The Doll Shop on Go-Go Street - Part 3

By mid-evening things were still relatively slow when suddenly Bill and Ritchie stopped talking to turn their heads to the door; the bar’s atmosphere had changed as surely as if the temperature had dropped or risen dramatically. A well dressed man of Asian appearance had come in and sat at a table near the stage. The dancers began to move even more suggestively while two who’d been leaning against the back wall, loafing and chatting, sprang into action. The nearest waitress scurried to take his order while the others hovered anxiously nearby . His features were Japanese but he was quite tall… maybe a Korean, Ritchie thought. Certainly woke the lazy bitches up though, he mused. They could smell a dollar note wrapped in a Sumo-wrestler’s jockstrap at a hundred paces.

The new customer ordered Scotch in an American accent, adding to the mystery. He leaned back, looking the girls over in a contemptuous manner, and as he added water to his drink the slight smirk on his face broadened while his eyes fell on Malee. He beckoned to her to join him and she hesitantly approached, sitting down while he signaled the waitress to bring her a ‘lady drink’. Worried expressions appeared on faces of older girls who’d only known Malee a short time but already liked her for her quiet and respectful manner. Daeng curled her lip, let the new girl learn the hard way like she’d had to she thought. She knew she wouldn't interest the man herself, a dominant bed partner would probably render him impotent, and maybe turn him really nasty.

The Mama-san approached the table holding another girl, Tim, by the hand, the small dancer looked shy and innocent but it was largely a front, and she hoped the tiny but experienced girl would divert the customer’s attention from Malee.
"This very nice girl for you," she wheedled, "very sweet, take care you good."
The man shook his head, once more contemptuously; he knew who he wanted and he was sitting right next to her.

The Mama-san tried once more and pointed to Malee, "this girl no good, too new, only come from Isaan one week, know nothing to make a man happy." But he shook his head once more, the smirk broadening again, not even deigning to speak unnecessarily to these people he considered far beneath him. When he finished his drink he waved the Mama San over and began negotiating Malee's bar-fine, as well as the payment for "long time"….all night.

--o--

The next morning Bob came through the open door, grinned cheerfully at the cleaners and went to the fridge. He got himself a coke then went to the check-bin box and took the paper slips out, riffling through them. Not a bad night after a slow start he thought, it had been a good day when Bill had embraced the bar as his “local”. Then noticed the Mama San had charged someone a double bar-fine, something she did when she wanted to discourage a customer. He walked to the side door and went upstairs to the large room the girls shared. He entered without knocking; none of the occupants were normally modest and he was smart enough not to take any sexual interest in his staff.

The heat in the room was stifling even with three or four fans going and the girls were clustered around someone sitting on a chair. He saw it was the new girl, Malee, and her face was bruised on the left side. She was naked to the waist while Daeng dabbed a brown liquid on what appeared to be cigarette burns on her back. She moaned with embarrassment when she saw Bob, and tried to cover her small perfect breasts. He turned away while one of the other girls got her a towel. He shook his head in disgust and his hardened bar owner’s heart went out to the weeping girl. Daeng came over to him and he asked, "What the fuck's happened here?" knowing as he spoke exactly what had occurred.

"He want her to do something, she won't say what, and when she say no he beat her, then he make her do and later burn her with his cigarette."

"Fucking scumbag...” this was the worst part of bar owning. He knew it was hopeless to look for the guy, he'd be long gone. He constantly told the Mama San to try to screen these arseholes out but knew he was wasting his breath, the thick wad of thousand baht notes they always produced overcame all objections. He went back downstairs, whatever joy he’d had out of the day already gone.

Daeng went back to Malee, leant over her and spoke while the injured girl covered her face in her hands.

“You think you can come here and the money is easy, laying around to be picked up," she said in the Isaan dialect. "Now you know the truth, you know what the men are like. You can never win, never beat the hard ones… those Nak Leng; so you make the soft ones pay for them. Still, four thousand baht for a few burns and a black eye isn't bad, I've put up with worse for less…. wake up little goody-goody school girl, welcome to the real world." She turned away and started getting dressed as Nop the katoey came over and took Malee by the hand.

"Come," he said, "we’ll get some noodle-soup and go to my Auntie in the Doll Shop. Then, quietly, “I think it will be good for you to talk and she’s very wise and understanding."

Nop and Malee walked out into the nearly deserted soi for a morning meal, it was late by most standards but the night workers… bargirls, waitresses and some tuk-tuk drivers slept till past noon most days. A number of food stalls did a brisk trade in noodle soup, the culinary mainstay that can be found in every Asian country, consisting largely of wheat or rice noodles in meat stock and what ever else was available at the market; it more than sufficed for any meal. The two sat at a small table; even Malee was hungry… the bad experience of the previous night hadn't much affected her appetite.

The large bowls came, steaming and redolent of fresh coriander and chili, broth laden with noodles, bean sprouts and sliced roast pork. Both diners reached for the tray of sauces and condiments, fish and chili sauces, crushed peanuts, dried and ground chilies… even sugar and heaped them into the dishes. All Asians love noodle soup; the richest man in the town will park his Mercedes by the food stall and sit with farm laborers and building workers, eating and chatting. That night his wife might drag him to a Thai/European fusion restaurant and pay a 1000 baht a main course and while he ate he would think longingly of the delicious noodles at 20 baht a bowl he’d enjoyed for lunch.

The two bar workers used their chopsticks to extract the last remnant of noodle from the bowls then rested chopsticks atop and pushed them away leaving most of the broth. Malee was starting to feel better, she was still sore and demoralized but the food had helped. She got up and followed Nop to the doll shop where the old lady smiled a gap toothed welcome.

"Go get a bottle of orange soda, lazy one," she growled at Nop, "and ice, while I get some glasses." Soon Malee was pouring the sweet drink into ice filled glasses, her duty as the youngest even though she was technically a guest.

The three sipped and smacked lips appreciatively. The old lady questioned Nop about the health of his parents, then Malee about hers, how many brothers and sisters she had and if the weather had been good in the North East, a normal opening before anything of importance could be discussed.

Then, "I heard a Japanese animal used you badly last night? What scum they are, we had their army here in Krung Tep during the war they fought against the whites… murderers and abusers of children!”

“I never knew there could be people like that” Malee wept, re-telling the story. New details came out, she sensed these two were genuinely sympathetic whereas most of her fellow bargirls had been merely curious and fearful it would happen to them.
"I feel worthless," she said, tears streaming down her bruised face,
"How can I ever face my parents after I have been shamed like this, I've shamed them as well. They expected so much from me and I promised to maintain the standards they taught me."

"Little one", said the old lady gently, "Is your soul bruised? Are there cigarette burns on your heart? No, no one can reach these unless you let them, the body is just a shell to keep these things in, they are all that matter. They and your mind are what is important. When the pain goes send the shame and humiliation with it, you don't need it… why keep it?"

She smiled and took the girl's hand and looked into the lowered eyes.

"You must come and see me again. I want to look at you when you are happy, to remember when I was young.

Ha! I was once the joy and despair of my parents life! Boys would hang around until my father would get his gun, the one he kept after fighting with the British against the Japanese in Burma. Ooieee! He’d have killed that Japanese for you, in a second….a good man, dead forty years now but surely reborn an ajarn… a teacher, or even an abbot.

She placed a hand on that of the pretty girl, who wai-ed her deeply, grateful for the respectful attention from one so much her elder, of station so much above her own; she was still crying, but now the tears were tears of healing.

"You go and buy some nice clothes," the old lady admonished her, "and maybe one of those cell phones. I know you at least got paid. And don't you forget," her heavily lined face cracked into a mischievous smile, "if you have any money left after sending some home, one of my dolls is the best friend you could wish for. They never complain, never demand to be fed and listen with out arguing!" Cackling at her own wit, she went on, "Bring some tea next time you come Nop, the Chinese green one, I haven't had a cup for weeks. It's good for my poor old kidneys even it does keep me running to the horng nam."