A few days later, Hendra advised that a settlement had been reached. He had met Norbert and Freddie and, after some haggling, gave them a cheque for S$100,000. He was pleased with the arrangement. A chat with Freddie confirmed that the Bank, too, was satisfied.
In due course, I invited Hendra for lunch. My object was to find out what had induced him to settle. After all, the Bank was unlikely to issue a writ as long as the balance remained steady.
“I have my pride, Peter. I am not prepared to escape through the back door. And you see, I have decided to quit the financial markets. I’m fed up with them and, honestly, I’ve made too many mistakes.”
“But you are younger than your age. How will you occupy yourself, Bang Bang? You can’t give up like this. I can’t see you just sitting at home.”
“I won’t. Don’t you worry.”
“What will you do?”
“I’ll devote the time left to me to the breeding of tropical fish. I’m good at it: much better than with currencies and shares.”
“How splendid!” I replied.
Bang Bang Hendra smiled with satisfaction. He then gave me a copy of a book on fish breeding he had published in Jakarta. As I had no command of Indonesian, I was unable to read it. Nevertheless, I knew I was viewing a magnum opus. The colour plates, which I perused with fascination, demonstrated Hendra’s love of and devotion to his hobby.
I had no doubt the publication had cost him a fortune. He would, of course, be unable to recover his investment. The photography alone had taken many hours of patient observation, good planning, and time spent studying techniques for taking pictures of this type. I was also certain that he had spent a great deal of money on the acquisition of cameras and various other pieces of equipment.
Obviously, Hendra had changed his focus. He had left his unsavoury dealings behind him. It might have been a narrow escape. All the same, he had managed to break away. After many a fall, he had finally landed on his feet and had resolved to devote himself to an activity he found interesting. In this sense, he had been smiled upon by Fortuna.