...
What started as a wonderful day of celebration, turned into a literal nightmare. Things are still confused and scattered. Everyone who worked on the farm has had to find other accommodation and new employment for many.
This year gave them plenty of reasons to rejoice. The harvest had been the most productive in the farm's history and combined with that, Chester and Air would share one of the happiest days anyone could imagine.
Thanks to Green and his creativity, a large section of the grass was cut and carved out along the river. From the sky, the shape would be that of a heart. This is where Chess and Air stood facing the water and the moonlight that lit it. The monks witnessed as the couple agreed to share their lives and all that that meant.
Chester may have talked at length about how amazing Air was. He probably talked about how much he loves Air, a little too long. Chess was alight and blissfully happy.
Air's words were simple, but the boy knew exactly how to get to Chester's heart. He told Chess and all those gathered, that Chess was the first person he'd fallen in love with, and, that Chester would be the last.
It worked. The crowd began to clap and Chester picked Air off of his feet.
They were completely alone in this perfect moment. The smiling and applauding audience were silent in the background. The flickering torches stood still.
For those brief seconds, it was just Chess and Air in the world.
The beautiful, pin-drop moment came crashing down. Air's feet were still not on the ground when the angry and anonymous voice rang out:
"How can you marry two people? What about Pool? Has he agreed to this?"
The people parted and all heads turned toward the voice.
At the furthest point, and the very back of the guests, Ing occupied the highest tip of the hill.
His feet were spread apart and his suit jacket and dress shirt were open.
Everyone saw the same thing. Ing's bared chest glistened with sweat and he looked deranged.
Pool's mother was two meters away from the newly married couple. She shouted up the hill and at Ing's torchlit face. Her own raged like that of a fierce tiger mom.
"My son knows all about this wedding." She was angry and hurt. "How dare you bring up his name!"
Pool's father grabbed his wife.
Chester had started yelling for Air.
Air ripped his hand from Chester's and began running to the left and around the crowd. The house was a hundred meters from the river, and uphill all the way.
He didn't make any sound. He wasn't crying.
Air reached the top and turned back to see. Ing was gone and all that remained were the shocked people standing on the cut, heart-shaped grass.
Chester was halfway up and calling Air's name. Many of the people that worked at Wang Nam were running up too. Green wanted to get his hands on Ing and ask why.
Many of them just crested the hill in time to see Chester bound over the porch stairs and into the house. He was still calling for Air.
The blast knocked over many of the tables that were set up for the late-night reception. The ones that didn't get blown away, had their tablecloths on fire and the candlesticks melted.
Khemp helped Pool's parents up the hill. It took quite some time as they both moved slowly at his insistence.
By the time they reached the top, Sky and Jet had risked their lives and pulled Chester from the house. The ambulance came only minutes after that.
Pool's parents were still catching their breath when Chester was taken. This was also the time when everyone started coming to the same conclusion. Air was not brought out and he wasn't standing on the lawn with the stunned guests.
Name dropped to her knees, she cried out loud. Jet held her, but she was the first one to say it. "Air didn't make it. Air is..."
...
Chester was the one who suffered the worst injuries.
He remains in the hospital in Bangkok and no one has been able to reach him since he was rushed away.
...The left hand of Chess's world doesn't know what the right is doing...
...
Green and Del were staying with Arpa and her husband. It was in the village and closer to the small hospital there. Green could walk to see Fair during the days he was being treated.
Del and Little Joe were more attached than ever. Del couldn't sleep unless Joe was with him.
Del was traumatized and like the adults, he couldn't get any answers to his questions.
"When is Pa coming home? Are P'Air and Pilot with him? Who's taking care of BlakJak?"
For a boy so young, Joe showed remarkable empathy for his best friend. Joe would sit beside Del and rub his back as he asked these unanswerable questions.
Neither Green nor Arpa could bring themselves to tell Del the worst, BlakJak was lost in the fire.
Initially, they said that Fair would be held for a week for observation. The doctor said he inhaled a great deal of smoke and had second-degree burns on his feet. (It turned out to be much longer.)
This was the first time that anything had ever been wrong with Fair, not even the flu or a fever. Green was beside himself, and evidently, the kind of man who can worry himself sick. He was lost without Fair.
He waited days before he asked Fair what he could remember. Green brought in a delicious lunch and they sat at a table in his hospital room.
Green said he was sorry. "If it's too soon to talk about this..."
Fair's thoughts were foggy and he couldn't fill in the blanks for Green. "All I can remember is that Ing ruined everything. Air was so upset and ran inside. Chester chased him and then the whole house exploded..."
Fair trembled and cried. "I want to go home."
This is the part where Green had to hold Fair's hands and tell him there was nothing to return to. Wang Nam as we know it, is gone.
Green told him that the police were investigating. He held Fair close when he told Fair to be prepared for the worst. "They're searching the ashes for his remains."
Fair bawled as he refused to believe that Air could be dead. Green didn't know how to console him.
He was still crying when Fair started bringing up all the things that everyone else had avoided. (It was his way of not thinking about Air.)
"No one can breathe a word of this to Del... or Chess. He can't have this kind of news, not while he's recovering."
Fair wanted an account of where everyone was and who they were staying with. While he was still in the hospital he asked Green and Arpa to start doing just that.
...
Khemp and Sky came through things unscathed physically, but the pair was badly shaken. They stayed in the village and in a spare room with Jet and Name. The extra room belonged to Name's brother. Sky and Khemp wore his clothes until they could get new ones of their own.
Khemp told Sky that he couldn't stop replaying it over in his head. He watched Chess run after Air into the open doorway of the beautiful new house, the next thing he knew, he could smell the hairs burnt in his own nose. He was underneath Sky and they both had the wind knocked out of them.
They were hurled three meters from where they'd been standing. Khemp's ears were ringing so loud that he couldn't hear Sky yelling and asking if he was alright. They clutched each other on the lawn and stared up as the fire lit the bottom of the clouds.
...
Jet got away with only a headful of singed hair. It was Jet and Sky that pulled Chester from the house. It had collapsed on him, and this time he would not walk away unharmed.
Chester was unconscious and was air-lifted to a bigger and better-equipped hospital in the north of Bangkok.
Jet got singed because he attempted to save the farm vehicles. It was dark and there was the chaos of running people and screams to contend with.
The house exploded into a million pieces and a fireball mushroomed a hundred feet over the tallest tree. The heat from it was unthinkable, and flaming debris rained down on the partygoers.
Someone started to yell that the barn was on fire too. Jet ran for the garage and could see that the back wall of it was also blazing. He got the SUV out, but the tractor and jeep were already engulfed by the time he returned.
The black smoke from the tires made approaching the building impossible. There was a moment too, when Jet noticed everything was on fire, not just the house, the barn and garage, but the guesthouses and the home where all the workers stayed as well.
Everyone at Wang Nam would lose everything.
...
The very day that Fair was released, he and Green drove with Khemp and Sky to Bangkok.
It had been more than a month, almost two, and from what Fair could tell by speaking to him on the telephone, Chester wasn't fairing well.
He was convinced that Air could not have survived the blast. The whole time Chester was in the hospital, he'd been in mourning. He was deeply depressed and morose.
Fair planned to talk with Chess and get him to agree on a meeting. Once he was feeling better and released, it should be held at Wang Nam. Fair would tell Chess that everyone should be brought back together so that stories could be compared and questions could be answered...
He wanted to know who saw what, and who heard what.
...
They could not have prepared themselves for what they saw. Chester was in a burn unit and there were only parts of him unbandaged.
His right hand was good, but the left was completely covered. The top of his head was fine, he still had his sweet curly hair, but his eyes were bandaged and he had a cast around his chest, ribs and back. His left foot was plastered too.
The nurses had prepared him for visitors and had Chester upright in the bed. The medication pumps hummed and the heart monitor beeped.
He couldn't see them and yet his bark was familiar. "Get in here! Don't just stand there and pity me!" Chester could hear the shock in Fair's breath as he unsuccessfully held back tears.
Fair kissed his cheek and held his right hand. He fibbed: "P'Chess, you look good."
"Green! Tell your boyfriend not to lie to me." Chester was doing his best to smile.
They gathered around his bed. Khemp sat on the foot of it and Sky stood behind him.
They made small talk until Chess couldn't stand it anymore. None of them had even spoken Air's name.
He told them all something that he himself had learned only that morning. The police had visited Chester to keep him informed of their investigation. The news was huge.
Chess asked Fair to give him a drink of water. He wasn't doing it for the purposes of drama, Chester was almost afraid to tell them because he didn't want to jinx it.
He swallowed the water...
"There were no human remains found in the house. The police chief said there is no evidence, that Air is dead."
Nobody moved...
Nobody said a word...
Nobody breathed...
Fair didn't look good. He put his hand over his mouth and ran from the room. Green chased after him.
A few seconds passed. Chester reached his hand out and swung it. "Khemp? Are you there?
Khemp moved and without thinking, he wrapped his arms around Chess.
Chester hissed because it hurt like hell, but he nearly crushed Khemp.
"Did you hear me Khemp? The police think Air survived."
"I heard you P'." Khemp could hardly squeak out the words. He didn't care that Chester had his head in a vice. He could hear Chess's heart pounding.
Green stepped back into the hospital room. Khemp and Sky were now both on the bed with Chess. The trio was all in tears but laughing through them.
Chester's senses must have been heightened. "Green? Is that you? Is Fair ok?"
Green waited in the doorway and kept his eye on the hall and the washroom Fair was in.
"He's ok P'. He just got out of the hospital himself. He's been so worried about you and Nong'Air."
Green smiled a smile that Chess couldn't see. "Your news was a bit too much for him. He's sick to his stomach."
...
The four guys stayed with Chester as long as the hospital would permit. A nurse told them that Chess needed to take his medication and that he should rest.
It was fine, Fair already had a long list of instructions and all the freedom he needed. Chester signed over his bank accounts and all else until he was on his feet.
Fair promised Chess that he would not leave him when he needed him most. Fair would get as much done as possible so that when Chester could go home, with any luck, there would be something to go home to.
Sky, Khemp and Green gave their oaths of solidarity. No one mentioned the total destruction of Wang Nam. There was still time for Chess to learn that.
Fair also promised Chester that he would leave no stone unturned. "When we leave here today P', I'm going to that orphanage and see if Air is there."
Chester smiled and liked that idea. Chess didn't know it, but they were all thinking the same thing. If Air really wasn't lost in the fire, perhaps by some miracle they would find Air there.
Chess held Fair by the wrist. He spoke knowing that they were all listening. "I don't care about the house or harvest or planting season. Fair, Air is the only thing that matters."
Chester's tone changed. It became almost pitiful. "If he's mad or upset about what Ing said, make sure he knows it's not true. I'm not married to Pool. Ing is lying and doesn't know anything."
Fair started, but they all assured Chester that they believed him.
...
The four of them unknowingly stood on the concrete stair where Air was found. They went inside when Park invited them. They told Park that they were all friends of Air's and mentioned Wang Nam.
Park's eyes smiled when they said Air's name. The first thing he said was how incredible Air had been when he came and helped them through a dangerous flu season.
Park walked them down a long dingy hall. He stopped in a doorway and pointed to a cot. It was the one closest to the exit. "That's Air's bed. He spent fifteen years there."
"You haven't by chance heard from Air, have you?" Fair asked and then paused. They were walking by the nursery and its big glass window. They saw the two baby boys that Air so fondly spoke of, Shy and Yim.
Khemp and Sky had their noses pressed to the glass when Park answered.
"No, Air hasn't been here."
Park was looking at the babies too. He turned towards Fair. "I should tell you that the police have already visited me."
Park looked puzzled. "Air never stopped talking about it. I can't believe he would leave that job. That's what I told the police too. That's really all I know."
A young man on the other side of the glass picked up the two infant boys and brought them closer to the window. Their toothless smiles and giggles were irresistible.
"Look Sky, he's looking right at me, and the other one is looking at you."
Khemp held his palm against the glass.
...
It was quite late in the evening by the time the guys got back from their visit. They were stunned to find that an impromptu gathering was awaiting them when they pulled in Arpa's farm.
The drive was crowded with vehicles, all with their headlights on, lighting the many folks assembled.
Whatever conversation was happening before they arrived, ceased completely as Green pulled the SUV up and the four of them jumped out.
The first thing Fair learned is that he was not alone in his suspicions. Jet and the others had all agreed that it was impossible for the explosion to have started all the fires at once. They also believed that the driving shed was beyond the scope of the flying embers and yet, it was burning from the backside, almost as soon as the house.
Fair learned too, that all of these people had been contacted by the police and questioned. Some of them voiced their gut feelings and dubiosity, others kept silent and saved it for tonight.
It was so good to see everyone and after the first blasts of conjecture, there were long warm hugs shared among them all. Everyone was happy with the news that Fair was set free from the doctors, they were equally as happy to know Chess was fairing better.
Fair did not announce the news they'd learned about Air. The police had asked Chess to keep it quiet for the meantime. The fact that he told Fair and Green, Khemp and Sky, was a testament to his faith in them.
Arpa's husband, Champ, was a quiet and an inherently calm man. He held up an impatient hand, the way kids do in school. Champ had a question.
His eyes scanned everyone in the circle when he asked: "Has anyone seen Ing or Ink? Why aren't they here tonight?"
...
... to be continued ...
FanFiction & Novel Adaptation by Kramdrof, all rights reserved, May 2021