Maxine Trottier

Van, a young Vietnamese boy, is given a brass-tipped teak walking stick made by his uncle (a monk), who says that now the Buddha “will watch over you no matter where you go, and bring you safely home.” Van carries the stick with him always, even when he and his family flee their war-torn country and cross the ocean. On long walks years later, he tells his granddaughter stories of his homeland. She travels to Vietnam and leaves the stick as an offering at the foot of a Buddha.