Behind The Smile, by Owen Jones - The Prequel Lek was a child in the late Seventies and early

Eighties in the richest farming region in Thailand - the immense rice belt of northern Thailand, which was once part of the area known as 'Laana', which translates as a million rice fields. Th is is not a poor region of Thailand by any means. However, the people to this day are farmers and farmers tend to work long hours for their money and are therefore cautious with it. Lek's village was in a part of this rice belt that is the is the only part of Thailand to get three crops a year. Lek's family were doing very nicely and their lineage was one of the riche st in the village. Educational facilities were not good in those early days, but most kids were anx ious to finish school as soon as possible and start work with their parents. Esp ecially the boys, but lots of the girls too. Life was slow in those days when ri ce was planted by hand and equipment was pulled by buffaloes. People worked from sunup to sundown, not just to make a living, but just to make a decent living. Some kids wanted to go on to higher education, but without gra nts and occasionally with parents who could not see the purpose of an education, few ever made it. Lek was the oldest of four children and she enjoyed school, but she as well coul d not see where it would take her. She came out of school at 16 years of age bec ause her parents were reluctant to pay for her to go on, when she could help out in the home and the field. Lek had resisted, although she agreed with her parents to a large extent, but sh e thought that if she was going to work like her parents had, she might as well do it for her own family. Her own, new little family. So she permitted a boy she had liked from school to make advances to her and they made plans to get marrie d. This was not a difficulty for either family or any of the parents and they had a wonderful marriage ceremony and settled down to work for Lek's family for a wag e. However, Lek's husband soon began to wish that he had waited a while before g etting wed. He had one of the most beautiful girls in the village, but at 19 years of age, h e still wanted to be out and be a lad, whereas Lek was becoming broody. He often came home so drunk that he could not work on the farm; Lek's dad was complainin g; Lek was complaining. There were frequent scraps and bloody noses and it was getting out of hand. He f requently went away for days at a time and there were rumours of mistresses. Mea nwhile, Lek's dad seemed to be getting ill. He was diagnosed with diabetes and could not work for a couple of months. The fa mily had reserves, but not lots and Lek's husband was nowhere to be seen. She th ought of divorce and then her father died unexpectedly. That was to change her life dramatically. Owen C Jones has merely published his first novel which is entitled <a href="htt p://behind-the-smile.org">Behind The Smile</a>: the story of Lek, a Thai bar gir l in <a href="http://behind-the-smile.org/pattaya-in-thailand.html">Pattaya in T hailand</a>.