Spice. Robert A. Webster

bet you feel excited,” said Sok looking at the smiling Ravuth, “Not long now, we’re almost there.”

      Sok got onto a dirt track off the main road. Ravuth looked at the terrain, but he could still see the Cardamom Mountains some way off, so he became concerned.

      They drove along a dry muddy track for 30-minutes and into a small village. This looked unrecognisable to Ravuth. There had been no familiar landmarks or anything along the route that he’d recognised and still nowhere near the jungle.

      Sok pulled up in the village centre and Ravuth got out and looked at the communal hut. The inhabitants came out to greet him, laughing, smiling, and welcoming him home.

      A middle-aged man in shirt and trousers went over and * wai’d Ravuth.

      Sok introduced him as Boran, the village Chief.

      “Welcome home Ravuth,” said a smiling Boran.

      Ravuth looked around the village and the small gathered crowd but recognised nothing or nobody.

      “Your village has a problem,” said Sok. “They needed money for a new generator and building materials.”

      “Where are my parents?” asked Ravuth, feeling perturbed and upset.

      Boran smiled and said, “Come eat, we have prepared food.”

      “But it’s not my village,” said Ravuth and frowned as Boran led him inside the communal hut where a feast of vegetables and rice lay on a straw mat.

      While they ate, Ravuth leant over to Sok and repeated, “I know this isn’t my village.”

      Sok appeared shocked, and said, “Sorry Ravuth, I felt certain it was where I last saw your family. That was a long time ago, so maybe I confused it with another village. Eat up and we will look there. You need to pay the Chief and the villagers here a little money, please help, give them a small amount, $600 would keep them happy.”

      Ravuth had withdrawn several thousand dollars from the bank that morning to help his family when he’d found them. He had already given Sok $500 he’d requested for the loan of his ‘friends vehicle’ and now handed over $600 to the village elder; followed by two more payments to village chiefs after taken to the wrong villages… again.

      They returned to the guesthouse at dusk, after driving around in circles on the outskirts of Koh Kong all day. Disheartened and angry, Ravuth realised that Sok knew neither his family nor the whereabouts of his village, and this wasted excursion had so far cost him $2,300.

      While eating his evening meal at the guesthouse, Sok turned up, went over to Ravuth, and said, “Sorry about today. I was sure that one of them was your village. Never mind. We can try again tomorrow. I am sure that we will find it. I think I know where it is… Look.”

      He unfolded a black and white photocopy of a map with areas circled on it. Ravuth stopped eating and looked, as Sok told him, “You said it was in the jungle by the mountains.” He pointed to three hand-drawn circles and said, “It must be one of these villages, sorry, I came off the main road too early.”

      Ravuth looked but saw nothing apart from a black and white photocopy with three pencilled circles. He frowned and continued eating. Sok sat down and smiled, “Do you want to go to see Anni?” he asked

      Disgruntled, but looking forward to seeing Anni, Ravuth went along with Sok to the karaoke

      “Where’s Tik?” asked Ravuth.

      “He’s working tonight,” said Sok and took a gulp of Johnnie Walker.

      Tik had taken the back roads and shortcuts to the three villages nearby to collect Sok’s large cut of the money extorted off Ravuth.

      Anni came from the back room several minutes after Ravuth and Sok arrived. She had just finished with one customer who had taken ages and looked happy to see Mr two-stroke Ravuth in the bar. The mamasan encouraged Ravuth to take her now because she would be busy later.

      While in the shabby room and after satisfying Ravuth, he asked, “how long have you worked here Anni?”

      Anni looked taken aback, customers never asked questions, she was only there to give them relief and once finished that was it. No one had ever shown any interest in her as a person. She looked at Ravuth smiling at her. Sok had told her that Ravuth was now a rich foreigner, but realising he was also a kind man, related her plight.

      It had been four years since the mamasan went to her village on the outskirts of Koh Kong. She offered to loan the villagers with daughters $200, telling them to use the money to improve their lifestyle.

      She told them that they could pay her back anytime, but they must pay interest. In the meantime, she would employ the daughters, who would receive $40 per month salary and given food, clothing, and accommodation, which she would deduct from their salary, along with the loan’s interest. These simple country folk thought $200 a godsend. They could buy machinery to help with their land, new generators, and hire machines to dig deeper wells for when the annual droughts hit and their shallow wells dried up.

      Anni told him, “We were all happy and I couldn’t wait to start work,” she frowned. “The mamasan told us it was a simple job to ‘service the customers’. Although nobody understood what the work entailed, the families agreed and took the money. What she didn’t tell us was our cost of living in the back rooms was $20 per month and the interest on the loan was $20 per month; so until the families could raise the $200 to repay mamasan, we were stuck here. Our job was to entertain the local Khmer customers every night, who were usually drunken moto-dop taxi drivers and border touts who had made money that day from the foreign border crossers. They wanted to get drunk, play with the girls, and get quick relief. Sometimes we get the local mafia coming in, people like S…” Annie paused and hoped Ravuth didn’t work out the end of the sentence as she said. “But they don’t pay. The mamasan is an unkind and unpleasant tyrant, who terrified us girls into undertaking any sexual act the customer desired.”

      Ravuth saw tears in Anni’s eyes as she looked embarrassed and told him, “We get paid $1 per customer.” She looked around the shabby room and her rack of scruffy clothes and said, “Which doesn’t buy much.” Anni then wiped away her tears and smiled.

      Ravuth felt sad for the pleasant young woman, who had now gratified him on two occasions. He could only imagine what kind of miserable life she led.

      He smiled, took $50 from his wallet, handed it to Anni, and said, “Sorry, I am short of cash until I get to the bank in the morning and I still have to pay the bill here.”

      Anni, looking stunned, but feeling delighted said, “I never told you about my family to get money from you. I think they’ve robbed you enough… You are a kind man Ravuth. Thank you, I will hide this money and give it to my family.”

      She and Ravuth went back into the karaoke bar and the following morning, Ravuth felt a little happier after Sok convinced him he would find his family today. He withdrew more money from the bank and paid Sok another $500 for ‘his friend’s motor.’

      On the way back to Koh Kong, Ravuth sat in the Range Rover feeling depressed and dejected. He knew that Sok had again swindled him. He had taken another route and driven around in circles, returning to the same villages they had visited the previous day, with Ravuth having to pay them again.

      “Never mind,” said Sok smiling, “we can try again tomorrow.”

      Ravuth felt enraged. “No, we cannot. I’ve had enough of your lies.” He pointing at Tik and snapped, “And you are not his son. I know who you are Sok, you are the Koh Kong mafia, and you have both robbed me, but no more. Take me back to the guesthouse. Now!”

      Sok sneered at Ravuth as he dropped him off at the guesthouse and drove away agitated and angry. Ravuth ate and wanted to go to Phnom Penh the next day. He was to return to the UK in a few days and felt angry about wasting his time, spending a lot of money, and no closer to finding his family. He no longer wanted to stay in Koh Kong. Looking around the dingy room, he felt unnerved and stared out of the window. With only a few hundred dollars left in his pocket, he stayed in his room. It was now night, and he knew he would