 14:25Speaker 02

  He ran through the smoke and the debris, stumbling over abandoned bicycles and bodies as he made his way home.

• 14:33Speaker 01

  My mom was standing at the door, waiting for me to come home, and she gave me a hug right away there.

• 14:40Speaker 02

  He was home safe, but the bombs kept coming. They all hid in their house, and Sue stopped going out to school. Then there was this one morning in spring where something felt different.

• 14:54Speaker 01

  So, one day, no more bomb explosion. We saw soldiers wearing black pants and shirts and wearing red towel kramah and holding AK-47. And they were our hero. When we were so happy, we were running out on the street. We clap our hands, we scream, shouting, cheering. "Jyo, Jyo!" "Jyo" is like "Bravo, Bravo!" "Serepib, Serepib!" Like "Peace, Peace!" Some people calling in French, "Labe, Labe!" And welcome them as they marched into our city.

• 15:36Speaker 01

  And then I look around like, "Wow, this is so beautiful. The country has no more war." I was like, I was almost in tears. Like, people are so yearning for peace for so many years. Now it's really come. Our dream is coming true now. I can go back to school. I can get my normal life again. I can live a normal life again without any worry about the war.

• 16:02Speaker 02

  The Khmeru soldiers had secured the capital, and their trucks and armaments rolled in.

• 16:09Speaker 01

  We saw soldiers were all over in our neighborhoods, and we were still happy. And one of the soldiers put a megaphone at his mouth.

• 16:22Speaker 01

  "People of Phnom Penh, our capital city has been liberated by our courageous soldiers. You must all leave home right now. The American people is going to drop bombs. You don't need to take your belongings. You will come back home in three days. Long live Kampuchia!

• 16:47Speaker 01

  Suddenly, everybody became chaotic on the street, and I didn't know what happened. So I just, I began to run home.

• 17:00Glynn Washington?

  Don't go anywhere, snappers. On Return, find out what happens to Su, his family, and the capital of Phnom Penh. Stay tuned.

• 17:13Speaker 03

  At Radiolab, we love nothing more than nerding out about science. Neuroscience, chemistry.

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• 17:36Speaker 04

  And hopefully, make you see the world anew.

• 17:38Speaker 03

  Radiolab: Adventures on the Edge of What We Think We Know.

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  Wherever you get your podcasts.

• 17:43Glynn Washington?

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• 18:25Glynn Washington?

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• 19:07Glynn Washington?

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• 20:08Glynn Washington?

  Welcome back to Snap Judgment, the Cloak of Good Fortune episode. Since of listeners should note, the following segment does include depictions of war, including the death of animals and people. The last we left, Su just heard the order to evacuate the city from Le Camer Rouge.

• 20:28Speaker 01

  Suddenly, everybody became chaotic on the street and I didn't know what happened. So I just, I began to run home.

• 20:39Speaker 02

  When Su got back to his house, his family was already scrambling.

• 20:43Speaker 01

  I didn't know what to take, but then mom said, hey, Su, get your white striped shirt and one for your brother, too. Those shirts can protect you from mosquito bite and the sunburn. And so I ran there too into my closet and grabbed two striped shirts, one for my brother Chen and one for me.

• 21:02Speaker 02

  He packed 10 sardine cans and his favorite pair of sandals. He also tried to grab his two favorite chickens, but once he actually held them in his hands, he knew he wouldn't be able to carry them.

• 21:13Speaker 01

  And so I went down to my kitchen. I grabbed a lot of rice and I took it upstairs and I threw a lot of rice in the cage for them to eat. Usually I don't feed them like that. I want to make sure that three days is enough for them to eat. So I say goodbye to them and they seems to understand something is going wrong.

• 21:33Speaker 02

  He left his house and he and his family joined the throng of people walking towards the Monty Von Bridge. It would carry them out of the city and back into the countryside.

• 21:43Speaker 01

  And so we marched along the road with thousands and thousands of people. The street, the street, there was no space for you to sit down. Everyone was just like, like, like, like move forward toward the countryside. And Mama and Papa kept telling me that you have to look around for someone. Look around for, for, for our relative, for your grandma, for your uncle, if you find them. You know, everybody screaming and shouting on the street, looking for their loved one. And I saw kids like get lost on the street, like five or six years old, crying, screaming. The whole scene was just unbelievable.

• 22:27Speaker 02

  The Khmer Rouge soldiers were surrounding them, funneling them over the bridge.

• 22:31Speaker 01

  As we walked by them, I was holding my grandfather's hand. And their AK-47 pointing at us, holding their megaphone, shouting at us. Keep going, no stop. Keep going, no stop.

• 22:55Speaker 01

  As the night began to get darker, we would all stop on the road. And we sat on the black asphalt. Everybody was jammed on the street. There was no place for us to stretch our body. We have to sit and cuddle each other. And my mom and my father told us that, don't worry, we just hang in there. We can make it. We will return home in three days.

• 23:34Speaker 01

  I was startled awake by a loud noise. It's time to move forward. Keep going forward.

• 23:42Speaker 05

  American is going to drop bombs.

• 23:45Speaker 01

  So we have no choice. We keep moving forward.

• 23:50Speaker 02

  They stayed on the road marching, stopping only to eat their ration of rice gruel.

• 23:55Speaker 01

  Only a little bit of rice and full of water.

• 23:58Speaker 02

  To lay down and try and sleep.

• 24:00Speaker 01

  I couldn't walk anymore. I was trembling.

• 24:05Speaker 02

  And all along the way, they would run into the Khmer Rouge, who would force them to gather for re-education.

• 24:11Speaker 01

  The first meeting we had with the Khmer Rouge soldiers was at the temple.

• 24:18Speaker 01

  There was a bonfire. We were there with a couple Khmer soldiers standing there and telling us that we have to think to Anghar.

• 24:30Speaker 05

  We must think to Anghar. We have won the war. But we must work harder. There's a lot to be done. Because cutting a weed is not enough. It must be pulled up by the roots. We have to rebuild our country.

• 24:48Speaker 02

  The Khmer Rouge had a plan to erase all the trappings of the society: the culture, the music, and especially any outside influence. They were going to make the country start again at year zero.

• 25:01Speaker 05

  Remember, the land is our school, the soil is our paper, the plough is our pen. We will write our history in our blood and sweat. Revolutionary Army, long live Kampuchea! Long live Kampuchea!

• 25:20Speaker 02

  Even though they were always hungry and utterly exhausted, they shouted along out of fear. Because if their revolutionary spirit wasn't strong enough...

• 25:28Speaker 01

  A Khmer Rouge soldier came to look for someone in your family and they told you that you have to go with me. That means that that person will be killed or never return.

• 25:45Speaker 01

  One day, it was my lucky day. I was feeling very tired and exhausted as I walked to the river to fetch the water. And I saw a little piglet run by me.

• 26:00Speaker 01

  And I was so happy, I know that, "Oh my god, I'm going to have a big meal", because I was so starving. And so I chased this little piglet, and he was running. He was about like, I would say, 10 pounds. You know, speeding passed by. I grabbed his leg, and then his other leg was kicking me, and I fell down on the ground. And then I stood up and I chased him again until we reached to the river.

• 26:28Speaker 01

  So I kind of like blocking him, so lure him toward the water. Then the piglet decided like, "Okay, he's going to jump into the water and swim." And then I realized that he cannot swim anymore. He gets stuck in the water, and the torrent was like, keep hitting him, so making him move very slow, and I grabbed him.

• 26:50Speaker 01

  And suddenly, I was like, I was in shock, that what I'm holding was a living being in my arm. He was looking at me, and his tear came out from his eyes. And I heard his heartbeat like boom, boom, boom, against my chest. And I felt like, "That was not me. What's wrong with me?" And I suddenly forgot all the food, all the tasty food that I'm about to eat him. And I decided to let him go. I said, "I'm so sorry."

• 27:25Speaker 01

  And the little piglet just ran straight, didn't look back.

• 27:32Speaker 01

  And I was very afraid of myself at that time. "How could I do this?

• 27:38Speaker 01

  That was not me."

• 27:46Speaker 02

  They kept getting shuffled around with no fixed end in sight, until they were finally told the place they would call home. It was called Jatil Village. And to their surprise, it sounded a lot like what the Khmer Rouge had always promised, and his whole family was overjoyed. It was gonna be like going back to that same village that Sue grew up in.

• 28:06Speaker 01

  The moment I heard that we were allowed to move into Jatil Village, I looked at my grandfather and I told him that we no longer worry about food, grandpa. I can grow papaya, sugar canes, beans and guava.

• 28:25Speaker 01

  We all smiled. We know that we are no longer starving.

• 28:36Speaker 01

  When we first moved into Jatil Village, I got so excited. I said, "Grandpa, we're going to live in there, that those houses there, and we can grow something." But my heart suddenly dropped when I saw the huts that we were about to live in, with just like holes and the roof was detached. And we were surrounded by hundred and hundred of termite hills.

• 29:11Speaker 01

  It was nothing the same like Kampungspur where I grew up.

• 29:19Speaker 01

  Daily life at Jatil was like this.

• 29:23Speaker 01

  We woke up at 5:00 a.m. before the daybreak. The Khmer Rouge bell would bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, dong, dong, dong. And there was a broadcasting radio.

• 29:38Speaker 05

  You have to work if you want to live. Those who refuse to work and make sacrifices will be crushed by the will of the revolution. Long live Onkar! Long live revolution!

• 29:51Speaker 01

  And then they would play revolutionary songs.

• 30:09Speaker 01

  Then the whole time we were working and the Khmer Rouge song keep playing.

• 30:16Speaker 02

  That song roughly translated goes like this. "We are the group of young girls who help transport food supplies and ammunition to the front lines as American imperialism melts away and is completely destroyed." Su and his older brother Chen would work all day from sunup to sundown with two breaks for rice gruel. And every night, they went to their forced re-education meeting. It's where they'd be coerced into snitching on their family and their neighbors, and sometimes made to watch torture.

• 30:50Speaker 01

  The scariest part of the meeting, one time Uncle Chuan stole the rice from the Khmer Rouge warehouse, and he got caught. They tied a rope on his neck and pulled him to the ground. And Uncle Chuan was begging for mercy.

• 31:18Speaker 01

  He kept screaming and saying that he would never do that again, he promised.

• 31:26Speaker 01

  And the Khmer Rouge, he shouted at us and he said, "You all, look at this. This is the consequence of the punishment." And Uncle Chuan's body was covered with a lot of blood and bruises.

• 31:44Speaker 01

  And I would say that up to these days, his screaming and crying still live with me.

• 31:57Speaker 02

  Uncle Chwan had stolen the rice because they weren't actually allowed to eat the food they grew. That was being shipped off to soldiers on the front lines, or that's what they were told. Su's family was desperate. And then one day, he heard about a cassava field the Khmer Rouge had just harvested. He went in search of it for scraps and leftovers. There, he found an old man, sitting near the field, smoking a cigarette.

• 32:21Speaker 01

  And I asked him politely, "Can I get into the field to collect some cassava scraps?" He nodded his head, and he threw the cigarette away, and he walked away. And I thought he was a nice guy. I entered the field. "My god, I found so many leftover cassava. That is a treasure to me, because we were starving. How could this be? Lots of cassava still there, big or small, it's still there." So, I was wearing my white striped shirt, and I pulling them out to make them as a bag, so I can put all the cassava against my belly, and I hold it.

• 33:06Speaker 01

  I got a lot, plenty of them. Suddenly, someone behind me said, "Thief, don't run, I'm gonna shoot you. Stay still, stay still." I turned around and looked, and there was a Khmer Rouge with a gun in his hand. So, my whole body was trembling, and I was like, I didn't know what to do. These are so treasure to me, these potatoes. I'm starving, I want to take it home. Then I didn't listen to him, I just start running. Then I trapped, and I fell down. I couldn't stand up, because my body was trembling like this, and my cassava was spread all over on the ground. And I tried very hard to stand up.

• 33:49Speaker 01

  I told myself, "I don't want to die." Then I stood up, and I start running, and running, and I heard bam bam bam from behind. I hide myself, behind a big tree. Then I heard the footsteps, with the step on the crunchy leaf, a dry leaf. And I heard that stepping, I heard bam bam bam bam.

• 34:13Speaker 02

  The soldier was trying to scare him out of hiding, but Su waited him out, until all he could hear was the chirping of the birds and the silence.

• 34:23Speaker 01

  I thought it was okay now, so I began to come out. And then, as I'm running toward the village, I saw the guy was standing there in the middle of the road with a rifle and pointing at me.

• 34:40Speaker 02

  He began running zigzagging across the field, desperately trying to make it to his house without being hit.

• 34:46Speaker 01

  The moment I stepped into the cottage, I didn't want him to recognize my shirt. So I took off my striped shirt and I changed the green shirt on. And I start looking through the bamboo hole of the cottage. And I saw the guy keep coming with a gun ready in his hand. So I decided to jump out of the cottage through the front door. I was so scared. I didn't want to look back. And I ran away from the cottage so that he may not know that I was the one that he was after.

• 35:28Speaker 01

  So a few hours later, I came back home. I just like, "Oh, my God, it's a big relief. This guy couldn't get me. I'm so happy." So I stepped into the cottage and I asked Papa, Grandpa, "Where is everybody?" "Oh, they were pulled to a meeting urgently." He said, "Don't go. You can stay home. You don't have to go." I said, "No, Grandpa. I want to see what happened to the meeting." So then, in the darkness, I walked into the meeting at the edge of the village. And there was about 200 peoples surrounded the bonfire.

• 36:04Speaker 01

  It was a big flame in the middle of the meeting. And there was three Khmeru soldiers. One of them was holding a gun and stood next to Brother Chan.

• 36:16Speaker 01

  My mother was running toward the fire. And she asked for mercy, that my son is still young. "Please forgive him. Please forgive him."

• 36:32Speaker 01

  And it took me for a while to realize that Brother Chan was wearing a striped shirt like mine.

• 36:53Glynn Washington?

  When we return, find out what happens to Brother Chen. Stay tuned.

• 37:18Glynn Washington?

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• 38:50Glynn Washington?

  Welcome back to Snap Judgment, the Cloak of Good Fortune episode. My name is Glynn Washington, and since of listeners should note, the following segment does include depictions of war, including the death of animals and people. When last we left, we had just learned that Sue had gotten away from the Khmer Rouge, but his brother had been mistakenly caught and was now about to be tried. Snap Judgment.

• 39:24Speaker 01

  And it was a big flame in the middle of the meeting, and there was three Khmer Rouge soldiers. One of them was holding a gun and stood next to brother Chen. My mother was running toward the fire, and she asked for mercy, that my son is still young, please forgive him, please forgive him.

• 39:53Speaker 01

  I was relieved at first. I thought that I was out of this danger, but then when I saw my brother was arrested, I wanted to turn myself in, and I want to admit that was me, that my brother was innocent, and he got caught for no reason. But I don't want to make the situation worse. I don't want them to look stupid, that a young kid outsmarted them, because they may kill the whole family.

• 40:30Speaker 01

  My mom and my dad kneeled down and begging the Khmer Rouge that, please let my son go. He doesn't know anything, he's still young, but I promise you that he wouldn't steal again. I know something bad is going to happen to brother Chen, and I could no longer watch it. So I ran back home, and I hit myself in the backyard. So the moment my father stepped into the house, my father yelled at me, shouting at me, that, "You must be the one who stole the cassava." But as soon as I tried to explain to my father...

• 41:16Speaker 01

  He said, "Shut up, don't say anything."

• 41:20Speaker 01

  And then later, my father covered his face. And he said, "Oh God, I don't know what to do." He was covering his face and cried.

• 41:34Speaker 02

  Brother Chan was spared, but now their family knew they had drawn the attention of the Khmer Rouge and spies began to follow them.

• 41:43Speaker 01

  I was in tears, yes. I was scared at that time, but I was happy that he didn't die.

• 41:54Speaker 01

  So, one day after the meeting, Khmer Rouge announced that all the villagers has to move to a new location to open a new land, open a new jungle. Except our family were told to stay behind.

• 42:11Speaker 01

  That morning, we say goodbye to all the villagers. They stood in line and marching slowly. The Khmer Rouge accompanied them with their rifle in their hand. And then we were warned by the Khmer Rouge that you cannot go anywhere. You stay here, wait until two weeks later. When I come back, I will tell you where you have to go.

• 42:32Speaker 01

  So my father already know something is not right. Something is badly will happen to us.

• 42:43Speaker 01

  That same night, I hear the sound of bicycle come in. I saw a soldiers with a rifle under the moonlight. I thought, "That's it, they come to kill us."

• 43:02Speaker 01

  The next thing I heard was a man's voice calling my fathers. He called, "Heng, heng, chomao, chomao, come down, come down."

• 43:15Speaker 01

  Then I realized that that was Uncle Barnes. That was the voice of Uncle Barnes, he's coming.

• 43:22Speaker 01

  Uncle Ban was my father's childhood friend. Now he's a Khmer Rouge. And they whisper to each other. And right after, my father said, "Okay, it's time to pack, and we have to leave right away. There's no time to think about anything, because otherwise the Khmer Rouge will execute our family."

• 43:44Speaker 02

  That is why they'd been left behind. And now, they'd have to make a break for it.

• 43:50Speaker 01

  He quickly found a stick, and he threw the map on the ground. He told my father that we have to reach the Diamond Village on time. There was a group of Vietnamese villagers on their way to Vietnam. That was our last chance to survive.

• 44:15Speaker 02

  He told them to hurry, but to be careful once they got to the border. It was there that the Khmer Rouge had planted a field of landmines.

• 44:22Speaker 01

  And then Uncle Ban said goodbye.

• 44:26Speaker 01

  My father lead us across the wood. And during the day, we hid ourselves in, under the big trees, sometime under the foliage. And then nighttime, we mostly rely on the moonlight. Whenever we see some flashlight or something like flashing, we have to really lie flat on the ground until that light is gone. And then my father would tell us, "Okay, now we're ready to move on." It was very hard, but we tried. We trying to find the trail to keep going. There's no time to think about anything. We have no other choice.

• 45:10Speaker 02

  Eventually, they reached a group of war-torn cottages.

• 45:14Speaker 01

  And my father told me and Brother Chan and Grandpa to sleep separately. So just in case, if they capture one group, the other would get away. After Grandpa, Brother Chan, and I settled,

• 45:32Speaker 01

  I walked to the back of the building. And just as I was about to relieve myself, I heard a wiggling sounds in the trees.

• 45:46Speaker 01

  I thought the Camiru is hiding somewhere around here.

• 45:50Speaker 01

  Then, under the moonlight, I saw a giant rooster landing on the top of the trees. A beautiful rooster.

• 46:02Speaker 01

  This is the kind of rooster that I I wanted to show it to my friends.

• 46:11Speaker 01

  That was the rooster that I really loved and would keep it as a pet for myself. But I was so hungry.

• 46:22Speaker 01

  And I slowly inch forward. I snatch it and I pull it down off the tree. And the rooster was struggling to get free from me and with his claws scratching my body and I was like holding it very tight. And then the rooster stopped moving and his arm went limp. So I dropped it to the ground.

• 46:56Speaker 01

  After I picked it up, I hold it carefully and run toward my father. Papa, papa! And my father was smiling. I have never seen him smile so happy. My father dig the ground and make a hole and he cooked the chicken under the ground for us.

• 47:17Speaker 01

  I kept chewing it for a long time. I didn't want to swallow it. And I was so happy to see everyone having a good meal. I felt like I was a hero.

• 47:31Speaker 01

  But right after the dinner,

• 47:35Speaker 01

  I gradually feel pain, you know, scratch in my body that was very painful. And then I begin to think about how could I kill this living being who was trying to hide himself for his safety in the tree? And I took his life.

• 47:58Speaker 01

  That was not who I am. Just because of the food, that's how I have to do something, to kill something in order to survive.

• 48:12Speaker 01

  I have learned during the Khmer Rules is that no matter how hard we try to be a good person, the value of our life can be turned upside down in no time.

• 48:31Speaker 01

  We arrive at the Rocky Diamond Village around noon. No one was there, the whole village was empty.

• 48:42Speaker 01

  And I see my mother's face look so worried and she asked Papa, "What happened if we miss this Vietnamese group?" My father kept quiet for a second and he said, "Just wait and see, they will be here."

• 49:03Speaker 01

  As we were about to go to sleep, then we heard from the distance the cowbells.

• 49:13Speaker 01

  "Glock long, Glock long, Glock long" from the distance. My father was so happy, he jumped up, he said, "They are here, they are here."

• 49:22Speaker 02

  The Vietnamese farmers had special permission to cross over the border back into Vietnam. When Sue's father asked if they could join them, the farmers agreed.

• 49:33Speaker 01

  We stayed on the road for a few days. We walked through the heat of the sun and the rainstorms. And finally, we reached the point where we can see the Vietnamese flag

• 49:47Speaker 01

  on the other side of the border.

• 49:52Speaker 01

  My father was jumping and shouting that, "We are here, we make it, we make it," and I was so happy.

• 50:04Speaker 01

  Yeah. I was holding my grandfather's hand and we were all cheerful.

• 50:13Speaker 02

  The border was only two miles away.

• 50:15Speaker 01

  We were about to reach to the Vietnamese border. Suddenly, there was two robbers dressed in black, holding rifle pointing at us and said, "Give me your gold. I'm going to shoot you. Give me your gold."

• 50:33Speaker 01

  And people behind us didn't know what happened. They thought that the Khmer Rouge is come and arrest us and going to kill us. And they just like run toward a different direction, trying to escape. And suddenly, a bomb exploded, boom! And some people run toward right and other people run left. At that chaotic moment, I hear my father said, "Follow me, follow me." And my father and my mom are holding my younger brother and sister. And I grabbed my grandfather and my father said, "Don't stop. Keep coming. Keep running. Keep running." The bomb constantly went off and the explosion was hot.

• 51:13Speaker 01

  The air was nasty and the soil was dropping like rain falling upon us. We keep running and running. The bomb explosion died down. We saw the Vietnamese flag hanging in the border.

• 51:32Speaker 01

  We were so fearful that they are going to get us. But finally, we just put our feet into the land of Vietnam.

• 51:43Speaker 01

  We were all relieved and I can see my mom's some smile on her face.

• 51:51Speaker 01

  But at the same time, she turned around and smiled. At the same time, she burst in tear and looking back to land of Cambodia, our country, our beloved country. And she waved her hand and say goodbye to Cambodia.

• 52:13Speaker 01

  I never forget that.

• 52:41Glynn Washington?

  A very, very big thank you to Sue Doe for sharing this story with the Snap. He and his family, they settled in Vietnam where they tried to find a sense of normalcy, while also grieving for the dozens of family members that perished under the Khmer Rouge. There is so much of this story we were not able to share with you about Sue and his family's incredible journey, but if you want to know more, please check out his book, A Cloak of Good Fortune. You can find the link at our website, snapjudgment.org. The original score for this story was by Renzo Goryeo. It was produced by Nikka Singh.

• 53:43Glynn Washington?

  It happened again, and we got here together. If you missed even a moment of today's show, know that there is so much more incredible storytelling, incredible worlds waiting for you to explore. Subscribe to the Snap Judgment Podcast wherever you get your podcasts, because it might just change your life.

• 54:06Glynn Washington?

  Snap is brought to you by the team that always acts respectfully when entering someone's home. Except for the Uber producer, Mr. Mark Vristich. He insists upon singing random songs at the top of his lungs. There's Pat McSweeney-Miller, Anna Sussman, Renzo Goryeo, John Facio, Shayna Shealy, Marissa Dodge, Nikka Singh, Taylor Decot, Leon Morimoto, Flo Wiley, Nancy Lopez, and Regina Bediako.

• 54:37Glynn Washington?

  And this is not the news. No way is this the news. In fact, you could see that one guy from high school, and he could see you. And you could look at each other real hard, and then keep on walking by without saying a word, and you would still, still, not be as far away from the news as this is. But this is PRX.