Authors: Ken Douglas
And the engine died.
All three turned toward the stern.
“
Could be nothing,” Victor said, but after several failed attempts to start it back up he said there was water in the fuel, “And that is a bad thing. Maybe a blown head gasket.”
“
How can that be? We just had the engine rebuilt. In your yard.”
“
Even my guys aren’t perfect.”
“
What are we going to do now?” Meiko asked.
“
I’ll have my mechanic fly up tomorrow and check it. It might be something simple, but if it is a head gasket, or worse a cracked block, you’re going to be here a while.”
“
Can’t your mechanic fix it?”
“
Sure, but you might have to wait for the parts.”
A week later and Julie was sitting in an outside restaurant overlooking the anchorage, waiting for bacon and eggs. Victor and Meiko had taken the day charter over to Palm Island and wouldn’t be back till sunset. Victor had a charter flight back to Trinidad at six-thirty. His mechanic’s son had been in an auto accident and he didn’t want to leave Trinidad until the boy was well. Victor had some business to take care of that he said would take a couple of days. He promised to return in less than a week with the mechanic in tow.
Julie was beginning to think she was stuck forever.
The waitress brought her breakfast and set it on the table, but Julie didn’t notice, because she was watching the black schooner Snake Eyes wind its way through the reefs.
“
Doris,” she called out to the retreating waitress.
“
You called?” the tall woman turned toward Julie.
“
If you wanted a diesel engine fixed, who would you call?”
“
I thought you was never gonna to ask. Sittin’ here waitin’ for a lazy mechanic to come up from Trinidad, dumbest think I ever heard. Call Henry. He be da best. He there, down da way.” She pointed a bony finger toward the street. “Green building, yellow door, can’ miss it. He been waitin’ all week for you to come by him.”
“
Thank you, Doris,” Julie said, and she put the money for her breakfast, along with a generous tip, on the table.
“
Not gonna eat da eggs?” Doris said, with a toothy grin, scooping up the money.
“
Not this morning.” Julie pushed her chair away from the table. She stood and pulled her clammy tee shirt away from her body. It was early and already her clothes were sticking.
“
They not too good today, anyway,” Doris said, but Julie didn’t hear her because she was already out of the restaurant and hurrying down the street.
She knocked on the yellow door.
“
He not home,” said a little girl about seven. She was standing by the side of the building and she was selling fresh vegetables.
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When will he be back?” Julie asked.
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Just now,” the girl said.
“
Does that mean the same here as it does in Trinidad?”
“
What it mean in Trinidad?”
“
Oh I don’t know, five minutes, a half hour, maybe next week.”
“
Yeah, it the same.” The girl was laughing. She pulled at a braid and asked, “You wanna buy some vegetables while you waitin’?” Her smile was like a quarter moon on a dark night, perfect white teeth and two twinkling stars for eyes.
“
How much are the tomatoes?” she asked.
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One dollar EC a pound?”
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A dollar a pound?”
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Yes ma’am and you get to pick your own.” Julie looked at the man sitting under a shade tree not too far away and recognized his smile, it matched the little girl’s.
“
How many you want?” Her smile grew and Julie was hooked.
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How many should I buy?”
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Many as you need.”
Julie picked up two tomatoes and put them on the scale. The little girl dropped a pound weight on the other end.
“
Not enough, you need more, has to make a pound.”
Julie put two more on the scale.
“
Oh, no, over a pound,” she picked up the pound weight and replaced it with a two pounder. “Oh, lady, you need more, has to make two pounds.”
“
How about if I take one off?”
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Oh, no, you can’t do that. Once you put them on you have to buy them.”
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Then how about you put a half pound weight on and I pay you a dollar fifty?”
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I only have these two weights.”
Julie looked over at the girl’s father who was flashing a lot of bright teeth from the inside of the largest smile she’d ever seen.
“
I guess I should pick some more tomatoes,” she said.
“
I guess.” He laughed.
She dropped two more on the scale.
“
Whoops, over two pounds.” She dropped the one pounder back on. “Now it has to make three pounds.”
“
I don’t think I want three pounds.”
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Has to make three pounds,” she insisted.
“
This time I’m only gonna put one tomato on.” She did and it was just under three pounds. “That’s all.” Julie handed her a five dollar bill.
“
Oh, no, lady, I don’t have no change.”
Julie looked over at her father. He shrugged.
“
Okay, keep the change,” she said.
“
Oh, no, I couldn’t do that. Do you want a cucumber?”
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How much?” Julie was on to her game now.
“
Only two dollars.” She knew Julie had wised up. No more money out of her. She took her bag of tomatoes and her one cucumber, walked over to the girl’s father and held out her hand. He shook it.
“
She’s quite a salesman.”
“
She put me out of business, now I just watch.”
“
I can see why.”
“
You come back in a few years, I’m gonna be a rich man. But till she makes me rich I have to repair diesel engines. My name’s Henry and I bet you be lookin’ for me.”
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Yes, I am. I have a diesel engine that doesn’t want to run.”
“
I can come later today.”
Julie thought about Victor and Meiko enjoying themselves at Palm Island. Victor would be back by sundown. She didn’t know why, but she felt intimidated by him. He called her the captain, but he made all the decisions, and he’d decided on bringing his mechanic up from Trinidad. He didn’t like it when he didn’t get his way. He wouldn’t want Henry on the boat. There would be an argument and she’d give in for harmony’s sake.
“
Can’t you come earlier?”
“
Can’t, gotta wait till Darla sells her vegetables. It’s my morning job.”
Julie looked over the vegetables on the small table, tomatoes, cucumbers, white radishes, she loved those, and a few heads of lettuce. “How much for the lot,” Julie asked.
Darla’s eyes lit up, but she caught a sharp look from her father and frowned.
“
You don’t have to buy it all,” he said. “That wouldn’t be fair to you and it wouldn’t be fair to Darla.”
“
I can’t wait till this afternoon,” Julie said.
“
You want me to look at it before the ferry comes back from Palm Island?”
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Yes.” How had he figured that out? “Is it that obvious?”
“
I tell you what,” he said, “you stay and watch Darla. She be too young to be selling by her lonesome, an’ I’ll go look at your motor.”
“
Let me get this straight. You go and look at my engine and I take your place under that tree?”
“
Yes ma’am.” His smile was a block wide.
“
My dinghy is parked at the dinghy dock.”
“
I have my own boat. It’s got all my tools on it. Here, you might want this. Our sun is powerful hot.” He was holding out his wide brimmed straw hat.
“
You get thirsty, we got lemonade, jus’ ask Darla.” She accepted his hat and then he was off, ambling toward the dock with a stiff-legged limp.
For the next two hours she sat under the wide willow tree, her back against its bark and the passing day shielded from her eyes by the broad brim of Henry’s hat. Every time she heard a customer she opened her eyes and made sure that Darla was all right, then she dozed back off. Twice Darla woke her when her mother brought out fresh lemonade. Julie was in heaven.
“
How much for tomatoes?” Julie opened her eyes at the sound of the high pitched German accent, and peeked out from under the hat. There were three of them. The one speaking was blond, with his back to her. The other two had black hair and rippling muscles.
“
A dollar a pound,” Darla said. The blond man spoke in German with his two muscleman companions, and the men looked at Darla, and laughed. They looked like body builders, thick chested and thick necked.
“
My friends are saying a dollar is too much,” the blond man said. He waved his hands when he talked and he stood ramrod straight, like he was pushing his shoulders skyward, trying to be taller. Kurt did that.
Darla’s smile faded to false. There was something about the blond man she didn’t like. Julie pushed the hat back, not wanting to miss anything, and one of the musclemen caught her stare and started babbling in German. The blond man glanced over and saw Julie and frowned. Julie bit into her lip to keep from screaming. Then the German stalked away with the two heavyweights in his wake.
The blond man had Kurt’s face, without the scar. It must be a twin. And that black schooner that looked so much like Challenge, now she knew why. Twin boats for twin boys.
“
Do you speak anything beside English?” Darla asked.
“
I speak Japanese,” Julie said.
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Is that because your daughter is Japanese?” Darla asked. There really are no secrets on a small island, Julie thought.
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In a way. My husband was Japanese.”
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Where is he?”
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He died.”
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Oh,” Darla said. She thought for a few seconds, then said, “I can speak German.”
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Really?”
“
We used to live in Germany, till Daddy hurt his leg. He used to fix all the engines on the big boats, but after the accident he couldn’t work any more and we had to come home.”
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What happened to your island accent?” Julie asked.
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If I don’t sound like everybody else the other kids think I’m stuck up.”
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How good is your German?” Julie asked.
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I was born there. I’m nine years old, we only came back last year.”
“
So that’s why you lost your smile, because of what those men were saying.”
“
He said I was pretty, for a black baby. Only he didn’t say it so nice.”
“
I see,” Julie said.
“
But when that big man saw you, he said, ‘Look, it’s her,’ and the man with the funny voice looked at you and said that they should leave, ‘right now.’ Then they left. They didn’t sound like they like you very much.”
“
It didn’t look like I was his most favorite person,” Julie said.
“
They came on that black boat that came in this morning.”
“
How can that be? I don’t even think they’ve come ashore yet.”
“
They’ve been anchored at Chatham Bay, on the other side of the island, for the last three days. There’s five men on that boat. It’s only two miles from here. They could have walked easy, or took a taxi. They don’t have to go back, cause now their boat is here.”
“
Really?” Julie said.
“
I don’t think they’re nice men,” Darla said. “I think you should go away. In the middle of the night, when they’re not looking.” And Julie thought that Darla was one smart little girl.
“
How can I? My engine isn’t working.”
“
It will be,” Darla said, “My dad can fix anything that runs.” Her pride in her father was evident and Julie was struck by the difference between her and Victor. Victor cultivated and affected a British accent because he thought it elevated him above his peers and Darla talked with an island accent so that she sounded like her peers, not better. In some ways Darla was the more adult of the two.
“
There’s your father now,” Julie said, “I hope he has good news for me.”
“ ’
Course he does, I told you if it’s an engine, my Dad can fix it.” Darla waved and her father waved back. “It hurts when he walks,” Darla said. “He pretends it doesn’t, but I know better.”
Julie pushed herself up and dusted herself off. Darla was right. She could see the grimace in Henry’s eyes as he walked, but he grinned at her and his eyes lit up when Darla ran to him and took him by the hand.
“
Got it running,” he said.
“
What was wrong?” she asked.
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Water in the right fuel tank.”
“
From a cracked block?” Julie asked, remembering what Victor had said.
“
Nope, nothing wrong with the engine, just water in the tank.”
“
I don’t get it, we have a Raycor.”
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The best filter in the world won’t handle the water I found. Water to fuel ratio was about fifty-fifty.”
“
That’s not possible.”
“
It is if someone put it in,” he said.