The Water (Songkran) Festival, and Belle
I updated my Facebook status to the following, “Living with a Laos family during Songkran has opened my eyes to their culture. The behavior of young adults here is the most surprising,” and was asked to give an example by a friend. Here it is:
There’s this girl named Belle. Although she doesn’t know it, her name is appropriate for her looks. Wherever she goes, there are men – young and old – who’d love to have her. She’s known this ever since she’s developed a woman’s figure. The attention has helped her overcome the lack of it from her own family. She likes to dance and often is at the center stage. If she isn’t at the time, she will be. She’ll move the crate of beer from the sidewalk to the middle of the street and dance there – all while splashing water onto herself from the hose she holds so familiarly in her wet palms. She’ll also be groped by a family friend who’s a married man of 19 with his wife looking on. At the peak of everybody’s drunkenness, Belle prowls the streets. She walks to one end of the street, turns around, and then back again. She’s looking for something. She finally comes to a stop at a dark alleyway, enters and only reappear after 20 or so minutes. There’s some doubt about what Belle was doing in the dark alley as it could have been a coincidence that she came out of it with two young boys of her age or a couple of years younger. It could also have been a coincidence that one of the two boys was adjusting his zipper as he was coming out and that Belle, herself, was holding what seemed to be her belt. As she walks back towards our table, our eyes met and we exchanged smiles. My smile slowly fades away as I realize her smile would become a wink in a couple of years and then maybe traded for something else beyond that. But like I said, it wasn’t clear what happened in that alley.
She’s walked passed me now, sitting on a motorbike facing towards our table. She has an almost dejected look on her face. She’s swinging her belt around and one of her friends come by to talk to her. No smiles between them. Then I realize she’s holding a strong looking stick that would make a good weapon. Was she holding it when she came out of the alley? I don’t know. What I do know is that when it was time for bed, she disappeared into the night like she did in the alley – this time up the stairs of the same building as the married man from before. It could be another coincidence that they were family friends.
