"I need to catch this ferry." She said. She kissed my cheek and turned away toward the dock. "Send me a message after you have had some time to think about this. We really do have a lot to talk about."
And with that she was gone. Swallowed whole by the crowd of ferry riders all surging towards the metered entrance. I had one last glimpse of her hair...so starkly different than the Asian masses around her, and then nothing. I turned and headed towards a nearby taxi queue.
When I arrived back to my flat, I poured some water into a pot and put it on the stove. I reached a container of black tea from the cupboard and my cast ion teapot. I placed these on my desk along with my favorite Japanese teacup. While I waited for water to heat, I lit a candle and put on some acoustic music. I had fully adopted the Asian practice of drinking tea instead of coffee and had taken the time to learn about different teas and methods for preparation.
When the water was hot (not boiling!) I brought it over to my desk and set the pot on the trivet I kept there. I put a few grams of tea into the teapot and added water. I disposed of this and again added water to the teapot with the now clean tea leaves. I sat down at my desk to drink the fragrant tea and collect my thoughts. This was common practice for me when I needed to relax and focus.
The first thing that I did was to offer a prayer of thanks for another day of life, discovery and acceptance. I didn't pray to anyone in particular. My own peculiar spiritual belief was that there was probably someone or something out there and it was impossible to know if they were listening or not or for that matter if they even cared, but why take chances? Ever since I had recovered from my personal epiphany of madness 6 years ago, I made it a practice to give thanks for another day of life and learning.
I refilled my teacup and closed my eyes to think about the events that had occurred this evening. I started with analysis of how and why I had met Wendy. I was a firm unbeliever when it came to the concept of destiny...or more precisely predestiny. One of my guiding stars was the fact that me and me alone had responsibility for my future. I firmly believe that we all have a path to follow, and that path can be influenced by outside factors, but each person makes the choices that determine the direction of their path. My own path has taken a lot of crazy twists and turns, and it would be easy to blame others (or fate) for the setbacks that had occurred, however I had come to a significant realization during my recovery that I was ultimately responsible for each and every decision I had made. This realization, more significant than any drug or therapy, was the reason that I had been able to pull myself out the downward spiral that my life had been in.
The idea that I had a destiny that was unknown to me and more importantly not in my control was unacceptable and shook me. But I was getting ahead of myself. I am at my core a scientist and a pragmatist. There is a reason for everything. I had to consider the possibility that Wendy was not what she represented, that she was part of a scam. If so, it was an elaborate one. It was also possible that this was a joke. Maybe part of a planned jest by friends or perhaps a spontaneous story spun by an imaginative woman who had been approached by one too many strange men. I gave this theory about 60% possibility. It was also possible that she was crazy. Who knows how many people this possibility she had told this story to. It's a fun fantasy to construct that you are a powerful witch or demon or whatever she believed she was. I gave this theory about 30% probability of being true. That left a 10% possibility that she was telling the truth. I actually couldn't quite believe that I was rating the truth this high. There was something about her that rang true. Or maybe it was just the part about falling in love that I wanted to believe.
I looked at my phone and found her Wechat invite. I accepted it and sent her a short message. "Lot's of thoughts and questions. Tomorrow 18:00 @ Erin's in Midlevels."
Before I even had a chance to set my phone down it chimed with her response. "I'll be there at 18:30."
I smiled as I stood to take my things into the kitchen. Either she was amazingly fast at typing or she knew what I was going to say. I set my cup and teapot in the sink and went to the living room. I laid on the couch and closed my eyes to just relax a little.
My phone chimed again, and I smiled and thought "Wow, she changed her mind already?", but it was a text message from an American number. I opened it and frowned. It was from Amy. All this thought of destiny was messing with my brain, but it was just weird that I would hear from Amy right now. Had I just been thinking about my epiphany of insanity? It was what I thought of as my dark period, and Amy had been my copilot on that crazy ride. The message just said "call me."
The phone chimed again. "Call me. It's not bad." I had to smile despite my nervousness. This was pure Amy, defuse the situation before tossing a hand grenade into the room. I counted to seven and touched the call button on the phone. It rang ten times before she answered. Again...pure Amy. Everything she does has a purpose, and that purpose usually involved manipulation and control. How did the old Mentor's song go? "All I want is sex and drugs and rock and roll." With Amy it was sex and alcohol and violent control. And then more sex. There was a time when I loved the battle. I loved the conflict. I loved the sex. Now it just made me tired.
"Hi." She said. I just waited. "Look, I just need to talk for a few minutes. What time is it there?" She could never keep track of the time difference.
