The rafters never reach us. The beach is never aware they even tried. The Tet celebration gives us a fresh start for the new year, and we would cope with Christo’s death the same way we’d coped with Sten’s. But what about Karl? Karl wasn’t about to die. He was going to stick around indefinitely, a constant reminder of our troubles, an albatross around our necks.
This bothered me a great deal.
¦
I bent over, peering at Karl’s yellow face through the palm-tree fronds of his shelter. He was painfully thin. Even though he’d accepted food recently, flesh had fallen off him over the past week. Already his collar-bone stuck out so far it looked like a suitcase handle, as if you could pick him up by it. He’d probably have been light enough if I’d wanted to try.
Lying by the gap in his shelter – the one that gave him a clear view over the lagoon to the caves – was a coconut-shell half-full of water and a banana-leaf parcel of rice. What was left of the rice, I noticed, was browning. From this I guessed it was the parcel Francoise had left him yesterday, dried out from a day in the sun. It suggested Francoise hadn’t replenished the supply. I contemplated the possibility that this was a new therapy tactic – ignoring him so he’d be goaded into signs of life – but I doubted it. It was more likely that, gripped by the camp’s sudden upbeat brand of madness, Francoise had simply forgotten. I remembered my conversation with her the day before. She’d seemed concerned about him back then. It was interesting how quickly Sten’s funeral had turned everything around.
‘Karl,’ I said.
Maybe it was hearing his name, or maybe I was tricked by a breeze disturbing the palm fronds and playing the shadow slits across his head, but I thought I saw him move. I chose to take this as a reaction.
‘Karl, you’re a fucking albatross.’
I wasn’t much bothered that he couldn’t understand me. In a way, for Karl’s sake, it was probably a good thing.
‘You’re a black cloud.’
This time Karl did move. No doubt about it. He made a little jerky movement forward, like he was stiff from having sat still so long. Then slowly he reached out of the shelter and picked up the coconut-shell.
‘Hey,’ I said. ‘Drinking. That’s good.’ I rubbed my stomach. ‘Mmm.’
He took a tiny sip – it couldn’t have done more than wet his mouth – and put the shell back in its place. I glanced over. There was still a gulp of water left in the bottom.
‘You left some. Aren’t you going to finish it up?’ I rubbed my stomach again. ‘Mmm-mm. Very delicious. Aren’t you going to have a little more?’
He didn’t move. I watched him for a short while before shaking my head.
‘No, Karl. You aren’t. And that’s my point. You’re going to keep going like this for days. You’ll get so thin and weak that you won’t be able to drink even if you want to. Then we’ll have to force-feed you or something and this shark business will end up hanging over us for weeks…Maybe more!’
I sighed and, as an afterthought, kicked down his shelter.
‘Get sane, Karl. Do it in a hurry. Because Christo’s going to be dead soon.’
? The Beach ?
80
Shh
To confirm my fears about the black cloud, when I did return to the clearing I found it causing trouble. Francoise, Etienne and Keaty were sitting in a circle, and Etienne and Keaty were repeating the argument I’d heard them have before.
‘What’s the big deal?’ Keaty was saying, at the same time as he played his Gameboy. ‘He’s taking water. That’s good, isn’t it?’
‘Good?’ Etienne scoffed. ‘Why is it good for him to take a little water? Nothing is
‘Give it a fucking rest, Etienne. We’ve been over this a hundred ti…Oops.’ He paused, frowning in intense concentration. Then his body slumped and he let the Nintendo drop to his lap. ‘One five three lines. I was going fine until you distracted me.’
Etienne spat in the dust. ‘So sorry. How could I distract you from a computer game because our friend is in need of help?’
‘Wasn’t my friend. Hardly spoke to him.’
‘Does that mean you do not care about his problems?’
‘Sure I do. I just care about the beach more. And you should too. OK. Now this time I’m going for the record, so I don’t want any more of these bullshit distractions.’
Etienne got to his feet. ‘What would be a real distraction for you, Keaty? Please tell me. Then I will pray I never have to see it.’
The question went unanswered.
‘Sit down, Etienne,’ I said, in an attempt to lower the temperature.
‘Remember what Sal was saying at the funeral. We’ve got to get over all the difficulties we’ve had.’
‘Difficulties,’ he echoed coldly.
‘Everyone else is making an effort.’
‘Really? I am surprised to hear that you find it an effort.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘It means maybe I do not know you any more, Richard. I recognize your face when you walk towards me, but when you are close I recognize nothing in your eyes.’
I took this as some French saying he’d translated. ‘Come on, Etienne. This is stupid. Remember Sal’s…’
‘Sal,’ he interrupted, ‘can fuck herself.’ Then he marched away in the direction of the waterfall path.
‘Actually,’ Keaty muttered thoughtfully, not looking up from the tiny monochrome screen, ‘I doubt even Sal could manage that.’
A couple of minutes later Francoise also left. She seemed annoyed, so I guessed she didn’t feel the same way as Etienne.
When Keaty had finished his Tetris high-score attempt, I finally got the chance to ask him what he felt about doing the Rice Run with Bugs. He said he was pretty relaxed about it. He also said it had been a bit of a shock at first, but he’d come round to the idea if it was for the benefit of the camp. Aside from being a decent conciliatory gesture, he wanted to make sure we had some good stuff brought in for the Tet festival.
I wanted to talk more about Tet, but Sal wanted the Rice Run over in one day so they were getting a very early start and he needed to turn in. I sat alone for twenty minutes or so, polishing off a bedtime joint, then I decided to turn in too. With Zeph and Sammy on their way, Keaty wasn’t the only one with a heavy day ahead.
I stuck my head into the hospital tent on the way back to the longhouse, thinking Jed would appreciate another look in. But as soon as I saw inside, I wished I’d stayed away.
Jed was fast asleep, lying next to Christo. Christo, however, was semi-awake. He even recognized me.
‘Richard,’ he whispered, then muttered something in Swedish and made a gurgling noise.
I hesitated a moment, unsure of whether I should be talking to him.
‘Richard.’
‘Yes,’ I whispered back. ‘How are you feeling?’
‘I feel very bad, Richard. I feel very bad.’
‘I know, but you’ll be better soon.’
‘Stars…’
‘You see them?’
‘Phos…phos…’
‘…phorescence,’ I finished. ‘You can see it?’
‘I feel very bad.’
