The Merry Misogynist

it was just a little too careful and too deliberate.
Dear Uncle Siri,
How are you? We went to the Buddha Park on the weekend. It was such Fun. There were big animals and a giant pumpkin. I think your little twins would really like it. We’re going again on March 30.
If you take them I can show them around.
With love,
Your niece,
Bao
    Siri smiled, looked up at the blue sky, and said a thank you to the various gods he’d recruited to make this message possible. Bao was a Hmong girl Siri had met a few months earlier when he was in the north-east. The villagers had been about to join the long march to Thailand. Many were escaping repercussions from the Pathet Lao administration and their Vietnamese allies for siding with the Americans during the war. One of the girls in the village had just given birth to twins, and they had asked Siri to transport them to Vientiane with him and take care of them. Travelling with babies was a danger. Many Hmong had been exposed to the enemy by the crying of young children. This letter meant they had survived the journey and were ready to reclaim their young ones.
    It changed his mood completely. He walked through the shop with his letter and his cardboard box and greeted the early diners. He walked over to Daeng and kissed her cheek. The gesture drew jeers and snickers from the men in the room who probably wished they had that kind of relationship with a woman.
    “What?” Siri asked them. “You’ve never seen a man kiss his lovely wife before?”
    “I didn’t even kiss mine when she was eighteen and beautiful,” called one middle-aged man.
    “More fool you, brother.”
    “Thank you,” said Daeng. “But what specifically was that for?”
    He whispered in her ear, “The twins will be leaving us at the end of the month.”
    She squealed her delight. “Your Hmong friends?”
    “It looks like they made it. Some of them at least.”
    “Your little general?”
    He held up the letter and smiled.
    “Bao wrote.”
    “Siri, I’m so happy for you. See what a little faith can do? Go get yourself ready for work, and I’ll bring you up a number two. Oh, what a good start to the morning.”
    Naturally, that had been the high point of Siri’s day. The boulder of happiness began to roll down the hill of inevitable disappointment almost as soon as he reached the morgue. Ngam’s father, Boonhee, was waiting for him in the office. The man had come to claim his daughter’s remains and take her home. He hadn’t yet worked out how he was going to achieve that feat given that he had no money and no vehicle. After some deliberation, Siri sent Dtui to the clerk’s office to make a phone call to the Cooperative Development Works.
    She asked to speak to the driver who worked the Vang Vieng to Ban Xon route. They were in luck. He was still at the yard and scheduled to leave with an empty truck after breakfast. Dtui reminded him about his behaviour at the morgue the previous day. Sober, he was a humble and sensible man who was happy to accept this opportunity to put back the pieces of his ‘broken’ face in the eyes of Dr Siri and his nurse. He agreed to take Mr Boonhee and the body of the invisible woman home.
    Boonhee thanked everyone at the morgue for their help. While they wrapped and loaded the body, Siri sat with him in the office.
    “How is Mongaew taking it?” he asked.
    “Don’t think she’ll ever get over it,” the farmer said. “This was all her doing. She thinks that because of her, Ngam never had a normal life. And just when it finally starts to go right…”
    “I know.” Siri was tempted to say she shouldn’t blame herself, but deep down he knew she should. What she had put her daughter through was inexcusable. So, instead, he nodded.
    “Comrade Boonhee, we, I mean the police, have been in touch with the Highways Department. They do have a Phan or two but not one who was away in your district on the dates you gave me. In fact, they don’t have any projects in progress or planned for Ban Xon.”
    “Well, that don’t make sense.” Boonhee was still trying to work it all out. “Phan stayed at the headman’s place. He had a letter and everything.”
    “Comrade Boonhee, I took a detour via Vang Vieng on my way back yesterday and I talked to a police sergeant who’s investigating this case. He’ll be travelling up to talk to your headman very soon. If there was a letter of introduction there should be a name and position on it. That might help us locate