But Dara wasn't concerned with wisdom. When he several times caughtglimpses of the large idol on its pedestal, his mouth had almostwatered at the sigh...t. Up in the rafters, he had only caught briefimages of the idol and it's two guards, but he had been impressed. Heguessed that the lotus kneeling statue was probably gold plated andbejeweled, and definitely had gems for eyes. Dara wanted to climb downand observe more, but he was sure that the monks would object to suchan act. He almost chuckled. All the way back to the apartment Hillary kept touchingat the pendant under her blouse.“Just making sure it’s real,” she explained when shesaw me watching her.That night as we got ready for bed, Hillary stood infront of the mirror looking at herself and the pendantthat nestled high up, just below where a line would bedrawn between the very tops of her breasts. The look onher face was difficult to read.“Honey, what are you thinking,” I asked.“I’m just. “Carol’s upset that John hasn’t arrived.”“I’m surprised she’s still going after him after what he did,” Karen said with a frown.“I don’t follow,” queried Susan.“Him being so unfaithful,” Karen said, with a look that said she thought that would be obvious.“John? Unfaithful?” Susan looked puzzled.“Ryan told me all about it, that John shagged anything that moved at those conferences. The talk is she wants to marry him again to get his money.”“Karen, you’ve got it all wrong,” said Susan. “John was. “Thanks. You also seemed different. I couldn’t even recognize you at first.”“Oh, by the way, do you have any plans until 8:30 pm? It’s a long time, I guess.”“I was thinking about taking a hotel room. What about you?”“Yeah, same. Hey, you know what? I know a guy at a hotel in Bangalore. Whenever I go there, he allows me to stay in a room, free of charge.”“Come on, that’s ridiculous. You’re bullshitting with me, aren’t you?”“Why would I bullshit with you? Okay, how about this? You come with me,.