P'Air

Chapter Twenty-Two

The headlights were bright enough,  but he had turned the fog lights on too.  All across the roll bar at the top of the jeep,  burned the glaring yellow bulbs.  It blinded everyone.

Fair held his hand over his eyes.  The vehicle was moving fast and stones scattered when he screeched to a stop.

He was only a silhouette when he stepped from the jeep and stood in front of it,  but his physique was unmistakable.

"Nong'Kik,  what's going on?  What's the hurry?"

The circle of people got tighter. 

Even in the dark,  when his handsome face did show,  they could see he was in distress.  Kik was nearing tears.

His panicked eyes searched and zeroed in on,  of all people,  Arpa.  He went into her open arms the way a child does its mother.  He couldn't seem to speak for his anguish.

Arpa held him and talked quietly,  he eventually stepped back and chatted to her.  He was so hushed that no one, (not for trying),  could hear.

"P',  I can't go home.  I have no place to stay."

Arpa was good at this kind of thing.  Everyone watched as she talked the boy down and brought his breathing back to normal.  The pair stood right in the middle of the circle.

He was still only telling Arpa,  but Kik spoke louder now.  "The police just left our farm an hour ago.  My dad is so mad and he's drunker than I've ever seen him.  I don't know where my mom is,  she's hiding."

Arpa coaxed it out of him.  "Why were they there?  What made your dad so angry?"

It was dark,  but even so,  everyone could see that Kik was embarrassed.  

"My mom's car has been missing since the night of the wedding."

That was news to all of them.  The murmurs and whispers confirmed it.

"The police found it a hundred kilometres north of Lake Ubolratana.  (Everyone knows the famous location.)  It was dumped in a river,  but it didn't sink."  

The whispers got louder.  Someone said:  "That far north?  If I wanted to hide,  I'd go south to Bangkok."  

Kik's voice shrunk:  "They found P'Air's suit jacket in the car...  and...  and blood."

Kik absolutely broke down at this point.  He was way too big for Arpa to hold up.  He crumbled to his knees and then further to the gravel driveway.  He took her with him.

Many looked on and could see past the manly shape and size.  Kik was still just a boy,  and the idea that he couldn't go home had to be scary for him.  Kik's affair with Air was well known too,  and Kik had good reasons to be emotional, as far as most were concerned.  Kik had a pretty good reputation of his own.  He was thought of as a helpful and friendly lad,  a good Thai boy.