Maybe if I would have drunk coffee in my student years I would have become smarter. I would be able to concentrate better, be less tired and have more energy. It’s a pity I’ve deprived this from myself. I should have done all these things that people recommend rather than try to do the right thing. I have almost missed out but at the last moment I’ve found my rebellious way to self fulfillment. However, I haven’t found it entirely yet but I will, I’m sure I will; maybe coffee will help me with the quest.
On a Friday night Ruby and her partner Zach, Miriam, Miriam’s best friend Lea and her husband Noah drink Kiddush wine. They brought all their own food, plastic plates, cups and cutlery. They are a group of orthodox jews from Melbourne. When Ruby’s father's University friend visited Melbourne in winter he invited all of them to come and stay with him and his family in Adelaide during the WomAdelaide festival. They appreciated the idea.
Ruby and Zach really wanted to go to womAdelaide. In order for a young religious couple to go on holidays together before marriage they need to find a married couple to chaperon them. Lea and her partner just got married the previous week so it was a perfect arrangement. Miriam just tagged along as the matchmaker between the two couples.
“It’s time for desert” says Miriam when they are done with dinner. “Did you bring it?” she asks Lea. “Baked and ready to be swallowed! All the way from Melbs. A pretty dodgy event dragging it on the plane and all.” Lea pulls out of her bag a box of squashed muffins. On a first look they seem rather old yet harmless. However, when one looks more carefully one understands.
Just then the lady and gentleman of the house enter the room. It is a hippie couple; the man has a long beard and is wearing a blue and white flannel shirt with square patterns. His partner has curls that reach the centre of her back, her hair is asymmetrical. She is wearing baggy white trousers and a slightly dirty beige hemp shirt. “Desert ha?!” says the lady host giggling, “Can I have one of your magic deserts please?” She turns to the host, “ha look at this honey, those sweet kids brought us hash cakes from Melbourne!”
Five young people all look down to the floor at once. They don’t realize that in hippie houses hash is OK. “It’s alright guys. I’m older than you yet I still like to have fun. When I was your age…” She looks at Lea and starts counting the times she got stoned with or without her parents. She convinces them that it’s alright, that she approves of their hash cakes; and the party starts.
The lady host and the guests eat the cakes together. “I wish I could eat forever, I never want to stop eating. The taste in my mouth is vivid and soothing, I just want to have more and more of it, I won’t feel full until I stop eating for at least five minutes in a row.” Miriam often says random things like that. “Take it easy with the H cakes girl, you don’t want to transform into a transformer, do you?!” Says the lady host.
The gentleman host is a quiet type. Whenever he says something everyone listens as he hardly ever says anything. His son Ruben resembles him; he is the quiet-alive type. Nevertheless, Ruben is not a hippie, definitely not. He is a regular guy. While growing up among hippies he always wanted to be just a regular guy. That explains why he manages a mainstream bar in town. He drinks mainstream beer, has mainstream friends and mainstream clothes. However, he is open to ‘different’ people as long as they respect him as a regular guy, as long as they don’t try to change him.
Ruben comes to the chilling room about an hour and a half after the space cakes have been eaten. The two young orthodox couples and the one friend ate a space cake each. His father’s partner ate one piece too. Now, Ruben can only converse with the one sober person in the room, his father. At the same time Miriam is telling a story to all the attendants, it is impossible to ignore her:
“A month ago the library in which I work, on the next suburb after St Kilda, sent me to Hermannsburg for one month in order to research the Hermannsburg school of art, and bring back study material about the subject.
In Hermannsburg I met the Aboriginal family Daniels. Harry Daniels is the father; he is a big man, joyful and kind. He chatted to me often and provided valuable information about the watercolor style of painting. In any case, the real star of watercolor painting is Jeremy Daniels – the son. Jeremy is a 23 year old boy; I have never met someone as shy. He never says a full sentence; most of the time his parents have to talk on his behalf. He too is a big fellow, like his father. He wears black clothes, long black trousers and a black T-shirt although the temperatures in Hermannsburg are extremely hot. He constantly looks down to the floor. He never looks in the eyes of someone else.
Harry told me that Jeremy is slack, that he gets out of bed at 2pm. I asked Harry whether Jeremy goes out as chaps of his age do. Harry said that he doesn’t- it didn’t surprise me. Jeremy looks like a young boy who hasn’t left his shell yet and needs shaking up. “He needs someone to show him how to have a good time” Harry said. I volunteered immediately. So it happened that Jeremy was allowed to accompany me back to Melbourne for one week. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but a few beers will do the trick ha?! I took Jeremy to Melbourne, introduced him to my gay and lesbian friends...”
At this point Ruben was the only one listening. The host had to drag his wife out of the room as she started to make funny faces, which embarrassed him. Ruby, Zack, Lea and Noah sneaked out of the room. By now they were staring at the stars on the back deck.
Ruben: “Hey Miriam, I’d love to hear the end of this story, but lets go out to the front deck” He knew that religious people are less open to physical contact than ‘normal people’ like him, however he lay his arm around her shoulders anyway. She responded well to his gesture and put her arm behind his waist; they walked outside.
Where does she get these hallucinations from? There’s no way she has gay and lesbian friends and it’s impossible that she had gone clubbing with an aboriginal boy. She’s got vivid imagination this girl. Ruben wondered to himself.
By now Ruben was pretty drunk, he has been drinking since 12 in the afternoon. He did not try to see things from Miriam’s perspective. They walked outside; she kept on talking about a wild party on a harboring boat, about her getting drunk in the boat, “but that is normal” she says. Seemingly the aboriginal boy Jeremy got drunk too at that party, “He still didn’t make full sentences but he finally looked up. At some point, Jeremy the giant goes and sits on the lap of a random girl who is seated on a chair and is facing the dance floor. He sits down in front of her and faces her face while I am watching all this happening. I go and drag him off her. Jeremy gets up slowly. He looks at me, approaches me and then he sticks his tongue in my mouth! I have kissed an aboriginal boy Ruben!” She says while shocked from her own words.
She is quite attractive this little orthodox Miriam. I wouldn’t mind tasting her tongue too and feel her warmth at the same time. Ruben is not preoccupied by cultural differences. He thinks and acts simultaneously. He turns his face to Miriam, grabs her palm and caresses it. She does not object. He then pulls her towards him and kisses her. They sit down on the stairs and make out. The child of god is being touched everywhere. This goes on for about 30 minutes. Suddenly, without prior notice Miriam pushes Ruben away and stands up. Pail and silent she walks away.
Miriam is perturbed by her own deeds. Although it is late at night she goes for a walk in the park across the road. There she has a revelation, god talks to her. God appears as an aboriginal boy. He tells her about the real and only truth:
Deep inside a person’s body, in a profound spot in the chest lives the biblical figure Eve. Eve represents the purity of life before social conventions were invented, before humans set goals to their existence, before communities were created and before humans had obligations. Eve is most of the time enclosed in ones body. She cannot get out. Because she is kicking internal organs and screaming in the hollow of the body we feel pain. Only from time to time when we loose ourselves, eat space cakes or run in wild nature, Eve gets to breathe real air. She gets a glimpse at her initial life, the way it was millions of years ago when god planed life for women. When Eve gets a moment of freedom her host human body and brain get to see real life.
After god’s speech Miriam is so overwhelmed that she runs back to the house and tries to sleep. She doesn’t know how to deal with the latest events and decides not to think about it. The entire night she pushes away any thought that comes to mind about Ruben or about Eve.
The next morning arrives quickly. Mornings can be challenging. Miriam does not want to get out of bed, she cannot forgive herself. She didn’t sleep very well, it must have been the after effect of the cake. She has touched a boy before a wedding, touched him all over, Ruben from all guys. A simple ozi, a drinking barman goy! She remembers the event of the previous night very well, she wishes she could forget.
She remembers Eve too. What did this Aboriginal god want to tell her? That she needs to let Eve breathe? But how? Will god forgive her for her sins?
At the breakfast table Ruben smiles to her, she does not smile back. When she gets up and leaves the table Ruben follows her, “Miriam, I enjoyed last night with you. I liked your story about the Aboriginal boy”. He wants to hug her but doesn’t.
What could he do to win her heart? Yes, he should use biblical references. Miriam will have affinity with this type of argumentation. He takes a deep breath and tries to look in her eyes again, “Miriam, we could be like Adam and Eve - pure and without baggage. We could start something between two people, you and me, the rest will come later.”
