Sunday, May 15, 2011

Chapters 2&3



2. I’d managed to get the last seat on the “I Don’t Like Mondays” morning flight to ‘Schapelle’s Bali.’ That’s what the check in girl called it as I handed over the ticket I’d bought only moments before at the bookings desk. She said that before Schapelle checking in was much more relaxed. After Schapelle, or as she corrected herself, after the ‘Schapelle Show’, everyone had become an obsessive compulsive; checking, rechecking, cling-wrapping their bags or running off to buy locks and stuffing any gaps in their luggage at the last minute with dirty underwear in a bid to ward off drug smugglers or tamperers.
‘I had no idea how neurotic Australians could become,’ she told me in a delightful country girl drawl that matched her orange cowgirl outfit.
‘You wanna window seat? You gotta check out the desert on the way across, aaawsome!’
‘Er, yes if possible,’ I answered. ‘I thought I’d be too late…’
‘Yoo never know your luck! I can tell you now, all the Ozzies want aisle seats - weak bladders. They like to be close to the loo, especially on the way back!’
I asked if she thought I’d be better off going to Fiji, Hayman Island or the Cook Islands; because Bali’s such a cliché isn’t it, and now with all the drug business—Schapelle and those other poor kids, terrorism and bird flu…
‘They didn’t read the signs did they? Bird flu? Eat a clove of garlic everyday. It’ll kill anything. Even keep terrorists away. You got a lock on your suitcase?’I nodded.
‘Sweeet. You’ll be right. And what’s wrong with clichés? Look at me! I’m a walking cliché! Who cares? I don’t!’
She leaned in across her desk. 
‘Let me tell you a secret. It’s the clichés that make us happy in this life, don’t you think? We all want love and happiness, yes? And what a bloody cliché that is!  Don’t worry, Bali is the closest to paaradiize I’ve ever gotten, and beleeve me I’ve been to most of the paaradiize islands around here. But you gotta get away from the tooorist strip. Go to Ubood! It’s not so hot up there. You can stay at the Ubood Palace where the royal family live. It’s wiiild! Can you imagine any other royal family renting out rooms to tourists! But that’s the Balinese for you. They are soooooo nice!’
Then she flashed me a knowing smile. 
‘You’ll find out.’
She slapped my boarding pass on the counter, gave my suitcase a push and practically shouted.
‘Gate 57 boaarding now! Next plleeze’.



3.Motorbikes and taxis honk past on the road in front, dropping passengers off, picking them up. Police in brown uniforms with grins as charming as the rest of them, whistle the drivers on, only no one seems to take much notice. Beyond the low sprawling buildings I have come from, planes rev up to the hilt and take off screaming into the sky. More planes thud and screech along the melting tarmac, bringing in the afternoon cargo of dollar fat tourists to fill the night spots in place of those now speeding towards a spectacular twilight.
And somewhere in the distance…the tinkling of bells and a whiff of temple incense.
Then through the heat shimmering crowd he steps, his hand outstretched.
‘Good afternoon, I’m so sorry you have been waiting. Welcome to Bali!’
He takes my hand, his touch so gentle - handsome of course, but not searingly so like the young men around me.  Balding slightly, a little shorter than me. Late thirties, early forties, could be fifty. How would you know? He smiles his boyish smile and looks me straight in the eye.
‘Let me guess where you are you going. Nusa Dua? Legian? Seminyak? Sanur?’
‘I’m hoping to go to Ubud,’ I reply.  ‘A friend was meant to pick me up but…’ I let my lie trail off into the heat.
‘I’ve heard it’s cooler there and not so many tourists,’ I continue. A smile takes over his whole face, ear to ear and chin to forehead.
‘Uboood!’ he grins, ‘That’s my town! I am born there. You have goood taste!  Are you an artist? You look artistic. You must be! Oh, I can show you such beautiful places, many beautiful painting, carving, weaving, jewellery… do you like silver jewellery?’
‘Yes I don’t mind it…’ I say. ‘Do you know the Ubud Palace? A friend recommended I stay there…’
‘Ya, ya, of course, I know it!’ he says.
Then I remember from my guidebook, I am supposed to bargain for a price before agreeing to go with a driver.
‘And how much will it be… to drive there? I’m sorry I don’t know your name…’
‘Up to you, up to you, no worries, I am Ida Bagus…You can call me Bagus. It means good!’ He laughs.
‘I am very good… at everything!’ We both laugh
‘And you?’
‘Marilyn,’ I mumble softly, as I know what’s coming.
‘Marilyn! Like Marilyn Monroe!’ 
‘Well yes, but not the young Marilyn, perhaps the older one.’ I give my stock reply. We laugh again.
‘But you are more beautiful’. He flashes his smile at me. I smile back, and whether I believe him or not, accept the compliment graciously. He picks up my bag and like a gentleman gestures ahead.
‘Shall we go then?’
Why am I not suspicious, not on my guard, why am I just taking the first offer, not comparing prices, not checking my guide book, being more discerning? Why? His voice, so generous and slow, his soft hands, his big smile kindness, his eyes that already see me.
He’s just a driver for god’s sake, who is going to take me to a hotel! And logically I justify in my mind; if he does rip me off, rob me blind or leave me in a ditch, at least I can say it couldn’t have happened with a nicer person!
 
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(C) Jan Cornall 2006

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