Chapter One - Richard Lewis

Cake got stuck in Nol's throat, and he coughed hoarsely as syrup dripped onto his
fingers. He licked his forefinger. Mantera leaned across, handing Nol a paper napkin.
"Excuse me for a moment." He disappeared into the hut's front room.
Nol wiped the syrup from his fingers and flicked the used napkin over the side of
the porch. Give Wulandri something to sweep up later.
When Mantera returned, he placed a thick manila envelope on the table. "This is
for you. Fifty million cash."
Nol heard the words, but it took a moment for understanding to catch up. He
stared at the plump envelope.
"For getting the bird to sing," said Mantera with a small smile.
"I can't," Nol managed to say. He had his pride. To borrow money was one thing,
but just to be given it, like he was a poor man, was another.
"For your mother's sake."
"Please keep my mother out of this—"
"Unless you want her to find out about the bank loan you lost at the cockfights?"
Nol didn't have the energy to conjure up either outrage or surprise. The envelope
seemed to swell. Fifty million. Nol resisted an urge to stroke it. "I will accept this but
only as a loan," he said stiffly.
"As you wish, but as far as I am concerned, it is given as a gift." The crickets had
fallen silent, and Mantera looked like the bird who'd eaten them all.
The envelope clutched under his arm, Nol slid out of the palace gate into the
night shadows. Behind him, steps sounded. He whirled, his heart thumping like a struck
drum.
An overhanging neon flickered to life, the sharp brilliance falling like a spotlight
upon Raka, casually dressed in a sarong and shirt. Nol relaxed. Raka held out a pack of
Marlboros. "A cigarette?"
"No, thank you. Don't smoke. Quit. Bad for my health."
"But you're still betting on the cocks?"
Acutely aware of the envelope under his arm, Nol said, "Now and then."
Raka flipped open a gold lighter and lit a cigarette. He inhaled deeply and exhaled
briskly. "So your son is at Stanford University."
"A full scholarship."
"I went to Harvard for my MBA. Two years. I worked in Jakarta for a while, but
now I'm helping my father. Ever since my mother's cremation, he's been pulling back,
and I've been taking over, expanding the family businesses, starting new ventures. You've
gotten a job at the golf course, haven't you?"
"Security guard. They want to promote me to assistant chief."
"It's funny. All those years in school together and then we went our separate
ways. I never really gave you much thought since. No, I haven't thought about you at all."
"Forgive me if I sound disrespectful, but I haven't thought of you either."
"My father's done a lot of deals with your uncle. My father's always appreciated
his peasant's shrewdness. But times change, don't they?"
"Technology," Nol agreed. "Websites and E-Bay."
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