lord of the land | wimon sainimnuan by marcel barang

lord of the land WIMON SAINIMNUAN

lord of the land TRANSLATED FROM THE THAI BY MARCEL BARANG

WIMON SAINIMNUAN | LORD OF THE LAND

1 For three days now the sky had been dark with rain clouds. There had been no sign of rain when the strangers had come to see Kharm, medium of the Khoak Phranang district, but now, at past two in the morning, it was more humid by the hour. There was no wind. Leaves didn’t stir. Even the chickens didn’t sleep. In the darkness of night, the headlights of a car swept the road leading to the district temple. Just past the big banyan tree, the car reduced speed then turned into a narrow shortcut to the left. ‘There, that’s the banyan tree where the spirit lives,’ said the sixty-year-old monk. ‘It looks mysterious,’ replied the much younger car driver. ‘That’s why people believe there’s something sacred about it I suppose.’ ‘What about you, Father? Do you believe in it too?’ The monk was quiet, searching for an enlightened answer for himself, which once again proved to be elusive. ‘Hard to say… What about you, Kamhaeng?’ ‘I think it depends on what people believe. If they believe there’s a spirit, then there is. If not, there isn’t.’ ‘But is it true?’ the monk asked. Kamhaeng was quiet, thinking of an answer, but felt that the world was too ambiguous to allow for any certainty. ‘I’m not from here. I don’t know much besides what you’ve told me, so I don’t know what to say. It doesn’t hurt to LORD OF THE LAND | WIMON SAINIMNUAN

4 believe there is a spirit,’ he answered, initially to agree with what he thought was the monk’s point of view, but then added: ‘If we don’t interfere with what others believe, there’s no harm done, is there?’ The monk stifled a sigh and mumbled almost to himself, ‘I’m not sure about that at all.’ ‘Why not?’ ‘Even if we don’t interfere with what others believe, in my personal experience it isn’t for sure that there’s no harm done.’ The driver laughed dismissively. ‘Maybe you’re right, Father. Sometimes doing nothing brings trouble. Believing or not believing isn’t important, what’s important is to behave like most people do, and take advantage of the situation as best you can. I think Kharm the medium is rather good at that sort of thing, don’t you think, Father?’ The monk, feeling increasingly annoyed, didn’t answer. The car drove on. As it reached the hillock where the banyan tree stood it had to stop because a strange creature emerged from the roadside and stood in front of the car as if it knew no one would dare harm it. ‘What’s that?’ the monk asked as he stared ahead. Kamhaeng peered ahead. ‘Looks like a monitor lizard to me,’ he answered. ‘They’re brave these days aren’t they?’ Kamhaeng gave a toot on his horn. The lizard lifted its head and flicked out its tongue in challenge. ‘Must be a sacred lizard if it’s not afraid of us!’ the monk said resentfully. Kamhaeng laughed, amused. ‘There’s such a thing as a sacred lizard?’ WIMON SAINIMNUAN | LORD OF THE LAND

5 ‘Why not? There are sacred snakes. Why not sacred lizards?’ ‘That’s the first I’ve heard about it,’ Kamhaeng said, laughing. ‘A medium raising lizards…’ ‘They’re the same thing I suppose.’ ‘But who’d kneel down to such a creature?’ ‘Kneel down or not, I see the medium is bloated with all sorts of offerings. Didn’t you notice it when you made an appointment for me?’ Kamhaeng smiled and said jokingly, ‘I reckon I’m a believer already. People in this district are like nobody else and nobody else is like them either.’ ‘They don’t know how to use their heads, this lot,’ the monk uttered. ‘Just use them to grow hair. They blindly believe anything, always ready to prostrate themselves, no matter what, even to a monitor lizard.’ ‘No harm done,’ Kamhaeng said genially. ‘Just hoping for some reward, some good luck, it’s worth it…’ ‘It’s the same with that damn medium! His mask must be torn away and he must be exposed,’ the monk said wrathfully, ‘otherwise he’ll keep on making himself fat by deceiving the village folks.’ The car drove by some warehouses and workers’ shacks, past huge cattle sheds and a wide expanse of lawn, and came to the thick concrete wall surrounding the medium’s house. The car headlights showed marble columns bearing on top the impressive inscription ‘Residence of Jao Phor Kharm’. ‘So he calls himself jao phor∗, now, does he?’ the monk remarked with a note of envy. ∗

Guardian spirit; also, very influential person of a district

LORD OF THE LAND | WIMON SAINIMNUAN

6 Kamhaeng didn’t want to interfere in personal matters. He drove through the gate and stopped the car on the concrete drive in front of the house. As soon as the engine stopped, the monk took a deep breath, looked up at the platform of the house and after a while said, ‘Let’s go.’ They stood in front of the car. Kamhaeng was a tall, lanky man of about thirty, with angular features and a two-inch scar at the corner of his mouth. He wore jeans, a t-shirt and a shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and shiny leather shoes. The monk was thickset but looked gaunt, his robes wound tight around him. They stood waiting for a man coming down from the house. The man was of medium build, with short hair and a t-shirt, kaki trousers and a belt with a police buckle. ‘Upstairs, please,’ he said. The visitors followed him. Before going up the stairs, they saw another man reclining in a rocking chair under the platform of the house, with one leg resting on a small bench. The space below the house was unlit, so it wasn’t possible to see whether he was asleep or awake, but his stillness and that of the rocking chair seemed to indicate the former. The monk felt he knew him and couldn’t help turning around. ‘You go on by yourself, Father, you can talk more freely,’ said Kamhaeng. ‘I have no secrets,’ Father Thongma answered. ‘Let me stretch my limbs for a while, I’ll join you later,’ Kamhaeng told him. The monk nodded, then turned to look at the young man in the rocking chair with curiosity just as the young man lit up a WIMON SAINIMNUAN | LORD OF THE LAND

7 match. In the glare he saw a dark sad face but still couldn’t place the man. The monk followed the other man upstairs, walked across the large outer balcony to an inner landing on the left. Here stood a set of mother-of-pearl sofas glittering under the candlelight. The monk was motioned to sit. Kamhaeng stood with his hands in his pockets at the bottom of the stairs and took in his impressive surroundings. He was amused by the fact that though the main house and its outer buildings were huge, the architect had jumbled them together without art. The residence itself was an ordinary house, except that it was big as a set of three houses put together with three levels of landings and a wide platform in the middle. The building that officiated as residence was in the utilitarian Thai Ayutthaya style: the columns weren’t tapering and were plastered in the Roman style. The floor was tiled in imitation marble. The outer reach of the residence and its buildings were decorated with intricate woodcarvings, but taken altogether they gave an impression of peace and cosiness. Kamhaeng was impressed that Kharm, a poor farmer, had been able to build himself such a powerful abode and subdue the people of Khoak Phranang district so completely. He looked at the young man sitting in the dark, then went up the stairs. The monk looked around him, awed by the size of the place and of its furnishings, which seemed to emit some kind of magical aura. It didn’t take him long to figure out that it was because most of the things in the room were dark; they LORD OF THE LAND | WIMON SAINIMNUAN

8 reflected the flickering flames of big candles, making a mysterious atmosphere. He thought of Kharm’s decrepit house before he was a medium. It had changed beyond recognition. In those days the roof and the walls were made of nipa palm leaves. Kharm hadn’t been a medium for a year when he had the roof tiled, the walls wood panelled, and a separate ritual room built. That was the last picture the monk had in his mind the day he had to make himself scarce from the district. Now he was back, he couldn’t believe his eyes: the walls of the house were made of teak encrusted in places with crystal decorations; crystal chandeliers and golden fans hung from the ceilings, and the floor was made of big boards of polished golden teak. The wall of the medium’s room made of smoked glass framed in gilt stood to the right, and had its own separate door. To the left was a teak wall with another door to the residence. The monk was drawn to the wide teak wall and a large oil painting of Kharm. He was dressed, in full Brahmin garb, with a crown of glinting jewels like a priest in a musical comedy, a double row of gold necklaces, and bracelets and anklets shaped as three great nagas. Hanging from a gold belt was a mobile phone and a walkie-talkie. His left hand rested on his waist, the right held a kuris. The painting proclaimed him as having absolute power from the guardian spirit of the banyan tree. The gold picture frame was made in the shape of snake heads and stood on a gilt stool with a set of sandal flower, candle and incense stick. The monk was awed again when he noticed the photographs covering the walls. They were pictures of the powerful of the WIMON SAINIMNUAN | LORD OF THE LAND

9 land, each in full regalia, from colonels to generals, police and military, high civil servants, politicians, wealthy businessmen, titled ladies and gentlemen in white palace dress. The monk forgot to breathe as he thought of Kharm’s influence and of the abasement of the people in the photographs. At the end of the inner landing was a cabinet displaying gold and silver ornaments. Next to it was the set of mother of pearl sofas on which he sat waiting for the medium. At the end of the landing on the opposite side there appeared to be a place for private relaxation set in an alcove with informal furnishings. Further along the wall was a teak and glass cabinet displaying dolls, ceramics and nielloware. He thought with resentment, ‘It must be Ka-long’s corner.’ Under the middle landing to the right there was a teak cabinet set against the wall full of a variety of medicine and drugs. On the outer landing was a large teak table with containers for medicine and bottles of consecrated water to distribute to guests. The vast outer landing was festooned with rows of vases holding flowers. The railings were made of teak. At the foot of all of the landing pillars were water coolers, spittoons and ash stands. Kamhaeng came in, sat next to the monk and said a few words while looking around to kill time. He wasn’t very impressed by the shiny magnificence of his surroundings. This was partly because he wasn’t involved in the affairs of Jao Phor Kharm or of the monk, besides being hired to make contacts to help the monk’s various businesses. He was very intrigued as to what was going to develop in the next few minutes. The secretary poured some tea for the guests. This done he said, ‘Wait a moment, please’ and then withdrew to go and sit in a corner of the landing. LORD OF THE LAND | WIMON SAINIMNUAN

10 Father Thongma was irritated by being asked to wait, even though he hadn’t been sitting for five minutes. The large teak door opened. The monk shifted in his seat. When he saw a woman standing majestically in the doorway, he held his breath. Ka-long smiled a sweet smile. He couldn’t believe his eyes: how could Ka-long be so beautiful? Her skin was flushed like a blossoming gardenia bud, her shiny dark hair and eyes told of perfect health. Her clothes were of the latest fashion and cut with care. Even a cursory look showed that her jewels were authentic and expensive. There was nothing left of the Ka-long of old. She was like an exalted queen without peer anywhere. Father Thongma sighed, ill at ease at the thought of his life and that of his family. The past five years had only held hardship for him while people like Kharm amassed huge wealth. What a waste of time! Ka-long sat down with her legs folded to the side, bowed to the monk and sat demurely on the floor. Father Thongma was embarrassed by Ka-long’s excessive politeness. He asked her to sit on a chair, but she merely smiled. ‘How are you, Father? Kharm and I often talk about how we miss you.’ Her voice was warm, and the monk berated himself for being prejudiced against Kharm and Ka-long. He coughed softly out of discomfort. ‘I’m fine, but it’s not the same as being back home…’ Having said this, he introduced Kamhaeng. Ka-long raised her joined hands and humbly bowed to him. ‘When will you return among us, Father? Nongpha-nga and Auntie Paen never stop complaining about your absence.’ WIMON SAINIMNUAN | LORD OF THE LAND

11 Father Thongma suppressed a sigh and his face clouded over. ‘I’d like to return soon, Ka-long. To leave home like this without earning a living like everybody else… Besides, it’s making things difficult for me and for Kharm.’ ‘You mustn’t worry about that, Father. We’re like family. It’s expected that we help each other out.’ ‘You haven’t changed at all, Ka-long. When some people become wealthy they forget where they came from, but you are still willing to help your friends. You’ve got a heart of gold.’ Ka-long smiled. ‘Yes, that’s how I am, Father.’ The light in the glass room went on so it was brighter than the candlelit guest corner. A moment later the glass door slid open. The visitors watched the door for a while until they saw a broad, muscular man in Brahmin dress step out. The light in the room outlined his white robe. The man stood still so long that the visitors felt uneasy and it made the tense atmosphere more oppressive. The monk wanted to talk to ease the tension, but he reminded himself that he was the eldest and a monk, and it wouldn’t do to lose face and seniority by chattering. Kharm wanted to oppress and torment his visitors, so when he saw the monk’s unease, he moved forward majestically with a soft smile on his lips but a glint of mockery in his eyes. The monk saw his attitude and thought with disgust that it really looked like a scene from a cheap popular play. The monk’s anger increased as Kharm sat down majestically on the main settee. LORD OF THE LAND | WIMON SAINIMNUAN

12 Kharm didn’t bow to the monk, but addressed him informally. ‘It’s so late I thought you weren’t going to come, so I had a conversation with the spirit and the deities in heaven.’ Ka-long moved to Kharm’s side, opened his regular teapot and carefully poured out some tea in a cup then gracefully put the teapot down. The monk looked at the teacup and saucer. They were made of fine china with a gold rim to match the teapot and were probably part of the most expensive tea set he’d ever seen. ‘It’s no matter,’ the monk said, recovering from unease but still annoyed that Kharm had assumed they were of the same status. ‘It was a long trip, so the hours added up.’ Kharm ignored the monk and said, ‘How are you, Father? I haven’t seen you for five years; you look sturdy and stronger than ever.’ His conversation had become more formal and the monk felt Kharm spoke more like a town-dweller, except that his accent was still local. ‘So so,’ the monk said, looking at Kharm. ‘How can someone who has lost his home be compared with someone who still has means of subsistence?’ Then his voice turned cold. ‘You look incredibly well off these days.’ Kharm smiled faintly. ‘When there’s no big problem, one is reasonably happy, Father.’ ‘It’s said that you have a lot of merit,’ the monk added grudgingly. Kharm laughed loudly. His eyes sparkled with contempt. ‘The Lord says that good deeds beget good rewards. Isn’t that so, Father?’ WIMON SAINIMNUAN | LORD OF THE LAND

13 The monk looked at the glass door. ‘What about Paen and Nongpha-nga?’ ‘They are asleep.’ ‘Didn’t you tell them I was coming?’ ‘None of your people told us.’ He glanced at Kamhaeng. ‘But I think it’s better they don’t know, otherwise it would be difficult to talk business.’ ‘I’ve no business to speak of, except to ask what’s going on.’ ‘If you want your daughter and your wife to know you’re here, I’ll have them called.’ ‘Never mind. Let’s wait until I come to stay at the temple. It’s just as well, we can talk more freely.’ The monk sighed. ‘How are they anyway?’ Kharm took his teacup and reclined on the sofa, and said in an unemotional voice, ‘You entrusted them to me, so why wouldn’t I take care of their happiness? I’m thinking of ways to increase that happiness as it is…’ He gave a cunning smile, then lifted the cup and took a sip carefully. The monk thought it was good that he lifted his teacup himself because it was well known that he had so much power throughout the district that he didn’t have to lift a finger for himself at all. ‘Thank you for your kindness. I’ll never forget it.’ Kharm smiled softly, but his eyes glinted with contempt as he knew that Father Thongma spoke out of spite. ‘It’s really nothing, Father. No need to waste your time thinking about it.’ He put down the cup. ‘Rather let’s talk about your affairs.’ The monk sighed quietly. He didn’t want anybody to know LORD OF THE LAND | WIMON SAINIMNUAN

14 about his problems. ‘Have things here quietened down yet?’ ‘Yes, about a year after you left.’ The monk’s face seemed to relax. ‘Good, let bygones be bygones, I’ll go back to earning a living like the rest of us. Five years have gone by and I have nothing to show for them.’ Kharm wasn’t impressed by the monk’s sorrow, but said coldly, ‘When you left Mek’s relatives searched for you all over the place. I couldn’t help worrying whether you could get away from them, because at the time you were extremely ill-fated…’ ‘Why didn’t you ask the spirit if I’d be safe?’ Kharm cast a sideways glance at the monk. Those sharp eyes were annoyed. He could hear that Father Thongma was belittling him but he didn’t know if the monk still believed in the spirit as he used to, or maybe believed that the spirit of the banyan tree did exist but didn’t believe that it did actually enter his body. He took the cup, held it at chest level and looked at the steam coming out of it reflectively. ‘Of course I did. The spirit said your fate was sealed…’ ‘But I’ve been safe up to now,’ the monk said quickly. Kharm smiled coolly. ‘I knew you’d escape death, just as I knew you’d come back to see me here tonight.’ He stared at the monk belligerently. ‘Because the spirit told me to exorcise you. I had to send Nongpha-nga to get your old things and clothes for a seven-day and seven-night ceremony. It was a good thing you ran away in such a hurry you left your clothes behind.’ He took a sip of tea then went on speaking. ‘Auntie Paen told me you even forgot to take your trousers WIMON SAINIMNUAN | LORD OF THE LAND

15 with you. I’m not sure you’d have had the opportunity to return to your home village tonight… if I hadn’t had clothes to do the exorcism with.’ The monk’s face flushed with embarrassment but he managed to keep his outer calm. Only his eyes showed his growing anger. He changed the subject with a shaky voice: ‘And has the spirit told you if Mek’s relatives have stopped looking to revenge themselves yet?’ Kharm sighed and looked the monk in the face. ‘He has. They are no longer looking but they haven’t given up yet. If they learn you’re back, the old flames will be stirred up again, but the spirit has told me you will still have a lot of misfortune…’ ‘I’ve never been much trouble to anyone. Why don’t they give up once and for all?’ The monk’s voice was beginning to shake. ‘You have to ask yourself if you did make trouble.’ He carefully brought the cup to his lips. ‘Even if you didn’t, one of your people did, so it’s the same as if you did it.’ This time he cast a hard look at the monk. ‘This much we know already. But how can you get your head out of the noose?’ The monk forgot himself and sighed. ‘That’s why I became a monk.’ His voice was desperate. ‘What else do I have to do?’ Kharm smiled coldly, with mockery and pity in his eyes. He thought about provoking him further by saying, ‘Become a monk to get rid of sin or become a monk to have the yellow robes protect you?’ but he remained silent – silent until the monk felt uneasy and felt obliged to speak up. ‘Whatever the spirit orders me to do I’m willing to do it…’ He felt a tightening in his chest. Kharm looked away into the darkness as if he was directing LORD OF THE LAND | WIMON SAINIMNUAN

16 his consciousness toward the guardian spirit of the banyan tree, then asked in a vague voice, ‘Do you still believe in the existence of the spirit?’ The monk felt agitated. He would have liked to answer that he didn’t to please himself, but he was afraid Kharm wouldn’t protect him from Mek’s relatives. He answered unconvincingly: ‘Why wouldn’t I?’ Kharm turned to look him in the eye and asked with a deep, flat voice: ‘And do you still respect Him?’ The monk now broke into a sweat. He had to use all his self-control not to give his feelings away. He knew very well that respecting the ‘spirit’ meant respecting Kharm too. If he answered yes, he felt he’d lose face, especially in front of Kamhaeng, because he was always saying he didn’t believe in any spirit, but if he said he didn’t… he’d lose Kharm’s help; besides, it would be like declaring himself to be Kharm’s enemy face to face. What else was there to say? This was the second time he felt he had lost face and dignity. The first time was when he had to supplicate and bribe his way for the ‘spirit’ to help hide the reasons behind Mek’s death, only to have to disappear and live in exile for five years. ‘Of course I do, why shouldn’t I?’ His voice was hoarse. He felt bitterness in his heart. Kharm wasn’t satisfied with this evasive answer. He intensified his eyes and his questions. ‘Do you really respect Him or not?’ The monk knew that Kharm was talking about himself. The monk was furious and confused. He felt as if a giant pair of pliers was compressing his body and he was unable to free himself. WIMON SAINIMNUAN | LORD OF THE LAND

17 Kamhaeng turned to look at the monk until the monk turned to look at him briefly and he could see the monk’s tired eyes were dark red with resentment and anger. He was afraid the monk would loose control and ruin all his efforts at good behaviour. Father Thongma swallowed hard the block of bitterness in his chest. One day the tide would turn for him… He said with desperation, ‘I think of Him all the time, I beg Him to protect me and my family. If I am alive and safe today it’s thanks to His protection.’ Kharm stretched out on the sofa and took his teacup. ‘This requires the utmost sincerity, Father,’ he said with a kind voice. ‘But all right, I think you’re upset, so your heart is a bit confused.’ He cast a glance at the monk. ‘But don’t be confused for too long, the spirit doesn’t like it…’ Then he turned to face the monk in full, a soft smile on his lips, his eyes glinting. The monk was angry at being threatened in front of someone else and embarrassed to be accused of being insincere regarding the spirit. ‘I dare not speak idly about the spirit. When I say I respect Him, I respect Him, and I have respected Him for as long as you yourself know.’ ‘It’s because I know well enough that I have to ask.’ ‘Maybe you don’t believe it today, but one day you will,’ replied the monk. ‘When I come back here.’ Ka-long sat on her heels to pour more tea for Kharm. ‘I’ve already asked the spirit about your coming back here,’ Kharm said briskly. He frowned and looked reluctant to talk about the subject, all the while knowing that the monk was desperate for more information despite his fury. ‘The spirit LORD OF THE LAND | WIMON SAINIMNUAN

18 said your misfortune isn’t over.’ He tilted his head to look at him. ‘Your fate is in the balance.’ ‘What should I do?’ The monk kept his voice under control, but he looked agitated. ‘To make things better?’ ‘Your wife and daughter have bad fates too. That’s why it’s all so uncertain. If you don’t come back, everybody will remain safe until the misfortune is over, but if you return your bad fate will add to theirs.’ ‘Isn’t there a way to alleviate the misfortune?’ ‘There is.’ Kharm blew softly over the tea. ‘You have to stay away from Khoak Phranang for a while, or you must have the whole family exorcised.’ ‘I am a monk, how can I be exorcised like an ordinary person?’ Kharm raised an eyebrow and stared at him intensely. ‘Ordinary person?’ The monk’s face fell. He felt exasperated. You scum, do you think you’re a god? ... ‘I’m a monk. To be exorcised like a villager would be obscene.’ ‘Suit yourself,’ Kharm said dismissively. ‘It’s your life, and that of your wife and daughter. That’s all I can do to help.’ The monk felt powerless so he said stubbornly, ‘Even if the spirit says my fate is bad, I won’t be on the run any longer, no matter what the consequences.’ ‘If you are so confident about what you want to do, why do you seek the spirit’s opinion?’ The monk was taken aback a little. ‘I’d like to know what’s going to happen so I can take precautions.’ ‘And if something bad does happen?’ ‘Then I’ll have my yellow robes to protect me.’ WIMON SAINIMNUAN | LORD OF THE LAND

19 Kharm laughed. ‘You think your robes will keep you safe?’ The monk stared at him. ‘If the Lord can’t protect me, too bad, then it’ll be my fate.’ ‘It’s up to what you believe – the Lord or the spirit.’ The monk broke into a sweat. He didn’t answer directly. ‘Today I came to see the spirit to know if I have ill-luck.’ His voice softened. ‘And to ask Him to help protect me too. Tomorrow I’ll go to the Khoak Phranang temple to ask Abbot Nian for permission to stay there.’ The monk said his goodbyes then stood up. Kharm asked, ‘You mean to say you won’t leave Khoak Phranang and you won’t let the spirit exorcise you?’ The monk knew that this really meant ‘you won’t allow yourself to be under the power of the spirit.’ He answered carefully, ‘Thank you for your concern, but the yellow robes should protect me.’ ‘Up to you, Father. Be careful, that’s all. If something happens, the spirit won’t help you any more.’ The monk stepped out. Kamhaeng raised his joined hands and bowed slightly to Kharm and Ka-long while taking his leave. Kharm stayed seated. He looked at his visitors with a secret glint in his eyes.

LORD OF THE LAND | WIMON SAINIMNUAN

2 Kharm woke up before dawn as he had done for years. He took a shower and changed into informal white robes then came out on the outer landing to look at the river. He no longer desired Pha-yia as he had in the past, before he was the medium of the guardian spirit of the banyan tree. Instead he looked at the river out of habit and a satisfying sense of power. His only concerns were about the land transactions he had to make to make his domain larger than anyone else’s, especially that of the Khoak Phranang temple. His only other concerns were with his women, but he had taken care of them. Pha-yia was happy in her own house; she came back to his house three days a week, when she had to help the staff on the days when the medium sat in trances. The rest of the time she disappeared from the village, and told the neighbours that she stayed with relatives in town as she felt too lonely at home and it made her think of Mek. Nobody was suspicious or paid much attention to her. Kharm seemed to pay no attention. Only Ka-long kept an eye on the couple’s goings-on, but she couldn’t find clear evidence of where Kharm or Pha-yia disappeared to. Following Kharm everywhere he went for business was far less attractive than the gifts he gave her. Neither Pha-yia nor Ka-long were in his thoughts. Only Nongpha-nga was there all the time. For five years he had taken care of her and her mother and allowed them to live in the house in the garden as if it was WIMON SAINIMNUAN | LORD OF THE LAND

21 their own. He looked after them as if they were close family members hoping that Nongpha-nga would turn towards him with her own heart and not through the power or trickery he had used with so many other women. Another woman he was concerned about was Fa-sai, Grandma Mian’s granddaughter. She was now a young woman, with the flushed complexion of a budding flower, an attractive face with an expression of sorrow hidden deep down and good manners that made her look still like a river at dusk. Kharm felt he could feel the heat in her blood and so he played a deeply erotic game with her. He would touch her gently as if there was no sexual feeling involved and she behaved as if she didn’t feel his desire. Cock crows spaced themselves out with the first rays of dawn in the east. The morning wind carried the smell of the flowers planted around the house. Kharm took deep breaths with a feeling of happiness. Everything, property, money, people, was securely in his control and would get stronger and greater. At this point, an image of Father Thongma appeared in his thoughts. Kharm knew that if Thongma left the monkhood, he’d take Nongpha-nga back home and his dream of possessing her would be interrupted. Kharm turned around and walked across the landing, telling himself that he could no longer wait for Nongpha-nga to love him: he had to sweep her off her feet before it was too late. Kharm went to sit on his personal sofa, opened the teapot, poured himself a cup and watched the steam rising from it. Then he raised the cup and blew softly, and looked at the waving steam with cunning eyes. He sipped daintily on the tea as if it were ambrosia. LORD OF THE LAND | WIMON SAINIMNUAN

22 ‘There’s nothing in the world that I want that I can’t have…’ His walkie-talkie rang. He stretched out to take it then reclined on the sofa with contentment. ‘Yes?’ ‘It’s ready, Jao Phor.’ ‘Good. I’ll be right down.’ He went on sipping his tea as if the world had to stop revolving to wait for him until only half of the cup was left. He then took the walkie-talkie and stepped out. Kharm’s majestic body had come down the stairs, but the young man with dark features still sat motionless in the rocking chair below the house, with one leg stretched out onto the same wooden bench. His eyes were half closed, his face expressionless, but closer examination would have revealed a deep scar hidden in the depths of his eyes. It was a scar of bitterness and resentment which he tried to come to terms with quietly, to keep on being alive, even though the time that had passed had no meaning for him. Kharm walked over to the waiting LandRover. He didn’t even glance at the man in the rocking chair but saw him as clearly as if he had looked at him, even when the man in the rocking chair stood up and limped towards him. The young man with the police buckle on his belt opened the door for Kharm to sit up front then went around the car to open the door on the driver’s side, while the man in the rocking chair opened the door and sat in the back. The big-wheeled pickup left the driveway without anyone saying a word. Kharm loved all the cars he had. He had two Mercedes he used to go into town on business. The two pickups and the WIMON SAINIMNUAN | LORD OF THE LAND

23 two LandRovers were for driving through rough terrain. There were also the pickups the workers used to herd the nearly one thousand head of cattle. The car followed the driveway between two stretches of grass. On the banyan tree hillock side were all kinds of mango trees with lines of jackfruit and love apple trees to as far as the eye could see. These trees brought in steady income and provided shade to the cattle. On the left side were huge stables flanked by huts on high stilts that were the workersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; homes. Beyond the stables were the warehouses that housed tractors, ploughs and old-fashioned agricultural implements kept for nostalgia as were the thousand head of cattle he had bought from the villagers. He was happy with everything he owned. Next to the warehouses to across from the banyan tree hillock were horsesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; stables built by an enclosure of shiny green grass. The car went up to the stables in front of which three men stood holding the reins of three horses. Kharm opened the door himself at the same time as Somchart. Lek eased himself out of the car a little awkwardly then stood behind Kharm, level with Somchart. Kharm strode up to the three grooms, followed by Somchart and Lek. They all had walkie-talkies on their belts, including the three men holding the horses. The man holding the reins of the big, black glistening horse in the middle held out the reins to Kharm, who mounted deftly and waited for his two lieutenants. Somchart and Lek took the reins and got up. Then Kharm moved his horse off at a trot and took the lead. The three horses trotted out on the grassy mound, across LORD OF THE LAND | WIMON SAINIMNUAN

24 the tarred shortcut between the main road and the entrance to the Khoak Phranang temple and then followed a narrow dirt track leading to a village in the middle of the fields. On the left side were the fields of more than ten villagers; on the right side was his land which consisted of a stretch of five thousand rai∗ of lush grass going all the way down to the village in the fields. Kharm entered his field and trotted parallel to the dirt track. The big red ball of the sun was emerging from behind the village roofs. The morning mist made the sunlight soft. Slews of birds flew across the meadow in the direction of the sun. Kharm felt irritated that a village of more than a hundred houses stood in the view of the distant dark-blue mountain. He had wanted to ‘wipe out’ the village for three or four years now so it didn’t obstruct the view and to add the five hundred rai of land that bordered the canal to his own, but the villagers wouldn’t sell, however much money he offered them. His annoyance was intense. If he could remove the village, his land would stretch across the canal where he had bought more than another two thousand rai. The price of the land would be greatly increased because it would be suitable to turn into a golf course or a town development. A dozen people from Bangkok and some Japanese had contacted him over the years to buy his land, each time with a better offer, but he was still unwilling to sell until he had the villagers’ land and was able to call his own price. He had tried to have his people – Ka-long, Grandma Mian, Grandpa Pan – pressure Khampliu, the village headman, to ∗

1 rai = 1600 square metres or 0.16 ha of land

WIMON SAINIMNUAN | LORD OF THE LAND

25 sell but it had been in vain. Each time he failed his frustration increased. He wanted to frighten the villagers by having the spirit proclaim that that land was inauspicious, as he had done with others, but couldn’t because none of the villagers there came to see the spirit. This was another reason why Kharm was indignant. He had declared to his people, ‘These folk do not believe in me, do not believe in the spirit. One day the whole village will go to ruin. Just you wait and see.’ But he wasn’t about to give up. He was always trying to find ways to force them to sell. He had thought of closing the dirt track linking the main road to the village in the fields, but he couldn’t buy the land across from his own, even though he had offered three times the going rate. If he could buy just one plot, even a small one, he’d be able to close the track and not only the villagers in the fields but also those farther out would be forced to sell because they would no longer have a way in or out of the village. When that day came he would own the land on both sides of the canal, all the way to the blue mountain range over there… He would build a bridge over the canal, to link both sides of his land… He would ride his horse right across as far as the horizon to proclaim his authority over the land and the sky, shouting out ‘I am the Lord of the Land.’ The sun kept on rising, its dark red clearing; the mist grew thin; the green of the land turned more vivid. Kharm turned his eyes towards the village in the fields and put his horse into a gallop. His bodyguards followed suit and the three horses galloped into the sun. ...

LORD OF THE LAND | WIMON SAINIMNUAN

26 Lord of the land completes Wimon Sainimnuan’s master‐ ful quartet Khoak Phranang that pits fraudulent practi‐ tioners of religion and magic against one another to bet‐ ter exploit popular credulity. Wimon, born 1958, is a foremost, if controversial, Buddhism‐inspired Thai nov‐ elist and short story writer. Through his punchy writings, he pursues a double reflection on the nature of the indiv‐ idual and the social forces that mould and maim it. His novel on cloning, Immortal, won him the SEA Write Award in the year 2000. All of these novels are available in English on thaifiction.com only. Snakes The medium Khoak Phra Nang Lord of the land

WIMON SAINIMNUAN | LORD OF THE LAND