Absent friends, Maiyuu the pretend servant, thirst for new adventure

Maiyuu called last night to say he was spending the night with his friend, Golf.

I rarely see Golf at our place these days, as Maiyuu reckons I was grumpy towards her last time she visited.

She asks irritating questions like:

‘Have you eaten yet?’

And: ‘Maiyuu’s ice-cream/salad/whatever: Is it delicious?’

These questions get in the way of my routines, disrupt my train of thought.

You might think that a simple ‘Yes’ and a Thai-style smile by way of reply would not take long.

But you’d be wrong. For no sooner have I answered one question, than I am presented with another.

After getting sick of being polite, I started to ignore her.

She would ask a question, and I would pretend I hadn’t heard. Or, I’d talk to Maiyuu over the top of her, as if she wasn’t there.

Maiyuu picks up these signals. He knew I was losing my patience with his friend. Worried I would get angry with him if he kept bringing her home, he stopped inviting her.

Now, if he wants to see his friend Golf, he goes outdoors to meet her instead, and leaves this crotchety old man alone at home - which is nothing less than he deserves.

-
I snapped at Maiyuu the other day for giving me odd, quizzical looks.

When he detects I am in a bad mood, he give me worried stares as if he thinks I might blow up at any minute.

To be fair to him, I wasn’t feeling my best. I had hurt my back, and was finding it hard to move about, to do even the simplest things. The constant bolts of pain through my head were testing my patience.

‘What are you staring at?’ I snapped at him.

I apologised later, but Maiyuu was still hurt.

‘Jao nai, I will try to avoid making eye contact with you in future, sir,’ he said sarcastically, using the word in Thai for ‘boss’.

Some days, he would rub it in further, referring to me as a prince, and himself as a slave.

One morning, he pretended to be a Thai servant, attending to his lord.

Maiyuu entered my bedroom on his knees. He shuffled towards my desk, with his head pointing towards the floor.

With both hands, he held above his head a dish of something he had just made - his master’s supper, if you like.

‘I can’t look at you in the eyes, as you’re too important,’ he was trying to say.

Thankfully, Maiyuu has now grown sick of that joke, and life has returned to normal.

I still get the odd quizzical look, as if he is worried I will lose my temper again, but for the most part we are back to treating each other with relative indifference, which is the way it should be - better than fear and loathing, anyway.

-
‘I’ll be out in a moment,’ said Ball.

I had dropped in to see him at his home in the slums, about two hours before I was due to leave for work.

An hour earlier, I had called carer R and Ball, suggesting we meet for a quick drink before I went to the office.

My day at work would be a long one, and I suspected I would not get the chance to meet them otherwise.

I left the slum area and chatted to carer R as he opened his stall nearby.

By the time I left for work an hour later, Ball had still not arrived.

That night, I was to finish work earlier than expected, and did in fact make it back to carer R’s stall before it closed.

We drank for about an hour. This time, Ball was present.

‘Why did you not come out to see us in the afternoon?’ I asked.

‘I didn’t feel up to it...I still felt ill from the night before,’ said Ball.

For me, that’s not good enough. He told me he would follow me out, but apparently had no intention of doing so. He simply went back to bed.

Ball did little else with his life that day but sleep, as far as I can gather.

How self-indulgent and frustrating. No wonder his mother tears her hair out worrying when her son will grow up and take responsibility for his life.

I am getting restless, I notice. With carer R’s pending departure for the provinces, everything is about to change. It might be time to start looking for adventures elsewhere.