3. Black Saturday Ended in a White Cloth

Strange things not only happen with keris but with wayang dolls also, proven by the next story.

The role of the intrigant is never clear. Not even after the event. So it will always be a riddle if the old wayang doll acted up to his dubious reputation, or if I imagined it all. But I, almost ten years after it happened, still have a problem with this black history and it takes a lot of effort to write it down. It was a horrible period of time for my family and me. To guarantee the privacy of the persons involved I changed the names. Otherwise this story is authentic.

September 1995, Judith

Welcome

In the summer of 1983 1 got an old wayang doll from my friend Betty and her husband Herbert. They had owned it several years, but because very few people are crazy enough to look after another's 20 cats for three weeks, I got, as I heard later rather precious, the wayang doll as a thank you gift. According to Betty, whose father was busy with old Indonesian artifacts for years, the doll was really used for playing in the traditional way. This information went in one ear and out the other. It was an ugly little fellow with a half arm, but because of this he was kind of cute, I thought. That's why he got a place in our living room. An old wine bottle was soon found and that way he went in front of the window as a piece of the interior. My husband Bert didn't particularly like it, but what the heck, if I liked it. And so Durna, not until after the scary intrigues I heard his name for the first time, stood for years between plants and flowers. On a market I bought a second doll, because that would be even nicer between the plants, I thought. Number two was a female, this way it seemed like a couple. Durna was just out of Betty and Herbert's house, when their marriage went wrong. This could be coincidence, but it was strange. In the mean time our lives went on quietly. Our daughter from one and a half years old grew fast and Bert and me had a happy marriage. At the end of 1984 we went to a new home and again Durna got a place at the window. But when exactly is hard to tell, our relationship started to become a bit uneasy. Bert often had pain in the neck and he became unsatisfied with himself and sought answers in the supernatural. He always had been curious for "there's more between heaven and earth things", but now he became obsessed. And I, friends always call, me too earthly, didn't understand a bit about it. I couldn't relate to it. Even more it repelled me. I sought my own way. Strangely enough, one of the things that started to get my interest were the wayang dolls that were standing in my living for so long. I asked Betty's father for advice about how I could restore them. Especially the old doll with his ugly painted head and worn dress, I wanted to make it beautiful again. In the past some idiot most have been busy with it, who gave the doll fat black lined eyes a very pink nose and painted upper body. And the pitiful rag that should be his clothes didn't look like anything. On my next birthday I turned 26 years old and I got a book on wayang dolls. Strangely enough I never read it and it was put by my books and that was it. In hindsight it is very strange. If I only had read the book then I would have known what stood in my living room. If I would have handled it according to that knowledge? I don't dare to say. But later I found it very strange indeed that I wanted to restore the old doll and that I never read the information I needed in that book. That's very contradicting isn't it? Why didn't I ever read the book?

The sad story continues. The tension in our marriage grew. So much, that in November 1986 I thought to find my cure with the very nice, but married neighbor and father of two small children. A person of whom I later have to say was Durna in the flesh. A smart intrigant who, just like Durna, didn't have much confidence due to a physical handicap. Mindful, sweet, giving compliments, charming and mean! But, I didn't know all then. I only saw the good side from that man and even more from the bad ones of my Bert. Bert in turn was blind to it all. Even more, he too became a friend to the neighbor. Ever more often both men did things together. The neighbor told me he did it on purpose, so he could be around me more. Usually this would have put my defenses up. Because I have a well developed sense for justice and honesty. But the strange way of loving him, not to say obsession, made me do nothing and let him become even more important in the life of Bert and me. In the mean time Durna became even more interesting to me. While Bert still thought it an ugly thing, I dusted him regularly (and this while I hate to dust anything, but Durna was cleaned daily) and in my thoughts I was already restoring him. But the book on wayang dolls stayed closed. It still is a mystery to me how it was possible to be so emotionally involved with that doll and on the other hand never taking practical actions. What powers kept me off the book, I wonder now. March 1987 the bomb exploded. After three months of a double life I confessed to Bert what was going on between me and the neighbor. Of course Bert was very angry. He did have his suspicion, but declared himself a fool. The fact that the neighbor kept coming and was also interested in him had confused him. Only years later Bert told me that he had wanted to confront the neighbor with his suspicion, but something had held him back.

Durna's True Face

Two days was all that Bert and I could stay together then I decided to go to Betty to think my marriage over. Maybe I should divorce, but there was of course also a child of almost four walking around. Betty was living alone in a small apartment. But I was welcome for the weekend. That was all the time I wanted. Betty and her new friend Anton listened to my story and didn't tell me their conclusion. Later both of them told me they thought our marriage was stranded forever. That was the same way I felt at the time. After a long Friday night I woke up on Saturday morning with a clear head. While Anton and Betty went out for the day, I stayed alone in the apartment, thinking about my own future. I decided then that my marriage had to be over. Herbert's (Betty's ex) new girlfriend was living with Herbert and I could live in her house, she promised me after I called her and explained the situation. So a home was taken care of. Betty, a divorced housewife herself, knew how to get to the social services and could help me with that. In fact I had settled my affairs very fast, the way I usually do. The next day I would go to the new house. So, only one night of sleep at Betty's and my new life would begin.

In The Mean Time

After I left Bert collapsed. He went to his parents where his sister in law Marijke had an open ear. She let him tell his story, respected his sorrow and tried to support him. Bert didn't want to be in our house for some reason. Until late at night he stayed with his brother and sister in law. In their house he felt safer. The next morning, Saturday, he felt miserable again in our own house and especially in the living room (with open kitchen). He called Marijke and asked her to come. They were both sitting at our kitchen table talking and drinking coffee. Suddenly Bert felt a stinging pain at the right side of his head. That side was toward the living room. This happened a few more times and the pain grew increasingly worse. Unconsciously Bert looked into the living as if he where searching for the reason of his pain there. As if he was stung by a hornet his attention stayed with the old wayang dolls. A chill went down his spine. The doll suddenly had a face Bert never saw before: threatening and mean. As if he had to confront something Bert went over and looked the doll straight in the face. The stinging got even worse. Bert kept looking at the doll and after a few minutes the pain lessened to disappear eventually. Then Bert turned the dolls head to the wall. Because Bert couldn't believe what just happened, despite his believes in the supernatural, he called Marijke. He asked her to look at the doll and turned his head back. Marijke looked only a second at the doll face, ran hysterically to the most far away comer of the room and started to cry. Also she got an instant headache. She trembled all over her body and didn't want to look at the doll again. After that Bert took the doll and put it in the bicycle garage, which wasn't under our roof. It was early in the evening about 18:30 when this happened.

Conclusion

In the mean time I used the Saturday to work on my plans for the future. While the day proceeded they became clearer and I was getting sure that a divorce was the only good way for me. Because I slept so bad on Betty's small couch, Anton offered to get a folding bed from his own house, several miles away. After a quarter of an hour Anton was back breathing heavily and sweating, because he had climbed the four stairs to Betty's home with the bed. What happened then I can't recall. I saw the scene - Anton dragging the bed through the front door - and said without thinking: "I'm going home." I suddenly was very sure. Without hesitation I packed my things, called Bert and asked Anton to bring me back. This he wanted. Anton, who just rode back and forth for that folding bed, wanted to get in his car and saw just in time that all the screws from his four wheels where loose. In that short time if Anton hadn't seen it, we would probably had an accident. So we took Betty's car and within half an hour we were back in the place I lived. Bert was already waiting for me. I was still nervous but on the other hand very calm. Not long after that our talking came to the doll. We put facts and a timetable together and found scary parallels. Most shocking was the fact that in the same instant that Bert put the doll away, the same moment I suddenly wanted to go home. While Bert was talking about what happened to him that day the fear for the doll crept in him again and even the proximity of the doll in the bicycle shed was too near for him. Around midnight we called Betty's father, with the request if we might bring the doll to him. In spite of the late hour we could bring it right away. Betty's father advised us to put the doll in a white cloth and transport it that way. This was soon done. This Durna is still in the possession of Betty's father until this day. In the mean time it is restored and looks very attractive. But even if they gave me a hundred thousand guldens, I would never want that doll back in my possession.

Closing Words

I end the way I started. The role of the intrigant is never clear. Until today I cannot prove without a doubt that an old doll has made our lives miserable. Maybe it would also have happened if the doll hadn't been there. But honestly I don't believe that. Too many things happened that don't belong to Bert's and my own character. Finally, for those who like happy endings: It took Bert and me years to get rid of the tensions in our marriage but now we are happier then we have ever been. And the neighbor is, just like Durna, restored to his Old Glory, he moved elsewhere with his family and we never saw him again.