First petting

Odd relationships take root early, thanks to the internet.

Mum has a niece, aged 16. She is seeing a girl, aged 26, who she met on the net.

No one says much about their fledgling same-sex relationship, but I am sure the girl's mother - Mum's sister, Isra - is hoping the novelty will fade.

Isra is actively pursuing a romance of her own. Mother and daughter share the same telephone, to call their respective mates.

Normally Isra lives in the Northeast (Esan), but during school term breaks comes to Bangkok with her two children. They stay at a condo just a few minutes from Mum's shop.

The condo is paid for by Isra's British boyfriend, who visits several times a year. He visits again in a few weeks.

Isra has two children - a boy, aged 12, and the girl, called Oor.

I know the boy better than the girl, as we play guitar together. He is also around much more than his sister, whom I always assumed was sleeping when Bon, her brother, was helping Isra run Mum's shop.

Not so. In fact, she has been pursuing an active relationship with a girl she met on the internet. The two are more than friends, Bon told me. In fact, they are girlfriends.

Whenever I see her, lurking around the back of the shop, she has a cellphone pressed to her ear. Once, I asked her jokingly if she was talking to a boyfriend.

Her mother jumped in to offer some innocent sounding excuse on her daughter's behalf. 'She's just talking to friends,' she said.

She needn't have bothered. Not boyfriend, perhaps...but girlfriend.

It fell to her brother, Bon, to tell me about his sister's relationship.

'My sister met her in internet chat, at an email cafe,' said Bon.

'How do you feel about your sister having a girlfriend?' I asked.

'Okay.'

'How do you feel about her being 26?'

'That's okay, too,' he said.

'Do you have any special friends yet?' I asked.

'Oh no!' he said, firmly.

'Does she have her own cellphone?'

'No, she uses Mum's.'

He was surprised that I had not noticed her. 'She's the one with the little body,' he said.

Last night, when I turned up at the shop, Bon's sister was there, along with the one with the little body.

Both girls greeted me warmly. I had indeed seen the little one before, who has a pretty Indian-looking face, though I did not realise they were girlfriends.

They were sitting behind Isra, in a small box-shaped space that functions as the main serving area, which is perched slightly above the rest of the shop.

Isra was sitting behind the cash drawer, busily sending text messages on her telephone.

Her British boyfriend likes to send her messages in the dead of night, when he is lonely and bored - though farang friends who know them both suspects she also sends them to male admirers closer to home.

Isra likes farang, and frequently goes absent from the shop. The night before last, she disappeared all night, finally returning about 5am.

Mum and Bon minded the shop that night. I waited for as long as I could, to keep young Bon company, but in the end I gave up and went home to bed.

The next night, Isra was back, and I asked her if she had a good time.

'We were drunk on beers, lemonade and whisky,' she said.

'I hope someone else paid - it always tastes better when it's free,' I said.

'No, I had to pay for myself. A girlfriend was in trouble with her finances, and couldn't pay the rent,' Isra said.

I don't know whether to believe these stories. I don't really care, as they are not my affair.

As Isra was working her telephone, her daughter, Oor, and the girlfriend was busy petting each other. They were sitting right behind Isra, who must be used to such open displays of affection by now. They didn't bother her.

I gave the girls a smile, as they looked cute. They didn't mind me looking, either. Half an hour later, they moved to the front of the shop, where one of the girls lifted up the other's T-shirt, to look at something on her back.

Kathoey Bom showed up, shortly before I left. Isra came out to chat briefly, while the girls returned to the back part of the shop.

'Meet my daughter in law,' she said sarcastically, motioning with her head in the direction of Oor's girlfriend.

The one with a little body has a job making, or repairing clothes.

Isra does not look too worried by her daughter's relationship, perhaps because she knows she will have to return to Esan when school re-opens next month.

Both girls help Isra serve the customers, as does young Bon. The other night, he was asleep, and the girls were there with Isra alone.

When Oor returns home to the condo with her Mum, does the girlfriend follow, or go back to her own home? I shall put on my sleuthing hat, and find out more.