Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Plough Quarterly • Summer  in streams while pulling weeds. The pepper plants have grown huge. The plants don’t seem to mind all the gravel in the soil. They hold up their leaves, spread their branches, and open their white flowers. Finally cute baby peppers come to hang in bunches. The little peppers drink the spicy wind from the mountain and try to make their faces beautiful. “You look like an elephant’s nose.” “What elephant has a nose this small?” “I mean a toy elephant.” “So what do you think you look like then?” Baby peppers really do look like the trunk of a tiny elephant. They change from pale green to dark green. And then they change into their red suits. No, that’s not right. The color is from inside. It’s not like clothes they put on: the glow from their pure, fiery hearts blazes through until you can see it from the outside. At midday, when the cicadas are droning under the oak trees, the red noses all flare up together like tongues of flame. If you go near the pepper patch, your nose burns and your eyes sting–and don’t even think about touching them. On a day just like this, Changu’s mother is sitting by the pepper patch with her next-door neighbor. “These days, if you look away for a second, somebody will steal the eyes out of your head.” “What are you talking about?” “Haven’t you heard about the pepper thief? They say he comes in the middle of the night, fills a sack with peppers, and runs off.” “How terrible! He must be crazy.”