Pardon my ignorance (2, part)

She had seen the film, couldn't understand it, so decided to change it half-way through. She didn't ask us if we were interested in seeing it through to the end.

Mum has done this to me before. Where the television is concerned, she is boss.

'The ending makes no sense,' she said for a third time, looking at me, with a half-smile on her lips.

'Makes no sense to whom? ' I asked.

Chin said nothing, and went back to his comic books rather than watch Godzilla, Mum's choice of superior entertainment.

Kathoey Best refilled my glass for the 10th time. Life went back to normal.

Mum's husband emerged at the shop, after taking a short nap at home.

He saw we were watching Godzilla. Normally he is a serious politics man. He picked up the remote. Maybe he will turn over to the next channel, Inside Man, instead?

No. He turned up the volume. He wanted to hear Godzilla's roars even louder.

'I'm going back for a shower. Don't change the channel,' Mum said to me.

She walked away.

Kathoey Best left to chat up a young man with Chinese looks who serves at the shop next door.

Twenty minutes later, he returned.

'We really must be like family. Our interests come second to hers. Who cares what the customer wants?' I complained.

Best picked up the remote, and changed it back. We had missed about half an hour of the movie, and were into the last 15 minutes. It was pointless watching it.

Mum returned, and grumbled as she saw that we were watching Inside Man again.

She asked if I wanted to share the meal which she had cooked. I declined, as I don't like to eat with Mum and her husband any more. They are too wrapped up in their gambling talk, so I let them eat together in peace.

'No, I'm not hungry.'

'Why, what's wrong with you?' she asked with a scowl.

Declining her offer of hospitality probably hurt more than the fact that we went back to watching the movie of our choice.

Once, I remember reading a guidebook for farang visitors to Thailand: 'If someone offers you a meal, always accept.'

Well, I didn't. Call me ungrateful.

Mum and her husband sat down next to us at the counter to tuck into their meal, while Best, Chin and I watched the last 10 minutes of Inside Man.

The closing credits came up. Bitchily, Best asked: 'So, did you understand the ending?'

'Yes, I did, thanks,' I said.