I did feel a bit better the next day, but I woke up to a scene from a horror movie. I was covered in ants. I thought that they were eating me alive. I was a mass of heaving ants all over me. The room was full of them. I don’t know where they came from or how they got into my room, but there were millions of them. I ran to the shower and was relieved to wash them all off. I was even more relieved when I saw that they hadn’t actually been eating me, they just wanted to share my yogurt. I still looked ridiculous but at least my skin wasn’t quite so sore. I wiped the floor with the wet towel as best I could and shook the ants out outside. The rest just seemed to disappear to wherever that had come from. I stayed around the pool all day, moving around the pool as the sun did, but in my case it was just to stay in the shade. I kept coating myself with sun cream and After Sun cream. I decided not to bother with any more yogurt pots. In the evening I had another cold shower and I was ready to go out and try another night out on the town. I still had skin the colour of a cooked lobster, so I put on a pair of jeans and a long sleeved shirt. It was dark by the time I had walked out of the hotel, but it was still very hot and I started sweating as I walked along the cul-de-sac towards the main road. I turned left and walked towards the old temple at the top of the road. I walked past a few bars and, as usual, a lot of pretty Thai girls were shouting hello to me and calling me a handsome man. But even I knew that I couldn’t have looked good, with my black eye and burnt red face with big white patches around my eyes. I just smiled and waved and explained that I was going for a walk. I walked up to the temple. There was a market in the temple grounds so I had a walk around looking at the stalls, before I walked back down Patak Road towards the beach. I turned off Patak Road and found another cluster of bars up a few steps. I sat at one of the bars and ordered a Singha beer and was suddenly surrounded by a group of Thai bar girls, who all thought that I was a handsome man. All of them wanted me to buy them drinks and play games of ‘Connect Four’ with them. I am sure that they were all really nice girls but, to be honest, I had really had enough of Thai girls taking all my money off me. I just wanted a quiet drink by myself. I just wanted to sit and watch the world go by and I wanted to keep hold of my money, so I declined the offers of games and buying them lady drinks. I picked up my bottle of beer and took it down the steps and sat on one of the tables that were set out in the street. I watched the food sellers over the road as they prepared, cooked and sold fresh food of all descriptions. They were busy and the food smelt fantastic. There was a non-stop stream of customers, mostly Thai girls and tourists, who gathered and sat and ate and chatted. I was enjoying myself sitting and watching the world go by, and that is when I saw her, my beautiful Thai princess.
As I told you right at the beginning of the book, I knew that I loved her the very first moment that I saw her. I had never seen anyone so beautiful before. She had brown almond shaped eyes that were almost black, hair like black velvet that reached to the bottom of her back, and the most fantastic smile that I had ever seen. She had walked up to me with an arm full of red roses for sale. She was The Flower Girl. She was dressed in rags and pregnant, but to me she looked like a princess. She stopped in front of me.
“Hello” she smiled.
“Wow! Hello! Sorry, I mean hello. Sorry about the wow thing. Sorry.”
She put her free hand over her mouth and giggled. She was the cutest thing that I had ever seen.
“My name is Steven” I said, trying to gather my composure.
“Hello Sa-teven. My name is Pin. You want to buy flower?”
“Yes, I do. I really do. Thank you. How much are they?”
“20 baht.”
“I’ll have them all.”
“I have ten. That’s 200 baht. Is OK?”
“Yes, that’s perfect.”
“Why you want ten?”
“I have a lot of girlfriends.”
Pin looked around.
“Where are they all now then?”
I looked around and shrugged my shoulders.
“Okay. I have no girlfriends, but I just like roses. Do we have a deal?”
“OK. Deal.”
“Do you want to sit down Pin?”
She looked over at the bar girls before she answered.
“OK. Maybe just a minute. The bar girls get angry if they think I steal their customer.”
“I’m not their customer. I’m nobody’s customer. I’m just me. I’m on holiday.”
“What happen to your face?”
“Oh! I got punched in the eye.”
“Why your face so red and big white circle around your eyes. Why you do like this?”
“I didn’t do it on purpose. I just got sunburnt riding my motorbike. Sorry, I’m not a handsome man. All the girls here say I am a handsome man, but I know that I’m not. Sorry.”
Pin giggled again, covering her mouth with one hand and squeezing my hand with her other one. It was just a quick squeeze, but it felt lovely and it felt genuine. I thought she liked me.
“No, you not handsome man. You have funny colour red and white face and a big lump on one eye. Your hair cut funny style and your clothes not good……..”
“Oh” I said, not really knowing what else to say and having no argument to put up against her assessment of me.
“But you have a good heart and I think you are a good man. So inside, yes you are handsome man. But to me the most important thing is that you have a pure heart. I need a person with a pure heart.”
I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my face. I wished she would squeeze my hand again and I left in on the table in case she wanted to, but she didn’t.
Wow! She thinks that I am a good man with a pure heart. I think she is right.
“You have handsome smile Sa-teven.”
“Thank you Pin. I think you are beautiful.”
“Khob khun ka.” (Thank you) She wai’d to me and I just wanted to kiss her.
“Pin, do you want a drink?”
“No. Cannot.” She looked over to the group of bar girls who were looking over at our table. “I think bar lady get angry if you buy me drink.”
“But I like you and I want to talk to you.”
“I like you too Sa-teven and I be happy to talk to you very much, but I cannot stay here and talk to you. I make too many lady angry if they think I steal their customer.”
“So how can I speak to you?”
“Tomorrow you want to go to temple with me?” she smiled.
“Yes. I’d love to.”
“OK. We meet tomorrow. I wait for you outside Blue Whale Hotel at 10am.”
“That’s my hotel” I said, amazed at the coincidence.
“Yes, I know.”
“How do you know?”
“I’m The Flower Girl. I walk around everywhere sell flower. I see everything. I know you stay at this hotel” she giggled.
“OK. 10am tomorrow morning then. Can we have the day together?”
“Yes, Sa-teven. Tomorrow we talk everything.”
She got up and left the flowers on the table.
“Pin, I owe you 200 baht for the flowers.”
“You can pay me tomorrow. I trust you.”
I watched her walk away. She turned and waved to me before she disappeared amongst the crowd. I waved back and then she was gone. There was something different about Pin that really set her apart from every other girl who I had ever met. I really liked her and already I was excited about meeting her the next morning. I had so much that I wanted to ask her. I just had an overwhelming urge to know everything there was to know about The Flower Girl.
I noticed the bar girls watching me. I waved to them, but didn’t get much response. I assumed that Pin was right and there was a bit of jealousy because I had been talking to The Flower Girl. It was still quite early, but
I just didn’t feel like spending any more time sitting there. I was excited about meeting Pin in the morning and I decided to have an early night and just grabbed some barbequed chicken and rice to eat back in my hotel room. I left the ten red roses on the table and figured that the bar girls would help themselves, so the lovely flowers wouldn’t be wasted.
Chapter 7 - My Perfect Day
I had had a great night’s sleep and I had a really good feeling about today. I thought it must be about 9am, but when I checked my watch I saw that it was only 7:30am. I didn’t mind, I just felt so good. I had that ‘Happy to be alive’ feeling. I opened the patio doors onto the patio. The swimming pool was just a hop over the small wall from my ground floor patio. The sun was shining and the sky was the bluest that I had ever seen. The swelling to my face was going down, although I still had the black eye. I still had the look of a sunburnt Panda bear, but at least my skin wasn’t hurting me anymore. I pulled my swimming shorts on and hopped over the wall and dived into the cool pool. I swam a few lengths and looked at the people sitting on their balconies and patios as they looked at me. A few waves and smiles were exchanged. Yes, today felt like a good day.
I skipped back over the wall onto my own patio and went and had a shower. I dressed and went for breakfast in the hotel’s partially open air restaurant. It was a buffet style breakfast with a chef cooking eggs to order in any style you asked for. The breakfast was delicious and I finished it with perfect timing; just in time to meet Pin at 10:00am. I went out of the front of the hotel and I have to tell you that my heart was bouncing in my chest. I was excited about seeing Pin again, but I was also nervous and a bit scared in case she didn’t turn up. I didn’t have to worry. Pin was sitting on my motorbike. She waved to me as soon as she saw me and gave me the most fantastic smile. I swear it made my heart miss a beat. She was wearing a nice white dress today and not the rags that I had seen her wearing last night. Maybe that was just something for the tourists. She looked like an angel to me and I felt like the happiest man in the world. I know she was pregnant and I realised that there must be a boyfriend around somewhere, but I really liked Pin and I just had the feeling that she really liked me too, so I just didn’t care.
Pin hopped off my motorbike and wai’d to me.
“Good morning Sa-teven” she smiled.
“Morning Pin. Wow! You look lovely.” I went to kiss her but she turned her face away. I could tell that I had made her feel shy and at the same time I’d managed to embarrass myself.
“Sorry” I said and tried to put in a quick wai, but ended up giving myself a karate chop to the nose. Pin put her hand over her mouth and giggled.
“No problem. Where do you want to go today?”
“Anywhere. I don’t mind. It’s up to you Pin.”
“We can go to temple at Chalong. Very nice temple.”
“Pin, I’m really happy that you came to meet me, but I can’t help wondering why you did.”
“I have been waiting for someone like you. I like you Sa-teven and I wanted to talk to you. I tell you already you have a good heart. Good for me.”
I got on the bike and started it up. Pin climbed on the back and wrapped her arms around me and I loved the feeling it gave me. Pin directed me as we rode along and after about 15 minutes we pulled up outside Chalong Temple. I was hot and suggested that we buy a can of coke from one of the many stall that were set up outside the temple, but Pin wasn’t thirsty. We sat in the shade of one of the trees in the temple garden and I drank the can of coke as we chatted. I just had to ask her the big question that had been on my mind since I had first seen her.
“Pin, do you have a boyfriend?”
“No. I not have.”
I couldn’t stop myself from looking at her pregnant bump.
“Oh!” I said and there was an empty silence. I was trying to think of another way to ask about the father of her expected baby.
“You notice I am having baby?” asked Pin, patting the bump under her white dress.
“No, I didn’t notice” I lied. Pin giggled and leaned over and sniffed me on my cheek.
I lifted an arm and tried to sniff my armpit. I thought that I smelled OK.
“You think I smell bad Pin?”
“No, you smell good. But I not smell you. I kiss you.”
“You didn’t. You smelt me.”
Pin covered her mouth with her delicate hand again and giggled.
“No Sa-teven. In Thailand this is a kiss.” She sniffed my face again and I realised how gentle and lovely it was. I went to sniff her face but she turned her head and I ended up sticking my nose in her ear. I guessed that it didn’t feel as good to her as her Thai kiss felt to me.
“Don’t worry. I not with the papa anymore. He not a good man. I have no boyfriend.”
“Was he English or Thai?”
“He was English, from Leeds.”
“Where is he now then?”
“He in Leeds.”
“Why wasn’t he a good man?”
“Him very bad man. We not talk about Dean now. We talk later. You have to understand me first”
“Dean?”
“His name Dean. Shall we go inside temple?”
We walked to the main temple and took our shoes off before we went in and looked around. Pin showed me how to pray and what to do with the lotus flowers, candles, incense sticks and bits of gold leaf paper that we had picked up outside the temple for a donation of 100 baht. It was all great fun and I decided that I really liked the temple. We sat on the floor in front of an elderly monk. He spoke to Pin in Thai before he smiled and nodded and looked at me. He gave me some kind of blessing and tied some coloured woven thread around my wrist before he splashed water over me with some twigs. I really liked the temple and it consisted of several building. Pin and I walked around hand in hand, going from building to building. We sat under the shade of an old tree, which had orange ribbons wrapped around its crooked trunk and watched the people coming and going between the temple buildings. There actually wasn’t so much conversation between Pin and myself. We just sat there and Pin was snuggled into my chest. I felt a strange but strong bonding taking place between us. A closeness pulled at my heart and I realised, even then, that I was giving it to Pin. Well, I was either giving it to her or she was taking it. It didn’t make much difference, either way. I knew that my heart now belonged to Pin.
After the temple we got back on the bike and Pin directed me to Phuket Zoo. I loved her sitting behind me with her arms wrapped around me. I felt a lot happier, now I knew that she didn’t have a boyfriend. It was a shame that he had got her pregnant. She seemed so nice and I had the feeling that she didn’t deserve it, but for today I didn’t care. She was beautiful and elegant and she was with me. I don’t think that I had ever been so happy. When we got to the zoo Pin held my hand and I suddenly felt 10ft tall. For some reason I didn’t have to pay for her to get into the zoo, so I just paid the price for ‘Foreigner’, which was double the price for a Thai. Both prices were displayed on a board at the payment kiosk. We walked around the zoo hand in hand and watched the Elephant and Crocodile shows. We chatted and smiled at each other a lot and I felt very proud to be with her. After the zoo we got back on the bike and Pin directed me to Kata Beach. It was a beautiful beach, with a few beach bars and plenty of palm trees to shelter under their shade. Pin wasn’t hungry, but I was starving. I bought chicken and rice and a can of coke from one of the ladies who walked along the beach selling food. From another I bought some fresh pineapple that was peeled and sliced and sold in plastic bags.
“How old are you Pin?”
“I’m 23.”
“How old was Dean?”
“Dean is 48.”
“If Dean was such a bad man, then why did he become your boyfriend in the first place?” I didn’t want to keep talking about Dean,
but I just wanted to know why he was such a bad man and why Pin wasn’t with him anymore. Pin shrugged her shoulders and gave me one of her perfect smiles.
“Long story, Sa-teven. I never tell anyone before. You sure you want to know?”
“Yes, please. I just feel as if I should know.”
“You very nice man. I like so much. I wait to tell someone with good heart my story. So maybe now I tell you.”
“Thanks Pin. I feel very honoured. How did you meet him?”
“I not meet him, he meet me.”
“How?”
“Sa-teven, you have to understand that I very poor girl.”
“I understand” I said, wondering what can of worms I was just about to open. She was the loveliest thing that I had ever seen in all my life, but I sensed a sadness about her and I got the feeling she was just about to tell me.
“I not know my mama and papa. When I was born somebody wrap me up in a blanket and leave me in temple. They pin note on me just say ‘Please look after my baby’. The monk take pin out and prick his finger, so my name become Pin. I grow up in orphanage and get teaching from monks. I do much work and I have happy life. I make many friends, but I always very poor. When I grow up I have to leave orphanage because they cannot keep me. I move to Pattaya to get job. I walk, walk, walk and try every hotel, but no work for me, because I not have any references. I have no address and no money to stay anywhere. Easy for me to get job work in bar, but I cannot. I don’t want to do like this and I pray to Buddha every day to help me. Then I see lady selling flowers and I think good idea for me. With my last 50 baht (£1) I buy 10 roses from the market and I sell them for 200 baht. (£4) Oh! I very happy, because I was so hungry and now I can eat. I thank Buddha so much for give me this chance. Every day I go to market and buy flowers and I wrap very nice and sell. Every day I make 200 or sometimes 400 baht. I not know, but I make some ladies angry because I sell flowers and they already sell flowers. One night they box me very bad and take my flowers. I hide money in my knickers and they not find, but my face hurt and bleed very much. I sleep in temple that night and very scare. I ask Buddha what I can do and, when I asleep, Buddha tell me to go to Phuket and have no problem selling flower in Karon Beach, because more quiet. When I wake in the morning I catch bus to Phuket and I start to sell flower in Karon Beach. I make many friend here and have no problem. Already have flower sellers here, but not many and good people so everything very good for me. I live on the hill behind the temple with the other poor people and they help me make house with wooden pallet and bamboo. Monks let us live on their land free, so I save some money and work hard and have good life. I talk to every person when I walk around selling flowers and I make friends with all bar ladies. They all like me because I smile a lot and make them laugh. Every person tell me I am beautiful and can make a lot of money working in bar and this make me rich. They say I find rich farang (foreigner) who take good care of me, but I cannot do like this because I am very shy and not have sex with a man in all my life. Every night I see very beautiful and very sexy bar ladies. They all wear beautiful clothes and I see farang buying them drinks and giving them money to sleep with them. All lady I see look very happy and have much money. They have laptop and mobile phone and motorbike and clothes and live in nice apartment. Sometimes make me jealous and I go to temple and say sorry to Buddha for being jealous. I make good friends with some ladies from one bar and I sit and talk with them a lot and most nights I eat with them when I sell flowers.
The Flower Girl Page 5
