✳️ Something bizarre is going on here.
✳️ In the middle of a vineyard.
✳️ A series of impossible synchronicities.
✳️ Okay Universe, you have my absolute attention!
I left school at seventeen. My parents strongly encouraged me to go to university, but that path just wasn't lighted up for me. At this point, I really didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. But I had to get a job.
An ad in the local paper for a position at El Caballo Blanco looked incredibly appealing. It would mean doing something I truly loved. I wanted it fiercely.
I eagerly applied. But as two weeks passed without a single word, I concluded that I must have missed out. That was disappointing, to say the least. But I didn't dwell on it. I moved on and found a job picking grapes instead.
The next morning, as I was getting ready for work, a sudden thought dropped in: it felt like a good idea to take my Walkman. Listening to music while picking grapes would make the day more enjoyable.
Three hours later, working deep in the vineyard, I received another sudden impulse to look at my watch. I realized that because I'd been lost in the music, I hadn't heard the call to stop for morning tea.
I immediately located the farmer and asked if I could still take my break.
He smiled and said, “Not a problem.”
I made my way back to the ute where I'd left my lunch bag. The exact second I sat down on the tailgate of the ute, a car pulled up out of nowhere. I recognized the driver as the farmer's wife.
She rolled her window down, looked straight at me, and said, “I'm looking for Narelle Wallis?”
Feeling completely surprised, I replied, “Oh yeah! That's me!”
She told me that I needed to call my Mother immediately. It was important. She offered me a lift back to the main house so I could use their landline. There were no mobile phones back in those days.
Mum answered on the very first ring.
“Guess what!?” she said, her voice buzzing. “El Caballo Blanco rang. You got the job after all!”
OMG!!! I felt SO elated! I quit the grape-picking job on the spot.
But as I drove home, I pondered the exact sequence of events. The way that things had unfolded wasn't just lucky—it was extremely weird.
- If I hadn't taken the Walkman, I would have heard the morning tea call.
- If I had taken morning tea with everyone else, I wouldn't have been sitting alone on the tailgate at that precise minute.
- The farmer's wife would have missed me in the fields.
It completely got my attention. I wondered what the hell was going on. On a visceral level, I sensed there was a deeper meaning behind it all that I desperately needed to understand.
But my analytical mind wasn't ready for those answers yet. This was just the beginning. There was so much more that had to happen first...