“Neither of us was really sure what we were then. You had to decide whether to follow your pretty wife to Vietnam, if I recall. I had a choice between riding a pushbike for the national team in the Asia Games, or following the love of my life to Australia.”
“Which one did you go for, in the end?”
“Neither. Look at me. I was so confused, I went on a retreat at Wat Sokpaluang and they never let me leave.”
They laughed.
“How on earth did you find me?”
“Oh, I heard a while ago you were here. One of the other teachers from the youth camp told me.”
“And how’s that pretty wife, Siri?”
“I’m afraid she died a few years back.”
“Ah. I’m not surprised. It can be tough for a woman in the jungle.”
“It’s even tougher if someone throws a grenade at you.”
“You aren’t wrong. Still, no shame in being brought down in battle.”
“She wasn’t in battle. She was in bed. She was sleeping. I was off on some campaign. It seems someone tossed a grenade into her tent. We never found out who.”
Siri was surprised at how easy it was to talk about. He’d kept this story inside himself for eleven years; now here he was blurting it out to a monk he hardly knew. The Catholics had it right. It was very therapeutic to share a burden with a man of the cloth. Except the Catholics probably handled it more delicately than the Lao.
“I bet it was meant for you.”
They walked to a bench and shared memories from their year at the youth camp. But Siri had to get to the point.
“A few days ago, they brought you a girl who’d slashed her wrists.”
“Yes, they did. How did you know that?”
“I’m currently the state coroner.”
“My! Congratulations.”
“And I’m afraid I need to dig her up again.”
“Oh, but you can’t.”
Siri pulled a sheet of paper from his shirt pocket that he’d written, stamped, and signed on Judge Haeng’s behalf. “I have here a warrant signed by…”
“No. I don’t mean I doubt your right to do it. What I mean is you can’t dig her up, because we haven’t buried her yet.”
“It’s been four days.”
“I know. Normally we’d have her in the ground right away. But this was a bit difficult.”
“How?”
“She has a sister.”
“She has?”
“They came down from the north together. She refused to let her sister be buried here. She’s trying to get the money together to take her body back to the family in Xam Neua.”
“Where is she?”
“The sister?”
“Both of them.”
“The body is in an old kiln we have here. We used to make pots. It’s dry and quite airtight. With all the children here I couldn’t have her lying around.”
“I understand. What about the sister?”
“She’s living with a fellow who fixes bicycles, just down from the Thai Embassy.”
Siri wheeled Dtui’s bicycle under the straw canopy of the repair shop. It seemed to be deserted. He coughed, and heard a rustling from out back. A taut-bodied young man wearing nothing but soccer shorts came out through a gap in the wall.
“Hello, boss. What’s wrong?”
“Can you fix the brakes? They only work when you’re going uphill.”
“No trouble.” He flipped the heavy bike over onto its handlebars as if it were made of balsa wood.
“Is there somewhere I can take a pee?”
“Sure, boss. There’s a latrine out back, if you don’t mind the flies.”
Siri walked through the gap, where he found a tall, slim girl in a
“Hello. I’m Dr Siri. I just came from Sri Bounheuan temple.” Her eyes grew wide and in some way afraid. “That’s your sister there?” She nodded slowly.
“I’m a coroner. Do you know what that is?”
“Yeah.”
“I need your permission to look at your sister’s body.”
She emptied the seeds from one more tamarind pod before she responded. “Can you tell? If you look at her, can you tell if she killed herself?”
“I think I can. But I need to operate on her.”
“You mean cut her open?”
“Yes. Is that all right?” She didn’t seem to like the thought of her sister’s body being defiled. “If it becomes my case, I can arrange for the body to be shipped back to Xam Neua.”
“Free?”
“We’ll pay.”
“She won’t be a mess, will she?”
“I can get the embalmer to make her look nice.”
“She didn’t, you know?”
“Kill herself?”
“Yeah. She didn’t kill herself.”
“How sure are you?”
“I know her.”
“Do you know where Mahosot Hospital is?”
“Yeah.”
“If you come and see me there this evening about six, I should have some answers for you. I’d like to talk to you, too.” She nodded again. “Thanks.”
¦
The morning had passed him by. He didn’t even have time to put the bicycle back in the car park. He pulled up alongside Auntie Lah’s stand to get some lunch.
“You? Dr Siri?” She lit up like a brand-new traffic light. She was so pleased to see him, she used the illegal royal ‘you’, and bowed her head in a very polite
“Now, Mrs Lah, didn’t they teach you anything at your political seminars? You don’t want to let our chicken counter see you do that.”
“Ah, Doctor. That little twerp doesn’t scare me. Where’ve you been?”
“Khamuan.”
“I made your sandwich every day last week.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot to cancel. I’ll pay you for them.”
“Not to worry. I ate them myself. I was just worried you wouldn’t be coming back. It’s lovely to see you.”
She fixed him a very special baguette and gave him the opportunity to look at her. She was a fine-looking woman. He couldn’t imagine why old men would chase new-hatched chicks when there were pretty hens in the yard. Something in him stirred, and he wondered what it would be like to be with her. He hadn’t been with a woman since he lost Boua.
“How’s your husband?”
