Read Online A Dolphins Dream by Carlos Eyles - Free Book Online Page A

dimness he made out a single bed in the far corner and a shadow he could not indentify. He quickly changed into shorts and a tee-shirt and when he returned, a cup of hot tea was awaiting on a table made of rough-hewn wood with crude benches attached. Esther’s gifts had been removed and he sat with his back to a wall and waited for Moses. On shelves across the far wall were pots, pans, and kettles. Opposite, there were more shelves, lined with scalloped newspaper that held plates, cups, glasses, knives and forks. On the floor close to the fire was a stack of freshly cut wood and piled in two far corners were hammers, crude tools, pieces of line, hoses and other assorted odds and ends that Compton could not make out in the half light. A kerosene lamp was lit by one of the girls, as though to give light to his observations. Both the girls were barefoot and wore flower-print dresses that wrapped around their bodies above their breasts and down to their knees. As the outside light faded altogether, mosquitoes buzzed the room in increasing numbers, so delicate that one could scarcely feel them on the skin until bitten. While the Fijians seemed indifferent or weren’t being bitten, Compton flailed away at their attacks. He finally excused himself and forged through his belongings for a bottle of insect repellent. Returning to the kitchen, he offered the repellent to his hosts who politely refused. “We are not as tasteful as you,” said Moses who had returned in his absence. “Come see the rest of our home.”
    Compton was ushered through the beaded door and by lantern light, Moses opened two glassless windows shuttered in corrugated tin, which were propped open by a tree branch. Compton held the lamp high to illuminate the bamboo walls and got a full view of a handsome, woven mat of palm fronds that covered the floor. In the far corner stood a wood frame bed with several cardboard suitcases beneath it. Other than the bed, the room was without furniture. Moses placed Compton’s bags in a corner across from the bed. “This is where you sleep.”
    They returned to the kitchen where a white cloth had been laid over the table and set with plates, glasses, knives and forks. Moses rubbed his hands together and removed his cap, revealing long flat curls that had been pressed to his head. “Ah,” he said, “supper is coming.”
    As the girls brought dishes to the table, Moses unabashedly described their contents. “And this one is curry and rice. Here is the cassava root that is ground up with onion and fried in oil, same as the fish.”  A glass of discolored water was placed before Compton, who began to pick it up, then hesitated. “The water comes from the well,” said Moses. “It is pure. No one gets sick from Fiji well water.”
    Compton quickly raised the glass in an attempt to conceal his transparent concerns. “To my new friends,” he said and drank half the glass.
    As the girls continued to work in the kitchen, Moses and Compton set upon the meal. Mariah sat with them at the table, but did not eat.
    “This meal is excellent,” complimented Compton between mouthfuls. “Do you always eat this well?”
    Moses in obvious delight replied, “It is amazing what they cook on a fire, eh? You have not eaten Fiji food?”
    “No, this is my first. Does it all come from your garden?”
    “All of it. We have breadfruit, taro, cassava root, bele, tomatoes, yams, carrots, onions, pumpkin, pawpaw, banana, beans, coconut and a few pineapple.”
    “Last winter,” said Mariah, “the hurricane came and we lost our garden. This is a new one. We had to live on wild yams and cassava root and fish for a long time. But now we have pawpaw and bele and breadfruit. We have plenty now.”
    Compton glanced around the house. “You had a hurricane here? Did it do much damage?”
    “I was the only one here,” recounted Moses. “Everyone was on Taveuni for the holiday. It tore off the roof. I was under Mariah’s bed for two days trying