Thai Girl (47 page)

‘Okay, Emm, it's a fair cop!' he said with a smile, though he knew she had a point.

‘And it's what you were saying about the wealth gap too,' Emma went on. ‘It's so difficult not to exploit ordinary Thai people in whatever we do.'

‘You don't have to remind me,' he said.

‘Don't I?' she demanded. ‘It's why I worry about you being so close with Fon.'

Emma expected him to reply but he just sat looking glum before changing the subject.

‘So we're the wealthy ones eh, Emm? Going to pay off the overdrafts are we then?'

‘Dunno about you, but I am. Didn't tell you … I think I've got a job.'

‘Wicked! Tell me more,' he said, looking pleased.

‘You remember I had an interview with Consageo?'

‘Who?'

‘Used to be Consolidated Biscuit … head office in Swindon. I applied for their management training scheme more than six months ago and they kept my application on file. Just got an email from Mum saying they're making me an offer.'

‘Fancy you beating me to a job, Emm. Now I'll really have to pull my finger out.'

‘Typical! That was vintage Farnsworth,' she said sourly.

‘Sorry Emm … and sorry about all the other stuff in Bangkok too. Got kind of over-excited I guess. Hope I've matured a bit since the slap in the face.'

‘Well, there was plenty of room for improvement, wasn't there.'

‘Thanks Emm, thanks a million!'

He settled back in his seat and pulled the blanket up around his neck.

Neither of them slept very much and, as the plane crossed Europe, Emma was aware that Ben was awake.

‘Three years at uni together seemed a lifetime, didn't it,' she whispered, ‘but it's funny how little you really know each other.'

‘Emm, I thought I could read you like a book.'

‘No, Ben … you didn't see the changes coming.'

‘And maybe there are some things about your partner you can never discover,' he said.

‘Like what?'

‘Like whether you were upset when you missed me at the Regal.'

‘Or whether you slept with Fon,' she retorted.

‘Not that again! Does it really matter that much?'

‘Yes Ben, it does. If it matters to Fon, it matters one hell of a lot.'

Flying west across the world, the night seemed an eternity. Emma envied Ben being met at Heathrow by his mother and was dreading the wait at the bleak coach station with its surly attendants and the depressing bus ride back to Swindon. Thailand had done her good, but life had been on hold for long enough and now she was ready to deal with whatever it threw at her, with or without Ben for company.

Nearing Heathrow, the aircraft left the sunny uplands above the clouds and descended through the gloom for a long approach to the runway. Sitting by the window, Emma could see nothing but greyness. It was a heavy landing in high wind, the plane coming down with a crash, causing one of the overhead lockers to fly open. As they taxied towards the terminal building, she stared out at the rain-swept runway and leaden sky. Thailand seemed somehow irrelevant, already a distant memory.

Epilogue

Three weeks after his return, Ben received a letter from Fon. He found it disturbing to have in his hand the small pink sheet of lined paper closely written in Thai script and to be totally unable to extract any meaning from it. The letter sat in his drawer for almost a week until he went up to London for a job interview with a firm of solicitors in the City. After the interview was over he found a Thai restaurant and a waiter told him what it said.

Fon started by saying she hoped he was okay and that the journey home had passed off safely. Joy was well, but she had heard that her Mama had been ill and she was worried about her. The beach was still crowded with tourists and she was busy with her work every day. She said that on Ben's birthday, the seventeenth, she had remembered him by getting up early, cooking for the monks and praying for him in the temple; giving alms and making merit is so much better than squandering money on parties.

The letter then ended on an emotional note, Fon saying she was sorry she had been unable to look at him the day he left the island for the last time. If she had met his eye, she could not have contained her tears. Finally she said she missed him desperately and hoped he would write soon.

Confused and upset, Ben did not ask the waiter to write a reply. Instead he went home to collect his thoughts and a few days later when he had a free moment, he wrote a letter to Fon in English. As a friend would have to read it for her, he could not say anything too personal.

He told her he was well and hoped her mother's health was improving. He said he too missed her very much and that he had a wonderful memory of their time together in Thailand which would stay with him for the rest of his life. And he broke the good news that he was to be sponsored by one of the big London law firms to study law at college for two years before starting a two year training contract with them. It was an excellent firm which paid well and he would be able to clear his debts almost immediately. He thought of telling her that the firm had an office in Bangkok but for some reason decided not to mention it just yet. He asked her to say hello to Joy and Gaeo for him and finished by saying he hoped she would write again when there was any news from the island.

He did not post the letter for a couple of days but took it to the Post Office when he went in to renew his mother's car tax. The counter clerk was brisk and efficient. As she weighed the letter and took his money, she chatted about the dreadful weather they were having before finally dropping it into a sack of airmail packets on the floor behind her.

My Thai Girl And I

This is about how I met Cat, a ‘Thai girl' half my age and how we set up home together in her village out in the rice fields of North Eastern Thailand.

I'll tell you of toads in the toilet, of ants' eggs for breakfast, how we took up frog farming and how I got married without really meaning to.

It's also a book about the countryside, of the old Thailand where the rhythm of the seasons and belief in the spirits and Buddhism remain strong.

Though how could I, a greying English lawyer, ever fit into the lives of a Thai rice farming family? Can Cat and I with our many differences really be compatible?

If you're curious to know what it's like to start a totally new life as I did, to slow down and ‘go with the flow', I'm sure you'll enjoy reading the story of ‘my Thai girl and I'.

About The Author

Andrew Hicks first came to Thailand in the late seventies and in more recent years has travelled extensively throughout the country with backpack and notebook, observing the interaction of Thais and foreign visitors.

In his various incarnations he has been a corporate lawyer in London and a lecturer in law at universities in Nigeria, Hong Kong, Singapore and England. When living in Hong Kong, his interest in and concern for migrant workers led him to write a bestselling self-help manual for Filipina domestic helpers. That concern is also a primary focus of this, his first novel.

The
Thai Girl
website, featuring a Readers Forum, an interview with the author, the author's acknowledgements and a picture gallery is at
www.thaigirl2004.com.

The author welcomes your views about the book and the issues raised in it for publication on the site's Readers Forum. These should please be sent to [email protected].

His second book,
My Thai Girl And I,
is a memoir about how he met Cat, a ‘Thai girl' half his age and how they set up home together in her village out in the rice fields of North Eastern Thailand. For the latest news about Andrew and Cat with zany commentary on all things Thai, please visit
www.thaigirl2004.blogspot.com.

Copyright

First published in Thailand in 2004 by TYS Books, a division of the TY Group of Companies.

First published in print by Monsoon Books in 2006.

This electronic edition first published in 2012 by Monsoon Books

ISBN (epub): 978-981-4358-24-8

ISBN (paperback): 978-981-05-3918-4

Copyright©Andrew Hicks, 2004

Cover design by James Nunn

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

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