Cockatoo Pt. 02

I was puzzled by Areeya's last comment, but I replied, 'Areeya, I promise you I will do anything to help her that I can.'

At that moment Alex walked back into the room, beaming all over her face. She came and stood behind me, with her hands resting on my shoulders and to Areeya she said 'All fine Areeya, all fine.' and to me, 'A nice new business venture we are starting here. Looks like we have the go ahead.'

She kept her hands on my shoulders and gave them a little squeeze before letting go.

From Areeya, 'Alex, that's very good news. Shall we celebrate?'

'Good idea, Areeya, can you ask Manee to bring through some proper Champagne and three glasses for us please.'

Areeya rose gracefully from the couch and went to tell Manee. She was back in an instant.

Alex came and sat next to me on the couch. I could smell her perfume and felt her leg briefly touch mine. She lightly brushed my arm and said, 'James, you were going to tell us about yourself and how you came to be here in Samui.'

'Not that much to tell, Alex. After we lost touch, I graduated, and got a job with a computer Software Company in Cambridge, I got married and life kind of stalled after that.'

I told them about walking in on my wife and her girlfriend and they both laughed. For the first time since it had happened I saw that it was kind of funny after all. They commiserated about the divorce but were impressed I think by my decision to change my life by going to Bangkok.

The champagne had arrived by this time and we toasted the success of my new start and their new business venture.

They asked me what I thought of Bangkok and had I done any sightseeing.

'Yes, I've done all the tourist stuff. It's a beautiful city; I have really enjoyed my time there.'

Alex grinned and asked. 'How about the night life, James? Have you taken any of that in?'

I believe I blushed a little and said, 'Well, yes, it's a kind of rite of passage isn't it for newcomers to Bangkok.'

'Did you enjoy it?'

'I definitely blushed this time, 'Erm, yes, well, some of it, I mean...'

'And did you go to the bars in Nana Plaza?' She bloody winked as she said it. She was enjoying this, teasing me.

Areeya laughed and came to my rescue, 'Alex, I think you are embarrassing our guest. You should let him off the hook, is that what you say?'

Thanks Areeya, I thought.

Alex laughed too. 'Yes, yes, you're right Areeya; I remember James always did blush very prettily. By the way, James, how did you know to find me here?'

I told her that I had got the email address from an old mutual friend who had discovered that I was going to Samui for a holiday.

'That was a stroke of luck, then. Only a few people know I'm out here.'

'First of all, Alex, can I ask you a question?' there was something I wanted to know.

'Sure, James, fire away.'

'Why did you agree to meet me? I mean you could easily have just said you were too busy to see me. Unless you just wanted to see me get the shock of my life.'

'Yes, apologies again for the shock, I'm not sure there was anything I could have done to mitigate the effect though. It's a fair question. Why, indeed did I agree to meet?' she paused, thinking about her answer. 'When I came out to Thailand I never intended to stay, always planned to go back and do something in the UK. But when my life over here changed, I dropped below the radar and fully intended to disappear for good. However, as time went on I felt more and more that I was missing some parts of my old life. I eventually gave my email address to a couple of people and told them to use it discretely. They don't know about me, by the way, they just know Alex is here in Samui. That's how you got the address. I guess he felt you fell under the term discrete. When you made contact I had to think hard about whether I wanted to actually meet someone from the past. You can imagine that it was a difficult decision to make and one I wouldn't do for anyone. As it was you I decided to make the step and reconnect with someone I knew I could trust. So, I took my courage in both hands and said yes. Does that help?'

'Sort of,' I replied but what do you mean 'as it was me'?'

She came close and put a finger to my lips to silence me, 'No more questions for a bit, James, are you hungry?

I realised I was absolutely starving. I hadn't eaten since breakfast and lunch had been a couple of beers and some nuts. It was now 11pm and I realised we had been talking for four hours already. I had had four or five large scotches and now the champagne on an empty stomach and I was getting pretty light headed.

Alex clapped her hands together excitedly, 'James, I have an idea. Areeya and I have to visit our bar down the street. It's not far.'

'And you want me to stay here, until you come back?'

She lightly punched my arm, 'No, don't be bloody silly, we want you to come with us. We'll have a few drinks and then come back for some food. The kitchen will still be open. There'll be fewer people around so we can be more comfortable. Please say yes, please say yes.'

How could anyone refuse such an invitation? I said yes and she squealed with joy, grabbing my arm and pulling me out the door.

As we reached the main bar, Areeya caught us up and put her arm through mine on the other side; I walked the entire length of the bar with a drop dead gorgeous woman on either arm. The envious glares I got from the bar customers were a wonder to behold. For the first time in my life I felt ten feet tall.

We walked down the strip in Lamai for a few hundred yards until we came to the bar, unbelievably it was called Cockatoo 2.

'Where did you get the name from?' I asked Areeya.

'Oh, it's because our sister bar in Bangkok is called Cockatoo. We thought it was quite funny. Do you know it in Bangkok?' I swear she was reading my mind.

'No, no, is that in Nana Plaza? Do you own that one too?'

She looked a bit oddly at me. 'No, it's just an arrangement we have with them. We try to share overheads and things.' A little warning bell went off somewhere in the back of my mind.

Alex was bouncing up and down with excitement.

'Come on you two, stop dragging your heels, let's get in,' she was bubbling over with energy. She grabbed both of us and almost dragged us into the bar.

It was a fairly typical Thai bar; open to the front, a bar along one side, TVs all over the place and three pool tables towards the back. Music blared out from the sound system, which for a Thai bar appeared to be good quality. It was getting pretty busy now with two of the pool tables in use and mostly guys and a few couples drinking at the bar or the tables. There were a few of the usual bar games of Connect 4 going on. Connect 4 is essentially a child's game but is used in Thai bars as an icebreaker game or to bet on, normally for drinks. If you think you can beat a Thai bar girl at the game, think again. If it was an Olympic sport, Thai bar girls would win every medal. There was even a cockatoo in a cage in the corner of the bar. I felt sorry for the bird in the middle of all this noise and light but he didn't seem to mind too much.

Areeya stopped to talk to the Mamasan, presumably to check on business. Alex was busy talking to a couple of the girls and they didn't seem to regard her as a boss figure. Maybe because she could speak Thai fluently and had been one of them, they seemed to be on good terms. I was handed a beer by one of the girls and she pointed to Alex and said, 'On house, Miss Alex.' Ok, good start.

It seemed to be a fairly typical crowd; mostly groups of young tourists, a few dissolute looking ex pats nursing a cold beer and looking typically grumpy together with one or two couples along for the Thai bar experience. The bar girls were a mixed bunch, mostly kathoeys but with some genuine girls. I guessed there would be a few short time rooms out the back. The girls didn't look too busy and Areeya shooed a few of the prettier ones out front to drum up business.

Alex came bouncing across to me, grabbed my arm and asked, 'Do you play pool?'

'I'm alright, I think, I've played a bit,' I hoped modesty was the right approach.

I secretly fancied myself a bit as a player, having conveniently forgotten getting my arse handed to me by the bar girl in Bangkok last time. I hoped Alex wouldn't be as good as her.

She dragged me over to the unused table. She grabbed a couple of cues and racked the balls in a suspiciously professional manner.

'You break first,' she said, handing me a cue. I rolled the cue on the table and it seemed unusually straight for a bar cue. I took a swig from the beer bottle and settled down to break.

Of course, Alex had to make it difficult by standing in my eye line and pulling faces. I managed to stop laughing long enough to make a good break and fluked a colour in the pocket. I managed to knock in another colour and then had trouble deciding what shot to play next. Areeya came over and gave me some advice on which ball to go for. Alex was shouting at me to get on with it and to Areeya to stop helping me as that was cheating. In spite of this I managed to pull off a third colour with a blinder of a shot. Encouraged by this, and the desire to show off to Alex I over reached myself on the next one, clipped the lip of the pocket and the ball just hung there.

Alex reacted with glee and started to chalk her cue. Now, my Dad always told me that a bad player chalks their cue after a shot and a good one before he plays a shot. Well I could see I was in trouble with Alex pretty much from the start. It was clear from the way she handled the cue that she was good. She dropped the first ball with panache and then managed to put away the next 4 with embarrassing ease. Mind you it was nice to watch as she had to hitch up her skirt to play the shots and it showed off what a lovely figure she had as the material stretched tight across her bum. I got a chance when she missed the sixth but I flunked out my shot and she hit great shots to pot her next two balls. That just left the 8 ball and she just stroked that in like a professional. It seems you can take the girl out of the bar but you can't take the bar out of the girl.

I just stood and clapped. She curtseyed and said, 'Thank you kind sir.'

She wanted another game but she was way out of my league and I didn't fancy another humiliation right now. I saw Areeya pick up the cue and she and Alex had a cracking game. Areeya was good but Alex was that bit better. They played three quick games with Areeya taking one and Alex the other two. My consolation was to sit and drink beer and watch my two new friends as they bent over the table to take shots. I was enjoying that sight immensely whilst pretending not to look.

It was just at the end of the third game that I felt someone's hands over my eyes and from behind I heard a voice say, 'James, James, it me, Pao,'

Hell, it couldn't be, could it? Pao from the Bangkok Cockatoo?

I pulled the hands away and the first thing I saw was Alex, leaning over the table frozen in mid shot with her mouth open in surprise. Pao was oblivious to this and before I could stop her she had scooted round and jumped onto my lap with her arms around my neck.

'James, you come see Pao in Samui.'

I could see Alex over Pao's shoulder as she walked around the table to where I was with Pao sitting happily on my lap.

'Er, James,' Alex was still looking startled, 'is there anything you want to tell us?' She stopped in front of Pao and me, holding the cue as if she wanted to break it over someone's head. She just wasn't sure which one of us to hit.

Pao suddenly noticed that there was something wrong and she turned around, saw Alex and immediately jumped off my lap. Alex said something fast in Thai, Pao bowed her head and said something back equally as fast. Alex motioned with her head for Pao to move away and she began to back away. Areeya grabbed her before she could disappear completely.

'Well, James, it's very interesting that you and Pao know each other so well, there must be some simple explanation, surely?' There was the trace of a grin playing about her lips now.

I was rooted to the spot. Words began to jangle around in my head and I just managed to say some of them.

'Er, well, Alex, you see, it's not like, I mean, it was all Robbie's fault, I mean not his fault really, I was just trying to...' I realised I was babbling so thought the best thing to do at this time was just to shut up.

'James, first of all, calm down and then who the hell is Robbie?' she stood there cradling the pool cue, legs slightly apart so the silk dress stretched tight across her body, the bar lights highlighting her golden hair and her head tilted to one side with a questioning look on her face. Quite bizarrely in the circumstances, it flashed into my mind that she looked so damn sexy.

I took a deep breath and took a swig from the beer, Areeya had brought Pao back and they stood to one side of Alex as she looked down at me.

'You see, it was like this. I met Pao in the Cockatoo in Bangkok one night. Robbie's a friend of mine from home wanted to see some Ladyboys and we ended up in the Cockatoo. I met her in the bar and we had a drink and she was friendly and then I went home, all very above board, so to speak, I didn't think she would remember me...' I tailed off, hoping I had made sense.

'James, how friendly, exactly?' Alex fired off a question to Pao who nodded her head and replied.

'Well nothing happened really, you know what's like in one of those clubs, it was harmless, honestly...' Even I knew that sounded pathetic.

'Oh, yes James, I do know what it's like in those clubs, remember?' Alex was grinning broadly now, enjoying my discomfort. Areeya was trying to conceal her laughter and failing badly. Pao was still looking from me to Alex and Areeya trying to decide if she was in trouble, and if so, why.

'Look it wasn't Pao's fault, she was very sweet and nice and I didn't know she would be here.'

Alex said something to Areeya who let go of Pao.

'We share staff with Bangkok sometimes when we need to,' Areeya said, now openly smiling widely.

'James, Pao confirms your story, that there were two of you, and you were a gentleman, she says. Your friend was the one who stayed behind after you left. He seems to have enjoyed himself a lot.'

I took another swig of beer and tried to look innocent.