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Occasionally, Nyoman could control himself. He tried to be reasonable and refrain from anger. He always, remembered his father's advice given before Nyoman married the girl of his choice.

"Mang, when your wife gets, angry, don't respond to her in anger. In the same way, when you get angry with her or with your children, there must not be anger in your heart. In this way you and your family will be safe. Quarrels are the flowers of family life, just like dreams are the flowers of sleep." 

He did not know where his father, who had never enjoyed tertiary education, picked up this wise advice. He only knew that his, father loved reading so much he even read old magazines, He might have read it from a column of wise sayings in one of the magazines.

Unfortunately, Nyoman could not stop being angry when, on returning from his office on Saturday, he found his, house in a great mess and his wife in bed, covering her head with a pillow. His two children, who were primary school pupils, were not there. They were probably playing at a neighbour's  house as usual. Nyoman felt fired and hungry. After working hard all week, all he wanted to do was have a rest and a good meal. But, it was a fact. His wife had lost her temper for some unknown reason for the fifth time this month, as she had done so many times during their marriage.
"Are you sick, Tut?" he asked.
"You're the one who's sick!" she snapped.
He was really confused, and at the same tim disgusted. Actually, he didn't forget his father's advice, but because it was hot and I was starving, he didn't take it.
"I'm starving!" he shouted.
"Ask your girlfriend in Tabanan for food
What's up?, Nyoman thought. He had never considered having a girlfriend once he got married. He only had a wife, Ketut Adriari, no more and no less. Even though when he was acting on stage many members of his audience admired him a great deal, he never tried to take advantage of this. Again, his father once told him that he had to take good care of his wife and children. And Nyoman respected his father very much. 

Finally he found an open envelope on  dining table. It was a letter from Putri, a friend from his drama activities of the past. Reading the letter, he noted that there was nothing special in it. Putri wrote about some of their friends in the drama group, and ended the letter with a friendly and nostalgic question: "Will we have a chance to take part in another play?" Putri also wrote about her first son who she had just enrolled in kindergarten. That was all. Putri was one of his close friends before he married, and he had told Ketut about her. Sometimes Ketut called Putri his girl friend, and Nyoman had always gently denied it. Perhaps because he had never denied it strongly, she thought Putri really was his girlfriend, and that Nyoman loved her.

So many times Ketut got angry with Putri who she knew only from the letters and stories told by Nyoman. 

Nyoman didn't stop to change his clothes but left the house, slamming the front door. In the narrow alley, he met his
eldest son, Gede. 
"Where are you going,
Dad?"
"The beach!" he replied
shortly
"Can I go with you?"
"No!"
Gede said no more and went straight home. Gede already knew his father's habit: sitting under the shady trees on the beach and silently watching the waves. He also knew which beach his father went to.

At the main street, Nyoman stopped a mini bus that would take him to Banyuasri bus station. 0nce there, he crossed the road and walked in the direction of Pura Parimbangan beach. Nyoman wanted to disappear, a real disappearance, to teach people a lesson. On the beach, Nyoman sat in his usual place, and gazed at the open sea. People said that once there had been a Chinese ship wrecked just offshore. 

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