Drive-by Saviours Read Online Free PDF Page A

few minutes Bumi could close his eyes and listen to Yusupu and not feel uncertain, afraid or shocked by some quick, unexpected lashing.
    The rest of the day was a dangerous balancing act. In the market Bumi drove a hard bargain to please his father, but if he drove too hard and lost the customer he would have to contend with Yusupu’s eyes, peering out of a stone-set face—the official illustration of disgust. It was worse if he sold the fish for too low a price. Then Yusupu wouldn’t look at him at all, just jab him in the leg under the table with the blunt end of his fish-gutting knife.
    At the end of the market day was Bumi’s only reprieve from Yusupu, who would send the boy to buy provisions while he bargained with the farmers, trying to sell them his rotten leftovers as fertilizer. He would crumple a few bills into the boy’s right hand and say, “Get us something nice for tonight,” with a spastic wink and a half-smile. That meant Bumi was to buy some vegetables and a little black-market rum. Together they would travel home, this time in tired silence, to reset the traps and eat dinner.
    THOUGH THE DAYS WERE TENSE, EVENINGS WERE THE MOST DAN gerous. After dinner, while the men played gaple, Bumi would ease his fearful mind regaling Alfi with stories. He told her everything, and she became the equivalent of a literate child’s journal—always listening, never judging.
    He passed on to her all of Pram’s and Arum’s stories, free of charge. He told her of the sarong Arum had hand-sewn for him from bits of material she found littering the streets. Arum said it was a gift but Bumi could spot an ulterior motive before it entered a schemer’s heart.
    â€œYou see,” he explained, “Arum is shyer than Pram. She’s not a braggart like he is. She has told me so much already about her children and her ex-husband, who took another, younger wife, and when he could no longer support them both, he left her. But he got the kids when she lost her job. Can you imagine a woman on Rilaka putting up with that? But Arum had to. In Makassar if you don’t have a job you have nothing. You are nothing. Makes you glad to live on Rilaka doesn’t it? Your husband will never try to marry a second wife, or he’ll have to answer to me. And Daddy too.”
    He unconsciously rubbed his sore jaw. “Here, you’ll never have to have a job. Anyway, Arum feels she’s out of stories, and didn’t want to rip me off, so she made me that sarong, which almost cost me my life.”
    THE MOMENT BUMI SAW THE SARONG HE KNEW IT WOULD CAUSE him trouble. If Yusupu saw it he’d wonder how his son acquired it. Yusupu knew nothing of the friends Bumi visited after running the end-of-day errands. When Bumi was gone for an hour or more, Yusupu assumed he was a little lost—as geniuses tend to get as their minds and bodies wander about together. The boy’s dawdling was just one of the many annoyances associated with relying on him. Bumi had never intended to keep his friends a secret, but once the fateful first two hundred rupiah had been passed to Pram’s very temporary coffers, he couldn’t talk about them.
    On the day of the sarong incident Bumi had purchased four stories from Pram, and, not wanting to make Arum feel inferior, spent an equal eight hundred rupiah for the sarong, which he feared but could not resist. It was designed specifically for him. The sixteen hundred rupiah bill doubled his previous record expense, and on a day when the catch had been less than average.
    This expenditure left Yusupu with a dissatisfying day’s profit. He said nothing as they sped back to the island. For once he seemed calm. He watched the sun heading toward the horizon and he let Bumi steer the boat. Yusupu’s calm silence was never a good sign.
    When they beached the boat he scooped Bumi up and carried him back to the house. Bumi couldn’t help but giggle a