The Empty Hammock

by Barrett, Brenda

  Ana smiled shyly at him. He was obviously flamboyant and had a gregarious personality.

  “I am displeased, Ana, that you would join with Orocobix when you could have been mine.”

  “Leave her Oromico.” An older version of Tanama, stared at her. “How is everyone Ana?” She pressed Ana’s hand and smiled.

  “They are fine,” Ana replied. She was not quite sure who she was answering about. The last time she saw her ‘family’, Tanama had given her the evil eye and Basila was busy weaving cotton.

  Oromico led the way into the hut and everyone followed.

  Orocobix grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “You are doing fine.”

  Ana counted the women she followed. There were eight in all.

  What was one man be doing with eight wives?

  Obviously, Oromico was randy they were all young and shapely and in different stages of pregnancy.

  ******

  There was a huge crowd during the evening meal. The interior was similar to that of Orocobix’s hut, except that their stools were better crafted with intricate patterns and shapes.

  Most of the wives and their children sat on cloths that covered the dirt floor of the hut. There were at least three pots simmering with what Ana was coming to expect as the ever-present stew. She was fed from at least three different pots and she was offered bammy. The flat cassava cakes were delicious and hot. They were better than her mother’s. The original was definitely the best.

  She refused the fish and the iguana stew but ate the cashew fruit and the pineapple that were in abundance. Orocobix sat on a stool beside Oromico and she sat at his feet content to be near him.

  The various wives waited until all the men present were fed and then their female visitors before they sat down to eat. The ease at which they did this, suggested that it was a standard practice. The babies and young children sat in a corner and were attended to by one of the wives. She ran to assist those who needed assistance and hushed those children who were crying.

  The open plan should have been noisier but the family was not very loud. When Oromico spoke there was a silence and only when he was finished speaking could whispers be heard or the occasional chuckle.

  Ana felt eyes boring through her back and she shifted her position and stared into the liquid brown eyes of Guani, Oromico’s son, by his third wife. His eyes were deep-set and huge. They looked a little sad around the edges and he clutched a small dog in his hand as he stared at the proceedings.

  He kept looking at Ana and she wondered why. He looked to be in his late teens, his voice had cracked in the introductions earlier and she judged him to be an awkward teen that seemed to have a crush on her. She realized instantly that he was different; unlike the others his forehead was not flattened. His features were youthful and handsome.

  “He has a thing for you,” Yuisa whispered to Ana, as she looked in Guani’s direction. “He was too young to remember you when you left here and his mother fears for his health so he cannot go to Bieke.”

  “What’s the matter with him?” Ana asked Yuisa, who seemed friendly.

  “He gets tremors and then he is dead to the world. That’s why his head could not be flattened as a baby. The medicine man said it would not be good for him and now poor thing, he is ugly.”

  Ana looked at Guani again. He would have been normal in her time and wouldn’t have seemed out of the ordinary.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  It rained too frequently on the islands, Juan thought to himself as he went into his cabin after another unexpected downpour. He poured himself a brandy and sat at his desk, he had directed the offloading of most of the animals and the plants at their new settlement called Isabella. The natives were not very friendly anymore; he could sense the hostility seething underneath all the smiling faces.

  Some of his men had gotten native girls embarazada. It was the norm for sailors to leave women at shore with children but he was not too pleased with the formation of the mixed races he was seeing right before his eyes, and the cavalier attitude of his men toward it. He decided to abstain from the nubile pleasures of the women for that reason; he was not too keen with leaving an offspring of his, in this primitive way of life.

  “Vizconde Perez,” Colón stuck his head through the door and looked at Juan.

  “Come on in,” Juan gestured to the chair opposite him and looked at the drawn features of Colón. He could swear that the man had not had so many gray hairs prior to his journey to the new world.

  “What ails you?” Juan poured some brandy in his glass and Colón leaned back with a sigh, cradling the drink to his chest.

  “I’m an explorer,” Colón lamented and looked at Juan, a vague expression in his eyes. “I always wanted to discover new lands and to see new things, but now that I have found the route to Asia, I would really like to do what I love best but my hands are tied. I promised the King and Queen that I would look after things here and get the place settled for Spain.”

  Juan nodded understandingly.

  “I am most angry that the men that I left here were killed, they were much better to handle than this batch. I really do not like these high-born noblemen.” He cleared his throat. “Except you, of course.”

  Juan laughed, “I know what you mean Colón, no need to explain, I saw you struggling to tell Señor Halquez that servants were needed to build the fort and not attend to him.”

  “We could let the natives do the work of course, but so far they do not understand us, probably with time they will make wonderful servants.”

  “The natives look willing enough to do it. If you can curb their indiscipline they have no concentration at all.” He picked up his glass and took a sip of the wine, “I am about ready to leave here myself. I think this has been enough adventure for me. After I find the gold I’m going back to Spain. I now have enough stories to entertain the noble ladies at the Queen’s court, and I miss my family so much I could put up with a bit of cuddling from my mother and sisters.”

  Colón smiled. “And especially from Condesa of Ripola, your lovely fiancé.

  Juan grimaced, “she is my parents’ choice, not mine. My mother is determined that since Sofía is a Marquesa. I should marry someone of her station. My father wants her lands in the family, so he is quite willing to push it, but I have not found that woman yet that can keep me as smitten, as Beatriz Enriquez has kept you.”

  Colón blushed slightly and a small smile played on his lips, “sometimes I am not sure whom I love more, the woman or the sea. There are so many other islands to explore and I am chafing to discover them; to carry out the plan of God.”

  ******

  “Orocobix, tell me something,” Ana whispered to him in the dark, as the rain pelted outside.

  Amazingly, the thatched roof hut was sturdily built, not even the hard downpour outside penetrated the interior. The constant flashes of lightning would illuminate the interior of the hut and Ana could see lumps of bodies as they huddled under coarse cloths.

  Luckily for her, Orocobix had traveled with the soft cloth they had slept on the night after their joining; it was big and comfortable and would keep her warm.

  Both of them had chosen a side of the hut that did not have many people. Ana realized that the wives slept according to families. So their children slept near them and the chosen wife of the moment, slept with the Chief, in the farthest corner of the hut undisturbed.

  “What is it Ana?” Orocobix whispered directly in her ear.

  “How can Oromico mate with the chosen wife with so many people around?”

  Orocobix laughed silently beside her his belly rippling up and down. “Do you want me to show you?”

  “No I am too private for that, besides isn’t that somebody’s foot?” she pointed a few feet from them, “I thought Arawaks slept in hammocks…in trees.”

  “My father had one wife and we never heard them.” Orocobix whispered. “Besides it does not rain all the time and there are hammocks outside where a couple can sleep if
they have a mind to do so.”

  “Will I be your only wife?” Ana whispered in his ear.

  “Yes you will.” Orocobix kissed her slowly on the lips. “I would forego sons and being chief for you.”

  “Thank you,” Ana felt touched.

  Was she falling in love with a man who could be a figment of her imagination? Could she be falling for a man dead for five hundred years?

  “What are you thinking?” He asked sensing that her thoughts were jumbled.

  “I was thinking how different the landscape is from the future: the many streams, the various trees and the abundance of palm trees.”

  “How can the future be different?” Orocobix grappled, in his mind, with the concept of the same place looking different.

  “Right where we are now is called Seville. At this spot, in Oromico’s dwelling are landscaped lawns, to the right of us is an old windmill. I…I…” Ana sighed sadly. “There is a stream couple yards from here, the river that I saw earlier will be a stream. We have vehicles that transport us and instruments that take us around like birds that we call airplanes.”

  “Shhh,” Orocobix hushed her as he felt her scalding tears on his shoulder. “I love my ‘here and now’ Ana, the burden of the future is too heavy for me to even think about. Just let it go for now.”

  Ana nodded drowsily. “One more thing, Orocobix. Who was that woman that gave me the baby? She is not Taino.”

  “No, Oromico found her on a deserted island many moons ago. She did not speak our language. He brought her here and she joined with one of his men. The baby she handed to you was her first.”

  “Do you see how different she is?” Ana asked eagerly.

  Orocobix nodded.

  Can you imagine men with her features? Pale of skin and eyes the color of the sea or of trees.”

  Orocobix nodded again.

  “Would you think them as gods?” Ana spun around on her side and peered at him in the dark.

  “No, I would not.”

  Ana sighed in relief. “No you would not. She is normal like you and me.”

  “Sure,” Orocobix agreed. “Lets sleep, tomorrow you will help Yuisa with some women’s work. Since both of you are first wives of chiefs.”

  Ana sidled closer to him and fell asleep partially relieved. That was one part of the battle over. There would be no ignorant Indians on the island of Jamaica when Christopher Columbus made his so-called discovery, if she had anything to do with it. She would use the strange woman as Exhibit A.

  Orocobix laid in the darkness and caressed Ana’s hair. He had never thought of Agita as a stranger, mostly because she was Oromico’s serving girl for years before one of his elders asked for her to be joined to him.

  Her pale hair, her eyes the color of the sky, had never before filled him with such trepidation.

  ******

  It was still dark outside when Ana was awakened by Yuisa’s call. The air was cool and Ana wished she had a sweater or something warmer; instead she had to make do with another of Orocobix’s cloths. Her twenty first century body was not used to the elements. She shivered under the thin material and asked Yuisa for the toilets.

  The Arawaks were a clean bunch and Ana was not surprised when she was pointed to the Chief’s toilet. It was a small hut that was a couple of yards from where they had slept. It had a hole in the ground covered with thatch. There was even a calabash of water in the corner to wash.

  This was the worse part of living in the past, Ana thought of her expensive marble tiles and all her plumbing and sighed, it would have been great to flush.

  Yuisa met her on the outside of the bathroom; Guani was leaning against a tree looking at her intently.

  “What’s Guani doing here?” Ana asked Yuisa.

  “That’s not Guani,” Yuisa said, looking behind her. “That’s Macu, his likeness.”

  “He has a twin brother?” Ana repeated inanely.

  Macu followed them at a distance; he was so much like Guani that Ana had to turn around every other minute to see if Yuisa was mistaken. Unlike his brother, Macu had his forehead flattened but he had the same look of loyalty that Ana had recognized on Guani’s face and he seemed set to follow her for the day.

  Yuisa ignored him, so Ana followed suit.

  “What are we doing today?” Ana asked eagerly.

  Yuisa laughed. “The sign of a true Taino, the eagerness to work. Well, today we will be dying the cloths with dye from the jagua tree. The white liquid is now black and we need to dye the nagua,” she said and gestured to her skirt, “for the Chief’s house, and to make body paint we can store in these clay jars.”

  They went to the hut of the second wife, Heketi. She was round with child and had many more children hanging around her. Yuisa laughed and picked up the smallest one.

  Ana was trying to count them all and came up with six. Heketi’s mother sat in a corner holding one of the children; a thick plait of hair hung over her shoulder and the little girl in her hands was batting it and giggling.

  “The liquid is around the side,” Heketi said, gesturing to the side of the hut, she looked tired. “I fear that this baby will be the end of me Yuisa.” She had tears in her eyes.

  “You say that every time,” Yuisa hugged her again, “Oromico fathers healthy children.”

  Ana stared at them in awe, why were they so harmonious? They were wives to the same man.

  “Do all Taino men have more than one wife?” Ana blurted out.

  “No only the chief.” Heketi answered her absently. “Ana, I am sure you are Taino…why the questions?”

  Luckily, a little girl, her face covered with a fine, white substance grabbed Heketi’s foot.

  “Not the flour again!” Heketi exclaimed. She rubbed her back, her big shine stomach looked obscene in the morning light and Ana couldn’t help staring fascinated by her bulge.

  She must be due to have her baby anytime now or else she would probably burst. She finally dragged her gaze away from Heketi and followed Yuisa to the doorway.

  Yuisa stared at Ana curiously. “You grew up here, yet you speak as if you are not one of us. As far as I know Ana, your parents were Tainos. What other tribe do you think of when you asked that question?”

  What could she say? She remembered vaguely that the Arawaks were divided into groups with varying cultures and languages; the Lucayanos occupied the Bahamas and the Borequinos were in Puerto Rico. “I forget things sometimes,” she mumbled.

  “Come,” Yuisa said cheerfully, “let us go and dye clothes for the Chief’s household.”

  The sun was just peeping over the horizon, when Ana took the last piece of material out of the black dye that was in a large clay pot. She grimaced as she looked at her nails; they were caked with black stuff. Her hands looked like she was working under a car.

  Yuisa was painstakingly carving out patterns that were unique to Oromico’s household. Heketi just sat around, alternately rubbing her back or attending to her children or greeting the frequent visitors that came to her hut.

  The village was awake by the time Yuisa and Ana headed to Oromico’s house. She could smell the aroma of food being cooked; children were running around and squealing.

  On the slope that led to Oromico’s house a young boy was sweeping the path. Macu, who had given up on following Ana, was picking up leaves behind him.

  Women were scurrying with cotton baskets on their backs to their individual plot of land to begin their planting. Beside every hut, there was a garden; neatly cut sticks enclosed the young, green plants.

  The settlement was large and extended out to the sides. The Cacique’s house was obviously the focal point of the village and rested on a slope overlooking all.

  Ana stood on the summit, trying to count the huts that she saw, not all of them were the same size. She stopped counting at two hundred. Some of the huts disappeared over the brow of the hill to the sea. She could see men in the distance building canoes, they were digging out the middle of tree logs and lighting the
inside with fire, the acrid scent of smoke drifted on the air.

  Some of them were even packing canoes with goods. They were obviously going to trade with neighboring islands or settlements. She saw them stacking pineapples in one canoe and wads of cotton in another. Even the duhos, the low stools that only caciques and medicine men were allowed to sit on, were being packed into a canoe. The men carefully placed the stools in their canoes.

  The people of Maima seemed to be craftsmen as well as farmers who had enough to trade.

  “Why do you stare at the sea so longingly?” Orocobix stood behind her and touched her lightly on the shoulders.

  Ana leaned toward him and rested her head on his broad shoulders. “It is bigger than I ever imagined an Arawak village to be.”

  “Most of the Nitayanos, like my father, left Maima to head their own clans. That is the custom when the settlement gets too large.”

  “Nitayanos are the sub-chiefs, the advisors to the Cacique?”

  Orocobix nodded and grabbed her hand and kissed her fingers. “You are the most beautiful woman in all the land.”

  “Thank you kind sir,” Ana laughed. “You are the most handsome Taino I have ever seen.”

  “Let us eat,” Orocobix whispered, “and then find a hamaca that is not too wet to waste away the day.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  They finally struck gold near the new settlement. The men stood still, their mouths hanging open as if they were hungry.

  Juan stood by and watched them as they eagerly scraped up all the gold they could find. Even some of the nobles, who were previously averse to getting their hands dirty, went wild. He was slightly nauseated to see their hunger for the yellow metal but curiously found that he was excited too as he stood by with Pablo.

  “I promised the old Chief Guacanagari that I would visit him today,” Juan said sorrowfully. “But today is gold digging day.”

  “Let’s go anyway,” Pablo was exasperated at the way that the men were scooping up the rocks and breathing hard. “It will be here tomorrow and the next day when the euphoria wears off.”