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We began our hike back to the house.
“I’ve been missing bread,” said Forest.
“Police,” I said.
“I know man. Damn,” said Forest.
“They must have found the bodies,” I said.
“Maybe not. She said there was a rumor. Maybe all they have is some guys missing.”
“Then maybe we should go back and at least cover them up with sand or something,” I responded.
“That’s better than nothing,” said Forest. “It’s been a while though, man.”
“I know. I messed shit up when I got hurt. We should have done it then,” I said.
“At least it’s sand,” said Forest. “Shouldn’t be hard to bury a body in sand.”
I nodded and felt my ribs. They were sensitive to the touch. It was a constant nagging pain, but nothing like before.
“I keep wanting to forget it happened,” I said.
“It happened. We need to go and deal with it. But it might be too late,” said Forest.
“Let’s go today. Get this shit over with.”
“During Agwe’s nap,” said Forest. “We can take the rowboat around the island and go in the same way we came.”
“Night may be better,” I said.
“We wouldn’t find it,” said Forest.
Yeah there was no way in hell we would find that spot at night. During the day I could find that exact pine tree that the dude pointed me to without a problem. That tree was tattooed in my brain. I tried to break my thoughts and looked at the small bottles of shampoo and conditioner in my hands. The shampoo was labeled “Coconut Sunrise”. That seemed fitting. I couldn’t wait to get them to Becca.
“You mind if I give these to her?” I asked.
Forest shook his head.
We made our way back to the house. Half the day was gone now, and we spotted Agwe asleep in the hammock. I wondered if we would have time take care of the bodies and get back by dark. If not, he might search for us.
I noticed the kitchen window open and saw Becca inside. She smiled at me.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey, we got this for you.” I handed the plastic bag to her through the open window.
“No way!” she shouted.
“Wait. You guys have to stop stealing,” she said.
I shook my head, “We didn’t steal them.”
“You didn’t just find them,” said Becca.
“We traded with a lady.”
“You don’t have anything to trade,” said Becca.
“She wanted the shark head,” I replied.
“What are you talking about?” asked Becca.
“There’s a lady down the road that Agwe told us about. She has a bakery and sells jewelry to tourists. She makes shark tooth necklaces. She said if we brought her a big shark head she would give us this stuff.”
Her face lit up, “Thank you!”
We told Becca about Mrs. Phoebe’s job offer, and she said she could bake cookies in her sleep. Forest and I decided not to tell her where we were going that afternoon, but she insisted on going fishing with us, so we had to make an awkward confession about our plans. She didn’t like it anymore than we did, but she understood. We had to see if it was still possible to hide the bodies. It could be our only hope of staying on the island together.
“Be careful,” she said sharply.
We both nodded and headed down the trail where Agwe’s rowboat was beached.
“You remember the way he brought us from the cave?” I asked Forest.
“Yeah, it’s easy. I know where we’re going. One, maybe two hours tops,” said Forest.
Forest and I took turns rowing. I felt soreness all over my body, but I felt like I was getting stronger. The pain felt good. We didn’t speak much as we neared the cave where we had set up camp a week before.
“She would fall asleep with her hand on your forehead,” said Forest. I rowed and watched the cave entrance ease by. My mind flashed back to the dreams, glowing blonde hair, the taste of her lips.
“Damn it, we didn’t bring a shovel,” said Forest.
“I don’t think Agwe has one,” I replied. If it doesn’t catch fish, he doesn’t have it.”
“True.”
Forest was becoming my brother, brought together by extraordinary experiences. Had we spent the same amount of time playing video games or watching TV, it wouldn’t have meant shit. We relied on each other, and if we had to we would kill for one another.
We made our way up a tidal creek that led to the area of the killings. Forest was rowing, but softly. As the paddles started to hit the sand in the shallow water, we pulled the rowboat into some high grass, got out, and started hiking. I watched my feet hitting the water and the little crabs running sideways with their claws up, ready to fight.
“We should be close now,” said Forest.
I was getting flashbacks that spooked the hell out of me. How could a place so peaceful and beautiful be the home of such darkness and chaos?
Suddenly Forest grabbed my shirt collar and yanked me to the ground. Saltwater and sand splashed up my nose. “What the hell?” I said. Forest layed next to me and put his index finger up to his nose. “Shh…” and motioned forward with his eyes. The high grass was moving with the wind, and I couldn’t make anything out.
Just then I saw a black hat with a thick red stripe across it bouncing in the distance. The man appeared in my vision. His skin was very dark, and he wore a uniform. He stood a hundred feet away or more but was walking slowly toward our position.
“Did he see us?” I whispered.
“No. I think he heard us,” said Forest.
“Police,” I said.
“You sure?” asked Forest.
“Yeah, the hat.”
“Shit.”
The man continued to walk very slowly. I couldn’t make out much of his appearance other than a straight, focused face and thick mustache.
“We better run now before he closes this gap,” said Forest.
“Then we don’t have a chance. He’ll radio others and the search will be on for two white boys on the south side of Andros.”
The policeman stopped some eighty or ninety feet away from us. All that stood between us was a lone pine tree and sparse patches of waist high grass. He was looking in our general direction, but it was hard to tell exactly where. Suddenly he bolted straight for us and shouted, “You! Stay where you are!”
Forest instantly got in a pushup position as a precursor to an all out sprint. I grabbed his shirt and tugged it to the ground.
“Don’t move! Trust me, trust me, don’t move at all. Be dead.” I whispered.
I let go, and he was still. The policeman charged through the high grass like a water buffalo.
My heart pounded as I watched him get within twenty feet of our position. Then he kept running right passed us. The policeman came so close that Forest got splashed with sand and water as he ran by. We could hear shouting from the other direction. The policeman stopped.
“I thought I heard something!” he yelled with his hand over his mouth.
It was a bluff. I didn’t blink as he walked passed us to join the other police that were evidently studying the scene of the crime.
“There’s a small channel a hundred yards that way,” said Forest. “It will take us to the rowboat. Let’s crawl to it and swim.”
I lifted my head about a foot to get a better view. The policeman cleared the pine tree and was casually walking back to the others.
“Okay. Try not to hit the high grass,” I said.
Forest nodded.
We made our way to the channel and took a half hour swim to make it back to where we had beached the boat. We were already exhausted and still had to row all the way to Agwe’s house. We pressed on and kept a lookout for anything unusual.
“You knew he was bluffing?” asked Forest.
“No. I hoped he was. It was our only shot.”
I rowed, and Forest sat in t
he bow facing my back and watching the horizon.
“Let’s stay close to home for a while,” said Forest.
“Yeah.”
“I’m not going to prison, man,” he said.
“Me neither.”
The sound of air blowing caught our attention.
“Look!” shouted Forest pointing to the port side of the boat.
“What was it?” I asked.
“Dolphin.”
We studied the calm blue water looking for movement. It surfaced again.
“Cool!” I shouted. The dolphin swam within arm’s length of the boat. It was like the world melted away for a minute, and I wished Agwe was with us. Seeing his reaction to new clouds on the horizon made me wonder how much more a dolphin would excite him. It felt good to be on that old boat and watch such a free creature. He took our minds off of the coming shit storm that was due to hit at any moment.
Back at the cottage we kept quiet about what we had seen. Forest never told me that we should hide the information from Becca, but that was what we did. We just wanted to forget about it and hoped the problem would go away. Becca also seemed to be so damn happy, with the exception of her dreams during the night. The days rolled by. There was talk of a heavy police presence on the island, but none of them made the trip down the long shitty road to Agwe’s house.
Becca almost instantly got to know Mrs. Phoebe and started helping her bake for a few hours in the afternoons. When she worked, the three of us would anxiously meet her on the road. She always brought back something tasty. Fresh rum cakes, banana bread, cassava rolls, coconut bread, and the occasional lemon pie or conch fritters. Becca's treats combined with the endless supply of fresh seafood made meal time something to always look forward to. She seemed to really like Mrs. Phoebe. She didn’t make much money at all, but Mrs. Phoebe gave her good trades.
The Less Fortunates Page 20
