Chapter One - Richard Lewis
Chapter One - Richard Lewis Chapter One - Richard Lewis
ancient granary at the back of the banana grove, a genuine antique, not faked and aged in a furniture factory. A hibiscus hedge separated the main compound from the banana grove and Mak's shack. Nol pushed through the bamboo gate. Mak kept her yard the old style, a patch of pure groomed dirt, not a single growing blade upon it, and she was presently sprinkling water upon it from a can to keep down the dust. Nol made his way through the banana grove, full of cool green light. On a patch of weed and dirt loomed the granary. Four stout hardwood posts rose from a flagstone base to support the elevated grain room, its thatch roof badly rotting. A flight of steep wooden stairs still in excellent condition led up to the granary's small doors, two carved panels bearing their original red and gilt paint. On the flagstones under the grain room was piled a mound of junk, moldy bamboo and broken earthenware jars and cracked plows, glued together by thick cobwebs. To Nol as a boy, the granary, long disused even then, was the spookiest place in the village. Its shimmering quiet held menace, as though the witch Luhde Srikandi herself lurked behind the curtain of light and shadow. For the longest time, Nol believed that when she was alive and stalking the lanes with her fatal beauty, she'd lived in the granary. It made perfect sense to him: the village's evil witch in residence under the village's spookiest roof. The only person he ever mentioned this to was his good friend Sudana, who knew how to keep his mouth shut. One day shortly after the start of fifth grade, Sudana stopped by as usual on his way to school. Both boys wore their uniforms of red shorts and white shirts and had their whisk brooms with them. It was Saturday, clean up day at Grade School Number Two. On Saturdays after school, the boys gathered at the acacia tree by the irrigation canal, where they gambled candy money on crickets, two of the insects put in a bamboo cage, to see which cricket attacked first and thus win. Nol had woken up that morning with a thrilling idea. Instead of dashing off to school with his friend, he grabbed Sudana's arm and tugged him into the banana grove. "I had an idea listening to crickets last night," Nol said. "We'll find a really powerful cricket, but not to fight. We'll show everybody how big and ferocious it is, a true champion, and we'll sell shares and take it to fight at the other schools." "I don't know," Sudana said dubiously. Nol pointed at the granary. The debris gathered underneath the grain room was a perfect breeding ground for monster crickets. "We'll find it there." Sudana halted in his tracks. "We better get to school. We don't want to be late." The new school year was only a week old, and the new teacher had already rapped half the knuckles of the fifth grade class with her metal ruler. Not Gdé Raka's knuckles, though. In five days, he'd become her favorite student, who each morning made sure a glass of sweet tea was on her desk. "Even if the cricket loses," Nol said, "we'll still have money in our pockets from selling the shares." "Raka won't like that." "He wants to buy a share, he'll have to pay double." "Then he'll get twice as mad, and he'll send Gong to beat you up twice as bad." Gong was a sixth year thug. Raka never got his hands dirty or risked his pretty face. He ordered others like Gong to harass Nol and in return allowed them the pleasure of his company and his money. From the very first day of first grade, Raka had picked on 26
Nol. Nol didn't understand why. One day when Mak was helping him with his homework, for Mother never did, Mak finally explained that there'd always bad blood between Arini and Raka's mother, the prince's wife. "Your mother is beautiful, she danced with Mantera in the school troupe, and Raka's mother has always been jealous of her," Mak had said. In the grove, Nol pushed Sudana forward to the granary. "Check that bamboo by the plow." Sudana reluctantly lifted a half-rotten piece. A mouse squeaked and scurried away. "I don't see any crickets—" he said, but was interrupted by the unmistakable sound of several crickets rasping all at once. Coming from overhead. Inside the granary room. "Let's go up," Nol whispered, shoving Sudana toward the first step. Sudana held his ground. "You go up." Nol gathered his courage and climbed the first few steps. He felt faint-headed but also resolute. Luhde Srikandi was dead, her head cut off, Uncle Dharma said so— "What are you boys doing?" Nol whirled around and flailed for his balance. Old Mak had silently appeared and stood there scowling. "Get down. There's nothing up there. And go to school. You're going to be late." Now decades later, a grown man, Nol smiled fondly at the memory. And by the gods, were those crickets he was hearing, the rasping sounds coming from the granary? He took a step forward, and then froze. Somebody was in the grove. A shadowy figure moving through the green light. Luhde Srikandi, risen from her grave— Nol gave a little shriek as old Mak popped into view, like a cricket herself. She glowered at him and put a gnarled hand to the granary steps. "This is mine," she snapped. Nol's relief turned into irritation. This wasn't the first time he'd thought of selling the granary, but Mak thwarted him at every turn. She maintained a keen vigilance over her shack and the granary, fiercely proclaiming ownership. "I was just checking," Nol said indignantly. He nodded at the accumulated junk. "Perhaps we should clear that out. It's a fire hazard." At the golf course, he'd been well trained in fire hazards as well as bomb detection. Mak stepped closer, her shrunken eyes glittering. "Did you see their bones?" she whispered. Village gossip must have run fast and deep this morning if Mak knew. "Don't fret yourself, Mak." "I remember it clear as yesterday." Her whisper was softer yet, and more piercing. "The taming gang came in the middle of the night. They wore black shirts. Out! Out! they shouted. I could hear the women screaming and the children crying. The dogs howled. They were loaded up into a truck. It was raining. Splash, splash the tires went. Splash splash." The back of Nol's neck tingled. He said, "Shouldn't you finish watering your yard?" "They were the first," she said. "Then the commandos came for Madé Catra. Oh, such fine red berets they wore! So handsome and dashing. They took him away. And your mother crying at him, what have you done, what have you done?" 27
- Page 1 and 2: NOTE: A version of this novel is av
- Page 3 and 4: Chapter One The backhoe operator di
- Page 5 and 6: Chapter 2 The previous evening, Mad
- Page 7 and 8: The abrupt change of topic made Nol
- Page 9 and 10: An assistant professor at Stanford,
- Page 11 and 12: A good host, Reed saw his guest to
- Page 13 and 14: Chapter 4 The VW Safari's headlight
- Page 15 and 16: Chapter 5 Fifty million nightmares
- Page 17 and 18: "The personnel manager said she'd l
- Page 19 and 20: "I'll be at the market," she said.
- Page 21 and 22: By a renovated rice granary that wa
- Page 23 and 24: absentminded. In high school, Catra
- Page 25: captain, having taken away her husb
- Page 29 and 30: Nol tried to grab it, but Gong toss
- Page 31 and 32: 1965 The Den Pasar ice factory that
- Page 33 and 34: Was she teasing? Reed couldn't tell
- Page 35 and 36: formal sitting parlor visible throu
- Page 37 and 38: "Nothing would give me greater plea
- Page 39 and 40: Hotel. The officers liked to flirt
- Page 41 and 42: "You know," Sudana said, "I have a
- Page 43 and 44: "What was found is in safe keeping
- Page 45 and 46: have the bitter past full of injust
- Page 47 and 48: "Your mother's never gotten over it
- Page 49 and 50: Chapter 9 In the hallway of Tina's
- Page 51 and 52: Chapter 10 An elderly Dutch couple
- Page 53 and 54: "Some American woman came by earlie
- Page 55 and 56: Nol knew next to nothing about song
- Page 57 and 58: "Your uncle put together the deal o
- Page 59 and 60: Chapter 11 Nol and Sudana took turn
- Page 61 and 62: "He was a surfer punk harassing Mis
- Page 63 and 64: Arini replied with a nod, tucking t
- Page 65 and 66: Chapter 12 After early morning flag
- Page 67 and 68: The blond girl shrieked and ducked
- Page 69 and 70: one." "And you want to be an actor?
- Page 71 and 72: On the way back, she asked Nol if h
- Page 73 and 74: LBJ's State Department had been so
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Nol. Nol didn't understand why. <strong>One</strong> day when Mak was helping him with his<br />
homework, for Mother never did, Mak finally explained that there'd always bad blood<br />
between Arini and Raka's mother, the prince's wife. "Your mother is beautiful, she<br />
danced with Mantera in the school troupe, and Raka's mother has always been jealous of<br />
her," Mak had said.<br />
In the grove, Nol pushed Sudana forward to the granary. "Check that bamboo by<br />
the plow."<br />
Sudana reluctantly lifted a half-rotten piece. A mouse squeaked and scurried<br />
away. "I don't see any crickets—" he said, but was interrupted by the unmistakable sound<br />
of several crickets rasping all at once.<br />
Coming from overhead. Inside the granary room.<br />
"Let's go up," Nol whispered, shoving Sudana toward the first step.<br />
Sudana held his ground. "You go up."<br />
Nol gathered his courage and climbed the first few steps. He felt faint-headed but<br />
also resolute. Luhde Srikandi was dead, her head cut off, Uncle Dharma said so—<br />
"What are you boys doing?"<br />
Nol whirled around and flailed for his balance.<br />
Old Mak had silently appeared and stood there scowling. "Get down. There's<br />
nothing up there. And go to school. You're going to be late."<br />
Now decades later, a grown man, Nol smiled fondly at the memory. And by the<br />
gods, were those crickets he was hearing, the rasping sounds coming from the granary?<br />
He took a step forward, and then froze. Somebody was in the grove. A shadowy figure<br />
moving through the green light. Luhde Srikandi, risen from her grave—<br />
Nol gave a little shriek as old Mak popped into view, like a cricket herself. She<br />
glowered at him and put a gnarled hand to the granary steps. "This is mine," she snapped.<br />
Nol's relief turned into irritation. This wasn't the first time he'd thought of selling<br />
the granary, but Mak thwarted him at every turn. She maintained a keen vigilance over<br />
her shack and the granary, fiercely proclaiming ownership.<br />
"I was just checking," Nol said indignantly. He nodded at the accumulated junk.<br />
"Perhaps we should clear that out. It's a fire hazard." At the golf course, he'd been well<br />
trained in fire hazards as well as bomb detection.<br />
Mak stepped closer, her shrunken eyes glittering. "Did you see their bones?" she<br />
whispered.<br />
Village gossip must have run fast and deep this morning if Mak knew. "Don't fret<br />
yourself, Mak."<br />
"I remember it clear as yesterday." Her whisper was softer yet, and more piercing.<br />
"The taming gang came in the middle of the night. They wore black shirts. Out! Out! they<br />
shouted. I could hear the women screaming and the children crying. The dogs howled.<br />
They were loaded up into a truck. It was raining. Splash, splash the tires went. Splash<br />
splash."<br />
The back of Nol's neck tingled. He said, "Shouldn't you finish watering your<br />
yard?"<br />
"They were the first," she said. "Then the commandos came for Madé Catra. Oh,<br />
such fine red berets they wore! So handsome and dashing. They took him away. And<br />
your mother crying at him, what have you done, what have you done?"<br />
27
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