Welcome Me to the Kingdom

Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Prologue Labor: Pea & Nam (1980) What You Bargained For: Rick, Nam & Pea (1980) Pink Youth: Hasmah & Nam (1982) Exit Father: Ping (1985–) Parade: Lara, Nam & Rick (1991) Stomping Ground: Benz, Tintin & Pradit (1993) Goodbye, Big E Bar: Pinky & Pradit (1996) Easy: Lara, Nam & Rick (1997) Feasts: Ping, Pinky & Pradit (1999) Captain Q Is Dead: Benz & Tintin (2000) Make-Believe: Pinky (2010) Like Us for a Whiter You: Lara & Nam (2010) Handsome Red: Tintin (2011) Welcome Me to the Kingdom: Lara & Benz (2013) City of Brass: Jimmy & Ping (2016) English!: Pea & Nam (1974) The Tum-Boon Brigade: Benz, Tintin & Lara (2014) Acknowledgments About the Author Landmarks Cover Cover Title Page Contents Start Copyright Print Page List iii iv 3 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 275 277 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Welcome Me to the Kingdom is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
 Copyright © 2023 by Mai Nardone
 All rights reserved.
 Published in the United States by Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
 Random House and the House colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.
 Some stories are previously published: “Stomping Ground” in American Short Fiction, “Like Us for a Whiter You” in Apogee, “English!” in The Bridport Prize Anthology 2013, “Easy” (as “Only You Farang Are So Easy to Come and Leave”) in Catapult, “Exit Father” in Granta, “Captain Q is Dead” in Guernica, “What You Bargained For” in Kenyon Review Online, “The Tum-boon Brigade” in McSweeney’s Quarterly, “Welcome Me to the Kingdom” in Ploughshares, and “Goodbye, Big E Bar” in Vol. 1 Brooklyn.
 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
 Names: Nardone, Mai, 1989- author.
 Title: Welcome me to the kingdom: stories / Mai Nardone.
 Other titles: Welcome me to the kingdom (Compilation)
 Description: First edition. | New York: Random House, 2023
 Identifiers: LCCN 2022006887 (print) | LCCN 2022006888 (ebook) | ISBN 9780593498187 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780593498194 (ebook)
 Subjects: LCSH: Bangkok (Thailand)—Fiction. | LCGFT: Linked stories.
 Classification: LCC PR9570.T53 N37 2023 (print) | LCC PR9570.T53 (ebook) | DDC 823/.92—dc23/eng/20220418
 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/​2022006887
 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/​2022006888
 Ebook ISBN 9780593498194
 randomhousebooks.com
 Title-page and chapter-opening ornaments: chartgraphic/stock.adobe.com
 Cover design: Rachel Ake Kuech
 Cover collage: Nakrob Moonmanas
 ep_prh_6.0_142459018_c0_r0
 
 
 
 Contents
 
 Cover
 Title Page
 Copyright
 
 
 Prologue
 
 
 Labor: Pea & Nam (1980)
 
 
 What You Bargained For: Rick, Nam & Pea (1980)
 
 
 Pink Youth: Hasmah & Nam (1982)
 
 
 Exit Father: Ping (1985–)
 
 
 Parade: Lara, Nam & Rick (1991)
 
 
 Stomping Ground: Benz, Tintin & Pradit (1993)
 
 
 Goodbye, Big E Bar: Pinky & Pradit (1996)
 
 
 Easy: Lara, Nam & Rick (1997)
 
 
 Feasts: Ping, Pinky & Pradit (1999)
 
 
 Captain Q Is Dead: Benz & Tintin (2000)
 
 
 Make-Believe: Pinky (2010)
 
 
 Like Us for a Whiter You: Lara & Nam (2010)
 
 
 Handsome Red: Tintin (2011)
 
 
 Welcome Me to the Kingdom: Lara & Benz (2013)
 
 
 City of Brass: Jimmy & Ping (2016)
 
 
 English!: Pea & Nam (1974)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 We came with the drought. From the window of the train, the rich brown of the Chao Phraya River marked the turn from the northeast into the central plains. We came for Bangkok on the delta. The thin tributaries that laced the provinces found full current at the capital. And in the city, we’d heard, the wealth was wide and deep.
 The train arrived alongside trucks hauling into the outskirts, flames painted on their fenders, bumpers lined with Michelin Man dolls. The fanfare of a conquering army. And the city received us with familiar faces, celebrities we knew from Channel 7 smiling from the gauntlet of signs, promising the best in soda, soap, and gold.
 We came with our own talismans—jade, bronze—protections against a city that didn’t live up to our expectation: just this? In the station, no one seemed