Dying to Live

Chapter 19 - Home James

For once I'd been right and that surprised even me. I'd had only one beer, well maybe two or three, but there'd been no harm done. Now I was wandering the main drag looking for a taxi to take me back to Bangkok. I was rather proud of myself, I'd come to Pattaya Beach on my own and survived. It had cost me forty-five thousand Baht but I had survived.

A hat in a street market stall caught my eye, it was exactly the same as the one I'd abandoned in the police station.

"How much?"

"Five hundred. Good hat."

I offered him two one hundred Baht notes.

"No. Five hundred Baht. Five hundred," he said holding up four fingers and a thumb.

I added another hundred note to my offer and the deal was done.

My day was getting better and better, I really liked the hat and for about a fiver I'd knocked another item off the list of things I was going to have to lie to Hazel about. A sense of well-being flooded over me. Smiling and happy, I thought I'd give her a call and see how her day was going.

The conversation was short and not so sweet. She wasn't back in Bangkok and wasn't expecting to be back at the hotel until much later that evening. She hung up without saying 'I love you' or even 'goodbye'. Slightly deflated, I hailed a cab.

The taxi driver was delighted to have a long ride to Bangkok. I asked to be taken to Patpong, it seemed a believable destination and I didn't want to mention my hotel. No point in giving Matt a trail to follow if he decided to try and track me down. Anyway, it was near my hotel and it was unlikely I could get myself in the same sort of trouble as last time given the time of day. The driver seemed happy enough to take me to an area rather than a specific destination. I had no doubt he'd try to convince me to call into a particular club, every driver in this city earned commission for delivering tourists to specific premises. He had plenty of time to talk me into it and if he sounded sincere enough, I might give it a go. A couple of drinks and a lap dance never hurt anyone.

He told me his name was James. Like many Thai, he had adopted a western name to make it easier for the tourists, but come on, James as the name for a driver? Could I stop myself saying 'home James'? Of course I could.

"Home, James," I said, surprising even myself.

I settled into the back of the cab and reflected on my day. It had certainly been an adventure and, unusually for me, it had been an adventure with a happy ending; not in the Thai-massage sense of the word, but a happy ending nonetheless.

My reflections reminded me about the leather document holder I'd rescued from the pile of belongings at the police station.

"Ahhh, here you are," I said after a quick root through my bag.

Considerably bigger than a large hardback book, this black leather case had the aroma of quality. Pangs of regret washed over me, it was the first thing I'd stolen... for quite some time. Too late, there was no going back now. I had a quick check that the driver wasn't watching me in his mirror before I unzipped the main compartment and opened the thing across my lap. There were numerous pockets and pouches, every one of them stuffed with money and documents. I pulled out the money first and counted it. WOW. I had over three hundred thousand Baht and just over six thousand in US Dollars. Result, this would cover up the payment I had to make to Smythe, and some.

The documents didn't look particularly useful so I stuffed them back in the pockets.

The front compartment revealed a passport; Matt's passport. My mate Marty told me I could sell my passport for over a thousand dollars if I got stuck for money so, if I could sell this, I'd just scored a total of nearly sixteen thousand dollars.