Stepping Stones picks up the story of Lek, her family and friends in the village of Baan Suay four years on from where The Lady in The Tree finished. Lek and Ayr are still looking to expand, but especially Lek's career in the political arena, where she finds evidence of disturbing activity. Craig is still trying to write a best seller and Soom has graduated from university. In Stepping Stones, we are introduced to the Champunot family from Bangkok, the members of which have a profound effect on Lek, Craig and Soom - one which none of them will ever be able to forget. Stepping Stones reveals more in-depth details of life in a Thai family that has been affected by the inclusion of a falang like how they deal with the strange mixture of traditional and modern Thai life that that situation often creates.
Genre: FICTION / Biographical1 LIFE’S LITTLE SURPRISES
“How do you think it’ll go?” The three people sitting around the table on the rooftop of the ‘Four Winds Hotel’ in Baan Suay looked at each other. None of them wanted to be the first to speak. “Like that, is it?” asked Lek.
“Don’t worry about it. You’ve done all you can and so have we. I for one think you’ve got it in the bag. Don’t you, Nic?” encouraged Ayr.
“If I were a betting man, which I am, I would say that you have a seventy-thirty chance and I have put money on you, but I’d be happier with eighty-twenty.”
“Well, thanks for your confidence. Did we bet on me as well, Ayr?”
“Oh, you are not allowed to bet on the outcome, it’s against the law and as your close associate, neither should I, but I got my cousin to put five thousand on you – they wouldn’t take any more, given the odds. How much did you do, Nic?”
“I didn’t, and for the same reason, but my mother managed to place six thou at three to two on.”
“Yes, that’s what we took too.”
“OK, let’s go and see what’s happening shall we?” They finished the bottle of whiskey before them with a swift double each from a small glass that they passed around between them.
Ayr drove them to Nic’s house which was across the road from the village polling station. His wife, Jan, was handing out iced-water and cakes, made and donated by a local firm as a self-promotion, to people who had either already voted or who had walked up in the heat of the afternoon and wanted a breather before they did.
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Spanish
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Translation in progress.
Translated by Alexia Cortez
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