default
increase
decreaseGreg walked down Soi 22 and went inside the Corner Bar. As he went inside he noticed a few other expat farangs sitting at the bar, all still dressed in their work clothes; the standard uniform of the expat business worker of white shirt, tie, and black or dark blue slacks. These guys looked like they’d stopped here right after work, and had been sitting there pounding down the suds ever since their asses hit the stool. They also sounded like they’d been drinking all night, arguing loudly about some silly shit about tipping and their alleged expertise on bar etiquette and seniority of time spent in the Land of Smiles.
‘Wankers and drunken idiots.’ Greg thought to himself as he walked over to the outside seating under the eaves, grabbing a stool and sitting as far away from the drunken farangs as possible. Greg saw these types all the time since he’d come to live and work in ; they were ubiquitous to the inexpensive beer bars that dot the small sois off Soi Sukhumvit. He had grown an inner radar ‘bullshit detector’ that helped him to avoid the more obvious desperate sexpats and deviants that came here to work for miniscule wages just to be close to the easily available, and cheap compared to most everywhere else, bargirl sex scene. Most of them had minimal skills in their field (if they even had a field of expertise) and whatever monies they made here in mostly went to pay for cheap sex and cheap booze, and even cheaper lodgings and food. Greg had learnt long ago to avoid ninety percent of these losers, especially when they were drunk, or job hunting.
As Greg sat down at his chosen stool at the counter running under the roof overhang one of the hostesses started around from behind the bar to take his order. The door to the bathroom opened just then and out walked Nit, looking sexy in a pair of skin tight jeans and a frilly lace top that left nothing to the imagination. She let the door close behind her, and, turning slightly, caught a glimpse of Greg out of the corner of her eye. Nit’s face lit up in a broad gleaming smile of brilliant ivory teeth that would have made a toothpaste commercial producer proud, and, letting out a ear-piercing squeal of glee, ran over to Greg, throwing her arms around him and chattering in his ear excitedly. Her obvious joy in seeing him brought a weary smile to Greg’s lips. It had been a very rough coarse grade rasp day, and Nit always seemed able to lighten his heart and his mood with her bubbly personality, her nutty antics, and her eye candy of a tiny rounded bum and waist length raven silken locks.
Right away she sensed his worry and sadness and gave him another squeeze. She stepped back, looked him square in the eye with concern on her tiny face and said, “What wrong Gleg? You look not happy. It you clazy wife, huh?”
Greg was a bit surprised she read his mood so easily. He thought his face a mask unreadable most times, his moods hidden mid-Atlantic deep, or so he felt. She read him easily, and saw right to the core, guessing correctly his wife was at the heart of his depressed mood.
He smiled wanly, and said to Nit, “She left me, Nit. She took my girls and went back home. I’m in deep shit. I don‘t know what the hell to do right now.”
Nit hugged him again, and said, “You want dlink?” which made Greg grunt and laugh even in his black mood. Thais seem to have an marvelous capability to shrug off bad news and get back to partying and sanuk. To Greg this was sometimes frustrating enough to make a grown man scream; at other times though he found it endearing and thought it kept Thais from losing their minds.
“Yeah, Nit, give me a Carlsberg draught, please, and get yourself whatever you’d like to drink too.”
Nit smiled her seductive Isaan Colgate smile and politely, gracefully, wai-ed him with lowered eyes, bowed head, and a slight curtsy in response to his drink offer. She turned and growled something in Lao to the lady bartending behind the bar. As they waited for the order to be filled Nit went behind Greg and started rubbing his shoulders, which made Greg groan in pleasure as she kneaded his tense muscles, and said, “What happen, Gleg? What your wife do?”
The bartender gave their drinks to one of the other ladies, who brought the drinks and a chit bill and deposited the drinks on the counter and the chit in a green plastic cup, which somehow appeared miraculously in her hands from seemingly out of thin air. As Greg took a sip of his chilled beer a shiver ran down his spine. “What happened indeed.” he thought gloomily.
He turned to Nit and began to tell her everything that had happened that day, and a few things about the past few weeks and months to clarify his actions, in her eyes, as he did feel a cad somewhat in his actions of late and didn’t want Nit to think of him as just another farang sexpat butterfly who couldn’t be faithful and keep his dick in his pants; and to somewhat justify in his own mind some of the things he had done lately. His guilt wracked his heart as his mind played back the days events. His daughters were gone, and he knew the next days, weeks, maybe months even, were going to be hell.
Nit sat and listened intently, her face filled with compassion, the perfect listener. Aren’t they all?
(To be continued)
Cent
(The Central Scrutinizer)
Print Article
Send to a friend
Save as PDF