Chapter 3

New characters appearing in the next several chapters:

Short Round

Friend of Bill’s, 5’-9” tall, 145 pounds, 21 years old, brown hair, gray eyes

Ear

Company clerk, tall thin young man, 20 years old, red hair and freckles

SSG Williams, Willie

S-2, 83rd RRSOU, 5’-8” tall, 170 pounds, 31 years old, very short blond hair, blue eyes

First Sergeant

Never named other than his rank, tall, thin, balding, reddish completion 44 years old

Major Taylor

Commander, HQ Co, 83rd RRSOU, 5’-4” tall, 165 pounds, 42 years old, balding, hazel eyes

We arrived at Suenee’s parent’s house at around 1100 hrs on Tuesday and were received joyously by her entire family, who were preparing for the wedding.

Later that afternoon, Suenee took me aside again to talk.

“My parents have purchased all of the things necessary for the wedding, but it is the husband’s responsibility to pay for them. Also there will be a gift required for the parents, which may be returned later. Plus there is the party afterward to pay for,” she informed me.

“OK,” I told her and gave her the money to pay for the wedding supplies. The money for the gift went into a separate envelope, and the money for the party went into a third. It was still less then a wedding in the states would have cost, a lot less. Everyone went to bed early on Tuesday night, as we would need to be up early on Wednesday.

Wednesday morning everyone was up early making preparations. Some of Suenee’s friends arrived and joined in with the preparations after we were introduced. Five monks arrived around 0730 and filed into the house. Suenee explained to me that it was near the end of the rainy season and the monks were again allowed to leave the Wat as Buddhist Lent was over.

We knelt in front of the monks, who sat facing the family’s Buddha image, and waied, as they chanted prayers in Pali and blessed some white string. This was followed by more prayers before they blessed us with holy water and we presented them with gifts.

After that the family brought in the food for the monks, which I helped distribute to them. We all left while the monks ate and went to change out of our wet clothes after the dousing with holy water and to get something to eat ourselves. After that I changed into my new TW khaki uniform complete with bloused spit-shined Corcoran jump boots, and Suenee changed into her wedding dress.

We returned to the main room after the monks had finished eating for more prayers. Four of the monks filed out after that, leaving only the senior monk. We knelt in front of him and waied. The white string that had been previously blessed was tied around both of our heads and the chief monk recited another prayer while pouring holy water over our hands. Suenee’s parents, family, and friends also poured holy water over our hands and then tied some white string around our wrists for good luck. The chief monk congratulated us and wished us good fortune before he left.

We all went to a photo studio following that for pictures. That afternoon we went to the Wat for a time to pray and make merit. That evening we had the wedding party at a local restaurant. By the time we got back to her parent’s house, it was around 2200 hrs. and we were all worn out. There wasn’t any sex to celebrate our wedding that night. Suenee and I slept like logs after finishing our turn showering. We weren’t aware of anything again until awakening at around 0730 the next morning.

We had joined her parents for a light breakfast when Suenee put a napkin to her mouth and hurried out of the house. Her mother quickly followed her out. Both her father and I sat there in surprise.

The two women returned shortly. Suenee looked ill at ease and her mother was frowning. Suenee came over to me and I took her in my arms and kissed her cheek. Her mother said something to Suenee’s father in very sharp tones.

“Bill, I’m pregnant,” Suenee told me very softly. “My amulet has told me that it happened the last time we made love at the camp.” I was shocked. I wasn’t really prepared for this. Of course we had had a lot of sex, but a baby? Suenee saw the look on my face.

“Are you upset?” she asked, quietly.

“Me ... no! Just a little surprised,” I told her before I kissed her long and hard. Suenee blushed at being kissed in front of her parents.

Suenee’s father said something to her in Thai and she answered him very softly. He rose and came around the table to shake my hand with a large smile. Everyone relaxed after that and after a time Suenee was able to get a little fruit juice down and keep it down.

The entire family returned before we left that afternoon. Suenee’s sisters were smiling at us, but her mother still had a stern look on her face. When we got back to our house, we just collapsed. I was still getting used to the prospect of being a father and Suenee was a little tired. Later the laundry woman returned our cleaned clothes and picked up the soiled ones to be cleaned.

We ate at home that night and spent a lot of time just holding each other and kissing. At bedtime, I wasn’t sure what to do, but Suenee cuddled up to me and after a time pulled me over on top of herself.

“Are you sure about this?” I asked.

“Yes,” she answered with a big smile. “It’s not a problem. We can make love up until the last day or so before I deliver the baby.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes, my amulet has assured me that it is all right.”

I was fired up that night just knowing that my sweet wife already had a new life started in her belly and we both came powerfully after a short time.

I repacked my military clothing over the weekend and we did some shopping. We spent a lot of time together just holding each other and talking about inconsequential things. My leave was coming to an end. It was the end of September and I would need to report in to my new unit on Tuesday. Both of us were nervous about that as the new unit was an unknown.

Tuesday morning I was up early and dressed in my new TWs with bloused Corcoran jump boots. I had gotten a hair cut with a neck and shoulder massage from a local barber the day before, and I looked sharp. I got a taxi at 0815 hrs and went to JUSMAG. There wasn’t any problem getting in in my uniform, and I went directly to the office of the J-2. The clerk didn’t recognize me when I entered.

“Can I help you, Sergeant?” he asked.

“Yes, I came to retrieve my radio,” I told him.

“Oh, you’re Baker!” he said, noting my plastic name-tag. “You sure look different in TWs.”

“It’s still the same old me,” I assured him.

“It will take a few minutes,” he told me. “I have to get someone to open the vault.” He spoke to someone on the phone and a little later a large SFC wheeled in the shipping container on its hand truck.

“This yours?” he asked in a questioning voice.

“Yes,” I answered, “that’s my radio.”

“Radio?” he asked, “Classified?”

“Yes, to both questions,” I answered.

“Well, Sergeant. I see that you made it back,” a voice said from behind us. I turned to see LTC Hopkins there behind me.

“Yes, sir,” I answered.

“Good. Do you have transportation to Seri Court?” he asked.

“No, sir. I was going to just get a civilian truck,” I answered.

“No, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he said with a smile, and turned to his clerk.

“Henry, call the motor pool and get a truck to move a classified package,” he directed. The clerk had been filling out the paperwork on the radio for me to sign. He picked up the phone and made the call.

“It will be about fifteen minutes, sir,” he said, as he hung up the phone.

“Thank you, Henry,” the Colonel said and turned back to me.

“Did you have a good leave, Sergeant?” he asked.

“Yes, sir. I got a house and got married. It was an excellent leave.”

“Married?” the Colonel asked in surprise.

“Yes, sir. To the young lady that I met in Cambodia before I went out to the camp. She joined me there a few days later. The Colonel commanding Thai Special Forces in that area brought her out in his helicopter.”

“The TSF Colonel?” he asked in shock.

“Yes, sir. Her uncle is the Commander of the Road Police in Rotanah Kiri Province. I think the Colonel owed him a favor.”

“Well, you certainly seem to be well connected, Sergeant,” the Colonel said. “What is this young lady’s name?” he asked out of curiosity.

“Her name is Suenee Sa. Her father used to work for the government,” I explained.

“Really? What is her father’s name?” he inquired. I gave him Suenee’s father’s name. The Colonel turned a little pale on hearing it.

“Yes!” he said after a short silence, “He definitely used to work for the government, as you said.” It appeared that he knew the man’s name, but he didn’t say anything further.

“Would you mind if I had a look at your Security Clearance, Sergeant?” Colonel Hopkins asked after that changing the subject. I had my records there with me and he examined the copy of my security clearance in my 201 file.

“Thank you, Sergeant,” was all that he said when he was finished.

The truck arrived shortly after that and we all managed to get the shipping container into the back of the truck. I saluted the Colonel, who had supervised, before getting into the cab.

“Where to?” the driver asked, as I got seated.

“83rd RRSOU,” I told him.

“They are always getting classified stuff,” the driver remarked, as we started out of the compound. The drive back across town to the 83rd was pretty uneventful. Well, considering that it was Bangkok, it was. The driver was very good and managed to avoid all of the motorcycles and tuk tuks that kept jumping in front of us.

Arriving at Seri Court, we turned down the long entrance road, past the guard shack and mess hall and then went through the passage under the building that straddled the entryway, finally stopping in the courtyard. There was a swimming pool and tennis court over on one side.

“Their S-2 is in the Headquarters building on the end,” the driver told me.

There were several men playing basketball there in the heat of the courtyard and the driver shouted over to them.

“Hey, how about giving us a hand?” he asked. Several of the men came over and looked at the truck and us.

“You just coming in, Sarge?” one asked.

“Yes, I’m reporting in today.”

“What you got in the truck?”

“A classified container.”

“Really?” several of them asked.

“Yes, we could use a hand getting it out. It weighs 300 pounds.”

“Damn,” several said. We managed to get the container out of the truck and on to the hand truck.

“You going to the S-2 with that?” the original questioner asked.

“Yes,”

“I’ll show you the way,” he volunteered.

“Thanks.”

“I’m Short Round,” he said by way of introduction.

“Bill Baker,” I told him.

It turned out that the S-2 was on the second floor, but the vault, such as it was, was on the ground floor.

“You’ll never get that thing up those stairs,” Short Round told me. “Go up to the S-1 and sign in. I’ll watch this thing. Then you can get the S-2 to come down and open the vault.” I looked at the vault questioningly. I think the S-2 in Ban Lung had been more secure.

“OK,” I agreed, reluctantly. Upstairs, I went to the S-1 and reported in. They took my personnel and pay records.

“You need to take your security clearance over to the S-2 so he can file it,” the buck sergeant in S-1 told me.