The Summer Island Swap

by Samantha Tonge

  ‘I must have slept through. They could have used the torch app on their phones. I wonder what they were doing.’

  ‘I’ll have to have a word with them. The forest is a dangerous place at night, with hidden tree stumps to fall over and creatures like scorpions and snakes that might act in defence if they feel they are being attacked by clumsy feet.’

  I got out of bed and stretched. ‘I’ll fetch two juices then I need to head over to the shacks, shower and get some fresh clothes – I’ve used all the ones I brought here.’

  Rick grinned.

  ‘What?’

  ‘You’ve come a long way. The Sarah who first arrived here would have jumped at the chance of washing at the house. Now it doesn’t bother you. You’re choosing bath time with tarantulas over our brand-new guest en-suite.’

  Borrowing Amy’s habit, I stuck my tongue out at him and left the room. Urgent voices sounded from downstairs. Surely the guests weren’t already up after their late night?

  ‘Rick!’ called a voice.

  It was Jackie. Amy was there too. The door behind me creaked open. We both hurried downstairs.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ he said.

  Jackie wrung her hands together. ‘I don’t know how this has happened, but Chatty isn’t in his enclosure this morning.’

  ‘What?’ Rick’s face paled.

  I felt sick.

  ‘I’m sure I locked it last night, after putting him to bed,’ said Amy. ‘It’s the first time Jackie’s asked me to do that on my own. This is my fault.’

  ‘No. I trust you completely,’ said Jackie, firmly. ‘There must be another explanation.’

  ‘Perhaps he somehow opened the unlocked gate and escaped,’ I said.

  ‘I’ve just been so busy this last week. As his main carer I should have made sure I freed up more time to spend with him. What if he managed to somehow get out and went looking for me…?’ Rick’s voice wavered. ‘I’ve let the little fella down big time.’

  ‘Nonsense,’ I said, even though the well of nausea inside me was growing. ‘I’m sure there will be a rational reason. Now let’s think. What time did you put him in there, Amy?’

  What if he’d got injured? He must be feeling so lonely, feeling his way in darkness.

  ‘Nine o’clock, as usual, after a night in the Games Room. He settled on his favourite branch, at the back on the left. The one he likes swinging on.’

  ‘Did the door look forced open this morning?’ I asked.

  ‘It’s not that kind of lock,’ said Jackie.

  ‘Ah yes. It’s a large, heavy bolt.’

  She nodded. ‘We’ve never needed to bother with anything else because this is a private island and the only visitors we have are into conservation and would only want the best for him.’

  Rick stopped walking up and down. ‘Until recently. Oh my God…’ He rushed upstairs and came back with his laptop. He sat on the sofa and logged in. We stood behind as he went onto Facebook and typed in Jason Elliot.

  ‘What are you doing?’ I asked.

  ‘Following a hunch,’ he said, his voice tinged with anger.

  Jason’s page came up. He scrolled down. First up was a photo taken last night – of a grinning Jason holding Chatty firmly in his arms.

  Chatty was baring his teeth and cowering.

  33

  Rick’s laptop fell onto the sofa as he stood up. Barefoot, he strode outside towards the pool, across decking and damp morning grass.

  ‘Rick, just wait!’ called Jackie.

  But he walked straight up to Jason’s beach hut. He rapped on it loudly. He tried again, this time using his whole fist.

  ‘All right, all right,’ called a tired voice. Jason appeared with tousled hair, wearing nothing but his shorts from last night. ‘Rick, do you know what time it is? I feel as if I’ve only just gone to bed.’

  ‘Where’s the monkey?’ asked Rick, face the colour of the nearby flame tree flowers.

  Jason scratched his head and then a sheepish look came over his face. ‘Look, mate…’

  ‘Don’t call me mate,’ he said in a measured voice. ‘You broke into one of the animal enclosures. You scared one of our animals.’

  ‘Scared?’ Jason snorted. ‘He was grinning. We reckoned that was a trick you taught him, right?’

  ‘That wasn’t grinning, you imbecile,’ said Rick.

  I put a hand on his arm but he shook me off.

  ‘He was frightened to death – baring his teeth, that’s what monkeys do in situations like that. He was ready to fight for his life if he had to.’

  Steve came out of his hut, rubbing his bare belly. ‘What’s going on?’

  ‘Where’s the monkey?’ I asked.

  Steve screwed up his eyes in the sunshine that promptly disappeared behind a rare cloud. ‘Ah yes. That. Sorry guys.’ He cleared his throat. ‘No harm meant. Although he was probably glad to get out of his cage. We were just having a laugh.’

  ‘A laugh? Chatty’s blind. He must have wondered what the hell was happening.’ Rick moved forwards. ‘Is he in your hut, Jason?’

  ‘Blind?’ Jason gaped, as did Steve. ‘Mate, sorry, we had no idea… it was dark… look, we put him back in his cage straight afterwards. He was only out for a few minutes.’

  Steve shook his head. ‘Jeez, I mean… we’d never have touched the little chap if we’d known he couldn’t see.’

  Rick threw his hands in the air. ‘He’s not a pet. You shouldn’t have touched him at all, sight or no sight. He’s not in his enclosure this morning. Did you lock it afterwards?’

  Jason and Steve looked at each other.

  ‘Can’t remember,’ mumbled Jason.

  ‘I’m sure we turned the key,’ said Steve uncertainly.

  ‘It was a bolt,’ said Jackie.

  ‘A heavy one. You’d remember pulling it across,’ said Amy.

  ‘Come on,’ I said to Rick. ‘Let’s get our shoes on and go and look. He can’t have gone far.’

  Nothing else mattered at this moment. Not the success of this week. Not the bigger vision for the hotel venture. Not my unemployment back home.

  ‘We’ll come. Just let me get dressed,’ said Jason and turned to go inside.

  ‘You’ve done enough already,’ snapped Rick and he hurried back into the house.

  ‘Just leave it,’ I muttered to Jason and Steve. ‘I’m sure Chatty will be all right.’

  But I was far from sure. He couldn’t see. That made him the perfect prey. What if he’d crossed a snake or fallen into a stream? I shivered, partly due to the temperature that was unusually lower today – but mostly because I felt fearful for Chatty.

  I followed Rick in. Amy and Jackie stayed to get more details from the two men.

  ‘It’ll be all right. We’ll find him,’ I said as he picked up a pair of trainers he’d discarded near the piano last night.

  Rick shook his head. ‘I should have never listened to you.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘This stupid hotel idea. I should never have let my gran be persuaded.’

  ‘I don’t think your gran lets herself be persuaded by anyone,’ I stuttered.

  ‘What was I thinking?’ he continued. ‘Allowing total strangers, who aren’t interested in conservation, onto our precious island – an intoxicated stag party at that? I know you want to move into luxury hospitality at some point in the future, Sarah, but using us to test out what it’s like…’

  ‘Now, just wait a minute, that’s not fair,’ I said as he bent down and slipped on his trainers. ‘You and I, Lee and your gran – we all talked this venture through.’

  ‘I got carried away with your enthusiasm. And why the hurry to change direction, anyway? Is your job back in England really that bad?’

  ‘It’s okay…’ I broke eye contact.

  ‘Sarah? What aren’t you telling me?’

  I met his gaze. I couldn’t hide the truth any longer. Not in the face of what had happened. ‘It’s just that technically, it
’s not my job anymore. The manager let me go. She never took on my new ideas and—’

  His jaw dropped. ‘What? You’ve been lying all this time…’ He swallowed and muttered something about thinking I was different. ‘I’m all for ambition but this is taking things too far…’

  ‘What on earth are you talking about?’

  ‘You… creating your own job, here. What was your next step? To convince my gran that you’d be the perfect person to run this place permanently? Has that been the real motive? Pretending you still have a job back in England so that we wouldn’t suspect that your motives were less about helping us and more about your career?’ He shook his head. ‘Lee would consider your drive admirable but me… why not come clean instead of deceiving me?’

  I gasped. ‘No, of course that wasn’t my motive! I just wanted to help. None of that ever even crossed my mind.’

  In silence he walked past. I grabbed his arm.

  ‘You really think I’m just out for number one?’

  ‘I don’t want to, Sarah.’ His shoulders bobbed up and down. ‘But why not tell me you’d been sacked, right from the start? We’ve talked about your job several times yet you never let on. What am I supposed to think?’

  ‘I… I didn’t want to worry Amy. That’s why I didn’t mention my sacking right from the beginning. It only happened just before we came here and—’

  His brow furrowed. ‘Amy seems pretty rock solid to me. She’s not a child. Why would you keep something like that from her? No. That doesn’t make sense. There has to be another reason.’

  I stepped back and, in that instant, realised that all along my sister had been right. Before coming here, I was still treating her like a little girl. Rick wouldn’t even entertain the idea that I’d feel the need to protect an adult, like that.

  A heavy, cloying sensation constricted my chest.

  ‘If you’d been upfront about your aspirations, who knows, maybe I’d have given your ambition a chance – but the way you’ve fooled me and used my family…’ He shook his head. ‘Is that why you suddenly ended things between us? Because you realised this project might actually take off? Had getting close to me just been part of that scheme? You said you thought we should halt any romance because you’d be going home soon. Was it really because you felt the opposite might happen and you weren’t actually that into me after all?’

  I pursed my lips. ‘First you thought I came up with this hotel idea to get out of doing conservation work. We got over that misunderstanding. But now you accuse me of coldly trying to forge a career here, instead of genuinely trying to help you and your family?’

  ‘Sarah…’ His voice faltered. ‘I really don’t want to think…’

  ‘Why should I be surprised? Men like you always try to shift the blame.’ My voice choked. ‘You’re just like my father. It was never his fault that Mum died, it was always mine,’ I spat those last words through anger.

  There.

  I’d said it.

  The awful accusation Dad threw at me when I left home at eighteen.

  The comment that tortured me for years afterwards.

  I was shaking. My throat hurt. Confusion crossed Rick’s face.

  Footsteps sounded. Amy appeared. ‘Sarah, are you all right? Did you mention Mum? What’s this all about?’

  ‘No… you… you misheard. We… we were just disagreeing about the best plan for searching for Chatty. Look…. let’s just get going…’

  Rick left the house and started to run. Amy, Jackie and I followed. As fast as we could we went down to the camp, past the shower block and up to the animal enclosure. Chatty’s space stood empty. My stomach was in knots as I pictured him alone and frightened in the forest.

  Pushing the argument with Rick out of my mind, along with the others I searched under every bush within a twenty-metre radius but didn’t spot anything. Not even monkey droppings. Rick called his name. We listened for the familiar whistles and squeaks but only heard the call of sea birds and distant merry shouts of volunteers no doubt taking an early swim as a start to their weekend.

  Jackie examined the bolt. Amy searched his enclosure for the hundredth time. Rick stared in despair at the surrounding foliage.

  ‘What’s his favourite food?’ I asked.

  ‘He likes eggs,’ said Jackie.

  ‘He loved those cashew nuts I prepared for him, the other day,’ said Amy.

  Rick looked at Jackie. ‘But his ultimate treat…’

  So now he wasn’t talking to me.

  I was upset. And angry. I thought we’d become friends at the very least.

  Jackie’s face brightened. ‘I’ll see if we’ve got any.’ She turned and ran down the path that led to the canteen.

  ‘What is she fetching?’ asked Amy.

  ‘Freeze-dried fruit. Strawberry and banana are his absolute favourite,’ muttered Rick. ‘Sometimes Malik orders them in to put in packed dinners, for the overnight turtle trips – they are lighter than carrying fresh fruit. Chatty played with one of the bags, once. Worked out how to open it, not knowing there was food inside. His face, when he tried a slice of freeze-dried strawberry, it was a picture…’ Rick almost smiled. ‘Ever since then the rustle of a bag gets him so excited. You should see him when we all eat crisps. I often wonder, as well, if it reminds him of all the junk food his was fed before being rescued. It was a hard job to wean him off that fat and sugar.’

  We continued to search under nearby frangipani bushes and called out Chatty’s name until Jackie got back, arms full of small bags. A few clouds moved in. At least the monkey wouldn’t get too hot, if he was far from water.

  ‘Let’s make a pile of them,’ I said. ‘With a couple of bags open.’

  ‘In fact, we could sprinkle the contents of one on top, so that the smell spreads,’ said Amy.

  ‘And rustle the plastic in our hands to attract his attention,’ said Jackie, none of us voicing the option that Chatty might be nowhere near or had suffered something worse than getting lost.

  Five minutes later we stood together, looking at the pyramid of treats on the ground, by a group of palm trees. We scrunched the packets in our hands. The concentrated sugary smell wafted through the air. I hardly dared breathe. An insect landed on my head. Rick brushed it off. We looked at each other. Frustration hung in the air between us. Despite our harsh words, I hated seeing the worry etched across his face. Those dark eyebrows knotted. Despite everything I wanted so much to give him a tight hug.

  But I wasn’t like Mum. I wasn’t like Anabelle. Rick had hurt me. I wouldn’t go back so he could do that again.

  ‘Where is he?’ said Jackie.

  He didn’t appear. We waited in silence. And waited. And waited some more.

  Eventually Jackie looked at her watch. Said we might have to accept the obvious – that Chatty had suffered an accident such as drowning, or fallen victim to a more violent outcome.

  My throat hurt. Tears hung in Amy’s eyes. Shoulders hunched, Rick turned away. Eventually he faced us again.

  ‘He’s got to come back,’ he muttered. ‘We’ll wait a bit longer.’ He gave a wry smile. ‘Who else is going to appreciate Sarah’s godawful whistling?’

  ‘That’s it!’ I said and everyone looked me. I took a deep breath and started to whistle ‘Daydream Believer’.

  As usual it was out of tune and I missed a few notes, but the sharp sound carried high and wide. Amy couldn’t help wincing.

  Eventually I stopped. ‘Did you all hear that?’ I whispered.

  There was another squeak.

  ‘Chatty?’ Rick called. ‘Come here little fella…’ He walked forwards.

  The squeak sounded again. It came from above. I looked up into the tallest palm tree, just behind the pyramid of fruit packets.

  I exhaled. My eyes felt wet. ‘Up there,’ I said and pointed before whistling again.

  Rick lifted his head and hurried forwards. He reached up towards Chatty who sat on a branch, clinging to the trunk.

  ‘Pass
me an open packet of fruit,’ he murmured.

  Amy darted forward and obliged.

  Rick lifted it as high as he could and rustled it. Chatty’s head twitched. Slowly he slid down the tree and touched Rick’s hand. On tiptoe he reached up and lifted him down. He held him close, burying his face in the fur.

  ‘Sorry, little fella. So sorry. I’ve neglected you this last week,’ he murmured, eyes shining when he looked up. My heart swelled as he gently scratched Chatty’s head.

  Familiar whistles and squeaks came from Chatty who cautiously climbed onto Rick’s shoulder, as if he were telling him all about his overnight adventures. I mumbled his name and reached out my hand. He bared his teeth on it gently and clutched it with his paws. Then he wrapped his tail tightly around Rick’s neck and started to groom his hair, showing little interest in the food.

  Rick sank to the ground at the base of the tree. The three of us joined him quietly. Rick ate one of the strawberry pieces. The sweet smell became stronger as he chewed. Chatty stopped grooming him and slid down onto his lap and ate one too. Then he crawled in my direction when he heard me talk. I settled him on my knees and stroked the wiry limbs. Jackie passed him an unopened packet and he excitedly proceeded to open it, look more like his old self, especially when another piece of the dried fruit was in his mouth. I tickled behind his head as he ate.

  Amy noticed a cut on his ear. Jackie phoned the vet who agreed to come over to the island and give Chatty the once-over. Whilst she discussed the appointment with Rick, I kissed Chatty before making my way back to the shacks with Amy.

  Rick’s accusations. My recent realisation that I wanted more than ever to move my career forwards. Margot’s talk of a five-year plan that I’d already drawn up. It was time.

  Time to go home.

  34

  We sat on my bed in the shack. The air wasn’t as humid as usual. It was almost time for lunch but I didn’t feel hungry.