She looked at me for a long time. I don’t know what was going through her mind. Maybe she was just considering her options. After a good long minute she burst into tears.
“Sorry, tee rak. Yes, I tell you big lie. But I lie for reason,” she sobbed.
“What reason would you have to lie to me?”
“Because I not want you to know the true.”
“You mean truth. Well, I need to know Apple and I need to know now.”
She stopped crying just as quickly as she had started and then she told me her life story. It was shocking and sad. She told me that her family was from a small village in Isaan in the north east of Thailand. Her pappy had a farm, which didn’t make much money. She had two older brothers called Gop and Goy. They couldn’t get work anywhere up in the north-east and there wasn’t any work for them on the farm. When she was just 18 years old her pappy and her two brothers told her that she should go and work in the bars in Bangkok and get money from the farangs. She said that ‘Farang’ means foreigner. Her mammy did nothing to stop it and so, at 18 years old, she got on a bus and came to work the bars in Bangkok, selling herself for cash. Selling sex. She made good money and sent it all home, except for a little she kept for herself to pay for a shared room with some other girls and enough to buy food. I was shocked, but not really surprised. I had already guessed that she worked in a bar, but I was shocked that her own family had sent her here to do it and they were happy to live off the money that she made. I hated her family already and I hadn’t even met them yet.
“Can’t you just say no to them?” I asked.
“No. Cannot do like this.”
“Well little darlin’, I had already guessed that you worked in a bar, so don’t worry. But you cannot work in any bars anymore. From today your life has changed. Okay?”
“You still love me, tee rak?”
“I think we can work things out, but I just want you to promise me something!”
“Yes, I promise you everything…….what I promise?”
“You promise that from now on you will never lie to me.”
“Yes. I promise this.”
“Even if you think it is for a good reason. No lies. Okay?”
“Okay.” She stuck her hand out to shake on the deal, which sort of surprised me. But it looked so cute I just had to laugh and we hugged and then had another session of love making. I’m sorry, but I still can’t go into any details about that. It’s sort of private.
We had a few great days then around Bangkok. We visited all the tourist sights and ate at the very best restaurants. We went around China Town and sat at some tables out on the street and watched the chef cooking our food. It tasted great. I had never eaten in the street before!
On our last day in Bangkok, before we flew up country, I wanted to go and see the bar in which she worked before she met me. She really didn’t want to take me to see it, but I just had to have a look at the place. I had to see it for myself. She wasn’t happy, but she took me to the bar in Nana Plaza where she had been working up until a few days ago. I don’t know what I had been expecting really, but the bar looked okay. There were no chains or whips and no naked women - just some girls wearing really short skirts and a group of men sitting along the bar in the middle of the room. There were some small podiums around the room with chrome poles that went all the way up to the ceiling. I guess that they were for anyone who wanted to get up and dance. I’ve seen men getting up on tables and dancing when they have had too much to drink. I’ve never done it, because I can hold my liquor and drink any man under the table - if I’m challenged!
Apple put her hands together in front of her face and bowed her head to the chunky lady behind the counter. She had big breasts for a Thai lady and the little blue dress she was wearing did little to cover them up. She had a tattoo of a big red rose on her left one. It wasn’t a pretty tattoo. Apple spoke to her in Thai before she turned back to me and grabbed my arm.
“Okay, you see. We go now.”
Before I could say anything one of the men sitting at the bar looked around and grinned at Apple. He patted his knee and shouted out,
“Apple, come and sit here for a while. I haven’t seen you for a few days. Where have you been?”
Apple ignored the man. I guessed that he had been one of her customers. I felt a little sad. He was probably half my age, but he just looked dirty. His hair was long and unwashed and I don’t know when was the last time his clothes had seen the inside of a laundry. He had a front tooth missing and two fingers on his right hand were stained with nicotine. Two cigarette packets were stacked up on the bar in front of him next to his beer. He had an American accent, but I couldn’t quite place where it was from. Apple grabbed my hand and we turned to walk back out of the bar and into the bright sunshine of Bangkok when the man called out;
“Hey Tex! She’s good. Real good! We’ve all had her. Ain’t that right boys?”
The boys, whoever they were, didn’t answer. There was just a low mumble of agreement. The men who were sitting along the bar with him all looked as if they had sort of given up on life and were just sitting in the bar drinking and waiting to die.
Now I’m a peace loving man. I’m respectful and I’m fair to everyone. I’ve never started a fight in my life, but I ain’t never lost one either. The three things I really hate are being made to look foolish, being provoked and being insulted. This stupid yank had a mouth that was as dirty as he was and he had just done all three things I hate in one sentence. I let go of Apple’s hand and turned back towards the man. I walked back towards him. As I did he reached behind his back and pulled out a knife. It wasn’t a very big knife. Maybe it would be okay for peeling vegetables but not for fighting a man as big as me.
“Okay Tex, you want to play!” he said, waving the knife around in front of his own face as if it were some kind of laser. I just grabbed his wrist and twisted it until he screamed out in pain and dropped the knife. I put my other hand around his neck and squeezed his gullet with my thumb and forefinger. I just squeezed long and hard enough to hurt him, so that he knew I meant business, but not long enough to kill him. When his eyes flicked and crossed and he stopped struggling I dropped him to the floor. He was semi-conscious, but he could hear me alright.
“I don’t like being called Tex,” I said, and walked out of the bar holding hands with Apple.
“Wow! You big strong, same like giant!” she said with a great big smile.
The next day we flew up to somewhere called Udon Thani. It had a cute little airport and the flight was just over an hour from Bangkok.
Apple told me that her mammy and pappy had caught a bus to Udon Thani to meet us at the airport, because they were very excited to meet me. Sure enough, they were there waiting outside the main airport doors. They were small insignificant people. They looked old and weathered and I just didn’t hate them anymore. They smiled, but they had sad faces with sad eyes. Apple hugged them both and she and her mammy chatted away quickly in a language that sounded a bit like Thai, but even I knew that it wasn’t. I don’t know what language it was because I didn’t ask. I was hot and sweating. It felt even hotter than Bangkok. I told Apple that I had arranged to hire a big Toyota Fortuner in Udon Thani and, sure enough, a little Thai man with a big smile was also waiting outside the main doors to the airport, holding up a white wipe board with my name written on it. I had already paid online so he just gave me the keys and then insisted on showing me what everything did in the car. After he showed me he left. Apple and her parents climbed in. The air conditioning was a blessing from God, I swear! The Toyota was a big car but it wasn’t big enough for me to drive with my Stetson on, so I had to take it off. I always feel naked without my hat! We had to drive out to somewhere called Ban Dung and then onto somewhere else called Dong Yen. Then even further to the tiny little village in the middle of nowhere that w
as home to Apple’s family. It took four hours. I have no idea how long it must have taken her mammy and pappy to get to the airport on a bus! As we were driving through Udon Thani we saw a big Tesco Lotus and Apple’s mammy said something to Apple.
Apple said that they wanted to stop at Tesco Lotus, because they wanted to buy some things to hold a party in my honour when we got to the village. I felt honoured and humbled at the same time. Maybe these people were not so bad after all!
“I don’t really want a party darlin’, I’m tired. I’ll be happy with just a few beers.”
“Have to have party, tee rak. They speak to every person already. Many people come to see you at party.”
I pulled into the huge car park and the four of us walked into the store. Her mammy and Apple both grabbed a trolley and her pappy and myself followed just behind them.
Wow! These gals knew how to shop. They loaded up the trolleys with two boxes of whisky, eight boxes of beer, a case of cola, a case of fizzy orange drink, some big cuts of beef and pork, cooking sauces and enough vegetables to feed an army. For some reason they also loaded toothpaste, shampoo, washing powder, a light bulb, an electric floor fan and four pairs of plastic flip flop shoes into the trolley. I walked through the check out with her pappy and the ladies put everything onto the conveyer belt and it was scanned and bagged and loaded back into the trolleys. The bill came to 14,662 baht. That was about $500.
“Tee rak, you pay cash or card?” Apple asked me with her usual smile.
“What!”
“How you want to pay?”
“I don’t want to pay.”
“What you mean, tee rak?”
“I mean, I will not be paying darlin’.”
“You cannot do like this tee rak,” she pleaded.
“Apple, you said that they wanted to throw a party in my honour; a party that I didn’t even want and I never dreamed that I would be paying for it. I don’t want to throw a party in my own honour and, besides that, why do we need light bulbs and toothpaste and washing powder for a party?”
“Oh, that’s for my mama.”
“And shoes and an electric fan?”
“Shoe for all family, my brothers too. And they need fan for room.”
Suddenly I remembered why I didn’t like her family. They were nothing but a bunch of free loaders, making Apple sell herself so they could take her money. And now they thought that they could take my money!
“No darlin’, I’m sorry. I’m not paying for all this stuff. They’ll have to put it all back.”
I could see the girl at the checkout becoming concerned and a bit impatient.
“No, tee rak. Cannot. Everything already gone past till.”
“I don’t care, darlin’. There has been a misunderstanding here. Nobody has stolen anything so there is no problem. But I ain’t paying. Actually, I will buy one bottle of whisky for myself, but that is it. The rest goes back.”
Suddenly we were the centre of attention. A security guard came and stood by the check out and then another man came, who I guessed was the manager. They were all talking amongst themselves, only flicking looks at me. Everyone at the other checkouts was listening into their conversation. I could see a few smiles directed at me amongst the looks of disgust, but I hadn’t done anything wrong here and I wasn’t going to be taken for a fool! Eventually it was sorted out and they cancelled the sale on the till and I bought myself a bottle of whisky for 360 baht. The car ride back to their village in the middle of nowhere was a long journey. A long, very quiet journey. I knew that her mammy and pappy hated me and I got the feeling that Apple wasn’t too impressed either.
We drove until we were in a little village in the middle of nowhere. It felt like we were somewhere near the end of the earth. There were no proper roads, just mud tracks, which had been baked hard by the sun. I would imagine in the rainy season that not much would be able to get along these roads! There didn’t seem to be many houses around and the ones that I saw were all wooden structures built on stilts. Some of the houses had filled in the gaps between the stilts with breeze blocks and cemented them over. None of them were painted and nearly all the houses seemed to have a lot of junk lying around, like old rusted farm equipment and bicycles. Scrawny chickens and scrawny dogs poked around in the dust and string hammocks were tied between posts and trees. Old men in dirty baggy shorts sat around drinking and smoking. Old ladies with skin that looked as tough as any hide I ever tanned cooked on little pot BBQ’s. They were wearing long cloth skirts that wrapped around there thin bodies, and baggy tops with big gaps under the arms. You could see their little scrawny titties hanging down, like a Spaniel’s ears.
In Texas we have an expression for places like this; ‘It’s a shit-hole!’
When we got to Apple’s mammy’s house I was pleasantly surprised. The house had been painted bright pink, but after that first initial sight I was quickly disappointed again. There was no glass in the windows, no furniture, just one big room which was tiled with big pink patterned tiles, which might have been in fashion in the States in 1950. There was one bedroom off the main room and a small kitchen area. The kitchen just contained a small portable gas cooker and an aluminium framed pantry cupboard. At the back of the house it looked like they had a brick shit house with a tin roof and a tin door, but I didn’t go inside to have a look.
Her two older brothers, Goy and Gop, were sitting outside in front of the house on a patch of concrete, which I guess was some kind of terrace. They both looked at me and sort of gave me a begrudging nod and that was even before their mammy started yakking away in whatever language they speak up these parts. I guess she was telling them about what happened in Tesco Lotus.
“Are you hungry, tee rak?” asked Apple.
“No, not really.”
“Okay. You want to sit down?”
“Where?”
“Here!”
I looked around and there was nothing to sit on.
“No thank you. I think I’ll just stand.”
Apple and her mammy started cutting up some fish, some green leaves, some roots of some kind and boiling it all together in an old tin pot on the little gas cooker. They opened the lid of an old jar which had some thick brown liquid in it and, by the smell of it, I guessed that it was rotten fish guts. They then poured some of that into the stew as well!
Now, I was sweating like a glass blowers ass hole. It was so damned hot. I had been bitten a lot by the mosquitoes in Bangkok and they left big lumps on me, but they were tame compared to their cousins up north. I could feel myself being eaten alive. I asked Apple if she had a glass so I could drink some whisky and she gave me an old tin cup. I filled the cup and lit a cigarette. We were supposed to be staying in this dump for the next few days and making wedding plans with her family, but I suddenly realised that I might not be able to stay that long. It was hot and dusty and I hated the place. I didn’t like her family none too much either. The two boys, Gop and Goy, kept giving me dirty looks, but that didn’t bother me none because I just gave them dirty looks right back. There were two new motorbikes parked at the side of the house and Apple told me that she had bought them for her brothers. I remembered when Apple told me that they couldn’t find any work in Isaan, but I could tell by looking at these boys that they ain’t never worked a day in their lives - and they ain’t never wanted too. Their pappy gave up working a long time ago and I think he must have given up on life at about the same time. He looked really old and I was shocked when Apple told me that he was 52 years old. That’s 8 years younger than me!
I sat in the car and put the air conditioning on. I drank more whisky and smoked a few more cigarettes. Her two brothers watched me. I didn’t really know which one was Gop and which one was Goy. I think Gop was the oldest, but I didn’t know which one looked the oldest. I wasn’t going to speak to them anyway, so it di
dn’t really matter! Anyway, either Gop or Goy caught my eye and nodded, putting two fingers up to his mouth. I knew that he was asking me to give him a cigarette. I didn’t smile or speak. I just shook my head. He understood alright, but it didn’t stop him repeating his gesture several more times over the next thirty minutes. When Apple came out of the house, to put the pan of nearly black stew on the ground, the boys spoke to her and then she came over to the car.
“Tee rak, Gop and Goy want cigarette. You can give?”
“They already asked me, darlin’ and I already said no.”
“Oh!” She was quiet for a moment and then just smiled and said,
“You want to eat, tee rak?”
“I don’t want to eat no fish heads in shit stew, darlin’. I seen all the flies walking over the food when you and your mammy was preparing it and I just seen two dogs and a cat poking their noses in the pot, so I don’t think I’ll bother. Thank you, darlin’.”
“You want shower?”
I think my eyes lit up. I didn’t think they would have a shower in a place like this and I really would have liked a shower.
“Wow! You have a shower?”
“Yes,” she laughed. “We have.”
I took my towel and shaving bag out of the suitcase and followed Apple back into the house. Maybe they had some secret room that I hadn’t noticed before. But no! We went out the back of the house and to the brick shit house. She opened the corrugated tin door. My heart sank. It was dark and dirty and it was hot enough to bake clay pots. It smelt real bad and there were thousands of flies and mosquitoes who had made it their home. There was a dirty little ceramic toilet sunk down at ground level and a big ole blue plastic barrel full of water with a couple of small plastic buckets floating on top. I looked around and I didn’t see no shower.
Thai Shorts Page 4