Chapter 15

Deja Drunk:

The other night khun Aor decided to shut The Coffee Bar early as she was tired and I was the only customer.

It was only about ten o'clock so I decided to have a gentle stroll around Bangtao. I was a little the worse for wear so it was pleasant to say my "Goodnights" to the massage parlour girls, khun Ead in the pharmacy, the taxi drivers and the delightful Muslim family running the local grocery shop as pleasantly and efficiently as my local village shop at home.

I ended up in a small bar which was full of German speaking customers (well five of them anyway) and girls.
One of the girls said "Hello" to me in what seemed to me to be an unusually friendly way despite the fact the she was very close to a middle aged German gentleman with an impressive beer gut and the look of someone not entirely sober.

I sat next to her and ordered a drink. I suddenly realised that she was signalling to me that she was unhappy being so close to the man from Munich (well Friedrichshafen actually). I just said "don't worry I'll sort it out."
I did this by engaging her in close conversation until he lost interest.

In the course of this conversation, during which I bought her a drink or possibly two, I learned that her name was Nyt, that she has two children being looked after by her parents back in Isarn, That she had only been in Bangtao for about two months. That the bracelets on her left wrist were from Buddha, her mother and her father. And that she had observed me many times walking through Bangtao.

I believe I suggested that she might like to come back to my place for the night but she declined my offer since it was the wrong time of the month. I told her that she was very pretty, which indeed she was, and that I would buy her a bracelet just so that she would remember me.

This is where my story becomes poignant, sad and I suppose says things about me that I am not very happy about. I asked her for her phone number. She told me that I already had it. And that she had mine. I was puzzled at this and said that she couldn't have. So she picked up her phone and phoned me.

A couple of months ago I had met her in the same bar and she had spent the night with me. She remembered me well.

I am haunted by the fact that, despite all the clues and the fact that it is very much not a common occurrence for me to entertain a bar girl for the night, I still did not remember her.

I will buy her that bracelet.