"Sex is funny," Wayan mused as she watched me grimacing in pain, drinking more of her homemade medicine.

"Yeah, Wayan, thanks. It's hilarious."

"No, sex is funny," she went on. "Make people do funny things. Everyone gets like this, at the beginning of love. Wanting too much happiness, too much pleasure, until you make yourself sick. Even to Wayan this happens at beginning of love story. Lose balance."

"I'm embarrassed," I say.

"Don't," she said. Then she added in perfect English (and perfect Balinese logic), "To lose balance sometimes for love is part of living a balanced life."

I decided to call Felipe. I had some antibiotics at the house, an emergency stash I always travel with, just in case. Having had these infections before, I know how bad they can get, even traveling up into your kidneys. I didn't want to go through that, not in Indonesia. So I called him and told him what had happened (he was mortified) and asked him to bring me over the pills. It wasn't that I didn't trust Wayan's healing prowess, it's just that this was really serious pain . . .

She said, "You don't need Western pills."

"But maybe it's better, just to be safe . . ."

"Give two hours," she said. "If I don't make you better, you can take your pills."

Reluctantly, I agreed. My experience with these infections is that they can take days to clear, even with strong antibiotics. But I didn't want to make her feel bad.

Tutti was playing in the shop and she kept bringing little drawings of houses over to cheer me up, patting my hand with an eight-year-old's compassion. "Mama Elizabeth sick?" At least she didn't know what I'd been doing to get sick.

"Did you buy your house yet, Wayan?" I asked. "Not yet, honey. No hurry."

"What about that place you liked? I thought you were going to buy that?"

"Found out not for sale. Too expensive."

"Do you have any other places in mind?"

"Not worry about it now, Liz. For now, let me make you quickly feel better."

Felipe arrived with my medicine and a face full of remorse, apologizing to both me and Wayan for having inflicted me with this pain, or at least that's how he was seeing it.

"Not serious," said Wayan. "Not worry. I fix her soon. Quickly better."

"性很有趣。"大姐若有所思地说，一边看我痛得呲牙咧嘴，不断喝她的自制煎药。

"是的，大姐，谢啦，是很愉快。"

"不，性真的很有趣，"她继续说，"使大家做有趣的事。每个人一开始爱上的时候都像这样。想要更多快乐，太多欢乐，直到让自己生了病。甚至大姐，在爱的故事刚开始时也发生过，失去平衡。"

"我真丢脸。"我说。

"不，"她说，随后她以完美的英语（以及完美的巴厘逻辑）又说，"有时为爱失去平衡才能过平衡的生活。"

我决定打电话给斐利贝。我家有些抗生素，以备旅行期间的不时之需。从前我有过这种感染，清楚其严重性，甚至可能通往肾脏。我不想在印尼经历这些。于是我打电话给他，告知他发生的事情（他深感罪恶），请他把药带来给我。并非我不信任大姐的医疗本事，只不过这痛不是闹着玩的……

她说："你不需要西药。"

"但也许比较好，以防万一……"

"再等两个小时，"她说，"要是没好转，你就服自己的药。"

我勉强同意。我对这种感染的经验是可能得花几天时间才能消失，即使服用强效抗生素。但我不想让她不舒服。

图蒂在店里玩，她不停地拿自己画的房屋小图过来逗我开心，以八岁孩子的同情心轻拍我的手。"伊莉莎白妈妈生了病？"至少她不清楚我做了什么才得病。

"大姐，你房子买了吗？"我问。"还没呢，亲爱的。不急。"

"你喜欢的那个地方呢？我以为你想买？"

"那里没在卖。太贵了。"

"你心目中有其他地方？"

"现在别担心这个，小莉。目前，让我使你快快好起来。"

斐利贝带来我的药，一脸自责，对于让我遭此痛苦（至少这是他的看法）向我和大姐道歉。

"不严重，"大姐说，"用不着担心。我不久就能治好她，很快就能好起来。"