Chapter 7 - OLD TEK

They seemed to follow me around the house, commenting quietly to each other, on each thing I did or used. I got out the vacuum cleaner, and the commotion began, all of them came to see, and watch, all fascinated and curious, especially Old Tek. This wiry, lean man, had eyes that gleamed when he liked something, and he obviously liked this machine. He wanted to see how it worked, I showed him the inside and the bag. Tek took charge. From that day on, he ran the vacuum every day, sometimes twice, no one else was allowed. That is until he discovered the weed whacker. He wacked away all weeds, on the two acres, and quite a few of my Lilies. And soon after I showed him my riding lawn mower, and that was that. I would see him sailing by the front window, with the most content grin, master of the mower, every day. My lawn was well kept, as was Jeanne Marie's, he was happy and proud to do both. He was a complicated man, a face that was not the inscrutable stereotype expected, I could see his glee, his doubts, his worries. I could see his love and his hardness. His thin face was creased and weathered. He had a long wispy beard and mustache.

A small sinewy body, spry, though at first glance I thought he was very old, I soon saw that it was more worn than age, just a bit threadbare. His eyes were keen and twinkled when he was happy, and piercing when he was looking at you. He was a man I would learn to love, hate, enjoy and admire, and despise and he repulsed me, so alien, so hard for me to comprehend. And I couldn’t help but be charmed all the while.

When Pol Pot's troops entered his village there was not much time to prepare, but Tek was a quick thinker. As soon as he heard they were coming he went straight home, walked in and knocked out his wife's front tooth, and two teeth from his prettiest daughter. He let them cry and sob, knowing it would further distort their faces. He made them cut their hair, and he instructed them to all make themselves as unattractive as possible. He told his family to say nothing, and if they were asked to speak, they must appear ignorant, and stupid. They were to say they had never been to school. They could not read. He spoke to them with solemnity and force. They must listen, he knew their lives depended on it. He had an old walking stick and had had it for years, it looked plain and simple. A dead twisted branch. But it was hollowed out, with a secret way to open it. He took the little bit of gold they had and hid it inside his stick. He had Hout destroy his school books and pens.

They had heard the screams, the shooting. They had heard from neighbors that all the monks, had been dragged from the temple and shot. The teachers had been taken to the square and shot, that whole families were thrown out of their homes and slaughtered in the street. When the soldiers came the family was terrified. When the soldiers began to question them, the women did as Tek had told them, answering slowly, with ignorance and confusion. And when they looked at Hout and began to ask him a question, fast as lightning Tek knocked the boy to the ground. " This one is so stupid, he been my burden all these years, he is lucky he can answer to his name!" The soldiers laughed, and old Tek spat on the ground near his son, cursing. " I have been given ugly daughters and a stupid son! I have not had much good luck with children." And your occupation old man? " I am a cook, and my wife also, and this stupid fool of a son is learning to cook with me."

I remember (a few years later) he had looked at me slyly and had explained simply, "All armies need cooks."