Five years ago, two of my friends came to visit me here in Thailand. Richard and Charlie were two complete opposite personalities. I had become friends with these two jokers through a good friend of mine, Teddy. Richard was fiftyish, yet was fit, and rarely lacking in energy.
We met at a small get together at Teddy’s and while we were cordial, we didn’t speak much. Ted also introduced me to Charlie, who was thirty-five going on sixty. The three of us visited a bar together, and it was at this time I learned the obvious, Charlie, was a drunk. For reasons I have never determined, he was booted out of the tavern we went to, but at the time, I didn’t think much of it.
At the time, I lived in a large two-bedroom apartment in the lower Sukhumvit area. The plan was to have one of them crash on the sofa, while the other slept in the bedroom. If they wanted, they could trade off. I, of course, would sleep in the master bedroom.
Charlie was the first person to arrive. It had been a few months since I last saw him in his drunken stupor, but it’s always nice to see a face from back home, and I welcomed him with open arms. “My house is your house,” I told him.
I took him out to Nana Plaza the first night and promptly got him laid. I held his hand through the entire process; making certain the girl would take care of him and knew the arrangement. Basically, I did everything short of sleeping with her myself, and the next morning, he awoke a happy man.
“This place is great!” he said. “Now I know why you stay here!”
I went into my spiel about how living in Thailand isn’t quite the same as visiting as a tourist for a few weeks but he would have none of it.
“I’ve got some money stashed,” he went on. “I think I might like to live here.”
“Uh, huh,” I said, not wanting to burst his bubble.
On the second night, I was busy with a girl of my own. When I asked if he would like me to take him out again, he proclaimed his readiness to venture out on his own.
“Don’t you worry; I know how to take care of myself. I’ve been around the block once or twice, he said.”
I wasn’t in the mood to go out as I had a girl chilling in my living room and honestly didn’t feel like going out amongst the crowds–but in the morning, I was sorry–I felt I’d let my friend down.
“I got rolled,” he said. “I went out to get a taxi with a girl, and the next thing I know, I woke up on the sidewalk.”
It took a while, but after piecing together what bits of information I could get from him, it turned out he got inebriated, met a woman selling her wares, and for whatever reason, ended up laying on the street san money. Not exactly the start I was looking for, and once again, I erroneously assumed his drinking was an aberration.
The evening was quiet. I had another girl staying with me and Chuck lay around the apartment watching TV, drinking orange juice, and recuperating. We had time to talk and he was a good guy who admittedly liked the drink a little too much,
“What can I say?” he asked rhetorically. “I like drinking, I like getting drunk. I just don’t know when to stop.”
The next day Chuck and I went to the airport and retrieved Richard, or Dick as he liked to be called. The three of us jabbered away like little old ladies until we reached the apartment.
“Where am I sleeping?” asked Dick.
“On the sofa,” I replied. “Well, you two can work that out, but it’s a big sofa and it’s comfortable.”
“I’ll just get a hotel,” he said. “I need my own room.”
It took two nights for him to find a place that suited him, The Dynasty Inn.
Almost from the get-go, he and I clashed. Seemed since he was older than I was, he felt the need to let me know he was completely in control. It was his first trip to Thailand in 25 years, and by his own admission, the country had changed quite a bit. When he went out to dinner at the Nana Hotel by himself, I had a sneaky suspicion everything wasn’t what it seemed.
When he came back, he gave me the lowdown, “This waitress, she was so friendly,” he said, radiating happiness. “She was really cute, had a nice body, and she was a very pleasant girl. So I got her phone number.”
He held up the number, as if it were a prize.
Then I brought him back to earth.
“Dick,” I said, in a patriarchal manner. “She works in the Nana. Chances are, she’s given her phone number to hundreds of people,” I continued.
“You haven’t been here long, so be careful. Call her, but don’t give her any money.
“Nick, you really are jaded. Did you ever think that maybe she really likes me? I can’t believe how jaded you are.”
“Okay,” I said. “You know better than me. Think how you want to think, but you’ve been warned.”
He called her the next day, and went out with her a few days later. They went out, shopping, and then to dinner. At the end of the night, she went to his hotel room and they did the deed. She spent the night, and in the morning, he asked her if she wanted to have breakfast.
“Sorry, I must go home, can not,” she said.
She walked towards the door, slowly, and he gave her a hug goodbye.
“Can you give me money for taxi,” she asked feebly.
“Why of course,” he said, whipping out a hundred baht. She took the money and left, never to be seen again.
To be continued….
View All Articles By: Nick Gatsby
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