Stepping Stones E-Book

Owen Jones

• Herausgeber: Tektime
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Seitenzahl: 592

Beschreibung

Stepping Stones picks up the story of Lek, her family and friends in the village of Baan Suay four years on from where The Lady in The Tree finished. Lek and Ayr are still looking to expand, but especially Lek's career in the political arena, where she finds evidence of disturbing activity. Craig is still trying to write a best seller and Soom has graduated from university. In Stepping Stones, we are introduced to the Champunot family from Bangkok, the members of which have a profound effect on Lek, Craig and Soom - one which none of them will ever be able to forget. Stepping Stones reveals more in-depth details of life in a Thai family that has been affected by the inclusion of a falang like how they deal with the strange mixture of traditional and modern Thai life that that situation often creates.

The Behind The Smile Series is the story of Lek, a bar girl in Pattaya, Thailand. Lek was born the eldest child of four in a typical rice farming family in the northern rice belt of Thailand. A catastrophe occurred out of the blue one day – her father died young with huge debts that the family knew nothing about. Lek was just twenty years of age, and the only one who could prevent the foreclosure of the family farm, and allow her younger sister and two brothers to continue their education. However, the only way she knew how was to go to work in her cousin’s bar in Pattaya.
Can a Pattaya bar girl ever go back to being a regular girlfriend or wife?
Behind The Smile is a look into one part of Thailand, a country known around the world as 'The Land of Smiles'.
Stepping Stones picks up the story of Lek, her family and friends in the village of Baan Suay four years on from where The Lady in The Tree finished. Lek and Ayr are still looking to expand, but especially Lek's career in the political arena, where she finds evidence of disturbing activity. Craig is still trying to write a best seller and Soom has graduated from university. In Stepping Stones, we are introduced to the Champunot family from Bangkok, the members of which have a profound effect on Lek, Craig and Soom - one which none of them will ever be able to forget. Stepping Stones reveals more in-depth details of life in a Thai family that has been affected by the inclusion of a falang like how they deal with the strange mixture of traditional and modern Thai life that that situation often creates.

Leseprobe

STEPPING STONES

Book Five in the Series

Behind The Smile

The Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya

by

OWEN JONES

Copyright © 2014 Owen Jones

Behind The Smile: Stepping Stones

by Owen Jones

Published by

Megan Publishing Services

(https://meganthemisconception.com)

The right of Owen Jones to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988. The moral right of the author has been asserted.

In this work of fiction, the characters, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or they are used entirely fictitiously.

Conditions of Sale

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

All rights reserved.

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All the Novels in the Series

Behind The Smile Series

The Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya

Behind The Smile: Daddy’s Hobby

ISBN: 978-1489558800

Behind The Smile: An Exciting Future

ISBN: 978-1483977690

Behind The Smile: Maya – Illusion

ISBN: 978-1491201862

Behind The Smile: The Lady in the Tree

ISBN: 978-1502552198

Behind The Smile: Stepping Stones

(NaNoWriMo Winner 2013)

ISBN-13: 978-1505392647

Behind The Smile: The Dream

(Coming December 2015)

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my wife and her family, who have always taken care of me in the most wonderful manner, affording me the time and space to take up this career of writing. No-one could have made me feel more welcome and part of the family than they have. I have loved every minute of my life in Thailand and the reason for that lies largely with them.

1 LIFE’S LITTLE SURPRISES

“How do you think it’ll go?” The three people sitting around the table on the rooftop of the ‘Four Winds Hotel’ in Baan Suay looked at each other. None of them wanted to be the first to speak. “Like that, is it?” asked Lek.

“Don’t worry about it. You’ve done all you can and so have we. I for one think you’ve got it in the bag. Don’t you, Nic?” encouraged Ayr.

“If I were a betting man, which I am, I would say that you have a seventy-thirty chance and I have put money on you, but I’d be happier with eighty-twenty.”

“Well, thanks for your confidence. Did we bet on me as well, Ayr?”

“Oh, you are not allowed to bet on the outcome, it’s against the law and as your close associate, neither should I, but I got my cousin to put five thousand on you – they wouldn’t take any more, given the odds. How much did you do, Nic?”

“I didn’t, and for the same reason, but my mother managed to place six thou at three to two on.”

“Yes, that’s what we took too.”

“OK, let’s go and see what’s happening shall we?” They finished the bottle of whiskey before them with a swift double each from a small glass that they passed around between them.

Ayr drove them to Nic’s house which was across the road from the village polling station. His wife, Jan, was handing out iced-water and cakes, made and donated by a local firm as a self-promotion, to people who had either already voted or who had walked up in the heat of the afternoon and wanted a breather before they did.

It had been nearly four years since her first and last election success, when she had won the hearts and votes of her ward members, but this was for a different post – a higher position and she would need the support of not only all her own village, but also that of most of the Moo, or wards, in the other five villages.

There were six candidates standing for the job of Head Orbortor, or Chief of Finance for the district. She was worried that she should have stood as Orbortor for her own ward first, before going for the job of Capo di Tutti Capi.

So were all her main supporters, and her enemies were hoping that she had bitten off more than she could chew, trying to run before she could even walk properly.

“Stand at the gate by the road, Lek and smile a lot. Greet everyone like a long-lost friend, however well you know them,” advised Nic, who had been in local politics for most of his adult life. He had been mayor for twelve years and was not interested in rising any higher, but a District Orbortor who was on his side, would make his job and life that much easier.

Lek moved out onto the side of the road, and looked back at her friends inside the garden nervously. There were three other hopeful candidates there already, and she cursed herself for not having the nonce to stand there earlier.

They nodded and smiled at each other, but not one of them meant anything by it. This election was for a plum job with a good salary, which could be used as a launching pad into bigger things. From District Orbortor she could get into regional and even provincial politics. She had everything going for her. She was about the right age, perhaps a year or two too old, but that wouldn’t go against her; everyone in the two Moo in Baan Suay would vote for her, with the exception of a hundred or so of the family and friends of the man she had ousted to get her current post of ward councillor, which she would have to relinquish, if she won today.

She was hedging her bets. If she lost today, she could re-stand in her ward elections in five months’ time. However, if she did win, she hoped that the previous councillor, who called himself Boss, would not stand again. That would mean that she had let her supporters down, because they had voted for her to get rid of him.

Still, she thought, let’s win this election first, and worry about the consequences later. She and her advisers had weighed up the pros and cons of standing and had decided to go for it. Her philosophy was to do one job at a time and to do it to the best of her ability.

“Hello, Mrs. Chang, how are you? Lovely to see you again. Is your son still doing well at university? He is such a credit to the village. Come in and join us for a chat after you have cast your vote, won’t you?”

“Hello, Ron, lovely day, isn’t it? How’s the drainage? Still holding out? Good, let me know if there’s anything else I can do for you, won’t you?”

The strongest threat came from Khun Tatsanai, a wealthy, cold-fish of a man from one of the nearby villages, designated as Moo 2, with seven combine harvesters and over three hundred rai of prime land. She could see him sitting just inside the mayor’s gate with his entourage.

Somehow he had got the best table in the best spot so that he could see everyone coming and going and they could see and hear him and his greetings. He also had his big, midnight-blue Mercedes parked just outside Nic’s but to the village side so that everyone would see it and its personalised number plates, and have to walk past it to get to the polling station.

Neither Nic nor Jan would have taken a bribe to allow him to buy that table, so he must have had someone waiting outside the gate to get in first. He knew all the tricks and reportedly had put on massive parties at his ranch-style house every night for the past week with expensive goody-bags for all those in attendance.

Lek had done none of that. The only concession that she had made to ‘the people’ was to be available for a ‘chat and a drink’ outside the hotel every night. OK, the drinks had been free, but Thai voters, especially in the countryside, still expected to be given something for turning out to vote, even if it had been made legally compulsory many years ago.

Old habits died hard and one of those ‘old habits’ was that men thought that rich men should be in charge of the country and women should be in charge of the kitchen and the children. ‘Women should be kept barefoot and pregnant,’ an old man had told her once, adding that he was only joking. Barefoot and pregnant, indeed! Except that he was a liar, he hadn’t been joking, he had meant it and he had voiced an opinion that many men and even some older women held.

On the whole though, the vast, overwhelming majority of women wanted to take part, or at least have their say and their vote, and most local women even wanted Lek to win. It was only the men that she had to worry about and that smiling jackass in there in particular.

Much to her embarrassment, she came out of her reverie to find herself staring at him and he was holding up his glass of light-brown liquid, mouthing the word ‘cheers’ to her. The consumption of alcohol was illegal on polling day and she just knew that that was what he was drinking, but she also knew that she would never prove it. If she tried, it would be spilled ‘accidentally’ or one of his flunkies would take the wrap, saying it was his.

She held up her hand and shouted ‘Chok dee, ka! Good Luck!’.

He was arrogant, he expected to win as if he already knew the result, although she was still slightly ahead in the exit polls. Who believed those though? People lied. They would promise their vote to one person for an invitation to a slap-up party and vote for the opposition. No-one could ever know in a secret ballot… until it was too late and they were sent home with their tail between their legs with everyone laughing at them and their confident expectations that had been fuelled by deceitful promises.

Craig waved to her holding up a bottle of Coke, she wasn’t sure whether to give up her post, but went in anyway.

“How many hundred you got now?” asked one of Tatsanai’s supporters and everyone on the table laughed except Fish, who held up his glass again. They all knew that the winner would need thousands even if the three candidates split the vote fairly evenly. She chose not to reply, but gave them one of her brightest smiles.

“I hate that lot over there, the arrogant…. so and so’s. They just cannot conceive of defeat. It’s his first election at anything, but he and his toadies are so used to him winning that… Oh, pass me that bottle will you, please, Craig? They make me so angry. It’s just a laugh to them, an easy way to get his foot in the door to bribe higher officials and make even more money.”

“That’s politics the world over. Why would the president of the United States or the Prime Minister of the UK sweat and strive for so long for a job that pays the same as a medium-to-high-ranking executive or accountant, if their weren’t other, unseen, unspoken-of perks?” opined Craig, but only Ayr and Lek could understand him.

“What perks?” asked Lek.

“Well, I don’t know… they’re ‘unspoken-of’, no-one’s told me.”

“So how do you now they exist?”

“Because it stands to reason. My ex-brother-in-law was earning as much as a thirty-year-old accountant partner of a firm as Margaret Thatcher was when she was a fifty-odd-year-old Prime Minister. They’re not on fantastic money for running a country, so they must be getting something else that does make it worthwhile, something that most people don’t know about. What about the MP’s’ expenses scandal?

“You’re in politics, Lek, you know that bribery and corruption exist.”

She did, but it wasn’t something she was going to discuss with a foreigner, even if he were her husband and certainly not in front of so many witnesses. “How much longer?”

“An hour, and then fifteen minutes, perhaps thirty for the count up. Come on, let’s go inside for a livener,” replied Nic. “I’ll go first, follow me in after a few minutes. I’ll take Craig with me, make it look as if I’m showing him the toilet.”

“Craig, go with Nic. He’ll take you to the toilet,” suggested Lek.

“I don’t need Nic to take me to the toilet, thank you very much! But if someone’s got to do it, why can’t it be that young woman over there?”

“Just go with him… for my sake? I’ll see you in a minute.”

“OK, if you insist.” He knew something was going on but didn’t know what until Nic handed him an ice-cold beer Chang from the fridge in the house and smiled broadly. “Oh, I see… The old drinks ban… kapun kap.”

Lek, Ayr and Jan joined them minutes later from the back garden door. “So, you didn’t mind Uncle Nic taking you to the toilet then? You can be so slow sometimes.”

“Maybe, but it would have been better if you had said ‘show you where the toilet is’. ‘Take you to the toilet’ is what you do with little children… you help them undo their trousers and show them where to point it.”

“Ah! Oh, well, I’ve got other things on my mind right now. How do you think it’s going, Jan?”

“I think you’ve definitely got this village, so that’s two Moo out of seven…” she replied trying to sound encouraging

“Two out of seven isn’t enough though, nor is three out of seven… so I might be halfway to getting enough votes to win?” She took the shot glass of whiskey being offered to her, downed it in one and handed it back.

“Come on, Lek, it’s not over yet. He’s in a worse position than you are, and he’s a man, so his vote is split… at least you’re the only woman… that has to be a big advantage.”

“You’re right.” She waited for the glass to come around to her again, downed it in one, took a coke from the fridge and said, “Right, I’m going back out there. You stay here, Craig,” she asked Nic if that was all right, “Nic says you can sit here and have another beer. I’ll see you later.” Ayr went with her, and Nic and Jan wandered out the back door into the garden leaving him sitting alone in front of the netted window overlooking the front yard, where scores of people were socialising and discussing the election.

He could plainly see two of Tatsanai’s men pouring whiskey into glasses under the table and quickly topping them up with soda. He didn’t like the cocksure way they were flaunting the alcohol ban, but essentially it was no worse than what Lek and her friends were doing. He put his phone in video mode, pulled the net back and shot a couple of minutes, making sure to include a scene of the Fish accepting and drinking a glass or whiskey and soda. ‘You never knew,’ he thought, ‘it may come in handy one day.’

He was in no hurry to go outside into the forty-two degrees of heat, when the alternative was a fridge full of cold beer, air conditioning and a hidden observation post. He saw Ross arrive and talk to Lek, then he looked at the house and started to walk over. Ayr was probably in the polling station as a reminder for Lek, he thought.

“Hiya, mate! I see you’ve got the best job again?” he said breezily, coming in through the garden door.

“What job’s that?”

“Chief beer taster and observer. Do you need an assistant? It’s too hot for me out there.” Craig indicated the fridge and he helped himself. “So, how’s Lek doing? Going to win, is she?”

“Who knows? They don’t tell me much, they never have. She seems more worried than last time, but this is a much better job. You know that every Moo gets a government budget which the councillors spend, well, the Orbortor makes sure it is spent properly and that none of it ‘gets lost’…”

“So he’s like in charge of the councillors?”

“You could look at it that way, though the councillors don’t. Well, that’s the job that Lek thinks she should have gone for, but in stead of that, she is trying for the Chief District Orbortor, the one in charge or all the little Orbortors… one per Moo so in our case seven of them.

“That’s why she’s so worried – people might think she is underqualified, but as she told me, she’ll have a boss too making sure that she doesn’t screw up, so she should be all right, if they give her a chance to prove herself.”

“Ah, well, good luck to her, I suppose there’s nothing we can do?”

“No, I reckon we’re helping by just keeping out of the way, so they’ve got one less thing to worry about. It should all be over in an hour anyway, then we can all go home. What have you been up to?”

“I ran Gail and Da into the wholesalers in Phitsanulok to pick up some stuff for the shop and the hotel. Boring really. Cheers, good luck, Lek!” They clinked bottles. “So, would this new job mean more travel or anything like that?”

“I’m not rightly sure, to be honest with you, but trying to work things out for myself, and I usually have to with Lek, I would say, that if she is trying to control corruption in her seven lieutenants, she’s going to have to be here, where they are so she can monitor them, but who knows? She may have to go on a few courses to train for the next job up, as they do. Yes, I’d say she would have to go away sometimes, these courses are only jollies though, aren’t they? They’re considered perks of the job.

“An hour or two’s study in the morning; a three hour lunch-cum-shopping break; an hour or two in the afternoon and then a slap-up meal and entertainment at a top venue. It’s a bit of a joke really, isn’t it?”

“As you say, it’s considered a perk. Our lot take their perks in Honolulu and Hong Kong, so the Thai people can count themselves lucky.”

“I agree completely, although I wouldn’t mind a few foreign holidays courtesy of HM Government because of the wife’s job.”

“They probably wouldn’t let falang go, or they’d have to pay for it themselves.”

“True, pass us another one will you, Ross, please? Then we, or at least, I, had better go out and give some moral support.”

Once outside, after finishing his beer, he could tell there was something wrong. Lek and Ayr, and even Nic and Jan looked as if a calamity had struck. “What is it, Lek?” he asked gravely concerned.

“Oh, I’ve lost. The word is Tatsanai has beaten me… not by much, but there it is. Hush now, I have to go up on the stage for the official result.”

“Was it by many? Can’t you get a recount? If it’s less than five percent, demand a recount.” Lek left talking to Ayr.

On the stage, Nic read out the results: three of the candidates polled less than five hundred each; one got just over fourteen hundred; Lek polled 2,443 and Tatsanai 2,662. His supporters went wild, throwing their hats into the air and shouting.

Lek was about to lean forward to congratulate him, when Ayr put her phone to her ear and pulled her back. She then spoke to Nic. Nic tapped the microphone before speaking into it.

“Certain allegations have be made to Khun Ayr, a few minutes ago… very serious charges indeed. So, as adjudicator at this election it falls to me to try to resolve the matter, and the only way I know how is to have a public recount.

“So, security, would you fetch the ballot papers and the official counters and bring them on stage, please? Could someone have a long table set up here? There’s one in the garage, and seven seats for the counters to sit on… oh, and one for the chief teller that’s eight chairs. Pass them up, please.

“OK, counters, on stage please, and the ballot papers… thank you. Now, start again, where everyone can see what is going on. We require complete transparency.

“Khun Ayr, may I have a word, please?” Nic signalled the back of the stage. Ayr and Lek followed him.

“Do you need Lek, Nic? She should be watching the tellers really. This could be crucial.”

“No, it’s only you that I want to see, since you reported the allegation. I agree with your manager, Lek, you should be overseeing the recount.” Lek left them to it.

“Now, then, who made the allegation?”

“I don’t know, Nic, the number came up as withheld.”

“Did they give their name? Was it a man or a woman?”

“It was a man’s voice, but he didn’t give a name. he only said that he had been told that Khun Tatsanai would ‘win one way or another’ and that he should place as much money on him as possible. Then he hung up.”

“Can I see the log entry?”

“No, Nic, my battery was on it’s last legs and it is out now. I’ll have to recharge it later tonight, but I can show it to you then.”

“OK, as soon as you can, please, Ayr. I do need some justification for the recount.”

“Yes, I understand, Nic. You will get it. Can I join Lek at the recount now?”

“Yes, sure, I should be there too.” Nic stood behind the chief teller and Ayr went to stand with Lek.

“Anything happening yet?”

“No, this is a long shot. I’ll feel even more ridiculous, if I lose twice in one day.” Ayr put an arm around her friend’s waist and hugged her.

The seven tellers were seven girls, completely by coincidence. Each Moo councillor had appointed a trusted person to represent their ward in the counting process. Each girl had been given a roughly equal bundle of ballot returns to count and they handed them back to the chief teller with an elastic band around their stack and their name and the number of votes for each candidate on an attached piece of paper, so it was possible to give each girl back the bundle that she had originally counted. Or not, if that was to be the object of the exercise.

Each girl was recounting her own bundle, but now under the close scrutiny of the candidates and their teams. After twenty minutes, when they had finished counting, the bundles were collected and passed to the chief teller, who totted them up again.

She raised her hand when she was finished and her supervisor, went over. It was a tense moment and he was well aware that all eyes were upon him. He tried to give nothing away on his face, but he caught Nic’s eye, and they walked towards one another. He whispered in Nic’s ear, then they looked at the chief teller and went over to her.

She pointed to a line of entries in the ledger, and then a sheet of paper, and then at one of the girls. That girl was obviously aware of something. She first blushed, then tears flowed and then she howled like a baby from the shame. “They made me do it. I said I didn’t want to, but they said I had to for the good of the village and my family. They gave me 5,000 baht. I’d never seen so much money, but I gave it all to my mother, I swear, I did.”

Nic took a look at the figures, the girl was totally breaking down by this point. The six candidates were called over. Apparently, the girl had not allocated the correct number of votes to any of the candidates, but of the 1,237 ballot papers she had counted, she had given 641 too many to Tatsanai, 420 too few to Lek and 221 too few to the others.

The other girls’ returns were checked and found to be correct. That made Lek the clear winner.

Nic addressed the corrupt girl. “Who made you do this? You know this is a very serious offence, don’t you? You could spend years in jail for this.”

“I don’t know his name, sir?”

“Is he in this courtyard?”

“I can’t see him, sir.”

“Well, stand up and try, or I’ll take you to the police station myself! This is not some joke! Get up on your chair.”

She did so, but didn’t point anyone out, whether he was there or not, which Nic suspected to be the case. “Do you know anything about this Khun Tatsanai?”

“Of course not, Nic, you know me – as honest as the day is long, but I do object to being ousted from office after such a short time and because some stupid slip of a girl can’t add up. You announced that I had won and that should stand.”

Nic chatted in private to some of his advisers, it was a tricky point of law.

Craig and Ross stood in front of the stage, leaning on it. Their Thai was pretty good and Lek and Ayr had been keeping them informed after a fashion, so they knew what was going on. Craig retrieved his Smartphone from his pocket, played with it for a while and then sent two text messages and two emails – one of each to Lek and Ayr. The text just said ‘Lek, look at your tablet’. He heard Lek’s phone and tablet, beep, he was that close. He knew that she often ignored the tablet, but never the phone, in case it was Soom.

She read the message and then, turned her Kindle Fire on. A recent email, with a video attachment. She looked at Craig and he urged her to watch it, which she did. Then she passed it to Ayr and Ayr showed it to Nic. Nic, called Tatsanai over.

“I want you to reconsider withdrawing from this election with some of your honour still in tact in light of new recent evidence.”

“What are you talking about, man? What new evidence? I demand to know what is being said about me and by whom.”

“Yes, fair enough, that is your right.”

He played the video of him flouting the alcohol ban with his pals that Craig had taken a few hours before. “Who took that? It’s libellous? It’s a fake! I’ll sue. How did you get hold of it?”

Nic returned to the email, of which the video was an attachment. The metadata just said ‘From: [email protected] Subject: ☺’. Nic knew about proxy servers, but he had to have Lek translate the English, which she did with great pleasure.

“All right, I withdraw. You win this time Lek. Come on, let’s get off home.” He stormed off stage with his men in his wake.

“Where did that come from, Lek?”

“I have no more idea than you do. You can see when it arrived, a few minutes ago.”

“You two do seem to have had a lot of help from ‘dei ex machina’ today, don’t you. Anonymous tip-offs, anonymous emails and videos. It really is most strange. Anyway, you deserved to win Lek, so I’d better announce that before everybody goes home with the wrong idea.” He switched the PA system back on and told how there had been an ‘unfortunate mistake’ and that Khun Lek had in fact won reasonably comfortably, after Khun Tatsanai had magnanimously conceded the error in addition and withdrawn any objections. Those that were left, about half of those there at the first announcement roared, for Lek was the preferred candidate in Baan Suay by far.

Nic turned the PA off again. “Come on, I need a drink after that. What a bastard, eh? Intimidating a young girl like that, she couldn’t have been more than sixteen.”

“What will happen to her, Nic?”

“I’ll let her stew tonight. I hope she doesn’t sleep a wink, but I’ll go and see her parents tomorrow and let her off. I won’t report this and I doubt that anyone else will either.”

“I won’t,” offered Lek, “I’d like to see you phone her parents and tell them what you’re doing, in case they get too heavy with her.”

“I agree,” said Jan, “she looked awfully upset and we wouldn’t want her to do anything stupid, would we now?”

“OK.” He phoned his Number Two, the Chuai Baan. “Tom, do us a favour will you. That girl who falsified the figures today, could you get me her parents’ phone number, please? I’d like to speak to them right away.

“Right, do you want a drink here or on that gorgeous rooftop of yours?”

“Up to you, Nic,” replied Lek.

“Oh, I love it up there, the view is so much better and it’s more breezy than our living room.” So, they retired to the roof garden of Lek and Ayr’s small hotel. They bought a bottle of 100 Pipers from Nong on their way up and invited her and Kurt to join them later if they wanted, but the loving couple rarely socialised after working hours, and it was one of the reasons why the invitation was extended anyway. They had been expected to decline. Craig and Ross kept a dozen beers in the fridge as a matter of course, or at least the girl running The Cloud Café had a standing order to keep at least a dozen bottles in her fridge.

They sat on the roof in the cool breeze which didn’t exist at street level. It transformed a sweltering, muggy, mosquito-infested evening into a very enjoyable experience especially as Baan Suay was relatively pollution-free and so the stars and even some planets were usually on display.

As they were talking about the local events of the day and Thai politics in general, as they usually ended up doing, Nic’s phone rang. “Hello, speaking. I see, I’m actually sitting with her now… I’ll put her on… For you, Lek. It’s Phichai police, It appears that your phone is dead and someone has been trying to reach you for a while…” Nic handed her his phone, “Daap Prasit…”

“Hello, Daap Prasit, what can I do for you?… I see…” she rummaged in her handbag, pulled out her phone and tried to switch it on, but it was dead. “No, that is correct, I am trying it now, but the battery is dead, it has been a very busy day. What exactly is the problem? I see, my son-in-law… yes, I have his number… all right, I’ll phone him right away. Thank you for your perseverance and diligence, officer. Good night.

“It seems that Soom’s husband has been trying to phone me for the last two hours or so, but my battery was dead and so was yours, Ayr. I need to phone him ‘immediately’ apparently…” Ayr took out her phone, pulled the back off it and inserted a battery,

“Here, use mine,” she handed it over and Lek dialled.

“You told me that your battery was empty.”

“No, is that what I said? Sorry, I meant ‘had fallen out’. I dropped it and the battery fell out.” She apologised with her expression and a shrug, but was listening intently to Lek. Nic didn’t believe her, but believed that the ends justified the means and they had ousted that scoundrel Tatsanai. He sat there shaking his head in disbelief that he had fallen for one of Ayr’s ruses, while listening to Lek, as were they all.

She waited anxiously for her call to be answered, not knowing what the problem was, but fearing the worst under the circumstances. “Ah, Mike, I understand you’ve been try…”

“I’m so sorry, Mae, so, so sorry. I love Soom more than my own life, I would never have wanted this to happen.”

“Calm down, Mike… good. What has happened?”

“We went to a party, and, and er, I drank too much. Soom told me to leave the car there, but I said I was all right…”

“Get to the point, Mike, quickly!”

“It’s Soom… we had an accident, and she’s in hospital… intensive care… she’s in there now. I’m so sorry, I, I…”

“Is there a doctor I can speak too, or a nurse?”

“I don’t know…”

“Well, find out, and bloody quickly!”

“Yes, Mae.”

“Craig, put this number in your phone, it’s that bloody idiot’s my daughter’s married to. Send him a text so he can keep in touch. I’ll kill him if Soom, if she… Hello, nurse, my name is Mrs Williams. Yes, Soom’s mother… can you give me any news please?”

“I’m terribly sorry, Mrs. Williams, Khun Soomsomai is in surgery as we speak. She was unconscious on arrival with a suspected fractured skull as a result of an RTA, I believe. We won’t know any more until she comes out of the operating room… No, I don’t know when that is likely to be, I’m sorry.”

“OK, thank you, please put me back onto her husband.”

“Mike, we will be there as soon as we can, but it is awkward at this time of night. Craig has sent you his phone number. Ring it as soon as you have any news.”

“Yes, Mae, thank you…” Lek hung up. She didn’t want to hear his excuses and she certainly wasn’t making the journey for his sake.

“Right, did you all get the gist of that?” She was looking at Craig and said in English, “Soom is in an operation room after a car accident,” her mastery of the English language deteriorating quickly as other things filled her mind. “We have to get down there now, Craig! Anybody any ideas? Little Soom is in intensive care, Craig, Oh!” He jumped up and held her shoulders, resting his head on hers.

“It is too late to fly, the next flight is in twelve hours. We could drive you, but we’ve all been drinking… there’s a bus from Phitsanulok, that would get you there at about five o’clock, or a taxi all the way,” said Ross, summing up what everybody already knew.

“Ayr, could you get us a taxi for as soon as possible, please? Make sure you tell them the circumstances and offer a bonus if they get us there sooner than they would normally be able to. Make it a nice car too.”

Ayr made a few phone calls. “It will be here in half an hour. It’s got to come from Uttaradit. They’ve promised the boss’ Mercedes, but they’re not sure. Do you want to get any clothes to take, Craig?”

“No, I don’t think so, we can buy whatever we need when we’re there, but it’s four or five hours to Bangkok, even if they hurry, so I need to take a couple of travel sickness tablets for Lek, a couple of cans for me and maybe a ‘ben’ of whiskey to put in my pocket for Lek in case she wants it. Oh, Ayr, and mints, a toothbrush, a comb or brush, whatever Lek uses and some toothpaste. Here’s a thousand, we’ll follow you down in a minute.”

2 BANGKOK HOSPITAL

When the taxi pulled up outside the hospital’s rear entrance, Lek jumped out and ran inside leaving Craig to pay the fare. It wasn’t a problem – he had expected as much and knew that she would be easy to find. Updates from the distraught Mike had been regular to the point of streaming. Craig felt sorry for him because he guessed that Lek was going to make his life Hell and he had been through that in phases himself. He also sympathized about the drinking and driving. He had gotten away with it for a decade many years ago, but could not condone it. He did, however have sympathy for a stupid boy, as he had been, who was learning by his mistakes, as he had done.

He was glad he wasn’t Mike though all the same, even if the reports were correct that she was out of danger.

Craig went in, looked around for reception and headed over there. Lek was nowhere to be seen. The receptionist he spoke to understood his Thai and spoke a little English too, but when one of her colleagues heard the name of the person he had come to visit, a porter took him to the lift and accompanied him to Soom’s floor and room. Mike was sitting on a bench outside looking more wretched than any stray dog he had ever seen.

He looked at him, held a hand up in a way which could be interpreted as both ‘hello’ and ‘I don’t want to hear it’. Mike didn’t even try. Craig looked through the window in the door. “Khao dai mai – May I go in?”

The porter pushed the door smiling, ”Dai, dai – yes, you may.”

She was in her own room, hooked up to a bank of monitors. Lek’s forehead was on the back of Soom’s right hand – the one that didn’t have the drip in it. Craig walked up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder, then patted it, but didn’t dare speak lest she was praying, which seemed likely. He sat down next to Lek, put his hand back on Lek’s shoulder and started to pray too. It had been a long time, but he still remembered how.

A few minutes later, a doctor entered the room and called Lek outside, he had undoubtedly been alerted to Lek’s arrival by the nurse who had shown her to the room. Craig stayed put, but put his hand on Soom’s.

The surgeon who had treated Soom explained that she was concussed and that there was a hairline fracture to the right, rear side of her head, but that there was no undue swelling inside the cranium. “Khun Soomsomai, will live, Mrs. Williams and I am confident that she will make a full recovery, but how long that takes will depend on the events of the next twelve hours.

”We are monitoring your daughter on all the latest equipment available. The next time you pass the nurses’ station just down the corridor – right there,” he pointed to it, “just ask and the duty nurse in charge will show you the displays and explain what they all mean, if she has time. When your daughter comes around, I am sure that we will know as soon as you do, and someone will come immediately. However, if you are concerned at any time, you will find a phone on the table, which is linked directly to that desk. All you have to do is pick it up. There is also a panic alarm.”

“Thank you, er, Dr?” He nodded. “May I go back in now?”

“One second. The room was paid for by your daughter’s employers’ insurance scheme. I assure you that she has absolutely the best care that money can buy, and until she leaves, the room is hers. You and your husband may sleep there free of charge and there is room service the equivalent of any Four Star Hotel. There is also an en suite bathroom.

“Is there anything else I can do for you, Mrs. Williams?” he asked, holding the door open for her.

“Only take care of this,” she said looking into Mike’s eyes as he looked up at her from his chair next to the doorway, then she punched him as hard as she could in the centre of the forehead, which sent his head crashing backwards into the concrete-rendered wall, “but there’s no hurry,” and she went back inside leaving Mike to the tender mercies of the horrified surgeon.

Lek retook her seat and attitude, but asked Craig to go outside and tell Mike to go home, get some sleep, a shower and some food and come back when he was ready. Craig had to trot to catch up with him as he was being led away by a nurse clutching a blood-soaked cotton-wool swab to the back of his head. Craig assumed that an injury from the car crash had re-opened and was never told any different.

∞

Soom started to show signs of returning to consciousness some six hours later. The nurse that arrived at the behest of the monitor said that was a good sign, because the drugs used in the operation and those given to help her rest were probably wearing off. Lek and Craig were ecstatic and Lek asked Craig to phone Mike with the good news. She also said to tell him that there was no immediate necessity for him to hurry back, although she hoped that he would anyway.

Soom first started muttering, she didn’t know where she was, then she remembered the collision and called out her husband’s name. The nurse talked to her as she gave her a sedative injection and Lek cried silently. So did Craig.

Soom and Mike had become friends at university in their third year, but it hadn’t developed into love until when they were both job-hunting after their finals. She had been studying ‘computers’ and he had been ‘doing banking’. They had both applied to the same bank on the same day and had both got a job. They had celebrated their success together that evening, and had started seeing each other regularly from then on. Love had been inevitable.

He was a Bangkokian, but he had been ‘up country’ to meet Soom’s parents many times before they had gotten married two years before, and Lek and Craig had visited his parents several times too. They on the other hand had only been to Uttaradit Province to visit them once, and had made it very clear that they didn’t like ‘the countryside’. Still, they had gotten on, and it was obvious that their children were besotted with one another.

Mike was a ‘nice boy’ with good manners, although more than a little spoilt by his parents who were quite well off. He had been to one of the best private schools and spoke English at least as well as Soom. His father, Ananada, worked ‘in business’ and his mother, Dok Phi Sua, or Carnation, was a society lady involved in charities. Mike was intelligent, but far from street-wise, having spent no more time on the street at any one time than it took to leave a building and get in a vehicle, or vice versa. Despite being spoilt, he had a helpful nature and meant well. This incident of drinking and driving was in a way typical of his thoughtless reliance on his intelligence and class position because of his upbringing.

It was a facet of his character that he had been unaware of, but which he would spend a lot of time in the future trying to eliminate. He was deeply in love with Soom and he just could not believe that he had been so stupid that he had nearly killed her for the pittance it would have cost to hire a taxi and the slight bruising that that would have caused his ego.

When he received Craig’s phone call, he was not at home. He had gone home, eaten, showered, changed and returned within two hours and was dozing in a chair in the huge waiting room on the ground floor of the hospital.

“Hello, Khun Paw, how is Soom?”

“She’s coming around, son, and has started to ask for you. The nurse has sedated her again, but she should return to consciousness more quickly next time. Where are you and how are you?”

“I am well, Sir, and waiting in the foyer downstairs.”

“I see, scared to come up, eh? I can’t say that I blame you. I think I would have joined the Foreign Legion by now, if I had done what you did.”

“Pardon?”

“The falangset army… look don’t worry about that now. You can’t sit down there, come on up and come inside. I’ll try and keep Soom’s mother from strangling you.”

“Thank you, father, I will be up immediately.”

On entering the room, he approached the bed with bowed head and waaied Lek and Craig, who indicated a chair by Soom’s head on the other side of the bed – the side where her hand had the intravenous drip. He started to sob silently, his shoulders heaving and shaking, tears flowing down his cheeks, his nose running, causing him to sniffle. He had forgotten a handkerchief and was beginning to annoy Lek, just as she was starting to forgive him, or perhaps that was too strong a word, but at least soften towards him

She doubted whether she would ever forgive him. She tossed him her packet of tissues and he accepted them with an extreme display of gratitude as if they had been hand-crafted from twenty-two carat gold leaf.

“So, tell us what happened.”

Mike gave them the potted version of the events of the previous day, but he could feel from the way that Lek was looking at him, that less was better and least was best. He took all the blame for driving while drunk, and didn’t try to blame the other driver for causing the accident, because, in all honesty, he couldn’t remember why it had occurred, it had all happened so fast. Soom was the most seriously injured, and the police had taken a statement the night before, but said that they would need to speak to him again very soon.

“Speak to her, Mike, perhaps she will hear you.” he was obviously embarrassed to say anything affectionate to his wife with her mother there, but it would probably have been hard for him whoever was present, because it was neither the Thai way, nor the way he would have been brought up.

He stroked the back of her hand gently with his index finger. “Soom, my dear, can you hear me? It’s me, Mike… I am so sorry, my dearest… Please be all right soon, we all miss you so much…” Craig could feel the embarrassment given off by Mike and Lek. It was excruciating and palpable. He wasn’t sure that he could take any more of it himself. He felt like an intruder, despite knowing that he had an absolute right to be there.

“Lek, why don’t we go and stretch our legs for ten minutes, have a coffee downstairs and then come back. I’m sure that Mike will phone me if anything at all happens… won’t you, son?”

“Yes, even if she blinks.”

Craig saw the signs, Lek wanted to refuse and get angry at the very suggestion that she should abandon her injured daughter to the care of the moron who had put in hospital, but he watched her control herself too. She could see the sense, it was what she would want if she were in Soom’s place.

“All right,” she capitulated, “ten minutes only, and you will phone if there is any development.”

“Yes, Mae, I promise.”

“Very well.” She made a point of looking at her watch and tapping the bezel at the point where ten minutes would be up as if imprinting the time in her mind like an alarm. She pushed Craig before her, walked to the door and then out, without acknowledging Mike as he waaied.

“I could kill him.”

“I’m sure, but I don’t think Soom would thank you for it. You can see that the boy is really ashamed of himself too. I would be very surprised if he ever took a risk like that again, and, to be honest, it wouldn’t shock me if he never wanted to drive again either.”

“If I had my way, they’d take his license off him and tear it up. He’s not fit to drive.”

Craig tried to change the subject, but didn’t pick a very good topic, “You know what surprises me? Where are his parents? Their son has just been through an horrific accident, his wife’s in hospital, he’s in shock and they are…? Nowhere to be seen? Don’t you think that that’s a bit weird?”

“Let’s face it, they are weird, aren’t they? They’re as cold as… as fish… they’re as bad as that guy Tatsanai from the next village, you know, the one who…”

“Yes, darling, I remember… it may seem like ages ago but it was only yesterday afternoon.”

“Yes, it does seem like a long time ago, almost another lifetime ago. To think that while I was worrying whether I was going to get a better job, my baby was being tossed about in a car on a motorway like a rag doll because her stupid husband was drunk and too big-headed to leave his car and get a taxi.

“It’s incredible when you think of it in those terms, isn’t it?”

“Yes, darling telak, but it doesn’t do you or Soom any good to think like that either. You can’t be there every second of every day for her, can you? Sometimes, you have to get on with your own life, like you were doing, no-one would blame you for that.” He drew the seat back for her, “Sit down and have a nice cup of coffee and a cake. You’ve got to keep your strength up.”

“Darling, you remember all those times when I told you that Soom was not your daughter and never would be? I didn’t mean that… you have been everything a father could be to her and she, and I, are very proud of you. the man who helped me create her was a worthless piece of rubbish in comparison.”

“Steady on now! I’m not used to praise, especially from you and it’s not even my birthday.” She laid a hand on his.

When they had finished and were paying the bill some thirty minutes after sitting down, Craig’s phone beeped. He took it out and unlocked the keyboard. “A text from Mike, she seems to be waking up.” Lek was off, leaving Craig to wait for their change.

He hurried up after her.

As he half-hurried into the room - he wanted to demonstrate that he cared, which he genuinely did, but was torn between wanting to be there and wanting to give them some space – he could see only smiling faces on all those who were not prone. Something had obviously happened, and it was equally obvious that it was something good. He paused at the foot of the bed and watched a nurse talking to Soom.

Soom was replying in phrases that made sense, which accounted for the happy faces. He looked into her eyes which were only narrow slits under heavy veils, but he was sure that he saw recognition and an attempt at a smile. Craig grinned widely and held up a thumb. The weak smile grew a little and her right hand tried to move.

It was only then that he noticed that Lek, Mike and the nurse were watching them. Craig smiled at everyone and then sat down next to Lek. Lek laid a hand on his knee, squeezed it and then returned her gaze to her daughter.

“How is she, nurse,” Craig inquired in Thai.

“Dee maak! Very good… er, better than normal expect.” Followed by a flurry of Thai, which Lek translated as ‘she is strong and is doing very well, but still needs a lot of rest’.

Soom’s eyes were opening wider by the minute and expression was returning to her face. The nurse was happy enough with her progress to puff up her pillows and place the control panel for the bed by her right hand after showing her how to use it. Soom had minor cuts and bruises but there was no injury to her back or neck, so she could use the motorized bed to help her to sit up which was what she wanted. The nurse spotted what she was trying to do and elevated the top third of the bed.

Soom smiled and nodded when she was in a more comfortable position, “Ka,” she whispered. As she turned to leave, the nurse took Mike’s elbow and said something near his ear.

“Excuse me, admin… I need to sign some insurance papers,” he explained and left with the nurse.

Mother and daughter spoke in Thai.

“So, how are you feeling, Little One? If you don’t want to talk, just shake your head, I’m sure you are still very tired and under the influence of the drugs.”

“OK, tired… but not sleepy… bored. Bad dreams… I feel drunk.” Craig could follow everything that was being said easily enough.

“If your body is telling you something, listen and believe it, it knows what’s best for it in cases like this. If it wants to sleep, don’t fight it, just go to sleep. When you are awake your brain has more to think about than when you are asleep, so it can devote more of its time and energy to repairing you, and that is what your body needs to be doing now, so if you want to go to sleep, just do it. Don’t worry about us, we’ll still be here when you wake up.

“Do you need anything, darling?”

“Is Mike all right? I thought I heard him… before.”

“Yes, he has been here the whole time. The nurse just asked him to pop out to sign some papers, he’ll be back soon.”

“Water, please…” Lek looked around there was a baby, spill-proof beaker on the bedside table half-full of lukewarm water. Lek held it to her mouth and Soom sucked some out.

“Craig, look in the fridge over there for some fresh water, please. This has been there for hours at least” He fetched a bottle of mineral water, ripped of the plastic seal around the top and passed it to Lek, who drank the water remaining in the beaker and refilled it with the cool water. “Here, darling, this is much better.”

“I know… car crash… after party. I remember lights… and screeching… and then nothing. I think I heard Mike talking, but not sure. Am I all right? I can’t feel anything…”

“Don’t worry, that’s probably the pain-killers. The doctor says you have a hairline fracture of the skull and concussion, but otherwise no serious injuries. You must have been thrown about a bit, Mike says the car is a write-off. If you hadn’t been wearing seat belts, God knows what else may have happened to you.”

“Do you have a mirror, Mae?”

“You look fine, don’t worry.”

“Mae?”

“It will all heal up” she rummaged in her bag, took out her compact, opened it, looked at her own drawn features for a second and then held it in front of Soom’s face.”

She inspected every square inch of her face and neck by moving her head from side to side, up and down. “I look awful! I’ve got fourteen scratches, a cut with two stitches in it, a black eye and a swollen lip… and a party hat on! What’s that for?”

“All of the cuts and bruises will heal, there’s no need to worry about them. I don’t know why you’ve got the hat on. Wait a moment…” Lek stood up and looked down on it from directly above. It was a simple, white paper band, about six inches wide with no top. “Ah, it looks as if they have had to cut some of your hair away to inspect your cranium.”

“You mean I’m bald?!” shouted Soom as loud as she could involuntarily, but it came out as a hoarse croak.

“No, now don’t panic, you can see you’ve still got hair on your shoulders. It’s just a patch… not very large, where the crack in your head is, I imagine. Don’t worry… it’ll grow back soon enough.”

“Yeah, right, it has taken me eight years to grow it this long since leaving school, what am I going to look like with half a bald head?”

Lek sat down. She could understand her daughter’s concern. All young Thai women took immense pride in their long black hair. Many girls grew it to their coxis, three or four feet long. Although Soom’s beautiful hair was only half that length, it was still her pride and joy and she spent a lot of money on it.

“Your hairdresser will come up with a style that will hide that patch for you with no problem… you may need a small hairpiece for a while, but you should be concentrating on getting better not on what you look like.”

“Your mother’s right, Soom, concentrate on getting well first, then out of here, and then you can take care of your hair. Priorities, you know. The marks on your face will be gone in a week.”

She nodded, looking a little ashamed of her flash of vanity.

“How was your election, Mae?”

“Your mother won!” interrupted Craig proudly. “You are now looking at the District Orbortor for our tambon,” and he presented her with a sweep of his open hand. Lek stood and made a semblance of a curtsey. Soom went to clap her hands, but then saw the drip and said ‘Hurray!’ instead. At that moment, Mike came back into the room. His face brightened immediately on feeling the up-beat atmosphere and seeing his smiling wife.

“Hello, what’s going on here then? How are you feeling, telak?” He crossed to the bed and took her left hand.

“Paw was just saying that Mae’s been elected Chief Orbortor of the tambon.”

“That’s great news! Congratulations, Mae! That’s why we went to that party last night, we were so confident that you would win, that we wanted to be somewhere we could celebrate, but things got out of hand and so we left early…” his telling of the story grew slower and quieter under Lek’s powerful gaze. He wished he’d never started to confide it in them, but couldn’t leave it mid sentence.”

“Yes, well, the less said about last night the better as far as I’m concerned although I’m sure the police will want to hear all the fascinating details. A thought – Mike, have you phoned the bank and told them why Soom is not in work yet – and yourself for that matter?”

“No, Mae, it completely slipped my mind.”

“But it’s,” she checked her watch, “nearly one o ‘clock. That makes you four hours late… Won’t they have missed you?”

“Yes, they will, but they don’t phone. They just give you a boll… good telling off the next day… wipe the floor with you in front of everyone.”

“I think it would be a good idea to ring them, don’t you? I can’t see Soom being there tomorrow to get even more punishment for being with you, can you? You’d better tell them that it will be at least a fortnight before she’ll be in, but perhaps a month. I don’t know about you… How are you?”

“I’m all right, thank you, Mae, just a few aches and pains and a splitting headache.”

“Good. Now phone the bank.” The word ‘good’ was said ambivalently, she was glad that he had a sore head, but she didn’t want her daughter to think that. Mike left the room fumbling in his pocket for his mobile phone.

“Mae, I think I might sleep a little now.”

“Yes, you do that, darling. Do you want something to eat when you wake up? We’ll get you whatever you want, it’ll be here waiting for you.”

“That would be nice,” she mumbled without saying what she wanted and was asleep in an instant.

“Why don’t you try to get some sleep as well, dear?”