IT’S A LONG GOODBYE

After Nat nearly killed us about eight times (She drove while I was bitch, how embarrassing) our last night together was spent in my fave restaurant: Lobster for me again (I swear it never gets boring) and we walked into Chaweng Town before finding a lovely little bar with mats on the beach…Nat had sex on the beach but I only had two beers as I had to be up at 04:15 and I was driving; that’s the first time I’ve ever had to say that! Hand in hand on the edge of the sand we walked by the light of the moon, the moon, the moon, we walked by the light of the moon, lamented our brief time together and laughed at what might happen… On the way back to my place; we got lost, but it didn’t matter, it was fun and after the first-ever--time-sober “do you wanna come in for a coffee” type exchange, Nat for once took a firm stand… “No. We’ll only end up knobbin each other again” She’s such a beautiful contradiction.

I’d only known her nine days (let alone nine years) and already my double bed seemed empty… Like I say we’re not boyfriend and girlfriend or anything, nor will we ever be, but I just can’t imagine life without her at the moment, and I’m guessing from the amount of time we spend with each other neither can she.

Needless to say, I didnae get much sleep… About one hour before my alarm went off at 4.15 A in the M…
My cab driver, the jack of all trades, master of none who also hired me the deathtrap of a bike drove the three of us to the airport, (his Samoan gorilla of a wife inexplicably joined us) and lo, it soon became clear that he could not drive… He stopped on corners, having misjudged his turning circle, stalled and even pulled over to let scooters pass him. I sensed fear in the man’s pits and these fears were not unfounded as five or six kilometres later (the sign said the airport was 2km, but road sign distances seem to be halved here) traffic slowed to a standstill and men stood on the country lane just afore the airport…

The cars in front of us moved on, carefully swerving around something… It was our turn to move on - but what was all the fuss? What on earth could it be? We drifted passed the dead man lying in the road like ghosts. For a moment, time slowed down; it was surreal, just like a dream only this time I wasn’t hallucinating, this time it was real. I can still see him now in front of my eyes if I summon up the image, so I try not to think about it. I knew he was dead for three reasons; the amount of blood, coloured black under the glow of the streetlamps, the fact that no-one was attempting in any way to help and finally, though I have no idea what words the roadside man uttered, it did not need translating, I could tell by his tone…

This was definitely the closest I’d ever been to a dead person.