สอง. Rubies and Rucksacks

On to Pieria he stepped from the upper air,
and swooped down upon the sea,
and then sped over the wave like a bird, the cormorant,
which in quest of fish over the dread gulfs of the unresting sea
wets its thick plumage in the brine.
In such wise did Hermes ride upon the multitudinous waves. The Odyssey – Homer

A well-dressed man in a formal grey suit came up to me to ask where I was from. It was my third day in Bangkok, and until then, I had been alone. I was standing in a wide open grassy area in Sanam Luang Park, no one around, and I was facing away from the Grand Palace when he approached.

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Sepuluh. The Boat and the Brothel

We unfolded the map for crossings into Thailand, spread it across the table in the center of the dorm and held up the guidebook to see how it would match.

สิบเอ็ด. Our Selfish War Part 1

To the left, the broken dam had caused the valley flood… The water chased the road around each curve, disappeared behind cleared out mounds of mud then came back to swamp them in a pall of grey mist. Black trees stuck out leafless and drowning, isolated stick creatures stretched out as frozen cracks on the surface. Wooden huts sat like fat shining slugs on gnarled logs in the water, some huddled close, linked with rotting planks, while others were pushed away from the pack, as if they had quietly lost their mooring and had absent-mindedly floated away.

สิบสอง. Our Selfish War Part 2

A Thai soldier adjusts his steel-rimmed sunglasses. He stands legs astride, feels the tension in his thighs, holds the gun from the hip. He raises a bottle of whisky to his lips, eats glass he does and watches old American war movies. Likes to sprinkle bullets in the air when he’s alone, and when he’s not he fucks with boots on. She can see her face in the shine.