Temptation (1)

The balcony which extends from my partner Maiyuu's room has been liberated.

Todd, a pretty gay boy downstairs, has agreed to take over raising the pygmy hedgehog which has lived in the balcony space for more than a year.

The hedgehog slept in a small shopping bag which I kept on the balcony. He ventured out at night to eat, and do his business. Apart from that, we seldom saw him.

We didn't even get around to naming him. I would pick him up using a large pair of bar-b-que forks, to avoid being pricked by his spikes.

Kathoey Bic bought the hedgehog at Chatuchak market. She likes buying pets, but has little space in which to raise them.

Her place has fish, several dogs, hedgehogs...

Once she gets her new pet back home, she realises  her own single room is too small to raise another new addition to her animal family.

She called Maiyuu and asked if he would like to raise it himself. She pays visits to our place when she feels like seeing her pet.

This arrangement has the backing of Bic's boyfriend, a travel agent called Nok, who gets sick of picking his way around the animals in their tiny room.

'You must get rid of some of these pets,' he pleads.

In the last couple of years, Bic has bought cats, dogs, hedgehogs, hamsters, and fish. I wonder if she buys pets to make up for something which her relationship with Nok lacks.

We took over one of two hedgehogs, while Todd took another. I grew tired of cleaning up after the hedgehog, so I suggested to Maiyuu that Todd might like to take it.

In the roundabout Thai way in which we do things here, Maiyuu asked Todd on my behalf. He agreed to take the extra hedgehog, in the hope the two animals will mate, so he can raise a hedgehog family.

The hedgehog has now gone, so we can use the balcony again, which was previously the hedgehog's exclusive space.

Maiyuu now sits out there to smoke. I stand in the same space watching young men play badminton on the railway line below.

The other morning as I was standing on the balcony, I noticed a pair of binoculars had appeared on the window-sill. Maiyuu has been doing a little boy watching of his own, it seems.

now, see part 2