Chapter One - Richard Lewis

"Your uncle put together the deal on that beach front property. I wonder if he
knew what would be dug up."
This was news to Nol, but he didn't know about every deal his uncle did. "I don't
think he told anyone where to put a pool."
"What's done is done," Raka said reflectively. "Those Communists deserved their
fate. It was either them or us. Did you know they had my family on a death list? I was a
baby at the time. If Communists like your father had won, we'd be buried somewhere, our
bones forgotten. Every time I look at you, I think to myself, I could be dead."
"He was not a Communist," Nol said evenly.
"What did my father want with you?"
"An invitation to your family's tooth filing."
"What is that you have there?"
Nol tightened his grip on the envelope. "Papers for Dharma."
"Nol the Errand Boy." Raka squished his cigarette under the toe of his sandal. "I
hear you've been telling rumors about me."
"I've heard them myself," Nol said. "But you know rumors. They're like the wind,
whirling every which way."
"I hope you don't become a problem, Nol. I'm good at solving problems."
Nol smiled, suddenly at ease. "You're good at telling others to solve them for you.
Like Gong. Remember him, that stupid fat boy you always sent to beat me up?"
Raka returned the smile. "He was stupid and he was fat but he was loyal. Let me
tell you something they don't teach you at Harvard. A man who's loyal is worth a hundred
times someone's who's smart." He turned off the light and slipped through the side gate,
the scion of the palace blessed by early starlight and blossoming jasmine.
In his bedroom, Nol opened the unsealed envelope and shook out bundles of crisp
hundred-thousand rupiah notes. He counted them twice. Fifty million exactly. He put the
bundles back in the envelope but then withdrew five of the bills, which he stuck in his
wallet. A small tax for the next cockfight, an offering for this unexpected fortune, which
Nol wasn't quite willing to call good but was certainly timely. Nol stuck the envelope
under the mattress, then in shoe box in the bottom of the closet, then between two temple
sarongs in the top drawer, and finally in a painted offering basket on top of the wardrobe.
Suti's scooter puttered into the garage. Nol heard her footsteps, the vigor of doors
opening and closing, the hard rattling of cups and pans in the kitchen. He knew her many
sounds, and right now she was very angry about something. He sauntered over to the
kitchen, where she was eating a bowl of noodles. She glared at him over the steaming
bowl.
Nol peeled a tangerine. "And how was your day?" he said pleasantly.
"Fine. And yours?"
Oh, she was furious. Nol could tell by that controlled tone. He popped a tangerine
slice in his mouth and spat the seeds out the door. "Not bad. Sweet talked this Dutch
couple into renting one of Dharma's houses. They were very fussy, but you know me."
"Yes, I do know you. You can lose a fortune at the cockfights and come home
whistling."
"What are you talking about?"
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