I should buy shares in this ya dong stand

Thai-style ya dong

It's Friday, Ball's last day at work for the week.

Tonight, he can toss back the brown stuff with abandon, as he has two days of rest stretching ahead.

Actually, he's been drinking all week, as he usually does. It's just that on Fridays, he can do it without worrying about whether he will rise in time for work the next day.

Wednesday night was bad for Mr Ball, as he spent hours at carer R’s ya dong stand.

Ball called me just before I finished work. I dropped in and stayed for an hour.

Ball has to get up at 6am to get to work on time, and this was already 11.30pm. I urged R to let Ball go home.

‘This is my place, and I’ll drink with whoever I like,’ said R. ‘Anyone who doesn’t like it can go home.’

R had abandoned any sense of responsibility towards his customers. It was late, and he had made no sales in hours. But he refused to close, as he was having too good a time tossing back his own ya dong.

‘I don’t need you to tell me that, thanks. Let him go. This has gone on long enough,’ I said.

Moments before, Ball’s girlfriend Jay emerged, holding his baby sister, Nong Fresh.

R, who is older than Jay, sweet-talked her into letting Ball stay a while longer.

Ball was determined to stay anyway, as he likes to think he is boss.

I asked Ball to go home. He ignored me, too, so I gave up and went home to bed.

R held out his hand for me to shake by way of farewell, but I was too disgusted with his behaviour. I ignored it.

‘Shake his hand!’ Ball slurred.

I ignored him too.

The next day, as I sat by Mum’s side at her place, she told me that Ball did make it to work that morning, but only just.

'I had to force him to get up. They had no one to stand in for him as security guard, so he had no choice but to go.

'It was so hard getting him up. I almost told him to go live with you instead, as I am no longer interested,’ said Mum.

So, Ball did his duty, and went to work.

It was shortly after midday, and we decided to call the Charmed One, to see how he was doing.

Because he had forgotten to charge his phone, we called someone else at the office who Mum knows.

She went in search of Ball, and found him in the cleaner’s quarters, sleeping during his lunch break.

Mum talked to him briefly, and handed the phone to me.

‘How are you feeling today?’ I asked.

‘I have a headache,’ he said weakly. ‘But stock up the fridge for me, and I will feel better,’ he joked.

I visited a shop at the corner of the alleyway, and bought two beers for safekeeping until he came home.

The idea was not to encourage his bad habits, but to keep him away from the ya dong stand just 50m away.

His mother could do with help financially...she hurt her ear the other day, but decided not to see a doctor, probably because she can't afford it.

Any money I give her to help pay for Mr B's imbibing habits frees up money which she can spend on something else.

It’s risky, but so are most gambles. We can but do these things on faith.