Flying Angel

 

Wayan helps me peel my shirt, shorts and underthings off of my damp body. They are sticky with the days sweat mixed with rain from the downpour that I was caught in an hour before. She has filled a bath with warm water and tons of fresh flowers. 

Gorgeous red, lemon yellow and cotton candy pink petals float on the lukewarm water. Part of the room is open-air and the raindrops are still softly falling inside.

She holds my arm as I melt down into the tub. She smiles and says “It’s ok? I leave you now?”. “Yes, it’s ok. But please don’t hurry back.” I say. She looks at me with a face that tells me she doesn’t understand my joke. I smile up at her and she closes the door behind her.  

My eyes are closed and the fragrance from the flowers fills my nose with perfume. They stick to my arms and my toes and my breasts and I feel like a princess in an ancient story. There is a huge smile plastered on my face.

I lay there for a while like that and then, when I open my eyes, there about six feet directly above me is a flying Balinese angel. The wooden kind that people hang from their ceilings. She is made of wood and is about four feet long. Her eyes are looking directly into mine. It stuns me for a moment and I feel a shiver run through my body. What a beautiful thing. She has jet black hair and golden wings that seem to protect me as I lay there prone in the bath. I look back at her, study her and meditate with her as she hovers in space above me. Her hands are in prayer position in front of her heart. She has a kind and loving face. Bob Marley's voice comes into my head. "Everything's gonna be alright.....everything's gonna be alright...."

In no time at all Wayan is back, knocking on the carved wooden door. “Finish?” 
“No.” I say. “I haven’t been here very long….”. She thinks about this a moment and then holds up all ten fingers on both hands. She curls them up and opens them again two more times. “I’ve been here for thirty minutes??” I say. It seems like five.

Wayan helps me sit up in the warm water and lathers my back with lemongrass soap. She washes my arms, shoulders, legs and chest. I close my eyes and feel the powerful, beautiful exchange between two women. Then she takes a coconut shell ladle and pours water over me to remove the soap and flower petals. I stand up in the tub and she does the same.

It feels like a beautiful baptism with the wise flying angel watching over and blessing everything.