Margarette is Very inventive She has such an imagination; you wouldn't
believe the ideas she comes up with.
And she is very strict. Sometimes
I cannot sit down for 3 days after I've spent time with her."
"She sounds just what you need
"I think so," he agreed.
He stared her.
"But there is always room for another woman.
"Leonardo," she chided, 'you're getting to be just like your brother.
I didn't ask you to come here so that we could start up a relationship.
I need to speak to Felix.
When will he be back from America?"
"Soon Leonardo said.
He paused.
"Felix was unhappy that you did not tell him you were visiting England
for a wedding."
"I didn't go to a wedding," she said.
"I needed some space to sort out my feelings, to find the answers to
some questions.
I wasn't sure what decision I was going to make.
I
didn't even know if I was coming back to Guachtal."
"But you're here," Leonardo said, 'and I'm glad."
He paused.
"I think Felix will be glad, too."
"I hope so," Jacey said.
"Do you think he'll contact me when he returns?"
"I'm sure of it," Leonardo said.
He smiled.
"And I i think he will have something very interesting to tell you."
It was a week before Paulo came to Jacey with a message from Felix and
a date for a meeting.
As she sat next to him in the car, she had a
feeling he was keeping something from her.
He seemed especially
cheerful, and kept hinting that she was going to get a surprise, but
when she pressed him for more details he suddenly became a picture of
innocent ignorance.
At the bungalow Felix came out to meet them.
He took Jacey's hands and
held them for what seemed a long time.
"I'm glad you came back," he said simply.
"Did you doubt it?"
she teased.
"When you left without saying goodbye?"
He smiled.
"I wasn't sure."
"It was cowardly of me," she said.
"But I needed time to think."
"I won't ask if you're here to stay," he said.
"But at least promise me that if you leave again, you'll tell me before
you go."
"I promise," she said.
She smiled.
"How was America?"
"Mercenary and crowded," he said.
"But useful."
He held out his hand.
"Do you fancy a walk?
I have a couple of surprises for you.
The first
one is in the rain forest."
Paulo was still standing by the car.
Felix glanced across to him, and
nodded.
Paulo got into the car and started the engine.
"Don't worry," Felix said to Jacey.
"He's coming back.
This isn't a kidnap attempt."
He led her into the rain forest.
It was the first time she had walked
under the canopy of trees and she imagined it as a green tunnel with a
high roof.
The air smelled warm and damp and, as she followed Felix, a
myriad of noises accompanied her.
"Where are we going?"
she asked.
"To Mata," he said.
"Paulo's village.
There's someone I want you to meet."
The village was larger than Jacey expected, with neat, round huts
spread over a wide area, separated by cleared ground and some
cultivated plots.
A group of small children ran forward to greet
Felix, and they stared solemnly at Jacey.
Felix spoke to them in
guttural Chachte, and Jacey thought she heard the word mochto.
The
children all gaped at her, open-mouthed.
"What have you told them?"
she asked Felix.
"The truth," he said.
"That you are a very powerful healer."
He led her to a hut at the edge of the village, close to where the rain
forest took over again.
"Hola tachta!"
he called, in greeting.
Jacey was expecting to meet the elderly mochto from the healing
ceremony.
She was totally unprepared to see a tall woman wearing
native clothes, her black hair falling loosely down her back, her skin
burned brown.
She was obviously not an Indian.
The woman smiled, held out her hand and said in perfect Spanish:
"Welcome, Dr.
Muldaire.
I'm Juanita Marquez.
I'm glad.
to meet you
at last.
I've heard so much about you from Felix.
Won't you sit down
and drink toltoc with me?"
Jacey squatted on the ground with Felix.
She felt amazed and pleased
that Juanita was still alive.
A young Indian girl came out of the hut
carrying two gourds which were filled with a deliciously spicy smelling
liquid.
"This is a traditional welcome drink," Felix explained.
"And it's quite safe.
Just fruit juices.
Drink first, and then we'll
talk."
"I'll answer all your questions," Juanita said.
"I'm sure you have a great many."
"I suppose the first one ought to be, what's it like being dead?"
Jacey said.
Juanita laughed.
"The reports of my death have been exaggerated.
Didn't someone famous say that once?"
"Most people seem to believe the reports," Jacey said.
Juanita leant forward, serious now.
"Well, in a way, they're true.
I'm not the greedy girl who married
Alfonso for his money, or the silly woman who did crazy things, like
redesigning that ridiculous villa.
I don't regret my passionate
affairs, and I love my sons.
But the woman who did all those things is
dead.
Quite dead."
"So who are you?"
Jacey asked, quite amused.
"A woman of the rain forest," Juanita said.
"I have been reborn."
She waved her hand round at the village.
"Everything I need is here.
I'll never go back to the town.
There's
nothing there for me now."
"Does anyone else know you're here?"
Jacey asked.
"Apart from Paulo and the villagers, and Felix."
"Leonardo knows," Juanita said.
"But it's dangerous for him to keep coming out here.
In the end
someone will suspect.
That's why I didn't tell Raoul.
He's a dear
boy, but so impulsive.
He would have been forever checking whether I
was safe, which is quite unnecessary, of course.
This is the safest
place in the world.
No one can arrive unexpectedly, and if someone
comes that I don't want to see, I simply hide until they've gone away."
She smiled.
"But I'm not isolated.
I know exactly what's going on in
Techtatuan."
"So you know Nicolas has plans to let the loggers into the rain
forest?"
Jacey said.
Juanita nodded.
"I know all about Nicolas Schlemann," she said.
"Do you know all about Lohaquin?"
Jacey asked.
Juanita looked startled, and Felix laughed.
"Jacey is determined to meet our famous eco-warrior," he said.
Juanita looked at him reproachfully.
"Doesn't she know?
Surely you've told her?"
Jacey turned to Felix.
"Told me what?"
she demanded.
"What is this mystery about Lohaquin?"
"There isn't one," Felix said.
He smiled.
"There isn't a mystery, because there isn't a Lohaquin.
There never
has been.
I started the rumour myself, mainly to give Nicolas some
opposition, and it gathered momentum, rather like a game of Chinese
whispers.
Everyone made Lohaquin into what they wanted him to be."
He
laughed.
"I must admit, I was surprised when I first saw him on the wanted
posters.
I had no idea I'd created such a scruffy-looking guy."
Taloma has a much more flattering picture," Jacey said.
"But didn't you feel you were raising false hopes?
You've created a
ghost, and ghosts can't help anyone."
"They can," Felix said.
"People brought money for Lohaquin, and I always used it to help the
Indians."
"But what about the loggers?"
Jacey insisted.
"A ghost can't fight them."
Felix stood up and smiled.
"Maybe not.
But I can."
He took Jacey's hand.
"Come and meet some of my friends here in the village.
And then we'll
go back home for the second part of my surprise."
Jacey enjoyed seeing the village, and felt pleasantly relaxed as she
walked back to the bungalow.
Paulo's car was outside.
"Good," Felix said.