The Rent Collector

Sang is furious with Sopeap and confronts her at their next lesson. Sopeap explains that she did not want to “spoil” (160) their lessons, maintaining that she planned to eventually tell Sang. Sopeap explains that nothing can be done for her, and Sang tells her to go home to rest but Sopeap refuses. She tells Sang that she will be there for their lessons every day until Sang is ready or until Sopeap dies.

Sang tries to enjoy her lessons, to soak in everything Sopeap teaches her, but she finds it hard to concentrate. She tries to talk about it with Ki, who gently tells Sang that it is not Sopeap who is the problem. Sang realizes that she is being selfish. She thinks it’s “ironic […] Sopeap is the one dying” but that she feels sorry for herself because Sopeap “doesn’t mind that she’ll be leaving” (162).

During their next lesson, Sopeap promises to bring Sang one of her favorite stories. However, Nisay gets extremely sick, so Sang frantically tries to get him to a doctor, finally ending up at the National Children’s Hospital. Sang tries to explain about Nisay’s constant illness, but the doctor is too busy to listen. Sang is not angry, however, only grateful that the doctor said Nisay is only dehydrated.

After Sang returns home, she dreams again of the man beckoning her and the dump covered in snow. When she awakes, Sang begins preparing dinner and suddenly realizes the identity of the man in her dreams. The man is Bunna Heng, the healer in her village. Sang becomes convinced that she must take Nisay to her home village and visit Bunna Heng.

Sang and Ki prepare for their trip, hiding all the possessions they are not taking with them. Sang has not yet seen Sopeap, and she alternates between worry over her and anxiety for Nisay. As they prepare to leave, Sopeap arrives. She gives Sang a book for Nisay, and Sang asks her about what she thinks happens when they die. Sopeap says she is not sure, and Sang is not either, but Sopeap urges her to be guided by the “poet Hunt” who declares there are “two worlds: the world that we can measure with line and rule, and the world that we feel with our hearts and imagination” (174). Sopeap and Sang then say goodbye. 

Sang and Ki’s bus ride is difficult; there is no air conditioning, and Nisay fusses, disturbing the other passengers. Eventually, Sang begins reading to Nisay from the book Sopeap gave her, a collection of “short stories from India and Southeast Asia” (178).

Sang begins with a story called “Tiger Road” about a man stalking a tiger that has killed his horse, leaving him stranded. The story tells of the man’s revenge: He follows the tiger to its lair and then burns it, forcing the tiger, its mate, and their two cubs out. The man is unable to kill the tiger because a piece of burning ash momentarily blinds him. This only angers him more, and he tracks the tigers and kills them all, but not before the tigress wounds and cripples him.

Sang worries that they are disturbing the other passengers, but she realizes that the story enthralls them, including a well-dressed businessman who was furious about the bus’s lack of air conditioning and clearly annoyed by Nisay’s cries. The story brings the passengers together, and they beg Sang to finish the story before she and Ki get off the bus. Sang understands that this is what Sopeap meant when she said that “literature has the power to change lives, minds, and hearts” (183). After Sang finishes the story, the other passengers thank her, even the self-important businessman, who gives Sang money, telling her that she is better than “book-on-tape” (184). Sang is delighted, though she has no idea who or what “book on tape” might be.