A DAUGHTER FOR SALE

Chapter 1

But what was he to have done? No matter what, he would have to let his daughter go with Yai Phloy. So what point would there have been in disagreeing with her, in forcing her to speak the truth? Wouldn't he only be degrading himself by admitting openly for everyone to hear that he was so destitute that he had to sell his daughter.

After he gave his word to Yai Phloy, Lung Maa couldn't think of what to tell his daughter. His heart ached, knowing that the words Yai Phloy had uttered that day were outright lies. But what was he to have done? No matter what, he would have to let his daughter go with Yai Phloy. So what point would there have been in disagreeing with her, in forcing her to speak the truth? Wouldn't he only be degrading himself by admitting openly for everyone to hear that he was so destitute that he had to sell his daughter. Far better to let Yai Phloy go on with her eloquent deception. However wrong, he could then mumble that he had been tricked by Yai Phloy. In any event, a man is better branded as having been conned that branded as having sold his daughter into prostitution.

Yai Phloy's soliloquy was most pervasive. Anyone listening to it would have been seduced by it. Yai Phloy began by elucidating in great detail about how children's behavior these days was getting steadily worse and worse, especially city children, and especially in Bangkok. This was because their parents were so busy working, striving to get ahead, that they had not time to stay at home with their children. Instead, the children were ignored until they finally got into trouble. Hiring someone to take care of the children was extremely difficult. Some hired servants who, as soon as their employers weren't watching, absconded with everything in the house. Lost of them stole, even if just a little here and there. But the major problem was that servants were so unreliable. As soon as they were the least bit tired or were criticized or scolded in the least. They ran away back to their homes. Consequently, several of Bangkok's wealthy elite had requested Yai Phloy to find them dependable girls to be their servants. They paid good wages and, moreover, even paid money in advance. As many girls as she could get would be placed.

Even though Yai Phloy was not from his village, Lung Maa had known Yai Phloy since she had been a young girl. In those days, her beauty was known throughout the subdistrict. But before any of the local youths were able to compete for possession, Yai Phloy had already run off to Bangkok with someone who had passed through with the medicine show. Much, much later, when she finally came back, word had it that she had become thoroughly Bangkokian, with a haughty manner and pretentious lifestyles. She appeared to have become a lady of no insignificant wealth. Yai Phloy went back and forth to Bangkok often. Of the girls that went to Bangkok with her, some came back even poorer than before. And some disappeared completely.