The Greatest Lie Part 16

Madrana said, "Sawat-dee ka," back, and to my surprise and delight, gave me a wai for doing the most decent thing I could think of doing with our remaining vouchers.

Nancee and I slogged through Chiang Mai's tumultuous traffic toward the CMU dormitory that Rosepaper's sao praphet song had taken as their unofficial home. When we arrived, we found Chris, our hostess at Fascination, was on duty as dorm monitor, sitting at the front desk.

"Sawat-dee ka. Are we welcome here?" I asked, noting that she had greeted me with a standoffish glare.

"You never come to visit us, and your project has created turmoil for our community. The Third Army security forces have been here asking questions about you. Rosepaper forbids drugs."

"I am sorry we have been such inactive members, but our research program has been more demanding than we expected. As far as drugs go, we're not involved in that," I lied; Nancee nodded in support of my little prevarication.

"I think there has been a very serious misunderstanding about something related to our research. I'd like to talk with Gift's sister Lin, as I think she might be able to us clear things up."

"Shhhh," Chris hissed with alarm. "They came looking for her, too, and she's staying here with us. But don't tell anyone."

"We have to talk to her," I begged.

"OK, come with me," Chris agreed.

We walked to the back of the dorm, to a utility room. There, hiding beneath the meters and cables, we found Lin and Gift. But instead of the near-corpse we had seen four weeks ago, Lin was clear-eyed and healthy. She jumped up and hugged me.

"I can't thank you enough," Lin said as Gift repeated her embrace. Lin smiled through tears of happiness. "I thought I was about to die, and now I feel alive, and want to live again for the first time in years."

Gift had bartered the vouchers that I had left with Lin for protease inhibitors, antibiotics and antifungal drugs, and Lin's seemingly terminal AIDS had disappeared. The taut, deathlike mask of her face had been replaced with a warm, though still weak smile, and smooth, resilient skin.