Ayr sold her house to one of her cousins and eighty of her hundred rai of rice fields to an uncle. Lek’s brothers bought the other twenty as that was all the money they could raise from the bank. They also took on Lek’s forty rai at a quarterly rent of one thousand Baht per rai.
She grew steadily happier as she could see the ‘problems’ that had seemed so insurmountable a few weeks before unravelling in front of her eyes.
They held their preliminary discussion with Nic in the ‘Biergarten’ on the roof of the hotel one warm Friday evening after work. Kurt had suggested the new name for the rooftop and he was supplying home-made pastries and cakes for the occasion free of charge as a sign of goodwill towards his old and possibly future landlords.
“Well, that’s the bottom line, Nic. You’ve r
