around their chests. "I thought she didn't have the chance of a
snowball in hell of winning" commented the mosquito. "Anyhow, here she
is and it is grocery day. You need to help her bring in the bags."
It was raining but he nonetheless heard the car. He sauntered out
of the kitchen of the river cabin as the screen door sprang back behind
him.
"Mother," he yelled in a surprised tone. "You're back." The
engine stopped.
"Of course I'm here. You knew I'd be back in an hour. Where else
would I be?" Her voice screamed out belligerently but it was hollow
and virtually inaudible in the container of the car. The Mercedes Benz
was flaxen and waxed and the woman inside was a bit of the same self in
an idealized way. She was even more young, beautiful and poised than
Kumpee's girlfriend. Her skin was also whiter than the fetid one's
infatuation and instead of being dark, thick, and puffy like a durable
and well tread tire she was a thin sheath, almost like a transparent
condom, and perfectly unblemished.
"Did you go to Ayutthaya?"
"Have you really forgotten where I've been. Even you can't be
that stupid. I told you before I left. I went to Thee Nhai." Thee nai
was the word "Where" in Thai; but she spoke it with such certainty that
he believed in its legitimacy as a city name like Chaing Mai. She spoke
even more loudly from her encasement inside the car but was still
barely audible.
"To see Grandmother?"
"And grocery shopping. After all, it is grocery day. " She
stopped frowning and slowly made a partial smile. "I have something for
you." He felt surprised. He wondered why he would be given something.
He couldn't remember having ever been given a gift. In Thailand (the
real Thailand as lived by the poor masses) children were instruments: