He wondered if Pak Harto had bought the rug when he went on Haj in Mecca and, as he skimmed the soft rich pile with his palm, it came to him with a rush of emptiness that he didn’t know which direction to pray. He felt a flush of heat in his body and his eyes began to sting as he looked around and out the window to catch his bearings.
Where was he? What was he doing here? He didn’t even know which way was north.
Chapter 7
The Darlo Boarding House was in a row of eight terrace houses and at the front it had the original wrought iron trimmed balcony with two pairs of French doors opening onto it from the upstairs bedroom. Above that, the building stretched to a third floor. It had five bedrooms and accommodated Marj and her four male boarders who each had their own room. At the back of th
