generate something resembling order, the way drifting clouds could
come to resemble flying elephants. After a time the movement of any
one pair lost its significance and he became aware more of the
generality of the action: The enormous sexual urge giving rise to a
blind repetition of will. At first he wondered why they had to have sex
en masse, but from this perspective it was clear. For something to
truly invoke the divine, the particular had to be subsumed into the
general. And that was how these devout Muslims could justify their
aberrant behavior: this was not people having sex with people. This
was gods having sex with gods, spirits with spirits, the sexual
principle enacted on a higher level. This was not a mere orgy. These
people were loaning out their bodies for divine purposes. For this the
spirits would pay them a metaphysical rent.
Yak noticed one conspicuous behind in the crowd which stood
out like beauty mark on the face of a diva. It belonged to a thin black
man. He was trying to have sex with a plump young Indonesian lady
but seemed unable to manage it. Humiliated, he finally gave up and
stumbled through the crisscross of prostrate bodies. An older
Indonesian quickly climbed up on top of the young woman and took
up where Roy had left off.
Curious, Yak came down off the tree and tried to follow the
strange pilgrim, but he had vanished. A woman suddenly took him by
the hand and tried to lead him back to the sacred grave, but Yak did
not go. Instead, he pulled her towards him and embraced her gently,
stroking her hair and placing his lips on her forehead. Angrily, she
pulled away, slapping him hard in the face. In dispensing genuine
affection he had evidently gone too far.
Kemukus had just been a stopover. The next day he moved on to his
principal destination, Parangtritis Beach, for the annual festivities in
honor of the sea goddess, Loro Kidul.
From early morning on, her supplicants assembled on the shore,
tossing flowers into the sea and praying for her blessing. But they
never came too close— Loro Kidul was famously capricious and
lustful and often sucked in the unwary to drown in her embrace.
Yak rented a small bungalow close to the beach so that he could
better enjoy her laughing monologue. Napping on the rickety bed,
the ground beneath him shuddered under each wave of her
vainglorious desire. Nowhere else in the world had the surf seemed
so insistent, so intelligent. He found the rhythm intoxicating. Like
ABYSSINIA
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