It was true,
the young women in the lamuong stand were just like merchandise. The master of ceremonies didn’t hesitate to speak of them in this
way: "The beautiful lady who is the owner of the garlands’
for this round is Miss Sohnnapa, who is now mounting the floor with a
broad smile. What a beauty! She is beautiful all over--beautiful ankles, beautiful legs,
beautiful hips, and a wonderful chest. Arched brow, round neck, a
perfect 91owner of the garlands’ tonight. She walks so
beautifully. Let’s ask her if she already has a boyfriend. Ooh ... with that shy smile. It’s a sure sign that she’s still available. Go on,
gentlemen, young and not so young, attached or not, come up and say
hello. Our Miss Sohnnapa is so kind and charming, she wouldn’t
let anybody down. Please, General . . . please come up to accept the garlands from our
beauty. The General has generously pledged 50,000 kip for this round of
dance. If our Miss Sohnnapa would just smile one minute longer or
even offer to pour some whiskey for the General, no doubt the pagoda
will raise 100,000 kip tonight. Here comes the General, please applaud
in his honor. Thank you. Thank you. This dance is a 91Sloopee "K. It was getting late. The festivities in the village were getting louder and the lamuong
was entering its twentieth round. It was three o’clock in the
morning. Phaengkham still had not danced. She was not having a
good time. She felt lonely and wanted to go home to bed, but the organizers of the
festival told her to be patient, to hang around because it was the
festival of their village. So she forced herself to stay. She was bored. She was quite
angry with the organizers, in a way, for assigning her to the wrong
job, being a dancing girl. She would have preferred to sell flowers
at the entrance to the pagoda. That was much more suitable for her and
it was also something she was very good at. Really, sitting here as a lamuong girl
was totally inappropriate. Altogether a complete misuse of resources
by the organizing committee, she dared to
think.
The master of ceremonies called
for the twenty-first round of dance. Ohn-Anong was the
"owner of the garlands" once again. After the garlands had been invited out on the floor and the garlands distributed,........... |
