..續本文上一頁he afternoon, Phra Palat Sri had an attack of dysentery, so I gave him permission to ride on ahead and wait for us at Chumphae. Nai Man couldn”t walk any further — he was barely able to drag himself along — so I gave him permission to take the ride to Chumphae and wait for us there too. So that left three of us: myself, Phra Juum and Nai Manu, a boy from Uttaradit.

　　We reached our resting place — a village called Baan Krathum — after dark, at about 8 p.m. We had trouble finding a place to stay, and ended up camping in the woods near a stretch of water. Up the next morning, we went for alms in the village and then, after our meal, traveled on.

　　After we had walked for about a kilometer the sun became so fierce that we stopped for a while to rest in the shade. At around five in the evening the sky became dark and ominous. It looked like rain. Nai Manu wasn”t willing to spend the night in the forest, and so asked permission to ride on ahead to Khon Kaen, but when he went to wave down a ride, no one would stop for him. After a short while a storm blew up, with heavy winds and rain. The boy went for shelter to a house nearby. Later that night the roof of the house blew off in the wind.

　　Meanwhile, Phra Juum and I had walked on, looking for shelter along the roadside. I spotted a shack, a meter by two and a half meters wide, and thatched with grass. The rain was pouring down and the wind was blowing branches off the trees, so I called to Phra Juum and we went to stay in the shack. Phra Juum opened his umbrella tent and rested under one half of the roof. I stood resting under the other half. A gust of wind came, tore off the half of the roof under which Phra Juum was resting, and carried it away into the middle of the fields. A moment later a tree came crashing down. Phra Juum came running to my half of the shack. Seeing that we couldn”t stay there any longer, we went running for a clump of bushes that gave us enough space to crouch, shivering and cold, for about an hour until the rain stopped and the wind died down. Our robes and things were soaking wet. We went and found another shack, lit a fire and spent the night there. During the night, it rained again.

　　The next day the boy wasn”t able to walk on any further, so we had him ride on ahead to wait for us at Chumphae, leaving just the two of us, Phra Juum and myself, to walk on by ourselves. At about five that evening we reached Chumphae. Phra Palat Sri”s dysentery still hadn”t cleared up — his face was pale and sickly — so we stayed on at Chumphae until he had recovered somewhat.

　　I received news that the date for the Somdet”s cremation had been set, and that it was to take place fairly soon, so I took the express train from Khon Kaen to Bangkok. This was in June, 1956.

　　* * *

　　Reaching Wat Boromnivasa, I learned that the ecclesiastical authorities had met for consultation concerning the Somdet”s cremation. That very day there had been a meeting of eleven senior monks to appoint a committee to run the cremation, after which they had gone to meet with the Isaan Society in the Green Hall. About 100 members of the society were present at the meeting, which was chaired by Nai Lyan Buasuwan. When I reached the Green Hall, I could see Chao Khun Dhammapitok and Chao Khun Dhammatilok sitting in on the meeting, but they weren”t saying anything at all. All I could hear was the voice of Doctor Fon Saengsingkaew. I stood and listened outside, but didn”t like what I heard. They were making plans to collect money in the name of the Somdet to build a mental hospital for Doctor Fon in Ubon.

　　So I entered the meeting, sat down, excused myself and then said, "The matter you”re discussing makes me really sad. I helped take care of the Somdet for three years, and now he”s been dead for over 100 days, a…

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