Finally! The floodwater had receded. Well, not according to their parents, but the four boys couldn't stand sitting still one more minute after weeks of being stuck in the boats to live through the annual flooding. Life giving, their parents called. Boring, the children called it.
Now, it was over.
Sung-Ho called to his friends, "Let's play ball!"
Sung-Ho and his best friends ran out onto the field still covered with a couple of hands of water.
They didn't care. Covered in mud and their bright young faces red with excitement, they came home after hours of playing to their parents.
Mothers gently scolded over dirty shorts.
Fathers shook their heads over schoolwork going undone for the day.
But all were glad the wet season was almost over and the families could go back on land, rebuild their huts, and use the fertile silt to grow the harvest needed to survive next year's flooding on their boats.