“Fuck off!” and he stumbled up the steps to his apartment. He heard the tuk tuk pull away.
Once inside, he washed his hands and arms, and then changed. He threw away the shirt he was wearing. He pulled out his two zippered suitcases. He saw Scott’s there, and his belongings. He packed his own things. Clothes. Shoes. Shaving kit. He knew he was probably missing some things, but was too drunk to care. He pulled out his money stash from the hollowed back of his television.
He wrote a note.
Scott, I’m sorry. You’ll never forgive me, I know. I have to leave. I hope you make it back here safely. I’m leaving $500. I’m not coming back.
He stuck the note in the jam of his door, closed it, and locked it. He put the key under the mat, knowing that someone else would find it in an hour or two. He hoped Scott would find his way back, but he wasn’t sure. He didn’t even know if Scott could find his way back. But it was too late.
Danny was back out on the street twenty minutes after arriving. He hands began to throb. His left middle finger felt broken and that finger was swelling. He walked down the street until he caught another tuk tuk, which took him to the bus station. He bought a ticket to Bangkok.
XXIX
“Hey Malkie, get me one too!” Danny shouted over Welcome to the Jungle. The Stumble Inn always played their classic rock a bit too loud, they charged too much for their beers, and as the evening went on they switched name-brand alcohol for local Thai fakes. But he loved the pool tables, the girls, and the access to Nana.
Malkie brought him back a cold Chang beer.
“Malkie, I told you I don’t like Chang, you scally!”
“Only because you’re a goddamned pussy, Danny. Drink it! It’ll make your dick grow!”
“Tastes like elephant piss to me, man. I’d rather drink your piss.” He waved down a waitress and ordered a Singha. “Here, you can have it, man!”
“You don’t know what you’re missing, you wanker!”
Danny tried to parody Malkie’s Midlands accent, “You tossahs don’t know what real beer is!”
“You Yanks suck at British accents, Danny…best leave it alone then…”
When Danny’s Singha arrived, they clinked bottles and took long drinks. Danny knew Malkie the Alkie ordered two Changs because Danny wouldn’t drink it and that would give him two. He was half finished with his first before Danny finished the neck of his bottle.
The Nana Entertainment Plaza is a shopping mall of brothels. Lovingly called “Four Floors of Whores” it sits a short walk from the elevated train, at the end of Embassy Row. The NEP was set in off the street of Soi 4, recessed deeply, with a gaudy sign guarding its entrance. Soi 4’s length was bars and brothels and eateries, but the NEP was dense with go-go bars and the skin trade, including plenty of short-time rooms. The front bars were straight bars, but the farther in you went the more you found the “katoey bars,” where ladyboys fought for your attention, and weren’t afraid to grab customers and pull them in.
Just outside the NEP sat the Stumble Inn. Western men would drink here, often then feeding into the NEP and finding a girl for the hour or night. But the Stumble Inn had working girls as well, and they were more than happy to oblige for the going rate of $50 for a short time.
Danny and Malkie always started here. They always chose seats on the long counter facing the street entry into Nana, and watched the people go by. When the tour busses drove down the street, they would either flip them off or moon them, often to a chorus of “Get off the bus, you cunts!” The powerful scents of cooking food from the street vendors were often overpowering, and too often the cart selling cooked cockroaches and grasshoppers would set up just below them. And it was hotter by the street.
“You wanna move inside where it’s a bit cooler?” Danny asked.
“Nah…I wouldn’t miss the shit show. Nothing like watching what goes in and out of this place.”
And they most loved seeing the conservative-looking Westerner leave with a ladyboy who was taller than he was, and who was probably better endowed. They’d shout out “pervert!” when they saw an older man with an under-aged prostitute. Occasionally they’d see men bring their wives into the NEP, and they’d both leave with another girl in tow. If ever challenged, Malkie’s thick neck and arms were more than enough intimidation to chase off any challengers, and secretly he hoped for a good scrap. As a Labour blue-collar Brit from Birmingham, he had been in more than his share of fights growing up.
“Should we go in to Nana tonight?” Danny asked.
“Sure…maybe a bit later though, eh? I’d like to get a few more in me.”
“Sure, man. Remember I gotta work tomorrow, so I gotta hit the BTS before it closes.” He checked his watch. 9:05. The train stopped running at midnight.
“Sure, that’s what you always say.”
“Mean it this time…gotta teach early tomorrow—7:00. A long day.”
“Stop being a pussy, Danny…you’re makin’ me horny!”
“Then stick it in me, big boy!”
“I would but my dick is too small for that giant hole of yours.”
“Just swing your hips from side-to-side…you’ll hit something eventually.”
Malkie laughed and finished his first Chang. He moved on to his next, handing the empty green bottle to a waitress that passed by.
Danny pointed, “Look across the street, Malkie!” They both saw a very old white man with a four-legged cane. He was hunched over, and very short in stature to begin with. The ladyboy he was talking too was easily a foot taller than him, and her shoulders were broad even for a katoey.
Malkie cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted it. “YOU GET HER, OLD TIMER! SHE’S A PRINCESS!” Danny laughed and dribbled beer out of his mouth.
Lined up across from the NEP, in front of the Nana Hotel and across from the Stumble Inn, stood a row of ladyboys and very weathered girls. The NEP was very careful about which katoeys and girls they hired: no drug addicts, no violent ones, no thieves. Those who didn’t make that cut often lined up across the street. They could be had for a bargain, but were a dangerous lot. Many tourists preferred them because they’d often allow bareback penetration. Drug addicts had bigger problems than STDs.
Malkie and Danny enjoyed this evening. They drank more. They laughed. They ranked each other. They watched passersby.
“It’s 9:30; let’s catch the Angelwitch show,” Malkie commanded.
They paid their tab, and walked into the NEP. Up the left stairs. Down the hall, and into Angelwitch. They took a back row, upper seat in the corner. The topless dancers cleared the stage, the lights went down. Out of the shadows came dancers in traditional Thai ceremonial attire, minus the clothing. Long metallic fingernails. Top crowned heads. Beads and feathers. Topless and bottomless. To the piercing strains of traditional music, these girls began to dance traditional Thai steps, rolling and unrolling their long, nailed hands.
“I fucking love the show here, man!” Danny shouted in Malkie’s ear.
“Yeah, mate! Best evah!”
As dancer after dancer performed a mix of traditional dancing and burlesque, they drank and watched. Beers appeared when bottles were nearly empty. The lithe girls performed exotic dances, dances with foam and paint, and even an audience participation dance, whipping an audience volunteer with foam paddles and pressing their crotches into his face. The audience was mostly silent. Intently staring. Eyes fixated. Sipping beers. Rarely buying lady drinks. Taking it all in. But the alcohol and bad intentions flowed.
As the show finished and the go-go dancers returned, Malkie signaled the waitress. “Danny, let’s get out of here. I need to walk this drunk off. Let’s go get a bite.”
“Yeah, okay.”
Bill paid, they went out into the hot night air. Danny asked, “Do you want to see the mechanical bull upstairs?”
“No, I gotta eat. Let’s go to Hanrihan’s and get some food. I could use some chips.”
“Okay.”
Down Soi 4 they walked, a lo
ng block to Hanrahan’s Irish Pub. They dodged the men selling tickets to exotic sex shows, and the grabby ladyboys who lined their path. Malkie ordered fish-n-chips, and Danny got a burger.
“Malkie, I’ll never get over how everything here looks the same but tastes different.” He took a bite of his burger.
“They don’t use real meat I think…the burger is probably mixed with pork.”
“You think?”
“Well, that’s why I get fish. You can always tell if it’s the real thing. If you tear open that burger you might be horrified with what you find.”
“Your mom?” Danny batted his eyes with feigned innocence.
“Yeah, that old cunt is probably in there,” Malkie said with the same expression.
They laughed and ordered more beers. Danny saw the clock on the wall said 12:30.
“Malkie, I gotta get moving on…I gotta work tomorrow.”
“Don’t be daft, ya prick! The night is still young!”
“Seriously, man, I gotta get some sleep. My boss already warned me about being hung over at work.”
“Fuck that prick too then” he said, as if his words were immensely serious.
“Look, just another beer or so. Then I really gotta get going.”
“Right, but let’s go across to the pool joint and drink there…cheaper, mate.”
They paid their tab and crossed the street, but then Malkie turned and began to head down the street.
“Where you going, Malkie?”
“Hang on…gotta get something real quick.”
Danny then knew where he was headed. Up two blocks in the sprinkling rain, Malkie went up to a familiar face.
“Hey farang…good see you again.” Foreigner.
“Yeah, you got some Ya Ba?” Malkie asked.
“Yeah. Step off street, nah?” They walked a few steps and then down a few steps into a narrow alley. “How many you wan’?”
“Give me ten…you got the red ones?” Malkie produced cash.
“Nah, dey green dis week.”
“Same same?”
“Chai krup.” Yes sir.
The man pulled out a tin and counted out ten light green pills, about the size of breath mints. He put them into a small plastic bag. Malkie handed him five hundred baht. They turned and walked back up the street.
“Seriously, man, I’m not taking any of that shit tonight. It’s giving me a rash. My neck is all red from the last time I took it.”
“Yer a goddamned pretty girl, aren’t ye? Tell you what…put one in your pocket, in case you want it later.” He handed Danny one pill. He saw “WY” stamped on one side. He put it in his pocket. Malkie popped two in his mouth. “Sweet as candy these are! Must be from Myanmar. The ones from Laos taste like battery acid.”
They entered the pool bar. It was stuffy in there, despite the air conditioner. They ordered beers and a game of pool. Malkie broke, and played solids. Danny’s skills were poor but he was getting better. Malkie, though, was real pool player. He cleared the table on a good night. Danny didn’t mind losing, and was learning a lot from watching his friend play.
Danny noticed a waitress he hadn’t seen before looking at his friend, between serving drinks and flirting with other customers.
“Malkie, I think that girl’s into you.”
“Who?” He pronounced it Ooo?
“Her...” he nodded his head. “She’s been checking you out.”
“Oh, Gun? Yeah, I fucked her already. Not very good.” He turned around for his next shot.
“How so? She seems cute, yeah?”
“Cute yeah. Boring lay. If I pay for a girl, I expect her to work for her money.”
“Ah, well that’s too bad.”
“Yeah, waste of good pussy. She’s nice enough if you want to give her a go.” He looked back and winked at him, then shot the nine-ball into the side pocket.
“Nah, knowing you put your little twisted tool into her has suddenly turned my stomach.”
“It may be small, but it’s cute as a button. D’ya wanna see it?” He made as if to open his pants.
“Nah, not this time, Malcolm. You keep those pants closed, sir!”
“Malcolm? Me mothah called me Malcolm, but only once, ya custard chucker!”
“Don’t hurt yourself…play the game, you wanker!”
“Wanker? You say it like such a Yank. Wankah! So get me another beer, ya git.”
And Danny did. He ordered another round of beers. He saw the clock winding closer to 1:00 but ignored it. He would try to leave after this next round of beers. He looked over at Malkie and saw he was getting wired already. His eyes were pinpointed, and he was nervously squeezing the pool cue. He could see jaw muscles flexing as he ground his teeth. Malkie always took too many. He looked up at Danny and shouted, “C’mon with them beers…getting thirsty, for fuck’s sake.”
At the end of the bar sat a heavyset man of about thirty. He was near the restrooms. He sat with his beer in front of him and smoked. Danny hadn’t taken any notice of him, until he spoke up suddenly.
“Hey, you guys mind holding it down a bit?” He was looking over at them, cigarette between his knuckles. He had a blank expression, and Danny couldn’t tell if he was serious. His accent was East Coast USA. Philly, he guessed.
“Yeah, sure, buddy.” Danny dismissed him with a wave. Malkie just turned and looked at him.
“Seriously. You’re too fucking loud. Just hold it down a bit. Thank you.”
Danny and Malkie looked at each other for a second. Malkie was the first to respond.
“The fuck you just say?”
“I asked you nicely to quiet down a bit. You’re talking loudly. This bar isn’t that big. There’s no need to yell.”
“It’s a fucking bar, ya prick. We’re allowed to be loud in here.”
“It’s a small bar…”
“And who the fuck asked you? Are you the owner?”
The bartender began to raise his voice. “I wan’ no ploblem heah…you guy no figh in heah,” but he was ignored.
“I’m a regular here. I guess I have a bit of say. I’m just asking you to be polite and hold your voices down a bit. Don’t make a big deal of it.”
Danny stepped between Malkie and the other man. Malkie’s shoulders were squared and his chest bowed, and Danny could see menace in his eyes.
“No, it’s okay, Malkie, it’s okay. Sorry, man, we’ll keep it quiet. We didn’t know we were disturbing you. Here, let me buy you a beer.”
He began to walk forward to the man, reaching into his front pocket as if he was pulling out some money. The man relaxed and turned back towards the bartender, who was already reaching for a new bottle of beer.
Danny swung an overhand right violently and accurately, and hit the man square on the cheek near his ear. He collapsed heavily sideways off his barstool, and slumped down against the wall, hip rolled up on the stool leg. Danny picked up the man’s half-empty beer and poured it over him. “Is that quiet enough for you, asshole?”
“Now you fuckah leave here or I caw puh-leese” the bartender yelled. Danny pulled out a one thousand baht note and dropped it on the counter. He and Malkie walked out the door.
Outside, Malkie was barking laughter. “You crazy fuck! I didn’t see that one coming! How’s yer hand?”
Danny held it up…scuffed but not bleeding. “Not bad, eh? Hit him on the cheek. Softer…”
“I would’ve used the pool cue!”
“Yeah, and you would have gone to jail and gotten butt-raped there…”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
They laughed, and walked down Soi 4, ducking down a side street just in case the police arrived. He knew they probably wouldn’t for some time, even though there was a mini-station at the corner of Sukhumvit and Soi 4, just a couple blocks up. Still, better to be safe. He popped the green pill that was in his pocket. “Fuck it” he mumbled. He hated the grinding feeling of meth, but he was committed to the evening now.
They found themselves at a massage parlor. Danny knew it was a “rub-n-tug” parlor, based on the pretty girls sitting outside the front door. Some pretty and some pretty ten years before. They greeted them.
“Hello, how u? You wan’ massage? I give you good massage.”
Danny and Malkie went inside.
XXX
“Mister Shields, may I see you when class is over?” The tall man leaned partway into Danny’s classroom. As always, he wore his confident smile.
“Sure, Mister Quinlan.” Quinlan waved to the class, then walked out.
Danny knew what it was about. He was on no sleep, hadn’t shaved, his shirt was wrinkled, and he had come down off the Ya Ba. He knew he probably stank of alcohol too, though he layered on cologne. He was in several violations of English4You School policy. Though it was only a language center in Future Park Mall, it aspired to being a top center, and expected professionalism from its staff.
After his class ended and he dismissed his smiling, well-behaved students, he went down the hall to Mister Quinlan’s office. He said “hi” to Lek, his secretary. She smiled back.
“Hi, Danny. Mistah Quinlan eh-pecting you.”
Danny pushed the door open and walked in.
“Hi Mister Quinlan.”
“Hi, Danny. Sit down.” Danny did. “Danny, why do you think I wanted to see you?”
“I’m guessing the same reason as last time.”
“Yeah. You see, Danny,” he leaned back in his chair and took an officious, yet reflective, tone, “I’m trying to raise the profile of this school. I’m trying to make us more than a mall language center. Our owners want to expand, and we can’t do that if we lose students because our teachers are unprofessional.”
“Mister Quinlan, I’ll admit that I look a bit rough today. But I am professional when I teach. I just had a bad night last night.”
“You seem to have many bad nights lately. Danny, you know Thais will never tell you otherwise, but they do judge a person by their appearance. I’ve had a few parents look oddly at you when you’ve looked like that. It’s not good for us, not good for the image we aspire to.”
The One Way (Changes Book 1) Page 15