‘Are we in a race?’
‘No, this is my natural pace, my Mum taught me to walk fast.’
‘Slow down,’ Simon says and then he speeds up in order to get in front of me as if we really were having a race. I speed up but as soon as I do, Simon stops short. He starts riffling through his pockets and comes up with some coins. He drops them into the hands of a beggar I didn’t see, sitting in the shadows.

I start walking again. We end up speed walking, talking and laughing until we reach the junction. ‘Where are we going?’ he asks.
‘To the Israeli restaurant,’ I say.
‘The Israeli restaurant? Which one?’
‘The one around the corner, the girl we are meeting is Israeli,’ I say.
‘And I have met her before?’ recalling our conversation in the taxi.
‘Yes, you have met both people before, their names are Pete and Eva,’ I repeat for the third time that evening.
‘Eva?’
‘Yeah, as in Ever,’ I say.

We arrive within minutes of each other and settle down to our orders.
‘Don’t ever get married,’ Simon says to the couple in front of him.
‘Er, Simon, it’s a bit too late for that,’ I say quietly. The couple look at him uneasily and then they look at me: Who is this drunken fool you have brought? I pretend I don’t notice although I am acutely aware of the undercurrent of unease. Simon is distinctly unaware of anything except his own thought processes. He doesn’t miss a beat.
‘Ah, then congratulations, may you both be very happy together.’
He carries on nursing his beer whilst we eat our food, he looks up at the male half of the couple, ‘What’s your name?’
‘Pete,’ he replies
‘You don’t talk much.’
‘That’s because I have nothing to say.’

We finish our food and then head out into the city, I keep my eye on Simon to make sure he isn’t staggering into people and again he stops. He starts looking at his belongings and then looks at me, ‘Do you have any coins?’ I fish a couple out and give it to the beggar who has a baby beside her. Simon feels sorry for the baby, I think it reminds him of his own baby at home with his wife.

We sit on some seats on the street and order drinks from ‘the 60 baht guy,’ Simon spills his beer all over the table and pavement. He doesn’t seem too bothered by it. His attention wavers and soon he is standing up and wondering into different shops nearby. I ignore his behaviour, I guess I am used to it, and carry on the conversation with Eva and Pete. Soon enough Simon has disappeared, the remnants of his beer still dripping from the table.

My phone rings, I look at the display and Simon’s name is flashing.
‘Hello?’
‘Hello Rachael, this is Coin, is Simon there?’
‘No Coin, he has disappeared. I don’t know where he has gone.’ Pause. ‘If I see him again, shall I get him to call you?’
‘No, I don’t want to speak to him ever again,’ another pause. ‘Okay Rachael, thanks.’
‘Okay, I’m sorry I am not much help.’

I feel strange speaking to Simon’s wife, I know she doesn’t like me because Simon and I are friends, I get the feeling she doesn’t like any of his friends.