In the morning my new apartment became crowded. In addition to my boyfriend, myself and the four guests two maids came to clean up the mess, two so-called engineers from the building came to oversee the repairs, and three men came to replace the window.
The building staff found the incident amusing. Fat ladyboy falling through window. Haha! Funny too much.
I must be making a great first impression in this building, I thought as neighbours stopped to watch the repairmen struggle to carry the new window up the stairs. The manager, the reception lady and the security guard made me understand I was now a treasured source of entertainment.
I paid out of my pocket and the men installed the new window. I didn’t even try to make ladyboy XL pay for the repair. It was an accident and being an idiot wasn’t a crime. Chalerm had whispered that I had to give him money so he could buy food for his friends. Ladyboy XL hardly had enough money for the bus home.
In the evening the youths dressed up and applied makeup, getting ready to go out. I was alarmed to see Chalerm wearing a blouse and a cotton-stuffed bra. I had never seen Chalerm as a ladyboy before. I blamed the XL ladyboy for influencing him but I decided not to say anything while Chalerm’s friends were there.
The friends had seen Sanam Lum Night Bazar advertised on television. The concerts and events there looked like fun. They set out to find it but came back disappointed two hours later, exhausted from walking up and down Silom and Rama 4 road. When they finally found the bazaar it was closed. Since they were not 20 yet they could not go to any of the other nightlife spots on Silom road. I felt sorry for them. They were country folks lost in the city.
I saw the twin girls were using the telephone without asking my permission. Chalerm said they were calling home to tell their parents they were OK in Bangkok. They must be done by now, I thought, and unplugged the telephone.
Saturday afternoon we went to Maboonkrong for shopping. The girls and the boys looked a lot but bought nothing. The XL ladyboy, who was wide but not tall, showed me platform shoes with glitter on that he would like to have. The twins were obsessed with some mini-skirts. I ignored this and all the other hints.
When the group left for Anyburi I went to tidy up the room they had been in. I had prepared for them to sleep in the office and living room but the four guests preferred to sleep Thai style in a shared bed. I saw three towels were missing. I had bought ten of them at Macro, now there were only seven left. The towels were not in the laundry or anywhere else. Also missing were a new pair of scissors, still in the original case.
Is this their gratitude, I thought, nicking things? Worse, my watch had been in the drawer under the computer and was never seen again. And when my phone bill came I saw they had plugged the phone back in and spent the night calling long distance while Chalerm and I were asleep.
I knew who had done this. The twins had been nervous and edgy before they left. Now I knew why. Maybe they worried I would search their bags? I guess I should have.
I was furious. From then on I only referred to them as the Thieving Twins. This hurt. It wasn’t as much the money as having my hospitality and trust betrayed.
Chalerm became worried when I told him about the thefts. He searched the apartment hoping to find the missing items. He interviewed our maid, who was afraid we would accuse her of stealing. I knew it wasn’t her. Reluctantly Chalerm had to agree that this was fishy. The eventful weekend had come to the following:
Three towels a 20 baht, 60 baht
One pair of scissors, 100 baht
Telephone abuse, 750 baht
One Casio watch, 3000 baht
One broken window, 4300 baht
Total 8210 baht
June 25th, 2006 at 3:16 pm
I enjoyed Your very intersting “How I met my boyfriend”-story. I have been living with my Thai boyfriend for seven years and some of your experiences resembled mine, also we are living in Europe for most of the year.
Will there be any follow-ups? Also the core topic of the circumstances under which You met your boyfriend were dealt with in the very first parts of this story, I have always been very eager to get hold of the next part. Unfortunately after the story covering the cleanup following the visit by Chalerm’s expensive friends there haven’t been published any new stories also there was no indication at the end of part 19 that that’s it.