"Shut up!" she playfully snapped at Phil first. "Let's go in already."
Pulling her top down, she took hold of Mali's hand as Phil pushed the door open. Inside was very typical of a small private tattoo parlor. In the back corner, Jess heard the sound of the artist doing something loud. As they reached the back, Mali's eyes grew big and she gripped Jess' hand harder.
"It's okay. I got you," she reassured to Mali. Jess rubbed her arm as they stopped before the tattoo artist.
"Hello?" Phil asked loudly taking a stop in front of Jess.
"Be with ya in a moment," the tattoo artist replied swiftly. His attention was solely on the young male seated in the seat. A very young man… a child no less, Jess' mind screamed.
"Excuse me," started Phil again. Stu and Alan were staring at the tattoo artist with demanding interest while Jess took the spare seat by the man. Finally, the tattoo artist looked up at them a moment later.
"Oh look who it is!" he said with a smile to Stu. "And you? So what do you two think?"
"What? I'm sorry?" asked Stu concerned.
"The tattoos?" he repeated to him. "You love it?"
Stu shook his head and answered truthfully. "Ahh… no actually I hate it."
"Well that's your view. You Princess? You demanded those letters," he asked turning to Jess and Mali, who sat on her lap. Jess took a quick glance at Phil before centering her vision to the tattoo artist.
"I don't mind it but I wasn't hoping to get now," she answered blinking at Phil. He only grinned behind his hand.
"No refunds. Get the fuck out," the tattoo artist snapped loudly and returning to his work.
"Wait a second," interjected Phil, holding up his hand and trying to reason with the man.
"Read the sign," offered the tattoo artist rudely, looking to the large sign on the wall above Jess and Mali.
"Holy shit, it actually says that!" she said arching herself to read it. "I want a sign like that at the clinic Stu!"
Stu gave her a smirk but Phil took a step forward. 'Maybe' Stu muttered to her.
"No, we don't want any refunds. We have a couple of questions. We're trying to figure out what went down last night," stated Phil looking at Alan and Jess for agreement. For once he wasn't being a jerk. However, Jess was sure that the man would snap at them once more but with the needle aimed at Phil's face next time.
"What went down?" the tattoo artist asked in disbelief seating down his needle. "Take a look what you did outside. Half the neighborhood went down because of you."
"We did that?" questioned Stu and Jess at the same time.
The tattoo artist appeared annoyed as he looked up at them. "You don't remember getting into a bar fight at the White Lion club? Started a full-on fucking riot because some guy touched Princess and you got pissed," he said pointing firmly at Phil and then Jess. "You knocked people fucking out cold and clearly you weren't fucking happy."
"We destroyed a street because you got pissed?" whispered Stu angrily in Phil's ear. Jess covered her face behind Mali's body. She could honestly see and agree of Phil doing such a thing. He could be a bit possessive of her and they both knew it. At the moment the blank gob-smacked man stared at the tattoo artist in disbelief.
"So, because of … me" she dared asking again only seeing the brown color of Mali's hair.
"Did I stutter Princess?" he asked harshly.
"No Sir. You did not," she said meekly.
"No, Sir, we don't remember anything," Phil finally spoke up. The man, before laughing, gave them a look of 'you gotta be fucking kidding'. Alan laughed right along with the tattoo artist making Jess stare unsympathetically at him.
"Man, Phil got his lady protected!" he chirped up. At the mention of Jess, Phil turned sharply and would have spoken up if the tattoo artist hadn't.
"Here hold this," he said passing the tattoo needle for the kid to hold. "Check this out." He handed over his cell phone and Jess stood up to view it in Phil's hands. There was clearly a riot going and from the looks of it was tense. Jess saw that Stu was whipping his shirt around and she was dancing around with Alan in somewhat joy. For safe measure, Jess cupped her hands over Mali's ears. Surely there would something about foul language to be said… which she was right about.
"Fuck the police. Fuck the police," Stu was shouting in the video. A moment later it showed Teddy who was smiling and laughing, as well as trying to cover Jess up but was failing. Jess saw how she was dancing around in a drunken state with Alan to the chanting.
"There's Teddy he's with us," said Stu pointing out Teddy, whom they all saw.
Jess watched as the police approached and gas bombs went off making them back out. Teddy rushed forward and covered the monk with his hoodie so he wouldn't inhale the gas that went off. After that the video stopped and the cell phone was taken back by the tattoo artist.
"That's when the cops showed up and started cracking skulls. I took you guys in and then you," he paused to point at Stu, "decided to a get tattoo."
"Cried like a little bitch," smiled the tattoo artist. "Princess here just smiled and took like a man. The other one was shitty so I fixed that too."
Jess observed the small tattoo of bird perched on the tree on her upper arm and the photo the man took of her side. The bird one was colored better now but the one on her side had expanded to include 'PJ' in the middle of the star and wreath of tiny roses.
"It's truly beautiful," she whispered handing back the photo.
"Kid's fucking nine years old. Got balls twice your size. Show 'em your balls," he instructed the young boy. Instantly Jess covered Mali's eyes.
"No no; that's alright," offered Phil sensing where this was going. "We're looking for our friend Teddy. Have you seen him?"
"Not since last night. Why what happened?" asked the man, though Jess was sure he didn't care.
"I'm suppose to marry his sister tomorrow and we kinda lost him," confirmed Stu with high concern.
"Oh well then fuck it."
Stu would have thought it was joking but by his stance, Jess saw he was ready to kill. "What do ya mean 'fuck it'?" The tattoo artist turned back to him with a sneer.
"Bangkok has him now. They'll never let him go."
Turning sharply, Phil rounded on the monk and began shouting at him. "Ya hear that. Ya happy now!" Jess jumped up and tried to push Phil off the monk as Stu held Mali's hand. She looked at up with a smile and something inside Stu made smile at her. She was very pretty and something about Mali reminded him of Lauren.
"Phil stop! Don't touch him!" snapped Jess. The monk kept his eyes on Phil with a muted frown aimed at him. For moment, he glanced at Jess and seemed to nod in thanks.
"You're wasting your time," stopped the tattoo artist as he rolled over to the monk. "Monks take their vow shit seriously. Look at this." The tattoo artist pointed to the monk's arm showing a tattoo that none of them noticed before. "That's the sign of the Ching Mei Monastery. Just outside of town. Maybe somebody over there can get him to talk," offered the tattoo artist in peace to them.
*dot*
"Phil?" asked Jess as they waited for the public transport to arrive.
"What?" he asked very quietly. Stu and Alan were seating close but far enough away from them that it allowed them a quiet moment to speak to each other. Phil had pushed his hair back form his eyes several times, as Jess tried to find a piece of string to tie her hair back.
"Are you okay?" she asked reaching for his hands.
Phil looked down and signed. "I'm fucking scared. Did we do something?"
"I don't know," she answered. "I didn't mean to put you on the spot last night."
"You came out from nowhere and upset about your fight with Jason. That much I could get out of you, but I truly hope we didn't do it again as revenge. I'm just horrible and not able to break myself from you."
Jess nodded and tried to eyed him but his rough features made it hard to see clearly as she once knew. She laid her head on his shoulder. Under the shade, she was able to see the sharp profile of his jaw line and narrow neck. His face was covered in dirt and sweat but Jess was just glad to have him in her reach. A moment later, Mali left Stu's side and walked up to Jess and Phil.
"Jess, I'm hungry. Can we get an apple?" asked Mali kindly.
"Do you see a merchant anywhere?" Jess asked Phil. Silently he pointed across the street near a hidden building.
"Over there but I'm fucking tired. Ask Stu."
Behind them Stu groaned and stood up. "Come on girls. I am hungry too, Mali. Let's get an apple together!"
Jess stood up and took Mali's hand, as she smiled at Stu. There was something about Stu that made Mali happy. The three reached the area, where Stu reached down picking up Mali. He was careful about her dress as he lifted her up.
"What's going on with you and Phil?" he asked as Mali called out the different local foods to them, none of which Stu or Jess knew.
"Nothing. Just tired."
Stu squirmed in place as Mali got excited and he nearly dropped her.
"You were out of it earlier, but Phil looked like he was about to die when we found you. It was like light coming out from a storm," he said quietly to her. Jess nodded and tried to form her words.
"Phil and I have things to sort out, Stu. Things that he and Jason need to understand too," her voice finally said. She stared nervously at the selection of apples, but none of them looked of interest to her. Stu let out a loud sigh and rounded on her a moment later.
"Like what? Like you two having sex behind everyone's back? Like leading everyone to believe that you and Phil had a normal student-teacher relationship?"
Jess turned so sharply in retort that he dropped Mali to the ground. His fingers wrapped around her hands as his assistant's eyes turned red, he swore, but nothing compared to her clench left fist and her thin, straight pointed right index finger to his nose.
"Don't ever say anything about that! It's our relationship! I never asked for people to understand the reasons why! Understand?" she let out a snare at him after turning and collecting the money from his hand. Quickly Jess grabbed five apples and another item for herself. It cost about three dollars American and she waited for Stu and Mali to finish getting some clean water to drink.
As they began to walk back, the public transport had arrived and Stu and Jess had to run over to make sure they got on. Phil and Alan got in on both sides and the monk sat next to Alan. Stu took a seat next to Phil as Jess beside the monk and Mali took the open space between Stu and Phil. Sometime later, they got more passengers and the across the 'bus', Jess heard Stu and Phil talking.
"Okay can we go over this again? You got the beer from…" started up Stu again for the third time.
"The hotel bar. Gave me sealed cases," he replied taking a sip of the water bottle for them to share.
"Who gave you the sealed case?" asked Stu again.
"The bartender," replied Phil dryly.
"—And then you brought them out and I opened them—"
"Expect the one Jess had. She did that herself," stated Phil quietly with a point in Jess's direction.
"Yeah and Doug had one and he's fine. So… it's not the beer.
"What the hell happened," asked Stu giving Jess a concerning look before he looked down at his feet.
"I don't know but we'll get back. We did last time," offered Jess but Stu looked at Alan instead.
As Jess looked over at Alan too, Stu covered Mali's eyes with a smirk on his own face. Before long both Stu and Phil were laughing with all the other Thai riders and Jess had to cover her mouth to hold in her laughter.
"When a monkey nibbled on a penis, it's funny in any language," said Alan happily letting the monkey continued.
"Dude that is fucked up," Jess smirked pushing her hair from her face.
Sometime later, they arrived to the monastery and one by one, the six of them got out. Jess was careful about where she put her foot and Stu held onto Mali.
"Alright," offered Phil to the driver of the public transport. "Thank you."
In front of Jess, Alan had stopped and called back to the riders. "Bye Shannon! Bye Little Wayne!"
As Stu and Phil opened the door, Jess' eyes opened up to the beauty that surrounded her. There all around were monks in prayer and a little way up there were a group of them all seated.
"So beautiful," mumbled Phil, taking a hold of her hand as they walked. Stu repeated the words himself, a moment later.
"What is this? A PF Changs?" Alan asked rudely looking around at the people around them.
"Alan shut up!" warned Jess sensing that Alan had no idea what to do in calm environments like this. She had read that monks kept rather tight schedules sometimes and often that time was spent in mediation.
"Such a peaceful people," she heard Stu say a moment later.
"Yeah," agreed Phil.
And then the magic was ruined. All by Alan that is….
"Knock knock hello!"
"Alan! Alan show some respect," urged Phil but Alan just stopped giving him a confused look. Then one of the monks stood up, a wooden rod in his hand. "No. No, don't get up you guys." Phil tried to sit them back down, he clearly seeing they were interrupting a precious time for them.
"We bought one of your guys back. He's really funny, and nice and cool," smiled Alan to the approaching monk.
"Hi how ya doing. Are you the one in charge?" asked Phil to the monk as he finally came to rest in front of them. Suddenly with quickness unknown to Jess, the monk extended his arm and hit Phil on the either his nose or neck. She was unsure but she let out a loud scream in fright and took several steps backward, dragging Mali with her. There was no way he would be hitting her or Mali… she hoped…
Repeatedly Jess watched as the monk went in clockwork hitting the boys. She watched the monk hit Alan in arm it seemed then Phil again, though he hadn't spoken a word. Finally, it came to Stu who like any normal person was telling the monk to stop.
"Wait wait! Stop it," shouted Stu but it was no use. The monk hit him over and over again. It was rather comical after a minute. "Hold on, it's because we're talking… OWW! Stop talking… OWW! God damn it!"
At that mention the monk gave him an extra hardened hit making Stu cry out once more but louder. "OWW! STOP!" Finally, it seemed to hit him, literally…. "Wait it's me." And then monk hit him once more. "STOP HITTING ME!"
"Stu shut up!" shouted Jess and instantly the monk's eyes leveled with hers. Oh no, her mind begged, did she just piss off the monk's dragon? Instead the monk hit Stu again.
"Oh I get it!" exclaimed Alan proudly, earning himself another hit from the monk dragon. The monk took aim at Phil but he motioned his fingers to his lips, making a hushing sound to the monk. Jess barely heard him say 'no talk' with his hands up in defeat. Clearly this dragon monk had them beat. The monk's eyes covered all them in one glance and he motioned with his hand to follow him.
As Phil and Jess were rejoined, he mouthed 'what the fuck' to her and they walked hand in hand toward wherever the dragon monk was leading them. As they reached an area where another monk stood, one who spoke, the dragon monk stopped Jess and Mali.
"What's the problem?" asked Phil, confused griping her hand tighter.
"They must remain outside," spoke the elder monk inside.
Phil and Stu shared a confused looked as they turned to the elder monk.
"Women should not have any contact with monks, or the monks would have to go through a cleansing ritual," Alan read from one of his cards. "If a woman wants to give something to a monk, she should do so through a man, or the monk may extend a corner of his robe on which the woman can then place the object; alternatively, she can put it on the floor. Generally, Thai monks will not shake hands with people."
Phil didn't understand what Alan was reading. "So, the girls coming in…"
"We do not allow women inside. I wish to speak to the gentlemen," spoke the elder monk to Jess. His smile was kind and she understood that her attire was not appropriate for the monks here.
"Oh," answered Jess. "I'll… I will be out on the steps with Mali then."
Jess and Mali turned, walking into the sun before taking a seat in a shady area to sit under a tree. Phil, Stu, and Alan turned back to the elder monk, standing firm before him. Calmly the elder monk began, his eyes lingering on Phil for just a moment longer.
"Late last night, you climbed the walls of our monastery shouting questions about love, marriage, and the meaning of life. The young lady asked several questions about her life which we could not answer for the answers lie within her very soul," he began with a point aimed at Phil. "Questions about you."
"Me?" asked Phil with a scoff. "What questions would she have about me?"
"Questions about her heart's desire and whether she is able or willing to follow the path that has been so clear for so long. Does she continue down one with another or does she follow the path she's only known," replied the elder monk with a wave in Jess's direction.
"Then why isn't she here to hear that," asked Stu calmly. Phil turned to look back at Jess who was smiling at Mali. Why would Jess ask about her life? Sure, there were problems but they mostly came from her troubled life growing up. Phil knew the truth but not the whole thing. Neither Doug nor Jess had ever revealed what their lives had endured. Neither seemed to want to explain any of the time after their mom killed herself. Jess only was able to open about up when she was fourteen. It was with much work on Phil's part. She had been damaged by it all and he healed her. He also remembered he was in a fight for her with Jason and how she had to make the choice to either leave or stay with either of them.
"It is our culture for men and women to limit contact of each other for our vows say so," answered the elder monk to Stu. He pointed with his hand to the silent monk that they had have brought with them. "Poor Brother Hans was mediating in the garden and you took him."
Shock rode over their face and Phil covered his mouth.
"Oh my God… we kidnapped a monk…" Stu stammered out quietly to Phil. He couldn't believe his ears. They kidnapped a monk! Just as Phil was about to apologize, Alan quickly opened his mouth.
"We live an alternative life style," coolly replied Alan in all seriousness toward the elder monk.
Hearing Alan loud and clear, Phil cleared his throat and said, "We are so sorry about that, we weren't ourselves last night." Calm and collected, that what Phil was aiming for….
"Yep, things sorta spun out of control a little bit. But there is a boy, who's missing and hurt. Can you find out if he knows where our friend is?" Stu begged with his eyes and the elder monk just looked at him.
"He took a vow of silence many years ago. It would be useless to even try," replied the elder monk.
Phil signed in annoyance and brought his hands up. "Maybe he can write down what happened? On a piece of paper?!"
"Actually, that would be cheating," corrected Alan smartly. "Isn't that right Grand Wizard?" he said turning to the elder monk.
"Alan?" snapped out Phil quite ashamed that Alan just called a monk a wizard. How rude of him!?
"I'm afraid, Fatty is right. None of us will ever know what Brother Han knows," answered the elder monk again in a clear calm voice. Alan didn't seem to catch on to what the elder monk had said because he was muttered out a 'what' during latter part of his words.
Phil let out a quiet scoff. "Well so much for holy people. Bunch of bald assholes. Come on let's go." He turned back sharply though a moment later and continued to say, "And you know what for your information, you might want to put some signs up sayin' 'no talking' before your release your dragon," his index finger pointed to the monk who had attacked them.
"That was a little rough," agreed Stu looking down.
"And you're welcome for bringing him back safe. We found him in drunk tank," snapped Phil rudely.
"We did take him in the first place," offered Stu but Phil ignored his friends and stared out at Jess and Mali. They were smiling about something and they were pointing up at the tree above their heads. Seeing Jess made Phil very feel confident in himself. Just as his foot nearly took off, behind him, Stu, and Alan they heard the concerned voice of the elder monk speak up again.
"Wait!" The elder monk was looking at Brother Hans closely. "The Buddha teaches every memory lives somewhere deep within. Perhaps you should bring your question to the garden of meditation," he offered kindly looking them each in the face.
"Did you understand a word he just said?" asked Phil to the others, hoping they could leave this awful place soon.
"About two-thirds," said Stu turning to the elder monk. "Something about the garden of meditation?"
"No, he said he's farting because of his medication," stated Alan. Phil and Stu stared at him with disbelief. The elder monk just stared at the men with discomfort. "I get that."
Phil walked out went to collect Jess, while Stu and Alan were escorted to the garden of meditation.
"Come on. Let's pray!" he jeered, feeling extremely pissed out at not figuring out anything.
"What happened?" asked Jess kindly, standing up to meet Phil.
"Where we need to go in somewhere in us. What fucking bullshit!" he mumbled taking a hold of Jess' hand. Mali stopped in front of them a moment, causing them pause.
"It's not that. Dreams are like memories. They are categorized in our brains and we are able to reflect back on them through dreams. I can see just by your stance how you are upset about everything today. Don't worry because my father always said to me that God has a plan for everyone!"
Phil looked down at Mali and smiled, seeing truth in her words. "Alright then. Well let's go get a spot."
After what seemed forever, Phil finally stopped trying. He leaned over to Stu, who sat beside on the other side of Jess. Her eyes were closed but she was probably thinking hundred things, since after all she had a million things on her mind.
"This is a waste of time. I don't remember anything. DO you?" said Phil to Stu.
"No. I got nothing. Alan? Jess?" asked Stu opening his eyes and looking at them carefully.
On either side of Stu was Alan and Jess; their eyes closed and appearing to be in a trance. Neither of them answered when both Stu and Phil called their names
"Alan!" loudly whispered Phil leaning more to view Alan at the other end of their line of people.
"Jess!" said Stu reached for Jess' hand but she didn't response. The young woman turned suddenly and Stu saw her pupils were dilated and she was indeed in a trance. Turning around to see Alan, Stu saw he was the same way.