Read The Last Executioner for Free Online Page B

after his first wife had died during a minor operation—I don’t think he ever got over that. For months after, I blamed myself for not making him go to hospital when he complained he wasn’t well. I know he would have argued that we couldn’t afford it but maybe if I had got him to the hospital they might have treated him, because it was an emergency, and let me pay afterwards, I would have got the money together eventually.
    My father was certainly a popular and well-respected man. I was persuaded to move his body to the Wat, the Buddhist temple, because the house couldn’t hold the crowds that came to pay their respects. Oud and I hosted the funeral. We didn’t have much money and were grateful to the large number of people who gave us thousands of baht towards the expense. My father had already given me a list of phone numbers of his former students that I was to call if ever I was stuck. His faith in his students was justified. I rang Manoon Trirat to tell him the news. He turned up for the funeral with many other former students, that he had personally contacted, and was a huge help to us. They all gave us money and Manoon offered us books about the moon and space travel to be given out as a keepsake of the funeral. Usually people would give out books on Buddhism but Neil Armstrong was about to go to the moon and everyone I knew was really excited about it. Pat Boonratpan, the Governor of Ubolratchathani, flew in specially and took charge of the proceedings one night. You see, Thai funerals run for several days. Phra Manoowes, a senior member of the Privy Council, also came to pay his respects and my mother turned up and made Malai, a traditional Thai flower arrangement.
    As one life departed, so another came into my world. My son, Prawes, was born at 5.17am on Thursday, 30 October. The new arrival helped to fill the void caused by my father’s death, though I couldn’t help wishing that he had lived to see his grandson. I only got to see him, myself, late on Friday evening when I returned from the Air Force. Tew was still very tired but very proud of this tiny little being. It took a lot of encouragement on her part to get me to hold him; I was terrified that I might break him. I’m sure most men think that when they are faced with their first child, plus I don’t think that I had ever held a newborn baby before. Anyway I was completely smitten; he was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen—at least until his siblings arrived. I was a lot more confident with the other two children, once they came along.

    ***

    I started to study Para medicine in the medical department of the Air Force and did well in the exams. I worked at Jantarubeksa Hospital in the Kampaengsaen district of Nakhon Prathom. There weren’t a lot of doctors or nurses there so I had to work hard. It was a little overwhelming if there was something big like a train crash. However, it was a good training experience from doing first aid to assisting with operations.
    I learned a lot of things during my time there. For the first time I observed a clear division between men based on their background and military status. It struck me that education was an important tool—life in the army wasn’t so rewarding if you hadn’t got a decent education. I decided not to pursue a career in the Forces and was impatient for my two-year stint to end. I was offered the chance to further my medical studies but I just longed to return to the stage and the big money.
    I graduated on 30 April 1971. Shortly after the ceremony I called up my old band mates and we headed out to the Playboy bar in Ubol. Unfortunately it was all different now. The Americans had gone and business was bad. The owner paid us for our first two nights but on our third he paid us less than what he promised, and on the fourth and fifth night he had no money to give us at all. A lot of the bars and restaurants were closed due to lack of business. We tried our luck in Korat but the bar