1 LIFE’S LITTLE SURPRISES

“How do you think it’ll go?” The three people sitting around the table on the rooftop of the ‘Four Winds Hotel’ in Baan Suay looked at each other. None of them wanted to be the first to speak. “Like that, is it?” asked Lek.

“Don’t worry about it. You’ve done all you can and so have we. I for one think you’ve got it in the bag. Don’t you, Nic?” encouraged Ayr.

“If I were a betting man, which I am, I would say that you have a seventy-thirty chance and I have put money on you, but I’d be happier with eighty-twenty.”

“Well, thanks for your confidence. Did we bet on me as well, Ayr?”

“Oh, you are not allowed to bet on the outcome, it’s against the law and as your close associate, neither should I, but I got my cousin to put five thousand on you – they wouldn’t take any more, given the odds. How much did you do, Nic?”

“I didn’t, and for the same reason, but my mother managed to place six thou at three to two on.”

“Yes, that’s what we took too.”

“OK, let’s go and see what’s happening shall we?” They finished the bottle of whiskey before them with a swift double each from a small glass that they passed around between them.

Ayr drove them to Nic’s house which was across the road from the village polling station. His wife, Jan, was handing out iced-water and cakes, made and donated by a local firm as a self-promotion, to people who had either already voted or who had walked up in the heat of the afternoon and wanted a breather before they did.

It had been nearly four years since her first and last election success, when she had won the hearts and votes of her ward members, but this was for a different post – a higher position and she would need the support of not only all her own village, but also that of most of the Moo, or wards, in the other five villages.

There were six candidates standing for the job of Head Orbortor, or Chief of Finance for the district. She was worried that she should have stood as Orbortor for her own ward first, before going for the job of Capo di Tutti Capi.

So were all her main supporters, and her enemies were hoping that she had bitten off more than she could chew, trying to run before she could even walk properly.

“Stand at the gate by the road, Lek and smile a lot. Greet everyone like a long-lost friend, however well you know them,” advised Nic, who had been in local politics for most of his adult life. He had been mayor for twelve years and was not interested in rising any higher, but a District Orbortor who was on his side, would make his job and life that much easier.

Lek moved out onto the side of the road, and looked back at her friends inside the garden nervously. There were three other hopeful candidates there already, and she cursed herself for not having the nonce to stand there earlier.

They nodded and smiled at each other, but not one of them meant anything by it. This election was for a plum job with a good salary, which could be used as a launching pad into bigger things. From District Orbortor she could get into regional and even provincial politics. She had everything going for her. She was about the right age, perhaps a year or two too old, but that wouldn’t go against her; everyone in the two Moo in Baan Suay would vote for her, with the exception of a hundred or so of the family and friends of the man she had ousted to get her current post of ward councillor, which she would have to relinquish, if she won today.

She was hedging her bets. If she lost today, she could re-stand in her ward elections in five months’ time. However, if she did win, she hoped that the previous councillor, who called himself Boss, would not stand again. That would mean that she had let her supporters down, because they had voted for her to get rid of him.

Still, she thought, let’s win this election first, and worry about the consequences later. She and her advisers had weighed up the pros and cons of standing and had decided to go for it. Her philosophy was to do one job at a time and to do it to the best of her ability.

“Hello, Mrs. Chang, how are you? Lovely to see you again. Is your son still doing well at university? He is such a credit to the village. Come in and join us for a chat after you have cast your vote, won’t you?”

“Hello, Ron, lovely day, isn’t it? How’s the drainage? Still holding out? Good, let me know if there’s anything else I can do for you, won’t you?”

The strongest threat came from Khun Tatsanai, a wealthy