As soon as Kurt had a quick breakfast, he headed over to the clinic, searching until he found Carole. She was busy with a patient, but nodded when she saw him. 

As soon as she could, she finished up and found him in the waiting area. “You want to see the boy?” she asked, setting a hand on his shoulder. 

Nodding as he got up, Kurt knew his concern was showing on his face. 

Carole didn’t dilly-dally. Taking his hand, she led him into the area of the clinic that had hospital beds. Kurt hadn’t been back there much, usually just helping Carole in the outpatient areas. 

Pulling aside a privacy curtain, she waved towards a bed with a very small lump beneath the covers. Kurt went around the bed, squatting down to look at the boy’s face. He had been bathed and wore clean pyjamas, appearing uninjured as he slept soundly. 

Grabbing his phone, Kurt stepped back to her side. “Who is he? Why did you bring him here?”

Taking his hand again, Carole led him into the staff break room to get them both some bottled water. Sitting down, she took a sip as she waited for Kurt to settle down. “He was born at the camp, likely about three years ago. His mother’s records aren’t that good, but it seems she was either born there as well, or arrived as a young girl.”

“Where is she now? Why isn’t she with him?” Kurt asked.

Shaking her head slowly, Carole looked down for a moment. “She's dead.” 

Kurt was confused. “How? And where is his father?” 

Sighing, Carole gave a little shrug. “She apparently was walking around the forest near the camp, gathering bamboo or thatch for her home, and stepped on a landmine. By the time she was discovered, she was dead, either from the explosion or bleeding out. No one is really sure who the father is. Refugee records aren’t very complete.” 

“Landmines!” Kurt’s voice app didn’t have any inflection, but his expressive face showed his shock. 

“The border between Thailand and Myanmar is 2000 km long, and much of it has landmines. The result of decades of unrest.” Carole explained. 

At times like this, Kurt could only stare at Carole in amazement. She had been a nurse for decades, and seen so many things he couldn’t even imagine. She took things in stride that would send him around the bend. 

“And the boy…?” Kurt finally asked, when what she had told him had a chance to sink in. 

Carole gave a small smile. “He seems healthy, but he hasn’t been responsive to the medical staff at the camp since he was found with his mother. They didn’t see him before that, so it was likely a home birth. The other refugees couldn’t tell them much about him. She might have been a little isolated, perhaps an unwed mother.”

“He was with her? With the landmine...when she died?” Kurt’s eyes widened again. Images flashing through his mind were horrendous. “No wonder he’s like that. He’s traumatized.” 

Reaching out, Carole laid her hand over Kurt’s. “Well, we will check him over, see if he has any medical issues. If not, he will be sent back to the camp, likely adopted by another family there.” 

Kurt sighed, squeezing her hand in return. He had been eight years old when his mother had died, but at least he still had his father to help him afterwards. This little boy was an orphan. “What is his name?”

Carole gave a small shrug. “The camp officials have been calling him Daw Sud. It’s a Thai name meaning ‘Star Tiger’.”

That made Kurt smile a little. That tiny boy was hardly a tiger. More like a helpless kitten. 

… 

Kurt made a point of stopping by Daw Sud’s area whenever he could, peaking around the curtain. He slept a lot, and was often being examined by the health professionals. When he was awake, he didn’t seem to be very aware of his surroundings, looking a little lost.

After a few days, Kurt saw him outside of his room, sitting outside in the shade with a nurse or walking around the courtyard. He seemed to be stronger, although still quiet compared to other boys his age. His large dark eyes watched everything, his expression neutral, never making a sound. Carole gave Kurt updates, saying that he was healthy, but likely still dealing with the trauma of losing his mother in such a violent way. 

…

“OK, I’m going to teach you a new song about apples and bananas. Sing along as you learn the words.” Blaine smiled at the gathering of young village kids, sitting on a stool with his guitar. 

Kurt just grinned at his husband, handing him a cold bottle of Coke. Blaine had taken to strumming his guitar on the shady main floor area of their house, the open area below the stilts. It was tiled and had some simple furniture. Village kids seemed to be drawn like magnets, bugging him to play for them. 

”I like to eat, eat, eat… apples and bananas….” Blaine sang, strumming along. 

To show off his growing ASL skills, Kurt stood behind the kids and signed along to the song, just for Blaine’s amusement. The song was fairly repetitive, with easy signs, so he added in a few hip shakes and goofy expressions, trying to make him laugh. 

The kids were all joining in, most of them knowing a little English from school. They were laughing, looking back at Kurt and grinning at his antics. 

Kurt’s eyes skimmed over the kids, loving their playful nature. His eyes landed on one small boy who wasn’t singing along, and realized with a shock that it was Daw Sud. He was dressed like the other kids, fitting in quite well at first glance, except that he wasn’t singing or laughing along. His large dark eyes were taking everything in, seeming more interested than Kurt had ever seen him yet. 

The little boy must have felt his gaze, as he turned to watch Kurt. Not wanting to make him uncomfortable, Kurt looked away and kept up his act. When Blaine went onto other songs, Kurt glanced his way occasionally, and saw Daw Sud watching him. Did he remember Kurt at all from the long ride here from the camp?

…

The next day, Kurt took a break from working with Carole by taking a snack outside the clinic, sitting on a bench in the shade. He had just finished peeling a mango when Daw Sud walked up to him and plunked on the bench beside him. 

Chuckling to himself, Kurt liked that he was acting more like a regular little boy. He seemed to have his strength back, and was interacting more with people like this, although he still wasn’t talking or very expressive. Carole told him that he’d likely be going back to the camp soon. 

Unsure what to do, Kurt couldn’t speak to him. The boy likely wouldn’t understand any English, and Kurt didn’t know Pwo Karen, the language of the Karen refugees. Instead, he held out a slice of mango, and felt good when the boy accepted it. They shared the rest of the fruit, the boy seeming quite hungry. He looked at the banana Kurt had also brought along for his snack. 

Kurt looked at it, and remembered Blaine singing the song the other day. Had the boy understood it at all? Experimentally, he pointed at the banana, and did the ASL sign for banana, miming peeling his finger. He repeated it a few times, giving the boy encouraging looks. He got a confused look in response.

Sighing, Kurt passed him the fruit, and the boy quickly ate it. 

Taking a sip from his water bottle, Kurt chuckled a bit to himself.  Well, it worked in the ‘Miracle Worker’, right? Maybe it could work here too.

Holding up his middle three fingers spread apart in a W formation, he turned his hand sideways and tapped his first finger against his mouth. WATER.

The motion got another confused look from the boy. Kurt grinned encouragingly, repeating the motion. 

Setting down the banana peel, the boy lifted his hand, and imitated Kurt’s motions. The sign wasn’t perfect, only two fingers close together, but it was a good try. 

Smiling widely, Kurt nodded happily.  Yes, yes, yes! He slowed the motion down, showing Daw Sud his fingers until the boy copied it, and then tapping against his mouth. WATER.

It took a few minutes, and lots of encouraging smiles and nods, but eventually the little boy did it. WATER. 

Kurt wanted to shout at this small progress. He had made the sign, but he didn’t know that it meant anything. When the boy made the sign again, Kurt nodded and passed him the water bottle, and then made the sign again himself. WATER. The boy drank a little. 

Touching his arm lightly, Kurt made the water sign, and then held his hand out for the water bottle. Daw Sud passed him the bottle, and Kurt gave him a big grin. He tried to make it a game, making the sign, and passing the bottle back and forth. It got a rare smile from the boy. Kurt could tell he wasn’t really understanding that the sign meant water. Maybe he was too young, or just needed more time for the idea to sink in. Needed time to get the association. 

Just happy to be around the boy, Kurt took a stick that was lying on the ground, and started drawing simple pictures in the dirt. The little boy seemed to like that, picking up his own stick and making his own designs. They worked together in companionable silence.

Kurt was jolted out of their playing by one of the clinic staff dropping a tray full of stainless steel bowls, making a huge clatter as they bounced and slid over the tile floor, easy to hear and see through the open doorway to the clinic. Laughing, Kurt jumped up and ran over to help the woman to pick everything up. 

When he looked back at Daw Sud, the boy was still concentrating on his drawing, totally in his own little world. 

…

“So, what are you going to do when you are in Bangkok?” Carole asked, walking around the night market with Blaine and Kurt. 

Kurt was fast on his phone. “The Grand Palace, the temple with the reclining Buddha, wander around Khan Sao road…”

“I want to watch a Muay Thai fight.” Blaine added in, grinning Kurt’s way. 

Carole chuckled when Kurt rolled his eyes. “Then again, who said we need to spend every minute together during our honeymoon? You go check out a fight, while I go to the National Museum.” 

Buying fried chicken, sticky rice, and some spicy shrimp soup, they carried the food out to the café tables under an awning for shade. Blaine had grown to love the fried chicken, marinated with spices and served with a spicy dipping sauce. They dug in hungrily, chatting about the other things to check out in Bangkok. 

Kurt was pulled out the conversation by a quiet presence beside him. Looking down, it was Daw Sud, and he grinned at him in greeting. The boy seemed to smile back with his eyes, still as quiet as ever. They had hung out often, drawing in the dirt, rolling a ball around, playing in quiet ways. Kurt liked that the boy was comfortable around him now. 

Pretty soon, the boy was running off to join the other children nearby, and Kurt liked seeing him interacting with the others, in his own way. 

Carole put a hand on his arm, and Kurt turned her way. She was giving him a shocked look. WHAT? Kurt signed, knowing she had been learning a little sign language as well.

“Did you see what Daw Sud just did?” 

Kurt gave her a confused look, thinking back on what had just happened. The boy had come over, and Kurt had given him a drink of water. Then the boy had rejoined his friends. He shrugged. 

Blaine was giving the shocked look as well. “He signed for water!” 

“Exactly! I’ll call him back, and we’ll try it with him.” Carole said, sitting up straighter and calling out to him in Thai. The boy’s attention was busy with something else, and it took another one of the kids to hear Carole and tap Daw Sud’s arm, and motion him to go back to them. 

When the boy got back, Carole and Blaine looked at Kurt expectantly. With his heart thumping, Kurt made sure Daw Sud was looking at him, and slowly made the sign. WATER.

The boy gave him a funny look, and then grabbed a water bottle from the table and passed it to Kurt. Then he ran back to join his friends, not noticing the cheers and applause coming from the small group. 

…

-A/N: Thank you for reading this story, and for your patience as I write it. I am learning a lot and hope I represent things fairly well. All errors are my own, and I appreciate helpful feedback. :D 

-Karen People: The Karen (pronounced kah-REHN) live mostly in the hilly eastern border region of Myanmar (formerly called Burma) cultivating hill rice and living in bamboo/thatch houses in small villages in the forest. The Karen refugees in Thailand camps still hold many of their old traditions, like preferring home birth with a traditional midwife over delivering a baby in a hospital (often for cultural reasons like being uncomfortable being uncovered in mixed company). Article about their culture is here.

-Landmines: Versions of early landmines have been used in warfare since the development of gunpowder in China 800 years ago. Now over 100 million anti-personnel landmines contaminate 78 countries around the world, killing 15 – 20 thousand people a year, and maiming countless others. Half the people who stand on a landmine die before they are found or can get to a hospital, and an even higher amount of children die due to their vital organs being closer to the blast. Most killings occur in times of peace, as the devices can stay active for up to 150 years. Along the 2000 km Thailand-Myanmar border, more than 3,000 people have died or been injured in recent years by landmines. More info here.
Princess Diana made headlines in 1997 by visiting landmine area - 2.5 min video here.
Interesting use of trained giant rats to uncover landmines – 3 min video here.

-Apples & Bananas: A simple song for children, often used when teaching English. Video with ASL signing of lyrics here.

-Helen Keller (1880-1968) was born in Alabama, and became deaf and blind due to an unknown illness at 19 months old, barely getting by with a rudimentary sign system with her family. When she was 7, Anne Sullivan, a blind teacher, moved into the house and taught her sign language. She soaked up knowledge and, at 24 years old, was the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. She went on to become a world-famous speaker and author, an advocate for people with disabilities and many other social issues of the day. 3 min video of Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan is here.

- The Miracle Worker: This 1957 play based on Helen Keller’s autobiography, ‘The Story of My Life’, was a hit on Broadway by 1959, and became a movie in 1962. The movie starred Anne Bancroft as Annie Sullivan, and Patty Duke as Helen Keller, who both won Oscars for their roles. 6 minute video clip of the infamous water signing scene is here.

-Water ASL: Quick video clip here

-Bangkok Sites: A 10 minute video to give you the flavor of this city’s attractions here.