8. The Internet date
The ABAC campus was a lively place. Clusters of students in white shirts and black pants or skirts went by and Duff noticed a number of farangs who appeared to be teachers. Duff felt conspicuous since he had no official business at the university, but the guards at the main gate had not paid him any attention.
The students were around 20. Some of the boys had unbuttoned shirts. A few boys had unbuttoned so many buttons that they were displaying half their chests. Can’t blame them, thought Duff. It is a hot day in Bangkok.
It was 6.10 and no date had showed up. The boy had sent his picture by email. It was a professional photo that first had made Duff wonder if it was of a model in a magazine and not of an ordinary Thai boy. But the boy had explained that he had the picture taken in a studio in a shopping mall, which explained the quality. The boy’s name was Fiat and he had confirmed that his name was indeed inspired by the Italian car. Thai boys had a lot of names. They had their given name and family name, a Thai nickname used by friends and family, an English nickname if they mixed with foreigners, and finally one or more nicknames they used on the Internet. Duff had trouble remembering just one of their names.
6.20 and no sign of young Fiat. Duff remembered what Robert had said. “Never wait for Thai boys. If they are not there in 20 minutes you can forget them”Duff decided to wait a little longer. Bangkok traffic was notorious, maybe Fiat was stuck on the road somewhere. But this was his campus. The boy was supposed to be here after classes.
At 6.30 Duff looked around in the street one last time. There were lots of boys but none that looked like Fiat, and none that seemed to wait for Duff. Duff began walking towards the gate and the main road, looking for a taxi. If traffic had been bad when he had arrived it was worse now. Nothing on the road moved save a few motorbikes that rode zigzag between the cars. The sun was setting and dark clouds had appeared. It looked threatening. A taxi driver waved to Duff, who thought it wise to get in a car before the rain came.
The taxi stood still for two or three minutes at a time before moving ahead a couple of car lengths. This is the dreaded Bangkok traffic jam, thought Duff. The tourist attraction they never mentioned in the brochures. Duff had heard of the jams but not tried them. Not for real, not like this. At this speed it would take hours to get back to downtown. Thunder and lightning began. Heavy rains made the traffic move even slower. Duff was glad he had a taxi as everyone tried to get one now, Thais waving from street corners and from under plastic bags they held over their heads.
When Duff came back to the hotel it was after 10pm. He was tired and bored, having wasted half the day in traffic. The receptionist handed Duff a yellow note. Please call Mr. Fiat, it read, and gave a phone number.
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