Thein Pe Myint (16)

The following text and translation covers the page 16 of Thein Pe Myint's short story "ငွေစိန် လှေလှော်ရင်း တက်ကျိုးခြင်း", which I have scanned from page 344 of "ဝတ္ထုတိုပေါင်းချုပ်သစ်" [A new collection of short stories].

Vocabulary:

နှူး ။ to persuade; coax
စွန့် ။ to throw away; discard; disown; abandon; forsake; relinquish.
တန်းလန်း ။ without completing or finishing; while; in the middle of
ဉာဏ်ဆင် ။ devise; scheme; plot
ချော့ ။ coax; persuade, soothe; pacify
ဟက်ဟက်ပက်ပက် ။ heartily
လက္ခဏာ ။ sign; mark; token; indication; symptom; characteristics
ချဉ်း ။ approach; come near

Translation:

[People] must take up your work time. I want to ask about your case. [What I want to ask is], of course, have you gone already, and what of it, mate."

After he abandoned the behaviour of a salesman to a customer [he said],

"As for the case​​, it's still ongoing, sir. At present, I've been able to get out with a guarantee."

"Yeah, regarding that, come to my office shortly, mate. Monday at about three thirty in the afternoon."

"If me wife is free, would it not be good [for her to go], sir?"

"Please come, mate. More than that, as the shop is being presently confiscated, in what manner can you bring it back?"

"[I] give the police two kyat. With what will elder brother persuade [them]? Therefore, [we must] of course plan a way to free [my wife] from the police."

"The lorry will stop in a place for us and [the police will say] 'Hey, lady friend, are your items together. Please check.' They'll swing their heads this way and that way. Because of that, I'll quickly drop my tray and my box from on the lorry and take them away, sir. My wife will be quick with those things, sir. She'll protect me from the trouble I'll face."

"Okay, I'm going. Come on Monday afternoon, won't you."

"Okay, sir."

As for his answer, it was not said with enthusiasm. It was not said in a manner of depending on me. It was the same manner as a having decided that he could not reach [the payment] in order to approach a lawyer who would only follow [a case] upon payment of two hundred [kyat].

And in calling him to my office and explaining his case, more than getting a lawyer to follow or not follow his case, because I had become interested in their life and their affair, it was important to only ask as much as I wanted to know. As for the matter of taking on his case as a lawyer, should I take it on freely? or should I accept Ngwe Sein's plan. I was dwelling on these matters.

3

According to the set time, at about four o'clock on Monday afternoon, Htun Khin arrived at my office.

He was dressed in a long sleeved shirt and Khaki trousers...