Obeah Gal (A Jamaican Story)

Part 6

HOURS LATER MAREE FOUND HERSELF curled up soaking wet with Lucky asleep in her arms. She was looking straight up through a gaping space between the tattered roof and non-existent wall at leafless branches and a gray sky. Then she became aware of the silence left behind by the storm: a silence framed by the crashing of waves against the shore. But she wasn't sure this time whether it was really over. She'd already made the mistake of jumping into that conclusion once; she wasn't going to make that mistake again.

She let her gaze wander. All around her were fallen bamboo posts, pieces of board and wet dried palm leaves from the roof that had collapsed. Only the one wall with corners behind her was left standing, the opposite one with the door was gone, and the two sides were toppled inward against each other and leaning against the back wall, creating a three-sided tent. She closed her eyes for a moment, thinking a word of thanks to God that the shelter had been reinforced that way to keep her and Lucky safe. Then she sat up – and made a double take.

She had forgotten about the man. He was lying on the ground, breathing steadily, but laboriously. She jumped to a crouch beside him, her hand reaching with concern to hover over his head, neck, then chest and torso. He was still unconscious. Or maybe he was sleeping. She couldn't tell the difference without actually touching him, and she was wary of doing that after what happened last time.

But what had happened last time? She was still puzzling over it.

She looked at her hands, then at the man's upside down face. Whatever it was, she had no idea what that meant.

She tilted her head to study the man's features. She could see clearer now in the cool daylight streaming in through the gaps of the shelter. She inched herself around his head to get a better view of the face. It was almost triangular with high cheekbones, and he had tightly curled, brown-bleached hair growing down into sparse sideburns and a small beard that was a little darker in shade. The skin was almost the same colour, glistening subtly with wet and dry salt and sand as his abdomen rose and fell. His arms appeared strong, tapering into long, slender hands – not the hands of a man with a trade.

Then there were those pants. She had no intention of touching those again, at least not while they were wet. They were sleekly blue-green, unlike any material she'd come across before. They completed the package lying before her – and it sent reverberations of recognition in her subconscious that she did not understand.

Reverberations of the fear of not understanding...

The sound of Lucky barking outside the shelter snapped her out of her contemplation and she looked around, momentarily confused.

The man. He needed care and a proper place to rest. She'd managed to bring him this far, but how would she get him all the way home? She couldn't leave him here. And what about the storm? Was it over?

"Mi no know if di storm ova," she said as much to the man as to herself. She looked thoughtfully at the man. She had to find out. "Mi a go check."

She had to go on all fours to make her way between the fallen bamboo, clearing her way to the collapsed door opening, before she could straighten herself and look around. She wiped her face with the back of her hand, pushing aside wet strands of hair, and for a moment she wondered where she was. The shore had moved so far away that it was now a real sand beach – almost clean of stones and pebbles – and to the left, a long stretch of sea water lay trapped between the dunes as a newly-made pond.

This was not the fishing beach she knew.

Turning, she saw a large leafless tree with limbs twisted off, some of them still hanging on, as if a giant had tried to squeeze all the sap out of it; and a sheet of corrugated roof zinc was wrapped around one of its upmost branches. There were several like that, ravaged of foliage and limbs, replaced with junk of various kinds, and almost every coconut tree lay flat on the ground, leaving an unusually clear view up to the hill. A couple of yards away, Lucky was digging in the sand after some crabs.

She needed to get home and check on her animals. But was it safe to go back now? Did she even have a home left? She looked up at the gray sky. There was no round patch of clear sky up there, just a never-ending layer of gray. Maybe it was safe to go. She shouldn't be staying on the beach any longer and the man needed to be taken care of. Maybe if she went for Carl, he'd bring the push cart...

No. She frowned, looking in the direction of the village. She had a feeling that the paths and roads were not yet cleared of all the fallen trees and debris from the storm for them to be able to navigate wheels. But she could still get Carl to help.

Maree crawled back inside and paused by the man's feet. His left foot was sprained – she could feel it now. She looked around inside the hut but the only usable material was under his head. She returned outside and retrieved a piece of cloth, a torn shirt she'd glimpsed half buried in the sand earlier, and inspected it. It was wet and dirty but it would have to do. She walked quickly across the debris-strewn beach to meet the edge of the crashing waves and stooped to rinse the material in each wave surge. She rose and squeezed out as much salt water as she could, then hurried back with the intention to tie strips of the material to support a splint.

She made her way into the shelter with the folded material between her teeth to prevent it from getting dirty again, followed by Lucky. It wasn't until she sat down that she realized with a shock that the man was awake and watching her. She pushed herself back as far away as she could, which was only two feet, her heart pounding in her ears. She calmed down a little when he raised his hand in a peaceful gesture. He was sitting with one arm hugging his damaged side.

She took a deep breath as she rubbed Lucky's fur and slowly raised her gaze to meet his. The man did not look dangerous as he curiously stared back at her with eyes she couldn't tell the colour of. But then he winced as he inhaled too deeply, and closed his eyes in pain.

Maree jumped up to crouch beside him in concern, her hand reaching to hover his at his side without touching him. "You hurt. You need fi lie down an res'," she said. "Mi a go get help fi get you out a 'ere. You fi wait." She backed away, suddenly conscious of a closeness she was unused to.

The man held her gaze as he dipped his head slowly in acknowledgment. But then Maree caught her breath as she heard a voice. Or so she thought.

Don't go, it said. Don't be afraid.

But no words were spoken.

She stared wide-eyed at the man as she landed on her bottom. The voice was inside her head. But she knew she wasn't just hearing voices.

Help me walk.

Maree's jaw was already on its way to the floor before she snapped it shut and nodded. Quickly she got to work, finding a strip of bamboo, breaking it into two equal lengths. She placed them on either side of his sprained ankle, and while he held them in place, she tore broad ribbons from the material she found and tied them firmly around the splint.

Thank you.

She nodded again, made her way to the exit and tried to make the opening wider. She managed to clear a few branches and bamboo before the man appeared on hands and knees. She helped him up to his unsteady feet. She realized she would have to ignore her usual habit of keeping her distance from other human beings if she were to help this man. He was not strong enough to walk on his own. She drew a deep breath, steeling herself and made herself a crutch under his shoulder, her arm wrapped around his waist, steadying him.

It happened again. 

She couldn't avoid it this time: the unfamiliar current subtly flowing into her, steadier than before, not threatening, just disconcerting.

She mustered the courage to turn her head and meet the gaze of the stranger that was so close to her. There was no expression on that face, but the eyes were fathomless with multiple hues of dark blue.

She could feel it.

This was no ordinary man.

— ∞ —

I apologize to my readers; this story is on hiatus for the moment because I am focusing on my novel Shadow of the Past Trilogy - The Displaced (check it out! #ShadowOfThePastTrilogy. See link in the comments >>). But I promise I will get back to this one in time. I also am curious how the story will pan out ! ;)

Leave your comments and votes, I'd love to know what you think! AAAND... if you have ideas of where the story should go next... let me know! ;-)