I can admit now that, since breaking up with the SatinDoll, I went into quite a funk. I couldn’t get him out of my mind. The fact that I would go and sit outside JJJs for a time each night didn’t help. Any attempt to open communications was rejected. I was willing to put the disaster of Udon Thani behind us but he was obviously harbouring something deeper. No Thai seemed willing to help bridge the gap between us. A couple of weeks ago this culminated in a melancholy evening alone where I began to question my attraction to Thailand and my purpose being here.
It was during this time my friend Dae helped me get over the rough spots. (see posts about football boys and bowling).With tattoos and a mustache, he’s not my type but a sweeter, more helpful guy would be hard to find. He knew I was not my usual self and tried everything to cheer me up.
Two weeks ago on the Buddhist holiday when the bars were closed, we bumped into each other in a deserted Sunee Plaza each looking for something to fill the evening. We decided to try the pool room at the Koneg Hotel. While walking there, we past 2 boys sitting on a wall along Soi Yensabai. Dae talked with them for a while then asked me if they could come along. “Sure, the more the merrier”.
To make a long evening short, I became dazzled by one of the boys. He was beautiful – in my eyes – intelligent, witty, high spirited, with good English. Just the thing to raise me out of the blues.
Don was a boy off the street with clothes that hadn’t been washed in a while. His hair hadn’t seen shampoo or a comb in days. But his sweet face and winning smile won me over. Back at the room, he wasn’t the normal money boy eager to get the deed over with and get out with the money. When we finally got into bed, he hugged me as if it was the last hug he would ever receive. We stayed like that for a long time, cheek to cheek, listening to each others breathing, feeling each others warmth.
Then my hands crept down his back and beneath the band of his boxers. At that point the texture of his skin changed and my hands stopped. There was a pause. I felt him hug me tighter. Then he burst out, “I sorrly, I sorrly” and he began to get up.
“What?” I asked, “What’s wrong?”
“I have problem”. My hand explored further and his skin became rougher. I removed my hands while he kept repeating that he was sorry.
Something clicked inside me, as has happened often before, and a strong paternal instinct replaced the lust of a moment before. “Let me look.”
I turn on the light as he lowered his boxers. From his belly-button to his knees he was covered in an ugly rash that was raw and blistered from scratching. I was startled by the severity. I looked at his face which now had watering eyes and a look of downcast resignation. Little did he know that karma was working for him that night and for me as well. Daddy Doug can’t turn away a child in need.
I wanted to take him to the hospital that night but he said no therefore we put a sheet between us and cuddled until we fell asleep. In the morning with great trepidation and fear of the unknown, we went to the clinic on Pattaya Tai near Friendship Foods. The doctor chastised Don for waiting 2 months to seek treatment but declared the rash non-sexual and quite treatable with special shower soap, cream and pills.
Two weeks later he still lives with me, as he really was a street boy with no place of his own, and he is most grateful that the rash is all but gone. I’m most grateful to have found such a wonderful friend who obviously has “jai dee”. It is comforting to watch him spend my tip money to repay those friends who have helped him in the past. It’s an eye-opener on how the street-boy system works.
I’m sad it took so long to find him and that I will be leaving in a few days but I rejoice in the karma that brought us together.
_________________
No comments:
Post a Comment