There was both pleasantness and confusion in equal amounts this weekend in the Battambang commune of Tapon, when a girl waved at a man who didn't recognise her, but he waved back anyway.
Moys Kenwood, 55, was at the local market, knelt 'browsing' amongst all the 'tat', when he happened to stand up and look towards the road. As he did, a passenger on a motorbike - a girl of about 18 or 20 - waved at him, smiling.
He got a good look at her, because she wasn't wearing a helmet, of course.
Not having recognised her, he cast a glance over both shoulders, thinking she must have intended the wave for someone else, but there was nobody behind him. He tried to think who it could have been, but his mind was a jumble of faces.
Was it one of his wife's many relatives? No, no, not that. Could it have been one of his former students? He didn't think so. Was it possible the girl had thought he was someone else, who looked a bit like someone she knew? Unlikely. He was the only foreigner for miles around.
Could it have been that she liked the look of him?
He quickly banished this obscene thought to the very back of his mind, and got on with perusing the knick-knacks.
