"Should I switch off the lights?" "MUNDANE HISTORY" "Your room is this way." "Lift your legs." "Turn over." "Turn back." "Sit up." "Put on your shirt." "I'm sorry." "Please wake me up if I doze off again." "You were talking in your sleep." "It's an old habit." "My mom said I sleep-talked a lot as a child." "Hope I didn't say anything too strange." "It's a lot better these past ten years." "But it still comes and goes." "Time for your medicine." "The food looks good." "Sit." "I had Kaew cook Ake's favourite dishes." "Let's eat." "How is the food?" "Good." "Do you need a hand?" "What did you say?" "Can you turn off the radio?" "Let me help." " It's alright." "What's for dinner?" " A lot." "Khun Thanin said you will dine upstairs with him and Khun Ake tonight." "He is kind, just as you said." "But I'll miss your spicy food tonight." "How is Khun Ake doing?" "He needs time." "It's difficult, especially at his age." "Poor thing." "They must have bad karma from their past lives." "They?" "Khun Ake's mother was really ill too." "She suffered a lot in her last days." "I'll go check on Khun Ake." "The curry needs more spice." "I don't know how to describe it." "The house is beautiful." "But everyone here is just so soulless." "Not sure I can last here long." "Will you be mad if I quit?" "I know it's important for you." "For us." "I'm not angry." "Why would I be?" "You're right about this." "OK?" "I love you." "Bye." "What are you staring at?" "Shall I let you feed me?" "There." "Feed me." "Will you excuse me?" "Come and join us." "I'm Pun, here to take care of Khun Ake." "I'm Kaew." "I'm the cook." "That's my nephew, Pui." "Hello." " Hello." "Are you from Bangkok?" "No, I'm from Prae." "But I grew up and studied in Khon Kaen." "Where are you from?" "Roi-Et." "But I've lived in Bangkok for ages." "Nice and spicy." "Did you make it?" " Who else?" "Do Khun Ake and Thanin like spicy food?" "Khun Thanin is kind." "He lets us cook our own food." "Quite often, he isn't home for dinner." "Kaew!" "Don't talk with your mouth full." "Oh, Khun Thanin left a few hours ago." "He said he'd be out for a while." "He might not be back for dinner." "You'd better finish eating and go attend to Khun Ake." "He vomited." "But I already cleaned it up." "Should I switch off the lights?" "Phakpoom Surapongsanuruk" "Arkaney Cherkham" "Paramej Noiam" "Anchana Ponpitakthepkij" "Karuna Looktumtong 1st AD:" "Maenum Chagasik 2nd AD:" "Wichanon Somumjarn" "Art Director:" "Parinda Moongmaiphol" "Director of Photography:" "Ming Kai Leung" "Sound Design:" "Akritchalerm Kalayanamitr" "Music:" "The Photo Sticker Machine  Furniture" "Editor:" "Lee Chatametikool" "Producers:" "Soros Sukhum Anocha Suwichakornpong" "Director:" "Anocha Suwichakornpong" "Should we start physical therapy today?" "No." "Wait." "His room is upstairs." "Don't." "Pun." " Yes?" "Ake's things are in the dresser." "Take a look and see." "Let me show you your room." "I'll be out for a while." "If you need anything, ask Somjai." "OK." "What's the matter?" "Nothing." " Very well, then." "Would you like to watch TV?" "Uncle Yut and Khun Num are downstairs." "Can they come up?" "I don't want to see them." "Tell them I'm sleeping or something." "If that's what you want." " That's what I want." "Next time anyone visits just tell them I'm sleeping." "But I can't say that all the time." " Tell them I don't want to see them." "You can go now." "It's OK." "I'll wash them." "Thank you." "Khun Ake wants to eat inside his room." "He said he will eat there from now on." "Full already?" "Your medicine." "More water?" "The water made me cough, didn't you see?" "Want to watch TV?" "You don't like to watch TV?" "I don't watch it much either." "But it's good to keep up with the news." "I wanted to travel a lot when I was young." "I wanted to be a newsman." "As I got older, I liked taking pictures." "So I wanted to be a photographer." "Before that I wanted to be a writer." "I wanted to be a writer too." "No wonder you have all these books." "As I got older, I liked movies more." "So I went to film school." "I wanted to be a director." "You can take the tray now." "I'm flying high in the sky." "The dry wind from the east brings the smell of burning grass." "I take a deep breath." "And flutter my wings." "My body soars higher into the sky..." "I feel as light as cotton." "Tolling bells echo from afar." "At that moment..." "A single gunshot pierces the air." "I feel a sharp pain." "The bullet punctures my left wing." "The smell of blood floods the air." "My body falls down to the ground." "And everything slowly goes dark." "Pun, tell me about your mother." "What kind of a person was she?" "She wasn't the kindest person." "She was strict." "She died a few years ago." "Cancer got her." "She was a tough woman to raise three children by herself." "What about your father?" "Don't know." "One day, he came to her bed." "And told her he was leaving." "I was about two." "Just like that?" "Just like that." "So when my sister was born my mom loved her most." "I was kind of left out." "Want to sit on the balcony?" "It's nice out, not too hot." "Did you think that was funny?" "You're going to catch a cold." "You look a sorry mess." "Quack, quack, quack!" "The duck swims in the river." "Looking for some shellfish." "Quack, quack, quack!" "The duck swims in the river." "Looking for some shellfish." "What kindergarten are you in?" "You look like a duck." "How are you today?" "I'm going out to a faculty meeting." "But I'll be home for dinner." "Pun, please join us." "Thank you." "Lift your legs." "Turn over." "Where are you now?" "Are you still in Nepal?" "No, I just arrived in Tibet." "They wrote about Mount Kailash." "It's a holy mountain." "Tibetan pilgrims come to pay respect to the gods who live here." "One circumambulation of the mountain will erase the sins of one lifetime." "108 circumambulations will let you reach Nirvana." "I know." "I read it before." "You're well-read." "I read a lot when I was young." "I wanted to be a writer." "You already told me." "Why don't you try writing?" "I did when I was young." "You should start again." "I don't think so." "No, not now." "I want to stay longer." "But it's raining." "We'll get sick." "No." "I want to stay." "That's enough." "Pun." "What's your real name?" "Punjapol." "Surname?" "Lertjongjit." "What are you doing?" "Googling you." "I'm sure there's nothing." "Four entries." "Faculty of Nursing" "Khon Kaen University" "What does it say?" "Nothing, just that you enrolled." "Yep, that's my life." "Do you have a cold?" "Maybe." "I need to take some medicine." "You can turn down the air-con." "It's alright." "Turn it down." "It's rather cold." "Hello?" "I was sleeping." "But that's fine." "I'm sick but I'll be OK after some rest." "I took some." "Thanks." "I should go back to sleep." "Bye." "Oh, I'm sorry." "For what?" "Here, join me." "Didn't know you smoked." "Occasionally, when there is a nice breeze." "Where is Somjai?" " Don't know." "Probably in her room." "Do you need to see her?" " No." "Just don't see or talk to her much lately." "Not that we have much to talk about." "Just wondering." "Humans are subject to their own karma." "Do you like it here?" "Yes, I do." "Really, I do." "At first, I wanted to quit." "And now?" " I've come to like it." "That's good." "At least someone will look after Khun Ake." "I don't know how long I'll be around." "You're not that old." "No, I mean I don't know how long I'll stay here." "I'm sleepy." "Good morning." "What happened to your hand?" "I had a little accident." "What happened?" "I cut myself breaking a glass." "Dinner is served." "How is the food?" "It is fine." "Let me know if you want anything special." "Thanks." "Do you mind if I say something?" "Go ahead." "It was very unfortunate, what happened." "We wish it hadn't." "But now that it did." "I know it's hard, but you can't give up." "I took care of you as a child." "And watched you grow up." "I know it hasn't always been easy." "But please remember that it's not easy for your father either." "As a kid, I thought the world was flat." "And it was covered by a bowl." "The sun, the moon and stars were all in our world." "In school, I learnt the world was round." "But I still believed it was flat." "When did you change?" "I don't know." "When I grew up, I just knew that the world was round." "Our ideas are hard to change." "Oh, that's it." "Where shall we sit?" "That's a tough one." "How about right up front?" "We have the place to ourselves." "There is still some time." "More people might come in." "Is it possible for us to live without a past?" "Without a future as well?" "The future?" "Who knows?" "There is only today." "Ake..." "How did the accident happen?" "Every star has a finite life." "It is born, lives and dies like all living things." "Once the hydrogen in a star's core is depleted." "The star will be transformed." "Nature tries its best to preserve the balance by controlling this transformation." "But the star's death is inevitable." "When a star with small mass loses energy it becomes a white dwarf." "It sheds its outer layers to form a nebula a pale remnant of what it once was." "A star with large mass that has always shone bright will have a stellar and luminous death." "It explodes into a supernova." "This stellar explosion rips the star apart." "And propels matter into space at a speed of over 10, 000 km per second." "The supernova radiates as much energy as one billion suns." "After it explodes, the star goes dark and leaves behind a trail of gas and dust where it once shone bright."