《美食祈禱和戀愛》Chapter 99 (238):你男友寵你嗎?

"Why you never bring boyfriend here to meet me?" he asked now.

"I did, Ketut. Really I did. And you told me you liked him."

"Don't remember. He a rich man, your boyfriend?"

"No, Ketut. He's not a rich man. But he has enough money."

"Medium rich?" The medicine man wants details, spreadsheets. "

"He has enough money."

My answer seemed to irritate Ketut.

"You ask this man for money, he can give to you, or not?"

"Ketut, I don't want money from him. I've never taken money from a man."

"You spend every night with him?"

"Yes."

"Good. He spoil you?"

"Very much."

"Good. You still meditate?"

Yes, I do still meditate every day of the week, slithering out of Felipe's bed and over to the couch, where I can sit in silence and offer up some gratitude for all of this. Outside his porch, the ducks quack their way through the rice paddies, gossiping and splashing all over the place. (Felipe says that these flocks of busy Balinese ducks have always reminded him of Brazilian women strutting down the beaches in Rio; chatting loudly and interrupting each other constantly and waggling their bottoms with such pride.) I am so relaxed now that I kind of slide into meditation like it's a bath prepared by my lover. Naked in the morning sun, with nothing but a light blanket wrapped over my shoulders, I disappear into grace, hovering over the void like a tiny seashell balanced on a teaspoon.

Why did life ever seem difficult?

I call my friend Susan back in New York City one day, and listen as she confides to me, over the typical urban police sirens wailing in the background, the latest details of her latest broken heart. My voice comes out in the cool, smooth tones of a late-nite, jazz-radio DJ, as I tell her how she just has to let go, man, how she's gotta learn that everything is just perfect as it is already, that the universe provides, baby, that it's all peace and harmony out there . . .

I can almost hear her rolling her eyes as she says over the sirens, "Spoken like a woman who already had four orgasms today." Eat, Pray, Love

"你怎麼從來不帶男友過來給我認識？"此刻他問道。

"我帶來過，賴爺。真的，你跟我說你喜歡他。"

"不記得了。你的男友，他有錢嗎？"

"沒有，賴爺。他不是有錢人，但他的錢夠用。"

"中等有錢？"藥師要數據表式的細節。

"他的錢夠用。"

我的回答似乎讓賴爺惱怒。

"你跟這名男人要錢，他會給你，或不會？"

"賴爺，我不要他給我錢。我從沒跟男人拿過錢。"

"你每天跟他過夜？"

"是的。"

"很好。他寵不寵你？"

"非常寵。"

"很好。你還禪坐吧？"

是的，我依然天天禪坐，從斐利貝的牀溜到沙發上，讓自己靜坐，對這一切表達感激。在他的陽臺外頭，鴨子一路聒聒叫，穿越稻田，到處聒噪戲水。（斐利貝說這些巴厘島的忙碌鴨羣，老是讓他想起大搖大擺走在里約海灘的巴西女人：高聲閒聊，經常打斷彼此，自信滿滿地擺動臀部。）現在的我如此放鬆地潛入禪修，仿如我的情人正爲我準備沐浴。在早晨的陽光下裸着身子，只裹着一條薄毯，我融入恩典中，漂浮在無極的上空，猶如在湯匙上保持平衡的小貝殼。

過去的人生，爲何似乎很難？

有一天我打電話給在紐約的朋友蘇珊，隔着電話傳來典型的都市警車鳴笛的背景響聲，我聽她向我傾訴最新的失戀細節。我的聲音冷靜平和，有如午夜爵士電臺主持人的語調，我告訴她，放手吧，我說，寶貝，你得明白一切皆已十分完美，宇宙提供給我們安寧、和諧的一切……

隔着警笛聲，我幾乎看見她一邊翻着白眼，一邊說："這聽起來像是今天已經高潮四次的女人說的話。"