Savannah

22

Chapter Twenty Two: A Misunderstanding

Monday morning, Meriam returned to Savannah House. Aarav called her around one o'clock in the afternoon, informing her he was leaving for Guyana on Wednesday. He was going for three weeks. Meriam was still puzzled about him staying Sunday afternoon till the night, when he was so keen on leaving before one o'clock to head home.

"It shocked me seeing you in Fullerton yesterday."

He was quiet.

She continued. "I remember you wanted to leave before one o'clock."

Still, he said nothing.

"How come you stayed?"

He was silent before answering. "Keith begged me to catch crabs with him."

She wondered if he was telling the truth. She left the topic alone, but then wondered how come he caught only three crabs, when she, Bani and Talia got half a bag. "And you only ketch three crabs?"

"Yeah. We parked in de playground and walked around searching. I guess we chose de wrong spot."

Meriam thought maybe he was telling the truth. But she felt it strange that Keith didn't know where the crabs were. She said nothing.

In the evening Dulcy came while Meriam sat with Elaine on the porch. Elma was busy in the kitchen, and Lauren went to visit Enrique. Ralph was playing video games with his friends Tyo, Mike and Ricardo in the games room.

Meriam considered asking her about Keith and Aarav going crab catching. "So Keith went to catch crabs yesterday?"

Dulcy looked confused. "He didn't go anywhere to catch crabs."

Meriam grew more confused. "Aarav said he went with Keith to catch crabs."

Dulcy moved to sit closer to Meriam and began whispering. "No, he lie. He take Mariana to catch crabs."

Meriam stared, shocked. "What? Wasn't she arrested?"

"Mariana... arrested?"

"Yes?"

Dulcy was silent for a moment before she continued. "I didn't know dat. But it was she. He dropped Keith and drove towards the playground. Then I see Mariana walking towards the old guest house on de estate."

Meriam knew the old guest house. It lay by the seaside mid-way between Columbus Bay and Icacos point, just after you passed the first swamp. One can get there using the old estate road. Whenever she passed there, the guesthouse always appeared abandoned and littered with Jack Spaniard nests.

Dulcy continued. "Aarav with Mariana."

Meriam listened. The last she'd heard, Mariana was to be repatriated to Venezuela.

Dulcy's gossip had no end. "Yuh know he was with Agatha's niece, Emma, too."

"Agatha's niece?"

"Yes, she came with Agatha the first weekend you went home."

Meriam recalled that was the first time Agatha fired her. She remembered Mr. Bastian saying to Elma, the Thursday he came to Savannah, she had relatives visiting. He said they might visit that weekend. But she saw no one. "She was here?"

"Yeah."

Meriam couldn't believe it. "I didn't see anyone. Agatha came alone."

"Agatha dropped off, and they went to the beach."

"Oh."

Dulcy continued. "Aarav was with Emma. You know how I know dat? One day, he gave Agatha a bag of chocolates to give her. If you see de smile he had."