“Sarge!” he shouted, in acknowledgement.
“It’s cho-otz,” insisted Teul as he moved to the edge of the camp to piss. My eyes followed him and I noticed that as he was pissing, he kept lifting his legs. He finished, turned around and walked back towards the group, his brow furrowed. “What’s wrong, Teul,” I asked.
He frowned. “I’m okay.”
“Don’t fokin lie,” I said. “I’ve told all of you that if you even only think something is wrong, tell Medic immediately. What’s wrong?”
He looked at all of us, as if dreading what he was going to say. He sucked his teeth. “Madafok!”
“Go on,” I insisted. The men were staring at him. “I don’t want to order you.”
He fidgeted a little. “After the farewell party, after you passed out and we sent you back to base, some of us took the second transport to PG. It was still early and we wanted to party a little more. We went to a bar, I met a nice gyal and they had a couple back rooms.” He shrugged his shoulders. “So, I took her back there and ih gi mi lee waif.”144 He got suddenly excited. “And boy, did shee gat pereetos.”145 The men started whistling and laughing, becoming quite rowdy.
“Well, ‘shee gat pereetos’, and what the fok do you have now, Teul?” I asked, angrily.
He looked at me. He wasn’t embarrassed. I suppose he had accepted that these things can happen to a man when he was rutting and that it happened to soldiers from time to time. Too often, maybe. “Burning and pus,” he answered. Choc, Choco, and Rhys were rolling on the ground with laughter.
“Men!” I shouted. The laughter subsided with great effort. “This would have been funny if we were not in the middle of nowhere, on a mission where appropriate treatment is unavailable. I can’t and won’t have a sick man with us.” For once, Teul was becoming very serious and looked worried.
“Don’t send me back, Sarge. Please don’t,” he pleaded, looking as contrite as Teul could.
“Teul, did you know this before we left Santa Cruz?”
“No, Sarge. It just started when I pissed earlier and just now again.”
I shook my head. “Don’t you know how to use a spence bag, Teul?” I asked, my voice raised and firm. I could see the men, except Robertson who looked very concerned, holding back their laughter only with much effort.
“Spence bag?” queried Teul, puzzlement on his face. Choc, Choco, and Rhys jumped up and ran off into the jungle howling with laughter.
“What now, Teul?” I asked, bewildered.
“Like jigging, we don’t say spence-bag anymore, Sarge. That’s very outdated. It’s called a condom, now-a-days, Sarge. There’re many varieties, sensitive ones, some with ribs to stimulate the clits better. There’re even colored ones, even ones that glow in the dark.” He looked quite excited as he relayed this information to me.
I stared at Teul in amazement. I just couldn’t believe what was happening. “Teul? I don’t give a madafok what’s it’s called, how it looks, what color it is.” I was very agitated and getting more so with having to listen to Choc, Choco, and Rhys tearing the jungle apart with their laughter. Suddenly, they were back, their lips tightly closed, fighting to hold in their amusement. I suppose they did not want to miss anything. “The point is that you didn’t wear one of the fokin things. All of you are given lectures on how to prevent that happening when you go fucking all over the place.” I’m sure I sounded almost hysterical, but then I wasn’t far from blowing up like a pent-up grenade.
“Sarge!”
“I’m not finished, Teul. I have nothing against whores. Many of them are just making a fokin living. I have fucked many, but when you go to places like that you need to take precautions. Wear a spen … condom.” I shook my head. I just couldn’t believe I was being a mother to the young piece of fok. “Some may even rob you of all your pay, especially when you’re drunk as undoubtedly you were. You just can’t be in those places when you’re drunk.” I was being quite the hypocrite. Bas and I always ended up in these places quite drunk. Yet, I never got sick. But that was another time.
“I normally do use a condom, Sarge, but this time it was kind of rushed. We had to get back for the wedding” That’s when Robertson joined in the laughter.
“So now you’re pulling me and my wedding into your dilemma.”
“Yes, Sarge.”
He said it with his face expressionless. What am I going to do with this piece of fok? I turned to the men. “Now we have a sick soldier on a very dangerous mission, and this soldier’s sickness was avoidable. It was self-inflicted. There may even be grounds for a court-martial. I will go further. Do you all know what camaraderie is? Do you all know what being a soldier is? It’s not just having fun together. It’s not just helping out each other in a brawl. It also means looking after one another in everything. In all respects. Weren’t you with him, Choco?”
“Yes, Sarge.”
“Couldn’t you have advised him, stopped him, give him a spence bag … condom? Even a fokin plastic bag.”
“I couldn’t, Sarge,” answered Choco.
“You couldn’t!” I challenged, harshly. “And why is that?”
“Well,” he hesitated, “You see,” he hesitated again, “I was, Iwasin the other room.”
Choc, and Rhys were once again heading for the bushes, howling. Choco and Teul just stood there grinning. Robertson had thrown himself backwards and was literally guffawing on the ground. Even Taat, who still stood by the fire hearth but was listening, was chuckling.
“Yes! Something is wrong with that soldier,” Taat said. I shrugged my shoulders, sighed, put my head between my knees, What the fok! and roared with laughter.
Taat left the fire hearth and approached me. “I have never caught that bad-sickness in my life,” he said.
“Then you must have had a boring life, Taat,” mouthed Teul.
Taat glared at him. “I was going to help you, but now you can burn whenever you piss.”
“You can help me?”
“I was going to help you.”
“I apologize, Taat. My mouth always gets me in trouble,” admitted Teul, looking as humble as possible.
“Well, obviously, not only your mouth, but at least your mouth’s not burning and you’re not spitting out pus,” remarked Taat. “I suppose you weren’t drunk enough.” The jungle resounded with our laughter, once again, and I must admit I was a little startled at Taat’s remark.
Robertson settled down saying, “So you fucked a fire ship, Teul. Well, Medic or no Medic, you better be nice to Taat as I can’t treat that out here.”
“Fire ship?” queried Teul.
“It’s an old British naval term for a wench who has the venereal disease.”
“Bad-siknis,”146 elucidated Rhys, looking very amused. “Well, Sarge, I was there, but I didn’t get involved in that back-room business. I was too busy eating sacpa.”147 He shook his head. “¡Ai yai yai! ¡Hijueputa!148 That foka was hot. It burned me on import, transport, and even the following morning on export. Anyway, I was hoping that the maid-of-honor and I would bed-down after the wedding and I didn’t want to give her any bad-siknis.” He sighed loudly, suddenly looking sad. “Poor gyal. Now she’s gone forever.”
“Let’s not go there,” I said. I had to keep the men away from the happenings at Santa Cruz.
“What about you, Choco. Any symptoms,” asked Robertson.
“None, Medic.” Then he grinned. “You see, I used a con … spence-bag.” I shook my head while the men laughed. “I have never caught bad-siknis. No way.” He raised his forehead. “I did give a young gyal something once. Man, was she pissed. Said she never give me anything again, but she couldn’t hold out. When you sweet you sweet.”
“Self-praise,” shouted Teul. “Tell me, brother, what did you give her?”
Choco grinned. “Waari tik.”
A verbal barrage was unleashed on Choco. “You’ll give BHVG man a bad name. Don’t you bathe when you come ou
t the jungle? You know you have to search for ticks.” And so it went on while Choco sat laughing his head off.
Finally, Taat brought the mirth to a halt. “I’ve decided I will help this disrespectful man-bwai,” he said.
“Than … ” began Teul.
“Shut up.” Teul bit down on his lower lip. “It’s only because Sarge needs every one of us healthy or I’d let you suffer.” Taat looked around. “We just need to find some mes-bél.149 It should be here as the plant grows everywhere in old fields and roadsides.”
“Is that the same like chichibe?” asked Teul.
“Yes,” answered Taat. “We Ke’kchi call it mes-bél and you Mopan call it chichibe. At least you know something. Come let’s look. I’m not doing everything for you and at least you’ll learn something about the jungle herbs.”
“I always knew you were a good teacher, Taat.” Teul had his face very serious, but I saw the grin fighting to burst out of his head.
Taat looked at him, his face expressionless, then simply continued talking. “It’s a small bush with reddish pointed leaves. It has a yellow flower between the leaf and the stem. We’ll need about a cup of fresh leaves to boil in three cups of water for five minutes. You’ll drink one cup before each meal. If that doesn’t get rid of it, you’ll have to repeat it. Collect several cups of leaves, just in case.”
Teul looked at me apologetically. “She was a good looking gyal, Sarge. I didn’t think she’d give me bad-siknis.”
“Teul, after all the beers you had, anything would look good. You’ll use your own water bottle to keep the remedy in and, once we get back to barracks, you’ll go for your penicillin.” Once again, Teul was subjected to laughter.”
I want to see that,” smirked Choco. “You’re always doing the poking, time you got poked.”
“After my treatment, that won’t be necessary,” advised Taat.
“It’s standard army procedure, Taat,” I informed him. He shrugged his shoulders then grabbed Teul’s arm and took him to the edge of the camp to look for the plant.
The mes-bél was easily found and after Teul had his first cup of tea, the birds that we were smoking were ready to eat. Even though turmoil filled my head, I enjoyed our food and the camaraderie of the men. I didn’t pray often, but at one point I held on to Bas’ Green Scapular and prayed to Mary, Mother of God, that nothing happened to the men. I saw Rhys watching me curiously and I smiled dolefully at him.
By then Kinich was going behind the Maya Mountains and the evil Lahun Chan150 was about to make his appearance. We still had to wait longer, however, for Ix Chel151 and her bare breasts to appear. We continued talking and Taat told us his stories. I felt very close to him, closer than I had ever felt before. From the far jungle came the roar of the batz and later, as I heard the haunting and eerie call of the icim, I knew it was time for us to bed down. Rhys had already arranged the roster for night duty and given out one headlight to be used ‘for emergency only’.
“Okay men. It must be about 2100 hours. Spread out those ground sheets and get to sleep.” Lying with my head on a piece of wood, I listened for the whistling of the ek baläm and later for the sounds of the living spirits of my ancestors moving in the jungle. I prayed to Mother Of God for Molly then eventually fell asleep, deeply, not hearing the ek baläm nor the spirits of my ancestors as they roamed through their jungle … my jungle.
CHAPTER FOUR
ENCOUNTER WITH MAL VIENTO (Bad/Evil Wind)
Wednesday, April 25, 1973
Get up, you lazy bastards,” shouted Robertson, as he kicked the men awake. He was up already as Rhys had listed him on the final hours of the night duty roster. “It’s 0400 hours. Taat has been up from 0330 while you babies slept. He already has the fire going. There’s even hot coffee.”
There was the usually grumbling and cussing as the men got up, but getting ready in the morning to hit the trail wasn’t difficult as we all slept fully dressed in our uniforms, combats152 I should really say, ready to react to any danger, ready to move out quickly should that be necessary. The men, including myself, went in the nearby bushes with our machetes to do the essentials. That morning there would be no brushing teeth as water was being conserved. The smell of coffee in the cool of the early morning jungle was a pleasant smell, an aroma I always enjoyed, but like many things those days it took me back a year, to dark days. Hulse always brought me my coffee. None of the men did that for me now and I preferred it that way. The memories provoked would have been just another burden for me to bear.
“Briefing,” I shouted and we gathered around the fire. “First things first. Teul, remember your mes-bél.” The men chuckled.
“Yea, Teul. You don’t want to forget that,” joked Rhys.
“Medic’s giving it to me, Sarge. He had an extra canteen in his bergen so he has Taat’s concoction in it. Says he’ll give it to me on time. Doesn’t want me to forget.”
“How are things this morning?”
“Still have pus and burning, Sarge. But it’s a little better than yesterday.”
“Okay. Keep Medic informed.”
“Sarge!”
I looked at the men. “We’ll start at first light. Today, we take the trail to Union Camp. Choc and Taat will continue to track the Kechelaj Komon and the horde of kitams and hach-k’ek’ens. If at any point we lose the packs, we’ll stop and reassess the situation. I want everyone to keep their eyes open. Anything unusual you see, hear, or smell, let me know immediately. As we’re going deeper into the jungle and the Maya Mountains, we need to be aware of everything around us.” I paused, briefly. “Union Camp is about three miles due north. The trail is about four miles, not taking into consideration the ups and downs of the mountains. We’ll need to replenish our water supply, and if we find a reasonable creek and we’re progressing well, we may have a quick bath. Any questions?”
“Sarge,” they all shouted.
“Good. Rhys, let’s have breakfast.”
“It’s army hamburger and beans, and coffee. Thank Taat for warming the burgers and making the coffee. Coffee is in the pot on the fire. The pot is hot. The burgers are on the comal. You can heat your beans in your mess tins, if you wish,” finished Rhys.
I furrowed my forehead. “Comal?”
“Yes! I brought our ke’l,” informed Taat. “And a couple pots.” I shook my head. “And don’t say anything,” he instructed.
“Aha!” mouthed Teul. “Orders from papa.” I ignored him.
At first-light we headed out. It was 0515 hours. What appeared to be the truck pass, if it were ever used as one, was just a trail overgrown with secondary growth of ferns, sorosi,153 wild poinsettias,154 and other plants, the cruxi155 being especially troublesome as we kept tripping on the vines. The trail advanced through steep and more rugged mountains covered with tall broadleaf jungle. The machete detail worked hard and continuously. It must have been a truck pass and some kind of survey done as the track always chose the more level areas and I thanked the loggers for finding the easier routes through the mountains. Unfortunately for us, they deliberately avoided crossing creeks and streams as much as possible and after two hours tabing we had not found any. Each of us still had a little water so I was not too worried and the maps indicated a river or stream near Union Camp.
The summits of the mountains were then reaching between twenty-four and twenty-eight hundred feet. At times, the trail went up a long steep spur then over the summit of a mountain. Those sharp climbs took their toll and I saw the men becoming exhausted. At that height, the canopy was less and many times there was very little of it, or none. Kinich beat down on us without mercy and there was not a dry area on any of our uniforms. Yet, there was no grumbling … just cussing.
Katy-Katy-yu-baby-di-cry.156
Katy-Katy-yu-baby-di-cry.
“That’s a xan-coti,”157 said Choc, and we all stopped. “Its song is one of the most beautiful in the jungle.”
“The Spot-Breasted Wren,”
offered Robertson. “Thryothorus maculipectus. Actually, it’s not one bird singing. The song is sung antiphonally, or to be clear, in a duet. Male and female each sing their own part so well that it sounds as if only one bird is singing.”
Everyone stared at Robertson.
“You just spoil the whole fokmi thing, Medic,” grumbled Choc, shaking his head. “The whole fokmi thing. Couldn’t you just have been satisfied with xan-coti?”
Robertson looked puzzled. “What did I do?”
“We just call the bird Katy-Katy-yu-baby-di cry,” added Rhys. “Not xan-coti.”
“Oh fokmi! I won’t say anything again,” stormed Choc, much to everyone’s surprise.
“Do I have cocks or fokin hens? I know we are all tired, sweaty, thirsty, and fokin stink, but we’re soldiers. And don’t let me have to remind any of you of that again, Choc. Any of you,” I yelled. “Let’s tab.” We resumed, Choc grumbling quietly to himself, much to my surprise as that was out of character for him.
At 0920 hours, we found a small creek at the bottom of a deep gorge and I called a halt. I was not sure exactly where we were as there were no markers, but I deduced that we were about half-way to Union Camp. If that were so, we were two hours behind my schedule. The creek was too shallow to bathe in, but we drank, resupplied our water, washed our faces, wet our heads, and sat smoking in the relative cool of the canopy. We had water purifying tablets, but there was no need to use them even though the creek was shallow and there was some debris. The water in the Maya Mountains was pure and sweet. Robertson gave us some lemon tasting electrolyte powder which we mixed with the creek water and Rhys gave us some caffeinated chewing gums and fruit biscuits. Because of the height above sea level that we were, the heat and humidity were not very oppressive and there was even a slight breeze.
“Looks like you have quite a stock, Rhys,” I commented.
“Yes, Sarge. I brought everything we could.” He smiled. “I saw Corp watching me as I gathered rations. I told him not to worry, the villagers would look after them. And we also have what Teul and Choco brought. I suppose there’s wasn’t much left after their heist,” he grinned.
Sisimito II--Xibalba Page 11
