AN EXCITING FUTURE
The second novel in the series
Behind The Smile
The Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya
by
Owen Jones
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 Owen Jones
Behind The Smile: An Exciting Future
The Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya
by Owen Jones
Published by Megan Publishing Services
(http://meganthemisconception.com)
The right of Owen Jones to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988. The moral right of the author has been asserted.
In this work of fiction, the characters, places and events are either the product of the authors imagination or they are used entirely fictitiously.
Conditions of Sale
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
Contact me at:
http://twitter.com/owen_author
owen@behind-the-smile.org
http://owencerijones.com
Join our newsletter for insider information
on Owen Jones books and writing
by entering your email address here:
http://meganthemisconception.com
Novels in the:
Behind The Smile Series
The Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya
Behind The Smile: Daddy's Hobby
Behind The Smile: An Exciting Future
Behind The Smile: Maya Illusion
Behind The Smile: The Lady in the Tree
Behind The Smile: Stepping Stones
Behind The Smile::The Dream
Behind The Smile: The Beginning
Dedication
Dedicated to my brother Rhys, without whose encouragement this book would not exist, and to all the Pattaya bar girls that he has never met.
They gave me the material that inspired this series.
Thank you one and all.
Owen Jones
Thailand
March 2013
Acknowledgements
The cover girls name is Chalita.
Please send any queries about work to me and I will forward them to her.
Owen Jones
Look Out for the Sequel:
Maya - Illusion
Table of Contents
1 Starting Again
2 Settling In
3 Whither Now?
4 Baan Suay
5 A Touch of Reality
6 The Final Weeks in Pattaya
7 A Leap of Faith
8 The New House
9 Construction
10 Independence Day
11 The Little Things in Life
12 Mothers Day
13 Bless This House
14 The Cure for Cabin Fever
15 Another Visa
16 Bpom and Bpouy
17 A Surprise Visitor
18 Moral Support
19 Maya - Illusion
20 Wedding Plans
21 The Stag Night
22 The Village Wedding
23 The Ship Hotel
24 The Pattaya Wedding
25 The Honeymoon
Glossary
Book Three: Maya Illusion
1 1 STARTING AGAIN
As the wheels of the aircraft touched down on the runway at the new Bangkok International Airport called Suvarnabhumi, Craig knew that he was going to have his hands full with Lek. She suffered badly from travel sickness it was her one big weakness, but she even got sick on the bus going to the market, so a flight of 11,500 kilometres and fifteen hours was always going to be a problem.
Lek had taken five of the green tablets which were her favourite anti-travel sickness pills. She always seemed to have about twenty of them in her bag. One tablet would make her appear a little drunk, but five made her seem like an escapee from a lunatic asylum. He had seen it on the outward flight. He looked at her sitting next to him; her eyes were glassy and she was humming something quietly to herself.
Are we there yet? she asked, That was quick. Have we stopped off somewhere?
Were in Thailand, he replied a little too testily.
Craig was fifty years old and had never asked a woman to marry him so far, but he thought he might like to ask this one. She was a handful, as they say, that was to be sure, but there was also something about her that he found very special.
He didnt like her taking those pills though, but he knew how badly affected by travel-sickness she could get. Shed had to throw up in her new crocodile skin handbag once her pride and expensive joy because they had gone on a short bus ride and she had forgotten to transfer all her paraphernalia into the new bag. It was either be sick in her new bag or on the floor of the bus and she would rather die than do that and lose face.
Later, she would have to be assisted like a drunk through the airport, baggage control and immigration and suffer the stern stares from the Thai officials who would assume that she had drunk too much cheap alcohol on the plane.
He was glad that she had chosen to wear long, baggy trousers.
The plan of the day was Leks usual one whenever anything unusual or exciting happened to her, namely to get down to Daddys Hobby in Pattaya and tell her friends all about it. In fact, it didnt have to be anything unusual at all, it was just the place where Lek felt most at home in the world. Daddys Hobby was the name of the bar that Leks cousin owned and where he had met her. Craig didnt mind going there one little bit. The two dozen bar girls always made a big fuss of him and Lek even encouraged them to do it.
Within a couple of hours, hed have girls hanging off his shoulders, sitting on his lap and plying him with drinks while Lek recounted the details of her recent adventure in the UK. She should have come round a bit by then too.
Just in time to share a couple of bottles of whiskey with her ex-colleagues.
Still, it would be very pleasant and the apartment that he had booked before they had left was not far from the bar.
He was wondering whether that would be a good time to propose in front of her friends, when she least expected it and when she would get the maximum amount of attention and admiration. It would certainly give her face a boost, not that it was flagging in Pattaya. All her friends thought she was a star - one in a million.
Craig thought so too.
However, first things first, he thought; people were starting to disembark. Craig thought it best to wait for most people to get off before he tried to coax and manhandle Lek down the aisle, so they just sat there and he tried to get her to get a grip on herself.
Without much success.
Without much success.
The cabin staff were helpful they understood about the tablets and Lek and Craig eventually made it to immigration, which was pretty straightforward, although Lek did attract a few of the expected stern looks from the Thai officials and Craig got more than a couple of knowing nods from them too. He just smiled back weakly in reply.
They made it to the carousel, where Lek fell into a chair and Craig picked up the luggage, which he loaded onto a trolley. He considered putting Lek on it too, but that would have been just too embarrassing, so he settled for letting her push it, so that she had something to lean against. No problems at baggage control and then out into the heat.
He had more or less forgotten the overpowering heat and the everyday bustle outside a Thai airport. Taxi drivers and their touts all shouting at once for your custom. This was one of the occasions where having a Thai girlfriend helped a lot. She shooed them all away and they stood in the queue for a proper meter taxi to take them to Pattaya, which was only about an hour away.
They were supposed to go to the British Embassy to have Leks six-month visa cancelled as it was still valid for three months and allowed multiple entries into the UK, but the Embassy would be closed now and Lek was in no fit state anyway. They would have to do something about it another day.
They arrived in Daddys Hobby after an uneventful journey. Lek had tried to talk to the driver a few times, but he thought that she was drunk so he ignored her and tried to speak to Craig, but in Thai, which Craig could not speak, so that quickly fizzled out too and Lek, being ignored, soon fell asleep, which was probably the best thing she could have done anyway.
Lek had wanted to speak Thai though. She was excited to be back in her own country, where she could hold a proper conversation in her own language and where she could feel that she belonged again. They had had a few months in Craigs home town of Barry in South Wales and everyone had made her feel very welcome. She liked European food and she could speak English reasonably well, but
It wasnt her town, it wasnt her favourite food, it wasnt her language and they were not her people. She had had a fantastic holiday her first trip to Europe but she was glad to be home and she just wanted everyone to know it. She couldnt wait to see her old mates.
They got to Daddys Hobby at a good time: nearly six oclock. All the girls had arrived and were ready for action, but there were no customers yet and so the music was low. It would seem like a totally different place in two hours time. Once it got dark, the punters would be out and the volume would rise to deafening.
But between four and eight oclock, the girls had time to talk and the volume was low enough to be able to hear them. It had been Craigs favourite time to visit the bar before they had gone on holiday. He had come down to the bar for an early drink and a chat almost every day then and he and the girls had got to know each other pretty well.
He often translated messages, texts and letters from and to their boyfriends for them. Not that he could speak Thai, but he translated good English into pigeon and vice versa. It was fun although sometimes the messages were rather intimate and the girls would blush and giggle and run around telling each other in fits of laughter.
It was a good job to have: It earned him a lot of brownie points from the girls, even if it went unpaid in monetary terms. They genuinely liked to see him, although he was quite well aware that he had only gotten his foot in the door because he was Leks boyfriend. Many of the girls were from Leks village in the north and she had worked with others for years. She was like a big sister to them and many of them called her just that.
At thirty-two years of age, Lek was also the oldest woman in the bar or at least joint oldest with her two best friends: Goong and Ayr. Her cousin, Beou, was a few years older again, but no-one ever mentioned that she was the boss anyway. Despite her advancing years (most of the girls were in their early twenties or younger), Lek was acknowledged to be the most beautiful woman in the bar by everyone, although no-one ever mentioned the obvious fact that that would not be true for many more years to come.
However, for now, she was still the beauty queen amongst beauty queens, for they were all very good-lookers in their own right.
When the taxi pulled up outside the bar, it was as if a film star had arrived, all the girls crowded around Lek, took her handbag, led her up to the bar by the arm, fired a dozen questions at her and whooped and whooped and whooped.
Craig paid the taxi driver and carried the luggage to the bar. He had expected a bit more attention for himself than that.
Once he was at the bar, a few of the girls noticed him and flung their arms around him, kissing him repeatedly on the cheek and arms. A few of the girls took the luggage to store behind the bar and Lek and Craig sat down for the start of what they both knew would be a long and lively session.
All the women were talking at once and, although Craig wasnt being totally ignored, he wasnt getting served either. He was dying for an ice-cold beer. He couldnt follow the conversation, maybe nobody could, but he could see how happy they all were, so he went behind the bar and got three beers. The first one didnt touch the sides. He downed it in two mouthfuls, but the other two he took back to the bar and handed one to Lek.
Oh, so sorry, telak! Nobody take care of you. So sorry.
She said something and a few girls were detailed to take care of Craig. Then she said loudly:
You only buy two beers, this is not enough! and she leaned over and rang the bell, signalling a drink for everyone at her expense.
Craig finished his beer quickly and accepted another.
Two of the girls detailed to take care of Craig were unknown to him. They had obviously joined the crew while he and Lek had been away. They were very friendly, but when Ayr thought they were getting a bit too familiar, she sent them behind the bar to serve.
So, sorry, Craig, she said, these girls new. They don know Lek and you together. I tell them later. Nice to see you again. You have good time in Wale? and she was gone without waiting for the answer.
Ayr and Goong were Leks oldest friends, came from the same village and had shared a room in Pattaya before Craig came on the scene. Neither of them held any ill will against Craig for taking their friend away though. They were happy that she was happy, because they were true friends.
Oh, well, he joked with himself, Shame about that. Still, never mind. At least, I didnt get into trouble on my first day back. Saved from myself by Leks friend. Saved from whatever-their- names were too.
It did the trick though. He was not ignored by Lek, her friends or the strangers again. Everyone was keeping an eye on him now. He was served, kissed and complimented without long intervals in between and it suited him fine.
The girls quietened after about twenty minutes and they all sat around Lek, or as near as they could get, to listen to her favourite stories. It wasnt long after that that the first bottle of whiskey was broken out and a few small glasses appeared. The girls preferred whiskey because it was less fattening than a bottle of beer and it was easier to finish quickly if a punter wanted to talk with one of them.
Craig sat nearby too and listened out for landmark words like: Barry, Wales and family names. Sure enough, they were all mentioned often and he was sometimes called upon to corroborate the details, although no-one actually waited for him to finish speaking. He just about had the time to nod and smile, even though he didnt know what was being said. He trusted Lek though.