Chapter One - Richard Lewis
Chapter One - Richard Lewis Chapter One - Richard Lewis
The brass iron resembled a stately ship with a high sharp bow. With Arini supervising, Tina filled the vented chamber with hardwood charcoal and squirted alcohol. Blue flame whooshed at the touch of a match. On the porch was a rattan basket of sundried laundry. As they waited for the iron to heat, Tina remarked, "It looks like it has a long history." "My mother's," Arini said. "I stole it from home when I married." "Where was home?" "Here. Batu Gede. I was from a northern hamlet, up by the hill. We went to school together from first grade." "Really? You knew him your whole life, then." "No," Arini said softly, "I knew him his whole life." Tina winced. "I'm sorry. That was a careless way to put it. I was at the meeting they had about those skeletons, and your brother-in-law Dharma told me about your husband." "You see that dent on the side of the iron?" Arini said. "My mother told me that one wind-blown night during the monsoon storms, the Demon King from Nusa Penida roared through our yard and flung the iron against the well. But I'd seen my clumsy father knocking it off the ledge." Tina held back a sigh. Had Teflon been invented in 1965? Because Arini was coated in it, impervious to Tina's questions, no matter how subtle or discreet. Maybe a more direct approach would work. "I've heard stories about Communist leyak called Luhde Srikandi," she said. "Who was she? Was she a real person?" "I think the iron is ready." Tina stifled another sigh. From the basket she picked out one of Arini's dresses, a cotton print with yards of pleated skirt and balloon sleeves, a style fashionable half a century previously. "A Chinese dressmaker in Denpasar made that for me," Arini said. "He had the latest fashion catalogs shipped over from Europe. Every day I got on a Lambretta scooter to go to work at the Bali Hotel. I always liked to look nice for our guests." Tina began ironing, working the nose of the iron into the tops of the pleats. The brass clinked and clanked. "It must have been hard on you, raising your children on your own." "You been in Bali long enough to know better." Arini's tone was gently scolding. "A child is raised by the whole family." "You were still a mother." "Careful, you're going to scorch the fabric. Let me finish that." They exchanged places, and after a long silence, Tina said, "When I was fifteen, my younger sister Nancy snuck out one night to a shopping center near our house. She took a shortcut through the woods and she wasn't ever seen again. The police investigated for months. Not a single clue. Her picture was put on milk cartons all around the country. Nothing. My parents were devastated. My mother didn't get out of bed for year. Nancy and I shared a bedroom, and to this day my mother blames me for not keeping an eye on her." 74
Arini hung up the ironed dress and looked at Tina with a steady gaze. "When I'm asking you questions about your husband," Tina said, "I'm also asking myself about Nancy. A senseless tragedy." "Oh, but when they took my husband, it made perfect sense," Arini said. "It was a terrible time, but with such pure clarity. The killings started in Java in October. You knew what was going to happen long before it did." Tina was silent for a moment, then decided in for a penny, in for a pound. "I found your husband's letter to the Harian Rakyat." Arini was very still. "I have a copy," Tina continued. "Right here in my bag." Arini looked down at her hands and then back at Tina. "Why are you doing this?" Tina steeled herself. "Because somebody has to. Somebody must." Arini held her gaze. "It's your sister, isn't it? After all these years, there is something there that hasn't healed." A flush of anger threatened to spread to Tina's tongue and undo everything. Why did Arini have to drag Nancy into this? "And has it healed for you after forty years? Does the passing of time really make a difference?" Arini thrust out a hand. "Let me see this article." Tina handed her a plastic document holder, containing the faxed copy of the letter. Arini read it and said evenly, "I'm surprised they published this. He had a strong social conscience but he was never PKI." "That author's note at the bottom. He thanks Luhde Srikandi." Arini put her finger to the note and rubbed back and forth. As if she was trying to erase the name, Tina thought. "Who was she, Arini?" Arini was silent. Tina thought she wasn't going to answer, but then she murmured, "In those days, strange creatures roamed the land. Half-angel, half-beast, hidden in sunlight, visible when not looked for. She was the right hand of the wind, left hand of the waters, she was everywhere and she was nowhere and she was in our home, whispering to my husband, give me your heart, give me your heart." 75
- Page 23 and 24: absentminded. In high school, Catra
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- Page 43 and 44: "What was found is in safe keeping
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- 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
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- Page 59 and 60: Chapter 11 Nol and Sudana took turn
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- 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: LBJ's State Department had been so
- Page 77 and 78: The next morning, Nol walked to the
- Page 79 and 80: He told the receptionist, and then
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- Page 99 and 100: At the Gerwani house, the late afte
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- Page 109 and 110: Arini murmured, "Lieutenant Colonel
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- Page 117 and 118: Down the beach, Mantera buried his
- Page 119 and 120: "It was a day of low clouds and wes
- Page 121 and 122: Taking a deep breath, he said to Ti
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Arini hung up the ironed dress and looked at Tina with a steady gaze.<br />
"When I'm asking you questions about your husband," Tina said, "I'm also asking<br />
myself about Nancy. A senseless tragedy."<br />
"Oh, but when they took my husband, it made perfect sense," Arini said. "It was a<br />
terrible time, but with such pure clarity. The killings started in Java in October. You<br />
knew what was going to happen long before it did."<br />
Tina was silent for a moment, then decided in for a penny, in for a pound. "I<br />
found your husband's letter to the Harian Rakyat."<br />
Arini was very still.<br />
"I have a copy," Tina continued. "Right here in my bag."<br />
Arini looked down at her hands and then back at Tina. "Why are you doing this?"<br />
Tina steeled herself. "Because somebody has to. Somebody must."<br />
Arini held her gaze. "It's your sister, isn't it? After all these years, there is<br />
something there that hasn't healed."<br />
A flush of anger threatened to spread to Tina's tongue and undo everything. Why<br />
did Arini have to drag Nancy into this? "And has it healed for you after forty years? Does<br />
the passing of time really make a difference?"<br />
Arini thrust out a hand. "Let me see this article."<br />
Tina handed her a plastic document holder, containing the faxed copy of the<br />
letter.<br />
Arini read it and said evenly, "I'm surprised they published this. He had a strong<br />
social conscience but he was never PKI."<br />
"That author's note at the bottom. He thanks Luhde Srikandi."<br />
Arini put her finger to the note and rubbed back and forth. As if she was trying to<br />
erase the name, Tina thought.<br />
"Who was she, Arini?"<br />
Arini was silent. Tina thought she wasn't going to answer, but then she murmured,<br />
"In those days, strange creatures roamed the land. Half-angel, half-beast, hidden in<br />
sunlight, visible when not looked for. She was the right hand of the wind, left hand of the<br />
waters, she was everywhere and she was nowhere and she was in our home, whispering<br />
to my husband, give me your heart, give me your heart."<br />
75
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