The Black Cat at the Highway Market
An excerpt from Ari's novella Kinky Road Trip on the Haunted Highway
1 pm
In front of us, a large wonderland of tarps strung across metal poles, tents, stalls, and a two-story open-air platform tower came into view. It was the Tung Kwian Market. The United States of America has nothing like that alongside its highways. It was huge!
There are about 40 or 50 parking spots in two rows in front of the expansive market. It's about 140 meters wide and just as deep. We got out of the car. As I stepped under the makeshift metal and tarp roof, a black cat brushed up against my leg. I reached down to pet it. It purred as if it was feeling great pleasure. The cat's purr, so clear, so strong, sounded just like the purr of the cat at in Chiang Mai. If I saw the cat at the apartment, I'm sure I would have thought it was the same one.
I asked a saleswoman at the stall selling noodles and rice, "Does this cat have a name?"
"Che Dam." We call her Dark.
The following is an excerpt from the first half of Kinky Road Trip on the Haunted Highway. This tale was inspired by a road trip I took with my mistress, Nazz. There were ghost stories and dark mountain roads, yes, but I was most scared by the history. It wasn’t the spirits of the dead but those of the living—and those of the political institutions—that caused the most suffering.
She and a group of vendor women were eating lunch together. After they saw me and heard me speak a little bit of Thai, they started remarking excitedly about the "farang."
"Phom majak America. Phom rian (study) pasaa Thai," I said as a way of explaining myself. One brave woman said, "I can speak English little!" The others laughed. They offered me rice and fermented vegetables. I politely declined. Nazz brought food for us.
One of the women was selling liquor and fruit wines. She had a large display of all kinds of brews in glass bottles on shelves. I sampled three. They each had their own distinctive tastes. I ended up purchasing the Namtom brand mulberry wine for 250 baht. It tasted sweet and exhibited a textured red-brown body. The saleswoman said it was infused with something called kratom. She said it was a Thai traditional medicine. The wine was a little bit strong. It said it was only 14% alcohol, but after just two sample sips, I was already feeling it.
I took it to the open-air cafe where Nazz had found a table, and drank it with our lunch. Nazz had set the table with a spread of spiced sausages, bamboo salad, rice, and something that looked like Thai-style foie gras. I sipped the wine. We stayed a while. We watched cars go by on the highway just behind us. Before long, half the bottle of wine was finished, most of it having gone down my gullet. I felt relaxed and lightheaded. Dam, the cat from the market walked up to our table and began purring. Damn, this cat really doesn't want to let me be!
Dam started running past the cafe and towards a road going up a slight hill. She kept meowing and running towards me then running back up the hill.
"She wants you to follow her," Nazz said.
I got up and started walking up the hill. Dam continued prancing up it. The road was lined with flowers and bushes. I could see a windmill at the very top--the kind you might see at a theme motel or resort. It looked beautiful at the bottom, but the farther we went up, the more the flowers were dried out and dead. By the time we got to the very top, the road was just lined with barren piles of dirt that used to be flower beds.
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