Visits

Sunday, March 17, 2019

Curtain Call

After a very rough day yesterday of high fever bordering on delirium, I'm feeling much better this morning. Antibiotics and so on finally kicking in, I guess. Keeping my fingers crossed. Yesterday evening, I felt about ready--or rather not ready, but bound for--meeting my maker (not Hasbro). Actually felt good enough this morning, after two days in my room, to take a short walk. 

It's a very different area than I am used to, a very poor area right in the lap of the abundance of Sanur and Renon. When Dr. Ari made his house visit the other day, he asked whether I feel "safe" here. 

"Safe? Yes. Why? What do you mean." 

"Oh, this is still a closed area." 

"Closed? In what way."

"Hmm. In the way that it is not open." 

I'm not sure what he meant by all that. We moved on to my back and my flu. 

Just up the street, there is a line of old ramshackle sheds. I had assumed that these are, or were, some sort of storage sheds, or perhaps animal enclosures, but I do believe now that there are peple living in some of them. 

This reminds me of a time I was with Louis looking for villas for herself and her boyfriend. We had looked at an exotic place with all the bells and whistles, large pool, well-kept garden with gardener, all the modern appliances and conveniences. You get the picture. I had walked to the road and met a worker by the side of the field. I was looking at three or four makeshift structures in the field, erected from boards leaning together and cardboard and tin slabs for roofs. 

"Do people live there?" I asked the man. 

"Oh, yes!" 

It struck me that for a handful of change, the villa owners on the other side of the street could significantly alter these poor folks' lives altogether. 

But that's not really the business of villa owners. Or of anybody at all. 

The narrow street that I followed, just down the way from my apartment, is spoked with even more narrow gangs (or alleys), and the main street itself finally ends (or proceeds) with a dirt path. 

Here, I saw many children, all of whom piped up to say Hi and laugh gleefully with whatever I happened to reply in answer. There are many dogs as well--all of them rather scrubby and worse for the wear except for one brilliant white dog, not a scratch or a spot of dirt on him. Strange. Next time I'll bring along a couple of snack sausages Lol. 

As the flu recedes (or at least seems to today), the back pain resurfaces as a considerable problem. Nothing much to do about that, however, than to watch and wait. There is some vague suggestion in the air that Louis has ordered up a masseuse for me. I'm thinking that that might feel nice on the back, as long as he or she doesn't touch it! 






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