The Silent Hunter

Chapter 7: Beast or Gentleman

Lena woke up, for a moment she did not know where she was. Then the memory came back. She was wearing one of Jonas' shirts, but it was much too big for her.

She saw a picture on the bedside table showing Jonas together with a large group of people with dark skin. In the middle was a man with strange jewellery around his neck and an arm around Jonas' shoulders.

She went downstairs and saw Jonas in the Kitchen and humming to himself.

"Oh. Good morning. Are you hungry? I'm making pancakes."

"Oh, great. I'm starving."

They sat at the table and Lena poured a huge bowl of syrup over her pancakes.

"Do you have any coffee?" she asked.

"No, just tea. I can't have caffeine, it freaks me out."

"You're freaking out?" she laughed. "In what way?"

"Have you ever seen the movie Corpse Bride?"

"Sure."

"The last time I drank too much coffee. I re-enacted that scene with the singing skeletons and sang."

"Ha ha ha ha. I wish I could have seen that. But I just realized, that I actually know almost nothing about you."

"Well then, ask me what you want to know!"

"So the people in the picture on the nightstand. Who are they?"

"That's my brother Tomala and his tribe.

"Brother?"

"Well, my blood brother better. I grew up in the Amazon, as you know, and there I lived in an abandoned temple. When I was 14, I found a stranded boy on the beach and we hit it off right away. After four years he tells me that he's actually the prince of a tribe on an island. So we built a boat and brought him back.

In return, his mother adopted me."

"That sounds so cool." Lena squealed.

"But being an advisor to the king got pretty boring after three years.

And because I grew up an outcast, I bought a ship and went looking for like-minded people."

"Yes, your ship. What was it called again?"

"The Scarlet Witch."

" Right.It looked a lot like that movie Treasure Planet. With bright red sails. Okay, let's try something else. What's your favorite movie?"

" The Lion King."

" Really?"

"Of course, he reminds me of my childhood and the songs are great."

"I just didn't think that you liked Disney movies."

"Just to be clear! Disney movies are beautiful, anyone who says otherwise is an idiot."

"That's what I always say. Okay, next question: Why do you call yourself Jaguar?" asked Lena.

"I didn't give myself that name."

"Really?"

"No. The natives called me that because I killed a caiman with a bite when I was a kid. And Jonas called me my mother just before she died."

"Oh. I'm sorry for you."

"That's alright."

When they cleaned up, Jonas got ready to run some errands.

"So, Lena, I'm going to get you some clothes and some food. But I don't want you to be bored while I'm away," he said with a grin.

"If he thinks I'm cleaning the cabin, he can forget it," she thought.