The Travel Mate

by Mark Green

  ‘Charlie’s not my friend.’

  ‘Someone should probably tell him that, cos he’s well into you. It irks the shit out of Victoria, which is kinda amusing.’

  Maddie shook her head. ‘People are funny.’

  ‘And travellers are especially peculiar.’

  ‘I’ll drink to that.’

  Bozzer gave her a sideways glance, lighting his cigarette. He lifted his gaze to look out over the multi-tiered turrets of Angkor Wat and the uneven profile of the pitched-roof terraced buildings linking them, forming an imposing boundary wall. The moat beyond shimmered, reflecting the sunset’s dying embers of red, yellow and azure, as the last of the sun’s golden crescent dropped below the trees and disappeared.

  • • •

  ‘This is nuts.’ Maddie stood beside her bicycle, surveying the queue of red brake lights stretching out along the side of Angkor Wat’s vast moat. Tuk-tuks, coaches and taxis crawled along the tarmac road, being overtaken by scooters and bicycles, accompanied by tooting horns, ancient rattling engines and smoky fumes.

  ‘Ceremonious structures built for worship meets the convenience of the combustion engine … society has indeed progressed.’ Bozzer pressed the shutter, bathing the traffic chaos in a flash of light. He shook his head as he lowered the camera. ‘You ready to chance it?’

  ‘There’s a cold beer waiting, right?’

  ‘There surely is, if we survive the next hour.’ He pushed up onto the saddle and looked left and right, waiting for a gap. Then with a ping from his bike bell, he pushed off, his feet spinning past the lingering red-tinged fumes that swirled lazily at knee height. Bozzer glanced over his shoulder, saw the yellow glow from Maddie’s front light behind him. He was just able to make out her face, her cheeks glowing, framing her smile perfectly.

  • • •

  ‘You sure about this theory?’

  ‘It’s based on strong intel.’

  Rupert leaned back against the taxi and folded his arms, studying Fender’s surveillance of the long line of vehicles crawling out of the entrance. Their yellow-tinged headlamps and red brake lights illuminated exhaust smoke that lingered at low level, creating eerie tree-branch shadows. The grey tentacles reached out from the darkness, stretching across the road like a fidgeting octopus.

  ‘But this amount of people, it would be easy to miss her. Street lighting would have been helpful—’

  ‘What’s the matter Rupert, already forgotten what your fiancée looks like?’

  ‘Of course not.’

  ‘Then switch on and focus. Your future prosperity depends on finding her, and that suitcase.’

  Rupert clenched his jaw and squeezed his arms against his chest. He scanned each vehicle as it edged past them. Scooters and bicycles made faster progress, zipping into gaps, weaving across the road, the contours of their riders’ faces quickly dissolving in the changeable light.

  ‘Remember, tuk-tuks and bicycles are most likely. But check everything.’

  ‘Will do.’ Rupert looked up at a modern coach, tall and imposing above them. He scanned along the row of faces, then dropped his eyes back to the road, frowning as the dim flicker of a bicycle light disappeared behind the coach’s bulk. A scooter buzzed past, over-revving in a low gear, the passenger wedged behind a Cambodian rider. Another bicycle passed behind the side screen of a tuk-tuk, reappearing briefly in the gap behind the coach, now crawling past them. The headlight from another overtaking scooter cast a beam of light across the cyclist’s face, briefly illuminating a red bandanna and fluttering blonde hair … The departing scooter’s headlight flickered past her shadowy profile, disappearing behind the coach. Rupert flinched, his posture springing upright.

  ‘What is it?’ said Fender, still closely observing the passing traffic, but tracking Rupert out of the corner of his eye.

  ‘I think I saw something.’ The coach accelerated forwards to close the gap in front, overrunning. It jerked to a stop millimetres from the tuk-tuk ahead, with a screech and hiss of air brakes. The cyclist pedalled on, the changing shadows obscuring Rupert’s line of sight.

  ‘Did you see her?’ barked Fender.

  Rupert scanned the red glow of brake lights snaking away from them, bicycle spokes churning past the low-lying fumes. ‘No. The light … playing tricks. Damn. This is impossible.’

  ‘Nothing is impossible.’

  ‘Maybe we should come back in the morning, in daylight—’

  ‘That might be too late. Keep looking!’

  Rupert snapped his gaze away from the blips of disappearing bicycle lights and refocused on each passing vehicle. He tried to summon up a freeze-frame snapshot of the red-bandanna girl. But she slipped away, teasing his powers of recognition.

  Thirty

  ‘Room nineteen please,’ said Maddie, smiling at the young girl of about twelve sat behind the counter. The girl reached into a row of pigeon holes behind her and withdrew a handwritten note.

  Hi Maddie,

  Hope you’re okay! I’m staying with Matthew tonight. (Tuesday) Not sure what I’m doing after that, can only say at the moment that it’s going well.(!) Matthew will collect his bike at some point, maybe in a day or so. Could you lock it up outside and leave the padlock key with reception please. If I don’t see you before one of us moves on, good luck and keep in touch!

  Gabby

  Maddie finished reading and pocketed the notepaper. ‘Do you have the key please?’

  The young girl smiled sadly and shook her head. ‘Sorry, room gone. Very full.’

  ‘Oh. All the rooms?’

  ‘Yes. Because of celebration. For three days. We have bag.’ The girl poked her head though a row of hanging beads draped over a doorway behind her and called out. After a moment, a sleepy man in his early thirties appeared. They exchanged a few words and he withdrew, reappearing with Maddie’s backpack.

  ‘Very sorry. For Cambodia day, we have many people. We think you not come back.’

  ‘Okay, I understand. So I need to pay, for yesterday?’

  ‘No, please. Your friend. She has given already.’

  ‘Oh, right. Thank you.’ Maddie hoisted the backpack onto her shoulders, helped by the girl’s father. ‘Can you recommend another hotel?’

  The man shrugged. He pulled a sympathetic expression. ‘I am sorry. For next three days, many people visit. But try, lots of trying.’

  Maddie nodded and withdrew. She stepped out onto the dimly lit pavement and glanced left and right, deliberating which way to turn.

  • • •

  Rupert poured the remaining beer into his glass and signalled with the empty bottle to a Cambodian waiter for another. ‘You still think Victoria will lead us to her?’

  ‘I do. She’s a social butterfly and our best option right now. We observe her tonight, then return to the temples tomorrow. If she meets up with anyone else in the group, she’s most probably going to tell them about us – our interest in Maddie.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because of all types of people, travellers particularly love to gossip. It’s often boring, being on the road – juicy titbits are social currency. So we observe. Anyone she meets with who looks concerned or suddenly takes off after she’s spoken to them, we follow. One of them will lead us straight to your future wife. If she still wants you.’

  Fender maintained a discreet surveillance of the restaurant opposite, through the constant stream of tourists transiting the narrow street. He watched Barney wander through the open air seating to sit down at a table with Victoria and Charlie.

  The waiter arrived to replace Rupert’s beer. He nodded his thanks and topped up his glass, then chinked it against Fender’s sparkling water. ‘Happy advance birthday. I hope your frivolity extends past midnight. I like the marginally more relaxed side of your robotic personality.’

  ‘Pace yourself and you might yet find out – this could be a long night.’

  Rupert shrugged and glugged back a mouthful of beer. ‘I’m on holiday … besides, doesn
’t the condemned man get granted his last wish?’

  ‘Not on my dime – take it easy.’

  Rupert glanced away from Fender’s piercing stare and looked out into the street. Opposite them, Charlie signalled to a waiter, handing him several notes from his wallet. He stood up, exchanged pleasantries with Barney then departed with Victoria.

  ‘The German doesn’t look like he’s in a hurry to do anything.’

  ‘No. Anything Victoria and Charlie might have told him about their encounter with us this afternoon hasn’t troubled him. Okay, we follow Victoria and Charlie tonight. Tomorrow morning we’ll be back at the entrance to the temples before sunrise.’ Fender reached into his wallet and laid a five dollar bill on the table, then stood up. They joined the other tourists mingling in the street, meandering through the evening throng, in no particular hurry whatsoever.

  • • •

  Bozzer strolled across the road, a thumb and finger in his mouth as he let rip with a piercing whistle. He held his palms out at the neon strobe lights and bright Western-inspired gaudiness, rolling his eyes at Barney. ‘Hey, Hanz Rolo – what’s wrong with the Cambodian part of town?’

  Barney screeched and leapt around the table, running into the street to body-check Bozzer into a man-hug.

  ‘You want a beer?’

  ‘Ja, always is drinking time.’

  Bozzer caught the waiter’s eye, winking at him as he held up Barney’s empty bottle, waggling two fingers. ‘So, you get lucky, Hanz?’

  ‘Ja, she invite me into her garments. Zo I not meet you. It was good, the light and trees?’

  ‘My friend, it was epic.’ Bozzer winked at him.

  ‘But you were alone?’

  Bozzer shrugged, raised his eyebrows and raised the beer bottle to his lips, a mischievous glint in his eye.

  ‘Ahhh … bonehead Barry was not alone!’ Barney slapped the table, rattling the bottles of beer. ‘Tell me, tell me, tell me.’

  ‘You first.’

  ‘Ah, man. She had bottom cheekiness.’ Barney pulled a wide-eyed excited grin, his open hands held up as if weighing a coconut in each.

  ‘So where is she?’

  ‘Pffft … gone, into the night.’

  ‘Prostitutes, chief – they don’t count. Paying a fee, that ain’t free.’

  Barney sniggered. He finished his beer, spun the bottle in his palm and banged it down on the table. ‘And free is not lacking of strings, ja? You know this – I am right!’

  ‘It’s a fair one, mate.’

  ‘So, I pay …’ Barney opened his wallet and fanned through a selection of currency, then jabbed a pointed finger into Bozzer’s chest. ‘You pay. Different, but same-same, ja? Zo, did you fondle secret data dongle?’

  Bozzer sniggered and began rolling a joint. ‘Too many secrets, my German comrade. I could tell you some of them, but then I’d have to be your friend.’

  ‘Ha! Is true.’

  The waiter delivered two fresh bottles of beer, Bozzer passed one to Barney. They clunked their bottles together. Barney leaned in, flicked his eyes around the restaurant, murmuring secretively. ‘She was good sex, ja …?’ Barney flicked his wrist, cocking his eyebrow as he studied his watch. ‘Almost five minutes, with taxi home – you have improved endurance. You take blue pills?’

  Bozzer took a swig of beer. ‘You’re too generous, Hanz. It was three minutes, tops.’

  ‘This girl, you like her.’

  Bozzer frowned and glanced up at Barney.

  ‘Second time, back to Phnom Penh. You pay extra expense, just for few pictures.’

  ‘Important pictures, Hanz. Angkor Wat is—’

  Barney waved his hand through Bozzer’s cigarette smoke. ‘Ja, ja, important architecture, spirit temples, blah, blah. But also, you come back for material girl. I am wrong, no?’

  Bozzer frowned harder, his lips silently repeating Barney’s words. He returned a puzzled expression. ‘I’m confused. You’re right in being wrong, or—’

  ‘You know I am saying, you like her.’

  Bozzer sucked the last embers from the roll-up, plucked it from his lips and stubbed the butt in the ashtray. ‘Maybe.’

  ‘Better than Jody?’ Barney pinched his thumb and finger to form a circle, and inserted a finger from his other hand, gyrating it in and out.

  Bozzer laughed.

  ‘You no dib-dab?’

  ‘Noooo!’

  ‘But you want it?’

  ‘Is the grass here good smoke?’

  ‘Is true.’ Barney sighed, folded his arms and shook his head. ‘So sad. No bang-bang for boring Barry.’

  ‘Ah, you know how it goes. Easy come, easy ho.’

  Barney’s amusement clouded over, his demeanour becoming solemn. ‘But this, not problem.’ He flicked Bozzer’s chest with the back of his hand.

  ‘How so?’

  Barney’s solemn expression lifted. He pointed into the street. Bozzer turned to follow Barney’s outstretched finger. Maddie stood in the street, a handful of tourists wandering past her.

  Bozzer stared at her, his hands moving instinctively to his camera. He pressed his eye to the viewfinder, trigger finger poised.

  Memory Card 3. Pic 199

  ‘Her vulnerability, nervous excitement and fear, is it so scary to join this artistic Australian for a beer? The expectation of her unwritten journey, will it all end laying zonked out on a hospital gurney? This is truly stepping aside from comfort and stability, escaping the boredom and monotony, away from normality. She stands ready, yet unprepared, to walk her own path, away from the herd.’

  Bozzer lowered the camera.

  ‘Sure you gave me the full twenty seconds?’

  ‘I wasn’t counting.’

  ‘You’d better not short-change me.’

  ‘Or …?’

  Barney clasped Barry’s shoulders, shook them, then ducked around him, sidestepping into the street, his arms outstretched towards Maddie. ‘Welcome! Come, drink and make boring Barry happy and snappy.’ He swept her up into a hug, spinning her around, catching Bozzer’s eye, repeating his finger meets ‘o’ gesture behind Maddie’s back when he plonked her down.

  Bozzer held out his bottle of beer for Maddie. ‘What’s up, Gabby move on?’

  She nodded. ‘The hotel’s fully booked. Some sort of national holiday.’

  ‘Yeah, it’s for King Sihanouk, signing their constitution. There’s three days of celebration ahead. Place is gonna be rammed.’

  ‘So I gathered. I’ve tried a dozen places, all full.’

  Bozzer nodded. ‘Want to try Barney’s place? It’s late and I’m not sure if they have a receptionist. But if you’re stuck, there’s floor space.’

  ‘That where you’re staying?’

  ‘Yeah. It’s cheap and convenient, now it’s just me.’

  Maddie glanced at Barney. ‘You stay, is okay,’ he said.

  ‘Great, thanks.’

  • • •

  Ting …

  The single chime from the desk bell echoed around the small, tiled reception area. A momentary pause, then a sound of rustling emanated from behind the desk. Barney leant over the wood counter and grinned at the Cambodian man in his forties sitting up in his makeshift bed, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

  ‘Hello. Sorry for late-time. You have room please, for friend?’ said Barney, swivelling his head around to glance at Maddie, sat beside Bozzer on a plastic chair.

  Bozzer watched Barney chat to the man who’d appeared from behind the desk. ‘That’s his bed, every night,’ he said to Maddie.

  ‘From what I saw riding a tuk-tuk to the temples, he’s lucky. Lots of people sleep on the street.’

  ‘Yeah. We’re the rich ones alright.’

  Barney thanked the man and passed him something. He turned from the desk and walked over. ‘No rooms. He say you sleep here, or my floor.’

  ‘How much extra?’ asked Bozzer.

  Barney shrugged. ‘Is no problem.’

  Bozzer nodded and turned
to Maddie. ‘Your call. It won’t be that comfy, but it’s a roof for tonight. Or we can look around some other hotels. But it’s cracking on for two – dead time.’

  ‘Okay, thanks. Um, Bozzer … serious question. Are you and Barney going to be respectful?’

  Bozzer turned from her to Barney. ‘Mate, I know how irresistible I am, but are you gonna keep your hands to yourself? She’s not into watching man fumbles …’

  ‘Ha! You not my type. Too tiny.’ Barney waggled his little finger at Bozzer. ‘We all safe. Okay, sleep?’

  Bozzer looked back at Maddie. ‘There you go. Bunk down with me and ze German, or out here with our host.’

  ‘You guys.’

  ‘Okay. Follow that pothead room-mate.’

  Maddie stepped into the dim room and wrinkled her nose at the pungent musty aroma of unventilated damp walls, unwashed clothes and stale male body odour.

  Amusement twinkled in Bozzer’s eyes as he caught her reluctant expression. ‘Betcha a hammock and mosquito net under the stars at Ta Prohm is suddenly much more appealing right now …?’

  ‘Uh-huh.’

  The door to the room swung open. Barney stepped in, sucking his toothbrush, wearing only a pair of boxer shorts.

  ‘You have decided, who is mooning with me?’ he said, flicking his eyes between them.

  ‘He is,’ said Maddie, dumping her pack in the corner of the room.

  Bozzer winked at Barney, whose shoulders slumped as he cast her a forlorn puppy-dog glance.

  ‘The bathroom is down the hall, last door on the right. I’ll lay some clothes out for you on the floor, or you can zip yourself into a sleeping bag and chance it on the bed.’

  ‘The floor would be great, thanks.’

  ‘Sure thing, very wise.’ Bozzer began laying out his clothes in a neat jigsaw beneath the end of the bed. Maddie disappeared out of the door.

  ‘You are too much good guy, Barry.’

  ‘Maybe … but you, my uncultured German friend, are a wolf.’

  Barney chuckled, deep and nasal. ‘Is true. Oowwwllll.’

  Maddie shivered as the cold water splashed over her face. She lifted her head, staring at her reflection in the cracked mirror.

  Is that really me?

  She lifted her left hand, her eyes drawn to her engagement ring. She rubbed her thumb on the underside, then looked back into the mirror, leaning close to study her face. ‘Is it time?’ she murmured. Her gaze flitted away from her eyes, diverting to an earring, glinting under the harsh fluorescent glare. ‘Perhaps, a compromise.’ Her nimble fingers removed her earrings, which she wrapped in toilet paper and deposited in her purse. She glanced back at her reflection again. Better. She smiled, her attention returning to her engagement ring. ‘What about you?’