美食祈祷恋爱影评 《美食祈祷和恋爱》Chapter 81 (189):生命中的角色

《美食祈祷和恋爱》Chapter 81 (189):生命中的角色  

Until this evening
I still wasn't sure what my role was in Ketut Liyer's life. Every day I've been asking him if he's really sure he wants me around
and he keeps insisting that I must e and spend time with him. I feel guilty taking up so much of his day
but he always seems disappointed when I leave at the end of the afternoon. I'm not teaching him any English
not really. Whatever English he already learned however many decades ago has been cemented into his mind by now and there isn't much space for correction or new vocabulary. It's all I can do to get him to say
"Nice to see you
" when I arrive
instead of "Nice to meet you."
Tonight
when his last patient had left and Ketut was exhausted
looking ancient from the weariness of service
I asked him whether I should go now and let him have some privacy
and he replied
"I always have time for you." Then he asked me to tell him some stories about India
about America
about Italy
about my family. That's when I realized that I am not Ketut Liyer's English teacher
nor am I exactly his theological student
but I am the merest and simplest of pleasures for this old medicine man—I am his pany. I'm somebody he can talk to because he enjoys hearing about the world and he hasn't had much of a chance to see it.
In our hours together on this porch
Ketut has asked me questions about everything from how much cars cost in Mexico to what causes AIDS. (I did my best with both topics
though I believe there are experts who could have answered with more substance.) Ketut has never been off the island of Bali in his life. He has spent very little time
actually
off this porch. He once went on a pilgrimage to Mount Agung
the biggest and most spiritually important volcano on Bali
but he said the energy was so powerful there he could scarcely meditate for fear he might be consumed by sacred fire. He goes to the temples for the big important ceremonies and he is invited to his neighbors' homes to perform weddings or ing-of-age rituals
but most of the time he can be found right here
cross-legged upon this bamboo mat
surrounded by his great-grandfather's palm-leaf medical encyclopedias
taking care of people
mollifying demons and occasionally treating himself to a cup of coffee with sugar.
在阳台的时光，赖爷问过我许多问题，墨西哥买车多少钱，艾滋病的病因，等等。（我尽己所能回答这两个问题，尽管我相信能更具体回答这些问题的专家所在多有）。赖爷一辈子不曾离开巴厘岛。事实上，他很少离开自己的阳台。他曾去巴厘岛最大、最具宗教重要性的火山——阿贡山（MountAgung）朝圣，但他说那儿的能量十分强大，使他几乎无法禅坐，唯恐自己被神圣之火吞没。他去各寺庙参加各大重要庆典，他本身亦受邀前往左邻右舍家中主持婚礼或成年礼，但多数时间都能在他家阳台找到他；他盘腿坐在竹蓆上，四周环绕着曾祖父的棕榈叶药籍，照料人们，撵走恶魔，偶尔享受一杯加糖咖啡。
"I had a dream from you last night
" he told me today. "I had a dream you are riding your bicycle anywhere."
Because he paused
I suggested a grammatical correction. "Do you mean
you had a dream that I was riding my bicycle everywhere?"
"Yes! I dream last night you are riding your bicycle anywhere and everywhere. You are so happy in my dream! All over world
you are riding your bicycle. And I following you!"
Maybe he wishes he could . . .
"Maybe you can e see me someday in America
Ketut
" I said.
"Can't
Liss." He shook his head
cheerfully resigned to his destiny. "Don't have enough teeth to travel on airplane." Eat
Pray
Love