It couldn’t be that simple. I worried that Herjuno was being naïve. And, after all, if she really was the Queen of the South Sea, wouldn’t she be pissed off about the contamination?

‘Relax, Gus.’ He put his arm around me. ‘What was it that the Queen of the South Sea wanted after she gave away that bountiful power of hers?’

‘A wedding proposal?’

I was joking, but my friend’s leering grin suggested more. He was convinced that the problem would be solved by an influential woman. He had found his queen. A queen who always appeared when fish were in their death throes.

—

Herjuno needed my help.

That’s what he told me when we met up the following day. We chose a café decorated in a retro style.

‘So what happened last night?’

Herjuno laughed gleefully, ‘Hey, don’t go jumping to conclusions!’

Even after so many years of a friendship, he still bullshitted me.

‘Nothing too much,’ he went on. ‘Not yet.’ My friend paused. Then he looked at me seriously. ‘She invited me to a hotel later tonight. She’s going to give me the names of a bunch of influential media people who can help my position.’

‘And you won’t be talking in a restaurant, will you?’

Herjuno laughed so long and hard that his ears flushed. I didn’t need to hear his explanation. I imagined the scorpion woman twisting and turning. She could probably lure any man she wanted into bed. It sounded like she was already mingling public duties and private pleasures. How befitting of the Queen of the South Sea.

‘I told my wife there was a meeting at Puncak.’

‘Jun, she would see right through that. It’s her father’s company.’

‘She doesn’t have a clue about work stuff.’ Herjuno said. ‘If she asks you, just tell her that there’s a crucial meeting on. With important clients. They only invited me. All good?’

I sipped my coffee. It wouldn’t be the first time I had lied on Herjuno’s behalf.

‘Anyway, this is a rescue mission. If I don’t do it, my in-laws’ company, and their reputation, will be at stake.’ Herjuno made excuses.

Herjuno’s wife was really straitlaced, even if not exactly boring. She wouldn’t be suspicious. All she thought about was their kid. She’d never been interested in taking part in social functions with other CEO wives clutching their thousand-dollar handbags. She only left home to take their daughter to preschool or shop at the supermarket. Once a month, she would go to see the symphony orchestra, the ballet or the theatre. She didn’t like cafés or clubs. Even her phone rarely rang; she had few friends.

‘It’s Friday night by the Javanese calendar,’ Herjuno said.

‘So?’

‘I’m going to make love to her,’ he said. ‘And say the mantra.’

Bow down to the Heavenly Father.