by J. F. Gump
"I am embarrassed," was all she could think to say.
"So am I," Jon replied. "I think I want to know more about you, if you will let me."
She looked around the bar at the drunk farangs and the bar-girls. The cold realization of where she was assailed her. If she walked away from this man, Lek would expect her to sit with another. Maybe the next one wouldn't be so nice. The thought frightened her. "Are you sure you want me to stay?"
"Yes, sure, one hundred percent."
Nuang returned to her seat and they talked. Picking her words with the greatest of care, she told him small bits and pieces of her life. She told no lies except by failing to tell the whole truth.
When Jon told her about his life and his job, she knew he was not being honest, either. Lek had said he had a girlfriend in America, but he never mentioned it. Nuang didn't say anything. After all, there was much she hadn't talked about, too.
Nuang and Jon sat together for a long time. Sometimes they talked, sometimes they listened to music, and sometimes they just smiled at each other. Jon continued to order drinks for both of them and Lek didn't pressure Nuang to move from her seat. Whenever Lek wasn't looking, Jon would toss Nuang's drink into bushes and refill her glass with water. By midnight Nuang had made a hundred baht from the drinks Jon had bought her. The girl at the hotel had been right, it was easy money and she was actually having fun.
At midnight, two of Jon's fellow workers arrived at Toy's Bar and everyone was introduced all around. Nuang blushed at the talk about her being Jon's new girlfriend. The men told Jon they were going to another bar just down the street and asked him to join them.
Jon looked over at Nuang, started to say no, then turned back to his friends. "Do you mind if I bring her with us?"
No one objected.
Jon called Lek over. "I want to pay her bar fine."
Lek's eyes widened in surprise. "Okay," she barely managed say. She took Jon's money for the drinks and bar fine, and then spoke to Nuang in rapid Thai. "Come inside the bar for a minute."
Nuang's eyes were as wide as Lek's. This was happening too fast. She never thought she would go with a farang on her first night in Pattaya. She was terrified. Her head spun as she stepped inside the bar. Lek came and stood beside her.
"Either you are very good or very lucky," Lek said just loud enough for Nuang to hear. "He has never taken a girl from my bar before. If you can do this every night, you will make a lot of money here."
Nuang knew she should feel good at Lek's words, but she couldn't bring herself to smile. "What do I do?"
Lek laughed, "Have fun."
Jon and his friends didn't go far, only across the street. The bar was indoors. Its main attractions seemed to be loud music, air conditioning, and half naked dancers on a small raised stage. The girls, Nuang noticed, all wore numbers on their skimpy dance uniforms. She wondered why, but was too shy to ask.
Everyone ordered beer, except Nuang; she ordered a lady drink and water. She wondered if she would receive a tip from this bar, too.
The men talked so fast in English that Nuang couldn't keep up with their conversation. Sometimes she understood entire sentences, but more often she recognized just a word here and there. At times, the men would turn to look at her and laugh. It made her uncomfortable. She wondered what bad things they were saying about her.
No one spoke to her, and except for an occasional sly glance no one even acknowledged her presence. The men drank beer, talked amongst themselves, and watched the girls dancing on stage. They flirted with any lady who came within shouting distance. By one o'clock they were ready to leave. One of Jon's friends was paying to take a dancer from the bar. The way the two smiled at each other, Nuang was sure it wasn't the first time.
Jon's mind wandered while they waited for the dancer to put on her street clothes. This morning's phone call to his fiancée slipped into his thoughts. He had been away from home less than four months and Julie had already found another man. She made a point of telling him it had nothing to do with sex, but he knew that was a lie. She had rambled on about being lonely, that life was too short, and other bullshit. He knew it all had to do with sex. As much as it hurt him to admit it, he understood just how useless he was in that game.
He glanced over at Nuang and realized for the first time just how much he had enjoyed her company this evening. Her English was good—better than most he had heard in Thailand—and she had been easy to talk to after their rocky start. He hadn't learned much about her, only enough to know she wasn't an average bar-girl.
When he had asked her to teach him a few Thai words, she had seemed more than happy to do it. She had been very patient and didn't laugh at his thick lipped attempts at pronunciation. For reasons he didn't completely understand, he had an overpowering urge to take her home with him. He didn't need a sex partner, but after Julie’s bombshell he desperately needed female attention to boost his ego.
He wondered if there was some way to get her to go home with him without seeming like every other stiff prick cruising the bars in Pattaya. He searched through his beer-hazed mind for some plausible excuse. There had to be something she could do for him besides laying on her back and spreading her legs, especially when that was not an option for him anyway.
He had a drunken inspiration—she could teach him to speak Thai, just like she had done tonight. As stupid as the idea sounded, it was the only one he had.
"We're going back to Toy's for another drink." His words slurred a bit. "You can go with me if you want, but I think that's not such a good idea. If we go back together and you don't go home with me, Lek will expect you to go back to work. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Nuang nodded.
"I'll give you a thousand baht for coming here with me, and then you can do what you want. If you want to go to your room, you can. If you want to go back to the bar and work, it's up to you. If you would like a decent place to sleep, I have an offer. I live in a condo with two bedrooms. I only use one. If you want, you can get your things from the hotel and stay in my extra bedroom. But there's something I need you to do for me."
Nuang understood his words, but wasn't sure she understood his meaning. She forced a smile to her face despite the fluttering in her stomach. "Do you mean you want me to go home with you?" she asked. "Do you want me to sleep with you and have sex?"
Jon laughed. "No, you don't have to sleep with me. I really do have two bedrooms and I do want something from you, but it's not sex." He pulled a thousand baht bill from his wallet and handed it to her. "If you decide to come to my condo, you can wait for me in the lobby. If not, at least get a better room than you have now. And find another place to work. Okay?"
On impulse, he took a second thousand baht bill from his wallet and added it to the first. "Just so you don't feel pressured to make an immediate decision."
Nuang was stunned; two thousand baht in less than a minute. She never dreamed she could make so much money in such a short time. "I don't know where your condo is."
"Oh yeah," Jon mumbled. "I didn't think about that." He searched through his wallet and extracted a worn business card and gave it to Nuang. "This is where I live. Will you come?"
One side was written in English and the other in Thai. Nuang could read both. "I don't know what I will do," she said.
The dancer returned looking even sexier than she had in her skimpy bar uniform. Jon smiled and left with his friends.
Once they were gone, a waitress came and asked Nuang if she needed anything.
"Can you change this into smaller bills," Nuang asked, holding out one of the thousand baht bills.
"Maybe," the girl said and walked away with the money.
In a minute, the waitress returned with the change. Nuang left a small tip then exited the bar and reentered the nightlife of Pattaya.
Two thousand baht, she thought. Two thousand baht and she hadn't even taken off her clothes. She wondered what Jon could want from her if not sex. What could she possibly do for him
that was worth so much money? Her imagination ran wild.
"Need a ride?" A motorcycle taxi driver shouted at her from across the street.
"How much?" she shouted back.
"Twenty baht!"
Small money compared to what she had in her purse. They arrived at her hotel in less than five minutes.
Nuang walked quickly through the hotel lobby, ignoring the desk clerk's hello and the two Thai ladies with farangs sitting at the small lobby bar. There was an "out of order" sign on the elevator door—she was not surprised.
She trudged up the four flights of stairs to her floor. By the time she arrived she was sweating and breathing heavily. Her room was even hotter than the stairwell and hallway.Nuang tried repeatedly to bring the overhead fan to life, but managed only to get her hands black from the dust that edged the blades. When she went to wash her hands, nothing came from the faucet. The water, like the elevator, had finally died. She wiped her hands on a dry towel but the dust clung to her skin. She tried the faucet again. Still no water came out. This place was awful.
Earlier she had decided to wait until tomorrow before making a decision on Jon's offer to stay in his condo. Now, she decided to make her decision tonight.
Small beads of sweat swelled and trickled through her hair. She liked to be warm, but not this warm. The overhead florescent light made a loud hissing, zapping, buzzing noise then joined the fan in death. The smell of burnt ballast soured the air.
Nuang repacked her cardboard box in the dim light that filtered in through the dirt stained window. She trudged back down four flights of stairs, through the lobby, and out the door. The desk clerk didn't speak as she left. A baht-bus was sitting at the curb.
"How much to this address?" she asked, showing the driver the card Jon had given her earlier.
"Fifty baht," he replied.
Nuang nodded her agreement. She would have paid twice that much to get away from the hotel.
Jon's condo turned out to be less than three blocks away. The baht-bus driver had tricked her, but she kept her mouth shut. After all, a deal is a deal. She would know better next time. Intentionally, she paid with a five hundred baht bill and waited while he dug through his small hoard of money to give her change. She was sure he would have to waste time at a shop or gas station to renew his supply of change before taking another fare. The man gave her a sour look and drove away.
Nuang entered the lobby of Jon's condo carrying her box of belongings. A young girl sat at the reception desk. A security guard stood near the counter watching a comedy show on TV.
"Sawasdee ka, good evening," Nuang said to the girl.
The girl looked up, noting Nuang's dress and the box she carried. "Sawasdee ka. May I help you?"
Before Nuang could speak, the girl added politely, but pointedly, "We do not rent overnight rooms to Thais. I'm sorry."
"Mai pen rai," Nuang replied. "A friend has invited me to stay in his condo. His name is Jon. He's an American. Is he here?"
The girl glanced up at the row of keys hanging on a board behind the desk. "He's not here. Are you sure you have the right place? The American never brings women to his room."
Nuang showed the business card to the girl. "I'm sure. May I sit in the lobby and wait for him to come home? He told me I should wait, if he wasn't here."
The girl hesitated for a moment before answering, "It's not allowed."
Neither spoke for a long moment. The desk clerk's embarrassment was as real as Nuang's indignity. The girl squirmed in her chair for a moment before breaking the silence.
"If you sit and be quiet, I think no one will notice. If Khun Jon comes home and tells you to leave, you must go without question or I will call the police. Do you understand?"
"Yes, thank you. My name is Nuang."
"And I am Jahl."
Nuang carried her box of clothes to a wicker chair away from the reception desk and the guard. For a while she watched as people, mostly farangs, entered and exited the lobby. Sometime after two o'clock in the morning, she fell asleep sitting in the chair. She dreamed of her husband, her baby, and Somjit.
Chapter 24
Mike Johnson arrived at the Amari Orchid Hotel at one o'clock that same night. It had been a long trip from Pittsburgh to Pattaya. He overpaid the taxi driver and walked into the hotel reception area.
Three men, all farangs, sat at the lobby bar sipping beers. Mike didn't recognize the barmaid. He didn't recognize the girl at the front desk, either. He used to know them all. But that was a long time ago.
He filled out the forms, showed his passport, collected his key, and went to his room. By one-thirty he had showered and put on clean clothes. He knew he should go to bed, but he knew it would be pointless. He needed to unwind before he could sleep. He left the hotel and walked south toward the nightlife of Pattaya.
The walk from the Amari Orchid to the cluster of beer bars at Soi 2 was longer than Mike remembered. Either that or he was feeling the effects of his long trip. Or maybe he was just getting too old to handle it. He decided he would have two or three beers and then go back to the hotel.
At the corner of Second Road and Soi 2, he stopped and stared down at the cluster of bars. Even though he hadn't been here in nearly a year he recognized everything as if it were yesterday.
The open-air bars were stacked side by side and front to back for a solid square block. Pink fluorescent bulbs and strings of Christmas tree lights lit the scene. Smiling bar-girls of every age, shape, and size went about their jobs of luring passing tourists inside.
"Hello sexy man, come sit with me," a girl shouted in his direction. He smiled and shook his head no.
He focused his attention on Toy's Bar, his old stomping grounds. The worn red vinyl on the bar rail had been replaced with a medium blue, and the two-man band he had come to love was gone. Everything else seemed the same except the faces. He didn't see anyone he knew. Bao, Som Jai, Naow, and the rest of the old crew were gone. He didn't even see Toy, the owner, or her sister, Lek. He wondered if they had sold out to a new owner. He wouldn't be surprised. In Pattaya anything could happen.
He took a step toward Toy's Bar, then changed his mind. There was nothing for him there. He crossed Second Road and continued south.
He was surprised at the changes. New beer bars were everywhere but they were merely cheap imitations of the bars on Soi 2.
A block south of Alcazars, he reached the Music Lover Bar. It hadn't changed at all. He took a stool beneath an ceiling fan.
Music Lover's was away from the other "hot bars" and their business was thin. He ordered his beer in Thai: "Kaw bier Carlsberg kort neung, krup." It had been a long time since he had attempted speaking Thai. He hoped his words were understandable.
The barmaid stared at him stupidly.
"Carlsberg," Mike said. No doubt his Thai was in need of practice.
The girl hurried away and returned with his beer.
"Where is Wan?" he asked in clear English.
Again, the barmaid stared stupidly.
"Khun poot angrit, chai mai?” You speak English, right?
The girl shook her head no, but her eyes lit up with understanding. She turned and shouted to another barmaid.
"Dee chan poot angrit," the new girl smiled. "What you name."
"Phom cheur Mike, my name is Mike," he said.
"Oh, you speak Thai?" the girl's smile widened.
"Nit noy.” Just a little. "Do you know a lady named Wan? She used to work here as the manager. She was my friend. I don't see her."
"Yes, I know Wan. She no work here now. She marry Thai man and go Lop Buri."
"Too bad, I would like to see her again."
"You like play game?" the girl asked, her face hopeful. "Dice, connect four?"
Mike shook his head. "Mai aou, khop khun krup. I want only my beer. Maybe later."
"Okay. Never mind. Maybe later." She turned and left him alone.
It was hot. The ceiling fan offered only intermittent relief. He sipped his
beer and slipped into a personal world of jetlag.
This bar and the condos behind it held more memories than would ever leave him. He had once lived in those condos, but that was a long time ago. He had lived there with a woman named Math. They had stopped at this bar more times than he could recall. Forgotten emotions washed through him as vivid scenes of those days paraded through his head.
His first beer went down fast. He ordered another and it quickly joined the first. After that, he slowed to a more normal pace. He sat there thinking, watching the ladies behind the bar, and listening to the music. Three songs later he was ready to leave.
As he finished his last beer, a man walked in from the street and sat next to him. Immediately, three girls hurried to the bar, their smiles wide. The man ordered a beer for himself and drink for each of the girls. He flirted openly and drunkenly with the giggling girls.
Mike was surprised to hear the very familiar accent of the man's words. When his initial excitement ebbed to a normal level, he turned toward the man and asked, "Are you from Greene County?"
The man looked at Mike for the first time. He didn't speak, but only stared open-mouthed. Mike wasn't sure if the man was shit-drunk, totally dumbfounded, or both.
After a long second the man found his voice, "You mean Greene County as in Pennsylvania?"
Mike smiled. "Yeah, that one. I used to work with a man from Greene County. He had an accent just like yours. If you had said no, I would have guessed West Virginia. By the way, my name is Mike."
"I'm impressed."
"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Impressed," Mike laughed. "I'm from Pittsburgh. What about you?"
"I'm from Dayton, Ohio, but I grew up in Greene County, Pennsylvania. My name is Jonathan—Jonathan Yeager. Everyone calls me Jon."
"You here on business or pleasure?"
"Business. I'm doing some work for a steel mill in Chonburi. What about you? Business or pleasure?"
"Both," Mike smiled. "Mostly I'm here for a project at a refinery in Rayong. Have you been here long?"
"About four months. Not too long, but it seems like a year. I've almost forgotten what my life in America was like. What about you?"