Daddy's Hobby

2 The Flatmates-1

very hot afternoon in June, but the market was alive, as it almost always was and Lek meandered through the fruit stal s at the front buying articles of fruit here and there, chatting to the market-traders and fellow customers on her way to the clothes stal s at the back.She spent forty-five minutes at her favourite pastime of shopping for clothes before eventual y settling on a beautiful white skirt with her Western star sign embroidered in sequins on one thigh in the front. At fourteen inches long, it would show off her beautiful legs; being white, it would show off her tan colouring and the star sign would give men a reason for looking down there, if they had not thought of one already.

She was a Leo, born in early August and although she did not know a lot about western astrology, she thought she was a typical female lion. She had read about Leos being aggressive and dominant, but in her opinion that only applied to the females. After al , it was the female lion that pursued and kil ed the prey. Male lions slept a lot and demanded to eat first.

They only came into play if a predator or rival came on the scene and then it was only for the selfish defence of their progeny and their wives – they did not necessarily defend them for their own sakes. What a joke!

She also bought a short white blouse, which tied at the mid-rift to finish the outfit, and then hopped on a Baht taxi heading south and home.

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2 THE FLATMATES

Lek hopped nimbly off the bus and nipped around to pay the driver the fare of five Baht, before crossing the road and heading to the old, but recently renovated tenement block, where her apartment was located. She bounded up the three flights of stairs and listened quietly at the door. There was not a sound to be heard, so she rummaged in her smal bag and pul ed out her key. It was only one twenty-five, so the girls were probably stil asleep – they rarely got up before two o'clock.

She let herself in slowly and quietly and shut the door behind her. Lek could see the double bed with two lumps under the sheets and could hear them snoring softly. She got down on ‘al fours’ and crept up to the bottom of the bed, keeping below their line of sight.

She rol ed the oranges she had bought out of the bag onto the floor and, lying on her back, lobbed them grenade-fashion up onto her friends. First, the snoring stopped and then a few puzzled expressions were uttered and Lek turned over and sprang onto the bed making as much noise as she possibly could. She jumped on her friends and made as if to pul the sheet off them.

They joined in the game screaming like shy school girls, then they hugged in a triangle and bounced on the bed laughing. The three women had known each other al their lives. They had grown up in the same part of the same vil age and had gone to the same school and the same Wat – as their parents had al done a generation before. They were al the same age too, within twelve months, although Lek was technically the eldest. She was also the wisest and fastest learner and Goong and Ayr acknowledged this by the high esteem in which they held her.

Although unrelated, they called her ‘Big Sister’ and she cal ed them ‘my darling Little Sisters’ and they al looked after each other as if they were the only family they each had ever had in the whole, wide world. There was only one person al owed to break that triangle forming a square and that was Mama San, the boss and owner of ‘Daddy’s Hobby’, the bar where they each worked, but Mama San was older, more of a friend than a mate and, at the same time, more of a mother than a friend and she also came from the same vil age.

Suddenly and in unison, Goong and Ayr grabbed Lek, threw her onto her side and started to ‘tan her behind’. Lek let out an involuntary yelp and the girls stopped immediately, sensing that something was wrong because they knew Lek to be a ‘good sport’, always ready to join in the fun.

“What’s the matter, Big Sister?” asked Goong, “You’re not going soft in your old age, are you?”

“No!” replied Lek, “I can stil take you both on any time!”

“But why the punishment?” she queried, already suspecting the answer.

“What is our first principle? Never to be broken?” asked Ayr.

“Oh, yes. Ummm, sorry about that” said Lek, “I didn’t have any reception on my phone. I did try to let you know where I was though.”

“Bul s**t, Big Sister! Why didn’t you phone from the hotel lobby or make an excuse to phone from a bar nearby, like you trained us and insist we do?” argued Goong.

“Yes, well, I’m very sorry. It won’t happen again,” replied Lek.

“Oh, I shouldn’t think it wil ,” said Ayr, “Mama San had us combing the streets for you until four in the morning and she’s tamping mad with you. Maybe a trip back home for a month would be enough, just about, for her to cool off. Anyway, that’s up to you

– you’ll get your comeuppance when Mama San sees you. Why did you flinch when we slapped your bum?”

“Ah, that’s a long story,” said Lek, thinking as quickly as she could. “Last night, I left the bar with an Arab named Ali, but we didn’t hit it off very well so we decided to part company before we got back to his hotel. I thought about walking back to the bar, but it was already late, so I called in to see an old friend working in a bar off Soi 8. She was chatting to two dreamy Englishmen and before I knew it, we were walking back to their hotel. Well, to cut a long story short ...,”

“Don’t,” interjected Ayr “we want to hear everything!”

“Mine was a schoolteacher and when we got to his room, I mean his classroom, he put me over his knee, pul ed my knickers down and made me suck his thing while he s*****d me for not having my English homework with me. Woaoy! Was he kinky! It was lovely!”

“Tell us more about the professor, you lucky so and so. Was he tal and handsome? Did he have a big muscle …, I mean big muscles?” giggled Goong.

“Don’t be rude;” said Lek, “you know we’re not supposed to talk about our men friends, but just between us, eh? He was dishy, handsome, generous and umm, big. Very energetic too, so maybe I’d better get a little sleep before work later. Why don’t you two go and shower while I pop out to get us something to eat. What do you fancy? Anything special?”

“Just an omelette for me,” shouted Ayr from the bathroom.

“Me too” added Goong from her supine position on the bed next to Lek.

Lek and Goong just chatted, passing the time of day, while Ayr showered and when she had finished, Goong took her place and Lek went to the smal restaurant in the next block. She was soon back in their room and, while the two girls ate, Lek showered again, changed her underwear in their smal , shared bedroom and wrapped a towel around herself.

‘Apartment’ was probably too grand a word for what they had, although they did have decent accommodation by many standards.

It often looked like a smal room in a Chinese sweatshop laundry with bras, panties and slips hanging out to dry everywhere, for they were far too modest, believe it or not, to al ow men to ogle their underwear drying on the veranda.

The apartment consisted of one fairly large room, about six metres by five, a smal en suite bathroom with shower and WC and a tiny balcony, where they could dry their outer clothes. Furniture consisted of one double bed; a fridge; a fan; a wardrobe; a chest of drawers; a table; three chairs and an electric ring. They had also bought a kettle for hot water and tea; a rice boiler (considered an essential in Thailand nowadays); a TV; cutlery and crockery. They paid 3,500 Baht a month for this plus bil s, but they had been there for five years and had three years left on the lease.

It was central and they didn’t have far to go to work. They shared the bed, but none of them minded that – usual y, one or more of them was ‘out’, so it was rare to sleep three in the bed.

When they did have to though, they got very little sleep, because it was like the first night in a dormitory on the first day of term with al the giggling and chatting.

They had obtained the room with the help and guarantee of Mama San, who seemed to know just about everyone and everything worth knowing in Pattaya. They shared everything: clothes, food and money; they split al the bil s and they al had the same ambitions: to quit their jobs and get out of Pattaya with a decent, well-heeled man who loved them.

They shared thirty combined woman years of failure at that too.

They had an hour before they usual y set off for work and so, as usual, to the tunes of some pop programme on the television, they read bits of articles from magazines to each other, put their make up on and laid out their working clothes, more than several times. Lek decided not to wear her new clothes that day, but

modelled them for her friends anyway. Both Ayr and Goong thought she looked gorgeous – so did Lek.

“You can wear them any time, Little Sisters, ‘though maybe you’d better not,” joked Lek.

“Why ever not? Don’t you think they would look good on us too?” pouted Ayr.

“It’s not that,” quipped Lek, “but you aren’t Leos, are you?”

They each knew that they would look just as good on any of them. They were al three stunningly beautiful women.

At three forty-five, they locked their inadequately secure apartment door behind them and started off to work. It was only a short walk to Soi Diana, named after the murdered Princess of Wales, where they could cut through to Second Road, but they decided to take a Baht Taxi along Soi Buakhao to the newly developed Pattaya New Plaza just across Second Road from where they worked off Soi 7 at the Beach Road end. Lek paid the fifteen Baht for the five-minute ride and they turned left into the Plaza.

The right-hand side of the road housed a dozen or so large stalls each stocking dozens and dozens of items of ladies’ clothing.

Most of it was cheap and cheerful, short and revealing and aimed at the hundreds of bar girls that used this thoroughfare to the main girly districts of Soi 7, Soi 8 and Beach Road. But now it had another advantage, bars were going up on the left opposite the stal s, and the three friends loved the attention they got from there, while they indulged in a bit of window shopping on their way to work.

They walked side-by-side, wiggling their bottoms and flouncing their skirts just like fashion models on their runway, while swinging their handbags in perfect rhythm to a tune that only they could hear.

Al the men were watching them and they loved it. They pretended not to notice the attention while at the same time revelling in it; trying al the while to catch sly glimpses of the men who were looking at them - playing it super cool.

After al , their shift had not started yet

Walking this route, took them past at least fifty bars with probably three or four men in each at this early hour of the late afternoon. Most of these early-starters would be British - the target market for Lek and her friends. By walking this way, she could eye the latest fashions on the stal s while al owing British tourists the