Stealing Asia by David Clarkson

things that we had in common. He took
a sip from his beer before answering my question.
    ‘Argentina, originally,’ he replied, ‘but I move about a lot.’
    ‘You speak perfect English; have you ever been to the UK?’
    ‘Once or twice on business, but I spend most of my time in the States.’
    ‘What sort of business are you in?’
    The question seemed to unsettle him and he looked me over before
responding.
    ‘I offer insurance,’ he eventually replied.
    ‘So, you’re a salesman?’
    ‘Not quite; I deal more with the risk assessment side of things.’
    His answers were guarded and I sensed that he had little interest in
talking about himself. I decided to change the subject.
    ‘How do you rate my chances tonight?’
    ‘On finding your girl? I see no reason why not. If she were a blonde or a
brunette you may struggle to spot her, but red may prove to be your lucky
colour. I think your biggest worry is if another guy gets there first. After
all, you did say that she cannot know for sure that you would be coming.’
    I dismissed his suggestion instantly.
    ‘Asia is not like that.’
    ‘I never implied anything to the contrary. My point is that there are a
lot of guys here and a beautiful girl is not going to go unnoticed.’
    To illustrate his point, he drew my attention to an attractive blonde who
was approaching the bar from the direction of the sea. She was wearing nothing
but a flimsy bikini and her toned body glistened as the diminishing sunlight
caught the reflection of the water droplets clinging to her, as unwilling to
let go of her curves as the eyes of every male admirer around the bar.
    ‘Now watch,’ said Esteban. ‘Watch as the wolves move in on the lamb.’
    A group of guys standing at the bar became more animated as the girl drew
nearer. Rather than move in as a pack, one of them separated from his friends
and made the approach alone. He was tall and had a muscular build that was
fighting to break free of his tight designer t-shirt. There was a lot of
cockiness in the way that he walked and he hid his eyes behind expensive
sunglasses. His approach was slick and had clearly been perfected by much
practice. From where we were standing we were unable to hear what was being
said, but it seemed that whatever it was had been funny as the girl returned a
lot of encouraging laughter. After less than a minute, the man collected two
drinks from the bar and offered his friends a wink as he left in the opposite
direction with his prize. It was an impressive performance.
    ‘You can’t wind me up that easily,’ I said. ‘If Asia was the kind of girl
that fell for guys like that she would never have been with me, would she?’
    He briefly looked me up and down.
    ‘Point taken,’ he conceded.
    After getting in replacement beers, I suggested that we take a stroll
along the beach in order to mingle with the growing crowd. The sun was now
almost within touching distance of the horizon and I knew that once the moon
came out things would start to get a little crazy. Hopefully, if I was on the
move, I stood a greater chance of running into Asia. It was still a long shot,
but with the alcohol inside of me, anything felt possible.
    By the time that the transition into night was finally complete the crowd
had reached chaos level. The booming music stirred up the raging, alcohol
fuelled hormones running rampant throughout the melee and if you tried to
resist the tempo of the crowd, it would overwhelm you. As I was pushed and
jostled by the throng, I realised that expecting to run into Asia by sheer
chance alone was all but impossible. It was clear that I needed to come up with
a better plan.
    My frustration at not finding her did not mix well with the frantic
atmosphere and after a while it all became too much and I had to break away
from the crowd.
    ‘This was a stupid idea, wasn’t it?’ I asked Esteban.
    He put his hand on my shoulder.
    ‘If you expect disappointment then disappointment is what you will