Holiday In Cambodia

Down by the riverside, it was pretty much tourist-central. This was a strange comfort to the band mates, but sparked an alarming amount of disdain in Jack, who immediately wanted to hike back up into the city, before he was quietened by Amber, aided by a generous glass of sugar-palm beer, which went down pretty well with everyone.

The river was lined with bars and restaurants, all of which seemed to be competing to see who could get their seating furthest out onto the river without actually sinking into it. This meant most of them seemed to be built on stilts, which creaked and wobbled worryingly as they walked over the floorboards. At least, it would have been worrying, if everyone weren't so under the influence.

Billie Joe volunteered himself to get in the next round of drinks and left the group sitting out on the water, weaving his way back into the wooden building and taking a seat at the bar, where he rested his heavy head in his hands and waited to be served.

The alcohol seemed to be having the opposite effect on him that it was having on everybody else. His body felt leaded, and his head felt foggy, and none of it was comfortable. He stared at the intricate script that he presumed was the price list, his eyes travelling over the loops and swirls, and he wished he could understand it.

He rubbed his eyes. He missed home. Thinking of his boys made his heart ache. He knew that, right then, they'd be in school, and it would probably be lunchtime, and they'd probably be playing soccer with their friends. The concept seemed alien to him as he took in his surroundings. They had never felt so far away.

"So why long face?"

He looked up. The barman was grinning at him.
"Sorry?" he muttered, his eyebrows raised in surprise.
"So why... long... face?" the man repeated, the grin staying in place, "Is joke! You English man! So why long face?"

Billie Joe scratched his head.
"Actually," he said, patiently, "That isn't the joke. It would only be a joke if I was a horse... you know?"
"Horse?"
"Yeah... the horse walks into the bar... and the barman says... why the long face? It's only funny cause horses have long faces... not 'cause he's really sad... right?"
The barman looked completely confused by this explanation, and Billie Joe smiled a little and waved it away.
"It doesn't matter," he said, "Can I get eight more sugar-palm beers for my friends outside?"
"You want order eight sugar-palm beers?"
"Yes please... "
"No problem."

Billie Joe smiled a little as the barman turned away, before he was startled by the girl, who had been sitting next to him at the bar, tapping him on the shoulder. He looked up as she spoke.

He was surprised. Firstly because, going on her appearance, he'd assumed she was a local and it was evident from her accent that she definitely was not, and secondly because of what she said.

"Green Day. Am I right?"

He smiled and raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah... " he said, "You are right."
"I knew it. I saw you guys come in, and I was so sure I recognised you. It's taken me this long to rack my brains and place your faces, but I got there in the end. I'm Lara."
Billie Joe stuck out his hand, and she shook it.
"Billie Joe," he said, "On vacation?"
She rolled her eyes.
"Something like that. I arrived here from Canada last week. Think I'll hang around a while. It's pretty amazing, don't you think?"
"Sure is," he said, then he laughed a little, "So you're Canadian? I thought we were the only English speakers in here. I kind of assumed you were from around here... "
She smirked.
"I'm Vietnamese," she told him, "And Canadian. See, I would have thought all the jet-setting you guys must do would have given you a little more cultural awareness."
Billie Joe looked sheepish.
"Sorry," he said, looking up as the barman set his drinks down on a tray in front of him.
He handed him a bunch of dollar bills and told him to keep the change, then picked up the tray.
"Want to come and meet the others?" he asked Lara.
She nodded.
"Sure," she said, following him back outside.

Out on the terrace outside, Lara seemed keen to meet Tre and Mike, soon asking a bemused-looking Rick to take a picture of her with the three guys, which he obliged, and she thanked him before turning back to talk to the band, completely ignoring Jason who sat at the end of the table, rolling his eyes.

As the alcohol took effect on Jack and Amber, Rick got sick of the show they were putting on, and moved to sit with Jason.

"So," he said, offering him a cigarette, "You guys are a band."
Jason smiled, declining the cigarette with a wave of his hand and taking another sip of his beer.
"Well," he said, thoughtfully, "They're a band. I'm just with them."
"What, you mean you're just watching them play?"
"No... I mean I play with them, as an extra musician."
"Oh... okay. What do you play?"
"Guitar. Rhythm and lead."
"Really? That doesn't sound extra. That sounds pretty integral to me."
Jason smiled.
"Yeah, it is pretty integral. But I mean, I'm not actually in the band."
Rick nodded.
"So you just play live with them, then?"
"Uh... no, I play on the recordings too."
Rick frowned.
"So, you play lead guitar live with them, and you play on the recordings, but you aren't part of the band."
"Right."
Rick raised an eyebrow, then shrugged.
"Fuck it, I don't know a thing about music. So are you guys any good?"
"I'd say so."
"Band have a name?"
"Green Day."

Rick's eyes narrowed, as the name ignited a spark of familiarity somewhere inside his head.
"I've heard of them," he said, slowly, like he hoped more memories would come back to him if he waited.
Jason laughed,
"To be honest, I was surprised none of you recognised them."
Rick shrugged,
"It's weird," he said, "Stuff like that... Western culture... it seems like another lifetime ago to me now. When you've been out here a while, it all just fades away. The other day, I walked past a tape stall that had a movie poster for Indiana Jones. The writing was in Khmer, so all I got was the picture and the logo. Back in Australia, I must have watched that movie a hundred times. And I couldn't fucking place it. Took me a four hour train journey to remember the name of it, and even longer to pick out the name Harrison Ford for the actor... "
Jason smiled, with interest.
"Really? I think that's kind of cool. You know, losing yourself in a place like that."
Rick shrugged.
"I think it's probably the reason most of us are here," he said, quietly.

Jason nodded, letting Rick's words hang in the air for a moment, before he glanced over at Maggie, Jack and Amber and spoke up again.
"You think the others know who they are?" he asked.
Rick shrugged again.
"They haven't said anything. But that doesn't mean they don't know who they are, it just means they don't think it's important enough to mention."
Jason grinned.
"I like it here," he said.

"So then the engines on the plane failed," Tre was saying, recounting to Lara their reasons for being in the area.
"Oh my God. Really?"
"Yeah. It was pretty intense."
Mike gave Tre a look.
"You didn't even hear the announcement, Tre. You were watching The Wedding Singer at the time."
Lara laughed.
"Well," said Tre, defensively, "You have to admit, it was pretty scary when they told us we had to make an emergency landing."
"That was pretty scary," agreed Billie Joe, "But, hey, it turned out fine. We've got a flight leaving tomorrow afternoon and I guess this was actually a pretty nice break in the schedule."
Tre and Mike nodded in agreement, before Mike turned back to Lara.
"So," he said, "What's your story?"

Lara sighed, fiddling with her coaster.
"My little sister got married last week," she explained, "To a guy who, in my own opinion, is a total jerk-off. Apparently, getting married in Canada, where everyone we know lives, was too simple for them, so they had to do it on a beach in Thailand."
"I think getting married on a beach in Thailand sounds kind of cool," said Billie Joe, thoughtfully.
"That's cause you're a hopeless romantic," said Mike, wryly, "Can't have been cheap flying everyone you know to Thailand."
"Well, that's a touchy subject with my Dad right now," Lara smirked, "Anyway, I got sick of all the fucking cocktails on the beach and stuff, so I decided to come out here. I hear the temples are really something else."
Tre nodded.
"You come by yourself?"
She nodded, then looked over her shoulder, before leaning forward, conspiratorially.
"At least I was. I kinda picked up a travel buddy at the market this morning. She's in the restroom right now... Anyway, her name's Mia and she's French. She's also pissing me the hell off, but I can't seem to shake her loose... "
Mike laughed.
"If she comes out, we'll try and hide you."
"Awesome," Lara grinned, as Maggie joined them, twirling her newly conditioned hair around her finger.

"If I hear one more Cambodian pop song I'm gonna scream," she said, "Want to check out somewhere else?"
"The music sucks in here," agreed Lara, "But let's go quickly before-"

"Lara!"

The guys turned, just as she did, to see a girl making her way towards their table. All of their jaws collectively dropped, before Mike elbowed Billie Joe. He was the only one who wasn't allowed to be drooling.

Tall and dark and exceptionally beautiful, she delicately sashayed towards them, with all of the men on the surrounding tables transfixed by the way her hair swung around her face as she walked, and the way she moved her hips to slide in between the tables. Maggie smirked at them.

"Hey... " said Lara, making small effort to sound enthusiastic, "Uh, guys this is Mia... Mia, these are some guys I just met. They're in a band."
"In a band? Cool... " she smiled, her voice doused in a heavy French accent that made the guys drool a little bit more.
"... And this is Maggie," Lara continued, nodding to Maggie.
"Hi," said Mia, still looking at the guys.
Maggie raised an eyebrow.
"Come on," she said, draining the last of her drink and standing up, "Let's go."

The group soon found themselves in a blues bar further down the strip, with a smokier atmosphere and stronger drinks, and a guy turning out Ray Charles hits on a piano in a way that made Billie Joe want to kick him off and take over.

"Okay," said Jack, nudging Tre out of the way and, much to his disappointment, taking a seat between him and Mia, "Taste this bitches."

As he dumped a tray of unappealing-looking yellow shots down on the table, Mia turned to him with a frown.
"What did you call me?"
Jack rolled his eyes.
"It was a compliment," he said, smirking a little as he pushed a shot glass into her hand, "Forget it."

Rick raised a glass to his nose and smelled the contents , then he screwed up his face and coughed a little.
"What the fuck is this stuff?" he asked Jack.
"I know," said Mike, an expression of disgust crossing his face as he gave it a sniff, "It smells like... a mixture of paint stripper and cat's piss... "
"I don't know what it is," Amber admitted, "But we saw it at the bar and its eighty-five percent proof."
"Holy shit," said Tre, enthusiastically, "I'm trying it!"

Soon, there were ten empties on the table, and ten disgusted faces wiping their lips and voicing their distaste.
"Ugh... man!" Billie Joe laughed, "That's just fuckin' nasty. What d'you think's in it?"
"I don't know," replied Maggie, who was sitting by his side with her head in her hands, "But it's gone straight to my head... "
"I saw the bottle at the bar," Jack smirked, "And it had a tarantula inside."
"Yeah, very good," Lara scoffed.
"I'm serious!" he cried, indignantly, "There's a fuckin' tarantula floating in the bottle. They're a delicacy here, you know. They eat them dry roasted. Like peanuts."

As the others stared at him in horror, he grinned. Rick looked like he was about to be sick, as he turned away from Jack.
"I'm starting to dislike you, mate," he said.

It wasn't long before Rick was very drunk. A few more beers had somehow persuaded him that he wanted to repeat his experience of tarantula-flavoured cat piss, and that had sent him on his way. Slumped in a corner of the bar, with his head resting on his elbow, he looked up as Maggie joined him, knocking into a number of chairs on her way.

"I'm fucked," she announced.

Small and delicate, she never had been much good at holding her drink, and Rick managed a grin, throwing an arm around her shoulders as she settled down next to him.
"Me too," he assured her, "I think everyone is. I heard Billie Joe throwing up in the toilet when I went for a piss."
"He did look a little rough," she said, leaning her heavy head gratefully against Rick's shoulder, "He drunk a lot of cat piss."
"Yeah," Rick smirked, "He still looked hot though, right?"
Maggie laughed, smacking him on the arm with a force that was quite pathetic.
"Listen," she slurred, "I talked to Jack and Jamber."
"Amber... "
"Amber. And they said... they wanna move on to the coast."
"I know."
"There's a night train to Ha Tien, on the Vietnam border."
"They wanna go tonight? Are they fuckin' for real?"
"They're crazy... I said we'll wait... you'll come tomorrow?"
"When I'm over my hangover."
"Cool, good luck with that. They're fucking military. They'll have us leaving at dawn. Lara's coming too... she seems okay, right?"
"Yeah... she's over talking to those American guys... hey, did you ever hear of their band?"
"Green Day? Of course I heard of them."
"Why didn't you say anything?"

Maggie shrugged, her eyes heavy-lidded.
"Who the fuck cares if they're famous? I'd be more impressed if they could magic me up a hot dog right now."
"Fuck... me too... "
"Or an authentic New York City bagel... with cream cheese."
"... wanna go get some noodles or something?"
"Hell, yes."

"I can't walk anymore Amber... "
"You aren't walking, Maggie," said Billie Joe, his voice slurred and his legs weakened by whatever it was he'd drunk that night, plus the extra weight of having Maggie slung over his shoulder.
"It hurts... my head... and my eyes... where are we going, Amber?"
"Ha Tien," came Amber's voice, "On the Vietnam border."
"... Hong Kong," Billie Joe muttered, "... Tomorrow. We have to get back by tomorrow... "
"I need to see the beach," Amber replied, "Sick of the city... don't leave us."

Jason opened his eyes, his head resting on the hard concrete, as he lay by the roadside, unable to remain upright any longer. Jack sat down next to him and passed him a joint.

"Smoke this, mate. I added a few special ingredients. It'll help you feel better."
Jason groggily raised his head and took hold of it, bringing it to his lips as the quiet road circled around him.

"Sure you're going to Hong Kong tomorrow?" he heard Jack say. He sounded far away. He opened his eyes again. He was far away. He was way over on the other side of the forest now, and they had to shout across the clearing.
"Are you sure you're catching that plane?"
"I don't know where I am," Jason replied, fear in his voice as he sank to the forest floor, "How can I know where I'm going?"

"Ha Tien, on the Vietnam border."

"White sand... mangrove forest... five hours on a pick-up."

"Boss say, twelve thousand Riel... For you pretty girls... ten thousand."

"Everything's bright... everything's moving. Why isn't Lara talking to me?... I'm not imagining nothing... fucking ignoring me... fucking bitch. Not part of the fucking band... white sand, mangrove forest, back by daybreak."

"Back by daybreak. Ha Tien, on the Vietnam border... my skin is crawling. It's gonna crawl right off of me... I'm scared, Tre... Jakob and Joey... I don't do this fucking shit anymore... "

"You put too much in this time, Jack. You know that, right?... You're scaring me. I'm not used to it like you... hold me, okay? ... When do we get there?... Sick of the city, now, Jack... need white sand... mangrove forest... you have to look after me now."