Drive-by Saviours (43 page)

Every letter ends the same: every month, just before he sits down to write to me, Bumi is visited by Yaty and their two children. Together they walk the sands of Rilaka and sit down on the far, sloping side of the island where no one ever bothered to build or settle, where the women sometimes go to escape the tourists. Arm in arm they watch the sunset while Bunga talks about her latest awards and achievements and Baharuddin shows his latest sketches.

The image he leaves me with is the one he doesn't mention, where Yaty and Bunga and Baharuddin return to the mainland for their long trek home with ready-made excuses for their absence, after he has waved them goodbye. He sits down in the moonlight and, inspired by the constant rhythm of the waves, writes me his latest symphony.