Coincidence vs. Trap

“Do you believe in coincidence?”

“Nope. Do you?”

“Not a bit.”

“There is no such thing as a coincidence.”

“Agreed. Everything happens for a reason.”

“Agreed. Everything happens for a reason.”

*****

She couldn’t remember now what started that conversation. There, while sitting on the fabulous white beach of Kerora, on one of the shores of Rinca Island in Komodo National Park, the conversation just suddenly started. She had heard a lot about the man next to her, that he was loud and he was hard-headed and he was tough and he was rough and he was a bit nasty, that the words that came out of his mouth were never filtered. She just barely knew him then, she had known him for only a couple of days when he offered her to take a two-day speedboat ride with him around the protected Park, visiting all of the nine ranger stations in it. She didn’t know whether he was trying to be nice, or whether he was just testing her guts. After all, she was a city girl with her city looks and her city attitude. He probably thought he would do her a favor by speeding up her decision to quit and go back to her comfort zone in the city. But of course he didn’t know who she was either. She was a city girl with her city looks and her city attitude, but nature was always home sweet home to her, no matter how rough it was. She didn’t know what he was thinking. She didn’t think. She just went ahead with him. Not to impress him. Not to impress anyone. But to actually enjoy the Park before the real work started. Kerora was the second station they visited. And after that conversation, they became best friends for life. Along with a few other staff who worked in Park, they had become family. That simple conversation on Kerora Beach had formed a bond that was unbroken forever.

No, nothing was a coincidence. And no, there wasn’t anything romantic about the story. But that conversation turned her life around. Up until that moment, she always thought she was the only one who believed that there was no coincidence. All of her friends in the city usually laughed at her when she got too “deep”. “You’re too weird!” they would say. Now she finally met someone else who was just as weird. Someone who also believed that everything happened for a reason. No, there wasn’t anything romantic about the story. There was no falling in love stuff or anything like that. It was simply a confirmation. An answer she had been waiting for. While the best fuel for some trips was pure adrenaline, hers was a calming, reassuring confirmation that she had made the right decision and had come to right place. Nothing was a coincidence indeed!

Yet, if nothing was a coincidence and everything happened for a reason, then what was the reason for meeting an eagle?

*****

For the first time, she couldn’t thoroughly enjoy the magical blend of ancient wisdom and pure energy of nature, this perfect combination of the rough and the gentle, as she usually did. Her eyes and her heart were two elements of her body that were somehow out of control today. While her eyes stole frequent glances, watching curiously yet subtly, her heart raced as if she just ran long distance. A delicious sense of peace enfolded every time she caught his eyes. Here, in the center of this incredible scenery, in the middle of this windswept sea, she looked up to the blue cloudless sky and said a short prayer, “Better not be a trap. Promise me that, please Lord.”

It had been several months now that her office was not an ordinary office. She worked in the impressive 1,817 square kilometers of spectacular set of scattered barren islands and astonishing marine wilderness of Komodo National Park. While the place didn’t define luxury, convenience and comfort, it was still home sweet home. She always believed that here one could find what one might not expect. The atmosphere was mystical. The spirits of the Earth seemed to love living and amusing themselves here. Any prayer would be answered. Any wish would come true. Moreover, this is one of the best dive destinations on the planet. Every prayer made underwater, among the rich and colorful coral reefs, amid mangroves and sea grass beds, surrounded by abundant oceanic animals, seamounts and semi-enclosed bays, should and would be answered. And the answer would always be ‘Yes’. She believed that. “I must have faith. I must believe that,” she thought. God didn’t create such a supernatural place for natural purposes. He couldn’t. Magic must exist here.

Pretending to free her face from her own hair that had been blown wildly by the wind, she glanced again. He was busy. The speedboat was now parked on a sleepy coast of one of the biggest islands here, Papagaran Island. In one leap, he jumped off the boat and landed smoothly on the sand. Then he walked aimlessly on the beach, capturing frame after frame of the splendor nature offered in the blue morning of June. And why did she capture him in her heart? She didn’t know. She didn’t even know him. This was absurd. She shook her head. “Wake up, wake up, snap out of it,” she ordered herself quietly. But her heart didn’t listen. And her eyes turned and marched back in the direction where he went. She followed him with her eyes all the way until he returned to the boat. And the journey continued in this remote yet beautiful frontier. The wind blew wildly, messing up her hair once again. She didn’t mind. With her hair all over the place, it was easier to stare at him and smile every once in a while.

Just after 9.30am, the speedboat arrived at the first dive spot, a location that was known as manta ray aggregation site. It was the perfect time during rising tide. These graceful and stingless giant ‘eagles’ of the sea could usually be found while drift diving along the eastern face of the reef, just around 10 to 15-meter deep. She had never seen them before, so she was quite excited at the prospect. She put on her dive gear and her eyes, again, traveled to him. He was also putting on his dive gear. She smiled, wondering whether they would indeed see any manta today. She really hoped they would. It would be a good sign. She was sure of it. And while waiting for everybody to get ready, gentle waves rocked the small speedboat and the sound of it played harmony against a rhythm of occasional flaps of birds, mild flutters of rising sea, soft whistle of wind and the reverberation of another boat passing by in a distant. Like a perfect love song, there was a blush-worthy sensuality about it that no one could probably pull off any other day. It was a great day for a dive. It was a great day to meet him. It was one of the most mind-blowing paradises on the face of the Earth. This was a good sign. She was sure of it.

“I’ve come down with a cold today. I can’t go too deep,” he told the divemaster.

“We won’t be deep diving. We wouldn’t be able to find mantas in the deep,” the divemaster assured him. “We will only be around 8 to 12 meters.”

He nodded but didn’t say anything. He looked a bit afraid, or maybe worried.

“You HAVE been diving before, haven’t you?” she asked, curious about the worry.

He turned to her and she thought she had offended him with the question. But he didn’t look offended. Instead, he answered lightly, “Yes, I have. I’m just not sure whether I could equalize alright down there with this cold.”

She nodded politely, deciding to no longer discuss the issue. Sitting on the edge of the speedboat, her oxygen tank had started to feel very heavy. All she wanted to do was jump into the water where she could feel weightless. She understood what he meant though. When outside water pressure was greater than the inside of his sinus and ear cavities, a discomfort or ‘squeeze’ would occur. There was a technique to release that pressure. He should simply pinch his nose closed with the thumb and forefinger, close his mouth, tighten his cheeks, and then blow softly until air pressure would build in his inner ear canals. He should hear a gentle popping or crackling. This easy yet very important technique was called ‘equalizing’.

Failure to equalize would result in severe pain, which could be fatal. A diver must always be aware of this. If he couldn’t equalize, then he should stay where he was and started to ascent a meter or two until he succeeded to equalize. If that still didn’t work, then he must immediately surface. But with drift diving, he couldn’t go down too slow, because the current would carry him past where he wanted to be. He must be able to reach a certain depth fast enough in order to drift gently with the current in a place where he should be. That was why he was worried. His stuffy nose and sore throat might make it harder for him to equalize, which meant he needed to take his time and wouldn’t be able to descent quickly. And as his buddies, she and the divemaster would have to wait for him. Thus he might blow their chance to find any manta. However, sometimes, if he could do it right, the constant equalizing could also immediately clear his nose and cure his cold. Experienced divers with a cold would go diving just to get rid of their cold. But she decided not to bother telling him. She was sure he knew that already. She wouldn’t want to annoy him by implying that he might not be experienced enough.

So they back-rolled off the boat into the crystal blue water. She did a negative entry, head first, until her dive computer showed 8 meters on the screen. The divemaster was next to her, but he was nowhere to be found. They immediately looked up and there he was directly above them, at around 3 or 4 meters. He signaled that he had problems with his ears. He couldn’t equalize and would surface instead. He also signaled for the divemaster to take his underwater camera. The divemaster did so and quickly caught up with her. The current already brought her a few meters away from them. But she had no time to be disappointed. A huge manta ray with wings spanning around 3-meter wide swam right underneath! And there were more mantas coming their way!

In a single dive that day, they encountered dozens of mantas, including an all-black manta that she passionately called ‘The Zorro’, flapping against the current, savoring the nutrient-rich sea while dancing their old-fashioned waltz so elegantly. Lovely creatures. She was at awe. And by the time they were back on the speedboat to continue their journey, she was grinning the whole way. He didn’t dive with her, but her encounter with the charming mantas was indisputably a good sign. It had to be. She was sure of it. In fact, his inability to dive with her today was a good sign too. She was assigned to this task specifically to accompany him underwater. She had no reason to be there otherwise. So the reason must simply be: so their paths would cross. It must be. She was sure of it.

*****

The night was still. The sea wind was blowing and the beach was deserted. It was pitch black. On the jetty, there was only her in her sleeping bag and the divemaster next to her. The night was still and a bit cold. Yet she woke up sweating. She woke up in shock and in tears. It was a powerful dream, as if it was real. The divemaster probably heard the sound of her sitting up straight all of the sudden on that rickety jetty. He woke up too.

“Are you cold?” he asked.

“No. I’m alright,” she lied.

“Okay,” he answered sleepily, too lazy to move. And he went back to sleep.

But she was still sitting straight. She couldn’t believe her dream. What was that? That was ridiculous, she thought. Yet tears kept flowing down her face. She wasn’t sobbing. She was just crying. In her dream, she was on the deck of a yacht. She was dancing with a ghost from the past. She knew he was a ghost, because he had died eight years ago! Even in her dream, she knew that. She knew he was just a ghost. She couldn’t remember the music that they danced to. But there was music playing. No one else on the deck but them. And they kept dancing to the music. Until she decided to ask the question that had bothered her all this time. She stopped dancing and looked deeply into his eyes. She had missed those eyes so much. Yet she knew she must not cry. She must ask the question.

“Why did you leave me?” she inquired, half sad, half angry.

“You shouldn’t think about that anymore,” he smiled, stroking her hair gently.

“Why not? I want to know why you died and left me here!” she insisted.

“You shouldn’t think about that anymore because today you have met an eagle. An eagle who will take my place.”

That was when she woke up. Trembling. Crying silently. An eagle. What in the world did it mean? That was ridiculous! He had always been her only eagle. And he had flown away, leaving her here to cope with life. Today you have met an eagle. His words echoed while she was trying to go back to sleep.

*****

She read his text message again, making sure she didn’t forget anything. Wear warm clothes. Bring windproof jacket. Bring gloves if you have them. Put on boots if you have them. Sunglasses too. It will be cold up there. Well, she didn’t have gloves or boots. So she just put her sneakers on and hoped he had an extra pair of gloves. He did.

It was a beautiful morning. All mornings were beautiful here. So no surprise there. The air was warm and the sky was gloriously blue, trimmed with morning sunlight. Yet she was nervous. It wasn’t an aircraft. It was like a three-wheel motorbike with wings. How could it be safe? But she hid her nervousness. She was happy enough to see him again. She was happy that he invited her to come and fly with him. She thought he would never call again, let alone ask her to join him on this ride. The ride of a lifetime.

In Wikipedia, a microlight aircraft was defined as one or two-seat weight-shift aircraft, with a maximum takeoff weight of 450 kg. Microlights were also referred to as trikes and are distinguished from three-axis aircraft, of which the smallest were known as ultralights. These very light-manned aircraft were used mainly, or intended for, sports or recreation, during daylight and in good visual conditions. These days, trikes were rapidly transforming into high-performance aircraft, capable of very respectable speed and range. So whatever they were called and whatever they were used for, they were still aircraft, which meant that they must strictly follow Civil Aviation Regulations.

He probably knew she was nervous. As she sat on the backseat and buckled her seatbelt, he was explaining the safety procedures. He went on and on assuring her that if anything happened while they were in the air, he had satellite phone, some snacks, water, etcetera, etcetera. He also explained where they’d fly. That wasn’t helping. She was still nervous.

“Hey, you didn’t explain all that to me when I went up with you!” she heard her flat-mate jokingly complaining to him.

He didn’t answer. He just smiled while checking whether her seatbelt was securely fastened. Then he took the front seat, put on his helmet, glanced at her and asked.

“Are you ready?”

She forced a smile. “Yeah.” There was no turning back now.

But the scary moment only lasted less than five minutes. Once they took off and were in the air, she had totally forgotten her fear. This was awesome! It was exhilarating and at the same time it was spiritually soothing. She loved it! The solitude of the blue sky immediately embraced her. The ancient sea was now beneath her. The jewel-like islands, the photogenic white powdery beaches, the vast savannas, the wooden fisherman boats, the tourist ships, everything was beneath her. This must be what it feels like to be an eagle, she thought.

And her heart stopped for a second or two. An eagle.

Today was the day of the eagle. It was their anniversary. And she forgot to pray for him. She woke up too early and got too excited to prepare for this flight. She had forgotten the eagle. She had never forgotten before. She always prayed for him. But today, she forgot. Instead, she was flying. Like an eagle herself. With… an eagle.

And her heart stopped for a second or two. An eagle.

She remembered her dream just two days before on the jetty. Today you have met an eagle. His words echoed. An eagle who will take my place.

And below, a manta ray appeared close to the surface of that resplendently clear blue sea, flapping against the current, savoring the nutrient-rich sea while dancing the old-fashioned waltz so elegantly. He saw it too. She had now seen the manta both underwater and eagle’s eye view. That was indisputably a good sign. It had to be. She was sure of it.

The manta and the dream. Nothing was a coincidence. Everything happened for a reason. Today you have met an eagle. His words echoed. An eagle who will take my place. It was a moment of great awakening. The ghost’s words were words of wisdom, crowned with glory, understanding and a kind of purifying sensation.

And she closed her eyes for a moment, saying her prayer in the solitude of the sky. Happy anniversary. I still love you but I’m letting you go. I have met an eagle. Thank you.

*****

That was two years ago. Her prayer was not answered. If nothing was a coincidence, then it must be a trap.