Relic Posted October 17, 2014 Share Posted October 17, 2014 I'm publishing this little story in a few days, but i wanted to get some wider range of opinions before i do so. Feel free to eviscerate my terrible writing. --------------------------- A few weeks ago, after a particularly interesting night, I received the following email. Dear Michael, This is ____ the girl you helped a lot last night in Pai. my friend ____ now is transferring to Chiangmai lam hospital to have an operation. he got two parts of bone break of his left leg. i haven't deal with the motorcycle problem yet by now. how is your wrist now ? i'm really sorry that you got hurt your wrist. sorry... You appeared like a super man to me last night! you followed my friend to the hospital after the accident, you found me, you helped me to push my motorcycle for 3 km, you took me to the hospital and also took me back to the hotel.you did so much! like i said you are the best american i ever known. you are so helpful and nice! thanks for everything you did for me.thank you Michael ! _____ from China Now, I don't think I am a hero for the events described above, and I am far far from being Martin Luther King Jr. or even, say, Kirk Cameron. All I am is a guy who was riding his scooter in the rain, after midnight, on a dark stretch of road leading out of a small town in northern Thailand, against all common sense and to the horror of my mother is she ever found out (which she now will, I suppose). I saw an opportunity to help an injured stranger, which then turned into an opportunity to help a different stranger in need, and I took it. I don't believe in karma, I was not looking for a reward. So why then, you might ask, did I spend four hours after the stroke of the witching hour helping people I didn't know? I'd like to think of it as common decency, and a small part of me wants to believe that by putting myself at the service of my fellow man I can pass along a bit of general concern for others by others. And frankly, it was exciting. The setting? Pai, Thailand. A small town north of Chiang Mai, a town filled with friendly locals, laid back expats , and tourists; a town embraced by natural beauty in every direction one faces. Rice fields, rolling green hills, tranquil muddy rivers, big open sky sporting puffy white clouds, Pai is a little bit like what Eden might have been had it existed. The people are generally very friendly, quick to smile, quick to help. In fact by the time I came across the injured stranger (let's call him German Bob for funsies) he was already being carried into the back of white pick up truck halted on the side of the road by two Thai men and a woman. I gave his crashed motor bike a cursory once over, asked the German if he wanted me to go to the hospital with him (silly question to ask I suppose) and followed the truck there. Once at the hospital, when it became obvious that Bob was in no great mortal danger, we got to talking a little bit; him through gritted teeth, rolling eyeballs, and in between moans. Turns out the crashed bike was not his, he borrowed it from a girl he met and was speeding into town from her hotel for a lighter hoping to return as quickly as possible. A fucking lighter! Smoking really IS bad for your health, ya'll. The hotel was located some ways out of town, and Bob didn't recall its name. It had two lemons on its sign, however, that much he knew for certain. Bob produced a key, room 202. The girl was waiting for him, eagerly. A bit of detective work at 1 am sounded like fun so I took the key from his hand and promised I'd find her and bring her to his side. I drove back to the scene of the accident, making sure the bike was still in place and proceeded further down the road into the mysterious night, the single beam of my scooter's headlamp keeping the darkness at bay, looking for two lemons. Bob's memory was relatively sound and I came across a sign some 5 klicks out of town. It turned out not to be lemons at all, passion fruit actually, but that hardly matters. Pulling into the parking lot on my hardy little scooter I mentally prepared myself to knock on a stranger's door to deliver some bad news. Room 202 was not difficult to find. I took a few deeps breaths, my heart beating a little too quickly, shrugged internally and knocked on the door. A few moments later it flew open and a short asian girl (lets call her Sue) stood before me in her equally short night gown. I was obviously not who she was expecting. The look on her face transitioned from puzzlement to alarm and back within three heart beats. We stood there looking at one another for a few seconds before I remembered I had to speak. "I'm sorry to alarm you but your friend was in an accident. He is in the hospital now. Your bike is on the side of the road a few kilometers from here ", I blurted out while trying to make what i considered to be cross-cultural calming motions with my hands. It took her some time to accept this news, but I guess my stammering sincerity convinced her. We stopped by the hotel owner's bungalow to have her (much to her confusion) take some pictures of me in case I was a deranged lunatic looking to kidnap some young girls and drag them back to my den of unspeakable horrors. That task out of the way we drove to Sue's crashed bike. Of course, the keys were no longer in the ignition and there was a shirtless and mostly toothless old Thai man standing nearby in the dark, looking at it with some obvious consternation. The bike appeared to be in better shape than Bob was, just some minor scratches on the body. We decided that leaving it there was probably not a great idea so I pushed the fucking thing three kilometers back to her hotel. That sweaty task completed we set off on my scooter to the hospital. Bob was medicated and sleeping when we got there but woke up for a brief drugged up chat. He was in a room with 5 elderly female patients who were not super happy at our late night visit so we kept it short. Sue told Bob she'd visit him in the morning, asked him if he had the key to the scooter (he did not), and off we went. I dropped her off at 330 in the morning, spraining my wrist in an act of stupidity parking the motorebike at her hotel. Apparently scooters do no like standing sideways on steep hills, kick stand or no kickstand. I nearly dropped the damned thing and wrenched my wrist in the process of preventing it from falling. Sue offered to nurse my new injury but I begged off, not wanting my travel partner to freak out due to my long unexplained absence in the middle of the night. Saying goodbye I braced myself against fresh rain drove back to my hotel. Stumbling into my room half a hour later I fell into bed, exhausted but content. I never saw or heard from Bob again after that night. Sue, on the other hand, sent me about 18 emails in gratitude, bought my travel partner and myself dinner and drinks one night, and was pretty much consumed with expressing her thanks for a few days. We still keep in touch, and she still calls me "her superman" in her emails. I never told her but I think Superman is a dick. I much prefer Batman but if she keeps it up I will start wearing really tight spandex pants as my ego swells to unchecked heights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanteGabriel Posted October 17, 2014 Share Posted October 17, 2014 Good story. You're a good dude Relic. As a critique, it could have a few more commas interspersed to space out sentence clauses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tears of Lys Posted October 17, 2014 Share Posted October 17, 2014 Sounds pretty great to me, Relic. Now there's one person, at least, that who doesn't think ill of Americans. :PHope your wrist heals up fast. :grouphug: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raja Posted October 17, 2014 Share Posted October 17, 2014 That's a lovely story. Also made me miss Thailand, even though I was only there for a short time ages ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myrddin Posted October 17, 2014 Share Posted October 17, 2014 Cool story. I agree with Dante. Add some commas. Also spellcheck motorebike. :) Continue having fun! And thanks for sharing the travel story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fragile Bird Posted October 17, 2014 Share Posted October 17, 2014 Fun nights in Thailand! Hope the wrist heals quickly, and go ahead and tell a nice story to the world. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jslay427 Posted October 17, 2014 Share Posted October 17, 2014 You did a good act. It's little things (in the grand scheme of things) that matter most in life. Not the signing of cease fires and such. /Commend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Relic Posted October 18, 2014 Author Share Posted October 18, 2014 Thanks for the feedback and the kind words, all. I was hoping to get some free critique of the writing itself, since I sort of think the entire story is both badly written and boring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluemangosteen Posted October 18, 2014 Share Posted October 18, 2014 Not boring! The best part of travel is these experiences and meeting people, not to mention - helping Americans look good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferrum Aeternum Posted October 18, 2014 Share Posted October 18, 2014 Haha, it's not at all boring. Great story! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jslay427 Posted October 18, 2014 Share Posted October 18, 2014 It's always nice to read about people doing good things for one another.And if you want people to think of you as their Batman, I think you'll need to do the voice when you're helping them out.No, for the love of god, not the voice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Relic Posted October 19, 2014 Author Share Posted October 19, 2014 No, for the love of god, not the voice.Hahaha I forgot about the voice. I don't think I can pull it off without losing the ability to speak after a few minutes. However, I did once stalk a sexual predator for about an hour before the cops finally showed up, which is sort of Batman like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Notorious Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 Cool story bro. :lol: Take that, anthony bourdain! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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