Summer in Kuta

“Stop it, will you?” Jay chided his son, good-naturedly. “You’re making too much noise, Zak. Daddy’s trying to do some work”.

Jason’s curly-haired, freckled son paused momentarily from the game of ‘Trucks and Lorries’ he was planning on the living room floor and grinned impishly at his dad. He knew his daddy was not angry with him - not really. He knew he was the apple of his daddy’s eye.

Jossie, Jason’s wife and Zak’s mum, also smiled. Looking at the raucous yet familiar domestic scene, as usual, she felt blessed. She knew their family was fortunate in as much as they were a close-knit and contented one, full of love, laughter, happiness and, yes, at times, noise and pretend arguments such as now.

It hadn’t always been easy, these eight years she’d known Jason, and they had had to overcome many obstacles and difficulties just to be together in the first place. Now, however, their lives finally seemed to be on track following their wedding six years ago and the arrival of Zak two years later.

Jossie cast her mind back to how it had all begun the best part of a decade ago now. She had been a university student at the prestigious University of Indonesia in Jakarta and had gone on a study trip to the nation’s most famous island, Bali. The journey was ostensibly aimed at promoting cultural awareness and providing students with the opportunity to meet people from overseas in order to learn a little about their backgrounds and lifestyles. In reality, though, the journey was little more than an excuse for Jossie and her friends to kick back and relax after the stresses of their final exams.

They were supposed to find westerners to interview and, if possible, agree to appear on their podcasts and video projects, but the majority of the two dozen or so students in the group did little more than lounge by the hotel swimming pool by day and browse the night markets after dusk. 

Jossie was no different in terms of her apathy from her friends in the first few days of their break, but on the fourth day she began to get restless and so after fruitlessly attempting to persuade any of her friends to accompany her, she set off alone for a walk along the famous Kuta beach.

It was a sweltering hot day with very little air breeze, and so although the beach was fairly packed with pale-skinned westerners, or ‘bule’ as they are known in Indonesia, there was little activity. Rather than choose to swim or surf, the majority of the foreign tourists (Australian mainly, Jossie knew) were simply laying sprawled out on the beach sunbathing.

Jossie could never see the attraction of sunbathing herself. Why did these weird bule wish to fry their skins and turn themselves darker, she wondered. In her country, most people - girls especially - wanted to have whiter skin, not darker, and that was why you often saw people walking along using umbrellas to shade themselves from the sun on exceptionally hot days such as this.

Jossie continued walking and was interested but not particularly amazed by the range and variety of people on the golden sands. There were foreigners of all ages and all types of physiques, it seemed, with some being near Goddess in appearance, while others could benefit from the occasional trip to the salad bar instead of the barbeque. 

Whilst reasonably enjoying her walk, Jossie was beginning to feel rather frazzled by the heat and so started to make her way up the sands to where she knew the small drinks and refreshment stands were. She’d have a quick drink before walking back to her hotel along the main road, she decided, and then she’d take a rest prior to heading out to the market with her friends later.

She found a suitable refreshment kiosk, or warung, and ordered an iced coconut from the gap-toothed old lady who seemed to be in charge and then sat back once again to survey the scene. There were fewer people in this part of the beach and those that were there were less interested in sunbathing and instead were more sociable and otherwise engaged.

There were local people and tourists alike playing games of cards or chess in small groups. Others were sitting around chatting, while some contented themselves by having pedicures and manicures as offered by local middle-aged women, while yet others were simply taking in the ambience of the place and the time.

It was then that Jossie saw him.

He was sitting alone sipping on a coke and reading a paperback novel. A skinny young man, barely more than a boy, with a floppy fringe and a skinny physique, Jossie couldn’t help thinking that he looked vulnerable - almost at risk of something, in a way. 

Jossie was intrigued. Who was this mysterious boy? Why was he sitting alone? Did he have no friends or was he a loner? She wanted to approach him but she didn’t dare. For a girl to do so, she considered, was just not the done thing in Indonesia. She couldn’t simply go up and start talking to a boy she didn’t know, could she? What would people think of her?

She sipped on her drink and looked at the boy again. As she did so, he glanced up from his book and the two of them locked eyes for the briefest of seconds. Simultaneously, they smiled sheepishly and the ice was broken. The boy dragged his chair over to Yossie and introduced himself. There then followed the best two hours of Jossie’s life.

Time just flew by as they chatted and told each other about their lives, their backgrounds, and even their hopes and dreams for the future. They just seemed to click and the more they spoke the more it seemed as if they had known each other for years rather than a couple of hours.

Yossie learnt that his name was Jason and that he was from England. He had come on a vacation on his own and was taking a couple of months to travel around Asia. He would be flying to Australia the next day for a week before heading back to England and back to his job in a commercial bank in the heart of London.

Jossie was fascinated by his stories, just as he seemed to be engrossed in hers, and they were both saddened when she finally looked at her watch and declared that she had to go back to her friends or they would be getting worried.

They walked together a short while on the beach and Jossie noticed that the sun was just beginning to dip a little. It would soon be time for the famous ‘Sunset of Kuta Beach’ and with the day’s clear blue skies, it looked like being a good one. After an all-too-brief time, it was finally time to part and Jossie found she couldn’t bear to look at Jason. 

This was crazy, she argued with herself, she hardly knew this boy and yet here she was now acting like some lovesick puppy who didn’t want to let go and say goodbye. What was wrong with her, she chastised herself.

Sensing and sharing her unhappiness, Jason turned to face her. Taking his hands in hers, he whispered to her.

She listened and she nodded. She believed his words, simple though they were. She trusted him, and she knew. 

She knew her life would never be the same again.

……...