On their last day at Mrs. Porn's, before they was due to fly back to the States, Saifon and Waldo was making the most of their last evening. Waldo and Soup was having a last series of pool. Waldo spent an hour teaching him how to screw (that's a pool term) and he was getting pretty good at it.
Saifon and Porn was out in the gazebo thing getting pickled on real French wine. Mrs. Porn put on her glasses and read the label of the bottle they was presently guzzling from.
"You know, dear, exactly what it is we're consuming here?"
"Wine?"
"Well done. But it isn't just wine. It's very old wine."
"Don't worry. It still tastes OK."
Porn laughed
"It doesn't go off, Saifon. It gets better the older it is."
"Yeah? Sounds like Waldo."
"I think it's time to wean you off beer and onto the finer things in life. This particular wine, for example is from Bordeaux and if you were to buy it in New York, it would cost you approximately $2,000."
Saifon choked on it.
"Shit."
"We'll also need to work on your vocabulary when describing fine wine."
"$2,000 for grape juice? You gotta be kidding me. How did you get hold of it?"
"We stole it from the French. We've got a cellar full of the stuff."
"Good for you. Here's to stealing from the French. Cheers."
"Salut." They chinked glasses and chugged. "I feel we've had quite a lot." She refilled four glasses but there was only two there. "Oops."
They was lying back in them wooden recliner chairs looking up at where the moon would of been if this wasn't Bangkok. Porn thought about Saifon leaving the next morning and come over all emotional.
"Saifon."
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry."
"What have you done?"
"No. I'm sorry about what happened to you when you were little. When that beast …"
"Ahh. It weren't so bad."
"Wasn't so bad? But he …"
"No he didn't."
"What?"
"He just fiddled around a bit. I screamed and kicked so much he give up."
"But he was naked. You saw his …His …"
"No."
"No what?"
"No he wasn't, and no I didn't."
"But you said …"She shook her head and gulped at her wine.
"Yeah. I know. But that greasy, strawberry-nosed lawyer was wiping the floor with me."
"You lied?"
"There weren't no bible or nothing."
"But how did you know?"
"About his …?
"Yes."
"I asked around. I found out where he liked to go drinking. When I was there having a few beers who should I meet but the young gal that collected the glasses. And you'll never guess what he got her to do on more than one occasion. She was thirteen. I give her a few dollars for her trouble and she give me some details."
"You little minx."
"Do you hate me?"
"Saifon. I couldn't love you any more if you were my own despicable daughter. You are really something special." She leaned over and give her one of them French kisses. Not the … well, you know what I mean.
"What's a minx, then?"
From inside the house they heard Soup cheering and screaming. He'd beaten Waldo again. Probably won another dollar. It was odd how bad Waldo had got at the game since he found out Soup was a prince.