Thread: My Story II - The Farang Strikes Back

I made my way through check-in & settled on the plane, half-listening to the captain telling everybody his spiel about wind direction, flight time & switching off our mobile phones. I pullled it out of my pocket & it beeped. I had a text message. It was from her.

It read, simply

Goodbye my love, remember me

If there was anything common about sense, I would have left it at that.

Instead, I began to text her back, gaining disapproving looks from my fellow passangers, who obviously believed that cobblers about the use of a mobile phone being able to bring down a plane. I struggled to come up with a suitable response before the plane taxied to the runway & was told to put my phone away by the hostess before I had chance to reply. I complied. What else could I do?

After we were allowed back out of our seats, I made my way to the toilet, where I could use my phone without being disturbed, but found there was no signal. I attempted to send a message to her, but to no avail. I climbed back into my seat & tried to sleep.

I had half a day before I reached Amsterdam & all I could think of was returning to Thailand, back to my girl.

My girl.

The term had a hollow ring to it, but I loved her & in my mind, that was all that mattered to me.

I was clinging to the idea of returning to Thailand the way a drowning man would cling to a life-jacket. My funds wouldn't allow me to simply hop on the next flight back as I had in the past. Looking back, I should have realised the message she had sent was just more of the same bullshit I had been fed over the previous months, but at the time, I didn't - or maybe I did, but the thought of being with her again was more powerful than the alternative & so I let myself believe I could straighten this mess out.

As I drifted off, I figured the best thing to do would be raise some quick funds back in England & seek some advice from my friend with lots of experience of Thailand on what to do about the guys who wanted to do me in. It seemed as good a plan as any & with that I wrapped the poxy blanket they give you around me & fell asleep.

"Black... Nokia... Phone..."

I woke partially. I had no idea how long I had been out. The cabin was dark & most of my fellow passengers were sleeping. My immediate thought was to go back to sleep before I woke fully. I shuffled in my seat trying to find a comfortable position & deliberately avoided looking at my watch, in case it revealed I still had ten hours flight-time left, or something.

"Black... Nokia... Phone..."

As I drifted off again, I wondered why the pilot was talking about a black Nokia phone over the tannoy. He was saying something else as well, but I wasn't listening. I just wanted to go back to sleep. I brushed a tired hand over my pockets, as you do when seeking to reassure yourself the contents are still in them. I could feel my wallet, but not my phone. I fumbled around on my seat, but still couldn't feel it.

"Would the owner of a black Nokia phone found in the toilet please come to the front of the plane?"

I woke instantly as I realised what had happened.