From pillar to post (part 1)

The local army pool, where I took Dew swimming

"If you go and fetch him, you must take responsibility for him too."

That was the brusque retort of a traditionalist type in her 70s, Eed, when I challenged her decision to dump at a local temple a 10 year-old boy I was helping look after.

That conversation was the start of a difficult few months with Grandma Eed, as she was known. 

I was helping Eed and her elder sister look after the boy, Dew, after his mother was jailed for drugs in late 2015. Dew was having to start life again in the care of the elderly pair, who had known him since he was a baby. I offered to help as I knew his mother and her partner.

I had never looked after one so young, and envious of my sisters overseas, both of whom have families of their own, I decided to give it a go.

Dew, visiting a temple fair

Dew's mother, Noi, sold drugs in the soi along with her partner, Kai, with whom she had a daughter, aged three. Dew was born to another relationship, a one-night fling if I recall. He doesn't know his Dad.

Noi, a largish woman in her mid-30s who liked dyeing her hair blonde and wearing garish makeup, has five children, including Dew and the little one, Guest. She was known to local police, who would launch occasional raids in the slum looking for drug dealers including her. 

When locals saw the cops arrive, they would shout, "your father's come to see you!" (พ่อมึงมาหา) as code; the warning would set off a a mad scramble among the druggies and peddlers in the soi as they stashed their evidence and fled for cover. 

I was sitting in Ball's place drinking one day when a grizzled, middle-aged man who no one knew jumped over the dog barrier where the house joins the slum alleyway and hid behind the front door. The cops had arrived, he said breathlessly. Moments later, he left just as quickly as he come.

Noi's favourite means of escape was to dash into the local market. Locals had seen Noi, her large breasts heaving and gaudy makeup streaking, as she puffed her way into Klong Toey to evade police. 

She was wanted for dealing, and police caught up with her in late 2015. She was sentenced to three and a half years, or thereabouts. Some months earlier, her partner Kai was himself nabbed for dealing; and a friend of the mother's and part-time carer to young Dew was jailed before him, once again on drugs charges. 

I used to stand around with Kai and Noi for a chat as they reckoned up their drug earnings for the day and checked stock. While Kai counted the cash, Noi would pull out her stock (ketamine, a white powder which she sold in small white plastic bags) secreted in her bra. They performed these actions openly and without embarrassment, as we are all family in the slum.

When Noi was nabbed, Kai's mother took over care of Guest, the youngest child. The boy, Dew, the only other one of her kids to be living with her, passed to the care of elderly neighbours who used to take in their washing, including Grandma Eed. 

I met Noi one day some months before while playing with her young daughter, Guest, aged three, who took a shine to me.  Young Guest was known in the soi for her foul mouth. She would listen to her mother swear and repeat the words in adult company.  If she saw me approach in the soi, she would run into my arms for a hug. In later years, she hardened in her ways, chasing me down the soi to ask for cash handouts.

I grew to like her and her partner Kai, and of course the kids. 

I had seen her son, Dew, playing in the soi outside Ball's place since he was a toddler. By the time of Noi's arrest I was buying toys for both, and taking Dew to the local army pool on Saturdays to join his friends swimming. We also visited local temple fairs.

I enjoyed looking after Dew, as it was like having my own son or nephew close at hand. I took him home to see my partner occasionally, though those visits did not always go well, as Dew was ill-mannered and Maiyuu tends to be strict with poorly behaved kids. 

now, see part 2