Ok... I kinda consider myself more than a little street smart. At least enough to brush off a scam or an overly aggressive panhandler. I am all-too familiar with the elaborate"stranded here because..." stories that sound much like Nigerian inheritance emails. I also feel I can usually extricate myself with ease from an accidental conversation with a lunatic.
Right now, though, I am out a few (4) bucks and here is why.
I have been wanting to swim in some chlorinated, non-freaky fish inhabited water ever since my last swim. So today, I decided to splurge on a 5 dollar pool visit to a swanky hotel across town.
Here is what is disturbing about places like this.... the swanky ones... and I was feeling guilty at all for going. Tourist only. No locals allowed, even if they can afford it. I hate that, truly... but my moto driver said it was a really nice pool, I was tempted, and as is usual for me, my karma was instant for giving in to that temptation.
When Rotha dropped me off, he stayed near the outside of the gate and would not even drive in. Already I was feeling like I was leaving him at the back of the bus in order to get a better seat up near the front, but it was hot and it had a really nice pool.
The pool was ok... lots of sun-burned Europeans. Not worth the 5 bucks to get in, certainly, but I enjoyed my swim in "Sun City". At 3:35 I got up to leave as Rotha could not come in the gates and I knew he would be out there waiting for me at 3:50 as he was taking me to a meeting with Mines Advisory Group.
As I got outside the gate of the hotel to wait for Rotha, I was approached by a woman saying my name. Now if she had never said my name, I never would have paid attention and that is my excuse.... but she was my karmic messenger sent in response for my trip to the Jim Crow Waterpark, and of course she would be armed with, of all the names in the universe, mine.
"I wait for James!" she said to me "Can you help me find James?"
"Rotha must have asked this person to tell me he would be running late or maybe not coming." I thought.
"Hi, I'm James" I said with a smile as I was glad she found me.
"I wait for James, he is going to buy me a house and I am going to have baby"
Oh, no.
"James is inside, he give me card" she showed me a business card with no name on it but the name of some US credit union that looked very official, but really was nothing. "He tell me he can help me and the police won't let me inside!"
"Oh, those bastards" I thought.
"Can you walk me to the inside?"
Ok, she sounded sincere, and was starting to cry. I thought, "What is the big deal if I walk her in, she should be able to walk in there anyway.... and if, by chance, there is some guy named James that gave her some line of bull, and she runs into him this would be a good consequence for him to have to face as well as great theater."
"Ok, I will walk you past the police."
So we walked past the guards and on to the hotel grounds and she starts in on a new rap "James comes to Cambodia to help Cambodians and I know he will help me. He will help me, he helps Cambodians. He works over there, take me there!" she pointed to an abandoned building near the hotel.
"No, I am sorry, I got you past the police and now I am going to meet my friend."
"But James helps Cambodians and he is going to buy me a house." real tears now. Real weeping. "I have to sleep in the street. It is so noisy"
Oh, crap. This is either a basic street scam, she is completely crazy, or some guy named James picked her up, spent a few days with her, promised her the world and the last she saw of him was here at the hotel. No matter the truth, I felt genuinely bad for her, her pain was real, even if her story was false.
"Look," I said, fully realizing now that this sad, awkward moment was my karma and lesson for going to the pool to begin with "Ummm.... James is not there, and he is never going to help you, but you know what... I will give you a few of bucks to get some food or something, ok?"
Huge tears. Takes the money. "BUT I WANT JAMES!"
I tell her again, there is no James, while thinking if this is a street scam she more than earned the money... but she still keeps at me as I walk back toward the gates of the hotel hoping Rotha will be there... he's not, yet.
Now she is crying standing in front of me and all the other folks outside the gates of the hotel "James says he comes to Cambodia to help people. He will help me"
"Oh my God is this weird.... why does she have to say my name... why not Bill or Dave or Dean?" I thought. People were looking at us. I hoped no one knew me there and was thinking that I was with a prostitute gone crazy.... and I could not leave for fear of Rotha waiting there for me.
"Look, I gave you some money and I wish I could do more, but that is honestly all I can do for you."
"You give me nothing. I wait for JAMES!"
Rotha pulled up on his moto with his big smile. I climbed on and we drove off.
"How was the pool?" he asked.
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