“Now where did you put the soap?”
Chapter Six
A Decent Proposal
Onourwalkbackto the outpost, I ended up several feet in front of Dinesh, eager to return to the privacy of our hut and hankering for a post-fuck nap to be honest.I was completely in my own head, visualizing what had occurred in the tidal pool, when I walked straight into sticky softness that immediately sent a primaeval alarm through my entire body.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!”I cursed, swiping at the webs of spidery silk that clung to me all over, and glancing down to see if the owner of this trap was anywhere on me.The sight that greeted me increased my horror and made my breath stop with fear.Spiders, glossy black and as small as a pin, covered my legs beneath the rolled hems of my trousers.
“No, no, no, no—” I yelled, as I bent to remove them and danced about, trying to shake them off.
Then Dinesh grabbed my arm.
“Simon!What on earth’s the matter?”
Couldn’t he see, for fuck’s sake?
“Spiders!Get them off me.Get them off!”I shouted, wrenching my limb away from his hold and brushing at myself.
“There’s nothing on you, Rooster.Did you walk through a web?”
“Yes I walked through a web!Get them off!”
But I stopped and tried to calm myself.I gazed down at my legs which were only pale and free of anything but sand and a few wayward freckles.I shivered with disgust and could hardly believe that there was nothing there.I’d seen them.I’d seen spiders all over my calves and feet.And they were gone.Which was good.Of course it was, but I gazed at the captain with helpless agitation.
“There were spiders.On my legs.I swear it.”My voice was a trembling whisper.
He looked my legs over, turned me around, brushed at my back as if to admit that there might be a spider somewhere upon me.
“Well, there’s nothing there now.Perhaps it was shadows…”
Yeah.Shadows making me lose my composure in an instant and dance around like a dervish.
“Right,” I said.I didn’t want to argue.We’d had such a nice time and I didn’t want to ruin it.
As we carried on, the skies opened up and rain came down in a sudden torrent.It soothed my still-crawling skin but had quickly soaked us.
Dinesh took my hand and began to run.
“Come on,” he said, grinning at me as though the spider incident had never happened.
I decided to act that way as well and gave him a brave smile back as I let him pull me along.But the incident in the ocean earlier, and now this, had me questioning my reason.
The crew had hastily drawn a canvas cloth over the skiff into which they had put the supplies for their return to theArrow, and were huddled under one of the leafed canopies that made up the outpost.Raised voices could be heard, and Gau and Black were gesturing aggressively at each other.
“Go on ahead.I’ll meet you at the hut in a moment,” Captain Martin said, eyeing the two men with concern.
“All right.”
I waved to Jimena who was nursing her babe and singing to him under a canopy where she had placed the wooden bowl of ground cacao beans.José was playing some kind of game with the older child, using shells and sticks placed on the sand in a drawn grid.José glanced at the arguing men, met my gaze and smiled, then turned back to the game and moved a clamshell from one square to another.The child pointed at a mollusc and said something.José replied and the child laughed.
I headed back to the hut I shared with Dinesh.
The men had been well-behaved on Talamanca so far.What with the heat and brief bouts of torrential rain, perhaps the flare of tempers was inevitable.Francis’s beach was a paradise in many ways, but not exactly a familiar environment for theArrow’screw, who were used to a rougher life and wanted options when they landed.
The location was almost too peaceful.
Once inside the enclosure, I stripped off my wet trousers and dried myself with a large linen cloth.The hut had been supplied with more comforts since José had returned from the village with Jimena.I couldn’t fault the hospitality of Francis’s community.
