"Oh my god, that maid of mine..."
A rat peeks out from under calentia bush close to where a woman is lounging by the pool.
The woman tuts at web footage on her phone of photographers hounding Air France relatives, white with shock, as they arrived at the terminal to await news.
"How awful."
The pool guy looks up and smiles. The waitress in an ao dai has let a tray of bottled water slip from her grip and one has fallen and rolled into the pool, its slender neck bobbing in the breeze.
" How can they show these pictures, these people deserve to be left alone. Awful.
I can't stand to see people crying."
"Huh?"
The woman's husband lifts his head out of the rippling water, smoothing his hair back as he squints into the sun.
" What did you say?"
"The maid is stealing from us. There was money in the draw and now it's not there."
"Why are you leaving money in a drawer?"
"Why is she stealing the money? We pay her enough."
The man lifts himself out of the pool, his arms tanned, chest white. He nods to the pool man who is scooping dead leaves out of the water while watching the bottle bob.
"It's cultural."
The woman laughs.
"It's theft, pure and simple. Aren't these people Buddhists?"
The man too notices the mineral water bottle floating towards the deep end and he kicks his legs to make waves and the bottle lurches towards the side.
The pool man stops mid scoop when he sees the rat twitching under the woman's sun lounger. He smiles, wags his finger at it with mock admonishment then walks over to where the water bottle is now knocking against the side.
"You want me to fire her?"
"It's awful. The responsibility. She has children. What will happen to them? Is there a safety net here?"
To be continued...
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