My Thai Toy - Part 8

Tuesday 26 November: I met another girl through one of the Thai women who works with me. She is a most interesting young lady, and works at the Itokin clothing factory, not far from Mem’s house.

Friday 6 December: Lek returned from Buri Ram. I was not impressed.

Saturday 7 December: Toy returned from Ubon. No joyful homecomings.

Sunday 8 December: Toy visited Mem, staying late. I was not impressed.

Tuesday 17 December: Contrary to the conditions of our agreement, Toy stayed the night at Mem's place. When I awakened, I walked the 5 kilometres from my apartment to Mem’s house, woke the household, and vented my anger. I had been enraged when I woke and Toy was not there, and the walk had honed my attitude incredibly well.

Wednesday 18 December: Toy + 4 arrived at the apartment, but I refused them access. I suspected that Toy and company would strip the apartment bare if I let that many potential thieves in, as I would not have been able to supervise all of them.

Thursday 19 December: I allowed Toy access to the apartment to get some clothes. She took more than she should have, including the rice cooker and an enlarged photo of her.

Sunday 22 December: Toy returned to the apartment. During the next 4 days, I repeatedly asked her to return the rice cooker. She stated that she would, but not until she was ready to do so.

Tuesday 24 December: Toy's mother, Gaew, arrived from Ubon. The next day, Toy took Gaew to one of the Bangkok hospitals for medical treatment that she could not get in Ubon Ratchathani.

Thursday 26 December: Jeab and Joy had what [to me] was a Thai Culture night at school. Gaew, Toy, Noy, Mem, Dewey [Mem’s daughter] and I attended. One of the seats that I had purchased was drawn for a prize – a rice cooker. This has been left at Mem's, so there were then three rice cookers at Mem's house, mine, Mem's and the one from the school. There were none at my apartment.

Friday 27 December: In frustrated desperation, I (amicably) retrieved my rice cooker from Mem's. Noy phoned Toy and told her what I had done, and Toy immediately returned to Mem's place. She was extremely angry, but I failed to understand why - after all, there are still 2 rice cookers at Mem's and the one that I retrieved actually belongs to me. It is not shared property.

Monday 30 December: Toy told me she would return to the apartment on Tuesday 31 Dec. As with anything else she has told me, I will believe it when it happens. She also mentioned something about going to Ubon again, and she seemed to think that it had some connection with her proposed forthcoming trip to Australia.

Tuesday 31 December: Toy took her mother to Sattahip to visit an aging relative who "doesn't know everything" [has senile dementia?]. She claimed that she would be back in Bangkok to return to the apartment "in the evening", but she wasn't.

Wednesday 1 January 1997: Toy phoned at 10 AM to tell me that she would return to Bangkok at 3 PM that afternoon. At 5 PM she had not arrived, so I phoned Mem who told me that Toy was going to Hua Lamphong [Bangkok’s main railway station] to get tickets - obviously to go to Ubon Ratchathani again. I later phoned Toy who said that she was at Mem's and would return to the apartment "later". She eventually returned at 9 PM, just as I was getting ready to go to the airport for work.

Thursday 2 January: Toy claimed to be departing for Ubon at 5 AM. She asked for money for the return journey, which I did not have. I asked her when she would be back and she said that she would return when there is money.

Friday 3 January: Toy departed for Ubon.

Sunday 5 January: Toy and I spoke very amicably.

Monday 6 January: Toy and I spoke again. She asked for 7,000 Baht when the pay becomes available. I undertook to phone her again the next day and tell her whether the money is available and she agreed to go to where her phone would get good reception at about 5:20 PM.

Tuesday 7 January: The pay was not paid into the bank until today, so the money will not be available until Wednesday afternoon. Toy phoned me at work to ask about the money.

Wednesday 8 January: I put 7,000 Baht into the joint account.

Thursday 9 January: Toy confirmed that she had the money but said that she did not know when she would be able to return to Bangkok, she would find out "tomorrow".

Friday 10 January: Toy told me that she would return to Bangkok on Tuesday morning.

Saturday 11 January: Knowing that Toy will sometimes return to Bangkok, and stay with Mem without telling me, I visited Mem, and Noy was there too. We had meaningful and lengthy discussions about Toy. The general consensus was that Toy is at least a “little bit” crazy.

Sunday 12 January: I visited Mem's again.

Tuesday 14 January: Toy returned to Bangkok at 5 AM and I met her at Hua Lamphong, the main railway station in Bangkok. She was annoyed that I met her, saying that she had not wanted me to do so, but it was no big deal to me. My thinking was that if I did not meet her, she would go to Mem's, not our apartment. She claimed to be very tired after the overnight train ride. I told her that we had to talk about where we were heading and get our agreement straight. She seemed to accept this, and we agreed that it could wait until the following evening when she was rested. She slept all day and all night in a rear bedroom, rising only briefly to eat.

Wednesday 15 January: Toy was not home when I returned from work. She had gone to Mem's and stayed out until 10 PM. This meant that we could not have our talk. Toy has invited Mem to travel with us on our forthcoming visit to Australia.

Thursday 16 January: Toy and I renewed the passbook for the joint account after Toy had seen a dentist, and I had made an interest payment on the pawned necklace (480 Baht), then I returned to work. Toy was not home when I returned from work; she had gone to Mem's again. She asked me to meet her at Rama 4 Peoples. She and Noy bought some food and at my encouragement, returned to the apartment. Toy insisted that she had to return to Mem's because she had to have some rice with the food, she had to take the food to Mem, and she wanted to get the money from Mem for the airfare to Australia. She also said that I could come with her to Mem's, but I resisted the idea. I explained that I had rice at the apartment, Noy could take any food to Mem if she wanted, the airfare could wait until tomorrow, and I did not want to subject myself to the mosquitoes at Mem’s house, but Toy still went there. I don't know what time Toy returned because I went to Patpong, and when I returned, Toy was already home. I believe that the reason why she was home early is because I mentioned that whenever she went to Mem's, she rarely returned before 9 PM, and she wanted to disprove my statement. I was not in a mood to talk. Thus, Toy has avoided confirming our agreement again.

Friday 17 January: When I got dressed, I noticed that someone (Toy?) has separated all of the coathangers into what I brought from Australia and what Toy has brought to the apartment. My clothes have been hung on my coathangers and all other coathangers are in the rear bedroom's wardrobe, some sitting on the shelf. I have to wonder what this means. My suspicion is that Toy intends to decamp, possibly directly after her gold necklace is redeemed.

Saturday 18 January: We travelled to Australia.

(To be continued.)

Santa