Guests

A boatload of tourists just arrived by the Lima Coco speedboat.  That was how we got here last week.  I didn’t understand what the staring was all about when we arrived, but now I do, as I fixed my gaze on those lucky guests of paradise.  The beach got busier the past 2-3 days as the weekend approached.  The guests are greeted with a mobile dock that’s attached behind a truck.  You can see everyone focusing their attention on the arrival of new guests, maybe because the ocean is so peaceful without the speedboat, or maybe because everyone reads the future of these newcomers and secretly wishing that it was them that just arrived, in envy, possibly jealousy.

Our guest of honor didn’t arrive on a speedboat last night.  He was born and raised here on paradise, I assume.  The little island cat was quite rude and a little intrusive, I might add. 

It was our second day watching the amazing sunset from the restaurant/lobby.  Where we sat, was directly across where the spectacle happens day in and day out.  The guests that have been here longer knew about the show and we compete for the best seats in the house.  The orange bright sun starts midway in the sky by seducing the clouds to turn orange, gray, and purple as it prepares itself for the dive.  The clouds seduced, tinted themselves.  The ocean glistened at the first opportunity to entice the sun to take its plunge.  From where we sat, people on the beach turned dark with only their silhouette visible as to avoid competition.  The dance and contest for beauty didn’t last long.  The calm, sparkling, red ocean wins.  It had swallowed the sun and the clouds dissipated in dusk.  As we watched all of this happen from our front row seat, we spotted this long legged cat that roamed the beach chasing little animals, possibly a crab, minding its own business ignoring the spectacular sunset.  He has probably seen too many of these same shows.  It gets old after a while even the sunset here on Koh Samed…

As our dinner arrived, the tiny cat, our guest of honor, decided that he would not only share a table with us, but my chair with me.  I fed him our leftover steamed fish.  He ate, and begged for more by jumping on to my lap.  I laid down the rules – nicely.  I asked him to sit on the other chair – incentivized with more fish of course.

Our guest was tired.  He laid on the chair next to mine after his meal.  He closed his eyes, dozed off, and showed no interest on what was going on around him.  More guests came for their feasts as we concluded our dinner. 

In the darkness, more speedboats pulled up to shore with glaring lights as more guests arrived for the weekend.  I stared them down, envious, and a little jealous.