................. every man
took a garland to the girl he had chosen for the next dance. All the
girls now had dancing partners except, once again, Phaengkham. She was
a little embarrassed, but tried to remain as calm as possible because by now she was used
to it. She wasn’t disappointed and continued to sit, deep in
thought. Suddenly she was startled. She could not believe her eyes.
A young man actually stopped in front of her and handed her a garland."May I please have this dance, Miss?" asked the young
man.
She accepted the garland and
studied the young man curiously. The other girls were also surprised, and Phaengkham heard them tease:
"Wow, Phaengkham is dancing!
I bet it’s going to rain ""Where in heaven did that man come from? Look at his clothes. . . . Gee, he and
Phaengkham certainly look good together And they
laughed.
It was the first and last lamuong
for Phaengkham that night. When the dance ended, her partner thanked her, and left. She watched him disappear quickly into the crowd. She
remembered him well. Lightly built, well-mannered, and clean-cut,
unlike many of the men at the dance. He was not aggressive like the
other men either, and appeared to be about twenty-four or twenty-five years old.
The dance ended at the twenty-sixth round. It was
4:30 in the morning.
A week later, the stranger who had
danced with her came to visit while she was selling kanomkok in front of her house as usual. He spoke gently and bought
six pairs of kanomkok. He didn’t tell her his name, his
place of work, or where he lived, and she did not ask, for to her, he was just a person who had danced with her once and one of her many customers. He expressed
his understanding and concern for those who were poor, the farmers
and laborers who had to work so hard for a living. He said he was
also a laborer, which pleased him because it was an honest undertaking, with no cheating and tricking required.
Two years went by, and once again,
at the beginning of 1--7, the stranger came to
visit. This time he was wearing an army uniform. Phaengkham herself was a civilservant. |
