“The river flows through here sometimes.” Orocobix said, as she looked down at the smooth cave floor. “That’s why in here smells slightly fishy,” Ana murmured. “How do you know that the river will not be upon us soon?”
“This is not the season for it.” Macu pointed at the roof of the cave. “Look at that.”
Ana looked up and almost fainted, there were veins of shiny yellow metal interwoven in the stony roof. The veins of yellow threads glowed dimly in the semi dark and seemed to wink in many places as the light bounced from it.
“That’s caona—gold. I have never seen it like this before.”
Orocobix took a sharp edged stone and dug out a chunk of the cave wall.
Ana wanted to hold on to it. She could barely believe it. She was staring at gold. Her heart raced. Her palm went damp.
Suppose the Spanish did not find this source? It would mean that in twenty-first century Jamaica there was still gold under this very cave. She would only tell her mother and Carey and then they would be rich. She could quit her job. Her mouth was practically drooling over the rock when Orocobix took it from her and threw it on the ground.
“Why?” Ana almost screamed her wrath. “It’s gold.”
Orocobix looked at her closely and the others were obviously puzzled.
“You are sitting on a gold mine.” She almost ground her teeth in frustration, “gold means a lot to people.”
She took up the chunk of rock and then threw it back down. Was she any different from the Spanish to come? Carrying on over something that these people obviously put little value on.
“This will be what the new people will want,” Ana said hoarsely.
Macu and Guani looked at her puzzled.
******
They walked underground for what seemed like hours. Orocobix seemed to know exactly where to go, without compass or map and at one stage they stopped to eat on top of the cave where the noonday sun was blazing overhead.
When Ana stood beside the hole at the cave top she was in awe. They were in a hill, she could see for miles around. Everywhere she looked there was greenery, even the river that was flowing below was green, and its still depths reflected the trees on its banks. The deep green water was very still. At the top of the river in the distance she could see a waterfall, little boys could be seen splashing around this area and Ana shouted to them and waved.
They waved back. Orocobix smiled. “Those boys are from the Hutey’s tribe.”
“Do you know everyone here?” Ana asked curiously, as Orocobix bit into his bammy chewing slowly.
“Mostly, Hutey’s tribe wears more cloth than the rest of us. They trade cloth to everyone on this land.”
Guani shifted uneasily on the stone where he lounged and tried not to look at Ana as she talked to her husband. He knew that the pain in his heart was love. He could barely breathe when Ana came near him and he smelled the natural scent that was hers alone.
She treated him with respect and she did not seem to mind that his forehead was not flattened. He was finding it harder and harder not to touch her. Right now, her hair was ruffled in the wind, its unadorned strands looking silky in the sunlight. She was smiling with pleasure as she spoke to the Chief, her lips slightly pink and dewy. He could barely contain himself from blurting out his undying devotion. He wanted her like he wanted no other.
Macu looked over at him sensing his thoughts and shook his head imperceptibly; ‘she is the chief’s woman,’ his brother’s eyes said. But his heart still ached when he looked at her.
“Why did we not take this route when going to Maima?” Ana asked curiously.
“There are many ways to reach Maima,” Orocobix smiled. “We could travel by sea too, that would take us a shorter time.”
“I would love to travel in a canoe,” Ana said longingly.
“We will, when we go to Bohio for the council meeting.” Orocobix pushed her hair behind her ears. “There you will meet Guacanagari.”
“And I will tell him his trust is misplaced and he is a shame to his people, siding with the strangers against his own people and allowing them to go into slavery. I will tell him that his death in the mountains is a fitting end to his life.” Ana said passionately.
Everyone was silent after her outburst with varying shades of dismay on their faces.
“He will die in the mountains?” Guani asked sadly.
“He will turn against his own people?” Macu asked angrily.
“This I will not believe,” Orocobix stood up and walked over the rocky expanse of the top of the cave and stood at the side of the hill facing the river.
They walked through the caves and ended upon a well-trodden trail behind some undergrowth; very close to the settlement of Bieke. Guani was excited; it was his first time visiting another tribe.
The people ran to meet Orocobix and by extension Ana. She was not feeling as much joy as she thought she would have felt on returning to Bieke. The group had been mostly silent coming back. What had she expected after blurting out to everyone that their most loved visionary, Cacique Guacanagari, was going to betray his own people?
She wished, not for the first time, that she was on the island of Bohio. At least, she would have been at the very pulse of all the happenings, instead of here in Jamaica where no real action will happen for the next fifteen years or so. She would have wanted to be at Maima when Colón pulled his eclipse stunt on the third voyage or to see the Spanish and English fight over the island. Instead, she was stuck on the wrong island; in the wrong time.
Why was she here anyway? Was it to warn the people?
She felt disheartened, when she goes back to the future will anyone believe her, or will they just label her as senile like her father?
She remembered his earnest eyes when he asked, “Do you believe me Ana?”
She should have believed him and then asked him more. How else could he have spoken with such authority about where the sites of the different villages were and exactly where to find artifacts?
“You are dreaming again?”
Ana jumped and looked behind her, the old medicine man was standing close to her, his eyes large in his wrinkled face. Was that a loaded question, given the irony of the situation?
“You can talk to me Ana, you used to all the time.”
Ana shrugged, “I just got back from Maima and I was just reflecting on how different the place had become.”
The medicine man shook his head. “The news is already traveling about the village, that you predicted that strange men would come and that Guacanagari, the great prophet, will betray his own people and sell them into slavery.”
Ana shrugged and looked around for Orocobix, he was talking to some men in a circle, he glanced at her and then looked away frowning. Obviously, he was still angry with her for bursting his bubble of bliss, accusing the ‘most revered’ one of a mean act.
“Come,” the medicine man took her hand and they walked toward his hut.
“The witch is back,” Tanama hissed as they passed Basila’s hut.
Ana looked over at the defiant expression of Tanama and grinned. Her sister was angry and her whole body quivered with it.
“You know Colón said that you people knew no evil.” She winked at Tanama, “but obviously he did not meet you.”
“What are you talking about mad woman?” Tanama asked viciously. “You speak strange names and of strange people and you expect that I will follow you like the rest of this village. I am not stupid,” she spat.
Ana stopped and the medicine man was forced to stop with her. She went close to Tanama and looked the girl in the eye, she was indeed beautiful; her long lashes were thick, they framed warm chocolate eyes that were flashing in anger.
“Tanama,” Ana touched her hand and the girl flinched, “do not believe anybody readily, be suspicious and cautious, that’s a very good trait in these times. Keep it up.”
She left Tanama gaping at her.
******
The medicin
e man’s hut was close to the hut of the zemis. They both sat on the low stools in the semi-dark of the hut.
The medicine man was silent, his flaccid penis hung between his legs and his brown body hunched over.
Ana could not bare the silence so she spoke first. “I just want to know what kind of illnesses your people face.”
He reached for a tobacco leaf.
“Please do not smoke,” Ana said quickly, “it’s not good for you.”
He put back the leaf and said huskily, “you’ve always said that. He cleared his throat “the people here have few ailments; I usually cure these ailments with a variety of herbs.” He pointed to a cloth in the corner where numerous herbs were being dried.
“I have not seen promiscuity here, or anyone with anything looking like sexually transmitted diseases. Not that I am a doctor or anything. So how is it that the disease Syphilis was said to originate here in the New World?”
The medicine man stared at her blankly.
“Wouldn’t it be fair to assume that some people would be on the verge of dying or suffering? Or the epidemic would have killed you all by now before the explorers reached the Caribbean shores. Why then does everyone look so healthy, well rested and happy? What about the sickness and sores?”
How ironic, that the original inhabitants were accused of giving the promiscuous sailors from Spain syphilis.
The medicine man cleared his throat and Ana stopped agonizing over the second bit of abuse on the Arawaks and looked at him properly.
“Behique?”
“I know why you are here.”
“Why?” Her question was eager.
“You are only here because you said you believed.” His eyes were deep brown and for a minute, Ana felt as if she was staring into her father’s eyes.
Ana sat stunned and the medicine man started chanting in the silence.
How could he know that? She had only told her father that she believed him about visiting the past.
“Behique, what are you saying?” Ana asked the medicine man fearfully.
The Behique ignored her and continued chanting.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Ana was getting to like the laid-back living of the past. Bieke was not as busy as Maima, but there was always something new to do everyday. The days were spinning into each other and she could hardly tell the time.
The Tainos had a simple way of doing it. They counted the cycles of the moon. They only counted to ten and then they started over again.
They based there planting season from watching nature, they had an almost accurate system of determining when the rain would come, and as she found out on her third day back at Bieke, they were pretty accurate with their sense of hurricane arrivals.
She was standing at the doorway of the Cacique’s house when Basila ran up to her.
“Ana we are going to have a huracan.”
Ana looked at the bright day, the sun was hot on her exposed limbs. “How can you tell?” She eyed the frantic Basila.
“The birds are heading south. The animals are quiet; the ants are nowhere to be seen, all the plant life is still.”
Ana looked around her. It was just an ordinary day to her.
“Okay,” she nodded.
Basila paused and pointed at the thatched roof of the hut. “They are not tight enough, I will get some men to tighten and strengthen them.”
Ana nodded and watched as Basila scurried away worriedly.
What was that all about?
She had wanted to take a canoe trip with Guani. It would be her first time out in the authentic thing.
Orocobix walked toward her a basket of pineapples in his hand. “Sorry about the canoe trip,” he grinned at her and placed the basket at her feet. “An offering of peace.”
“You have finally forgiven me for what I said about Chief Guacanagari.”
Orocobix nodded and exhaled, “not only that, I have arranged for the men to sharpen long sticks for the coming evil men.”
Ana almost laughed out loud, obviously she could not change the tide of time. What could she do? Jamaica did not offer anything in the way of defense against the coming men and she was no war planner.
“Why do you look like that?” Orocobix asked fretfully, “as if you have swallowed a giant iguana?”
“I…I…it's nothing,” Ana gave him her biggest smile. “Do what you are doing with your defense.”
They went inside the house and lay in the hammock together.
“I have something to teach you,” Ana said, looking at Orocobix, she could hear the growling thunder in the distance.
“Teach me,” Orocobix whispered in her ear.
“When the evil men come I want you to greet them like this.”
Orocobix stared at her lips as she spoke. “Hola, ¿Cómo estás?”
He repeated after her obediently. “What does that mean?”
“It means. ‘Hello, how are you?’ in their language. The language is Español.”
“Español. That’s easy to say. Could you teach the children in the village? They would love to know it.”
“Better yet, I am going to teach everybody in this village. I wonder why this never occurred to me before. My father was half Spanish; he learnt the language from his grandmother. I learnt it from him.”
******
The first winds lashed the island at nightfall. Ana was huddled in a corner while the excited voices of the villagers came through the covered doorway. They were singing and dancing in the driving rain.
Orocobix was also outside glorying in the elements and Ana wondered if she was going to die in her dream as she heard the wind blow and the sweeping branches of trees swishing by the hut
How can they be out in the storm? Lightning flashed and they whooped with laughter. She had no idea that they celebrated the weather.
Don’t they realize how dangerous it is out in the storm? She would give anything for storm shutters and a dark room right now, where the fingers of the lightning would not illuminate her shivering body.
“Come on Ana,” Orocobix came to the doorway, “don’t tell me you are afraid of the Great Spirits laughter.”
“Oh that’s what this is?” Ana frowned. He stood gloriously wet and naked at the doorway of the hut.
“It’s the cleansing of the land.” Orocobix grinned.
“No thanks, I’ll pass.”
“Your family Basila is the same, she is afraid of the Great Spirits laughter.”
“Well, I’ll wait this out with someone who has sense then.” Ana crawled from her place on the floor and looked outside, it was pitch-black and rain was coming down in sheets. “On second thoughts I’ll stay right here.”
“I’ll return soon.” Orocobix left and joined the villagers as they chanted songs, about ‘center of the wind’, ‘island of blood’, ‘spirit of the White Mountain.’ Gibberish if you asked her.
She huddled in the corner sleepy, when Guani came into the hut.
“You were not outside.” He looked at her shivering form, his youthful expression hungry.
“I prefer to stay right here.”
Guani sat down beside her on the cloths and touched her hand. “I understand. I used to hate the rain dance but it is the first of the season so everyone participates.”
Ana felt herself go warm all over. This boy was really something else. He treated her with a gentle maturity that she found curiously attractive.
She was attracted to him and she knew he was to her. Would he act on it?
Guani distanced himself from her as if reading her thoughts. “You are the Chief’s woman. He would have me killed, if I touched you.”
Ana looked at him curiously. “Why do you seem to know what I am thinking most of the time?”
Guani wrapped his hand around his legs and huddled over. “I love you, Ana.”
Ana gasped. He averted his head, his shoulder length hair swinging wetly in the dim light of the fire.
“I don’t know what to say.” Ana gr
imaced, she sounded inadequate.
“I know that too,” his eyes searched hers and then he groaned low in his throat. “I just had to tell you that. Please don’t tell the chief.”
She shook her head. “I won’t.”
“We are going back to Maima soon. I have a feeling I will never see you again.”
Ana absorbed what he was saying in silence.
“Tell me about the future. Will there be no sickness there? Will everyone live in peace?”
“No, Guani.” Ana’s heart went out to the man/child. “That’s Coyaba—heaven. The future is pretty much indescribable. I wouldn’t know how to tell you.”
“Will there still be seas and trees?”
“Yes, and canoes that can travel very fast.” Ana searched for words he would understand, “and canoes in the skies that can take people all over.”
“The people who are coming are they related to Agita?”
Ana shrugged. “Gait speaks a language called English. She must be from Britain or whatever they call the country in this century. How she came here is a mystery to me though.”
Guani sighed. “Canoes in the sky. That must be crowded.”
Ana laughed, he scooted closer to her and took her hands; his damp palms were cool to the touch.
Ana leaned toward him and he hugged her, his lissom body hard and smooth. She could feel him harden against her. His breathing accelerated.
Guani’s heartbeat joined with hers erratically as they hugged with the elements crashing around them, creating a heat that was theirs alone.
“I love you Ana,” his breath touched her ear. She melted into him, she was married to the Chief, this was wrong. But the rains and the glorious heat created such a sensual cocoon.
“Ana.” His mouth was close to her ear.
“Ana please wake up. I need to know if you are alive or on the verge of death.”
“Ana.” Guani’s voice was changing into her mother’s.
Her mother’s!
She gasped, not again. The future didn’t seem so exciting these days.
“Mom?” Her voice was groggy.
“I told you not to wake her,” Carey said in the corner of the room. A room that had crème colored walls and big chunky furniture, she felt disoriented and weak.
The Empty Hammock Page 13
