Right now Jeff's mind is far away from his potential new responsibilities.
For he and the other village kids, the week has been something like summer camp, albeit with parents chaperoning. They'll remember this as the time the army came to fly them into Taichung for the week.
"The helicopter ride was cool!" he said. "My grandma cried the whole time. I asked if I could go back with my dad to help, but they're only letting grownups go back. I want to ride in the helicopter again."
Having to stay in Tongshih has its perk, though. "This is a big school," he said. "They have lots of basketball courts and a track. Our school has only one basketball court."
In the afternoons, when the sun bears down, he and the others go for a pearl-milk tea at a store near the school -- another amenity not found in Sanchakeng.
A ray of hope
It's Thursday afternoon and it's sweltering. The only thing stirring inside the gymnasium are flies. Everyone else has taken cover under a tent outside where a sporadic breeze offers a measure of relief.
"The newspaper says that the KMT wants to give us blankets, one woman says. It's 40℃ in that gym, we don't need blankets. Fans would be nice."
Her comments are met with grumblings of agreement from several listless people.
Despite the temperature, the swelter is an unlikely relief from the rain that brought them to this gymnasium in the first place and indebted them to the kindness of the community. Already the mud lining the streets of Tongshih has dried and is being swept away. In their minds, the residents of Sanchakeng have started sweeping their own floors and tossing out ruined furniture, replanting orchards that Mindulle has ravaged and rebuilding wrecked roads and embankments.
But as the afternoon sun moves westward, shadows point east to a bank of dark clouds gathering over Sanchakeng. It will rain within the hour, heavily. Crews working in the mountains will be brought back to town and the villagers' hopes of going home soon will be soaked. They're going to be here for a while longer.
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