Pet

Her name was Pet and she was born in 1990. Her dad was a big guy. Brave and strong, he enlisted in the army and was assigned to the royal guard where he served for many years. He never sent money home to Pet or her mother. Pet saw him only twice in her
life, the first time with his mia noi and another small child. Her mother divorced him, the shame was too much.

Mom moved to Bangkok and got a job installing dry wall in new apartment buildings. Pet didn't see much of her mom after that. Mom sent money home every month. 1997 the building boom stopped. Her mother sent less and less money. Mom was
desperate. No jobs. She was not a small woman. Many times she had stood up to her cheating, good looking husband. He always won but never left the fights unscarred. She had blackened his eyes on more than one occasion and once put a scar on his
cheek.

One of the dry wall ladies got a job in Patpong as a dancer. Pet's mom was not good looking enough to dance. But at night at midnight the gogo employed lady boxers. She put her skills learned fighting with her husband to work. The opponents
fell like chopped rice. Mom liked the bar. She liked the dancing. After she knocked out an opponent she danced in the ring. She had a talent. A New Zealand man bar fined her. He was her first. He was a young man. She liked him. <They're all good guys from that part of the world! – Stick> All the other girls in Patpong liked him too. He never came back. But the money kept coming in. She fought less and less and danced more and more.

Her best friend worked at Rainbow 4 in Nana Plaza. She specialized in Japanese men. Blond hair and petite, she had never had a child. She set new money records at Rainbow. Their number one earner. Always a smile. Always happy. When she asked
the boss for a favor he said yes and Pet's mom started dancing at Rainbow. She was bigger than the rest of the girls. She had 10% of their beauty but she made up for it with raw sex.

There was no doubt in any punter's mind that this lady would not be a starfish. She did well. A lot of fat Germans and an occasional American.

Pet was 14 when she moved to Bangkok. She tried seeing her dad for the second time in her life. She wanted a start in the Big Smoke. She wanted some money for an apartment and a motorbike. Dad brushed her off like she was a fly on the wall.
She was hurt. She didn't want to tell mom she was in town. Mom had made it clear she was not to come to Bangkok. Ever!

She was on the street. Crying. Hungry. Sam the motorcycle taxi driver stopped. Sam was 25. Pet was a virgin for only another two hours but she had an apartment and food. In a week she found a job as a maid.

Her grandmother who raised her was frantic with worry and finally got in touch with mom. Grandma thought Pet had gone to Bangkok.

Mom had hit the big-time. She had an American. He was paying the bills. She was drinking. She was partying.

Mom and the Falang set out looking for Pet. It didn't take long. Between the ladies in Patpong and Nana and her construction worker friends, Bangkok held no secrets.

Mom dragged Pet by the hair to her apartment. The Falang sat in the corner drinking a Red Horse beer and not saying a word. Mom punched Pet. Mom slapped Pet.

All Pet could do was cower on the floor and repeat, I am so sorry mom. Mom was screaming at her about the evils of Bangkok and her father and the bar business and Bangkok in general and the Falang sat in the corner and lit a cigarette.

He seemed to her remote. She didn't like him. Maybe he spoke some Thai, maybe not. Her mother finally wound down her anger assuaged by her violence. Pet in a quiet voice apologized again and told her she was in love with Sam and he was
her first and only man.

The Falang stared out the window and drank his Red Horse beer.

Pet went back home to Sam. It was two years till she saw her mother again. Mom and the Falang had moved to Pattaya. Sam turned mean. The yaba got him and he wanted Pet to start earning a living on her back. When she wouldn't,
he hit her. He gave her a black eye and broke a tooth.

She didn't know what to do. The bus was there and in two hours she was in Pattaya. Pet was 16. Mom was gone when Pet found the house, two blocks off of Soi Bukhow. It was a big house. Three bedrooms, kitchen and large living room and
nice porch. She knocked on the door. The Falang came to the door. He smiled. She was relieved he recognized her.

He stared at her a long time before he spoke. He could not speak much Thai. But she caught the words hospital and right now. He bundled her on the back of a motorcycle and they arrived at Pattaya Memorial Hospital. They seemed to know him
at the hospital. There was no wait. She saw three doctors. Her arm was sprained and they took x rays of everything and a dentist came in and fixed her tooth. She knew this must cost a fortune. The Falang didn't blink. He peeled thousand baht
notes out of his pocket easily and with no frown on his face.

She watched his face. She wondered why he didn't call mom but he didn't.

Her tooth still hurt and he took her across the street to eat rice soup. He bought a beer and watched her eat. She wished she could talk to him. He only sat and watched her eat.

She had never been to Pattaya. The Falang seemed at home there. People on the street nodded to him as he passed. He obviously knew his way around.

They stopped at Lotus and bought sheets. He asked her to pick them out and a pillow and a teddy bear. Arriving back home he pointed to the empty bedroom and she made her bed and went to sleep. She slept well. He was a strong, gentle man.
She knew why mom liked this quiet Falang. He did what had to be done. Didn't ask questions. He just did things.

The next morning she woke, found the shower and took a long hot shower. Wow, the Falang had hot water too. She felt clean but had no clean clothes. She wondered where her mother was. The Falang was up cooking breakfast. He saw her wrapped
in the towel and motioned her to the closet which contained her mother's clothes.

Pet's eyes went wide when she saw what was in the closet. Costumes, G-strings, stripper outfits. One for every day of the week. Pet didn't know. It hit her like a sledge hammer. Mom was a “so pan ee.” Mom
was a hooker. Mom was a gogo dancer. Pet then realized why she had been forbidden from coming to Bangkok.

Pet set her jaw and found a pair of panties with a bottom, jeans and a top. She dressed and went to the kitchen.

The Falang was dipping bread in eggs and sugar and then frying them. Pet had never seen French toast. But it was good. Her eye was looking better and her tooth didn't hurt. She found some makeup and if you didn't look close you
would not have known she had been in a fight.

The front door opened and in came mom. Still half drunk from the night before and singing a song. She lurched to the Falang put her arm around his neck, pulled his head toward her and gave him a noisy kiss. Her eyes adjusting she noticed
Pet at the kitchen table. Pet cringed. Mom started to yell. Then the Falang roared. No other word for it. He roared like a lion. She had seen army men talk like that in the movies. She jumped and mom jumped. The Falang stood up. Pointed to a chair
and mom sat down. He was speaking English. She knew he was talking about her and the hospital and her ex boyfriend. Mom was starting to cry a little. Her head hung down a little bit. Then the Falang pointed to Pet and mom went over and gave her
a hug. Everybody ate French toast and drank Red Horse beer for breakfast.

That was the first day and the first week was fun. Pet ate, drank and cleaned the house. The house was fun. Mom was dancing. Most nights she got home at 2 AM and the three of them went out to an Issan club and listened to music till dawn.
The Falang seemed to like Pet and his presence had a moderating effect on mom.

Pet met mom's friends. They had nice clothes and gold. A lot of gold. They took trips. They sent money back home to take care of parents and children. One week led to one month and one month to one year. Pet lived free. The Falang even
bought her a watch. A Casio. But Pet was bored. Pet had no spending money. Pet had no gold. Pet had no man and an old cell phone.

Pet walked into mom's club with fear. She had never been into a gogo. She was 17. The bouncer was not going to let her stay until she explained to him about her mother who was on stage. Pet watched fascinated. She had never seen her
mother dance like this. She had 100 baht notes tucked in her everywhere. The tops of her nylons held at least 2000 baht. Mom was sexy. Mom was a dancer.

Getting off stage she surprised Pet. Not angry, she bought her a drink and took her in the dressing room. Three shots of Thai whiskey and Pet was in uniform. Six shots and she was dancing and Falang men were sticking money in her panties.

Then she passed out. She woke up at home. There was her mom's Falang sitting and watching her. He looked calm drinking a Red Horse and smoking a cigarette. Seeing she was OK and he was there, she went back to sleep.

Dancing at her mother's club did not work out. Mom kept telling her what to do. She left and found a job on her own. She found an apartment too. She missed the Falang. But there were other men. She made good money. Her 18th birthday
was coming up soon. She found a Thai man who worked on boats. He paid her rent and stayed with her one week a month when his ship docked in Rayong.

On her 18th birthday she called the Falang. Mom's Falang. “Come watch me dance.”

“Why?”

“Tonight first time I wear no panties.”

“What time?”

“You tell me. I take off panties when you come.”

Pet got off the phone and she was shaking. She had no idea why she called the Falang.

As the Falang walked in the door Pet spotted him. She smiled big and threw him her panties. She had lost her shyness.

The Falang was talking to the mamasan and she motioned Pet off the stage. Pet realized the Falang had never seen her without clothes before. She was proud of her body she was 18 years old.

Mamasan told her that the Falang had paid her bar fine. It was birthday time. Pet and the Falang painted the town. He took her to places she had never heard of let alone dreamt of going. She was walking on a cloud and a bit tipsy. They began
to see each other daily. Mom didn't know.

Mom would have been upset. But it was only a matter of time before someone saw them together. The proverbial shit hit the fan.

The Falang left Pattaya. Pet left Pattaya and mom left Pattaya. They all went different directions. Pet still calls the Falang on her birthday every year. She has a Thai husband now and a one year old child. Mom has a bar in Phuket and the
Falang, well …… he just wrote this story.

Kelly