Read Online A Dolphins Dream by Carlos Eyles - Free Book Online
Authors: Carlos Eyles
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where fragrances wafted that he could not identify. Around the last coil the mangroves disappeared and in a clearing on high ground above the blackened water stood a ramshackle dwelling.
The structure was a mishmash of wood and thatch, with a window-sized opening that ran the length of the facing wall and half the length of the far right-hand wall. At its apex smoke curled tightly above a corrugated roof. In the open doorway a large woman stood barefoot. Some of her was very young and some of her was very old. She wore a brown and white cotton dress that fell to her large feet, and her body seemed to fill the dress. Yet she moved from the doorway and down the steps with the grace of a dancer. Long hair touched her shoulders in silky waves and her skin was the color of walnut. When she smiled, two large front teeth protruded well past her upper lip and the upper left side of her jaw had no teeth at all. Grand, gummy gaps occurred on both sides of her lower jaw, yet her smile was open and warm as though her teeth were perfect and as white as seashells.
Moses jumped out and plunged the rebar into the mud and tied off the boat. He helped Compton with his gear and led the way out of the oozing mud to the foot of the house.
“Hello, hello,” greeted Moses. “I’ve brought a visitor.” He then spoke in rapid Fijian to the woman. When all was explained, he returned to English. “Michael, this is my mother, Mariah. This is Michael from America.” She nodded, but didn’t extend her hand. “Look at this, “ exclaimed Moses, pointing to Compton’s feet, coated with black mud up to his calves. He hurriedly went to a fifty-gallon steel drum that sat at the side of the house and returned with a pitcher of water. Kneeling at Compton’s feet, he began to wash his legs and feet. It was an awkward moment for Compton, for another man had never done such a thing. He wondered why he would do it. Because I’m white or have money?
When he was through, Moses retrieved Esther’s bundle and carried it inside, providing Compton with an opportunity to further inspect the surroundings. The thatched walls were supported by tree branches that had been cut and shaped with an ax and then bound together with something other than rope. The corrugated tin siding was patched in alongside one wall and the same material partially covered the roof. Another fifty-gallon drum stood at the far end of the house, rusted and scorched from a thousand cooking’s. Fishing line, floats, broken axe handles and shovels lay among unopened coconuts. Chopped wood was stacked along the house and an underwater trap of some kind lay rusting next to a path of crushed white coral that ran into a hut and covered the floor like a cruel stone carpet. Chickens clucked nervously around a split coconut, stabbing away at the white meat. They were oserved by ducks with strange moldy red faces, waddling by on their way to the swamp. Dried forked tails of large fish were nailed to a tree and clamshells a foot and a half across lay strewn about the side of the house. A grunting pig wrestled with a morsel in a wooden cage that was suspended over the swamp water.
Mariah came to the door and said in English, “Please come inside. That Moses he leave you to yourself. Come in, come in.”
Compton stepped inside the doorway of an unlit room that was the kitchen and eating area. In the corner, smoke plumed and an iron sheet the size of a tabletop was suspended over an open fire, on top of which trembled a steaming kettle. Two girls, in there twenties, were working both sides of the fire, one cutting vegetables and the other kneading a mound of dough. Mariah introduced them as Bala and Adi, her daughters. Both girls, woman really, shyly glanced Compton’s way with self-conscious smiles.
Moses handed Compton his backpack saying, “You change your clothes in this room,” nodding to a beaded curtain that hung in the doorway. Compton entered a room that was dark and in the
The structure was a mishmash of wood and thatch, with a window-sized opening that ran the length of the facing wall and half the length of the far right-hand wall. At its apex smoke curled tightly above a corrugated roof. In the open doorway a large woman stood barefoot. Some of her was very young and some of her was very old. She wore a brown and white cotton dress that fell to her large feet, and her body seemed to fill the dress. Yet she moved from the doorway and down the steps with the grace of a dancer. Long hair touched her shoulders in silky waves and her skin was the color of walnut. When she smiled, two large front teeth protruded well past her upper lip and the upper left side of her jaw had no teeth at all. Grand, gummy gaps occurred on both sides of her lower jaw, yet her smile was open and warm as though her teeth were perfect and as white as seashells.
Moses jumped out and plunged the rebar into the mud and tied off the boat. He helped Compton with his gear and led the way out of the oozing mud to the foot of the house.
“Hello, hello,” greeted Moses. “I’ve brought a visitor.” He then spoke in rapid Fijian to the woman. When all was explained, he returned to English. “Michael, this is my mother, Mariah. This is Michael from America.” She nodded, but didn’t extend her hand. “Look at this, “ exclaimed Moses, pointing to Compton’s feet, coated with black mud up to his calves. He hurriedly went to a fifty-gallon steel drum that sat at the side of the house and returned with a pitcher of water. Kneeling at Compton’s feet, he began to wash his legs and feet. It was an awkward moment for Compton, for another man had never done such a thing. He wondered why he would do it. Because I’m white or have money?
When he was through, Moses retrieved Esther’s bundle and carried it inside, providing Compton with an opportunity to further inspect the surroundings. The thatched walls were supported by tree branches that had been cut and shaped with an ax and then bound together with something other than rope. The corrugated tin siding was patched in alongside one wall and the same material partially covered the roof. Another fifty-gallon drum stood at the far end of the house, rusted and scorched from a thousand cooking’s. Fishing line, floats, broken axe handles and shovels lay among unopened coconuts. Chopped wood was stacked along the house and an underwater trap of some kind lay rusting next to a path of crushed white coral that ran into a hut and covered the floor like a cruel stone carpet. Chickens clucked nervously around a split coconut, stabbing away at the white meat. They were oserved by ducks with strange moldy red faces, waddling by on their way to the swamp. Dried forked tails of large fish were nailed to a tree and clamshells a foot and a half across lay strewn about the side of the house. A grunting pig wrestled with a morsel in a wooden cage that was suspended over the swamp water.
Mariah came to the door and said in English, “Please come inside. That Moses he leave you to yourself. Come in, come in.”
Compton stepped inside the doorway of an unlit room that was the kitchen and eating area. In the corner, smoke plumed and an iron sheet the size of a tabletop was suspended over an open fire, on top of which trembled a steaming kettle. Two girls, in there twenties, were working both sides of the fire, one cutting vegetables and the other kneading a mound of dough. Mariah introduced them as Bala and Adi, her daughters. Both girls, woman really, shyly glanced Compton’s way with self-conscious smiles.
Moses handed Compton his backpack saying, “You change your clothes in this room,” nodding to a beaded curtain that hung in the doorway. Compton entered a room that was dark and in the
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