by Guy Lilburne
Ting got a print out of the treatment that Terry had so far received and the cost for his stay each night in a hospital bed. She paid with what cash she had left in her bag. She did have some in the bank, but she would have to work to earn enough to keep paying the hospital bills.
A nurse took her to the ICU. Terry was heavily bandaged and connected to a drip and a series of monitors. Ting didn’t understand the moving lines and flashing numbers on the screens, but she knew that the regular bleeping noise was a good sign. Terry’s face was swollen and bruised. Ting didn’t know if the coma that gripped him allowed him to know that she was there, but she spoke to him anyway.
“Hello Telly. It’s me, Ting. I not know why you eat drug, but I not angry very much about you. I take good care for you. You in hospital now, so not worry anything. I pay for you. I like what you say before about future and I want same. I come and see you every day and doctor say you better soon. I have to go to your hotel now and tell them what happen.” She kissed him as gently as she could and took a photo of him on her mobile phone. She took a motorbike taxi to the Holiday Inn hotel. She had everyone’s attention as soon as she walked into the grand lobby and they saw her blood soaked clothes.
She told the receptionist about Terry’s accident and she was taken into a private room. The general manager quickly joined them and Ting repeated her story. The receptionist confirmed that Ting was Terry’s girlfriend from her check in the previous day. Ting handed the manager the note from the doctor. She showed him the photo on her mobile phone and it was agreed that they would take her to empty his room and take his belongings. The manager was a very charming Swiss man and he pointed out that the room was booked for one more night. He very generously offered to refund the money in cash for the last night. He thought that Ting would need it to help pay for the hospital. Ting and a porter went to the room and packed all Terry’s belongings into his suitcase. Ting was surprised to see that he had two passports, but she could see which one was his from the photo. She kept quiet about the other one. The only other thing that may be of use was his mobile phone. She took everything back to the massage shop. She showered and changed and took his passport to the hospital. She spent another half an hour holding Terry’s hand before she went back to the massage shop and started working again. It seemed to Ting that her life had changed with Terry’s accident, but she really still didn’t understand how or why. It had certainly made her busy. Each morning she went to see Terry. She would spend an hour at his bedside before going to work. She made an extra effort to get as many customers as she could so she could pay the hospital. After work each day she would go back to the hospital and sit with Terry for another hour. She was falling in love with an unconscious man and praying for a future with him. The doctor told Ting that the blood tests had identified the drug. He explained that it was a drug commonly used for spiking peoples’ drinks to either rape them or steal from them. The doctor believed that Terry had been a victim of a spiked drink and that explained why he had no wallet on him at the time of the accident. Ting was relieved that he wasn’t a drug user.
When Terry didn’t return to Pattaya the boys in The Sloan Square Bar started to get worried. Sloany, Norris and John had all tried to contact him on his mobile, but it just rang out unanswered. The fact was his mobile and the two passports were packed away in his case, which was stuck in a wardrobe inside the massage shop. It was Norris who was trying again when Ting just happened to be close enough to hear the ringing phone and answer it before it stopped.
“Hello,” she said.
“’Ello. Can I speak to Terry please?”
“You friend Telly?”
“Yes. Can I speak to him please?”
“No. Telly in hospital. He has hurt his arm. Have accident, now asleep. I take care.”
“Is he OK?”
“He OK, nit noy (little bit) ha sip, ha sip (50/50). I ring you back when he better.”
“Oh!” There was a long silence while Norris thought what else he could ask. Ting thought it was the end of the conversation and closed the phone. She hadn’t found it easy talking on the phone, so she turned it off. She decided that she could ring Terry’s friend back when Terry got better.
Norris announced the news to the others;
“Blimey. Terry ’as ’ad a haccident. He’s ’urt his harm and he’s in ’ospital.”
Everyone was surprised and a bit shocked. They bombarded Norris with questions that he couldn’t answer. Sloany tried to ring Terry’s phone, but it was turned off. They were relieved that, at least, he was alive and he was in hospital, which would seem to be the best place for him if he wasn’t very well. Norris had assumed that the Thai lady he had spoken to on Terry’s mobile was a nurse and that made everyone feel a bit better about the situation too.
Terry was in a coma for four days before he coughed and spluttered and opened his eyes. The nurse rang Ting straight away, while a doctor examined Terry. He had been lucky and had not suffered any long term effects from the drug. He still looked battered and bruised, but the thing that hurt the most was his cracked ribs. It hurt when he breathed. The doctor told him it would be a couple of months before his ribs healed. Terry asked about Ting and the doctor told him that she was on her way. Terry remembered everything about Ting and how he felt about her. He remembered looking for a bar to have a drink, because he was feeling sad about going back to Pattaya and Ting still working in a massage parlour. He couldn’t remember anything else. He was surprised when the doctor told him he had been hit by a car. He was amazed when he was told that he had been in a coma for four days. He had had many dreams, but he couldn’t really remember them and they melted away as his conscious mind took over once more. By the time Ting got to the hospital they had moved Terry to a general ward, but they wanted to keep him in for another 24 hours just to monitor his recovery.
When Ting saw Terry on the ward he was surprisingly chirpy and very happy to see Ting. They held hands and Terry told her how much he had missed her.
“I miss you too.”
They talked about what had happened and Ting explained that his drink had been spiked by somebody who had robbed him of his wallet. They were both relieved that he was going to make a full recovery. They told each other that they wanted a future together. They felt happy.
“Ting. Would you be able to bring my case here? I need my phone. I have to ring the lads in the bar and I’ll need my clothes and stuff if they are letting me go tomorrow.”
“Yes, Telly. I can do.”
Ting dropped his case off later that day, but she couldn’t stay long because she had a customer waiting for her back at the massage shop. She decided not to tell Terry that.
Terry rang Sloany.
“Hello matey!”
“Bloody hell Terry! We thought you were dead.”
“No. I’m alive mate, but I’m aching a bit.”
“You haven’t lost Eric’s passport have you? If you have you’ll have to pay to have it replaced.”
“No. I’ve got it. They stole my wallet with my holiday cash and my bank card though.”
“Who did?”
“The people who drugged and mugged me. Then I got run over, because I was on the drugs and that’s how I ended up in here.”
“Was it a good holiday then?”
“Actually it was. I have met the most wonderful lady. More wonderful than anyone I have ever met in my life before.”
“Bloody hell Terry! You’re in love again!”
“I actually am this time and I mean that most sincerely. Do you see where I’m coming from?”
“No. When are they going to let you out of hospital?”
“Tomorrow.”
“What hospital are you in?”
“I don’t know. Hang on a minute.” Terry passed the phone to a nurse who told Sloany which hospit
al it was and where it was. When she handed the phone back to Terry the call had already been terminated.
“Oh well,” he sighed. “Just one more day in paradise!”
He went to sleep.
Sloany updated the others in the bar about Terry.
“I’m going to have to rent a car and drive down and get him, but I could do with someone coming with me to share the driving. It’s a long way.”
“I’ll come. I’ll go half on the truck rental too. FUCK SHIT BOLLOCKS.”
“I’ll come as well. We can split the costs three ways,” said Norris.
They looked at Simon.
“I can’t come. I’ve got a radio show to do in the morning, but I’ll chuck in a couple of thousand baht towards the hospital costs or whatever.”
Sloany went and collected a pick-up truck. Within an hour the three of them had started out on the long drive down to Phuket.
It was 6:00am when John pulled onto the hospital car park. They went to the reception and told the nurse that they had come to collect Terry Davis who was being discharged. The nurse checked the computer and rang the doctor on the ward. Ten minutes later Terry was wheeled down to them in a wheelchair holding his suitcase on his knees and a bag of prescription painkillers. His swollen face broke into a smile when he saw his friends.
“Fucking hell Terry! You look a mess. You old bastard,” said Sloany in his usual abrupt manner. “Come on, let’s get you home.”
“I’ve got to go and see Ting first.”
“Who’s Ting?”
“She is the lady I told you about.”
“Well, you can see Ting Tong when you come back to visit her after you are better. You need to be back in Pattaya, where we can look after you properly. We need to notify your bank about the stolen card. You’ve got no money and nowhere to live, so you have to come back and we are too tired to be driving around Phuket looking for some bar girl.”
“She is not a bar girl, as it happens,” said Terry indignantly.
“I can’t believe you lot. Simple Simon has come back from Khon Kaen all loved up too. You can come back and see her when you feel better, if you still like her after a month or two. Believe me you won’t!”
Sloany slapped him on the back and Terry cried out in pain.
Sloany turned to the nurse on the reception.
“How much do we owe you?” He fished out his wallet from his back pocket. The nurse checked the computer.
“Nothing. Miss Ting pay everything already. I give you receipt.”
She printed out the receipt, which showed the treatments, medicines and the costs.
“Bloody hell!” said Sloany. “It isn’t cheap in here.” He stuffed the receipt for just over 25,000 baht into Terry’s bag of painkillers and they wheeled him out to the pick-up truck.
“We’ve put a mattress on the back of the truck. We thought that it would be more comfortable for you to travel back on that. You can sleep.” Between them they managed to get Terry up onto the back of the truck and laid him down on the mattress. They caused him a lot of pain.
“Have another painkiller,” said Sloany.
“I’ve just had some.”
“Have some more. It’s going to be a bumpy ride. Some of these roads are awful!” Sloany rattled off one of his extra loud machine gun style laughs.
They set off on the long journey back home. It was a bumpy ride, but the mattress helped.
It didn’t help when it started raining and it really did start raining. It was torrential.
“I hope this rain doesn’t get any worse!”
“Are you worried about Terry, Sloany?”
“No. I can’t see a thing through the bloody windscreen.”
“Do you think we should check on Terry?”
“What! In this weather! We’ll all get soaked. Catch our death of colds.”
It was a long, bumpy and wet ride home for Terry. Amazingly he did sleep.
When Ting turned up at the hospital at 8:00am she was sad and shocked and surprised that Terry had gone. She hadn’t thought to get his phone number and she knew that Terry didn’t have hers. She couldn’t believe that he had just left her after everything they had talked about. Was he just another farang promising her a future, but delivering nothing? She felt as if her heart had sunk down into her shoes.
It was 10 pm at night when they finally got Terry into his room back in Pattaya. They gave him food and medicine and visited him every day over the next few days, before he was well enough to make his own way toThe Sloan Square Bar. Everyone was delighted to see Terry up and about. Terry was in deep conversation with Simon about Ting. Sloany listened to them for a while before he interrupted.
“I can’t believe you two! All loved up with Thai girls. They are all whores and prostitutes. They only want your money.”
“My girlfriend isn’t a prostitute. She is a producer at a radio station.”
“My girlfriend is a prostitute, but I don’t like you saying it Sloany! Do you see where I’m coming from?”
“You are both mad.”
“And Ting paid my hospital bill. 25,000baht. I’ve got to pay her that back somehow. I’ve got to go and see her.”
“Ting paid it!” said Simon. “I gave you 2,000 baht towards the cost of the hospital, Sloany.”
“I spent that on diesel.”
“We’ll sort it out Terry. FUCK FUCK FUCK. We’ll have a whip round.”
“A whip round for 25,000 baht. I don’t think so. I‘m the poorest man in Pattaya!” Sloany wiped the sweat from his head with his tea towel.
“Have you still got Old Tony’s money Sloany?”
“No. That went to Father Ray’s.”
“I’ll tell you what,” said John. “I’ll put in 10,000 baht if Sloany, Simon and Norris will put in 5,000 baht each.”
“No John. We can all put in 9,000 baht each and that will be enough to pay Ting back and pay for Terry to get back down there to see her,” offered Simon.
“I prefer John’s idea,” said Sloany.
“Come on then. 9,000 baht each.” John took out his wallet and put 9,000 baht on the table. The others followed suit.
“Fucking hell. You lot think I’m made of money. I’m the poorest man in Pattaya. I mean that. You know that, don’t you?” said Sloany, adding his money to the pile.
“I don’t know what to say and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. I never did anything to deserve good friends like you lot and I mean that most sincerely.”
“We are not friends. We’re mugs. Do you want me to hire the truck to take you back down there?”
“If it’s not too much trouble, Sloany! And as long as I don’t have to ride in the back.”
“It is a lot of trouble Terry but, you know me, I’ll do it anyway.”
Two days later Sloany and Terry were back in Phuket and parked outside Ting’s massage shop. The girls outside squealed with delight when they saw Terry was back and one of them ran inside to tell Ting. She was just finishing off with a customer and it was another ten minutes before she came to the glass door and let out the customer. She ran to Terry, but stopped before she threw her arms around him.
“You jep (hurt) too much for me to hold you, Telly?”
“Yes, a little bit. I have come to get you Ting and here is your money back.” Terry handed her 25,000 baht. The massage girls were even happier. They didn’t think that Terry would ever come back and pay their friend. They all spoke in Thai telling Ting what a good man he was.
“Telly. You come to get me?”
“Yes. I want to take you back to Pattaya with me. I want to take care of you for the rest of my life.”
“You can do?”
“I can try, if you’ll let me.”
“Yes
. I want. Oh Telly!”
“Telly!” said Sloany. “Telly tubby more like.”
Sloany looked at Ting and he too was overwhelmed by her sheer beauty.
“She’s too beautiful for you Terry. This won’t last long.”
“Thanks for that, Sloany.”
“I wouldn’t mind a massage off her while she is still working.”
“She has stopped working as of from this minute. Get your stuff Ting. We are going now.”
“I can’t drive all the way back to Pattaya by myself Terry. We’ll have to book into a hotel for tonight and drive home tomorrow.”
“Good idea.”
They booked into a cheap hotel on the Rat-u-Thit Road. Tony had a room and Terry and Ting had another. They met up over breakfast before the long drive home.
Chapter 14: There is Nothing Like a Good Night Out!
There had been some changes in the lives of the Domino Gang. Terry had made a full recovery and Ting had settled into a life of living with him. She had made friends with the bar girls who rented his spare room and she spent four days a week helping out at Father Ray’s Orphanage. Terry was doing extra work, whenever he could, so he could support their life together. Pattaya 205FM was going from strength to strength. They had even started to broadcast BBC News and sport from 5 Live back in the UK, although this was not actually legal. The station’s sponsorship had gone through the roof and the listening audience was increasing by the day. The antics of the card players at The Waiting For God Bar, as told on the radio, were getting frequent mentions in the local papers and somebody had even started a Fan Page on Facebook. Simon and Pom had rented a house in Jomtien near to John and moved in together. Life in The Sloan Square Bar carried on as normal and all the regulars still attended every day.