Phyllis

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 You are lighter
than withered leaves
driven by the inconstant winds,
or than stalks of wheat
parched by the continual heat
of the sun.

Pity a maid
who merits and
loves you.

Letter of Oenone to Paris,

The Epistles of Ovid

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 Chapter 1

Leonie Ching sat gazing at the orchestra below. She and

her companion were sitting in one of the exclusive boxes
at the Petronas Philharmonic.
She had not enjoyed the music in the first half. It
had included the gentle strains of some of Mozarts
sonatas. She preferred the more lively pieces like
Tchaikovskys 1812 Overture. And she had a lingering
headache.
It hadnt been her idea to come to the Sunday
matinee. She would have preferred to have had a few
cocktails to chase away last nights fumes, a late lunch
and a long, soaking bath before getting ready to go to
Jons birthday party. But it was Tonys idea.
Tony had been her lover for the last few months
and had definitely exceeded his use-by date. She planned
to dump him soon, probably at Jons party after the
philharmonic. One of her girlfriends had once said that
Leonie collected men like her ancestors collected heads.
Her mother had indeed descended from headhunters in
the Rajang area of East Malaysia.
Leonies mother had married a Chinese timber
baron. She had been the tycoons second wife, the first
having died giving birth to Leonies half-brother. Theyd
lived in the modern town of Sibu on the banks of the
Rajang River. Leonies father not only owned extensive
timber rights, he had property and a bank.

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 Leonie was brought back to earth when applause
burst out from the audience below.
Whats for the second half? I hope its livelier
than the first or Im leaving.
She bent down and picked up her bag to find the
programme. But it wasnt in there.
Suddenly the applause grew in intensity and
Leonie looked down and saw a dark swarthy-looking
man striding onto the stage carrying a short baton. He
had sharp, well-defined features and longish hair that
reached his collar.
He was wearing an open-necked white shirt with
sleeves rolled halfway up his brown, strong forearms.
His dark trousers were immaculately pressed and his
black shoes shone.
Who is he? Hmm ... not bad, not bad at all.
Surely he cant be a conductor. He looks more like a
bouncer. Damn! Where is that programme? It will have
his name in it. Blast! I must have left the thing at the bar
during the interval.
The man was the specially invited conductor for
the afternoon and the piece was the 1812 Overture by
Tchaikovsky. Leonie gazed mesmerised as the man
began.
He used his arms with force, he stood on tiptoe as
if he was lifting the orchestra to new heights. He threw
his arms around and his head moved up and down
forcefully, his hair flying as he brought in the percussion

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section leading up to the guns. Then he gently swayed as
the bells of joy rang out and then the heavy percussion. It
was a virtuoso performance.
At the finale he brought the proceedings to a
mighty conclusion. She could see that his shirt was
clinging to his back with perspiration. Hed thrown so
much energy into his performance. The audience rose as
one and applauded, shouting for more.
Leonie didnt wait to hear if there was an encore,
she left the box. She didnt even excuse herself. She just
got up and left. She was a woman on a mission. A
lioness on the prowl.
Leonie had always loved men since she was a
small child; her father, her brother and her uncles had
doted on her. Shed been educated in the UK at
Blundells, a co-ed school. It was an ancient school with
an excellent academic record.
But academic achievement had not been a top
priority for Leonie. Music and boys had been much
higher up the scale. She had a strong, clear soprano voice
and had sung in the choir. Shed been on a number of
tours to Europe with the school choir.
Leonie was tall and slim with long, lush and
wavy black hair that she streaked blonde. Many men
found it difficult to turn away from her face.
Shed first tested out sex with a sixth former
when she was just under 16. It happened on a sunny
Sunday afternoon when shed happily accepted the boys

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invitation to take a stroll in the woods. She knew full
well what was going to happen. The boy had a reputation
for deflowering virgins. And he was a skillful lover.
Shed loved sex from that first afternoon and had been
an ardent practitioner ever since.

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 Chapter 2

The object of Leonies fascination, Mana, was relaxing

in his small dressing room. Hed removed his wet shirt
and was sitting with a towel around his shoulders. He
was exhausted. His performances always took a great
deal out of him.
Mana would love to be appointed as resident
conductor in a leading orchestra somewhere in Asia. His
style was one of the problems holding him back; it was
vigorous, extremely vigorous.
The owners of the major orchestras believed,
quite wrongly, that he was limited in his range. Then
there was his background; it just didnt conform with
what owners considered to be appropriate for a resident
conductor.
Hed had a strange life. Hed been born in
northern Thailand and had never known his father. It was
doubtful that his late mother had known which one of the
many possible candidates had been responsible for him.
All he could remember from his early days was the
steady stream of uncles that his mother introduced to
him. Shed been a good-looking and energetic woman,
but not very bright. She had used her obvious talents to
earn her living as a part-time prostitute.
Theyd lived reasonably well on her earnings.
Mana attended the local school which had a good record.
Hed done quite well at school and had been well liked

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by the pupils and staff. His musical talents had been
recognised early on and the head teacher had encouraged
him to pursue music as a career.
When he left school, hed enrolled in a music
school in Bangkok, but his mothers earnings dried up as
her talents faded. In the end they stopped altogether
when she was found dead one morning from an
aneurism. He had to do something to replace his
mothers money. He tried his hand at kick-boxing. He
was fast, strong, good-looking and won a lot of his
bouts.
He was a great success with the crowds of
tourists that thronged Patpong at night. He was an even
greater success with the go-go girls who worked in
Patpong bars and strip clubs, and was never short of a
hot bedfellow.
Hed always shown a lot of talent with the
trumpet, which surprised many. But his chief interest lay
in conducting. Hed left the music school with honours
and had set out to find an appointment as an assistant
conductor. However, those positions seldom became
vacant. In the end hed joined a small jazz band playing
around the bars and nightclubs of Bangkok.
The break had come when he was visiting Kuala
Lumpur to see an old friend from his music school. He
was playing in a new orchestra that was struggling to get
known. Their conductor was an elderly Chinese, one of
the old school.

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 The orchestra was full of young talent. They
wanted to do something different from performing
traditional classics. The musical director, a man not
much older than Mana, agreed to give him a trial. Hed
loved what he heard and hired Mana as the deputy to the
conductor.
One of the members of the orchestra was a young
woman named Phyllis. Phyllis had been fascinated by
Mana from the first but had been far too shy to approach
him. She was in the string section playing the violin. She
was good but not outstanding. From time to time, Mana
had noticed her gazing up at him as she waited to play.
At first he took little notice of her, but slowly he
began to welcome her admiring glances. She played to
his ego. She was quite a good-looking girl of medium
height, with a well formed body and beautiful, delicate
hands. She had a typical round Chinese face with dark
oriental eyes and short, straight, shiny black hair.
Eventually theyd started talking and dated
several times. Phyllis was gentle and never demanding,
and she clearly adored him. Mana felt secure with
Phyllis, and she was overwhelmed that someone like
Mana would even date her.
And she would be faithful, thought Mana,
remembering his mother.
After a year, he asked her to marry him. Phyllis
said yes immediately, although her father disapproved.
He was a prominent historian who came from a family of

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distinguished personalities in business, academia and
politics.
In her fathers eyes, where a man came from was
as important as where he was going, and Manas
pedigree was doubtful. He had only two daughters and
his eldest daughter was dating a nice young man who
was doing his PhD. Her father refused to bless or attend
the wedding.
They had a simple ceremony in a local church. It
was the happiest day of Phyllis life, although she was
sad that her father wasnt there.
Mana was in his late 30s when they married,
more than 10 years older than her. When he accepted a
role as the second conductor with an international
orchestra, Phyllis gave up her career to follow him.
Unfortunately, the orchestra only lasted for a few years
before it closed due to lack of funds. Mana was out of
work for some time until he accepted a role with an
organisation providing visiting conductors to major
orchestras.
He was paid well for each appearance, but some
months he only had two or three bookings. Then the
money didnt cover their outgoings. He knew he had to
find a more stable source of income, but how? What he
really wanted to do was own a music school, but he
didnt have the funds.
He was actually thinking of Phyllis while sitting
in his dressing room. Theyd tried so many times to have

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a child. Shed never been able to get much past three
months before she miscarried. Having a child had
become an obsession with her. Shed let herself go and
now looked quite dowdy. But hed seldom strayed and
never strayed in KL, at least not before that afternoon.

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