《美食祈禱和戀愛》Chapter 98 (234):奇特的事情

Weird things happen in the evenings. We stumble on mysterious temple rituals in the middle of nowhere, let ourselves get hypnotized by the chorus of voices, drums and gamelan. We find one small seaside town where all the locals have gathered in a darkened street for a birthday ceremony; Yudhi and I are both pulled out of the crowd (honored strangers) and invited to dance with the prettiest girl in the village. (She's enveloped in gold and jewels and incense and Egyptian-looking makeup; she's probably thirteen years old but moves her hips with the soft, sensual faith of a creature who knows she could seduce any god she wanted.) The next day we find a strange family restaurant in the same village where the Balinese proprietor announces that he's a great chef of Thai food, which he decidedly is not, but we spend the whole day there anyhow, drinking icy Cokes and eating greasy pad thai and playing Milton Bradley board games with the owner's elegantly effeminate teenage son. (It occurs to us only later that this pretty teenage boy could well have been the beautiful female dancer from the night before; the Balinese are masters of ritual transvestism.)

Every day I call Felipe from whatever outback phone I can find, and he asks, "How many more sleeps until you come back to me?" He tells me, "I'm enjoying falling in love with you, darling. It feels so natural, like it's something I experience every second week, but actually I haven't felt this way about anyone in nearly thirty years."

Not there yet, not yet to that place of a free fall into love, I make hesitant noises, little reminders that I am leaving in a few months. Felipe is unconcerned. He says, "Maybe this is just some stupid romantic South American idea, but I need you to understand—darling, for you, I am even willing to suffer. Whatever pain happens to us in the future, I accept it already, just for the pleasure of being with you now. Let's enjoy this time. It's marvelous."

I tell him, "You know—it's funny, but I'd been seriously thinking before I met you that I might be alone and celibate forever. I was thinking maybe I would live the life of a spiritual contemplative."

He says, "Contemplate this, darling . . . ," and then proceeds to detail with careful specificity the first, second, third, fourth and fifth things he is planning to do with my body when he gets me alone in his bed again. I wobble away from the phone call a little woozy in the knees, amused and bamboozled by all this new passion.

奇特的事在夜間發生。我們在前不着村、後不着店的地方碰上神祕的廟會，讓自己被合唱歌聲、鼓聲與木琴聲催眠。我們在某個海邊小鎮上，發現全部的當地人聚集在陰暗街道上舉辦生日慶典；尤弟和我被人從人羣中拉出來（被外人視爲嘉賓），受邀與村裏最美的姑娘跳舞（她穿金戴銀，香味四溢，化的妝仿如埃及人；她可能年僅十三歲，其纖柔、性感的搖臀方式卻足以誘惑她想誘惑的任何神明。）隔天我們在同個村子裏找到一家奇特的家庭餐館，餐館的巴釐老闆自稱是泰式料理的大廚，儘管他肯定不是。但我們還是整天待在餐館裏喝冰可樂，吃油膩的泰式炒麪，和老闆十幾歲的柔弱兒子玩大富翁。（我們後來纔想到，這位美少年很可能是前一晚的美少女舞者；巴釐人精通於儀式變裝。）

每天我從所能找到的偏遠電話亭跟斐利貝通話，他問："還得睡幾天覺，你纔會回到我身邊？"他告訴我："我很享受愛上你，甜心。感覺如此自然，就像每隔兩個禮拜就會經歷的事情，但實際上我已將近三十年沒對任何人有這種感覺了。"

還不到那裏，還不到深深陷入愛中的地步，我語出猶豫，提起自己幾個月後即將離開。斐利貝漠然以對。他說："或許這只是一個愚蠢浪漫的南美想法，但我要你瞭解——甜心，爲了你，我甚至願意受苦。無論我們之間將來發生任何痛苦，我都已接受，只爲了現在和你在一起的快樂時光，讓我們享受美好的此刻。"

我告訴他："你可知道，有趣的是——在遇見你之前，我認真考慮過永遠獨身。我打算過靈性沉思的生活。"

他說："甜心，那先來沉思一下……"而後開始具體陳述再度與我同牀共枕時，他打算對我的身體所做的第一、第二、第三、第四、第五件事。講完電話後，我膝蓋軟下去，踉蹌地走開，爲這新的激情感到莞爾而迷惘。