Making an impact (2)

I reminded myself not to introduce Kew to any more Thais. They already know they don't want to meet him, because he's beneath them.

In this regard, Kew does himself no favours. If he walks into a shop, he does not smile or say hello. He barks out an order, as if he's worried he will get another disapproving look.

Thais notice his scruffy clothes. His abrupt manner only confirms their initial impressions.

Being with Kew probably does not make me look good, either. Thais do not know what I see in him.

'How do you know him?' Isra asked, during a break in our conversation, while Kew stepped away.

'He was a problem child. I knew his mother,' I said.

That appeared to do the trick - or maybe it just confirmed Isra's initial impressions, that no one in his right mind would want to befriend such a boy. She nodded her head, as if she understood.

Kew knows what Thais think of him, and has developed a complex about it. He is constantly on the look out for new threats and insults to his pride.

Kew ordered a packet of cigarettes, for which I was also expected to pay.

Mum knows Kew's tricks, because she also remembers him from last time. She is unimpressed by the fact that he gets me to pay.

Instead of handing him a packet, she threw him one.

'Here,' she said.

Kew didn't see it in time. The packet hit him, and fell to the ground.

He looked at me dismayed, as if Mum had just delivered the most serious insult to his pride.

He picked his cigarettes off the ground. Kew looked at Mum as if he knew she hated him.

'It's alright...don't worry,' I said, while rubbing his back, to make him feel better.

'I called out to you, and thought you were ready!' Mum said.

Such small dramas add to the colour of life, but for Kew they just add to its burdens.

His inferiority complex has grown even larger since we last met, because of what he does for a living.

For Kew is not a mere DJ. He also entertains customers away from the bar.

In Thai, he is a 'dek off' (เด็กออ๊ฟ), which means that if a customer likes the look of him, she can ask him out for a drink (take him 'off' the premises), or - if the price is right - go to bed with him.

He has been in Pattaya six months. 'About 20 customers pay me to go drinking with them a month. Of them, I might go to bed with only two or three,' he said.

'In all the time you have known me, have I ever given myself to you?' he asked.

'No.'

'I am not easy. They have to pay a lot to get me, and as soon as it is over, I leave the hotel,' he said.

Most of his customers were Thai women. He does not sleep with men - or at least, that's what he says.

now, see part 3