The Behind The Smile Series is the story of Lek, a bar girl in Pattaya, Thailand. Lek was born the eldest child of four in a typical rice farming family in the northern rice belt of Thailand. A catastrophe occurred out of the blue one day – her father died young with huge debts that the family knew nothing about. Lek was just twenty years of age, and the only one who could prevent the foreclosure of the family farm, and allow her younger sister and two brothers to continue their education. However, the only way she knew how was to go to work in her cousin’s bar in Pattaya.
Can a Pattaya bar girl ever go back to being a regular girlfriend or wife?
'Behind The Smile' is a look into one part of Thailand, a country known around the world as 'The Land of Smiles'.
Maya – Illusion refers to the Buddhist concept that life on Earth is not real. More than 95% of Thais are Buddhist, and so have a totally different outlook to most Christian Westerners. Lek and her best friend Ayr go into business together, when she retires from Pattaya, and brings a surprise Australian fiancé with her. A natural disaster occurs in the village but the two friends come up with an innovative form of help. Ayr proves to be quite a business woman, and teaches Lek, a willing student, how to make money and fit into the community, while Craig plods along with his books and websites.
Genre: FICTION / Contemporary Women1 A BOLT FROM THE BLUE
Lek was waiting in Craig’s study.
She had been building up the courage for this moment for days and at the precise moment that she had chosen to do it, he had gone to the toilet. She knew that if he didn’t get back soon, she would be in tears before she could tell him her news.
She heard the flush go, so she steeled herself, but then the shower started. He would have to pick just this moment to have a shower too, she thought, but to be fair, he didn’t know that she wanted to speak to him. They spoke so seldom to each other these days.
Lek started to dust his desk with her handkerchief and tidy his bits and pieces for something to distract her, but she could feel the tears welling up in her eyes already. What the Hell was he doing in there?
She went into the kitchen and poured Craig his second daily cup of coffee, took it back into the office, cleared a space for it among the clutter on his desk and carefully put it down.
Clack! The bolt was thrown on the bathroom door with the sound of a rifle being cocked.
As he came into the office moments later, he was surprised to see Lek standing there – she would normally have left the house hours ago to embark on her quotidian routine tour of friends for coffee and then lunch.
“Hello, telak, how are you this morning?” He kissed her on the temple and sat down. “Thanks for the coffee. Just what I need.”
That was it, she was crying. Tears flowed down her face although unaccompanied by any sounds of sobbing at all.
“Oh, Craig, my darling! I am so unhappy... I think that I must go back to Pattaya and start work in Daddy’s Hobby again, if Beou will have me. I am so sorry, my dear.”
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Spanish
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Already translated.
Translated by Alexander Alvarez
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Author review: Alexander has done a marvellous job of the translation and its formatting. |
