The Rent Collector

Sang and Lucky Fat have been sharing responsibility for Maly, with Sang taking her at night and returning her to Lucky’s during the day. Sang also goes to her mother for help, although she is afraid that her mother will be angry with her for endangering their family. However, Sang’s mother is proud of her and believes she can find a solution for Maly.

When Sopeap returns to their lesson, she begins by apologizing and tells Sang that she forgot to tell her the most important rule of learning about literature, namely, “[l]iterature should be loved” (90). Ki comes home from picking and reveals that he has convinced two or three others to join him in standing up to the gangs. Ki is happy, but Sang is concerned and tries to dissuade him. Ki stands his ground, however, and compares his attempts to standing up to the gangs to Sang’s persistence in learning to read. He also reveals that Sang’s mother is one of those who has joined his cause.

The next day, as Sang waits for Sopeap, she thinks about Nisay and wonders if leaving him with her mother or one of her neighbors is the right thing to do while she learns about literature. Sopeap tries to reassure her: “Education is almost always good, especially when it brings us to an understanding of our place in the world” (93). Sopeap also explains that “we are literature—our lives, our hopes, our desires, our despairs, our passions, our strengths, our weaknesses. Stories express our longing not only to make a difference today but to see what is possible for tomorrow” (93).

However, she also warns Sang again of the changes that learning about literature can lead to, such as asking questions that are impossible to answer. Sopeap calls these the “deepest questions of mankind: What is the meaning of my life? […] Do the ancestors listen and care about me? Why is life so hard? What is good and what is evil? What must I do about it?” (93). She then gives Sang a new story to read, Tum Teav by Preah Botumthera Som, which bears some resemblance to Maly’s plight. Sopeap seems to know about Sang’s involvement with Maly, which disturbs Sang because if Sopeap knows, others must know as well.

Sang visits her mother, playfully scolding her for insisting two women who do not get along work together to build a shelter only because their arguments amuse her. Lena teases Sang in response, saying that Sang killed her father. Lena’s labor with Sang was painfully long, and Sang’s father died while waiting. Sang remembers that her grandfather “said [she] refused to leave the ancestors, who must have been gathered around telling jokes” (96). As a child, Sang told herself that her father “gave up his life” for her to “ease the pain of one of [her] biggest regrets growing up” (96). She has never even seen a picture of him.

Lena then tells her that she has been able to make arrangements for Maly, but this will only work if the Rent Collector helps. Sang asks Sopeap if they can skip a month’s rent to pay for Maly’s journey, but Sopeap insists on giving Sang the money instead. As Maly prepares to leave, the thought of Maly leaving saddens Sang: “Despite [her] head explaining to [her] heart that she is not [her] own daughter, that her leaving is for the better, [Sang’s] chest still aches” (99). Sang gives Maly a book Sopeap has given her, a “celebrated Cambodian epic” (99), titled Reamker. She tells Maly that one day she will also learn to read. Maly says goodbye to Lucky Fat, and Lena takes Maly to her destination.