Old People and the Things That Pass

by Louis Couperus

"Yes, Ma-Boeten told her son, a mantri at Tegal. Ma-Boeten is dead and the mantri has started blackmailing me. He's been to me for money. I've given him money. I shall give him money every month."

"So you know.... Yes-yes, O my God, yes-yes!... So you know, Dercksz, you know?"

"Yes, I know."

"What did the mantri say? What had Ma-Boeten told him?

"That my father tried to kill Takma, with a kris.... That Takma snatched the kris from him, while ..."

"While what?... Yes-yes, while what?"

"While Mamma ... while my mother ..."

"Yes-yes?"

"Flung her arms round my father, to prevent him ..."

"O my God, yes, yes!"