A Change of Plans

Nang wanted to discontinue her studies and return to support her adopted father through his grieving time, but Duane vetoed that and communicated to the university faculty she should finish her training and residency before returning to Chiang Mai. She determined to apply herself more diligently and finish as quickly as possible so she could care for her adopted father while working with him.

But when Nang finished her studies and residency and applied to the NGO to employ her so she could assist her father in his work she was informed the budget had already been assigned to a highly qualified Thai nurse who’d applied for the job. This woman was known to Nang as she was one of the Chiang Mai University lecturers who’d often helped in village clinics on loan from the university to give student nurses a taste of nursing at the basic village level and experience working under the direction of a foreign doctor. Both Dwaine and Evelyn were close friends with this woman and Nang also admired her but now she resented this woman taking the place of her when she’d studied to work along with her adopted father. She applied for a doctor placement in the University Hospital in Chiang Mai and was accepted. At least she could live at home and be with her father who she loved and had so much to be grateful for adopting her.

But on arrival home she found herself immersed in the work of the hospital accident and emergency department and too exhausted for socializing when she eventually was released to return home to sleep off the stress and Dwaine and Surapee his new partner in NGO regional administration were away from home and not often available for Nang to interact with. Nang was hurt but had to admit Duane and Evelyn had always been travelling but the difference was Nang had often been able to accompany them when not in a study routine. Now it was impractical as her job was full on and demanding and she was sleep deprived and missing the family environment she grew up in with the Johnsons. Her siblings were either finishing university studies or already in a work program and married and all their attention was on their families there in the US. She’d be lucky to get a Christmas greeting from any of them now.

She’d now been working at the hospital for two years and soon to leave her twenties. She was not sure if it was imagination but during the times Duane was in Chiang Mai and she was not on duty at the hospital Surapee was becoming a fixture in the home and while she could rationalize this was all work related as they administered the NGO together there was something about the way they interacted personally now that rang alarm bells in Nang’s mind. Dwaine was Nang’s property by adoption. Who was this Thai woman to intrude on their family. She remembered the cool welcome she’d received from her Johnson siblings when bought into their home and began to understand their fears. Was she to be shut out of the family? The siblings didn’t seem to want her. Evelyn her idol was dead, and Duane seemed to be drifting out of her orbit. She had no one to call her own.

All these thoughts had been going through her mind as she waited for the call to board Kenya Air. Lights flashed on the TV monitor indicating the flight was about to board, and she saw Kenya Air representatives take their positions at the gate and begin to process first class passengers. She was travelling economy class so stood in line waiting for Kenya representatives to call economy for boarding holding onto her hand carry baggage. The government hospital in Mombasa had told her she should pay her own way and once she arrived and presented for work, they’d refund her the cost of her ticket in Kenyan shilling. She was required to register at the American Embassy in Nairobi as an American citizen before proceeding to Mombasa as there was no American representation there and she was becoming fearful about her safety in a country she was not familiar with now the reality of departure from the security of Thailand she understood and felt safe in. Had this been a spur of the moment foolish decision made in anger once Duane had admitted to Nang that Surapee and he were more than friends now and Duane was thinking about asking Surapee to marry him and he’d spend the rest of his life with her retiring in Thailand. He was hurt when Nang reacted badly to this news and moved out of the home to private accommodation near the hospital.

As she boarded the plane, she looked at her ticket and selected her seat which was a window seat. She noted as she moved down the aisle the plane was about eighty percent full and hoped she’d not have anyone in the two-seat section assigned her as she didn’t feel like talking but after settling her things in the locker above and seating to engage her safety belt, she noted a person probably about thirty opening the locker above after her and depositing his carry on then taking his seat. He looked Eurasian but Nang could not place exactly where he could be from. He turned to greet her.

“Hi, my name is David Boon and I’m from Singapore. I work for an NGO based in Singapore and we do a lot of development activities around Southeast Asia. I’m heading for Nairobi to attend a development conference and check out on some of the projects they do there to see if they have any ideas we could adopt. We have a couple of projects in Thailand and Cambodia in process now, so I visit there periodically. May I know your name in that we will be travelling together for about nine hours.”

The mention of Thailand got Nang’s attention, and she decided to engage in conversation. He obviously was involved in a profession she’d loved since childhood, and she was anxious to know more about the work done in Thailand.

“My name is Nang Shan and I’m from Chiang Mai. Where are your projects currently situated in Thailand and do you speak Thai?”

David laughed.

“My Thai is basic I’m afraid. I did volunteer work with NGOs during my student years in Singapore working with their water drilling teams in Thai villages and you have a few languages I struggled with such as Lao and Kmir. I do better in Malay, Indonesian and Mandarin but let me practice my Thai. Chan di chai thi dai choe nang.”

Nang laughed

“You’re struggling with the tones the same way I did when I was a refugee from Shan territory in Myanmar. Let’s stick to English then and I’m happy to meet you too.”  

David looked at her in surprise.

“Your English is exceptional I can’t believe you were a refugee. Are you on a Thai passport now?”

“I have an American passport as I was adopted by an American family working in Chiang Mai.”

Nang relaxed and suddenly felt like this was going to be a pleasant trip with someone to talk with who had a knowledge of the environment she was raised in. She studied him with her peripheral vision and decided he was quite handsome. She decided to probe him about his family. He was happy she asked and told her he was the product of the son of a Chinese shopkeeper who an English plantation manager’s daughter fell in love with, and they fled to Singapore and hid in the Chinese sector of the Island. He had brothers and sisters out of that union, and they were all well-educated and prosperous. Some had migrated abroad and were not in touch with David now. She asked if David felt rejected and he shrugged declaring he’d been too busy to think about it much. She probed him further asking if his wife and family felt neglected because of his constant travel. David laughed and told her he hadn’t met anyone who’d give him a second glance in all his travels.

Nang was amazed and checked David out again with her peripheral vision. This was a successful and handsome man. Of course, women would be interested in him, and she could certainly live that kind of life with a man like that. Eventually the conversation lapsed and David took some folders out of his briefcase and began to scan them. Obviously, this was the convention he was about to attend in Nairobi, and it looked interesting to her. David noticed her interest and handed her the folder to read. He spoke.

“Are you interested in development work?”

She nodded.

“My adopted father and mother managed a regional NGO centre in Chiang Mai. He was an American doctor and she a nurse, so they travelled together and when I received my American passport in my student years, I sometimes travelled with them and helped. Now I have qualified as a doctor specialized in accident and emergency and am off to Mombasa to take up a position there but being out of my environment in this new job is causing me a lot of stress and I wonder if I made a hasty decision.”

David looked at her with renewed interest.

“Our NGO is looking for someone like you. Are you sure you wouldn’t consider another offer if you are not committed. Has the Mombasa hospital paid for your ticket or education? Would you like to attend this convention in Nairobi so I can work on you to change your mind and come work with us?”

Suddenly Nang was wide awake.

“It all depends on what the job involves and where I’d be located. I only get a refund on my ticket when I turn up at the Mombasa Government Hospital.”

To be continued.

Copyright Notice

© Copyright 2026 Ian Grice, “ianscyberspace.” All rights reserved.

Disclosure: No form of AI is used in the writing of my copyrighted blogs