He was enjoying the superiority of the Monday morning quarterback (And in a world created in six days, what day but Monday could it be?), feeling a little smarter, a little more worldly than the mud skippers, when it occurred to him that he had no idea how to proceed. He could find the telecom center, if there was one, and contact the doctor, but then what would he do? Sit for two weeks on Yap until the Australians returned? Maybe they were wrong. Maybe there was a privately owned plane on the island. What about a dingy? How bad could it be. The sea looked calm enough. That’s it, take to the sea.
Or perhaps he should just stay on Yap and find a sympathetic woman to take his mind off the problem. It had always worked before, not to pos-itive results, but it had worked, dammit. Women made him feel better. He ached for a Mary Jean Cosmetics consultant. A cool, thin, married woman, armored in pantyhose and a bulletproof bouffant. A sweet, shocked, backsliding Born Again on a one-time sin quest to remind her of why re-demption was so so good. Mud skipper thinking.
He was reeling with the heat and the lack of possibilities when he saw her, up ahead, walking by the water’s edge, her back to him: a thin blonde in a flowered dress with a swing to her walk like a welcome home parade.
15
The Navigator
Out on the edge of the world, with no place to stay, no way to move on, no job, no life, no friends; hurt, confused, hot, thirsty, and irritated, Tuck was desperate. Desperate for just the momentary satisfaction that might come from attracting an attractive woman. No matter that he couldn’t do anything about the attraction.
What was she doing out here? Who cares? What a walk!
He quickened his pace, his legs and shoulders protesting against the weight of his pack, and approached within a couple of steps of the blonde.
“Excuse me,” he called.
She turned. Tuck stopped and backed up a step. Something is wrong here. Very, very wrong.
“Oh, baby,” she said, hand to her chest as if trying to catch her breath. “You scare little Kimi. Why you sneakin’ up like that?”
Tuck was dumbfounded. She wasn’t a natural blonde. Her skin was dark and she had the high cheekbones and angular features of a Filipino. Long false eyelashes, bright red lipstick, but lines in the face that were a little too harsh, a jawline that was a little too square. The dress was tight around the chest and there was nothing there but muscle. She wore a huge black medallion at her throat that looked as if it was made of animal fur. She needed a shave.
“I’m sorry,” Tuck said. “I thought you were something—er, someone else.”
Then the medallion turned its head and looked at him. Tuck let out an involuntary scream and jumped back. The medallion was wearing tiny rhinestone sunglasses. It squeaked at Tucker. It was the
biggest bat he had ever seen, hanging there upside down with its wings
folded.
“That’s a bat!”
“Fruit bat, baby. Don’t be scared. This Roberto. He no like the light. He like you, though.” Roberto squeaked again. He had the face of a fox or perhaps a small dog—a shaven Pomeranian with wings. “I’m Kimi. What you name, baby?” Kimi extended his hand limply to shake or perhaps for a kiss.
Tuck took two fingers, keeping his eye on the bat. “Tucker Case. Nice to meet you, Kimi.” He was horrified. Thirty seconds ago he’d been having lustful thoughts about a guy! A guy wearing a fruit bat!
“You look like you need a date. Kimi love you good long time, twenny bucks. Whatever you need, Kimi can do.”
“No, thanks. I don’t need a date. What I need is a boat.”
“Kimi can get boat. You like it in boat? Kimi take you round the world in a boat?” He giggled and patted Roberto’s little upside-down head. “That funny, huh?”
Tucker forced a smile. “No, I need a boat and someone who can pilot it out to an island.”
“You need a boat, Kimi can get boat. Kimi can pilot too.”
“Thanks anyway, but I really…”
Roberto shrieked. Tuck jumped back. Kimi said, “Roberto say he want to go on boat with you. How far is island?”
Tucker couldn’t believe he was having this conversation. He hadn’t really decided he would go by boat. “It’s called Alualu. It’s about two hundred and fifty miles north of here.”
“No problem,” Kimi said without hesitation. “My father was great navigator. He teach me everything. I take you to island and maybe we have party too. You have money?”
Tuck nodded.
“You wait over there in shade. We be right back.” Kimi turned and wiggled away. Tucker tried not to watch him walk. He was feeling sick to his stomach. He walked to a grove of palm trees that grew along the harbor and sat down to wait.
Kimi piloted the eighteen-foot fiberglass skiff out of a shantytown built over the water, across the harbor, to a dock in front of the marina restaurant. Roberto had unfolded his wings and was crawl
ing spiderlike over Kimi’s head and back, looking for a comfortable spot to get out of the light.
Tucker walked to the dock and looked at the boat, then out past the harbor, where waves were crashing on the reef, then back at the little boat. He wasn’t sure what he had expected, but he was sure this wasn’t it. Something bigger, maybe a cabin cruiser, with twin diesels and a big wheelhouse with some radar stuff spinning on the top—a modest but well-stocked wet bar, perhaps.
“I got you boat!” Kimi said. “You give me money now, I go get gas and look at map.”
Tucker didn’t budge. The engine was a forty-horse Yamaha out-board. A rubber tube ran from the motor to a gas tank that took up nearly all the space between the two seats. Tuck guessed it would hold at least a hundred gallons of fuel, maybe more. “Are you sure this thing has the range to make it out there?”
“No problem. Give me money for gas. Five hundred dollar.”
“You’re insane!”
“Gas very expensive here.”
“You’re insane and your bat’s glasses are crooked.”
“I have to pay man for boat. The rest is for pilot. You buy water, flashlight, and two mango, two papaya for Roberto, and two box Pop Tarts for Kimi. Strawberry.”
Tucker felt he was being hustled. “For five hundred dollars you can get your own mangoes and Pop Tarts.”
“Okay, bye-bye.” Kimi said. “Say bye-bye to cheap sweaty American, Roberto.” Kimi moved Roberto onto his shoulders and pulled the cord to start the engine.
Tuck imagined himself stuck on Yap for another two weeks. “No, wait!” He unclipped the flap of his pack and dug inside.
Kimi killed the outboard, turned, and grinned. There was lipstick on his teeth. “Money, please.”
Tuck handed down a stack of bills. He didn’t like it, but he didn’t have a choice. Actually, not having a choice made it a little easier. “Are we going to leave right away?”
“We go through reef before dark so we no smash up and drown. After that it better to go in dark. Go by stars.”
Smash up? “Shouldn’t we call for weather?”
Kimi laughed. “You smell storm? See storm in sky?”
Tuck looked around. Except for a few mushroom-shaped clouds beyond the reef, it was clear. He smelled only tropical flowers on the breeze and something skunky rising up from his armpits. “No.”
“Meet me here in half hour.” Kimi started the motor and putted off across the harbor toward a big tank with the Mobil logo stenciled on the side.
Tuck walked to the store and bought the supplies, then found the telecom center a few doors down and sent a handwritten fax to the doctor on Alualu to let him know that his new pilot was on the way.