The Farang

Chapter 3

"Who are you?" asked the girl, without showing any fear at all.

"Calm down. Do you remember what happened? Remember the tiger. The one I killed to save you?"

"How do you know our language, you are not Thai?"

"You are welcome, for me saving your life I mean, you ungrateful little girl."

"How dare you speak to me like this, I am twenty seven years old if you must know. And I am ...."

"Alright, alright. Let's start from the beginning." He said in a soft voice trying to calm the girl.

"My name is Miguel del Blans and I come from a land far far away. My adopted family here calls me Miki that might be easier for you. It's nice to meet you." Giving her the best smile he could.

She starts to get more at ease with this strange man. "Nice to meet you Miki, they call me Pinky."

"You see, it's not that hard, we can be friends. I like your name it sounds cute"

The fearless creature from just moments ago had turned in to a shy girl and a beautiful one at that, he could not help noticing.

"Nice to meet you too Miki, your name sounds nice too." She is no longer afraid of this strange man before her, she's now curious to know more about him. She has never before seen someone like him. His shoulder length hair is the color of straw. He's taller even than the wild tribes from the mountains in the far North. And his eyes, she still couldn't guess if they were the color of emeralds or the color of the sky, like magic they seemed to change between the two. Looking at this white man makes her feel very curious indeed. "How did you come here, how did you learn to speak like us?"

"I will tell you my story, but first you must eat something, you must be exhausted from all that happened today." He says bringing her the cooked rabbit he had caught while she was resting. She hadn't realized this but she was very hungry, he was right. She grabbed the meat from his hands and started eating, and he started his story.

"I come from a distant land called Spain. Our king sent us on a trip to find a route to China, we are traders. I spent many moons traveling the open seas on the Esperanza that was our ship".

"That sounds so strange, is that in your language?"

"Yes, that means hope."

"Tell me something else in your language it sounds so strange to me."

"Hola guapa."

What does that mean?"

"It means 'hello beautiful'."

She slaps his wrist. "Hey I'm a lady and it's rude to talk to a lady like that. I'm shy." She hides his eyes from him and continues in a whisper "thank you that sound nice."

"Oh and if you want to say it to me you say it with an o, you will say guapo. Sorry I'm just teasing you, I couldn't help it. Don't slap me again."

"Hey I'm shy." But she couldn't stop her lips from forming a smile. She's starting to like this strange man, this guapo. "But how did you learn to speak like us, was it hard for you?"

"It was very hard and it took me a long time. When the Esperanza was caught in a heavy storm and it hit a reef, I felt like I was going to die, that everything was lost. I was thrown in the water, floating around with all the broken pieces of our ship. I don't know much time I spent like that, all I remember was thinking over and over, 'do not let go of the plank'. When I finally came to my senses I saw an old man standing over me giving me fresh water to drink. His name was Klahan, he took me back to his home and he and his wife Kulap nursed me back to help. They took me in. They were not blessed with children of their own so they devoted all their attention to me. They became my second parent and I grew to love them very much. In a way it was like they had a baby on their hands, they had to teach me to speak just like you would do with a small child."

"Our people here are good and helpful and very welcoming, and we like to smile all the time. I am not surprised that good people found you, and I am happy that they did. How are your adoptive Thai parents, where do they live?"

"I don't like to talk about them now. It's not an easy thing for me to do. I will need to be more comfortable with you before I talk about them."

But Pinky was already beginning to feel comfortable with this man. She liked the way he talks, his words are kind and she can feel that he's a good man, a good heart.

"How long ago was this, how old are you?"

"Let me think. It was the year of our lord 1545 when we set sail from Spain and I was twenty six years old. About my time here I am not really that sure, it's not easy counting the passage of the seasons here, it is hot all the time. But I think it has been around five years, so that makes me thirty or thirty one."

"You're lying, 1545 was a long time ago that is not possible."

"Oh yes I always forget about that. Different cultures, different ways, you count the years from the time of your lord Buddha and we count them from the time of our lord Jesus. In Thai years you can say that I left home somewhere around the year 2000."

She listened to him speak with great interest. She can't stop smiling and thinks to herself 'he has a way with words, and he's funny too'.