Harry looked in the mirror before he went to sleep. He didn't like what he saw. The years now clearly showed their marks; "no escape from death" he giggled. He used to feel the same as when he was 17, but after 2 intensive years on Bali he had no doubt in his mind, he was getting old. "and certainly will die" he giggled again.
His "philosophical mirror watching" started about a month ago, when he saw himself, (old, white) and Suni, the niece of his landlord, just 23, (young brown) making love in the mirror. Suni became scared that she had done something wrong and Harry pointed to the mirror, "Sudah Tua", he said. Suni smiled and said she wanted a white skin like his. "Seperti Babi, Ya", Harry said, turned away from the mirror, but not able to get the image he saw out of his mind. He was able to complete what he started, afraid that Suni would tell her girlfriends that he was impotent.
"Underneath this wrinkling skin beats a heart that longs for love and attention" he thought when he pulled the sheets over his shoulders. He giggled again and said out loud, "what the frick".
Harry still liked the attention he got everywhere, but he became a real pro in shaking off the allmost allways somehow commercial conversations with the Balinese that didn't know him. He made it a sport to count the number of sentences it took before they tried to sell him something. Sometimes it was a "kosong", the immediate and direct type, and sometimes they needed a whole 10 minute story. The "Kosongs" sometimes turned out to be nice to have a conversation with, when they lost their commercial interest in him. Some "Kosongs" however never lost the original goal they had in mind, and became very irritating. Harry found it never boring however when they wanted him to meet an unmarried family member, but took care never to do this anymore near the place he lived. He already moved once because of a stalking woman and her family. He once met a family member in the Makro, his heart missed a beat or what when the guy looked at him like if he could kill.
Harry was glad to have met Dave from Sanur with whom he could share some of his adventures with the women from Bali. Dave was longer them him on Bali, and even lived in Java for a while. "Never, never marry an Indonesian Woman, its the most stupid thing you can do" he allways said sometime during the conversations. Allthough Dave never spoke about it, Harry suspected that Dave had some financial trouble sometime during his stay. Dave used to have a company in England, talked about his love for expensive cars, but lived in a simple rented house in Sanur.
Dave's pembantu was a young and shy girl from Tejakula in North Bali. "An orphan, with a lot of bad luck, the family is happy that she can work here and have a good life", Dave told him. The pembantu had her own room in Dave's house, with her own TV set, and plenty of fluffy bears. "She has to go home sometimes, because of these ceremonies, you know... expensive ceremonies, they are killing those people"
Harry got regurlay drunk with Dave, and pretended they were friends. But they were not. They hated each other, but had fun. The cafe in Sanur where they went sometimes, was a sort of meeting place for expats. It was owned by a fat German guy, married with a Javanese woman. They had a few kids, one of the kids was not his, Harry learned from one of the customers. Naughty remarks were not uncommon amongst the expats. Even Harry felt some shame now and then, while Dave laughed harder then anyone.
Once John sat down near Harry and Dave, and held a long allmost poetical speech about the women of Bali. Harry remembered vaguely the part about hair in the wind coming from underneath a helmet, and how gracefully the Balinese girls positioned their legs on a motorbike. He couldn't help thinking of John when he saw an attractive girl on a motorbike.
His "philosophical mirror watching" started about a month ago, when he saw himself, (old, white) and Suni, the niece of his landlord, just 23, (young brown) making love in the mirror. Suni became scared that she had done something wrong and Harry pointed to the mirror, "Sudah Tua", he said. Suni smiled and said she wanted a white skin like his. "Seperti Babi, Ya", Harry said, turned away from the mirror, but not able to get the image he saw out of his mind. He was able to complete what he started, afraid that Suni would tell her girlfriends that he was impotent.
"Underneath this wrinkling skin beats a heart that longs for love and attention" he thought when he pulled the sheets over his shoulders. He giggled again and said out loud, "what the frick".
Harry still liked the attention he got everywhere, but he became a real pro in shaking off the allmost allways somehow commercial conversations with the Balinese that didn't know him. He made it a sport to count the number of sentences it took before they tried to sell him something. Sometimes it was a "kosong", the immediate and direct type, and sometimes they needed a whole 10 minute story. The "Kosongs" sometimes turned out to be nice to have a conversation with, when they lost their commercial interest in him. Some "Kosongs" however never lost the original goal they had in mind, and became very irritating. Harry found it never boring however when they wanted him to meet an unmarried family member, but took care never to do this anymore near the place he lived. He already moved once because of a stalking woman and her family. He once met a family member in the Makro, his heart missed a beat or what when the guy looked at him like if he could kill.
Harry was glad to have met Dave from Sanur with whom he could share some of his adventures with the women from Bali. Dave was longer them him on Bali, and even lived in Java for a while. "Never, never marry an Indonesian Woman, its the most stupid thing you can do" he allways said sometime during the conversations. Allthough Dave never spoke about it, Harry suspected that Dave had some financial trouble sometime during his stay. Dave used to have a company in England, talked about his love for expensive cars, but lived in a simple rented house in Sanur.
Dave's pembantu was a young and shy girl from Tejakula in North Bali. "An orphan, with a lot of bad luck, the family is happy that she can work here and have a good life", Dave told him. The pembantu had her own room in Dave's house, with her own TV set, and plenty of fluffy bears. "She has to go home sometimes, because of these ceremonies, you know... expensive ceremonies, they are killing those people"
Harry got regurlay drunk with Dave, and pretended they were friends. But they were not. They hated each other, but had fun. The cafe in Sanur where they went sometimes, was a sort of meeting place for expats. It was owned by a fat German guy, married with a Javanese woman. They had a few kids, one of the kids was not his, Harry learned from one of the customers. Naughty remarks were not uncommon amongst the expats. Even Harry felt some shame now and then, while Dave laughed harder then anyone.
Once John sat down near Harry and Dave, and held a long allmost poetical speech about the women of Bali. Harry remembered vaguely the part about hair in the wind coming from underneath a helmet, and how gracefully the Balinese girls positioned their legs on a motorbike. He couldn't help thinking of John when he saw an attractive girl on a motorbike.
