The Travel Mate

by Mark Green

Splosh!

  Rupert staggered back, lifting up his hands to shield his face, far too late to avoid a soaking. Maddie turned and strolled away, placing the empty glass on the bar, to collective whoops and cheers. Rupert’s uncoordinated attempt to wipe the sticky liquid from his eyes caused him to lose balance. He clattered to the floor, arms flailing.

  ‘Med-a-lion …! Come bock, meh …’

  Maddie glanced over her shoulder. Rupert lay crumpled against a speaker, his woozy, lopsided grimace slowing her exit. She stopped walking, turned to stare at him, deliberating.

  Liz linked her arm under her elbow. ‘He’ll be making no sense for hours.’

  Liz steered Maddie through the tables of seated drinkers, out onto the beach. They kept walking until the music and amusement had faded behind them. ‘I don’t know who looked more shocked, him or you.’

  ‘Me, probably. I’m in big trouble tomorrow.’

  ‘Hey, tomorrow is another adventure.’

  A male voice called ‘Hey Liz, what’s the plan …?’

  Liz glanced over her shoulder at Anton. ‘Gotta bounce, Ant-man, girlie talk.’

  ‘But it’s our last night together. I’ve got the good stuff,’ he protested, holding up two bottles of imported Heineken.

  ‘It’s early, we’ll catch up later.’

  Three

  Maddie rattled the empty shot glass down on the bar. She winced as the fiery liquid worked its way down her throat. She slouched down on the stool, flinching at the lack of back support, causing her to jerk her hands out, bracing her palms flat on the sticky bar. ‘Whoa …’

  ‘More drink!’ yelled Liz. She slid their empty shot glasses across the counter and wiggled her bottle of beer, signalling to the barman.

  ‘Too much already …’

  ‘Drink, or be gone!’

  Maddie groaned and shook her head. Liz studied her for a moment, then pointed to her diamond ring. ‘Engagement?’

  ‘Yes, but upside down. Rupert calls this holiday our sunny-moon. He couldn’t get the time off work, after. Some big project he’s working on.’

  ‘So when’s the wedding?’

  ‘Six weeks’ time.’

  ‘Wow. You still up for it?’

  Maddie stared at Liz. She opened her mouth to say something like ’Of course, why wouldn’t I be …’ but instead a deep frown creased her forehead. She took a swig of beer, dropped her gaze to her hands, concentrating on fiddling with the bottle’s label. ‘I think so … I mean, it’s all planned. I don’t really have a choice, not this close.’

  Liz regarded Maddie with a steely focus. ‘You always have a choice, hon. You think you’re tied in, but,’ Liz closed her thumb and forefinger around Maddie’s ring finger, lifting it off the bar, ‘till death do you part … that’s epic. It needs to be respected, by both of you. Is he gonna make that solemn promise, and keep it?’

  Liz maintained her fixed stare, tracking Maddie’s eyes as they tried to dart away. ’Cos based on the three and a half seconds I’ve known you, I gotta say,’ she waggled Maddie’s ring finger, ‘this ain’t got no fairy-tale parachute.’ Liz released her grip, dropping her hand.

  Maddie slumped further over the bar, avoiding eye contact. ‘It’s a good life with Rupert,’ she mumbled. ‘I’d be a fool to pass it up.’

  Liz took a swig from her bottle of Singha. ‘You gonna feel the same in six months’ time?’ She studied Maddie’s troubled expression and noncommittal shrug. ‘I need a wee. Then I’ll walk you back to your hotel. Okay?’

  Maddie nodded, focused on peeling the label off her beer bottle as Liz shuffled off the stool and tottered off.

  • • •

  Moonlight glistened on the calm sea. Barely a ripple of inch-high surf gently swooshed on the warm sand. Multi-coloured lights twinkled from the sporadic row of thinly thatched beach bars, hugging the treeline. An eclectic mix of music at different volumes competed with resonating insect sounds. Maddie’s walking pace slowed to an amble.

  ‘You okay?’ Liz asked.

  Maddie shrugged, scooping up sand between her toes. ‘Difficult to say, after so much to drink.’ She half-smiled and shuffled on, sand flicking off her sandals. ‘How do you manage, travelling all the time?’

  ‘Financially?’

  Maddie nodded.

  ‘Easy. The expensive bit is getting here. The rest is oh-so-cheap …’ Liz flicked her eyes over Maddie’s elegant dress, expensive jewellery and designer sandals, ‘… if you’re prepared to rough it. I get by on twenty dollars a day.’

  Maddie considered this for a moment. ‘But that’s about a hundred pounds a week.’

  ‘Yep.’

  ‘How is that possible?’

  Liz flicked her roll-up stub across the beach and blew smoke above her head, then turned to scrutinise Maddie. ‘You’ve not travelled much, have you?’

  ‘I’ve been fortunate to have visited several countries, with Rupert …’

  ‘I mean properly travelled. No glitzy five-star air-conditioned hotels with truffles on the pillow. Boots, backpack and a tight budget.’

  Maddie shrugged.

  ‘What gives with this contract Robert wants you to sign?’

  ‘Rupert.’

  Liz waved her hand. ‘Whoever.’

  ‘The agreement … I suppose it’s mostly about moral flexibility.’

  ‘He shags around, while you’re the dutiful wife?’

  Maddie nodded vacantly. ‘I accept any potential indiscretions. In return I enjoy a comfortable lifestyle.’

  ‘S’pose it could work, if you wanted to dabble too. A friend of mine back home has an open relationship.’

  ‘It’s not a two-way street.’

  Liz stopped walking. She turned sharply to face Maddie. ‘What?’

  ‘It’s one-way traffic. He made that very clear.’

  ‘Figures. You gonna cope with that? No offence, but you don’t seem battle-hardened.’

  Maddie glanced over at a nearby beach bar. Her eyes lingered on the other drinkers. Most seemed to be older men, quietly single – supposedly. Tucked away on their own in shady corners or in small groups. Many of them enjoying the attention of young Thai girls. She turned away, acid spiking in her stomach.

  ‘I did live a little, a few years ago. But now is …’ Maddie shook her head, attempted a smile, her features clouding over. ‘Different.’ She dawdled on for a moment, then turned to Liz, unable to hold eye contact for more than a second or two. ‘How does your relationship work, with Anton?’

  ‘Relationship? That’s a bit heavy.’

  ‘Aren’t you flying home tomorrow?’

  Liz nodded, momentarily glazing over.

  ‘You going together, or …’

  Liz rolled her eyes and looked away. ‘We’re on the same plane to Bangkok, then he’s on a different flight to Copenhagen.’

  ‘Oh. What does he think about your companionship … status?’

  Liz shrugged. ‘We had the normal understanding when we hooked up. When it’s time, we go our separate ways.’

  ‘That seems a little calculated.’

  ‘It’s the travellers’ code – universally accepted.’

  ‘Is he going to be okay with that?’

  Liz cradled a cigarette paper into a V shape. She sprinkled in tobacco and delicately rolled it into a neat tube, taking a moment before replying. ‘I guess we’ll have the conversation.’

  ‘Oh. How will that go?’

  Liz’s eyes began to mist over, the emotion contained by rapid blinking. She turned away briefly, then swivelled round on her heels, facing Maddie. ‘When it’s time … one last passionate, lingering kiss. I’ll say something like: “You’re so cute …” A hug, then, “Thank you. Someday, in another time and place we should look each other up, remember the good times.” One final kiss, on the cheek this time, then I turn walk away.’ Liz held her earnest expression for a long moment, then relaxed into a grin and winked at Maddie.

  Wow, you’ve done that before.

>   ‘The last kiss on the cheek, representing closure – lovers becoming friends?’

  ‘You got it.’ Liz glanced at her watch and lit her roll-up. ‘Still so many sober hours before I get on a plane. You sure you want to head back to the old man?’

  Maddie groaned. ‘No, but—’

  ‘I’m thirsty … don’t make me drink alone.’ Liz alternated her gaze between Maddie and the nearest beach bar.

  ‘I can’t. I’d be in so much trouble with Rupert.’

  Five minutes to the hotel room.

  ‘You need to wise up, Maddie. Trust me, it’s us girls who have the real power.’

  ‘I’m not with you.’

  ‘It’s supply and demand – they want what we can give them.’

  ‘You’re talking about sex?’

  ‘I’m talking about pleasure. Men are beholden to their balls – so who’s actually in control of a relationship?’

  ‘Us …?’

  ‘Abso-bloody-lutely! They know this, and it frustrates the hell out of them.’

  Maddie glanced down at her sandaled foot, sifting particles of sand through her toes.

  Five minutes until …

  ‘I guess … but with Rupert, there isn’t that sort of hold over him.’

  ‘Sure about that? No sucky-fucky-for-five-bucky?’

  Maddie’s brow crumpled into a frown. ‘He’s not like that. It’s … complicated.’

  ‘Is it? Come on, what about another drink? Little trouble, lots of trouble …’ Liz exaggerated a shrug, opening her palms to the sky. ‘What difference does it make?

  ‘I suppose one more wouldn’t hurt—’

  ‘Attagirl!’ Liz grinned, watching the corners of Maddie’s mouth twitch upwards as she fought to suppress a mischievous smile. ‘Come on, I’m buying.’ Liz steered Maddie across the beach towards the nearest bar. ‘You got a wild hen night planned?’

  ‘Oh, pretty low-key. A movie followed by a pizza and glass of wine with some girlfriends …’

  Liz rolled her eyes, nudging Maddie playfully. ‘How old are you?’

  ‘Twenty-six.’

  ‘Twenty-frigging-six?! This is your last night in Thailand, on your pre-wedding, sunny-funny, lack-of-honey-moon slash life sentence, and all you have to look forward to is droopy pizza and watered-down vino?’

  Maddie shrugged. ‘I guess so …’

  ‘Then what the hell are you still doing sober? Walk this way, Cinders – to oblivion and beyond!’

  Four

  Jody’s eyelids flickered. She forced her eyes to open, barely enough to allow a mere sliver of light in before she scrunched them shut, ducking her head under her arms.

  ‘That’s one for your Facebook page,’ said Barry, lowering his fancy-pants camera.

  ‘Turn out the light,’ she mumbled, crunching her knees up to her chest, bare thighs squeaking on the row of plastic seats. His hand reached out, a stubby finger nudging her shoulder, prompting her to squeal and recoil further. ‘Oy, enough!’

  ‘Last bus outta here, Jody. Big bang-bang lights await …’

  ‘No way – too early.’

  ‘Up, up, up!’

  Jody groaned loudly, swivelling her hips and kicking her booted feet down onto the floor. She sat up, yawning and rubbing her eyes, forcing them open one at a time. ‘Lights – too bright.’

  Barry Johnson grinned and wafted a disposable coffee cup under her nose. ‘The Vietnamese stuff’s better, you’ve got that to look forward to. But a swig’ll get you on the road. You can zone out again once we’re rolling.’

  Jody fumbled for the cup and lifted it up to her lips. ‘What time is it?’

  ‘Too early for bed, too late to be without a hot date.’

  ‘Which in Barry-speak means …?’

  ‘Two-thirty.’

  ‘Wonderful.’

  ‘In six hours it will be. Cold beer, comfy mattress. Setting Baz’s budgie free in Bangkok.’ Barry began a slow hip-thrusting rotation. She handed the coffee cup back, shaking her head at his gyrating rhythm.

  ‘Where do you get so much energy from?’

  Barry grinned. He raised the coffee cup in one hand, weighing his tobacco tin in his other palm like a set of scales. ‘A little bit of this, a pinch of that and the occasional glug of grog.’ He reached down and hoisted a backpack strap onto his shoulder, flicking a mop of dirty almond and gingery-blonde hair away from his eyes. ‘Follow me, Jody. Your comfortable cattle-class coach awaits.’

  Jody pushed unsteadily up to her feet and hooked her foot around her rucksack, dragging it out from under the row of chairs. ‘Could use a hand with this …’

  Barry clicked his own rucksack’s belt buckle together and grinned. ‘You pack it, you gotta stack it.’

  ‘What happened to chivalry?’

  ‘What about that? Aussie girls just get on with it.’

  ‘I’m not Australian.’

  ‘Nope. Bummer.’ He turned away and began to wander off towards the bus pulling into an adjacent bay, its headlights swooping past him.

  Jody cursed, then knelt down and hauled the backpack onto her shoulders, grunting under its weight. Her legs twitched, almost buckling as she followed him at half-speed across the polished concrete floor, bathed in artificial fluorescent brightness. The soles of her walking boots squeaked in short, stomping steps, each one adding an extra fraction of an inch to the width of Barry’s smile.

  • • •

  Rupert stood at the foot of the sumptuous queen-size bed, focused on his smartphone screen. He glanced up as the figure beneath the sheets twitched, sleep-yawned, then rolled over, pulling the covers. He shook his head, finished off the message and sent it, then placed the phone in his pocket. He scanned the palatial hotel room, a thin smile developing as he spied a welcome pack of leaflets on the desk. He rolled one into a cone-shaped loudhailer and crouched down beside the headboard.

  ‘It’s time to get up – its eight o’clock in the morning. It’s time to get up – it’s EIGHT O’ CLOCK IN THE MORNING!’

  ‘Arrrhhh!’ Maddie rolled away from his booming voice, burying her head under the pillow. She gasped for air as spinny-room syndrome returned with a vengeance.

  Rupert manoeuvred closer, repeating his wake-up call. Maddie yelped and jerked away, the motion sending her tumbling off the side of the bed, landing on the floor in a bedding bundle.

  ‘You git!’

  Rupert stepped around the bed and yanked the curtains open, flooding the room with dawn’s first rays of piercing light. ‘Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!’

  ‘Rupert, please …’ Maddie scrunched her face, attempting to squint through the tiniest gap in her eyelids.

  ‘IT’S TIME TO GET UP!’

  ‘Enough!’ Maddie clamped a hand across her damp forehead, breathing hard. ‘Ugh. Never again.’ She eased up onto an elbow, clacking her sandpaper-dry tongue away from the roof of her mouth, wincing at the raw sensation in her throat. ‘Would you mind closing the curtains, please,’ she croaked, ‘it’s awfully bright.’

  ‘Where the bloody hell did you get to last night?’

  Maddie rolled up onto her side, glancing up at him through gummy eyelids. ‘Girls’ night out,’ she rasped.

  ‘With whom?’ Rupert stepped forwards, looming over her, hands on his hips. A fine mist of alcohol-scented saliva drifted down on her.

  ‘Funnily enough, with a girl called Liz. That’s the point of a—’

  ‘Sarcasm,’ he muttered, stooping down to yank the thin duvet off her, ‘isn’t an attractive quality in my future wife.’

  ‘Rupert, this is unnecessary.’ Maddie hunched over onto her hands and knees and pushed unsteadily up to her feet. She swayed, blinking rapidly, darting her puffy eyes around the room, trying to orientate herself.

  Rupert took a step forwards to intercept her. ‘This isn’t acceptable behaviour—’

  ‘Like you were setting such a good example last night?’

  ‘Jesus, you stink!’

  She blinked at him
, at last finding a bleary-eyed focus on his unshaven cheeks and bloodshot eyes. ‘Welcome to my world, Rupert. Wake up and take a long hard look in the mirror.’ Maddie made to shuffle past him, but he stepped sideways, blocking her exit.

  ‘Who were you with?’

  Maddie jabbed a finger against his chest. ‘Who were you with?’

  ‘Mixing with the locals. Cultural integration.’

  ‘Culture? More like vulture! You were draped all over her.’

  Heat radiated off Rupert’s chest, blood rushing to his face, flushing it red. He took a step closer. Maddie stumbled back against the wall.

  ‘It’s called being friendly. You could learn a lot about that.’

  Maddie’s shoulders slumped. She looked away from his scarlet face and bulging eyes. A bead of sweat trickled down her back. ‘Rupert, please. Comments like that don’t help.’

  He let out a deep breath and lifted his eyes to the ceiling. ‘Sorry,’ he mumbled, stepping aside. He thrust his hands into his pockets. ‘We’re on a plane to Bangkok in three hours, you’d best go and get cleaned up. We’ll talk about this later.’

  • • •

  Jody jolted awake at the bus’s screeching brakes, the inertia sliding her forwards in the plastic seat, banging her knees into the backrest of the row in front. She yawned and peered up at Barry, sat staring out of the window between a gap in the thin, faded curtains.

  ‘Are we there yet?’

  He turned and grinned at her with his uneven, chipped-tooth smile, light dancing in his eyes despite the coach’s gloomy interior. ‘Almost. Welcome to a beautiful new day in downtown Bangkok.’

  ‘Great. Colonial cheerfulness at … what time is it now?’

  Barry twisted his wrist towards her. She squinted at the analogue display and groaned. He smiled and began to withdraw his hand.

  ‘Hang on, I’m reading.’ She peered at the red font below the plastic watch’s O.T.S. brand name. ‘My time, my decision. That’s about right.’

  He nodded. ‘Couldn’t resist. Best couple of bucks I’ve spent.’

  ‘Aside from buying me that first beer, obviously,’ she crooned.

  ‘Yeah … and look at the trouble that got me into.’ He winked at her and turned to glance back out between the gap in the curtain. Cars, trucks and buses crawled along in all three lanes, constantly being overtaken by scooters and small screeching motorbikes, nipping in and out of every conceivable gap in the traffic, no matter how impossibly small.