swimming pool. She tried to remember when she had last been swimming, and was surprised to discover that it had been more than three years.
Depressed by her surrounds and too frightened to walk down the street alone, Lily remained sitting outside the chemistâs shop, and passed the time contemplating her future. She prayed that her education would provide the means for her to escape her humble origins, and find permanent employment away from the angst and racial discrimination evident in the provinces.
Sitting alone on the footpath she suddenly became anxious and decided that it would be best she return to her parentâs shop further down the street. Although reasonably confident that she would be safe to walk the distance alone, considering events of the past days, Lily decided not to take the risk. Reluctantly, she took one, long, last breath of fresh air and strolled back inside to see if her mother had finished and would accompany her home.
Within the hour Lily stood scrubbing her hands and body until the pale skin turned red under the fierce attention. Satisfied that nothing remained from that morningâs visit to assist in attending to the dead, she wrapped herself in a cotton towel, then wearily climbed the steep, concrete stairway to her cramped quarters. There Lily locked herself inside the window-less room and lay down, miserable with the knowledge that it would still be some time before her brief holiday was over, when she could flee these surrounds and return to the dream city of Jakarta.
* * * *
West Java
Hani Purwadira
âAllahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar,â Hani cocked her head, waiting for the third call, âGod is Great!â to follow. Without checking, she knew what the time would be, as one could set oneâs watch to the ritualistic summons to attend prayers. She finished washing her face and hands, then went to the privacy of her bedroom to pray. She covered her head with a lightweight mukenah, permitting the cloth to fall gently over her shoulders. Hani then unfolded the colorful prayer rug, placed this on the floor, and knelt as she had been taught as a child.
Hani could hear her younger sister, Reni, in the adjacent room, and had no doubt that their mother would already be on bent knees in her own chamber. She expected that her younger brother would have accompanied their father to the Mosque, a privilege enjoyed only by males. That women were not permitted to attend the Mesjid in no way bothered Hani, having been immersed in Moslem tradition since birth. In what was still basically a polygamous society, women were relegated to a lesser position by virtue of their faith and a culture which resisted social reform at the village level.
Fortunately, President Suhaptoâs doting wife had persuaded her husband to discourage government officials from their polygamous ways, the reason, Hani believed, her father had not been successfully seduced by the many offers she expected he would have received.
The Palaceâs unofficial instruction had not, however, dissuaded the lower classes from continuing with the practice of filling their allocation of up to four wives, the relatively uncomplicated procedure for divorce, permitting even more. In villages across the nation, girls often produced their first child before reaching fourteen, in many cases becoming grandmothers before the age of thirty. In a country where life expectancy had climbed to above fifty years only the decade before, Hani knew that early marriage, and propagation, were encouraged. It made sense to her; the children would provide for their parents, and grandparents, once the elderly became too old to fend for themselves.
Haniâs family was well insulated from many of the daily problems which so dominated the lives of others within their community. Her fatherâs star had commenced its ascent, and his family now enjoyed the benefits of his position as senior police commander in the mountain city of
Depressed by her surrounds and too frightened to walk down the street alone, Lily remained sitting outside the chemistâs shop, and passed the time contemplating her future. She prayed that her education would provide the means for her to escape her humble origins, and find permanent employment away from the angst and racial discrimination evident in the provinces.
Sitting alone on the footpath she suddenly became anxious and decided that it would be best she return to her parentâs shop further down the street. Although reasonably confident that she would be safe to walk the distance alone, considering events of the past days, Lily decided not to take the risk. Reluctantly, she took one, long, last breath of fresh air and strolled back inside to see if her mother had finished and would accompany her home.
Within the hour Lily stood scrubbing her hands and body until the pale skin turned red under the fierce attention. Satisfied that nothing remained from that morningâs visit to assist in attending to the dead, she wrapped herself in a cotton towel, then wearily climbed the steep, concrete stairway to her cramped quarters. There Lily locked herself inside the window-less room and lay down, miserable with the knowledge that it would still be some time before her brief holiday was over, when she could flee these surrounds and return to the dream city of Jakarta.
* * * *
West Java
Hani Purwadira
âAllahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar,â Hani cocked her head, waiting for the third call, âGod is Great!â to follow. Without checking, she knew what the time would be, as one could set oneâs watch to the ritualistic summons to attend prayers. She finished washing her face and hands, then went to the privacy of her bedroom to pray. She covered her head with a lightweight mukenah, permitting the cloth to fall gently over her shoulders. Hani then unfolded the colorful prayer rug, placed this on the floor, and knelt as she had been taught as a child.
Hani could hear her younger sister, Reni, in the adjacent room, and had no doubt that their mother would already be on bent knees in her own chamber. She expected that her younger brother would have accompanied their father to the Mosque, a privilege enjoyed only by males. That women were not permitted to attend the Mesjid in no way bothered Hani, having been immersed in Moslem tradition since birth. In what was still basically a polygamous society, women were relegated to a lesser position by virtue of their faith and a culture which resisted social reform at the village level.
Fortunately, President Suhaptoâs doting wife had persuaded her husband to discourage government officials from their polygamous ways, the reason, Hani believed, her father had not been successfully seduced by the many offers she expected he would have received.
The Palaceâs unofficial instruction had not, however, dissuaded the lower classes from continuing with the practice of filling their allocation of up to four wives, the relatively uncomplicated procedure for divorce, permitting even more. In villages across the nation, girls often produced their first child before reaching fourteen, in many cases becoming grandmothers before the age of thirty. In a country where life expectancy had climbed to above fifty years only the decade before, Hani knew that early marriage, and propagation, were encouraged. It made sense to her; the children would provide for their parents, and grandparents, once the elderly became too old to fend for themselves.
Haniâs family was well insulated from many of the daily problems which so dominated the lives of others within their community. Her fatherâs star had commenced its ascent, and his family now enjoyed the benefits of his position as senior police commander in the mountain city of
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