Watch out - Mum's coming (1)

Mum steps in to save me - again.

I was talking to Thai and western friends - real friends, not people who want money out of me - when Pao, the boy who serves at the shop next door, called me over.

He was sitting at a table with a man in his 30s wearing a cap. The shop where Pao works had closed, and everyone else had gone to bed, leaving Pao - who is just 16 - to drink alone on the footpath.

Pao asked me to join them. I sat.

'We haven't talked for a long time. You come, and then a short time later, you go,' he said, smiling.

This was Pao's attempt at being charming.

He's right. I rarely visit Mum's shop any more, except on my nights off. Even then, I might stay only a couple of hours.

On this night I made an exception, because a western friend who lives in Britain and whom I rarely see is visiting Bangkok. Farang J is the boyfriend of Mum's sister, and is here for six weeks.

We were joined by graphic designer Chin, who loves comic books. On this night farang J and I were talking to Chin about the importance of eating.

Chin, who works hard and forgets to eat, weighs just 50kg. For a young man his height, I told him, it was not enough.

While we were talking, Pao visited Mum's shop to buy something. He was accompanied by a plumpish man in his 30s, who looked gay.

When Pao called me over an hour later, he was with the man wearing the cap.

'This is my elder brother. He needs a bus fare urgently to get back home,' said Pao.

The 'elder brother' took off his cap, as if to show me there was a facial similarity. I couldn't spot one.

'How much?' I asked.

'Just 200 baht,' said Pao.

I looked in my wallet, and found it contained one B500 note.

'I have to change this, if I am to help,' I said.

I walked back to Mum's shop, where I asked her to change my B500 note into five B100 notes.

'Why?' Mum asked, instantly on alert.

'Pao's elder brother needs to get home urgently,' I said.

'Elder brother? He's from around here!' Mum exclaimed.

She told her younger sister, Isra, what cheeky Pao was proposing. Around here, everyone knows each other's tricks.

If the 'elder brother' was from around here, then the likelihood of his having to return to the provinces urgently was more remote than if he had just been visiting.

'I will go back and give him a piece of my mind,' I said.

'Don't do that...then he'll know who told you,' said Mum.

I don't know why she cares about what a naughty teenager thinks, but I did as I was told, and simply refused to return to Pao's table.

Pao walked over to Mum's shop a few times, beckoning me to return. He was not game to talk in front of my friends, just signal with his hands. I ignored him.

now, see part 2