Flirt With Danger

 

Clive

Clive, we called him this because he called everyone 'Clive'. He was about 5'7” in height, we knew this because Ray was taller then him by about a head. He still lived with his mother, which was peculiar in Thailand (most of the characters around lived with a woman or a ladyboy), he liked things done as they were at home. He was blond in hair colour, almost an albino,

He used to be a villain back home in the East End, according to rumours, he was involved with drugs and that he used to be a hitman.

The, one day, at about 6pm, I turned up at Ray's Bar, when it was just getting dark, a couple of thugs turned up. They were dressed in suits and ties. They were bald with hair curtains, inappropriately dressed and being bald, they risked getting sunburn. They were getting hot, wearing shoes and thick socks. Meanwhile, all the characters were dressed in shorts, short-sleeve shirts, and flip-flops, and were wearing sun-tan cream, or some characters had sun-tan severe enough to avoid sun-cream.

Ray was about 5'11” and sported a droopy moustache. He was from a family of villains based in South London, Borough. He was a convenor at British Leyland, at Dagenham but ran away to Thailand to get away from his wife, Kristine, and to open a bar on the beach. It was a success, based on his regulars.

The heavies came from London, as betrayed by their accents.I went off to some other bar to phone Clive. The heavies disturbed me for some reason. I had Clive's number because I had done an electrical job for him and his mother a couple of months' ago. The electrical job was wiring up an earth connection and burying it; most Thai homes didn't have an earth.

I called Clive.

“Clive, everything alright?”

“Clive?”

“What's the matter up, Clive?”,

“There's a couple of heavies at Ray's Bar. They look like they've just come from the airport.”

“I'll be at Ray's Bar tonight at the usual time, 7:45”. He turned up at the same time and drank the same drink, white rum and coke.

“At your peril, the heavies look like thugs.”

Clive wasn't put off by a pair of heavies, he was stubborn and he wouldn't vary his routine.He was concerned about perfection.

Clive turned up at the exact same time and was unconcerned about the heavies. The heavies didn't turn up that night and never turned up again.

Next day, a detachment of the Royal Thai Police fished one of the thugs out of the sea. The day after, they found another one of the heavies out of the drink. Clive didn't say anything, “Except alright, Clive?”