By Yoshiko Uchida
One rainy night, long, long ago, a small boy sat with his grandmother and grandfather around a chaacoal brazier. Warming their hand over the glowing coals, they told stories and talked of many things. Outside, the wind blew and the rain splattered on the thatched roof of the cottage.
The old man looked up at the ceiling saying,"I surely hope we dont have a leak. Nothing would be so terrible as to have to put up a new thatched roof now when we are so busy in the fields."
The little boy listened to the lonely wail of the wind as it whipped through the bamboo grove. He shivered and turned to look at his grandfather's face. It was calm and smiling and unafraid.