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Chapter 1

Jarapan Chavadecha

Khon Kaen, Thailand

Jarapan's motorcycle died when she was less than halfway home from the city of Khon Kaen. Not a sputtering, lingering death, but a sudden one, as if someone had pulled the sparkplug wire. She cranked the engine until her leg ached, but the motorcycle remained dead.

The sun had faded to early evening but the night's coolness had not yet arrived. Jarapan did not sweat easily or often but she was sweating now. She considered leaving the motorcycle at the side of the road, but worried that someone might steal it. For the millionth time in her life she wished she had a cell phone. If her father or brother knew she was stranded, they would come to help. She gripped the handlebars and pushed the motorcycle forward.

She was less than a kilometer from her house when a small gray pickup slowed to match her pace. Two men sat in front and two in the open bed. Their clothes and dark skin said they were construction workers or migrant farmhands. One had nasty scars on his face. The others were nondescript. She didn't recognize any of them.

"Do you need help?" one man asked.

"No, thank you," she panted. "My home is not far."

"I'm a mechanic. Let me look." He jumped from the truck-bed and took the motorcycle from her. He turned the key and then kicked the starter. When it didn't start, he did a quick inspection of wires, hoses, and switches.

Jarapan watched closely to see if he checked something she'd forgotten. If he did, she didn't notice. In a moment the man smiled and cranked the engine again. This time it roared to life. She couldn't believe her luck.

As she started to thank him, she was grabbed from behind and her arms pinned against her body. Someone stretched a piece of duct tape across her mouth and around her head. Her screams were muted to less than a whimper. Her hands were forced behind her back and bound with a thin plastic strap that cut deep into her wrists.

The men dragged her into a thick copse of young bamboo and stripped her bare from the waist down. One man pushed her to the ground and then positioned himself for his assault. Jarapan squirmed and twisted to avoid his clumsy thrusts.

At that moment the man with the scars appeared and kicked away the would-be rapist. Jarapan looked up and saw his face close for the first time. It was grotesque and distorted, as if he had been badly burned, or as if someone had tried to erase his face with a grinding wheel.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his tone polite, apologetic.

She shook her head yes, praying he would set her free.

The scar-faced man turned to her attackers and told them what low animals they were. After a minute he turned and stared at her half naked body. At that instant his expression changed from apologetic embarrassment to animal lust. He ordered the others to hold her still and he lay down on her thin body.

She shut her eyes to the ugliness of the scar-faced man and the pain of his forced penetration. The smell of Mekong whiskey was overpowering. Tears flowed at what she was losing, the gift she had saved for her future husband.

When he finished, the other men each took a turn. Afterwards they taped her feet together and left her in the bushes. She heard the sounds of her mother's motorcycle being loaded into the truck. The tailgate slammed shut with a loud bang.

Jarapan jerked awake; her heart pounded. She always woke up at this point in the dream, but the images of that night continued nonstop. Her brother finding her naked from the waist down, her father going into a rage, and her mother crying; she relived the nightmare every time she slept. She looked at the clock: it was not yet three. She rolled over and prayed for sleep without dreams.

(End of Chapter 1.)

J. F. Gump

© J. F. Gump. All rights reserved by the author.

ISBN: 974-85129-3-2 

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If you enjoyed this first chapter of J. F. Gump's 'One High Season' you can easily purchase the book online here at Bangkok Books.com: http://www.bangkokbooks.com/php/product/product.php?product_id=000038&sub_cate_name=&sub_cate_id=

Most books published by Bangkok Book House are available at Asia Books, Bookazine, B2S, Kinokuniya, Suriwong Chiang Mai, DK Chiang Mai, Pattaya, Lampang; all airports, many hotel outlets, supermarkets (Villa, Friendship Pattaya), The Books (Phuket, Krabi), Singapore including airport, Hong Kong airport and many smaller independent outlets throughout Thailand.

All rights for this book preview are reserved by the author. Reprint permission came from the publishing house Bangkok Book House (www.bangkokbooks.com).