Change In Plans

Only the torches broke up the dark, thick night. They lined the outer courtyard of the temple closest to our house. As the villagers gathered for their evening offerings and prayer, we weren’t sure if we would be allowed to stay. This was another of Emily’s daring moments where she wanted to walk around and photograph, despite it being perhaps inappropriate for us to be there.

She started just before dusk and as the sun set, so came the locals in their ceremony clothes replete with white shirts, jackets and headdresses. On their heads, women carried offering plates stacked high with fruit and incense. They all passed by us as if we weren’t even there. It seemed a tourist or two wasn’t anything to look at, and certainly wasn’t anything to get in the way of their evening ritual.

I whispered to Emily that I thought we should leave. It felt inappropriate to me. I always err to the side of getting out of people’s way. I’m no voyeur. But my wife is and she insisted we stay until someone said or did something to indicate we should go.

Only the signal never came.

As they completed their offerings and prayers at the temple gates, each person sat down quietly in the inner courtyard and leaned forward in prayer. The inner courtyard soon filled, but the villagers kept coming. After another ten minutes, the entire temple was filled with beautifully dressed people bowed in prayer.

Still no one said a word to us.

Then came the gamelan. It’s mystical song filled the air as a priest stepped out before everyone. He spoke loudly, almost evangelically in Balinese. We were in awe. Emily was trying to take photos without being noticed.

After two minutes, it happened. The priest pointed to us and said in perfect English, “Eric, Emily, please come here!” We were shocked and didn’t move at first. He said it again. “Eric, Emily, please come. It’s okay. We are friends here.”

With great trepidation, we held hands and walked to the front of the ceremony.

I Gusti Nyoman introduced himself. He said that the spirits told him we were coming and that we were there to help him for the evening.

Then he raised his arms to the sky. As we looked up, following them – we saw the image of a Balinese queen floating down from above. Emily gripped my arm with terror. My heart was pounding. I was filled with a visceral sense of fear.

The image slowly began to morph until the woman became hideous and evil looking. The villagers all gasped. I Gusti Nyoman shouted out as if he had been tricked and had lost control. Everyone was frightened and children ran.

“Shit! We need a barong! Don’t you people have barongs for this kind of thing?!” I said to I Gusti Nyoman.

As the words came out of my mouth, there was a bolt of lightening. An image of a barong – the mythical dog-lion creature that fights off evil spirits – swept through the sky, colliding with the evil queen image. They burst into flames, followed by what appeared to be sparkles – just like fireworks.

It ended, it felt like Fantasmic at Disneyland or something engineered like that.

I Gusti Nyoman felt differently. Instead, he felt I had some great spiritual power and helped as the spirits predicted. He asked me to be their village priest and said he would talk to the other villages because he felt I should be some kind of a regional priest.

I was weirded out and not particularly interested. Emily and I then got out of there.

Since then, a number of things have changed our lives.

First, we took a motorcycle ride yesterday and stopped at a rice field being harvested. Emily and I wandered off the road to take a walk in the fields and get some photos of the rice harvesting process. The ladies shaking the rice grains off the dry stalks motioned for us to join them. They showed us how and we even sifted a few handfuls of rice.

While I was shaking my rice sifter, one of the ducks in the field came up behind me and bit my ankle – on the exact same spot I was bit by a Bangkok street dog years ago. I was shocked. I didn’t know ducks bit and amazingly, it drew a small bit of blood. Nothing more than a scratch, really – but shocking for a duck.

This morning I woke up with intermittent fever and chills. It was a long morning at the doctor, but it turns out that ducks in Bali sometimes carry salivary parasites that can be harmful to humans. Doctors rarely see such a thing. After all, who’s ever heard of a duck bite?!

But as soon as I told the doctor what happened, he knew immediately. I have to take anti-parasitic medication and can expect fevers to last for up to two months.

A few days ago, we discovered Emily is pregnant. You may have noticed recent blog titles like “Nine Months” and “The Life of a Child”. Clearly, fatherhood has been on my mind.

The doctor confirmed the pregnancy today.

Two days ago, Emily got notice that her best paying school will be terminating their online program. She was essentially laid off from her favorite gig. This of course, destabilizes our income.
As a result of all of these things, Emily and I have decided to cut our trip early and head home. We got tickets to fly to LA on Sunday.

We hadn’t planned any of this, so we’ll be staying with her parents while we figure out what we’re doing with our finances, jobs and the baby.

As soon as we arrive, we intend to sit down with Jack and Susan, Emily’s parents, and say,

“APRIL FOOLS!!!”

Sent from my iPad