Lady of the Snakes

Chapter 2

There's one!” Piggy cried. From the forest emerged a small, dirty boy, who was sucking his thumb and trotting down the beach. He was about six, with fair hair, and his trousers slipping down. He jumped from a rock to the sand, and they fell off. He stepped out of them.

“What's your name?” Piggy asked.

“Johnny.” answered the small one, and, wiping his thumb down his fruit-covered cheek, he stuck it firmly in his mouth, reassured that he was near someone doing something.

Piggy called the name to Nora and Ralph, who continued to emit short, low blasts on the conch. More children began to emerge from the trees, sitting on fallen palm trunks next to Johnny. There were multitudes of little ones around Johnny’s age, a dark haired boy a little younger than Piggy, and two twins, Sam and Eric, whom no one could tell apart. They settled themselves down and gave rapt attention to Ralph and the conch.

Nora tried averting her eyes to the boy's various states of nakedness, some half naked or mostly dressed in their different school uniforms, others down to their underwear, and still others who’d given up on clothes altogether and were completely naked. Deciding that the only way to do this successfully was to close her eyes altogether, she instead turned her attention to searching for her sister among the crowd of boys. When two girls, one eight years and the other five, emerged from the forest holding hands and carrying their sweaters, Nora felt so happy she nearly hugged Ralph. Running over to them, she inspected them for any damage.

“Nora!” The smaller one burst into tears. Picking her up and swinging her onto her hip, Nora kissed her forehead, then the eight-year-old’s.

“Bess! I was so worried-”

Her exclamation was interrupted by a small boy, the same age as Bess, tugging on the end of Nora’s dress. “Yes? What’s your name?” She crouched down. The boy had a dark, mulberry-colored birthmark on his face.

The boy shook his head wordlessly. Hiding behind her legs, he pointed at an incoming mass of black.

“What is that?” Nora squinted.

Ralph turned to her. “It's-it’s more boys.”

As the black mass came closer, the assembled group could tell that it was, indeed, more boys. They marched almost in step, wearing dark, long clothes and square caps that were surely sweltering hot in the island sun. Their leader was dressed the same, but with a gold cap instead of black. He called orders to halt, and the boys did so, gasping and panting. Then he leapt up onto the platform and called, “Who’s the man with the trumpet?”

“That's me.” Ralph said curiously. The leader of the boys eyed him in dissatisfaction, and Ralph suddenly wondered where he’d seen the other boy before. He seemed strangely familiar.  

“There’s no ship here then? No man?”

Ralph shook his head. The choir began to move around, and their leader shouted, “Choir! Stand still!”

“Please, Merridew, can’t we just sit down? Please, Merridew?” They begged, and just then there was a disturbance in the boys’ ranks. One of them, with dark hair, and flopped, unconscious, to the sand.

“All right then. Sit down. Let him alone.” Merridew glanced at the group. “He's always throwing a faint. Here-and in-”

Nora stood up indignantly. “He just fainted, and you aren't going to do anything about it?” The crowd murmured among themselves. She tore a piece from her sweater and muttered to Ada, “Go dip this in the pool.” When Ada returned, Nora took the damp cloth, knelt next to the unconscious boy, and placed it on his forehead, throwing off his dark cap as she did so.