by Lacy Camey
“Oh, we probably annoy him!” I said.
“Why? Because we’re women?” she asked.
”No, because—”
“Maycee, think about the precious children tomorrow when you see them. You won’t care about all of that other stuff,” Norah cut in.
“Uh, that conversation was one minute ago. It’s okay. You can go back to reading your cheese-book. Let me know when you get to the white cheddar parts you pair with Riesling wine. That’s my fav.”
Norah rolled her eyes at her sister.
“You’re just jealous smealous.”
“Yeah, okay,” Maycee said, spraying bug spray on her and handing it to Norah. The smell reminded me of going to camp in the summers as a kid. I would go to Camp Woodley for a month every summer in northern Maine. I made so many wonderful memories and friendships. The smell of the spray always took me back. I remembered one summer in particular where my favorite camp counselor, Lilly Patch, did not return. It was so detrimental to my nine-year old self. I easily could grow attached to my caretakers, for obvious reasons.
Norah handed me the bug spray, interrupting my fond memory. “Okay, so let’s try and not think about the creepers on the floor.”
“That’s going to be, like, impossible for me! Which is why I brought sleeping pills,” Maycee said.
The three of us looked at each other and Norah and I held out our hands. “Okay, give me one, pronto,” Norah said quickly.
“Yeah, me too,” I added.
It’s not that I wanted to self medicate, but I could not fall asleep in my new living quarters with strange noises very easily, and I needed to be alert on my first day with enough sleep.
“Well, are any of you going to wash your face and brush your teeth?” I asked.
“Um, no! It’s a walking distance away. I don’t know my way around the quarters yet. Let’s just go to bed,” grumbled Maycee.
One thing I absolutely could not stand was going to bed with my makeup on. I was thankful Nia packed my makeup remover wipes. She was always so thoughtful and forward thinking. Always prepared. I was going to miss her assistance. I was going to miss her. But I practically was without her assistance, well physical assistance that is, all summer since I stayed with Maycee and Norah in their summer home.
But Nia had her fair share of electronic assistance in Texas while I was in The Hamptons—i.e.—helping me set up the paperwork for the three of us to come to Venezuela.
I stared at Norah and Maycee, both content sitting on their beds. “Okay, y’all. I don’t know about you, but I have to brush my teeth. I guess I’ll be okay exploring the jungle at night. I’ll just scream really loud should a giant snake wrap itself around my ankle, cutting off my circulation, making me die instantly. I guess I’ll be okay,” I joked with them as I looked for my flashlight. “I just have to brush my teeth and wash my face. So looks like I’m going solo?” I tried one more time.
They both looked at me, nodding their heads. The answer was plastered all over their faces.
“Okay then, I’m on my own.” I grabbed my toiletry bag, took a deep breath, opened the screen door, then shut it. And then I thought about it. Neither of them had used the ladies room. “You two don’t need to use the ladies room?”
“I’ll go after I finish reading Orien’s journal,” Norah said.
“And I’m just not going to go,” Maycee answered.
“Well, all right.” I held my breath again as if I were jumping in pool of water. But no water, just a giant pool of bugs. I had one of those super bright flashlights. Yes, I know flashlights are supposed to be just that—bright. But this was like a top notch flashlight. May as well had me holding up a flare saying, “I’m lost and need to be found.”
“Just call Steve or Vinny,” I heard Norah shout after me as the door slammed shut.
I shrugged my shoulders and decided I would be fine. Besides, I could see the fountain and the light of what appeared to be women’s restroom.
If I remembered Josephina correctly, the staff ladies restroom would be just past the courtyard, past the male volunteer’s and voila. Right there. So not very far at all. Just a few hundred yards more.
Chapter Two
With each step I uttered quietly, “I am not afraid. I am not afraid.” A scary noise not too far away startled me as my quiet utter turned into a full out scream, “I am not afraid!” I walked as fast I could but then advanced to a full out sprint when I heard another strange animal noise sounding even closer.
“I am not afraid!” I screamed like a girl, but then screamed of pure fright when I saw the guy from chapel, Brother Logan as they call him, sitting by the fountain scribbling something. He scared me to death.
He looked up at me in almost equal fright, surprised by my freak out.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. I’m just . . . uh.” I cleared my throat. “Scared is all.”
Now that I had a closer look at him, I realized he was incredibly handsome. He looked as if he had freshly showered. I could smell the remains of a lingering aftershave.
“You’ll get used to all the noises,” he said.
“I’m Chloe.” I put my hand out for him to shake. He shook my hand cautiously, eying me back. “What are you doing out here?” I asked.
“Just needing to clear my head. I’m not getting much quiet time in that bunk with the new men who arrived. The ones with the huge muscles.”
“Oh, that’s Vinny and Steve my—” I stopped. I wanted to sound normal.
“Bodyguards. Right,” he finished for me. “Fancy, shmancy.”
Nervously, I said, “It’s not what you think actually. It’s just—”
Then Steve appeared behind me. “We heard your affirmation of ‘I am not afraid’ grow louder and louder. You musn’t be alone at night in the jungle. Next time, alert us should you need escorting to the ladies premises,” he said in his thick Russian accent, dead serious.
Logan sat, obviously amused but at the same time probably thinking, “Is he for real?” I wanted to tickle Steve and try to break him of his stellar Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger stare. Just because he was a bodyguard didn’t mean he couldn’t smile.
“Well, I just need to go to the ladies room and wash my face and brush my teeth,” I said, suddenly feeing extremely embarrassed.
“I’ll accompany you,” Terminator Steve said.
I looked at Logan, who looked at me with a frown.
What’s with the frown? I thought to myself.
I walked into the restroom with heavy footsteps, to be greeted by flies galore hanging out and bugs I had never even imagined to be of existence crawling around. I couldn’t take it and I let out a blood-curling scream.
“Would these bugs just leave! Ugh!” And I couldn’t help myself but jump up and down. I wasn’t one of those girls who freaked out when they saw a moth; no, not at all. But this was like the Tokyo center for bugs. I knew what I was getting into when I signed up to come to Venezuela, sure. But I forgot to think about the creepy crawlers.
There was a knock at the door. “You okay in there?” Steve asked. “Do I need to come in?”
Yes. Maybe? No!
“I’m fine, thank you. I appreciate your, uh—checking in on me. There are just lots of bugs.” I laughed nervously.
“Yes, there are. You’ll get used to them. Kind of like you get used to the neighborhood cats,” he said with a raised voice through the door.
Yeah, the cats where I’m from would never be let out of their houses. He knew that. Probably wasn’t thinking.
But I nodded and smiled even though he was not in the restroom.
“Well, thank you.” My voice sounded higher than normal. It sounded scared, like a little teenage girl.
I opened my toiletry bag and grabbed my toothbrush and toothpaste and brushed my teeth, thinking the whole time how I had to pull it together and grow some. If I wanted to be a humanitarian, be there when the cause was needed, I had to overcome bugs. Bugs? Come o
n? They are nothing!
I nodded my head and shrugged my shoulders, amusing myself as I made faces in the mirror.
Bugs are nothing, but jaguars, and wild bore—I spit out my toothpaste and looked closer at my reflection in the old mirror.
My auburn hair with fresh blonde highlights was in a braid over my shoulder.
Three months.
Three months I would be here, I thought to myself.
I stared at my perfect fresh highlights. Three months is a stretch for roots but I could make it.
But could I make it if I saw a jaguar? I wiped my mouth on the washcloth I brought from our bunk.
I decided to take a more optimistic approach. I zipped up my toiletry bag and made my way to the bathroom stall. The tile was fresh and clean, considering the bugs. The orphanage was as spotless as one could be in a rainforest and I appreciated that. Clean toilets and showers.
Beautiful hacienda.
Freedom, I reminded myself.
I shook my head and whispered, “Psh—jaguars, there are no such thing.” And I went about my bathroom business.
Then, as if I were in a movie and the director said, “And now. Enter scary jungle noises,” there was the loudest, scariest sound I’d ever heard. I ran out of the stall as fast as I could and out of the ladies restroom, almost running right into Steve. I proceeded to run back towards my bunk but stopped when I saw Logan.
He looked up from his writing, staring at me.
“Did you just hear that?” I asked in total panic. Steve hovered closely, no less than a foot away.
I looked over at our bunk and could see Norah and Maycee looking through their drapes that hung over the screen, trying to make sense of the noise.
Why was this guy so annoyed?
“Sorry I’m interrupting your writing, but is it always this—”
He snapped his journal shut, gathering his book.
“No, you’re not interrupting anything anymore because I’ve ended what I was working on prematurely to go back to my uninspiring bunk to finish this.” He got up and stalked towards the male quarters.
I couldn’t even find words to respond with. How could someone be so rude, so cold, so quickly? I was a perfect stranger. I didn’t do anything to him. He didn’t know me from Adam. And then he just walked away.
“I’ll be fine, you know. With the jaguars and being new, being scared,” I said softly.
“Yeah, right. Bodyguards.” He trekked his way further to his bunk.
Enough with the preacher boy. Maybe he should write a chapel lesson on friendliness; something. I ran back to our bunk, opened the door as fast as I could and slammed it. Forgetting Steve at the door until I heard another knock.
“Miss Banks? Do you need further escorting tonight?”
“No, she’s rich enough to not have to pimp herself out to men.” Maycee cracked herself up over her muttered joke.
Norah threw a pillow at Maycee and it almost fell on the floor. She yelled, “Hey don’t let it touch the floor! It’s dirty down there!”
“Aha. See! You’re not all high and mighty after all,” Maycee retorted.
“I’m fine, Steve. Thank you.”
“Very well,” he grumbled. I could hear his heavy footsteps make his way back to his bunk.
“Did y’all hear that?” I asked in utter aghast. “I’ve never heard anything like that in my life! Well, maybe in the movies.”
“Yeah, no crap,” Maycee said, pissed. “What did you drag us into?”
Before I could answer, Norah, as always, went to my defense. “Maycee, snip it. Seriously. You wanted to come. It just was probably a momma whatever calling for her young.”
“Yeah, her young that wants to eat me for dinner.”
“Well, at least we are all safe in the bunk. All together.” I smiled.
Maycee put her head back on her bed and moaned. “Please turn the light off. I’m exhausted and have so much blogging to do. My mind needs rest.”
Norah rolled her eyes and looked at me. “That’s it, Maycee. For the rest of the trip, I’m calling you Miss Shallow.”
I laughed and turned off the light. My bright flashlight illuminated the room practically as much as the regular light.
“Speaking of code names,” I began.
“Geeze, what kind of light is that?” Maycee asked.
“A special one that clearly comes in good use for where we are,” I replied. “It will be just a minute. I need to change into my pajamas.”
I quickly located them out of my bag and changed as fast as I could. I just wanted to be snuggled in my bed. But first, I threw back the cover and sheet to inspect if there were any bugs. No bugs. Phew.
I turned the flashlight off. It was pitch black.
“Speaking of code names,” I tried again.
“It’s so dark!” Maycee whined.
“Do you want a freakin’ night light?” Norah asked.
“Do I need to separate you two? I’ve never seen you at such odds,” I said.
“Roughing it brings out the worst of Maycee,” Norah said.
“It does not!”
“Yes, it does.”
“Speaking of code names,” I continued again. “That chapel preacher guy we saw earlier today, his code name is Mr. Scrooge.”
“Why? Because he hates Christmas?” Maycee asked.
“Maycee, Maycee, literary queen. Look beyond the name, see the metaphor. No, not because he hates Christmas. Because he’s incredibly grumpy!”
“Oh, well I think you should call him Mr. McGrump then.”
“He’s just extremely grumpy. Like really rude! He was so—”
“It’s okay, Chloe. Was that your first rejection from a male you’ve ever had?” Norah asked.
I lay there in silence. Maybe? I felt my nose scrunch and eyebrows furrow in thought. I was used to guys stammering over me at any given chance. Partly because my family was practically royalty with their wealth. And trust me, I am not bragging. It was more of a curse than a blessing. I would never know if the interest was because a man thought I was truly attractive or if he were simply after my family name. I guess I would learn what that truly meant, to be liked or disliked for yourself, here in Venezuela.
Or would I?
I slept peacefully throughout the night until in the middle of my deep sleep cycle, I awoke to Maycee’s blood curling scream from the ladies restroom. I guess she finally had to go after all!
Chapter Three
I woke up the next morning early and ready to go. I didn’t bother Norah and Maycee because I had woken up an hour earlier than they needed to wake and I knew they needed all the rest they could get, especially Maycee. As I quietly dressed myself, I couldn’t help but to think of one thing–I knew the nation was abuzz with last night’s political debate. I wished I could know how my dad did. I said another silent prayer for him. There were always haters and that was the hardest part for me. Hearing the criticism.
Shaking my head, trying to focus on being in the moment here in Venezuela, I tried to change the directions of my thoughts because I knew I would worry more about him if I didn’t. As I made my way to the ladies restroom, I was so happy about how the day would unfold. I pictured the children and their kind eyes. I wondered how the doctors would be that I was to work with. But as I brushed my teeth I couldn’t help but think about my mother. I wasn’t at home to encourage my father, which meant he was left with my mother’s nagging tongue. Dad just needed her encouragement, especially after the debates when the entire country had an opinion of him. He needed her support, not her criticizing his choice of apparel.
I shook my head again and took a deep breath and said out loud, “Let it go. You’re here.” I heard a sudden knock on the ladies door.
“Chloe, it’s Steve. Good morning. You forgot to buzz me that you woke up. Who is in there with you?”
I sighed. I had forgotten. These rules were going to need to loosen up a bit. I was in a rain forest, but I wasn’t a prisoner. “I’
ll be a minute. It’s just me talking to myself,” I said as if were perfectly normal.
I applied my Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer which had SPF in it, a light coat of waterproof mascara, and re-braided my hair. After I looked at myself once more, I sprayed just a touch of perfume—Angels and Demons Givenchi. Super fresh and light. Perfect for being in the heat outdoors. I always liked to smell good.
