ใบดำ ใบแดง

Every April, Thai men turning 21, along with anyone older who hasn't yet gone through the process, report to their district office for the military draft lottery. Unless they've already volunteered or qualified for an exemption, each man draws one card from a wooden box: black means he goes home free, red means two years of mandatory service. This story spends one morning inside that lottery, through Ek and the crowded schoolyard waiting alongside him.