Randal Telk and the 396 Steps to Sexual Bliss (21 page)

“
Why,
”
asked Randal, a little slow, but quick to recover.

“
So I can show you how much I like you.
”

“
Go for it,
”
advised Tom, winking.

“
Is fifty dollars enough?
”
asked Randal, pulling out his wallet.

“
That
’
s just the right amount,
”
answered June, snatching the bills.

June led Randal to her room.
She insisted on taking a shower first.
Randal wanted to join her, but didn
’
t want to appear to anxious.
When June came out she was seductively wrapped in towel.
June smiled and helped Randal
out of
his clothes.

It
should have been a happy ending to a coming
-
of
-
age story.
However, in Thailand
,
if a girl is tall and has a deep husky voice, she
’
s not a girl.
Even if she has sexy boobs and cute round butt, she
’
s not a girl.
June was not a girl, and neither was Mon or any of her friends.
Randal lost his virginity before he realized his mistake.
There would be no videos sent home to friends bragging about getting laid.
When Randal left, he hung out with Tom for a while, then went back to the condo.

When Dad got home
,
he brought his girlfriend Nom.
She was really hot and friendly.
Randal suspiciously checked Nom close to make sure she was really a girl.
She was short and had a girl
’
s voice, so
he figured
she was probably a girl.
Randal swore he was going to kick Tom
’
s ass next time he saw him.
Dad ordered a pizza delivered so the day wasn
’
t a complete waste of money.
Tomorrow they were going to see the Tiger Temple and ride an elephant.
Nom would be coming too.

That night the thin walls reverberated with the sound of Dad making love to Nom.
Randal felt somewhat traumatized and jealous.
Nom was hot.
Randal was developing a bit of a stepmother complex, wondering if he could steal her off Dad.

In the morning
,
Nom still looked hot.
Randal began fantasizing about her.
From all the noise last night
,
he knew Nom was great in bed.
Randal continued his daydream fantasy during the three
-
hour car trip, but was interrupted by an image of June.
Randal was definitely going to kick Tom
’
s ass.

The Tiger Temple was actually pretty cool.
Tourists got to walk with tigers in a canyon.
Everyone took turns walking a tiger.
No one c
ould
really appreciate how large a tiger
wa
s until
standing
next to
one.
When it was Randal
’
s turn, the tiger
’
s tail went up.
Randal didn
’
t think anything of it, but the next thing he knew
,
that damn cat was pissing all over him.
Pimp
-
slapping a tiger would have been a fatal mistake, so Randal endured the embarrassment silently.

Everyone got a good laugh.
Randal laughed too as Nom helped wipe off the piss.
Randal looked down her blouse at her boobs, and accidentally put his hand on her leg.
Nom slapped it away.
Randal didn
’
t mind the rebuke
;
it was worth it to tou
ch
bare skin.

Next stop was the elephant ride.
There were a lot of hot girls at the elephant ride.
Hot
girls like
d
to ride elephants.
Who knew?
Randal even worked up the courage to talk to a few.
Nom was a big help translating.
Girls giggled, pointing at the elephant
’
s trunk then speculatively nodd
ing
at Randal.
That
’
s when Dad realized his boy was growing up
, and he’d need
to have a father-son talk soon.

Randal got over his anger at Tom, realizing Tom was in gay denial.
They still hung out.
Tom still tried to hook Randal up with his ladyboy friends, but Randal would have none of it.
After a while
,
Randal became an expert at spotting ladyboys.
Generally
, ladyboys wore more makeup and were taller than real girls.
Still, it was disturbing how hot they looked.

Randal hung out at a different mall where real girls hung out.
They were less expensive than Mon
’
s friends.
Randal finally lost his real virginity to a girl who called herself Yolanda.
Randal caught the crabs from Yolanda, but it was worth it to lose his real virginity.
Randal
e
mailed video evidence home.
Mom was appalled.

Randal decided he wanted to stay in Thailand.
Dad got Randal a job where he worked.
The funny thing about Thailand is
,
once you accept it into your heart
,
you can never leave.
Thailand calls you back like an addict, no matter how long you
’
re away.
Years later, and a galaxy far far away, Randal still dreamed of Thailand, the Land of the Smile.

###

AGFL Book 1
8
:
First Contact
– coming soon!

~SNEAK PREVIEW~

DEATH SPIRAL
BOOK 2: JAI DEE

by

James Boedeker

Chapter 1

Sitting at a table by himself, Mike Towery ordered a Singha beer, no ice. He would rather have warm beer over watery beer. He drank at a different bar every night, giving obscene tips and watching for bad guys and assholes. That was his life now.

Over a year ago, Mike had somehow found his way to Bangkok, Thailand. Bangkok was known as the sin city of Asia, and Thailand, the land of the smile. The irony was that Bangkok was no different than any other city, except that here redemption could be found and traded like a commodity.

At first glance, Mike might look like an average guy. He stood six feet tall weighed in at one hundred eighty pounds. But he was toned with well-defined muscles – a byproduct of a life that required him to be in peak physical condition and had shaped who he was. The Marine
Corps
was his life, and he had loved it. But he had sold his soul and sacrificed the brotherhood, all in the name of money.

Some days, guilt consumed him. Others days, it was just a feeling of regret. Mike spent a lot of time drinking beer and wondering how he had lost his way. Now he dedicated himself to helping prostitutes, making himself their self-appointed guardian angel. These girls were working girls and all had a story with a common theme. They worked to send money home to help their families. How true this was would be anyone’s guess, but certainly they earned every baht of it.

Three months earlier he had interrupted a
farang
– Caucasian, foreigner – beating a prostitute because she had been unable or unwilling to shit on him. He had refused to pay for her services, and she had protested. He then felt the need to beat her within an inch of her life.

Mike had been using the alley as a shortcut and stumbled upon the beating in full swing. Without thinking or caring, he had stopped the
farang
and gave him a healthy dose of his own medicine. The girl was so badly beaten that she couldn’t walk, and Mike had carried her to the main street. He flagged a taxi over and took her to a hospital, then paid the bill and became an overnight hero to the working girls. Many offered to be his steady, and he had been tempted, but he always politely declined and gave them a healthy tip instead.

Jai Dee
, ‘good heart,’ was what some of the locals called Mike Towery. If only they knew what he really was, they might have chosen a different name –
Jai R
ai
, ‘bad heart’ or ‘dark heart.’

Former US Marine scout sniper, Mike had been something special, one of the elite, the best of the best. Then he sold his soul to the devil and became an assassin for hire, working for the highest bidder. He made a ton of money and, in exchange, damned himself to hell. Retired from the game now, Mike had more money than God and no motivation to enjoy any of it. Killing bad guys as a sniper had been an honor and a privilege. Killing people for money as a hired assassin was a sin he had committed plenty. Thinking about what he had done with his life made him feel lonely, bitter, and filled with despair. His only saving grace was that he wasn’t a raging alcoholic – yet.

To the Buddhist, anything is possible, and everything is self-determined. To the Thai people, death is a natural part of life, and they celebrate the life of their loved ones when they pass. Not for the first time, Mike wondered who would celebrate his life.

Mike took another sip of warm beer. The guilt and the memories taunted him. He recalled his first private kill for a drug lord who wanted to eliminate his competition. He had earned a cool fifty thousand for a fairly routine shot at nine hundred meters. His second earned him thirty thousand for yet another easy shot at three hundred meters on a catholic priest who was too vocal about a certain dictator. Even then, Mike didn’t feel the doors to hell open for him. He had been too busy counting the easy money.

As his reputation and bank account grew, so did his arrogance. Some of the jobs he would have done for cost or even free, so loathsome were the targets. Others now haunted him. One was an honest police chief and his brother who was a judge. They wouldn’t take bribes and actually did their jobs. He was paid fifty grand to terminate them. Both had families and, in fact, he killed them at a birthday party for the judge’s youngest daughter. He shot them while they embraced, after the little girl opened her gift from her favorite uncle. That shot was at twelve hundred meters with a McMillan fifty-caliber. He had made the mistake of watching the reaction of the guests after the shot. Even then he continued killing for a living. He had a plan, a goal. He wanted at least five million so he could retire in comfort. Between his kills and his investments, he had his five million and change in no time at all. He was also was a wanted man who could never return home.

Mike sighed and leaned back in his chair, letting his self-anger fade as he took another sip of warm beer. Tonight he was content to just sit and relax.

A regular girl named Lek came over and
i
ntroduced him to a young girl who called herself Noi. This was Noi’s first night working in a bar. She looked like she was twelve, and it broke Mike’s heart. Lek explained that Noi was good girl. She came from Issan to earn money to help her family. The kid looked scared and not at all happy to be there.

Lek and Mike had an understanding. Lek would bring new girls to him, and he would try to save them from the job. For every girl Lek brought to Mike, she got a three thousand baht tip.

This girl was an innocent, and it was obvious. Mike looked at Noi and tried to put on his best
I am a good guy
face. “Noi, do you want to do this job?” he asked.

She had tears in her eyes as she shook her head ‘no.’

“Okay then, Noi, you don’t have to,” Mike stated. He handed her a card with an address and phone number on it. “Go to this address in the morning. No one will ask you uncomfortable questions, and no one will make you do any bad things.”

Lek translated and explained that Mike ran a job placement business.

The reality was that Mike had made contacts with local hotels, and he subsidized the pay for the girls they hired from his business. In real money, he could afford to do this for quite some time. The dividends on his stocks alone covered it easily.

Noi hugged him and said,
“Kob khun ka, Jai Dee.”
Thank you, good heart.

Most would feel as if they had done a good deed and deserved to rejoice, but not Mike. He felt as though he had not done enough. Lek sat down with him and held his hand. She was the closest thing to a friend he had here. She lived with him, but they never made love. She had her own room. She no longer went with customers; she was what she called ‘service’ now. She only worked the bars to try and help Mike find lost girls who needed help.