Jiraporn's Story

Chapter 4: ‘Black and Blue’ 

The Blue Parrot, March 2008.

Soi Selakam was just ticking over, not busy but there were few people walking around. The street was wide enough for a car and a bike to pass if there were no wheeled stalls selling their goods to negotiate, but cars were rare leaving the pedestrians and bikes plenty of room to move with ease. There were twelve to fifteen bars on the street, ranging from the smallest that could just fit a pool table and half a dozen customers in, to the triple fronted places with seats for 20 on the patio and another 30 inside. All the bars were open plan and all were raised a couple of steps off the street. This elevation allowed anything from 50 to 80 bar girls along the street to watch and hopefully attract passers by, a constant display of tight-fitting clothes on, in most cases, very attractive figures. There wasn’t much noise from vehicles because there were so few, but that was more than made up for by the blaring music and screams of delight from customers and girls as a black ball got potted or a team scored in whatever sport was being televised that night. 

In the middle of Selakam was the Blue Parrot, one of the largest venues on the street. The patio was separated from the street by a narrow bar used by both girls and customers to place drinks and to lean on, with a space in the middle giving access to the interior. There were three bar stools either side of the gap and the whole area was covered with a solid roof structure providing shade from the sun and shelter from the rain, it also had four powerful fans for the essential electric wind. The patio itself had four tables with chairs, ideal for people watching or escaping the crowd. Inside was the bar area to the right with six barstools, a pool table to the far left and four low ‘coffee’ tables in between with comfy sofas and chairs. There was plenty of floor space for standing, nothing was cramped together. On the walls above the bar and the pool table were two large TV screens and, like outside, six constantly turning fans hung from the ceiling. On good nights the Blue Parrot could comfortably host 50 seated and another 50 standing, with those numbers increasing by 20 or so at its busiest. Tonight there were six girls on the floor, another two behind the bar and four customers - high season had definitely finished for another year. From mid-November until mid-March business was good, usually very good, but for the other seven or eight months it was a case of keeping your head above the water. 

Jiraporn had parked by the Chinese Temple, it was only a couple of minutes walk to the Blue Parrot and meant she didn’t have to worry about blocking traffic. As she walked she was aware of eyes following her progress along Soi Selakam, nothing threatening, but the few expats who were there hadn’t missed her arrival, nor had the girls. Jiraporn was dressed modestly, but a modestly dressed beautiful woman was still a beautiful woman and she was a new kid on the block, a source of interest in a world where human interaction was high on the list of activities.

The four girls on the Blue Parrot patio smiled nonchalantly as Jiraporn approached and then climbed the steps into the bar, the two girls behind the bar looked up and straightened their stance as she sat on a bar stool. ‘Hi, what can we get you?’ asked one, although it could have been either as they seemed indistinguishable, Jiraporn smiled and said ‘Actually, I was wondering if Solly was here’. ‘I’ll check for you’ said the other, and stepped back a couple of paces, turned and called into an unseen place behind the bar ‘So-Lee, Lady to see you’. 

The girl smiled and said ‘Moment, please’, while standing back next to the other, Jiraporn returned the smile and nodded her thanks, then said ‘You two are totally identical, you must cause a lot of confusion around here’. They both smiled and said simultaneously ‘Yes’ and laughed. At the same time, a stout man with a straw grey beard, which complemented his long straw grey hair, came around from the hidden space behind the bar, looked up let out a deep throated ‘Whoa, so my dreams have come true at last, what a sight for sore eyes’, and strode the 4 steps to Jiraporn. Jiraporn had got off the stool and had opened her arms out wide, ‘Solly, it’s so good to see you’ and they hugged each other, Solly gave her a peck on the cheek and whispered in her ear ‘Don’t mention seeing me in Bangkok’ and Jiraporn smiled and replied ‘Okay’. 

‘What brings you to the best bar in Hua Hin?’ asked Solly, ‘Other than to see me, of course - and what can I get you to drink?’. ‘Well,’, answered Jiraporn, taking a deep breath, ‘seeing you is reason enough, of course, but there is something I need to talk to you about, and I would love something cold, long and non-alcoholic, I’m driving’. ‘Okay’, said Solly, ‘How about trying one of the twin’s “Jasmine Mint Tea’s?”. ‘That sounds great’ responded Jiraporn, and the girls behind the bar gave a quick ‘Yes’, fist-pumped the air and turned to concoct another of their specialities. ‘Is there somewhere quiet we can talk?’ asked Jiraporn, looking at Solly with a slightly more serious expression. ‘Yes’, said Solly, ‘let's go into the grotto’, and he gestured for Jiraporn to follow him as turned back to the unseen place he had emerged from a minute earlier, ‘Can you bring the Jasmine Tea into the back?’, he asked the twins, who nodded in reply, intent on their masterpiece under construction.

The grotto was less than half a stride from the end of the bar, nothing more than a back room with a stairway to the floor above, a door to the yard outside, a kitchen sink, a double gas hob, a fridge, a four cupboard kitchen corner unit with worksurface and cupboards above, a good sized kitchen table and a double drawer filing cabinet with a TV on top. On the table was a laptop, some receipts and a pint sized white mug with the word ‘Cats’ and a caricature of a fierce feline in dark blue, it was half full of hot tea. There was a well used sofa down one side of the room and two kitchen chairs and one swivel office chair around the table. ‘Welcome to the Grotto, mission control of the Blue Parrot’, smiled Solly.

Jiraporn was impressed, ‘Wow, you could live in here, there’s everything you need’. Solly replied, ‘I did for the first year I was running this place, and others have since, in times of need!, take a seat’. Jiraporn sat at the table, and Solly sat in the office chair, which he had not long since vacated. ‘What's the problem’, he asked in a genuinely concerned tone. Before Jiraporn could reply, the twins appeared, one of them carrying the Jasmine Tea, embellished with ice, straws, swizzle stick, paper umbrella, mint leaves and a half slice of lemon, she placed a crocheted coaster on the table in front of Jiraporn, followed by the glass. ‘That looks wonderful’ smiled Jiraporn and raised the glass to all three and said ‘Khop-khun kha’ (thank you), then took a sip and gave a look of approval ‘Ah-roi kha’ (it’s delicious), the girls clapped their hands and returned, chattering, back around the corner.

Jiraporn put the glass down while exhaling a deep breath, and looking at Solly said, ‘I’ve just come from the hospital, Nick’s had an accident, he’s alive, but badly hurt. I need to tell you because you are his best friend, and I need to tell you because I am so scared for him’. With this release of news came a release of emotion, Jiraporn’s eyes filled and she could hold in her feelings no longer, she wept openly. Solly was taken aback, not by the sight of a woman crying, but by the speed of how quickly Jiraporn’s demeanour had radically swung and, of course, by the news of Nick’s accident. His shock lasted for about three seconds and then he stood, picked up a roll of kitchen towel tissues and moved his chair closer to Jiraporn, holding her elbow gently he pressed four or five tissues into her hand and spoke softly, ‘Let it go, take some time, it’s going to be okay’. They stayed almost motionless like that for a couple of minutes, or maybe 30 seconds, time can be misleading. 

Jiraporn wiped her eyes and cheeks, looked up and swallowed hard. ‘It’s okay, I’m okay, thank you’. Another few breaths and she looked at Solly and said with a smile, ‘I guess you are used to irrational women breaking down on you’ and a small burst of laughter left her throat, but she was collecting herself together and was feeling a lot more like facing up to what today had thrown at her. ‘Rarely a night goes past with me have bring out the tissues for some reason or other, all part of the job when you run a bar’, Solly smiled, then carried on, ‘When you’re good, tell me about the state Nick is in, there’s no rush, as I said, take your time’. ‘Okay’, said Jiraporn ‘I’m good and getting better’, she then told Solly what the Doctor had told her, and how she had seen Nick through the glass door and about the tubes, the tent and all the other things that she had seen and heard at the hospital. Solly, who was no stranger to hospitals as both patient or visitor, nodded throughout while she spoke, and when she seemed to have finished said, ‘They appear to have all the corners covered, and the Doctor you saw also seems to be one of the good ones, all things given, Nick is in the best place and with the right people’.

Jiraporn, who by now was back to her usual in control self, apart from slightly reddened eyes, nodded. ‘There’s something else I need to tell you, and I think you are the only one I can speak to about this, so excuse me for being a bit strange here. I have been racking my head about how to manage my own processing of this situation, so I would appreciate your input as my friend, as well as being Nick’s friend’. Solly looked up at Jiraporn, raised his eyebrows in a perplexed way and said, ‘Okay, fire away, if I can help I will, if I can’t then I’ll tell you, but either way you’ve got my interest and my full attention’. Jiraporn’s face showed the relief she felt, ‘Thank you’ and she looked into Solly’s eyes and asked, ‘Has Nick said anything to you about Hua Hin Airport?’.

This seemingly innocuous question prompted Solly to sit back in his chair and open his hands, signalling to both that they needed to pause and think, ‘Let’s just hold it there for a moment’, they looked at each other, both wondering how to take this forward. Solly broke the silence, ‘When did Nick speak to you about this?, I don’t doubt you in any way, you are someone I trust totally, but I am surprised that Nick told anyone, I had understood from him that he didn’t want anyone to know, even his most trusted friends’. 

Jiraporn looked down at the table, what Solly had just said confirmed her fears, but also gave her a sense of relief, she had been right to speak to him about this, ‘Nick told me about the ‘research’ he had been doing this afternoon, that was the first time he had mentioned anything to me about this. I wasn’t surprised that he was doing it, but I was surprised by the gravity of it. Actually, I think Nick was as well. He said that very recently, in the past couple of days, he had come across some stuff which needed a native Thai speaker's analysis, and wanted to know if I would help. He told me he had been looking into waste disposal which involved the US military based at the airport in the ‘60’s, but some documents he had just come across, which he thought to be important, were in Thai and he needed to have an accurate translation. He also said that he was beginning to think that there might be an element of risk, although the events he was looking into were 40 years ago, there may be links to today. That was about the drift of what he told me. I said to him that I was okay with translating for him and we parted. 20 minutes later he’s involved in an accident which almost kills him, and I’m left with a feeling of paranoia. I spent time at the hospital not only with the doctor, but also the police. As it happens, we both know the policeman, it was Corporal Tonsai Buathong, but nothing he said or asked indicated to me that he thought this was anything other than an accident, and I certainly didn’t mention anything to him about what I have just said. Am I overreacting? Am I paranoid?’ 

‘Paranoia is when you think people are after you and they’re not, if people are after you then it’s healthy suspicion, and right now we simply don’t know, so lets side with healthy suspicion’, said Solly, ‘and the same goes for overreacting, there is nothing wrong with being prepared for the worst and then happily accepting that you were wrong if that is how it turns out’. ‘What else did Tonsai have to say?, I do know him and also his father, they’re two of the good guys in the Hua Hin police. Did he say anyone else was involved in the accident’. Jiraporn was coming back around to dealing with what she knew rather than what she feared, and felt a lot more comfortable with that as bad as it was, ‘I don’t know his father, but it turns out Tonsai and I went to the same school and even fought each other in Aikido class once!, but the talk was mainly how I could help him notify people about Nick’s accident, which was the reason that prompted this visit, and no, he doesn’t think there was anyone else involved. They have Jezabel at the police compound and will be looking over her tomorrow’. She paused to breathe, ‘You know most of Nick’s acquaintances in Hua Hin, I know his work colleagues, can you help let people know about the accident - but at the same time tell them not to visit just yet?, I'll be doing the same with the Rajabhat staff.’

‘That’s not a problem, I can post about it on the ‘Parrot News’ social media page, almost everyone who comes here, and a lot that don’t, read it and it’ll take me about 5 minutes to post’ said Solly nodding toward the laptop on the table, ‘I’ll also post on a couple of other Hua Hin sites that I know Nick sometimes contributes to - the wonders of modern technology!’. As he spoke he reached for the mug on the table and took a mouthful of tea, Jiraporn smiled, ‘Some things will never change, I see,’ and smiled again looking at the mug, ‘So how are Geelong doing this season?, not that I follow ‘Aussie Rules’, as you know’. Solly raised his Cats mug and proudly said ‘We won the grand final last year, for the first time in my lifetime, I think!, and so far, so good this year, but the seasons only just started’. ‘And you’re right, some things don’t change, but a lot do. I could spend a good couple of hours filling you in on the comings and goings in this place,’, he looked around the room, but Jiraporn knew he meant the whole establishment. ‘I’ve missed you so much,’ said Jiraporn, ‘I get the odd snippet of information from Nick about some of what’s happening, but it was never going to be a good idea for me to drop in and see you here, not after Nick and I parted, this is definitely his turf and I wouldn’t want to trespass on it. He and I have built up a very good working relationship, against what I once thought was a bad idea to do so, and the past year has seen that increase, but I am happy to keep it as it is. His life is his and mine is mine’. 

Solly looked at Jiraporn and his solemn expression didn’t change, ‘Nick is a clever guy, he’s like a younger brother to me and in that way I love him to bits, but he was a total idiot to walk away from you, I’ve never said that to him because I’ve never needed to, he knows it, but it’s water under the bridge and you have both moved on. Now let’s deal with this situation and see what happens, when it happens or if it happens’. 

Jiraporn smiled again at Solly, ‘Thank you’. She paused for a couple of seconds and carried on, ‘listening to what you just said, along with some of the craziness in my head, has given me a strategy I think would be good for me to adopt. I’d like to try and explain to you so you can tell me what you think’. Once again Solly raised his eyebrows, ‘Go ahead, I’m all ears’, he smiled.

Jiraporn took a while, but then said, ‘It seems to me that there are two halves to my, and now your, problem. Firstly, we have a good friend in hospital who needs all the help we can give him to recover. As grim as that is, it is quite straightforward. The second half isn’t, there is a possibility that the reason he is in hospital is something that we cannot talk openly about, because if true, then there are some bad guys out there and it could cause even more difficulties, maybe even danger for him. If that is the case, and his accident was deliberate, then we can’t do nothing, because the bad guys won’t wait for things to just go away. Do you think my imagination is running riot?  Jiraporn looked at Solly and wondered what he was thinking, she didn’t have to wait long.

‘Covert and Overt, or to make it easier, Black and Blue’, said Solly, ‘ Some people, ones you trust implicitly, are aware of everything and all others are only aware of what you want them to know’. He carried on, ‘What you have just described is very common practice in all military operations, most big business and, to a much greater extent, in many people's love lives. Keeping secrets, or lying, only becomes a problem when the wrong people find out the wrong information, so you don’t let it happen. What you have said about your strategy is a classic example of where this needs to happen. All we, and it is we, not just you, need to decide is who is Black and who is Blue’.    

Jiraporn had listened intently to what Solly had said, but as he finished, started to narrow her eyes slightly, ‘I hadn’t thought of telling anyone else, just you and me, isn’t that the best way to keep it a secret?’. Solly nodded, ‘If all we were going to want to do is to keep a secret, then yes. But as you have said, if bad guys are involved we might need help, other people who possess skills that you and I don’t have. We will also need to ask other, very close, people in our lives to understand why we were doing things that were not ‘usual’ for us to do. Either way, you need to have a few, highly trusted people in the Black circle to assist and enable us. This Black circle should not just know a few facts but all the facts, otherwise, through no fault of their own they might give the whole game away. If we cannot trust Black team members with everything, then we cannot trust them with anything and they should not be in the Black team. So the priority for inclusion should be, do they have to be in?, and if they do, can they be trusted?. The answer to both has to be yes’. 

Jiraporn was considering what Solly had said, it certainly made a lot of sense if action was going to be called for, but she hadn’t even thought of that scenario. Her whole attitude over the past few hours had been one of defence, not attack. ‘This is not something I was expecting, but I do see the logic in what you say, after all, I came here because I was scared and it wasn’t the accident that scared me but what caused it. But I would be lying if I said this was a situation I was familiar or comfortable with and the idea of Blue and Black stuff is alien to me’. Solly smiled again, ‘Although I have painted a grim picture, it’s actually all human nature. You will not always have told the truth to everyone every time you spoke to them and I guess everyone else you have ever met has not been completely honest with you. With small stuff, we rely on our own memory of what we have said to people, occasionally we get it wrong and get found out. But with big stuff, especially when shared with others, that can be disastrous. Simplifying it to Black and Blue just helps us to control, and be aware of, who knows what and when with regard to the situation’.

Solly paused, ‘With this in mind, I need to tell you about something, un-related, about my situation, because I am going to ask you if you are willing to allow me to include three or maybe four people to come in on this. You have met the twins tonight, Tukta and Ying, they are not just bar staff, and certainly not bar girls. I have known them now for 5 years and they are the closest I have to having daughters. It’s a long story, but in those 5 years they have become the reason I keep this place going. And it’s for them and not for me. They have learnt everything there is to know about running a bar, the good and the bad, and they are by far two of the most intelligent and capable people I have met, right up there with you,’ Solly smiled. ‘If we are going to do our best for Nick, in whatever way that may be, including those two in the Black team is crucial, mainly because I cannot do anything without them knowing but also because they would be very useful people to include. They may appear at first glance to be a couple of giggly young girls, and that is their true personality with people they like, but if you get on the wrong side of them, beware. They don’t take prisoners’.

It was Jiraporn’s turn to smile, ‘I knew I liked them, and if you think they would be of benefit to us in this, then I am very happy to have a couple of Thai girls along’, she paused, still smiling, ‘Who else are you thinking of?’. Solly looked at Jiraporn again and said ‘Before, you mentioned that Nick had come across new information just recently, I don’t know where from, but I might know who helped him get it - I am not sure about this, so I shall have to be careful before committing one way or another. About a month ago, my niece, Livvy, arrived from Oz for an extended break. She knows Nick and they got along well. Nothing romantic, I think, but they chatted long into the night on a couple of occasions. From what they said to me after, it was about a website Livvy had introduced Nick to. Livvy is a journalist back in Australia, or at least she was until she got the boot. That is why she has the time to be here. As we speak, she is on her way back from Penang in Malaysia, she has been getting a 2 month Thai Visitors Visa there. Her train is due into Hua Hin in a couple of hours. So with the advent of this new website Livvy talked to Nick about, I think it might be a fair guess that it may be the source of his new info. I will ask her when she gets back. Livvy and the Twins get on fantastically well - they have all three been like a bunch of gaggling geese around here over the past month!. How do you feel about Livvy coming onboard, if she has been talking to Nick about this?’. 

Again, Jiraporn smiled and let out a short breath of air, ‘I am sure you wouldn’t want her involved if you thought it wasn't a good idea, so you do what you think best after you have spoken. Whatever you decide, I would love to meet Livvy sometime, soon I hope. You said maybe four, is there anyone else?’. Solly replied, ‘You will meet Livvy soon, as far as including anyone else is concerned, I don’t think so at the moment but we should keep it in mind if we need help. We have to have the ability to do the job, we just need to maintain integrity. And now might be a good time to introduce you properly to the twins’.

Before either of them could do or say anything, two identical young women walked in and faced Jiraporn, ‘Hello, Pii Sao’ (elder sister) they said, as they both wai’ed, much longer than the usual brief nod. Solly was mortified. ‘What have you heard? How long have you been listening?’. Jiraporn, on the other hand, simply stood and returned their deep wai, ‘Sawas Dee Kha, Nong Sao’ (Greetings younger sisters), then all three broke into beaming smiles and hugged each other. ‘Can we speak in English?’ asked one of the twins, 'Nick has told us a lot about you, and that you are a wonderful Ajarn’. ‘Of course we can’, replied Jiraporn, ‘but you speak English really well already, did Nick teach you?’. ‘A little bit, but mainly Solly, and customers of course’, they said, ‘We get bigger tips if we speak English and laugh a lot’. By now Solly was resigned to being a paperweight on an office chair, trying to be angry at the girls, but inwardly smiling at how far they had come in 5 short years, they were a constant joy to him. ‘Okay’, he said, ‘What didn’t you hear, or what didn’t you understand?’, and he wasn’t at all surprised when they looked at each other, then back at him and said ‘Nothing, we got it all’ and once again gave their killer, but genuine smiles.