A New Path To Paradise (part two)

Several weeks later, Pi and I were in Phuket. Staying at a lovely, nicely situated, yet very reasonably priced hotel with less than 50 rooms and a nice little swimming pool for those lazy days when you can't be bothered going to the beach.

I had never had the pleasure of meeting Ms Shagwell but we were due to return to Bangkok in a few weeks and I was expecting to meet her then.
I fantasized that she was a stunningly attractive blonde woman in her mid thirties...

Pi has a very honest approach to life. She doesn't threaten or shout…
she just looks sad and that sadness cripples you.
You have to hold her and hug her and tickle her 'till she laughs and says,
"Me groat you Miy." then you can start to find out why.

Quite often I would find that she was angry at me for something or other that I hadn't thought mattered... and then she would help me realize that it did matter and that I needed to learn to be more thoughtful… sort of male-chauvinist-pig 101.

We were on the beach.
Well, to be precise, we weren't on the beach - since I was in the sea and Pi was asleep under a coconut tree in the scrubby grass that verges the beach.
I was in paradise, twirling in the clear, blue, water and thinking of Pi and how well she lived up to her name; 'nice as pi' I thought warmly.

Suddenly I was surprised to see a seagull heading toward me - I didn't think there were any in this part of the world.
"Hello' it said, "I'm Ms Shagwell. Follow me please."

I nearly drowned! 'God, I'm in Narnia' I thought - wondering if I was in a dream.
The thing is that I usually accept the weirdest things in dreams, without too much trouble but now I felt sick and dizzy and on the very verge of losing it!
The water faded and I was suddenly in an office with a lovely young blonde.

"Bit of a shock eh?" she said "I'm Pi's superior and GOD's local representative."
"God?"
"Yes, You'll probably get to meet her later."
"Her?"
"Yes, it's a woman now, the white-haired old chap retired quite a while back."
"God, Retired?"
"You do like short sentences don't you." laughed the blonde. "Yes, he served as Governor for many years but he's living happily in Heaven now."
"Governor"
"Yes, Governor Of Detention - of what you might call Earth."

She went on to explain I had killed someone in my youth...
I did remember an incident at school, but the other kid backed down at the last minute - just at it seemed there was no other choice than to stab him.
Ms Shagwell told me that my memory had been adjusted to remember that, but in fact, in reality I had stabbed and killed him and been suitably punished for it.

Some ten years later, newly released from prison, I had died from a head wound sustained in a drunken brawl.
I was now living in what was most easily understandable to me as Purgatory...
after recently being released from Hell!

I dimly remembered the brawl but I also remembered the stitches later, life going on – at least I thought I did.
So, it seems I was punished twice, once in life and then again in 'Hell'… didn't seem fair somehow.
Twenty five years in 'Hell' before I was deemed to be suitably rehabilitated and transferred to Detention.

It was a real shock to learn that I was a murderer but I’d sensed I could be if I had to be.
It was no shock to learn I’d been in hell - I’d been trying to escape from it for years…
Of course I didn’t know it was THE Hell but I’d often wondered.
I had been forced to bear the unbearable, driven to the very brink of despair, to the edge of reason and, oh so nearly beyond into the pit of impenetrable blackness from which there is no escape, no way to return to the light.

I had many questions fighting to be asked but before one could emerge victorious and spring to my lips, I was told that a group of people were approaching the beach and it would be easier if I returned.
"We'll speak again soon." echoed in my ears as...

I was suddenly back in the sea. I didn't feel well and I wanted to go back to the hotel.
I wondered why on Earth, or Detention, I had not asked "Why here?" or even “Do you contact all your clients in such an unusual manner?”

I left the water and walked to where Pi was sleeping on the beach.
I woke her with a gentle stroke of her arm and smiling I asker her if she was okay,
when she smiled and nodded I asker her what Ms Shagwell looked like.
"Mi kow Jai" she said "Me don't understand Miy." (she called me Miy).
"Your boss, Ms Shagwell... woman you work for, she have yellow hair?"
She nodded, smiled a knowing smile and "Ah, you've met her then?" in perfect English!
"What?" I said in sheer, shocked surprise!
Pi looked at me quizically and said "Ahrai?"
Since 'Ahrai' is Thai for 'what' I facetiously relied "Yes" then said "Ahrai poot?"...
my feeble attempt at 'what did you say?'.
"Mai kow Jai... me no understan’ what you mean Miy?" she said.
I waved my hands to sign 'forget it'... 'What's the point?' I thought eyes to heaven.

“Let’s go catch the bus.”
“You okay, Miy?” she asked concerned.
“Mai Sabai, nitnoy.” I replied
“Kaput, leetle bit urh?” she teased, looking relieved.
“Kaput marhk marhk” I laughed feeling a bit better already..

We walked on, up to the side of the road to wait for the ‘bus’ which of course might be a bus but could easily be something a lot less salubrious.
Didn't really make much difference since they were all the same price but the proper buses tended to be bigger and more comfortable.
Patong usually managed a proper coach fairly frequently (for Phuket)
Kata didn’t have anything that grand but it did have an old bus alternating with something close to a renovated ambulance - both superior to glorified land rovers.
Karon was my favorite beach because it had the best sand, good waves and extremely clear water but Kata was quieter and perhaps a bit more scenic and only five minutes walk away from the end of Karon’s long beach.

Fortunately it was the bus and it wasn't long in coming - we signed for it to stop and jumped on.
I took two twenty baht notes from my wallet and gave them to Pi for the fare -
you don't usually pay until you get off but occasionally they have a conductor or the driver stops and comes round the bus to collect.
It was indeed a rare bus as it even had windows although of course they were open to let a little cool air in to ease the heat.
A pretty, young, back-packer was hanging out of one of the bus windows taking pictures of the beach as the bus slowly touted its way along the road.
She was eagerly pointing out various scenic delights to her boyfriend who was all but asleep in the humid air of the late afternoon.

For a moment she reminded me of another young girl a few weeks before on the bus to Patong. A beautiful young girl, slim but with an exceptional figure who somehow still managed to look very sexy in her extremely short, tight, cut-down jeans while hanging, almost doubled up, out of the glassless window of the bus throwing up her last meal... which, unnoticed by her, in the urgency of the moment, was blowing back through the windows further down the bus onto the unfortunate passengers behind her...
a very strange mixture of eroticism and revulsion.

The bus still was almost full now yet it still crawled along the road in the hope of filling the few remaining seats. I had been on buses so packed that you could hardly breathe, a very strange, enforced intimacy that was at once warm and friendly yet weirdly uncomfortable and awkward by turns… like being locked in a pub after hours with people who kept falling asleep on your shoulder.

I looked at Pi as she reached for my hand and I wondered what went on behind those innocent brown eyes. Was she really as honest and straightforward as she seemed to be, or was love blinding my eyes, was she playing some game and if so what?
There are countless Thais walking hand in hand with men who are obviously not Thais.
Plenty of horror stories of men marrying Thai girls only for them to return to Thailand and their former boyfriends when they have saved sufficient money for a house.
What of Pi's sudden sentence in perfect English and what of God?

End of Part Two.

Don’t really know how to start this so I’ll begin by explaining that I’m writing this story back in the UK and although this bit will ruin the continuity it is not part of the story, or at least not in a direct sense.
I’ll start by showing you a part that I originally posted this morning but then edited out :

"'Truth be told there was a lot more said and many secrets revealed that explained mysteries and answered many of the Eternal questions but it would spoil the story to reveal too much too soon. So I have decided to spread the revelations throughout the story in an effort to hold the readers interest and maintain a sense of suspense...'"

Now, after I had edited that out I turned my computer off and set off for the park that sits on top of the cliffs, overlooking the Scarborough sea. It was beautiful sat in sunshine in the Italian Gardens admiring the scenery and watching the wonderful wildlife.

A blackbird landed close by and hopped toward me.
“God wants a word.” It said.
“Ms Shagwell?” I enquired.
“Never mind that” said the bird “I’m putting God on now.”

“I thought we had an agreement.” said God.
“what?”
“About the story… you agreed to give a brief explanation of Detention and explain about Abaddon and you haven’t.”
I explained that I had meant to but I had felt that it would make the story more interesting if I fed the reader pieces bit by bit…
“Never mind what you feel, stick to your word and explain Detention and do it quick! It’s for your own good… now scoot!”

‘Scoot’... ‘scoot’ who on Earth will believe that God says ‘scoot’ I thought as I made my way home. I turned off down a quiet country road to take a shortcut.
Two ‘yobs’ followed me and at first I thought they might be drunk since they were burping a lot. Then I wondered if it could be some form of communication as no-one naturally burps as much as these chaps did.
Then I heard one say “I don’t know … look at the way he walks.”
I wasn’t certain what he meant but I walked faster. So did they!
There was no-one about except for the yobs and I had past the last few houses a couple of hundred yards back. I reached the little snicket hidden by the privet hedges and ran down it despite the wet, slippery mud. I didn’t look back.

I hurried the rest of the way home and typed this.
Once it’s posted I can relax…
I’m hoping that the local internet service will not go down again as it did yesterday.

Right, now to it :

Detention is where we all are – yes, you too.
Don’t worry, you’ve probably not done anything terribly wrong and you’ll be out soon.
Now, the important bit.
Abaddon runs Hell. He not really A Bad Un at all but he is the only one who can run the place and it has taken its toll on him over the years.
Well, he has disappeared, Hell is in crisis and things have become so bad recently that they have been forced to transfer a lot of prisoners to Detention.
You have probably noticed how much the place has deteriorated recently!

Well take care, because from tomorrow, the Ides of March, it's going to get a whole lot worse with the discovery of an old ruin near the Western Wall in the heart of Jerusalem's Old city... dating back almost 3,000 years!

Okay, that’s enough to be going on with I can explain the rest later…

Phew! Great it has posted okay.
So it’s back to the story...