Domestic adventure

'Ball has taken my telephone. Now, how can I take gambling bets?' his mother grumbled when I dropped in.

Two nights before, Ball's girlfriend Jay took off with the couple's infant daughter in a fit of anger. She took a taxi to stay with an aunt in Samut Sakhon.

She did not tell anyone, just disappeared. Ball's mother had bought a bottle of whisky that morning to help a friend celebrate his birthday.

Ball joined in, and by early evening was drunk. The two argued, and she took off.

The next day, Ball furtively took his mother's cellphone, and left home to search for his girlfriend. He did not tell his mother he was going.

Ball called Jay in tears, saying he wanted to hold his child. She felt sorry for him, and gave him directions. I had given him B200 earlier, as it happens, which he used as his taxi fare.

They spent the night at the aunt's place, and returned the next morning, a few hours after I was to speak to Ball's mother about her missing cellphone.

Ball's mother sounded pleased that Jay had left home with the little girl, though I am not sure if she meant it.

'All that child does is feed. I can't afford to keep her,' she said.

I called in to the house again, a few hours after my conversation with Ball's Mum. By that time they had returned. 

It was a relief to have Ball, his girlfriend and Baby Min back.

Their little adventure had plenty of funny moments, as these family dramas always do. Jay's aunt asked if he was a drinker. 'Only on social occasions,' he said, without adding that those social occasions can fall every day.

Ball is not happy that Jay took away their only child.

'It's hard to talk about it,' he said.

'When we spoke on the phone, I could hear Min crying in the background,' Ball said.

'Jay left without much milk formula, or nappies. I took the swinging bed we have bought for Min, because I knew it would help her sleep,' he said.

Jay tells me that if misbehaves again, she will take away the child and not come back. She has asked me for financial help as she looks for a job. She left a poor-paying job at a bank calling centre last week.

'I spent what was left of my pay on the taxi trip to see my aunt,' she said.

On the night the domestic drama unfolded, I was busy seeing a friend, and could not get back in time. Ball called me half a dozen times, wanting to unload.

About 11pm, Ball's mother and a couple of her adult friends took Ball out to a karaoke bar, to help him forget his sorrows.

When I visited the next morning, they were still drinking, though thankfully the pace of alcohol consumption had eased by the time Ball left to see his girlfriend.