Manpot's Tales of the Tropics

by Boyes, Malcolm

  "So…what do you think of paradise so far?" he said.

  Beverly tried not to stare at her new boss but her first impressions were: his hair had been cut by a "Weed Wacker"…he had an earring…he had long scar down the left side of his face…the top of one of his fingers was missing …and he had a smile that lit up the bar.

  "Oh God!" she thought, "I could be in love."

  Rick explained to Beverly how he hoped things would work. The bar wasn’t opening for at least another couple of weeks but he had work for her to do. There was a small guest cottage at his villa over on the north shore where she could stay until she started making money and could afford rent.

  Rick had some business to take care of in Puerto Rico for a couple of days so her first task would be to take care of his beloved old sheepdog Shep.

  They finished the fried chicken and Red Stripes, Rick grabbed her duffel bag and walked Beverly outside to where his old dune buggy was parked in the shade.

  Soon they had escaped the crowded streets of Charlotte Amailie and were heading over the hills to the north shore...

  Suddenly she saw the Atlantic Ocean spread out in front of her glimmering in the tropical sun. Although she hardly knew him she grabbed Rick and gave him a big kiss. He almost swerved off the road.

  Minutes later they pulled into the gravel driveway of Rick's villa.

  Well "villa" was a bit of stretch ...it was a funky bungalow with a spectacular view of the ocean and Magen's Bay below. Behind the villa was a tiny converted garage. Beverly's guest house.

  To Beverly it looked like the Taj Mahal.

  Rick carried Beverly's duffel bag into the cottage and dumped it on the bed. The trade winds blew through the little house carrying a scent of jasmine and sea spray.

  Rich very formally shook Beverly's hand…gave her the spare key to the "villa" and told her to sleep well. He'd be back in a couple of days ...so she could get settled in…and just take care of his dog Shep.

  The sun was starting to set as Beverly walked outside and down a tiny path to the beach below. She couldn't remember ever being happier as she watch the sun perform that perfect fast dive into the ocean that it always seems to do near the equator.

  And then she was given that most precious gift of all…the "green flash." Few have seen the "green flash" and many believe it does not really exist ...but to those of us who have witnessed this amazing phenomenon of the reflection of the sun on the water as it dips below the horizon, it's something you won’t soon forget.

  For Beverly it surely meant she had made all the right moves and had finally found "home".

  She slept like a baby that night as the breezes cooled the room and the tree frogs sang her a tropical lullaby.

  Just before dawn she heard Rick drive off to the airport in his dune buggy ...but she rolled over and slept for another hour.

  Finally she awoke to a sun beam shining right in her eyes ... It took her a moment to realise just where she was. She pulled on a T shirt and shorts and a baseball cap and strolled out into the morning sun.

  Then she remembered...she must feed Shep.

  She grabbed the house keys and opened the door...

  There lay Shep…stone cold dead.

  At first Beverly refused to believe it ...she shook Shep and even tried to open his eyes. But Shep was one very dead dog.

  Beverly burst into tears...

  Here she was in paradise…possibly meeting the man of her dreams ...and now she'd killed his dog. Well she knew she'd really had nothing to do with it ...but she felt like she'd killed his dog.

  Poor Beverly walked outside to try to compose herself. Rick had left his cell phone number and she knew she had to call him. This was not how she'd imagined her first day of island life would be.

  Finally she plucked up the courage to make the call.

  He was not only understanding...he was very apologetic. Shep was very old and had not been doing so well for a while. Rick felt awful that he'd left and now poor Beverly had to deal with one very dead pet.

  Obviously with the tropical heat she couldn’t leave Shep there till Rick's return. Rick told her to take him to the vet's and the good doctor would take care of things. Rick gave Beverly the address, apologised again, and hung up,

  It was then Beverly realised she had no transportation and no way of getting poor Shep to the vet's.

  She burst into tears again...

  Now Shep was a big guy and weighed close to fifty pounds but Beverly realised she had only one choice.

  She walked to the guest "bungalow" dumped all her belongings from her duffel bag and went back to the villa.

  After about half an hour of struggling she managed to get poor dead Shep into the duffel bag.

  She grabbed a cold beer from Rick's fridge and tried to compose herself. She had no idea if there were buses on this island and she could not afford a cab ...even if she knew who to call to get one.

  So she stumbled outside into the hot tropical morning dragging her duffel ...and Shep...behind her.

  Slowly she started to head in the direction of the vet's office. It was about ninety degrees and her T shirt was already soaked with sweat.

  About a mile down the road "Mongoose" was trying to recover from a wild night out. His head was throbbing and he knew the only thing that would help....a cold beer.

  He climbed into his battered sedan and turned the key…the engine barely turned over ...and then fired up. He wiped the sweat from his brow and crunched the gears as he jammed it into first.

  "Mongoose" headed north and Beverly...dragging her duffel bag and Shep behind her...headed south.

  A minute later their worlds collided.

  "Mongoose" was not paying much attention and he'd drifted onto the right side of the road (they drive on the left in the Virgin Islands). He looked up just in time to see a sweat stained Beverly with a look of wide eyed terror on her face.

  "Mongoose" screeched to a halt.

  "I'm sorry ma'am", he blurted out, and "the sun was in my eyes"

  As the sun was rising from the east this was a bit of a stretch but the best "Mongoose" could muster in his condition. Then his eyes did the best job they could of focusing ...first on the very beautiful woman in front of him ...then on the bag she was dragging behind her.

  "Do you need a ride?" he asked, knowing the answer already.

  "Oh...yes...really...yes," said Beverly.

  Before she knew it "Mongoose" was out of his car and the duffel, and Shep, were over his muscular shoulder.

  "Man, what have you got in here?" said "Mongoose" as he stumbled towards his car.

  The question hit Beverly like a ton of bricks ...obviously she could not tell a total stranger the truth ...that she was carrying the remains of her new boss' beloved pet down a St Thomas street in ninety degree heat.

  "Well, I just got here", said Beverly thinking fast," and that bag's got my computer and all my electronic gear in it."

  The next thing Beverly knew she was on the ground getting showered with dust and gravel as "Mongoose" made his getaway with his bag of "electronic swag".

  He'd knocked her down and grabbed the duffel bag…and Shep.

  Beverly started to cry again...

  And then she started to laugh...

  "Mongoose" was hard on the gas heading down the road believing he'd just scored a couple of thousand dollars worth of high end electronic gear. What he'd scored was one dead dog.

  Of course "Mongoose" headed straight to the local bar where he left his car ...with the bag and Shep locked safely inside. He left it there for five hours. The temperature inside the car topped one hundred and thirty degrees.

  Needless to say ...when "Mongoose" stumbled back out of the bar he became aware very quickly that it wasn’t "electronic gear" in that bag…He was in very smelly trouble and he knew it.

  Now it's hard to feel sorry for a thug like "Mongoose" but his come-uppance came in one sparkling moment. The moment he decided to knock down Beverly and grab her ba
g.

  There was only one thing for "Mongoose" to do. He pushed the car out of the parking lot…down a ravine and set it on fire.

  Shep got his just cremation…and, in destroying the evidence, "Mongoose" lost his most valuable asset.

  Sometimes there is justice in this world...

  As for Beverly ...Rick came back from his trips and as they watched the sunset together, she got the courage to tell him the tale.

  The next thing she knew they were both laughing hysterically.

  When he finally got his breath back Rick said he was heading over to Tortola the next weekend on the ferry ...would Beverly like to come along? He felt it was the least he could do to make up for everything the poor girl had gone through.

  A few days later they took the ferry to Tortola's Soper's Hole…they lunched at the Jolly Roger overlooking the water ...and then rented a car and drove over the hill to Bomba's Surfside Shack. They sipped Bomba punch and looked out over Apple Bay.

  Beverly was in paradise.

  A few hours later Beverly found herself walking hand in hand with Rick along Cane Garden Bay as the sun set behind Jost Van Dyke...

  It was the start of a beautiful romance...

  It wasn't long before Beverly moved from the "guest cottage" to the "villa". They worked the season together almost doubling the business of the bar and restaurant. Everyone loved Beverly at the bar.

  Life was wonderful.

  As spring turned to summer and things slowed down Rick came up with a plan ...a pal had a cruising catamaran they could borrow and Rick would show Beverly all the beautiful Virgin Islands…

  Rick and Beverly were last spotted sailing towards Anegada with a dream to find a new spot to open a beach bar...

  And, if they found that spot, they knew exactly what they would call that dream bar…in honour of Shep it would be…."The Dead Dog Saloon".

  BONGO THE PELICAN

  Bongo the Pelican circled high above the turquoise waters of Mango Bay…It was his favorite place on the beautiful Caribbean island of St Kids ...There were the swaying palm trees that lined the beach with sand as soft as talcum powder and the water so clear that he could see all the swimming fishes…and that was important to a pelican who survives by diving into the ocean and catching fish for dinner…and breakfast and lunch.

  And Bongo was the best fisher of all the pelicans in Mango Bay…maybe even on the whole island of St Kids.

  There was another big reason Bongo liked Mango Bay so much…his two special pals Sidney and Sharon, who came to play there every day after school.

  Sidney and Sharon would sit on the beach doing their homework…sometimes they would use a pointed piece of driftwood to write the alphabet in the sand…sometimes they would do their math...but always they would laugh and sing…and that made Bongo so happy.

  But the best time of day for Bongo was after Sharon and Sidney finished their homework. They always played on an old tire swing that hung from a big curving palm tree over the sand…and then went for a cooling swim.

  As Sidney and Sharon jumped up and down in the warm Caribbean Sea their curly locks bounced in time…then Bongo would swoop out of the blue sky and skim along the water right by his friends…Sidney and Sharon would laugh and cheer…and they were sure they could see a smile on the face of their pelican pal.

  There was one other thing that made Bongo different from all the other pelicans on Mango Bay…on top of his head he had a little tuft of squiggly feathers that looked just like Sidney and Sharon’s curly locks.

  All summer long Bongo played with Sharon and Sidney. They loved being at the beach with their pal. As the hot days went by they noticed the tips of their dark brown locks slowly turning blonde…and they saw exactly the same thing happening to Bongo’s squiggly feathers.

  One day they went looking for perfect pink shells along the shoreline and then spelled out “BONGO” in the sand. When they put the last shell on the last “O” Bongo landed right on the beach in front of them…they were sure he was reading his name in the sand because he looked up at them and then back to the letters two or three times. Then Bongo took off and flew round and round them. Sidney and Sharon spun around following him ‘til they got giddy and landed in the soft, warm sand in a big giggling heap…And that made Bongo REALLY smile.

  On a sunny afternoon in late summer Sidney and Sharon went to the beach as usual…but something was missing…Bongo wasn’t there. He wasn’t skimming over the waves…he wasn’t sitting on his favorite rock…and he wasn’t even on top of the nearby sea grape tree where he sometimes liked to perch. Sidney and Sharon decided to go searching for their friend. They didn’t have to look far.

  Down the beach under a palm tree they found Bongo…but something was terribly wrong. Bongo tried to look up and smile but he was very weak...and his eyes that used to sparkle so brightly looked dull and cloudy. Sharon and Sidney were very worried. Gently they picked up their feathery friend and Sharon wrapped him in her big beach towel.

  Bongo looked up at her.

  Sharon and Sidney gently carried Bongo down to the other end of the beach where the kindly fisherman lived. He was sitting outside his shack mending his nets when they walked up. The fisherman took one look at his pelican pal and knew what was wrong. The fisherman quickly ran inside his shack...minutes later he came back out with a plate full of fish cut into tiny pieces. The fisherman immediately gave a morsel to Bongo….Bongo slowly swallowed the fish then opened his big beak for another piece.

  The fisherman explained to Sharon and Sidney that Bongo had not been eating and that was why he was so weak. And the fisherman said he thought he knew why Bongo had not been eating. He hadn’t been able to dive into the water for fish because his eyesight was getting bad.

  All those years of diving into the water with his eyes open to catch fish had caused the damage. Sharon and Sidney were very sad but the fisherman told them not to worry…he would catch enough fish for both him and Bongo and he would help make their friend strong again.

  Slowly Sidney and Sharon walked back along the beach. They believed the fisherman when he told them he could make Bongo strong again…but they new life would never be the same for their pal if he could not see properly.

  It was bad enough that he wouldn’t be able to dive for fish but they also knew that if Bongo could not see well he would never be able to fly again. They just could not imagine swimming in Mango Bay without Bongo whizzing by.

  Just then Sidney’s bare toes kicked something in the sand…

  Sidney bent down and brushed the sand away…t was a pair of old swimming goggles. Sidney looked at Sharon…Sharon looked back at Sidney and they both broke into big smiles...if they could get some special lenses for these goggles maybe Bongo would be able to fly again.

  There was only one person who could help them…the wise old lady who lived in the village over the hill. Everyone called her Jennifer Jumping Up because she just loved to dance to the island music. No one knew how old Jennifer Jumping Up was but she looked so young because of all that exercise she got from “Jumping Up” in the sand. Sidney and Sharon scooped up the goggles and ran off to the village.

  Jennifer Jumping Up was sitting on her front porch when Sidney and Sharon ran up. They were panting from running and sweat trickled down their faces but they were so excited they immediately started to tell their story. Jennifer held up her hand and then disappeared inside her little pink and blue house...Moments later she came back with two large frosty glasses of lemonade. “Drink first…then tell me your tale”, she said in a voice just as sweet as the lemonade they were sipping.

  Finally Sidney and Sharon finished the lemonade and told Jennifer Jumping Up the whole story…then they showed the old lady the goggles they had found in the sand. ”Bring me Bongo” she said in her sing-song voice. Sidney and Sharon ran back to the fisherman’s hut. Bongo seemed a lot stronger when they got there…and they were sure he smiled at them. They told the fisherman they were taking Bongo to Jennifer’s�
�� then Sharon wrapped the pelican in the beach towel and carried him to the village.

  When they got back to Jennifer’s the second time there were two more cold glasses of lemonade waiting for them, some water and chopped up fish for Bongo…and beside the old lady was a brightly painted bucket filled to the top with pairs of old eyeglasses. Jennifer told her two young friends that she collected the glasses to give to the other villagers so they could read when they got older. Now she was going to see if there was a pair in there that would help Bongo.

  Jennifer told Sharon to hold the glasses in front of Bongo’s eyes...then she held a piece of fish in front of him. Bongo tried to catch the fish. Sometimes his beak went past the tasty snack…sometimes he would snap at it when his beak was inches away. Slowly Jennifer and the kids worked their way through the bucketful of glasses...but none seemed to be helping Bongo’s eyes to focus on the fish.

  There were just three pairs left. Patiently Sidney held the glasses in front of Bongo, Jennifer held a piece of fish in her fingers…Bongo moved his beak forward and perfectly snapped the fish. They tried it again and Bongo grabbed the fish perfectly again. Sidney and Sharon clapped. Jennifer cheered…and Bongo seemed to have a big smile on his face.

  But there was no way Bongo could keep these glasses on his long beak, so Jennifer gently removed the lenses...then the clever old lady took the swimming goggles and removed the scratched glass that was in them. Jennifer wanted to put the lenses from the eyeglasses into the swimming goggles but they were much too big. Using a wax crayon Jennifer drew on the glass showing the size they needed to be to fit. Then Jennifer dug deep in a bag she kept by her side and pulled out a smaller velvet pouch. Sidney and Sharon watched in amazement as Jennifer gently removed a large, sparkling diamond...it was so bright the sun reflected off it in rainbows of color.

  “This was a gift from a very special person…a sea captain.., given to me long ago,” said the old lady mysteriously, “diamonds are the only thing that can cut glass…so I’ll use it to make these lenses just the right size”. The diamond glittered and shone as Jennifer cut the glass…then popped the lenses right into the swimming goggles. Sharon and Sidney cheered. Bongo cocked his head to one side and looked confused.