Savannah

11

Chapter Eleven: Part 1: A Plausible Explanation

Mariana froze, the color departing her cheeks. She turned from Meriam to look towards the window, hesitated, before turning to face Meriam.

Elaine kept repeating Mariana's name. Trembling, the elder woman looked as ashen as the dead. "Mildred, doh bite me... oh Mildred!" she said.

Meriam, fearing for Elaine's wellbeing, tried to soothe the old woman while encouraging Mariana. "Mama, she can't harm you. She is only Mariana, ah friend. Ain't you Mariana?"

"Yes. mama, I iz Mariana. Not Mildred," she said.

Her English speaking skills surprised Meriam.

Elaine shook with fright. "You come in me room to bite me?" Elaine said.

"No mama. Me not bite you. Me come close window in you room."

Meriam looked confused, having remembered that she had closed that window earlier when she checked on Ms. Elaine. "I swear I closed dat window earlier today," she said.

"Window open and Valentina notice and send me," Mariana said.

Meriam, confused, remained silent as Mariana kept trying to comfort Elaine.

Mariana smiled at Meriam, who smiled back. "Mama, me iz not Mildred. Me Mariana. Me not going hurt you," she said.

Meriam tried to soothe Elaine's fears. "Mama, doh worry, Mariana will not hurt you. You safe."

"I safe?"

"Yes."

Elaine settled and Mariana excused herself and left. Meriam walked over to the window and examined it. The glass pane, and the burglar proofing, were both opened, and she pulled them closed, wondering if the proofing should be padlocked. There was a groove for it. Meriam raised the curtain, which obscured half of the window, to see the glass in that half broken. How long was it broken, she wondered? When she'd closed the window earlier, she hadn't lifted the curtain on that side. She peered onto the ground beneath the curtain, looking for splinters. Elaine's night light illuminated the room in a dim, cozy glow, too dark to see splinters. She turned on the lights and spotted splinters on the ground. Valentina cleaned the room yesterday. She reckoned if she cleaned it well, there'd be no splinters. The splinters got there between yesterday and tonight. What puzzled her was who'd want to break Elaine's window and why?

Chapter Eleven: Part 2: An Illicit Trading Point

Joe Cooper strode through the coconut field. The moonlight was his lone light-source. Candle flies lit, dimmed, vanished, and repeated. He carried a torch but deterred its use, not wanting attention drawn to himself. The sounds of a million night creatures welcomed him as he plodded along, a light crocus back on his shoulder. He needed to make sure the drop-off was hiccup free. The drop off point had changed since that day, when young Ralph Bastian dug it up, compromising it. The old spot was ten meters left of a colorful cloth and purple powder, right of the mud volcano's track.

He trekked along the left of the mud volcano's pathway, his eyes peeled for the huge silk cotton tree. Soon he found it. Its gloomy, looming head, covered with overhanging vines, looked like a gigantic, shadowed, winged beast about to descend and devour him. The wind howled, swished through leaves and resounded within trunks. Birds squealed and fluttered in the distance.

Cooper approached the beastly tree's gigantic trunk. It was the only silk cotton tree in that location. He rested his bag on the ground. He looked for the large root, which arched off the ground. It was, as Satnarine said, at the trunk's base. He stooped low, removing the three coconuts to show a slight depression. He began digging.

Moments later, he felt the top of a wooden box and cleared the surrounding soil before lifting the wooden lid. He opened the crocus bag, took out a medium-sized black plastic bag, opened it, took out the loaded Glock 17 pistol, rose and aimed it northwards. CRACK, CRACK! The sounds reverberated in the night as he spent the last shells. Joe loved doing that, though it wasn't necessary.

He placed the bag with the gun into the crocus bag. He removed one bundle of marijuana from the crocus bag and hesitated before replacing it. It tempted him. Cooper knew the consequences of tampering with the delivery. He tied the crocus bag and placed it inside the box, covering it with the wooden lid. He spread the soil over it, sprinkled his purplish powder, which his pundit friend had given him, that he believed would wreak havoc upon any trespasser. The powder further showed whether someone disturbed their drop off location. He replaced the coconuts and made his way home.

Chapter Eleven: Part 3: Morning Rain

It was Labor Day, a National Holiday. The sounds of laughter, in the early morning, alerted Meriam. She turned in its direction, and seeing the belly-out curtains, she realized she'd forgotten to close the windows. She rose and walked towards the window, parted the billowing curtains and peered out to see Valentina and Ana hosing down the backyard as Mariana and Lauren swept the water off it. Valentina tried to drizzle water over Mariana and Lauren, who dodged, giggling like little girls. Their happy eyes, laughing mouths and bright faces expressed their enjoyment. Lauren looked up suddenly.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty iz awake," she said.

Everyone looked up with smiling faces.

"Did we wake you?" Lauren asked.

"Was already awake."

The girls smiled at her.

Meriam was glad Mariana looked happy, remembering how upset she was last night. She remembered the incident in Elaine's room and thought of Elaine. She showered, dressed, and went downstairs, ready to start her daily duties. Elaine and Ralph were still asleep, so Meriam went to the backyard. The heavens suddenly thought of joining the cleanup, spewing droplets. The girls were sweeping the last water puddles off the concrete. Looking up, Meriam noticed the grey and white sky with its low grey clouds near the horizon, moving towards Savannah House. A Keskidee flew across the sky and called out its warning to everyone.

Lauren raised her arms above her head, smiling she joked. "I think I going to bathe in de rain. Come on girls, we already wet."

At that moment, the rain poured down in torrents and Lauren remained where she stood, enjoying the rain. The other girls remained in the rain, laughing like little girls. Meriam speculated they perhaps didn't enjoy their childhood enough. Then again, some experiences bring great thrill: You'd risk looking crazy, just to enjoy them. And she wanted nothing more than that. Yet, she stayed her legs. She remembered once doing that with one of her childhood friends, one day. They'd gone to the beach with her family and on their way home it rained and they'd both stayed outdoors bathing in the rain. They were both teenagers then, and her parents and siblings joked that they were crazy.

"Meriam, if you hadn't showered, I'd grab you to come in this rain," Lauren said.

Mariana turning to the others. "¿Deberíamos hacer que Meriam se bañe bajo la lluvia?" she said.

Ana and Mariana tried to pull Meriam into the rain. "Si... si."

Valentina waved them off. "No, no, no. Puede que tenga que ver lo de Elaine," she said.

Elma emerged walking under the side's eaves, an umbrella in her hand. Her eyes opened wide, brows furrowed, and a vein near her temples bulged as she shouted. "Lauren wat yuh doing. Like yuh gone mad?"

Lauren's smile grew wider, and she broke out in laughter.

Elma turned to Meriam. "Elaine is awake."

Elma spoke to Valentina as Meriam sheltered under the eaves, walking to the front. "Valentina, someone in front waiting for you. Dey say yuh supposed to go to a party."

"Yes. I going with Mariana and Ana in Siparia."

Turning, Meriam saw Elma, wide eyed, with hands on waist, scanning Valentina. "Like dat? My daughter have ah rotten influence on you. Lauren, wat wrong with yuh? Yuh gone mad, yuh hear," Elma said.

Valentina, Mariana, and Ana ran in the rain ahead of Meriam. They climbed into the tray of a white Nissan Frontier pickup, which sped off towards the front road.