‘I have another charm for you,’ Pito stammered shyly. ‘This one is much stronger, and must be worn next to the skin. It will protect you from all harm in these dangerous days that are ahead of you.’ He pulled from his tunic pocket a long strip of white cloth stitched with designs of gods and demons and with magic words of protection in ancient Sanskrit. Handing it to me, he said, ‘May Allah protect you always, K’tut.’

We said good-bye, rubbed noses, and drew in our breath. ‘Selamet tinggal – live in peace,’ said Pito. ‘Selamet djalan,’ I replied. ‘Go in peace.’

‘Mumma, Mum.’

Daisy squeezed in beside Grace on the sun lounge. ‘Nana asked what am I going to wear tonight?’

‘Let me see. What would you like to wear?’ For a moment Grace was tempted to suggest that Lawrence could take Daisy shopping, but then thought better of it. If he was broke, Daisy would be disappointed. ‘What about a sundress? It’s fun to dress up to go out to dinner.’

‘Okay. Maybe the yellow one . . . no, the green one. With the hearts on it . . .’ She ran off.

Looking at the time on her phone, Grace said to herself, ‘I’d better think about what to wear too.’ She picked up the book that had fallen to the ground and tucked it under her arm just as her phone rang.

‘Hi, it’s me,’ said Steve. ‘We’re heading up to Ubud now. Mateo wants to see what the light is like and how the gallery is laid out. Sounds like it could be a bit ordinary from a visual point of view.’

‘Hopefully the auction will make it more interesting. I’ll ask Putu to take me and I’ll see you there.’

‘Sounds good. Do you want to have dinner afterwards? There’re some great places in Ubud. Maybe Apéritif or Room 4 Dessert?’ He paused, then said, ‘Or do you want to come straight back and start editing?’

‘Dinner sounds good. Let’s see how we go, but it should be fine. We’re pretty much on schedule,’ Grace said. ‘I’m trying to find the right music to go with the rough edit, before we send it to the music production company. Something upbeat,’ she added. ‘Any suggestions?’

‘Well, I could ask Johnny to buy the rights from Coldplay or someone,’ Steve said.

‘Don’t joke and don’t suggest it. That’ll blow my budget – I’ve already used their music once in this campaign and you wouldn’t believe what I had to pay for it.’

‘I can guess! Let me think about it and I’ll come back to you,’ he said, laughing. ‘Meet you there around five thirty?’

‘Fine. See you then.’