The laterite road with a mad dog; a short story by Ussiri Thammachot

Two men lose control of their lives. A horny man who can't get anything done with his younger wife falls into a deep hole. The other is an alcoholic who wants to get money through his son for his drink and goes through life drooling like a rabid dog. 

The scorching heat of the sun scorches the narrow clay road that leads to the village. The bushes along the road droop in the heat; their leaves are so heavy with red dust that they do not move in the wind. The sun climbs high in the cloudless sky. Its hot rays lash the laterite road where no man or beast can be seen on this summer afternoon.

Ahead, where the road slopes down a small hill, something moves. If you look closely you will see that it is an animal with four legs that is walking towards the village. It is a dark brown dog, a bone warehouse and covered in red, dry dust. An invisible force terrifies the animal because it walks at a steady speed and does not seem to tire. The eyes are wide open and empty; they stare like the eyes of an aimless and miserable human being.

In a cottage along the clay road, such a simple and unfinished cottage as villagers have, a thin old man looks fiercely at his young wife. More gray than black spiky hair on his head. It happens to be standing upright, catching the little sunlight that streams in through the slits in the bamboo walls. His pitiful frame is barely bigger than the checkered sarong he usually wears around the house.

Does she have another guy? His suspicion grows as he looks at his young wife sitting up in bed. Although she bore him two children, he cannot control his jealousy. After all, no guy in town would refuse her luscious body if it were offered to him. Maybe she did? Lately she never felt like making love to him.

'What is going on? The kids aren't home.' he says, trying to hide the anger in his voice. 'I'm done with it. It takes you so long.' and she begins to open the shutters. 'What do you expect then? I am no longer a young man. And leave those shutters closed!' he says menacingly.

'Then act like an old man! she objects. 'Why do you want it during the day? It's fucking hot!' "Hello," he yells at her. 'It hasn't always been this way! Who have you been rampaging with so that you've had enough of me now? I'll kill you if I catch you!'

He jabs his finger against her face and leaps around her in a fit of rage. 'You're crazy! The sex has driven you crazy!' she screams, bracing herself as he attacks her. A hard push against his bony chest rocks him. But then he smacks her mouth with the back of his hand. The blow is so hard that she falls back on the bed. She feels her bleeding lips as he stands menacingly over her.

'You can do this, can't you? However?' mocks them at him. Her full breasts protrude from under the phanung which she wears. When she looks at his clumsy and bone-thin body, she thinks of that day long ago when she went for him, and left her father's house to live with him in his little house on the laterite road. He was handsome and strong as an elephant. His bedwork was strong, yet soft; as soft as a caress of the wind and as hard as a rock.

But his bed work is not much more…

It's all weakened in the years since. His sex life has lasted longer than hers – much longer. The bedwork is now worn out and worn out; he has no control over it anymore. He has become a different man; sickly, full of greed and jealousy. This condition is tormenting and unbearable for her. "You've lost your mind," she says bitterly. 'Of course; crazy! You unfaithful bitch!' he yells, his hands reaching for her throat.

She throws herself at him with such unexpected force that it slams him against the bamboo wall. She hears him cursing and ranting as she flees out the door. The young woman runs to the laterite road; with one hand she holds the knot of the phanung above her chest, and with the other hand she pulls it above her knees. She looks around and sees him walking right behind her. She is just about to cross the road to the rice field on the other side when she hears him screaming in panic.

'Mad dog! stop, stop! Don't cross the road! That dog has rabies!' She stops and feels her legs grow heavy as lead. Got to sit in the red dust by the roadside. The deathly thin dog, covered in red dust, passes in front of her. The animal looks at her with hollow eyes, growls, and continues straight on along the empty road at the same speed. The tail hangs stiffly between the hind legs.

She sits on the floor like a pile of misery and sobs with fear and anger. "That dog has rabies!" He stands behind her. "Luckily he didn't bite you." Still out of breath he touches her bare shoulder and says slowly 'If it bit you you would die just like Phan did last year. Remember how he whimpered and howled like a dog before he died? Come on, let's go home, I'm not angry anymore.'

On the bed, in the dim light of the shuttered house, the older man labors over his wife's body. Again and again he tries to regain the virility of his youth. It's starting to feel like climbing a steep hill for him with aching legs that don't want to go anymore. The young woman just lets him move without expecting anything. She knows that it is in vain if a miracle does not happen. In that little light that penetrates the house, she sees the sweat on his wrinkled face. Their breathing, his and hers, is louder than the wind outside.

She looks into his eyes. They stare aimlessly, empty but full of pain – like the eyes of the mad dog. She thinks of the dog that ran past her on the laterite road.

The alcoholic

The thin dog, covered in dust, walks along the road to the village. The sun is now above the mountains and the heat has subsided somewhat. The dog walks past lawns and bushes whose branches hang down through the thick layer of red dust from the laterite. Slows down now, passing roadside houses and barns that seem paralyzed in the oppressive heat of a summer afternoon. The dog howls in pain; breathing is audible. Sticky mucus drips from stiff jaws.

The little boy sees his father nervously searching the shelves and then asks, "What are you looking for?" The father immediately turns around. 'Looking for mom's money? They're not there," says the boy. 'How do you know that? Did she take everything?' asks the father who continues the quick search. The boy laughs and enjoys it.

“No, she put it somewhere. She says otherwise you take it off the shelf to buy booze.' 'Yes yes, so you know that!' Father bends to his son and smiles sweetly at him. "Come on, tell me where she put it." The boy looks at his father, whose breath smells of alcohol, and shakes his head in response to his pleading eyes.

'Come on, when your mother comes home she'll give it to me anyway. Tell me where it is.' 'No!' "You're stubborn, just like your mother." Father turns nervously, not knowing where to look next. Then his eye falls on an old photo against the wall. The photo is in an old yellow frame and has meant nothing to him for a long time. But now he takes a closer look at the photo.

It's a shot of him and his wife standing in front of a studio backdrop: a clear blue sea with a sailboat and mountains in the background. Painted palm trees full of coconuts. He looks at it and laughs to himself: the newly married couple and their dream! A cardboard wall with sea, sailboat and coconut trees. Their dreams of seeing a white beach and a wild sea, or breathing the air by an endless river, or enjoying other people laughing and playing…

For a moment he laughs in his gloomy existence. How crazy we were then! Now we know that we will never see the sea, not even in ten lives to come…. He suddenly becomes nauseated. Walks to that picture but the observant boy is faster. He jumps forward and pulls a white envelope from behind the frame.

"Hey, let's see how much is in it," shouts the defiant father. "That's none of your business, is it?" "Mother makes me watch it!" 'I don't take everything, just a drink. You get it back right away.' 'No!' and the boy steps aside to the door. 'You'll be punished if you don't give it to me' he rants and tries to block the door with his arm. He is already thinking about the taste of his drink. But the boy darts out with father on his heels.

The village is already close there on the laterite road. The child darts up the road in front of the skinny dog ​​covered in red dust and walking towards the village. The son pays no attention to the dog's growling and continues on his way. Nor does he hear his father's grim exclamation. 'Hey, stop! That dog is crazy!' The boy doesn't even look back.

The father breathes a sigh of relief when his son gets past that dog safely. He remembers the heartbreaking death of Phan, his neighbour, whom he watched die after being bitten by a mad dog. He gets goosebumps from fear and horror. Crazy dogs! Nasty, dangerous beasts that everyone should avoid. There goes that dog; he breathes hard and whines. Fat slime drips from his stiff mouth.

He feels sick again, wave after wave comes down his throat. It is the desire for the clear drink that banishes everything else from his mind. The boy has already passed the rice fields. He runs after him, cursing with anger. But this running on a rough, scorched road along with his alcohol addiction and his desire for that white drop makes his jaws stiffen.

As he chases his son for the money, mucus drips from his mouth and his swollen tongue hangs out. His breathing gets louder and louder and he starts to emit heavy, animal sounds - just like the beast that has now disappeared from sight. 

The sun is now sinking lower and lower and is no longer visible behind the mountains. The last copper rays fill the sky to the west. The laterite road through the village appears dark against the glow of the sunset.

At this late hour, the skinny brown dog covered in dry red dust walks the laterite road in the village. And falls. Dead. Red dust sticks to the mucus from its mouth, the corpse stiffens, the eyes are open and the swollen tongue is between the jaws.

The sun sinks behind the mountains. The copper color in the sky disappears. All visible things become shadows in the twilight. Dogs, people and the laterite way - they finally dissolve into the night.

-The-

Source: The South East Asia Write Anthology of Thai Short Stories and Poems. An anthology of award-winning short stories and poems. Silkworm Books, Thailand.

The English title of this story is 'On the route of the rabid dog'. Translated and edited by Erik Kuijpers. About the author, see the explanation by Tino Kuis in this blog: https://www.thailandblog.nl/cultuur/schemering-op-waterweg/  

This blog also includes: 'A deadly duel for the landlord' and 'Phi Hae and the love letters'.