A Thousand Miles to Freedom by Eunsun Kim

Author:Eunsun Kim
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781466870888
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

12

Through the windows, I watched as the Chinese countryside passed before my eyes. On the seat of the taxi, Mom was worrying herself sick. We didn’t have even one penny to our names, but we told the driver that we would pay him when we arrived at our destination. When we began passing through more familiar landscape, my mom started to tense up. Had we turned completely crazy? In a few minutes, we would be back with the man whom we hated so much. Although we really didn’t have any better options, we feared that we might have been jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Keumsun was against returning to the Chinese farmer. In fact, I was the one who had convinced my mother to do so. To be honest, it was mostly because I wanted to see my little brother again, no matter what the price was. I missed him so much that he had started appearing in my dreams. And I was so worried for his future, at the hands of that unscrupulous Chinese peasant. Out of the three of us, I was the closest to him. While my mother and Keumsun worked in the fields around the farm, I, deemed still too frail for the hard work of agriculture, had taken care of him. I loved him, and the knowledge that I was going to see him again consoled me despite the somber reality of the future that was waiting for us on the farm.

* * *

Admittedly, we no longer knew where else we could go. Ever since our fortuitous escape in Chongjin a few weeks ago, we had been on the run, and owing to our status as fugitives, we were exhausted. Immediately after our liberation, we went straight north, toward the border, while laying low. Always we moved with only one goal in mind: to leave our homeland forever. The situation in North Korea had gotten so bad that our modest clothes made in China were worth a fortune there. We sold them, and with the bit of cash this brought us we were able to feed ourselves for three days. Then, with nothing left to lose, we headed toward the border.

Groping around in the dark, we found the path at the Tumen River, by now very familiar to us. But this time, luck was not on our side.

While we were preparing to cross the river, a border patrolman appeared. He brought us to the border patrol station for questioning, and then the next day we were transferred to a nearby military base for an even more intensive questioning.

“Did you go to China?” the soldier asked.

“No, I just went to do some business near the river, that’s all.”

I was lying and he didn’t believe me for a second.

“Do you have any money? Where did you come from?” the soldier wanted to know.

I didn’t answer. I was by then used to these interrogations and could handle myself well. He was insistent, but at least he was polite, which I appreciated.

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