Chapter One - Richard Lewis

At his house that evening, Catra played games with little Wayan and sang her
songs. When Arini put her to bed, he remained out on the porch and listened. Soon
enough he heard an army truck. Then came the sound of marching boots.
He went into the bedroom and spoke to his wife, who at first turned away,
refusing to listen. "I know you never loved me," he said, "but I have always loved you,
and so for this last time you will please listen to me."
Surprised by his brutal honesty worked, even looking shaken for once, she
listened to him.
"Those are Red Beret commandos at our gate," he said. "They are going to take
me away. Two things. Tell Dharma that he needs to find me at their camp tomorrow
morning. Promise me this."
He'd never spoken so firmly to her. His eyes had never been so fierce and hard.
She promised.
"Second, I give you this charge, that you will not do anything foolish and that you
will take care of our daughter. I love you and you will do this for me."
The soldiers kicked down the door, waking the sleeping girl, who began to cry.
Arini picked her up and hugged her tight.
The captain ignored her and said to Catra, "Are you Madé Catra, the grade school
teacher?"
"I am," Catra said.
The men seized him and dragged him with them. Mak scuttled out of her hut. She
screeched and spat her betelnut juice at the soldiers. With the butt of his rifle, one
knocked her down.
Arini followed. She did not argue or beg with the soldiers, but cried out instead to
her husband, "Oh, Catra, what have you done? Catra, Catra what have you done?"
At the Red Beret's camp, Catra was shoved into a barrack stuffed with a fifty
other men, all PKI and Peasants League activists seized that evening. At dawn, the
commandos called out a dozen names, herded them to the yard, tied their thumbs together
behind their backs, and led them to a waiting truck. They climbed the ramp like cattle.
They did not resist.
Soon there came from the direction of the estuary the cracks of a dozen rifle shots,
one after the other.
A soldier respectfully ushered another man into the barracks, a Church of Bali
pastor in his black robes. The pastor opened his Bible and preached to the men, saying if
they repented and accepted Christ, they would this day be in heaven with God.
The doomed men jeered the pastor. "To hell with your gods! We'll die like men,
not cowards!"
One of the PKI leaders pointed at the rifle the commando held at the ready. "That
is our god. Today we lost, but one day history will show we have won. There will be no
more of you and your kind," he said to the pastor
The captain's aide appeared and called out, "Madé Catra."
Catra was marched away to a holding cell. In the nearby interrogation room, he
could hear the moaning of a man, who pleaded no more please no more I'll tell you
everything
192