As my first year at the club came to an end, I found myself in the position of having saved enough money to put a deposit down on a small house in a kampong, or inner-city village / compound, on the edge of Depok, a place to the south of the city. This was the first real sign that I was becoming established and it was a proud day for me when I signed the lease.
I asked Heri, by now finally working as a mechanic for a Toyota workshop and doing quite well himself, if he wanted to come and move in with me, but he just smiled and said he would prefer to stay in the middle of the city near his job and his friends. He did tell me, however, over and over again how proud he was of me.
During this time I managed to go home to our village just one time. That was at Idul Fitri, the culmination of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan when everybody who can is expected to travel to their place of origin or home town or village. I was able to go home for quite a lengthy three weeks because the club was closed for the entire Ramadan month.
It was another awful multi-hour journey by bus and public transport to get home, and when I arrived I was hot, sweaty, and exhausted. Not really the best frame of mind to meet my family after almost a year away, but that all changed when I saw my parents and the rest of my family.
They were as delighted to see me as I was them, and we spent the next few days catching up with each others’ news and gossip and having a great time. I told them all about my new house and how well I was doing in my job, although I didn’t tell them I was working in a nightclub. Instead I just told them I was working for a rich businessman. I felt a bit guilty not being totally honest with them, but I didn’t think they would really understand or approve if I told them everything and anyway, I didn’t actually tell any lies.
My father told me the problem with Mr. Simon had long been sorted out and he, Mr. Simon, now knew that I wasn’t the culprit responsible for breaking into his shop. My father told me it had been discovered that the true villain was none other than Mr. Simon’s nephew who had gotten drunk with a few of his friends and then broken into his uncle’s shop.
My dad told me that Mr. Simon had been so heartbroken when he discovered what had really happened that he promptly closed his shop down and left the village. I felt sorry for him to a degree, but I remembered how I had felt a year or so earlier when I had been almost forced to leave the village in shame, and to tell you the truth, now had difficulty in feeling too much pity for Mr. Simon. What goes around comes around.
After too short a time, I had to head back to the city and resume my duties. On the bus on the way back to the city I reflected on the changes in my life and in those of some of the people around me. My parents, of course, were still just the same as they had ever been, as were the majority of my siblings and their families, but without doubt I had changed and so had Heri.
He had not wanted to return to the village this year, stating that he was too busy in his job and also that he wanted me to go on my own. At first I wondered why this was, but then I realised it was because he wanted me to have the opportunity to bask in a little bit of glory upon my return home without running the risk, however slight, of him overshadowing me. What a nice guy he is.
I did, of course, tell our parents how well he was doing and how happy he seemed in his life and watching my parents beam at this news made me feel almost as happy as I did when they told me they were proud of my achievements. What a lovely family I have.
Accompanying me on the bus back to the city were a number of people from my village. Some of them I knew and some of them I didn’t, but what they all had in common was that they were on their way to try and seek a better life for themselves. I couldn’t help wondering what was going to happen to them all over the next year. Some would make it big, no doubt, and some would be abject failures, while the majority would probably lie somewhere in between, but all had their dreams.
When I got back to the city, I found that Yusuf had left a message for me to call in at the club as soon as possible, even though it wasn’t due to open for a couple more days. This was not that unusual, although I did wonder why he hadn’t tried to call me or leave a message on my mobile.
Anyway, I turned up at the club later that afternoon and my meeting with Yusuf was characteristically short. He told me in as few words as possible that Pak Neil wanted me to branch out more now and to see more of his businesses. I asked him what exactly that would entail, but he just said that I would soon find out and it would be good experience for me. He also told me that from now onwards my monthly salary would be five million rupiah.
Pak Neil had a lot of businesses all over Jakarta and not just strictly in the entertainment industry; he also was involved with lots of shops and properties and had many
