Watch out - Mum's coming (3)

Mum pulls out a little book where she keeps a note of how much she has paid to the Thai lender. 'See how much it has gone up since I took out the loan?' she says.

I looked, and suppressed a sigh.

'Westerners don't like being asked to help members of the family until they are married into it,' I said.

Farang J and Isra are engaged, but not yet married.

The same night, I tried to assure farang J that once he had made a further commitment to Isra - by marrying her - any residual doubts he felt about her loyalty would vanish.

'If she asks you to help her with family expenses, it's because her family must come first.

'However, once you are married, you will come first in her life, and her family come second,' I said hopefully.

I based this observation on my own experience with boyfriend Maiyuu, who seldom asks me to help his family. For Maiyuu, our relationship comes first - the rest of his family have to look after themselves, unless the need is really urgent.

Farang J told Isra, who must have told Mum. The next night, Mum was upset.

'The farang thinks that when he is married he can forget about family members and carry on as if we are all living apart and have no connection to each other,' she complained.

Mum spoke at length. Farang J was sitting at the table, but could not understand. Chin listened patiently, and interjected - even disagreed.

I admired his courage.

'She certainly speaks directly,' he said later.

Farang J asked me to explain. I started, but Chin stopped me. Mum was just getting things off her chest and there was no need to get too serious.

That argument will have to wait another day.

The next night, Mum noticed Pao was again sitting alone at his shop. All the other staff had gone to bed, leaving him to watch TV and close the shutter door.

'Pao's alone,' she told me, evidently having forgiven him for the previous night's attempted deception.

As I crossed the road, I looked at him. He looked at me.

I found a taxi, and left.

now, see part 4