Colin Cotterill - The Coroner's lunch

Whatever happened, the That Luang Festival would still be the cultural event of the year and Siri, with his dust-filled lungs, would miss it again. In fact, as he’d never lived in Vientiane before this year, he’d never seen the festival. He and Boua had dreamed of attending, after the revolution. It was one of her many deflated dreams.

At seven, Siri witnessed a sight more rare than a five-legged goat: a white-coated hospital doctor came into his room and showed him his X-rays.

“Dr. Siri.”

“Dr. Veui. I was starting to wonder whether they’d put me in a room at the Lan Xang Hotel by mistake.”

“Now, now. No sarcasm. You know we’re very-”

“Short of staff. Yes, I know. But you’ll be pleased I didn’t pass away from neglect while you were off tending to real patients.”

“Your nurse has been keeping me informed as to your progress. We did have a couple of emergencies yesterday that kept us busy. You heard about the fire?”

“Yes. Kitchen, wasn’t it?”

“It started there, yes. We were lucky it didn’t spread to the pharmacy. Lord knows we have precious few drugs as it is. We did lose our unimpressive collection of books, though.”

“What do you mean?”

“Think of your geography, Siri. The kitchen’s directly beneath the old library. It was gutted. Nothing but ash and memories.”

While Dr. Veui ran his stethoscope around Siri’s chest and back, the patient breathed as deeply as he could. But his mind was on the library. How did that piece fit into the puzzle?

Sometime about eight, he had his nicest visit of the day. Miss Vong poked her head around the door and smiled.

“Miss Vong. Come in, why don’t you?”

She didn’t. “Can’t visit this trip, Dr. Siri. How are you?”

“Not bad.”

“I have to rush. I’m supposed to be at work.”

“You don’t want to stop off at the khon khouay office first?”

“The khon khouay office? Whatever for?”

“I’m not supposed to say anything, but it can’t do any harm. Mr. Ketkaew spotted you at the Department of Education the other day. He came back frisky as a river rat, telling us all about this stunning woman he’d seen. He asked me if I knew you. He was positively glowing. I’m no expert, but I’d say he’s fallen for you.”

“For me? Don’t be silly.” She couldn’t keep the corners of her mouth down. “Anyway, I’m here with some fans of yours. Manoly and her sisters wanted to come see how you are.”

“Oh, how wonderful! How are they?”

“I don’t think they’ve really come to terms with what happened. They’ve been very quiet.”

“Send them in.”

Vong left, and the three little girls came in as a chain. Manoly was the lead link. Siri chose that moment for his first serious cough of the day, and the girls stood back by the wall watching him. When he was through, he smiled and called them over.

“Well, ladies. How nice of you to come to see me. Where are you staying?”

Manoly was the spokeswoman. “Auntie Souk’s house. She’s nice. She’s outside. You want to see her?”

“No. I want to see you. I was worried about you all.”

“Auntie Souk said you were very brave when you went in to look for Mommy.”

“Manoly, do you know where your mommy is now?”

“Yes.”

“Where?”

“In the temple.”

“That’s not your mommy.”

“Yes, it is.”

“No. In the temple is just the package your mommy was kept in.” The smallest sister giggled at this. Manoly seemed angry.

“It’s Mommy.”

Siri reached out for her hand and put it against his face.

“This skin, this hair, all this outside stuff. It isn’t me. It’s just my package. It’s like the wrapper around the sweet; it isn’t the sweet itself. What we really are is all inside the package. All our feelings. All our good moods and bad moods. All our ideas, our cleverness, our love, that’s what a person really is.

“It’s called a spirit. Your mommy’s spirit has left her package already. I met your mommy’s spirit when I was in your room that night.”

“Is that like a ghost?”

“No. A ghost is just something in make-believe stories. A spirit is really her. Some people can see it, but most people can’t.”

“Did you talk to her?”

“Yes, she was worried.”

“Why?”

“She was worried you might not love her because she was cross with you sometimes. But she wanted me to tell you, being cross was part of loving you.”

“Did she say that? Really?”

“Really. And she said she loves you all very much. She always will.”

Manoly’s eyes filled with tears and she smiled. It was probably a bit deep for the other two, so they just stood there.

The younger one changed the subject. “Uncle Siri. I can almost go to school. Watch.” She reached her right arm over her head and tried to touch her left ear. It was the method they used in the countryside. If you could reach your ear, you were old enough to start school.

“Oh, you’re so close, Nok. Too bad you don’t have ears like a rabbit. You could start right away.” She giggled and jumped up on his bed.

When Dtui got back from her mother’s, she found all three of them lying there listening to a story about tree spirits in Khamuan.

“Aha. What’s going on here?”

“Are you a nurse?” Nok asked.

“No. I’m a crocodile in a nurse’s uniform.”

“Have you come to apply?” Manoly asked her.

“What for, darling?”

“To be one of Uncle Siri’s wives?”

Dtui feigned a dramatic and very noisy vomit. When Auntie Souk and the guard came rushing in, they found Dtui face-down on the floor, the girls curled up on the bed with laughing aches, and Siri coughing his house up.

Once they’d gone, Siri attempted the telephone again. Instead of getting the Security officer, he found himself talking to the hospital clerk.

“Hello. What happened to the soldier?”

“He’s gone. I suppose there was no point in staying here once he got the call he was waiting for.”

“What call’s that?”

“From Vietnam. I was just on my way home yesterday evening when it came through. Dr. Nguyen something. Don’t you remember?”

“I didn’t get a call.”

“That’s odd. The officer said he was going to transfer the caller.”

“He didn’t transfer it in this direction. Interesting. Look, can you put me through to Police Headquarters? And I want you to look up the number for the central morgue in Hanoi.”

“That’s in Vietnam.”

“It was the last time I saw it.”

“You’ll need to fill in four forms before I can let you phone internationally. You have to have the director’s signature and-”

“All I need is the number. We’ll worry about signatures later. And could you send a message for my morgue technician, Mr. Geung, to come here as soon as possible?”

Siri eventually got through to the same gruff-voiced inspector at Central he’d spoken to the day before.

“Hello, Dr. Siri. This is Inspector Tay. After we talked yesterday, it occurred to me who you were. You’re the coroner, right? I keep meaning to send someone over to see what you’re doing over there. I’m afraid your man still hasn’t been in.”

“That’s all right. I was just wondering: yesterday you said Phosy didn’t have a desk?”

“That’s right.”

“How can one of your detectives not have a desk?”

“Ah, well, he isn’t actually one of ours, you see?”

“No?”

“No. He’s sort of on special assignment. He’s down from Viengsai working on a case. He comes in now and then. He’s always running around.”

“From Viengsai?”