Perpetual Travel

“This man is a great one,” I said and teasingly laced my arms around his neck from behind, so my fingers met at his chest. He was sitting in a bar with a group of people, flanked by two girls on either side. Around his neck hung two strings with teeth; four wolf teeth on one, and three shark teeth on the other. Due to his unruly chest hair, and wild brown eyes, I had become accustomed to calling him Wolfman. By day, Wolfman could be found with his Russian friend Dimitri, playing games of chess over multiple cups of strong Vietnamese coffee. By night, he was found conversing at bars sipping Mekong whisky and coke.
We had met recently at a beach in Hoi An during a swim, where we had been fighting an unusually fierce surf to get out to deeper water. Dimitri was reading a book further up the beach underneath a sloping palm tree. Whilst in the water we became instant friends.
I grabbed a hold of the necklaces and made eye contact with the Indian-looking girl on his left.
“He gives away a tooth to those he’s particularly fond of,” I mused in a silent purr while squeezing a tooth between my fore finger and thumb. As her eyes zeroed in on the pointed white object, I let it fall amongst the wiry hairs upon his chest.
“I got one,” I lied, my voice so airy it could almost have taken flight.
“I’m not sure if I should be offended now,” she said, almost whiny, directed at the man I was embracing from behind. She wanted one. She wanted to be wanted. Wolfman’s neck twitched and the South East Asian humidity gathered at his brow.
I faintly remembered him telling me how teeth were used as a currency somewhere, but halfway through my third bucket drink I could not recall where, or I did not truly care. However, if there was one thing I’d learnt during the short time I had known him, it was how much he valued his teeth.
“Just joking,” I laughed and retracted my arms so that my fingers were merely lingering at his clavicles. I’m not sure why I play these mind games with people. I like to think it is caused by my love for theatrics and storytelling. Also being a traveler meant being constantly on the move – chances are we would never cross paths again.
I continued. “To be truthful, I’ve come to believe that he would be more protective of the teeth around his neck than the teeth in his mouth or any woman in his arms.” With that I spun around and walked out of the bar into the hot night air of Nha Trang looking for more fun, adventures and cheap alcohol.