Central Scrutinizer Posted August 23, 2001 Report Share Posted August 23, 2001 Â Â Â Â Butterflies Are Free To Fly--Part 2 Â Â Â Â Â Greg entered the lobby of his condo complex and headed through the foyer to a doorway which led to the swimming pool and garden area. His condo was on the first floor with access to the pool area through a patio area with sliding doors. He knew his daughters would be outside there playing, waiting for dinner to be served, and he made a habit of going there first to see them for a few minutes before going inside to wash up for dinner every evening upon returning from work. Â Â Â Â Â The patios were covered, and his daughters were usually out there playing with their dolls, or coloring in their coloring books and doing the things most little girls did for play...rain or shine. It was their favorite play area. The ground floor condos all had a built in gas grill on the patios also, and his wife Noi did most of the cooking outside on theirs, grilled fish, pork, chicken and such, with the ever present rice or noodles being cooked in the kitchen. Noi was an excellent cook and loved to cook many delicious Thai dishes for the family. She refused Greg's offers to hire a cook for her. The condo complex had been built by a German construction company for it's corporate employees which had soon gone bankrupt after. Greg had found the place while condo hunting after he first started working in Bangkok and fell in love with it, and had also gotten it for a song really. Â Â Â Â Â Greg walked around the pool and headed for his patio as his daughters spied him and started crying out "Papa, papa! Mama, Papa is home!" Greg came up and gave both the girls a big hug and kiss as the oldest girl Mary, nicknamed Bee, said, "Ewwwwwww! You're all wet Papa!" She was 7 years old and closely resembled her mother. Long, straight, coal black hair to her waist, eyes like obsidian, and golden skin, with the long legs of a colt just made for running, which she loved to do. She'd grow into a handsome woman one day, just like her mother had once been when Greg first met and courted her eleven years earlier. Now Noi was running from chubbiness to fat. She didn't work since having the girls, they had a maid to do the house cleaning and laundry, and Noi basically sat around all day after getting the kids off to school watching Thai soap operas and game shows all day and snacking. Â Â Â Â Â Greg had had a big fight with the private school he had been able to get Mary into. They had wanted to have Greg and Noi to have Mary's beautiful hair cut short for school. Greg had refused and fought back until a compromise was settled on with Mary having to braid and put up her hair for school every morning. He loved her hair and never wanted to see it cut. Greg had a thing about long hair on females, and thought his daughter's hair was the most beautiful he had ever seen. Hell, he was paying enough for the private schooling, and could see no damned good reason why Mary's hair needed to be cut to learn her lessons. Noi's had been the same once, but out of spite, knowing Greg's love for her silky long hair, she had had it cut last year after a big argument with Greg over something stupid, which Greg couldn't even remember now what the hell the argument had even been about. He had been furious, and hadn't talked to Noi for a month afterward. Â Â Â Â Â Sarah was the youngest at age six. Blue eyes with an asian cast, and light brown wavy hair like her father's, which was shorter than Greg liked it, but Sarah insisted on keeping it short, and was a very stubborn little girl who usually got what she wanted, especially from Greg. She was a Daddy's girl. She was light skinned and looked like a little doll, being very small and petite for her age. Greg spoiled both the girls rotten and loved them with all his heart. Â Â Â Â Â Noi had a nasty habit of using Greg's love for his daughters against him whenever they had a serious argument, threatening to take the girls to live with her parents in Pathum Thani where they had a house, and where Noi had grown up before moving to Bangkok after graduating from university to work for a computer company. Which was how Greg met her in 1989. His multi-national sales company had hired her company to set up the computer system in Greg's company offices in Bangkok, where Greg was the head manager for a work force of 35 Thai nationals. Greg had been sent to Thailand to open the Bangkok office and do the hiring of the Thai staff and run the operation. Mainly because he was fluent in Thai, having lived there for years as a child with his parents. Â Â Â Â Â Greg had been born in Thailand and raised there. His Dad and Mom had been Christian missionaries who met and fell in love while working in Thailand in the early 60's. Greg had been born in the first year of their marriage in 1964 and had lived in Thailand until he was 10 years old before his parents brought him back to the United States to live in New Hampshire so he could receive his secondary education in America, and attend a good Christian U.S. university after graduating high school. His mother had become ill with a rare form of bone cancer when he was 15 and died six months to the day from when she was diagnosed with the cancer. Greg was an only child and was very close with his parents. His mother's death had brought him and his father even closer during their grief. Â Â Â Â Â When Greg was a junior in university in 1984, at the age of twenty, his Dad had told him he was moving back to Thailand to live and was going to marry an old Thai lady friend of his and Greg's mother who had been one of the Thai families to have been converted to Christianity by Greg's Dad and Mom. Her husband had been killed in an auto accident a couple of years ago and Greg's Dad had been in corresponence with her these past couple of years and had always felt more than just friends, but had both been married and remained faithful Christian spouses, as was proper. Now that her husband was dead, leaving her a widow, and Greg's mother had been dead for years now, Greg's Dad had been lonely and now he wanted to marry this old friend and live in Thailand, which he still had fond memories of and many friends living there. This came as a bit of a shock to Greg, but he knew how lonely his father had been in the years since his mother's death, and he gave his father his blessings. Greg's father said he would pay for Greg to come to the wedding in Thailand and wished for Greg to spend his summers in Thailand with him in between school sessions. Greg agreed and spent the last three summers of his college years in Thailand with his father and new step-mother, who he adored once he met her. Â Â Â Â Â He was pleasantly surprised when he first went back to Thailand to learn he hadn't lost much of his ability to speak, read and write Thai, and learned even more during the three summers he spent there, taking a few language courses, and rekindled his nearly forgotten love for the land and its people. He finally went back to the states the end of the summer he graduated and landed a good paying job with his present company. Â Â Â Â Â After a couple of years working there Greg heard of the company's plan to open an office in Bangkok and presented his qualifications to his boss, who immediately marked Greg for the position. Even though Greg was still fairly young he was a hard worker with good business skills, and had graduated with honors from college in business administration and management. Plus he spoke fluent Thai and could read and write those damned squiggles. The boss thought he was perfect for the position, and within 6 months Greg was in Thailand in the summer of '88 putting everything together for the new company office. Greg was happy to be there as he could see his father and step mother often now. His Dad wasn't getting any younger, and the job was perfect for Greg. Â Â Â Â Â Noi came out on the patio to check the spicy pork chops they were having for dinner on the grill, turned them over expertly, and said hello to Greg and gave him a peck on the cheek as she told him dinner was almost ready and he should go take a quick shower, and change from his wet clothes. "You should have taken your umbrella like I told you this morning." she mildly rebuked him. "You will get sick if you keep getting wet in the rain darling." she chastised and warned him. Greg gave her a peck on the lips back and said, "Yeah, yeah. I know. I was in a bit of a rush this morning and forgot the damned thing again." She made a face and said, "Please don't swear in front of the girls Greg. Have you been drinking?" Greg made a face of his own, mumbled something, and turned and went through the glass sliders into the condo to take a shower and change. (to be continued) Cent ------------------------ [ August 24, 2001: Message edited by: Cent ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shotover Posted August 24, 2001 Report Share Posted August 24, 2001 Cent, Congratulations on a compelling story and exceptional descriptive writing style. Do you write novels? Anxiously waiting for chapter 3. Shotover Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Central Scrutinizer Posted August 25, 2001 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2001 quote: Originally posted by shotover: Cent, Congratulations on a compelling story and exceptional descriptive writing style. Do you write novels? Anxiously waiting for chapter 3. Shotover Shotover, Thanks. Glad you like it so far. Part three coming soon as I get a chance to finish it. A novelist? No, although I'm trying to write something longer besides these short stories, and one day to compile the short stories into a book hopefully. Thanks again for telling me you like it. Appreciate it. Cent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Central Scrutinizer Posted August 28, 2001 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2001 Sorry all. I've been away the past couple of days and hadn't the time to finish part three until today. I've just posted it. Cent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Central Scrutinizer Posted September 22, 2001 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2001 same here. Cent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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