The Rent Collector

Sang describes life at the dump, noting that the “work is grueling in this place where Phnom Penh’s poorest families struggle to build a life from what others throw away—a life where the hope of tomorrow is traded to satisfy the hunger of today” (10). Sang explains that the pickers, like her husband, will often rest in temporary shelters.

Some of the pickers decorate these shelters, which can be “elaborate, even works of art” (11), even though the municipal workers eventually destroy them in their attempts to keep the always-smoldering fires at the dump under control. Sang takes Ki his lunch and learns that Ki has gathered enough to pay the rent as well as a book for Nisay. As Sang plans how she will tease Sopeap before paying her the rent, bandits attack and rob Ki on his way home.

The next morning, Sang convinces Ki to go to the doctor. Sang waits for Sopeap, believing her own “pride […] brought this evil upon [her] family” (19). Sopeap tells Sang to vacate the house by the following day, and Sang pleads with her to have mercy when Sopeap spots the book that Ki found for Nisay. Sopeap’s reaction to the book bewilders Sang: The Rent Collector begins crying and wailing, “a painful, sorrowing lament as if all the earth’s darkness were conspiring to snuff out her existence” (20) before rushing out with the book. Sang does not understand Sopeap’s reaction, but she does realize that Sopeap, unlike Sang, can read. Ki returns with stitches in his head and a knife strapped to his leg to protect himself.

In the morning, Sang prepares to go out picking, and she describes the different methods. The first method is to go through the ash after a fire, which is dangerous because if the pickers “march through the ash too soon, hidden scrap will burn through [their] rubber boots in seconds” (24). This can lead to injury severe enough to cripple them. The second method is to trail the garbage trucks that enter the dump. This is Ki’s preferred method, but it is highly competitive and dangerous, as some of the drivers try to injure the pickers. The third method is the one Sang uses most often, “working […] in open areas that have been stirred up by passing bulldozers” (25). It requires persistence and patience, though Sang notes that it is dangerous for her because it gives her too much time to think. By the time Sang finishes for the day, she has thought of a plan to help her family, one that involves Sopeap.

Sopeap returns to Sang’s home. She asks after Ki, then offers to buy the book from Sang. Sang tells her the book is hers to keep, and Sopeap says she will mark the rent as paid. Just as she prepares to leave, however, Sang works up the courage to ask Sopeap to teach her how to read; Sang believes this will improve their lives, especially Nisay’s. Sopeap is both astonished and dismissive. Sang believes literacy lessons will give her “something to look forward to, a reason to fight” (30). In turn, she believes “reading will fill [Nisay] with courage” (30) and hope. However, Sopeap refuses, telling Sang that hope has “died at Stung Meanchey” (31).

Sang is angry and remembers why she hates Sopeap, and she retorts that it is Sopeap who is dead. Oddly, this makes Sopeap laugh and change her mind. She agrees to teach Sang, provided that Sang finds paper and pencils, does all her homework, and pays Sopeap with a good bottle of rice wine every week. Sang agrees to Sopeap’s conditions, but Ki is unsure it is a good idea; he says that Sopeap is “a witch” and that he does not trust her, but Sang is determined to learn to read and to give Nisay every possible “chance to do better” (29).