Stepping Stones

1 LIFE’S LITTLE SURPRISES-2

He was in no hurry to go outside into the forty-two degrees of heat, when the alternative was a fridge full of cold beer, air conditioning and a hidden observation post. He saw Ross arrive and talk to Lek, then he looked at the house and started to walk over. Ayr was probably in the polling station as a reminder for Lek, he thought.

“Hiya, mate! I see you’ve got the best job again?” he said breezily, coming in through the garden door.

“What job’s that?”

“Chief beer taster and observer. Do you need an assistant? It’s too hot for me out there.” Craig indicated the fridge and he helped himself. “So, how’s Lek doing? Going to win, is she?”

“Who knows? They don’t tell me much, they never have. She seems more worried than last time, but this is a much better job. You know that every Moo gets a government budget which the councillors spend, well, the Orbortor makes sure it is spent properly and that none of it ‘gets lost’…”

“So he’s like in charge of the councillors?”

“You could look at it that way, though the councillors don’t. Well, that’s the job that Lek thinks she should have gone for, but in stead of that, she is trying for the Chief District Orbortor, the one in charge or all the little Orbortors… one per Moo so in our case seven of them.

“That’s why she’s so worried – people might think she is underqualified, but as she told me, she’ll have a boss too making sure that she doesn’t screw up, so she should be all right, if they give her a chance to prove herself.”

“Ah, well, good luck to her, I suppose there’s nothing we can do?”

“No, I reckon we’re helping by just keeping out of the way, so they’ve got one less thing to worry about. It should all be over in an hour anyway, then we can all go home. What have you been up to?”

“I ran Gail and Da into the wholesalers in Phitsanulok to pick up some stuff for the shop and the hotel. Boring really. Cheers, good luck, Lek!” They clinked bottles. “So, would this new job mean more travel or anything like that?”

“I’m not rightly sure, to be honest with you, but trying to work things out for myself, and I usually have to with Lek, I would say, that if she is trying to control corruption in her seven lieutenants, she’s going to have to be here, where they are so she can monitor them, but who knows? She may have to go on a few courses to train for the next job up, as they do. Yes, I’d say she would have to go away sometimes, these courses are only jollies though, aren’t they? They’re considered perks of the job.

“An hour or two’s study in the morning; a three hour lunch-c*m-shopping break; an hour or two in the afternoon and then a slap-up meal and entertainment at a top venue. It’s a bit of a joke really, isn’t it?”

“As you say, it’s considered a perk. Our lot take their perks in Honolulu and Hong Kong, so the Thai people can count themselves lucky.”

“I agree completely, although I wouldn’t mind a few foreign holidays courtesy of HM Government because of the wife’s job.”

“They probably wouldn’t let falang go, or they’d have to pay for it themselves.”

“True, pass us another one will you, Ross, please? Then we, or at least, I, had better go out and give some moral support.”

Once outside, after finishing his beer, he could tell there was something wrong. Lek and Ayr, and even Nic and Jan looked as if a calamity had struck. “What is it, Lek?” he asked gravely concerned.

“Oh, I’ve lost. The word is Tatsanai has beaten me… not by much, but there it is. Hush now, I have to go up on the stage for the official result.”

“Was it by many? Can’t you get a recount? If it’s less than five percent, demand a recount.” Lek left talking to Ayr.

On the stage, Nic read out the results: three of the candidates polled less than five hundred each; one got just over fourteen hundred; Lek polled 2,443 and Tatsanai 2,662. His supporters went wild, throwing their hats into the air and shouting.

Lek was about to lean forward to congratulate him, when Ayr put her phone to her ear and pulled her back. She then spoke to Nic. Nic tapped the microphone before speaking into it.

“Certain allegations have be made to Khun Ayr, a few minutes ago… very serious charges indeed. So, as adjudicator at this election it falls to me to try to resolve the matter, and the only way I know how is to have a public recount.

“So, security, would you fetch the ballot papers and the official counters and bring them on stage, please? Could someone have a long table set up here? There’s one in the garage, and seven seats for the counters to sit on… oh, and one for the chief teller that’s eight chairs. Pass them up, please.

“OK, counters, on stage please, and the ballot papers… thank you. Now, start again, where everyone can see what is going on. We require complete transparency.

“Khun Ayr, may I have a word, please?” Nic signalled the back of the stage. Ayr and Lek followed him.

“Do you need Lek, Nic? She should be watching the tellers really. This could be crucial.”

“No, it’s only you that I want to see, since you reported the allegation. I agree with your manager, Lek, you should be overseeing the recount.” Lek left them to it.

“Now, then, who made the allegation?”

“I don’t know, Nic, the number came up as withheld.”

“Did they give their name? Was it a man or a woman?”

“It was a man’s voice, but he didn’t give a name. he only said that he had been told that Khun Tatsanai would ‘win one way or another’ and that he should place as much money on him as possible. Then he hung up.”

“Can I see the log entry?”

“No, Nic, my battery was on it’s last legs and it is out now. I’ll have to recharge it later tonight, but I can show it to you then.”

“OK, as soon as you can, please, Ayr. I do need some justification for the recount.”

“Yes, I understand, Nic. You will get it. Can I join Lek at the recount now?”

“Yes, sure, I should be there too.” Nic stood behind the chief teller and Ayr went to stand with Lek.

“Anything happening yet?”

“No, this is a long shot. I’ll feel even more ridiculous, if I lose twice in one day.” Ayr put an arm around her friend’s waist and hugged her.

The seven tellers were seven girls, completely by coincidence. Each Moo councillor had appointed a trusted person to represent their ward in the counting process. Each girl had been given a roughly equal bundle of ballot returns to count and they handed them back to the chief teller with an elastic band around their stack and their name and the number of votes for each candidate on an attached piece of paper, so it was possible to give each girl back the bundle that she had originally counted. Or not, if that was to be the object of the exercise.

Each girl was recounting her own bundle, but now under the close scrutiny of the candidates and their teams. After twenty minutes, when they had finished counting, the bundles were collected and passed to the chief teller, who totted them up again.

She raised her hand when she was finished and her supervisor, went over. It was a tense moment and he was well aware that all eyes were upon him. He tried to give nothing away on his face, but he caught Nic’s eye, and they walked towards one another. He whispered in Nic’s ear, then they looked at the chief teller and went over to her.

She pointed to a line of entries in the ledger, and then a sheet of paper, and then at one of the girls. That girl was obviously aware of something. She first blushed, then tears flowed and then she howled like a baby from the shame. “They made me do it. I said I didn’t want to, but they said I had to for the good of the village and my family. They gave me 5,000 baht. I’d never seen so much money, but I gave it all to my mother, I swear, I did.”

Nic took a look at the figures, the girl was totally breaking down by this point. The six candidates were called over. Apparently, the girl had not allocated the correct number of votes to any of the candidates, but of the 1,237 ballot papers she had counted, she had given 641 too many to Tatsanai, 420 too few to Lek and 221 too few to the others.

The other girls’ returns were checked and found to be correct. That made Lek the clear winner.

Nic addressed the corrupt girl. “Who made you do this? You know this is a very serious offence, don’t you? You could spend years in jail for this.”

“I don’t know his name, sir?”

“Is he in this courtyard?”

“I can’t see him, sir.”

“Well, stand up and try, or I’ll take you to the police station myself! This is not some joke! Get up on your chair.”

She did so, but didn’t point anyone out, whether he was there or not, which Nic suspected to be the case. “Do you know anything about this Khun Tatsanai?”

“Of course not, Nic, you know me – as honest as the day is long, but I do object to being ousted from office after such a short time and because some stupid slip of a girl can’t add up. You announced that I had won and that should stand.”

Nic chatted in private to some of his advisers, it was a tricky point of law.

Craig and Ross stood in front of the stage, leaning on it. Their Thai was pretty good and Lek and Ayr had been keeping them informed after a fashion, so they knew what was going on. Craig retrieved his Smartphone from his pocket, played with it for a while and then sent two text messages and two emails – one of each to Lek and Ayr. The text just said ‘Lek, look at your tablet’. He heard Lek’s phone and tablet, beep, he was that close. He knew that she often ignored the tablet, but never the phone, in case it was Soom.

She read the message and then, turned her k****e Fire on. A recent email, with a video attachment. She looked at Craig and he urged her to watch it, which she did. Then she passed it to Ayr and Ayr showed it to Nic. Nic, called Tatsanai over.

“I want you to reconsider withdrawing from this election with some of your honour still in tact in light of new recent evidence.”

“What are you talking about, man? What new evidence? I demand to know what is being said about me and by whom.”

“Yes, fair enough, that is your right.”

He played the video of him flouting the alcohol ban with his pals that Craig had taken a few hours before. “Who took that? It’s libellous? It’s a fake! I’ll sue. How did you get hold of it?”