Passionate Choice

Chapter 4.6

   They had reached the outskirts of the village. Small houses appeared on one side of the road. On the other side, a beach overhung with palms curved beside the greenish-blue water of the bay. A wharf of dark piles jutted out from the land and beside it a blur freighter was docked.

   "Heather said the telephone station was at the top of the street going up from the wharf, so I guess this is it," murmured Keith and swung the truck into a narrow street lined with small houses, each one in a garden bursting with plants and blazing with colour. At the top of the street, a white painted church with a steeple gleamed against the blue sky. Next to the church was a yellow shed with a red roof to which a steel tower was attached: the microwave tower by which all telephone communication was made.

   "You go in and make your call first," said Keith. "I want to go down to the wharf. That freighter looks like a Walker ship. I might as well check it out."

   Selena jumped down from the truck, slammed the door shut we walked through the wide-open door of the yellow shed. Inside there was only one room. It was occupied by a broad-shouldered black woman. She was dressed in a sleeveless cream-coloured dress and her hair was twisted into tiny tight plaits all over her head. She was seated at a table on which there was a telephone. She nodded to Selena and said in beautifully pronounced English, "Can I help you?"

   "I'd like to make a phone call to England, please. Is that possible?"

   "It is possible. Please give me the number you want to call, the name of the person you wish to speak to. Do you wish to pay for the call now or do you wish to use your international telephone credit card number?"

   Selena said she would pay after she had made the call, gave the number and her sister's name. The woman wrote everything down on a pad before her. Then, after indicating that Selena should sit down on one of the chairs provided, she picked up the receiver of the phone on the table and dialed. In a few seconds, she was speaking, giving all the information to someone on the other end of the line. That done, she set down the receiver and said to Selena, "When the Roadtown operator reaches the number you want, the phone in that kiosk over there will ring. Go into the kiosk, pick up the phone and speak into it. The party you are calling will answer." The woman smiled for the first time. "Are you on holiday here?"

   "Yes, I am."

   "Where are you staying?"

   "At the Pelican's Roost."

   "Ah yes, with Heather. I hope you are comfortable. My cousin, Veronica, is the cook there. You find the meals good?"

   "Very good."

   Footsteps sounded on the path outside. A man's figure darkened the doorway. He spoke to the telephone operator in the local lilting accent which Selena had difficulty in understanding even though the language spoken was English.

   "You will have to wait, Tom," said the telephone operator. "This lady is before you." She smiled at Selena. "Tom is my brother. He had the toothache badly and wants to make an appointment with the dentist in Roadtown."

   The man sat down on a chair and for a while, the conversation was all about toothache and what to do for it when you couldn't get to a dentist easily. Selena learned that Tom was manager and owner of the village hotel, that the freighter down at the dock was a Walker ship and had brought the monthly cargo of frozen meat and other foods, hardware, furniture and liquor from Florida.

   "Don't you get any goods from Britain?"

   "Oh, yes. If you go into the grocery store, you will see English marmalade on the shelves, English canned goods," said Liana, and just then, the telephone in the kiosk rang. "Go now. Go in and pick it up," she said and lifted her receiver.

   Selena was soon talking to her sister. The call lasted only a few minutes. Selena paid for it and after thanking the operator, she stepped outside into the hot sunshine, to await Keith's return.