7PHIRUN WAVED GOODBYE to his friends, who watched him go inside the mini-school bus, with such resolve that would make one think the boy would not see them ever again. It would be after two months when a new school year would begin. As if not satisfied by his action before the bus started moving, Phirun stuck his small head out of the window to look back at the group he left behind at the gate where several young boys and girls were also waiting for their cars or school bus. Phirun sighed, then turning it into something like a hum at the end. This signified he was really happy. He settled in his seat and thought of the great day he had in school—another pleasant day. He had been thinking a lot less of Cambodia, of Group 42, and of his mother ever since he attended school in the Philippines
