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fisherman’s trousers and went to sit with my friends under the lean-to we had built as a collective kitchen, some of them asked me why I had so many flyspecks on my arms. When I bent over to take a closer look, I found that those black spots were not the natural blemishes that start appearing on the skin of people nearing fifty, but one kind of tick that clung to my skin all over. When I tore off my T-shirt, I could see they weren’t only on my arms but all over my black, ribcage, chest and belly, not to mention all over my legs and the rest too, which I didn’t want to inspect in front of the others and thus elicit comments.Usually for us jungle warriors, being bitten by ticks here and there was no big deal. One way of protecting yourself was, as soon as you noticed one, to pluck it out or, if it held fast, to use balm or any caustic liniment and wait for it to detach itself. Pulling at a tick stubbornly only made it clamp its claws deeper into the flesh, which meant that that spot would get infected and painful and itchy for at least two months.In any case, that was the usual situation when you had to deal with only one or two ticks. Being afflicted with hundreds of them, neither I nor my friends could think of what to do. Several of them promptly went to fetch balm to spread as per the traditional formula. Some found rubbing oil and swiftly poured it all over me but, do what you will, the ticks refused to unclench their claws and the one burning and aching almost unbearably was me, the owner of the skin.Our initial conclusion was that the ticks must have dug deep and tight when I jumped into the water and by now wouldn’t let go or many of them would die with their claws still clutched to my flesh. Therefore the only option was to combine ourefforts and pluck them out, even if most of them would leave their claws behind.In the end, I didn’t know whether that conclusion was correct nor to what extent. I only knew that within a few hours I would face pain and itching of a kind the world had never known and nobody could help me besides praying for me to recover from the poison as soon as possible.It was only then that I realized why when I had drifted into sleep I had felt I was being stung by pinheads all over. I can honestly say it was only then that I realized that going by past experience wasn’t enough. Life was always providing new situations as well as painful lessons for those stuck to the old ways.It was still raining without pause...Maybe the heavenly powers thought that I hadn’t learned my lesson enough, so they further demon- strated that each hour differs from the previous one by sending us a flash flood during the night. At dusk the roof of the tent I was in had retained so much water that it collapsed, but after dark the level of water in the Lang Suan stream went up so fast that we didn’t dare to go to bed. Finally, when we saw that it might get worse, we moved a few tents to higher ground.Before midnight I suffered from violent stomach aches, maybe because I had drunk too much untreated water or because I had eaten the fiery southern fare my friends had cooked, but for sure I was convinced that there was such a thing as hell. Falling rain, biting ticks, threatening flash floods and diarrhoea all at the same time! If it wasn’t a curse, it must be a selection test for enlightenment 101.Around two in the morning, holding a shovel, I walked past the communal lean-to and saw that Prajuap, Nui and Wiroat were still up, which reminded me that today wasPrajuap’s birthday. I hurriedly went to fetch a bottle of brandy I had kept for him as a present. By now I observed that the water level was no longer rising and we should be safe.Five in the morning...Everybody was fast asleep. I found myself walking alone by the water’s edge. Starlight allowed me to see everything as dark masses. The air had turned quiet and damply cold.I couldn’t help feeling that the hour of the unknown need not always be nasty.Maybe...Maybe this was the appeal of im- permanence.About the AuthorSeksan Prasertkul was born in 1949 in the eastern part of Thailand. He received a PhD in political science from Cornell University, USA, and apart from writing, he has served as a lecturer at Thammasat University, Bangkok, during the past 20 years. Seksan rose to prominence in Thailand as both a writer and public figure, and his literary works are considered unique because of their consistency, original style and inspiring thoughts drawn from his direct experiences.Seksan Prasertkul was honoured as a Thai National Artist in the field of literature in 2009.Elite+ 63