said Putu. He had been watching his brother's surfboard business when Budi returned with the spare parts for Brian's Vespa. He'd slipped into Denpasar on his motorbike to pick them up for us which given the traffic and how long the return taxi trip would have been was great for us and the tip was no doubt handy for him and we enjoyed a couple of beers with him too.
Putu it must be admitted isn't exactly pro active in watching his brother's business. I think he took the directions a little too literally since he does exactly that and no more. Watches the surfboards I mean. Still in his defence there are guitars to be strummed, drums to be beaten and children to play with etc etc, well I expect you get the picture.
He also has stuff on his mind you know. There's the zit on his chin and the split ends in his hair and the ever growing confusion about why it is that all his "girlfriends" are about 30 while none of the young girls seem to be interested at all. Actually I think the about 30 is a bit approximate if I am really honest.
Ok so he's a little **** but we can't help but like him. Anyway back to the warning "You need to be careful Ibu and Bapak" he said confidentially "These Java boys want to take your money. They are not really your friends."
I thanked him for the warning and it was about this time that I noticed we had been promoted from "Bapak and Ibu" to "Mama and Papa" which always strikes a cold shaft of fear into my heart. I tried to convince myself that it was merely a literal translation not an adoption application but failed.
When he asked for my mobile number I should have remembered to add the proviso when saying that it would be nice to hear from him "just don't ask me for money!" but I forgot.....
"It's just a question of time" we agreed and a few days after we got home we had a message "Hello Mama and Papa. How are you? I miss you." I replied that we were fine and didn't reply at all to the next identical message a week later.
After the first contact we had a bet on how long it would be before we got the request for money. I said 2 weeks and 3 days and Brian said 2 weeks.
I hate losing! a few days after this my phone actually rang....
"Hello Mama it's Putu"
"Which Putu?" "Putu from the surfboards in Legian"
"Oh hello Putu how are you?"
"I am Ok. I have a new motorbike"
"Oh that's nice. Hang on I'll put you on to Brian" (craven coward)
"Hello Papa. I want to ask you something"
< silence >
"Can you help me with the credit on my motorbike.It's Rp500.000 every month. Too much for me."
"No sorry Putu I don't think I can"
"Ok Papa. Sorry I ask"
"That's Ok you can ask but I don't think so."
Maybe my phone is not working properly. Not sure. Because I haven't any more from our friend Putu.