Footsteps (63 page)

Before sitting down, he took out his pipe, picked up the glass of water, and drank it all down. It was he who was nervous. He needed something to calm himself.

He sat down. He still didn’t speak. Slowly he knocked out the tobacco ash from the bowl of his pipe into an ashtray, and refilled his pipe. Then he lit it with matches two or three times, drawing in slowly and then exhaling even more slowly. Only then: “There is no doubt something important.”

“More than just important,” I answered. “Why has
Medan
been sealed up, Mr. Assistant Resident?”

“Why haven’t you made this inquiry through a letter?”

“This is better. Moreover, the action that has been taken was also done without anything in writing. It’s better that we do this face-to-face.”

“And when did this sealing up of
Medan
take place?” There was a glint in his eyes as he spoke, like a clown who had no more audience.

“I suspect precisely at the time that you ordered it.”

“Oh, yes. Was that what those there said?”

“That is what I say, Meneer.”

“Oh, is that right? So you want…?”

“I want to know the grounds upon which you have sealed up
Medan.
”

“Oh, is that all? You just want to know the grounds?”

“If I find them acceptable, yes, that is all.”

“Do you remember the report you published about Teukoe Djamiloen?”

“So your intention is to turn me into a Teukoe Djamiloen here in Priangan too?”

“No,” he answered uneasily. “I mean, isn’t it true that I warned you about that report? I was clear, wasn’t I?”

“Very clear. And it turns out that there were no inaccuracies at all in that report. No one ever refuted it.”

“Not yet.”

“Very well, not yet, but
Medan
has already been sealed up.”

He was silent a moment. He picked up the glass, but he couldn’t drink because it was already empty. He drew on his pipe, but it had gone out. He lit a match and started up the pipe again, drawing and exhaling quickly.

“So can you explain to me what valid reasons you have for closing
Medan
?” I asked.

“I warned you.”

“That is not grounds. Neither are the ten anonymous letters I have received giving me such warnings.”

“Are you equating the warning of an assistant resident with anonymous letters?”

“We both know that you are the only person making such a comparison.”

“Very well. What are your views since you have received that warning?”

“My opinion? The government, of course, will investigate the kontrolir of Kotaraja.”

“So your purpose is to set the government and the kontrolir against each other?”

“That is your question, not my answer. In any case, I have come to see you, not to be examined when there is no summons, but to receive an explanation, Meneer, as to why
Medan
has been sealed up.”

“Are you sure that
Medan
has been in fact sealed up?”

“Why, hasn’t it?”

“Did you yourself see?”

“There was no need for me to see for myself.”

“In that case, you had better check again. You don’t want to be mistaken.”

“It seems clear that you do not want to give any reason. That’s all right, too. It seems I will have to go to higher authorities.”

“And where will you go?”

“I think that is my business. At least three levels above you.”

“That’s a bit silly. Don’t you think so?”

“No.”

“Don’t be so quick to anger, Meneer. You see I received an order to freeze all businesses under your control in my district.”

“Now we’re getting somewhere. You are only carrying out somebody else’s orders. Who asked you to do this?”

“I’m not allowed to say. But may I ask how is your account with the Handels Bank?”

He was looking for excuses. Our account was in quite a healthy state. But this person needed to be taught a lesson. I answered: “Perhaps the bank owes us too much?”

He laughed, enjoying the joke. Nodded. Tapped his pipe on the table.

“So, that’s the answer?”

“Yes, that’s about it. You check with the bank.”

“But the Handels Bank has no right to sequester property without discussing things first with me. We are its clients and they are our clients. The accounts aren’t always in balance, but that’s normal.”

“Go and see the bank first, Meneer.”

He wasn’t going to discuss it anymore. I went straight to the homes of
Medan’
s workers. The houses we provided for them had also been sealed up. Their inhabitants, with their belongings, were outside, huddled in groups under the trees. They all stood up when I arrived. But I was unable to give them any firm promises.

I suggested that they find somewhere to stay for the time being with friends or relatives.

The assistant resident’s obvious intention was to try to destroy
Medan’s
public and commercial standing. As soon as I left, he would have telephoned the Handels Bank, giving them instructions as to what they must do when I arrived. If that’s what he is really trying to do, he will soon be looking in a mirror and seeing his own stupidity.

Before I set off to the bank, I remembered Hendrik Frischboten. I turned back to the workers and told them all to go to stay at the Frischbotens’. All of them!

As soon as I entered the bank, several employees stopped working just to watch me. Then someone came out to greet me and took me straight to the director, Meneer Termaaten. He invited me to sit down, and then: “Meneer Minke, our bank serves its clients. The bank takes a neutral position in any dispute between its clients and anyone else, including the authorities. Except, of course, if there is some law that says otherwise. And even then we will also consider whether the law is acceptable or not. If we cannot accept it, then the law must concede or we will close up and move to another country.”

“Thank you, Meneer.”

“We also do not wish to know what has happened between
Medan
and the assistant resident.”

He stopped talking and waved his hand at a clerk.

The clerk brought over a big book. He opened the book and placed it on the table.

“As you can see here, Meneer,
Medan
has a surplus of almost ten thousand guilders. Only the bank and you know this, Meneer, no one else. Outsiders have no right to know, except with your permission.”

After visiting the bank I went straight to a
warung
to eat. As soon as I sat down in the corner, someone else sat down beside me.

He cleared his throat once.

My thoughts were still occupied by the beauty of the power game that the assistant resident had tried to play. He clearly had no legal authority over the bank. Very beautiful.

The person next to me coughed again.

When I turned to look at him, it was none other than Pangemanann
with the two
n’s.
I was quite startled, and quickly put on my guard.

There could be no doubt that somewhere nearby were the Zweep. I regretted not ordering Sandiman or Marko to accompany me. There was nothing I could do now. I would have to face this situation by myself. “Oh, Meneer Pangemanann.”

“Good afternoon, Meneer. I saw you from afar, so I hurried along and caught up with you. Unfortunately, I have already eaten, so I cannot join you. But you don’t mind chatting a bit while you’re waiting for your meal to be prepared, do you?”

“Please, please.”

“So what did you think about
Si Pitung
?”

“Yes, your style is very much like Francis’s.”

“He was my teacher,” he explained. “So Meneer will publish it?”

“Certainly,” I said. “But not yet. After Haji Moeloek’s serial finishes, there’s another story that I want to publish first.”

He put on a disappointed look when he heard that. Crocodile!

“No doubt a more interesting story,” he said, fishing.

“Ah, that is up to the tastes and needs of the reader,” I replied, while trying to work out what kind of finale this chitchat was leading up to.

“Meneer, your report about Teukoe Djamiloen was truly interesting. If it weren’t for your report, no one in the Indies would have known that there were European officials who took actions that were completely outside the law. I know truly that such behavior is contrary to the Europeans conscience.”

“Contrary? Why?”

“I lived in Europe for a long time, Meneer, long enough for me to become European. I know that Europe could not survive without the law. Since they are babies, Europeans are educated to follow rules. There are indeed many theories about the law, but one thing at least is clear—it is the law that has made Europe great. Then it seems that as soon as they leave their own land, many Europeans forget the education they received at home and the law that has brought them up.” He was silent a moment. Then he pretended to be startled. “Oh, what are we doing talking about the law just before eating? Ah, I see your dinner is ready. One white coffee for me, please.”

He watched me as I was served with my food. “Hearty eating, Tuan, please, please.”

I ate slowly. My appetite had disappeared because of this person. And I didn’t want to eat much because of the fight that I might very well have to face before this was over. All the while I was eating I tried to see outside without making him suspicious.

He sipped on his coffee without paying me any attention.

“With a simple warung like this people can still live decently, serving everyone who comes—everyone who has money in their pockets. Why do people go to so much trouble to seek a livelihood? But is one’s livelihood the only important thing? Huh!” he sort of hissed to himself. “There are other more important things, especially for those people with ideals, of course. But there are not many of them. Not many! There are almost none in fact. But they do exist.”

He looked at me again. “Why don’t you finish your meal, Meneer. No appetite?”

“I can’t eat much, Meneer.”

“Or perhaps you have lost your appetite because of the law?”

“No.” I stood and moved across to the bench opposite, where I could see out onto the main street.

Pangemanann seemed to turn around spontaneously to look behind out onto the main street. “It seems you like to watch the traffic, Meneer.”

“Yes, things that are alive and moving always interest me.”

“You won’t be bored, will you, if we talk more about the law?”

“It seems that you are an expert in the law, heh?”

“I know a little bit about it, yes, but that’s all.”

“How many years did you live in Europe?”

“Almost nine years, Meneer, in France.”

“A beautiful country, a country of myths and legends. It’s understandable then that you like the law. And perhaps that’s also why you use two
n
’s.”

“You are very clever, Meneer. With just one
n
, the French would pronounce the last syllable of my name ‘nang,’ so I changed it to double
n
, so they would pronounce it properly, ‘naan.’” He laughed, laughing to himself.

“And perhaps Meneer does not simply like the law, but also carries it out, heh?” I asked.

He laughed again. He neither confirmed nor denied. Suddenly: “Tell me, what is your personal opinion about what the kontrolir of Kotaraja did?”

“As to the legality of it, I am sure Meneer would know better. But to me it seems rather odd. It is the Dutch who make the law, and it is the Dutch themselves who trample on it. A bit of a costly joke, don’t you think?”

“Yes, I think that is exactly what it is.” He shook his head. “And your opinion of the extraordinary rights of the governor-general?”

“So that’s what you want to know? Those rights place him outside the law, or more precisely, above the law, like the ancient kings of Java, isn’t that so? Yes. So that means there has been no advance in the Indies since those times, yes?”

“But below the governor-general there is law. Under the kings of Java, there was nothing, absolutely nothing, like…yes, like what, I wonder?”

“If you say there was nothing at all, I think that’s a bit of an exaggeration.”

“I don’t think so, Meneer. There was no positive law, nothing written down, nothing definite and solid that people could grab hold of. Any ruler or official could do whatever he liked.”

“Yes, like the kontrolir of Kotaraja.”

His next words suddenly evaporated out of my consciousness. Across the road I saw a woman carrying an umbrella. I could see the bottom half of her body. She was wearing a silk blouse, a batik kain, and velvet slippers. She had no escort. A very strange scene. The umbrella was a plain black one. I thought to myself that her gait and stride would have been better matched by a beautiful light floral umbrella. She carried a rather large leather handbag. She walked slowly. I saw her stop just as a bicycle caught up to her. And there could be no doubt that it was Sandiman on the bicycle. But he didn’t stop or alight, even though the woman stopped. He pedaled on and disappeared. The woman continued walking with that gentle, swaying gait.

I knew that bag with the rose pictured on it. I watched more closely and tried to imagine what the figure behind the umbrella would be like. But why didn’t Sandiman stop, get off, and pay his respects? Wasn’t that Princess? My wife?

I no longer heard Pangemanann’s chatter. If that was my wife, what was she doing in Bandung without an escort? And now she had disappeared from my view.

I stood, called over the warung-keeper and excused myself from my unhoped-for friend. He also stood. Just as I was about
to put the money in the warung-keeper’s hand, we heard two revolver shots. Then there was silence. The money left in my hand dropped by itself into that of the warung-keeper.

“Shots,” hissed Pangemanann.

Ignoring me, he dropped some money on the table and disappeared outside, I couldn’t see where.

Then I left myself, walking quickly in the direction of the shots. The woman I suspected was my wife was nowhere to be seen. At the edge of the road there were three men collapsed on the road. Two of them were bathed in their own blood. The other showed no signs of a wound. Pangemanann was already there. He was bending over examining those covered in blood. By the time I got there one had just died, shot directly in the heart. One of the others was moving and trying to sit up. As soon as I saw him, I knew who it was—Robert Suurhof.