saying that about Noppawan."
"No," he said indifferently. He liked hearing truth but he felt
guilty being amused by some of it. He changed the subject. "Do you
want to change to my seat so that you can look out?"
"I'd get sick looking out onto that sea of clouds for long."
"Why do you want to go to New York City?"
"What's in Canada, Nawin? It's got a few walking snowmen but what
else? Snowy landscapes and cold temperatures good for penguins. When
someone thinks of Thailand it is always Thai silk, temples, Buddhist
statues, nightlife, and beautiful girls like me. What is the symbol of
Canada?"
"Snowmen," said Nawin as he chuckled, "and Canadian dollars." He
was enjoying the conversation.
"What are they: these snowmen? Are they just Englishmen?"
"That but also Americans who didn't want to fight against King
George... Frenchmen, of course in Montreal."
"Why don't they have kings now?"
"Well, Canadians do have the British monarchy. Canada is a
commonwealth."
He didn't go further because she sighed from intellectual strain.
"Didn't you like Noppawan at all?" he asked with childish
vulnerability.
"No," she replied thoughtfully. "I liked all things about her. I
liked her completely. It is hard to believe that anyone should be so
wonderfully odd."
He liked that response exponentially. He knew that she would
never say anything so true. "Montreal will be fun. A little bit of
Paris and a little bit of New York City."
"Laos, Nawin, is a little bit of Paris with a lot of dirt poor
Thailand."