Burma Rescue: The Curtis Adventures, #2

By V.J. MANSFIELD

BURMA RESCUE

Burma Rescue is the second in the Curtis Adventures Series. Yupah is on her own, studying to become a hairdresser and open her own business. She is still in love with Jason but at present, the only man in her life is her landlord, who intends to rape her.

She opens a salon but soon finds that she is heading for bankruptcy. With the help of a friendly Bank Manager, she transforms her salon into a bordello and is so successful that she can soon have her sister join her. But she is still obsessed with Jason and is convinced that all she needs to do to have him is to kill Pornthip.

Meanwhile, Jason and Pornthip are enjoying their lives when they have an unexpected caller, a French Countess who is also a WWII hero. Her grandson is missing somewhere in Burma and she asks for Jason's assistance. Somewhat unwillingly, Jason agrees. His involvement increases from collecting information to making a foray into Burma to locate and free the young Count from a prison camp. He doesn't succeed. Instead, he finds himself sharing a Single Malt with the Camp Commandant and rescuing the Count's pregnant girlfriend. Not at all what the dowager Countess required.

Armed with more information and contacts, Jason, Pornthip and the Countess go into Burma. There they succeed in rescuing the Count and getting him from the country but only with the assistance of a minor member of the Junta. But the hunt is on for a vital and embarrassing document that has gone astray. It is believed that the Count knows where it is hidden. The British SIS is suddenly very interested. But for a time, things settle down.

Yupah has apparently also settled down; she has changed lovers, swapping the Banker for Khun Kovid, the wealthy fishing fleet owner, but despite him wanting to marry her, she is still obsessed with Jason. Still intent on killing Pornthip.

When they manage to foil an assassination attempt in France, the Count and Jason decide they must go back into Burma to recover the document. Pornthip goes part of the way, dropping them off on the coast before retiring to Port Blair until it is time to collect them.

Learning of this, Yupah sees an opportunity and leaves for Port Blair, intent on murder. She is unaware that the Skipper and his surviving son have traced her and are hard on her heels; they have something worse than murder planned for her. Fortunately, Kovid hears of it and sets out in pursuit. He finds the Skipper and his son, kills them without a qualm and then thrashes Yupah until she sees her infatuation with Jason as just that.

Meanwhile, deep in Burma, Jason and his party have the document, but they have been betrayed and are being pursued.

The unlikely alliance of Pornthip, Yupah and Kovid set out to the rescue. The Burmese navy is out in full force; it will be a very close thing.

 

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: V.J. MANSFIELD
• Release date: May 2, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215759431

V.J. MANSFIELD

Val Mansfield was born in, New Zealand but left in 1968 after graduating as a Civil Engineer and never returned, except on holiday. He spent three years in Australia, twenty-two years in Hong Kong and thirty years in Thailand. Before retiring, in 1998, he was the Project Director for the Bangkok Transit System. His retirement didn't last, his skills were in demand and he worked as an Independent Consultant in Malaysia, India, the Middle East, Pakistan, South Korea, Mongolia and Vietnam. Covid brought an end to his consulting work. Professionally he had written extensively and had also produced many books of his travels to over eighty countries, so he decided to try fiction, utilizing his love of history. He now lives in Chiang Mai, in Northern Thailand with his stepdaughter. Another of his daughters is currently working in China and two are in New Zealand, his son is in London.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Hairdressing School

October 15th 2000 to March 15th 2001

Jason handed over her suitcase and got back into the Range Rover then he and Pornthip waved to her and drove off.  Yupah stood at the side of the road watching the only man that she had even loved drive out of her life.  Sadly she went into the guest house, clutching the suitcase that Pornthip had bought for her and the purse that her mother had thrust into her bundle many months ago as she had been dragged from her home and sold by her father as a plaything to settle the interest payments on some of his drug debts.

Then it had contained 120 Baht and her Identity Card, the latter being vital, as in Thailand without an ID card she would not be a person and would be unable to do the simplest of things.  Now, in addition to her ID card, the purse contained over 100,000 Baht, money that Jason had taken from the fishermen who had abused her and given to her, enough for her to start a new life.

As she entered the guest house, the landlady greeted her and showed her to the small room that she and Pornthip had inspected the previous day.  Then the landlady had been obsequious, clearly overawed by Pornthip, by her clothes, her accent and her manner.  Pornthip had introduced Yupah as her young niece wanting accommodation whilst attending a course in Bangkok and had been assured that her niece would be well cared for at the Lucky Comfort Guest House.  The landlady's toadying had increased that morning when she saw the Range Rover drive up and had increased yet again when Jason had got out of it to fetch Yupah's suitcase.  A Farang with a car like that spelt money and the landlady had been quick to recognize it.

Once Pornthip and Jason had driven off, the landlady's attitude changed and she displayed towards Yupah none of the deference that she had bestowed on Pornthip.  Having shown Yupah to her room, she rattled off a list of house rules that must be obeyed.  Chief among them was a total prohibition on men visiting the house.  Yupah couldn't have cared less, she had had enough of men to last her a lifetime, except for Jason and she knew that when he visited her, as she was sure he would, he would just ignore any silly rules.

When the landlady left, Yupah looked around the room with satisfaction.  It was small, furnished with a narrow single bed, a chest of drawers that, with a mirror above it, doubled as a dressing table and a metal-framed plastic-covered wardrobe with a zip up front.  Despite that, except for the hotel where she had spent the previous night, it was the most luxurious room that she had ever had, far better than anything in her own home.  But the day before, it seemed much longer ago because so much had happened, she had been in Pornthip and Jason's beach house near Phetchaburi.  There she had had her first shower for many months in a bathroom that was connected to one of the bedrooms.  At first, she had thought that it was Pornthip and Jason's bedroom, later she had learned that it was only one of the three guest rooms.  Even so, it had a luxury about it that she had never imagined possible.

She spent the first day of her new life in her room, only leaving it to go down the hall to the bathroom and to go to the kitchen for her meals, for which she was charged extra.  Everywhere she went she took her precious purse with her.  In the privacy of her room, she tried on all of the outfits that Pornthip had bought for her and inspected herself in front of the mirror.  Whilst she liked what she saw, the clothes were not her choice but Pornthip's and for that reason she disliked them.

At dinner that night she met the other three women who lodged at the Lucky Comfort Guest House, they were all older than her, wrapped in their own affairs and uninterested in her doings.  There was also the landlady's husband, an elderly fat man who peered at her out of pig-like eyes in a manner that reminded her of the hated skipper of the fishing boat.

After dinner, Yupah escaped to her room and lay on her bed thinking of Jason.  She was in love with him and she was certain that he was in love with her.  She was sure that, had he had his way, he would have taken her with him rather than leave her in Bangkok.  But Pornthip had stopped that.  Pornthip was old and Yupah was sure that she was jealous of Yupah's youth and beauty.  Or so she continually told herself but something else was telling her that Pornthip was all the things that she was not, elegant, educated, poised, successful and happy with herself and her life.  She was also, Yupah had to admit, beautiful.

Yupah was fifteen, almost sixteen, on that October day and she was worried that at fifteen she would not be taken seriously.  She looked at her ID card, it had never been laminated and was creased and dirty, but her birth year, 2528 by Buddhist reckoning, was plain enough.  Yupah took a pen and carefully altered the final digit, changing it from an eight to a six.  Now she was seventeen, almost eighteen and would, she was sure, be taken more seriously.

On Monday morning she left the house at nine and went looking for a stationery shop where she had her ID card laminated.  Then she went straight to the Thai Farmer's Bank where she opened an account.  The clerk hardly glanced at her ID card; the hundred thousand Baht that she deposited was authentication enough.  Although Yupah did not realise it, the clothes that Pornthip had selected for her had also helped, identifying her to the clerk as the well-bred daughter of a wealthy family, although he may have wondered at her dark completion and southern accent.

With her money safely deposited, she went off to the hairdressing school and had a long talk with the proprietor.  The school offered a range of classes, including hairdressing, makeup, manicure and pedicure.  Yupah enrolled for them all, determined that she would be in business for herself within six months.

When the school closed for the day she went to a nearby temple where she enrolled in a massage course.  Only then did she return to the boarding house for dinner.

The first week passed quickly and Yupah found that, apart from missing Jason, she was enjoying herself.  The other girls at the hairdressing school were about her age but she thought most of them to be insipid, interested in nothing but pop stars and boys.  Most of them looked at her askance, puzzled by the contrast of her fine clothes, her dark sunburnt complexion and southern accent.  One girl, Lek, was different, she was in her twenties, older than the rest, and like Yupah, had enrolled for every course.  She recognised in Yupah a maturity that the other girls did not have.  On the first Friday evening, they shared a meal at a nearby food stall and Lek told her that she would soon be opening a beauty salon.  'Would you,' she asked Yupah, 'be interested in working there, for me?'

'No, I intend to open my own place just as soon as I finish here.'

'You have enough money for that?  Or do you have a patron?'

Yupah thought of Jason, was he her patron?  'No, I have saved enough money.'

'Well lucky you, I guess I'm lucky as well, I met this Farang in the Bar where I was working and he fell for me.  He didn't like me working in a bar and going with other men, so he is setting me up in business.  I think we will soon be married, he only has another three years in Thailand.'

Yupah was reminded of her friend Sansanee, this was her dream.  Where was Sansanee now she wondered?  Just then a Farang came up to them and Lek hurried off with him, without introducing Yupah.  Yupah watched them go, if Lek could have her Farang, why couldn't she?  Where was Jason, was he thinking of her, when would he be coming for her?

It was on the Thursday of her second week at the lodging house that the problem started.  She did not have a massage lesson that evening and got back to the house earlier than usual.  She decided to have a shower before the other women returned; once they were back she would have to compete for the bathroom.  With a change of clothes over her arm she went into the bathroom.  Putting her fresh clothes on the stool, she stripped off hanging the clothes that she had been wearing behind the door.  The bathroom was small with tiled walls and a low ceiling, in addition to the stool there was a washbasin, an Asian style toilet and a handheld shower unit behind a cheap plastic curtain.  Stepping behind the curtain she ran the shower and luxuriated as the cool water sprayed over her.  After the heat and humidity of Bangkok, it was bliss.  Closing her eyes she let the water run over her face and down between her breasts.  She heard a small noise; it came from above her in the ceiling space, a rat she thought.  As she soaped herself she heard the noise again and opening her eyes and looking up spotted what appeared to be a small dark circle on the ceiling.  She looked away and then looked back, the spot had gone.  Quickly she finished her shower and dressed. 

Once back in her room she waited ten minutes and then quietly walked down the hallway towards the common room, she glanced in and confirmed that, as usual, the landlady's husband was slumped there watching television.  She didn't disturb him but returned to the bathroom where she took the stool into the shower area and stood on it to inspect the ceiling.  Where she had seen the dark spot there was a faint circle on the paintwork.

She went out into the kitchen and passed through it into the laundry area.  A stepladder lent in its normal place against the wall, above it a trap door gave access to the roof space.  She explored no further, she was sure that somebody had been spying on her whilst she showered and it could only be one person.

That night, she carefully locked her door before going to bed.  She was wakened in the early hours of Friday morning by a click that she realised was her door being unlocked.  She heard the door open and through half-closed eyes, saw a figure enter.  He, because she was sure it was a he, stood beside the bed and untied the sarong that was his only covering, letting it fall about his feet.  Yupah could have screamed and he probably would have run but she decided to wait.  Putting a hand over her mouth, he pulled back the bedclothes and lay beside her, hard up against her.  'Quiet now and you won't get hurt.  If I take my hand away will you keep quiet?'

This was old territory for Yupah; she muttered her agreement and the hand was removed.  'I thought you would cooperate.  I can normally tell when a woman wants it and you want it.'

Yupah had been lying on her right side; she slipped her left hand down until she felt his penis and then his balls.  Stroking them she murmured, 'How big you are.  Won't you be too big for me?' The man was still trying to unbutton her pyjamas that in anticipation of a visit, she had deliberately worn instead of a more easily removed sarong.

'That's OK, I'll not hurt you,' he whispered, 'now let's get these pyjamas off you.'

'Wait.' said Yupah still fondling his cock.  She slipped her right hand out from under her pillow and down the length of her body.  'Do you feel that?' she asked, 'Move and I'll castrate you.'

He froze, 'You wouldn't do that, just because I wanted a bit of fun.'

'Oh, I'll do it all right.  I've already castrated two bastards like you and you would make a nice third.  Now get off the bed and stand up, slowly.'

He did as she told him and she followed him so that she was sitting on the edge of the bed gripping his balls and holding the knife in such a way that a quick upwards slash would castrate him.  'Now,' she said, 'turn on the lights.' The room was small enough for him to reach back and flick the switch, when she looked at him his pig-like eyes were wide with fear.  'Now listen to me, I could cut you here and now and nobody would blame me, I'm underage you know.  Or I could scream out and get your wife down here and the rest of the women, I wonder what they would do if I told them about the peephole in the bathroom?'

'Please,' he pleaded, 'please I meant no harm; I thought you wanted it, please I don't want any trouble.  I won't bother you again.'

'You won't bother anybody again if I cut you.  I should leave this dump, but my Aunt paid in advance and I don't see me getting the money back.  So here is what I will do.  I will say nothing but you will seal up that peephole tomorrow and move the ladder out of the laundry.  For the next six months, until I leave, if you are in a room and I come in you will get up and walk out.  I don't care what you are doing; I don't want to have to look at your pig face.  Do you understand?'

'Yes, I understand, just please don't make any trouble.'

'Right, then get out of here.' She gave his balls a vicious twist and drew the knife lightly across his scrotum drawing blood that dripped onto the floor.  She stood up and moved away from him, 'Now clean it up.' she said, indicating the blood and his sarong.  As he scrambled to wipe up the blood whilst pressing part of his sarong to his wound, she went on, 'Then get out, but leave that spare key behind.'

As he scurried out she locked the door behind him then collapsed on the bed shaking from the delayed reaction.  Gradually she brought herself under control and began to think.  Men, she decided, were nothing but animals preying on women but they were easily frightened animals, animals that could be controlled if one had the proper weapons.  She decided then that she would always make sure that she had the proper weapons and that she would get her revenge on men.  As she lay back, waiting to fall asleep, she thought how different it would have been if it had been her beloved Jason who had come through the door.

The rest of her time in Bangkok passed without incident.  Every time she came across the landlady's husband he scuttled away from her like a scared rat.  The other woman soon noticed, but when they asked her what was going on she refused to answer.  She took to waiting until she knew that his favourite soap opera was on and then she would enter the living room and watch him scuttle out.  After a few minutes she would leave, this petty revenge amused her.

She did well at the school and equally well with her massage classes.

After five months she began to think of what she would do when her training was finished.  Pornthip had suggested opening a salon in Hua Hin, but she felt that she wanted to be somewhere bigger, somewhere where there was more life.  Then she remembered that, when he came looking for her, Jason would expect to find her in Hua Hin.

The following weekend she went there on the bus.  She didn't find the town much to her liking but she did find a suitable building just off the main street.  A thorough search of the area confirmed that there was not another hair salon in the vicinity, a warning sign that she should have recognized.  The building had a front room with windows that would be perfect for a salon, behind that was a larger room that had once been used as a storeroom.  The first floor, reached by an internal staircase, comprised the living quarters, a small lounge, a kitchen and three bedrooms that were suitably but not extravagantly furnished.  The whole place was bigger than she required but the rent was reasonable and she signed a lease for three years.  What she didn't realise at the time was that a second door that opened onto a narrow Soi would prove to be the most important feature of the building.

Returning to Bangkok, she spent two days locating some second-hand equipment that included some stylists' photographs to put in the windows.  She found a pickup driver who was willing to take her and her equipment to Hua Hin for 500 Baht and she arranged to travel on Thursday.  She spent the Wednesday having her bank account transferred to the Hua Hin branch; she had lived frugally for the six months and had bargained hard for her equipment, so she had still had over 60,000 Baht in her account.

On her final evening in Bangkok, she had dinner once more with Lek and told her that she had set up a business in Hua Hin.  Lek had not been impressed, her new salon was in a shophouse in one of the better suburbs of Bangkok and she and her Farang boyfriend were living above it, she didn't think that Hua Hin was a good place for a salon.  Privately Yupah agreed with her but it was where Jason would expect to find her.

On Thursday morning the pickup arrived, having already collected her purchases.  She went out to check that everything was there and the landlady hastened out to stick her nose into everything.  Yupah turned to her and said, 'My suitcase is on the bed, would you have your husband bring it out?'

For a moment the landlady looked ready to explode and then thought better of it and retreated into the house.  After a couple of minutes, her husband appeared carrying Yupah's suitcase.  'Just put it in the back.' she said.  He did so, glancing at her apprehensively as though he expected some final mischief from her.  'Thank you.' she said.  'Here is that extra key you gave me.  Don't feel too bad about it, it's just that I prefer my men to be men and not lice.'

With that, she climbed into the front of the pickup and was driven off.  She did not look back.

CHAPTER 2

The Salon

June to October 2001

It took almost three months for Yupah to realise that her funds were slowly haemorrhaging away.  The first couple of weeks had not been too bad, some of the local women had come in out of curiosity and they had seemed satisfied with her treatment but they had not come back.  Gradually she had realised that the women in Hua Hin, unlike the women in Bangkok, did not go to the hairdressers once or twice a week, they might go once a month or only for some special occasion.

She had worked at a couple of weddings and her clients had been pleased with what she had done, but there were not that many weddings in Hua Hin and few of those could afford her prices.  Nor were there the big social events, such as the graduations and business functions that supplied a steady demand for beauty services in Bangkok.  Yupah looked at her statement from the local branch of the Bank and decided that in another four months she would be unable to pay the rent.  What was she to do?

On Monday evening, after she had taken stock of her situation, she was about to close up when the door opened and a man walked in.  She thought that she recognized him, but she could not remember the circumstances.  He spoke to her politely, 'Could I have a haircut, please?'  Yupah had never cut a man's hair, but she could see no reason why she shouldn't and she motioned him towards the chair.

As she clipped away he spoke again, 'A nice place you have here, is business good?'

'Not as good as I had hoped, but it is picking up.' Yupah was lying deliberately, she knew better than to have stories circulating through the town that her business was failing.

'Good, what other types of service do you supply?'

'Well I do special makeup for weddings and so forth and of course, manicures and pedicures, but the gentleman would not be interested in those.  Oh and I do massages.' That was another lie; nobody in Hua Hin had even asked her for a massage.

'Oh, do you.  How much do you charge for a haircut then?'

'Fifty Baht for a lady and thirty Baht for a man.' she hoped that it wasn't too much and that he wouldn't object.

'That's very reasonable, how much for a massage?'

'A hundred and fifty Baht for half an hour, two hundred Baht for a full hour.'

'Again very reasonable, could I have a massage after you have finished cutting my hair?  Or are you fully booked?'

'No, I can fit you in.' She spoke instinctively, she needed the money but in truth she was worried.  She had never got around to buying a massage couch, the only beds available were those in the upstairs rooms and her bedroom was the only one that had been cleaned for weeks.  Well, she thought, it will have to be my bedroom, he looks nice enough and if there is a problem I still have my knife.

She finished the haircut and used a hand mirror to show him the back 'Is that all right then?'

'That's fine thank you.  The male barbers here always cut it too short.  And now the massage?'

'Certainly, will you want oil or not?  Oil is an extra twenty Baht.'

'Oil then I think and the full hour.'

'Then this way please.' she led him up the stairs putting the lights on as she went and picking up a towel on the way.  Opening the door to her bedroom she handed him the towel and trying very hard to sound professional, said, 'Please take off your clothes and lie down on the bed with the towel around you.' Closing the bedroom door behind her she slipped into the bathroom to collect some coconut oil and then stood on the landing, wondering how long it would take him to get undressed.

After five minutes she went in, he was lying on his face with the towel wrapped around him and she thought that he looked oddly vulnerable.  She poured some of the oil into the hollow of his back, put some more on her hands and knelt on the bed alongside him, the bed was narrow and it was very awkward.  She started with the neck and the shoulders, working on the trapeziums and the deltoids.  Then she worked on the arms, concentrating on the triceps and on the five main muscle groups making up the hand, stretching each arm in turn and treating each finger of each hand separately.  After that she moved down his back, working on each of the vertebrae.  When she reached the line of the towel she shifted so that she was sitting across his buttocks and gripping him first by the shoulders and then by the forehead, she pulled back strongly arching his back until he grunted.

She then moved to the side again and started on his legs, beginning with the thigh muscles and then moving down to the calves.  After she had treated each of his feet as she had his hands, she took each leg in turn and pulled it back until his heel touched his back.  He grunted again.

At that stage Yupah glanced at the clock, she had been working for almost forty minutes.  Standing up alongside the bed she asked, 'Roll over please.'

He rolled over at once, keeping his eyes shut and she knelt on the bed once more and began massaging his chest, concentrating this time on his pectorals and then working on his arms once more, this time attacking the biceps.  When she finished she looked at the clock again and saw that she had taken just over an hour, good value for money she thought.

As she stood up he opened his eyes and spoke for the first time, 'Could I have a shower before I dress?  It's the oil you know.'

'Of course,' she said, 'it's along the landing, I'll see you downstairs.'

She went downstairs wondering if he expected her to bathe him.  If so, she thought, he would be disappointed.

He came downstairs in less than ten minutes and stood in front of her opening his wallet.  'Let's see the haircut, massage and oil come to two hundred and fifty Baht.  Add Government tax to that and it is two hundred and sixty-eight Baht, let's say three hundred Baht.' He took three hundred Baht from his wallet and handed it to her.  Then with a final farewell, he left.  Yupah stood there clutching more money than she had earned in the previous week. 

Two days later he came back again, once more just as she was about to close, 'My hair hasn't grown enough to be cut, but I would like another massage.' Wordlessly she led him upstairs.

This time he chatted as she worked, he didn't seem to want an answer so Yupah let him talk and got on with administering his massage.  'You know,' he said, 'I have a dreadful job.  I am always getting moved from town to town, never to my home town.  I am always away from home for the week sometimes, if we are busy, for two or three weeks.  You know a man misses the pleasures of home, living in lodgings all the time or sharing an apartment over the business.  And I'm not the only one, there are a dozen or so men like me in this town, maybe more.'

He didn't say any more and Yupah went on with her work but later when he came downstairs after his shower, he seemed eager to talk.  'So this time without the haircut, two hundred and thirty-six Baht, oh let's say three hundred again.' He sat down in one of the chairs provided for waiting customers, chairs that were rarely used, 'So Yupah, you don't mind if I call you Yupah do you, is business still good?'

'Yes, it's very good, thank you.'

'You know, you are an awful liar.  Your business is very bad.  Apart from what I have paid you, you have made virtually nothing this week.  You are living on your savings and I estimate that they will last you less than three months.'

'How would you know what my business is like?'

'After coming here on Monday I decided to look into it.'

'I don't understand, how can you do that, how can you know how much money I have?'

'Don't you recognise me then?'

'I thought I did when you first came, but I can't remember where from.'

'I'm the new manager at Thai Farmer's Bank.  I only arrived a month ago, I’ve seen you in the Bank.'

'Then you know that I am in trouble.  Why do you taunt me with it?'

'I didn't mean to taunt you, I would like to help.  I think that you could make a lot of money with this setup.'

'And how am I going to do that?  Are you going to tell all your staff to come here every week and get their hair cut?'

'No, and even if I could it wouldn't help you.  Weren't you listening to what I said upstairs?'

'Certainly, I was listening.' Yupah was becoming interested, maybe there was a way out.  'But how does that help me?'

'Well, I would pay a lot more than three hundred Baht to have you share that bed with me.'

'You mean that I should turn this place into a brothel!  There are plenty of those around.'

'No, I don't mean that.  Nothing as brash as a brothel, you're right, there are plenty around.  There are the ones down by the beach that caters to the tourists.  How can I let myself be seen frequenting the bars used by Farangs?  Besides the girls there don't have their own places, I would have to take them to a hotel or back to the apartment that I share with three other staff members.  As for the others, the ones by the railway station, how can I go there when I might meet a client in them?  Can you imagine having a man come in and ask me for a loan when he has seen me in a brothel the evening before?  No, I need somewhere discreet to go to, not somewhere with flashing neon lights outside.'

Yupah was somewhat surprised but not offended.  She had been aware of brothels and prostitution since she had been a child and working in one was always a possibility for a girl from her background, it was a question of economics, not morality.  'When you said that you would pay a lot more, how much did you mean?'

'I thought perhaps eight hundred Baht, would that be all right?'

Yupah thought about it, she remembered her friend Sansanee saying that in Bangkok the Farangs paid her fifteen hundred Baht for what she called a short time.  'It doesn't seem very much, a girl I know who works in Bangkok gets fifteen hundred Baht.'

'Yes she probably does, if she works in a bar that caters to Farangs and she will probably be an old hag by thirty and riddled by disease.  Nor, despite what she might tell you, does she get to keep it all.  Her overheads are high, much higher than yours and she probably spends a fortune on drugs, just to survive some of the things that she has to do.  No, I think you would do better here at eight hundred but let's say nine hundred instead.  What do you say?'

'I don't know.  I want to think it over; can you come back in two days?'

'No, two days from now I will be driving to Bangkok to spend the weekend with my family.  I will be driving back again early on Monday morning; I can come around Monday evening if you like?'

'Please do.  I just need time.'

With that, he left and Yupah started to contemplate her future once more.

It didn't take her long to decide that the Bank Manager's way was the only way that she was going to survive.  Her only problem was Jason, what would he do if he arrived and found her working as a prostitute?  No, she told herself, not a prostitute rather a courtesan.  Well, she would just have to make sure that he didn't find out.

On Saturday, she went out and bought a double bed with a firm mattress and arranged for them to be delivered to the shop.  By the time that they arrived she had cleared her bedroom of the small bed and cleaned it thoroughly.  On Sunday she went to the market and bought some sheets and pillows.

As Monday afternoon turned into Monday evening she felt very nervous, what if the Bank Manager didn't come?  Or what if he came and didn't enjoy himself?  She was sure that he would want more than the quick poke that had normally satisfied the Skipper and his eldest son but she wasn't sure how to give that sort of service.  She prayed that he didn't have the depraved tastes of the Skipper's youngest son.

Despite her fears, he did come, slipping in the door shortly after six-thirty.  'Have you decided?' he asked and if Yupah had not been so nervous she would have realised that he was just as nervous as she was.

Without answering, she went to the door and locked it and then took him by the hand and led him upstairs.  As she opened the bedroom door she spoke for the first time, 'I hope you like it.' she said indicating the bed.

'That's fine, but you shouldn't be spending your money before you have it.'

'I had to really.  I couldn't imagine the two of us on that small bed.  Please, tell me what to do, I'm not very good at this.'

'Why don't you just take your clothes off and then come and join me?'

She turned away and began undressing, it took longer than it had the first time that she had undressed for a man.  When she was naked, having carefully put her clothes on a chair, she turned around.  He was still undressing and without conscious thought, she went over and picked up his shirt and tie from where he had put them on the bed and hung them on a hook behind the door.  She turned back and he handed her his trousers, his briefs were neatly tucked inside them.  She hung them up also and again turned to him, he was sitting on the edge of the bed, holding his arms out to her.

Self-consciously she crossed to him, he folded her in his arms, his mouth reaching for her breasts and his hands cupping her buttocks as he pulled her towards him.  She could feel his cock pressing against her legs and her first fear was calmed, at least she would have no trouble in rousing him.  While his hands continued to caress her, his mouth moved from breast to breast, his tongue darting out to lick and tease the nipples until they stood out like small purple plums against the paler skin of her breasts.

He shifted so that his right hand was round her thighs and his left gripping her under her arm then, gently, but with surprising strength, he lifted her and passed her over him so that she was lying on the far side of the bed.  He swung his legs up so that he was lying alongside her and commenced to kiss her, first her eyes, then her mouth.  Yupah kept her mouth firmly closed, but as his tongue began to probe she felt her lips relax and his tongue slipped into her mouth capturing her own.  He soon tired of that and lowering his head he began to kiss her breasts again, at the same time a gentle finger probed between her legs.  His mouth slipped lower and his tongue probed into her navel, sending shivers up her spine.  He slipped lower still and as his tongue probed between her legs, they opened for him as though by their own volition.

At last, he stopped and knelt beside her, he gently pushed her legs apart and moved so that he was kneeling between them.  He lifted them over his shoulders and Yupah felt him slip inside her.  Unlike most of the other times that she had been entered, there was no pain, just an initial resistance, then a pleasurable relaxation as he entered her.

He began to move inside her and spontaneously she felt herself responding, moving her buttocks in a circular pattern that caressed his balls at the end of each stroke, a pattern that she instinctively knew would please him.

He went on thrusting for longer than she had previously experienced and he withdrew before she felt him come.  Still kneeling he effortlessly turned her over so that she was kneeling in front of him with her bottom towards him.  She sensed him approaching and tensed herself for the pain as he forced his way past her anus, but it didn't come.  Instead, he slid smoothly back into her vagina and commended to thrust once more.  The force was such that her arms gave way and she fell forward onto her face.  He followed her, keeping well inside her and his arms reached around her.  One hand seized her left breast, the other took her right hand, 'Touch me.' he ordered guiding her hand to his balls.  Obediently she began stroking them.

Suddenly she felt him stiffen inside her, 'Come now,' he said, 'come with me my beauty.' A second later she felt him explode and then almost simultaneously she felt a warmth engulf her as she exploded.

Soon to be sixteen, Yupah had just had her first orgasm.

They lay together on the bed for what seemed a long while.  At last, sensing that he was awake, she spoke, 'I didn't know that it could be like that.  I didn't know that it could be so wonderful.'

'It isn't always, just sometimes.  How many lovers have you had?' he teased, 'An old woman like you.'

'No lovers.' she said.  Briefly, she told him of being sold by her father and abused by the Skipper and his two sons.

'So what happened in the end?' he asked.

'I escaped.' she said, not mentioning Jason's part in her escape, nor that she had left the two sons screaming and castrated on the deck of the trawler.

'So that is where the scars on your bottom came from.  Well, it is all over now, I foresee a great future for you.'

'Thank you, you have been very good to me and I don't even know your name.'

'My name is Charlee, but please don't call me that when you call at the Bank.'

'I won't.' she promised.

After they had dressed and gone back downstairs Charlee had given her a thousand Baht and left.  Yupah felt deflated, she wasn't tired, she had nothing to do and she wasn't sure if Charlee would come back.

He did come back, he came back on Wednesday and saying that there was too much work on to let him go to Bangkok for the weekend, he came back on Friday and Saturday as well.  Each time he paid her one thousand Baht.

By the end of July Yupah's situation was much improved.  With Charlee visiting her at least twice a week she had an assured income of eight thousand Baht a month.  Instead of going down the balance in her Account was slowly going up.

It was the first Thursday in August and they were lying in bed, spent from lovemaking, when Charlee asked, 'Do you charge all your clients nine hundred Baht, or do I get a special price?'

'I don't have any other clients, you are the only one.'

'I suspected as much.  You won't get rich that way and I won't be here forever.  You need a wider client base.  Tomorrow, arrange to have a phone put in and I will see what I can organize for you.  But remember that the price is fifteen hundred Baht.  Except for me, of course, you will continue to charge me nine hundred Baht and I shall continue to pay a thousand.'

'And, I suppose, you will expect to get your hair cut for free.'

'Of course.'

The phone was duly installed and Charlee spread the word as effectively as he had promised.  By the end of August, she had a total of five new clients.  Two were Bank Managers, competitors of Charlee but friendly ones, one was a lawyer, one a doctor and the final one was a Government Official, though he never told her exactly what his job was.

She limited herself to two men a night, strictly by appointment.  The only exception was Charlee who could come when he pleased.  When she checked her accounts at the end of September, her takings for the month had been over seventy thousand Baht.

Life was very good and it was only occasionally that she cried herself to sleep thinking of Jason.

The next crisis arose in the middle of October.  Once again she and Charlee were in bed, whenever she could she arranged it so that Charlee had the late appointment so that he could stay over if he wished.  'Charlee,' she began tentatively, 'I need some help.  Two men a night might be OK for a Bar girl, but I find it a strain and