Chapter One - Richard Lewis

"We're not going to drop this," she said. "Somebody has to pay for what they did
to Putu and to our family."
Nol nodded. "Somebody will," he said.
The taxi shortly came and took her away.
Old Mak was in the kitchen, confused, looking for the morning's rice that hadn't
been cooked. Nol explained that Putu was sick and was in the hospital.
"Who's going to do the offerings?" she said.
Nol gave her money and told her to go the offering maker's at the market and buy
some for the day. It was a task she could do, and if she got lost, neighbors would guide
her home. She slipped the money into the fold of her sarong.
"Mak," Nol said, "before the Red Berets took my father away, when my sister
Wayan was a little girl, did Anak Agung Mantera come by and visit Mother?"
In those deep vacant eyes sparked a fragment of shrewd memory. "He wanted her.
It would never do. A prince with a common girl? She refused to go the palace, you
know."
But, Nol thought, he could force her into the granary and rape her.
The man who fathered me, but not my Bapa. My Bapa was the man who whistled
birds into his hands and silenced mobs and walked into ditches and who was taken away
by the Red Berets.
The man who fathered me put my Bapa on a list.
Nol showered and dressed in his best sarong and blouse and headdress and
slipped on his special agate ring. As he headed out the gate, a salesman in tie and pulling
a wheeled case approached him.
"Not now," Nol said.
"You'll want to see this," the salesman said. "I'm selling essential foods at prices
cheaper than anything you can get in any store. You can order online and I will deliver. It
is the new way to shop." He thrust a brochure into Nol's hands.
Nol scanned the text and pictures. His idea, stolen once more.
And the thief on the cover, a full photo of his sleek and handsome face, the
president-director promising prosperity to all those who joined the team, was none other
than Gdé Raka.
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