Thai Kickboxing for a Free Bucket

Before we went to Thailand we were warned against consuming alcoholic beverages served in buckets, apparently a popular drink among the tourists. Reason being, some people died from it, it made the news, and so the story goes... This is not to belittle the deaths of those people, it is very tragic, but come on! It is a bucket filled with alcohol, that's for starters, and, secondly, it basically begs for someone to mess with you and pour something else into it. It does not take a genius to figure out that those drinks are meant to do you harm. Well, we stayed away from those like from the devil himself.
So then Jessica's decision to Thai kickbox after our booze cruise made little sense considering that the lure was that you received a free bucket drink in exchange for volunteering to fight someone publicly with a helmet and gloves and the whole shabang. We all thought it was a fantastic idea, that is, myself and our new best friends that we met on the cruise and then later in the street. The guys themselves did not want to partake, but one of them was kind enough to lend Jess his shirt. I could not believe though that she actually raised her hand, wearing her little dress, and asked for someone to come challenge her. I secretly hoped no one would do it, but then a generously built girl volunteered. Oh boy!

As I stood by the corner, I saw hesitation in Jess's eyes and a bit of crazy in her opponent. It worried me. I felt responsible for my little adopted sister (that's what I call her) and something told me this was not going to end well. The crowds went crazy as soon as they started. There was screaming, cheers and excitement. The reason being, this was not a girl on girl fight. This was an actual fight and I think even Jess didn't anticipate how serious it was going to get.
After the first round, I saw she wanted to give up. I wanted her to give up too, but I didn't even get a chance to voice that. The second round was brutal. The other girl got even crazier, kept punching and kicking. I stood there with my eyes closed regretting I ever let Jess do this. Finally, she gave up after the second round. She looked a bit disoriented and in a lot of pain. Terrible idea, Marta, I thought to myself!

Well, we laugh about it now, but the poor thing still has bruises all over her legs the size of a soccer ball and a beat up foot. And the bucket? We gave it to one of our new friends. He didn't want to drink it, but he sure carried it like a trophy!