A New Year's Resolution

She said that I was remarkably calm through it all, but it was just my poker face. I was just as terrified. Through it all my old partner was relaxed and kept up a running commentary about not only Thailand and Pattaya in particular, but also about former buddies of ours, American and Asian, that had stayed or returned to Viet Nam and Thailand. It is a beautiful region.

That night, he let us catch up on some of the jet lag and, the next day, took us out for one of the best ocean crayfish lunches I've ever had. After we were completely stuffed with crayfish, tiger shrimp cocktails, some of the best shark snacks I've ever eaten and some decent rice wine – imported from Japan – we went to visit a couple of clubs. We were still early, but he kept it light, since we were still pretty much done in by the travel and changes in time. He said that his wife, a very young Thai woman, wanted to take us to at least one "lady-boy club." I'll have to admit that I'd never heard of "lady-boys." Trans-sexuals, cross-dressers, yes, but lady-boys? My old partner joked that in Pattaya the best looking women were probably men. I laughed politely at the time, but when we got to the club and I saw the performers, I understood what he'd meant. My wife turned to his wife and asked if she was sure that these were men. She nodded and smiled, the usual answer of most Thais to questions she thought were kind of . . . well, dumb.

The look of these beautiful . . . what? Men? Women? Left me doubting myself because I was practically slobbering at their beauty. At any rate, I guess that's were I got the germ for the following story – purely a work of fiction. Much later, I was awakened by the startling thought that my old partner's wife could very well be one herself. I shook my head and rolled over, my wife pressed her warm butt against my belly, and I went back to sleep. But the next day, I kept staring at my partner's wife. She was very beautiful, one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen in a country full of beautiful women and it made me wonder.