For those women and children, this departure marked the beginning of a new life, a different story, far from the bleakness that had enveloped their days till now.
They had seen their mothers cry alone too many times, and the sensible ones knew that becoming bandits was wrong, a mistake.
As for who their fathers were, they themselves couldn't tell, not even their mothers could. They had never really thought about it.
All they wished for was a better future where they could live without becoming bandits, and perhaps then their mothers would love them more.
When they stopped to eat noodles at a roadside stall, the stallholder was both irritated and amused.
Amused by the big business that had come his way, irritated because these people really stank.
They were filthier and more disorderly than beggars.
