As he began to walk, he loosened his tie and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his already drenched handkerchief. Two children rode slowly past him on a buffalo.the animal glistened in the heat as it climbed out of the small canal. The two children stared at him from beneath their broad-brimmed straw hats.
A large truck loaded with Thai workers sped by. One,pointed to warren and yelled the only. English word he knew. " you " they all laughed and waved.
Warren wearily waved but he did not smiled. He walked on and on untill he came to a small village on the bank of,a canal. He was very thirsty and wanted to have a drink. He tried to find a shop where he could buy something to drink. He saw a small vegetable shop with the faded coco cola sign. As he walked along the narrow path to the shop, he heard a soft murmur: "Farang , Farang" which meant "European"
Three small school children stared at him as he entered the shop. Somewhere-haired woman whispered to another woman about 40,whom warren guessed to be the owner of the shop. No men were present. The younger woman spoke to him in Thai. He smailed and pointed to the sign:"coke",he said, "cola".
"Ah,cola", they remarked to each other, stressing the second syllable of the word. The woman smiling opened a bottle while the old woman brought a straw and pointed to a small wooden stool. Warren sat smiling at the steering children. He turned to watch the Thais paddle their small boats upstream and downstream. Some stopped at the shop to buy or sell vegetables. All would talk about the "Farang" at the shop.