KAMARANG

Aug 16, 2009 Features / Columnists, The Creative Corner

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She appeared out of nowhere on the Kamarang landing…and trouble and terror came with her…

By Michael Jordan

Day One
“…was at Cuyuni that it happen,” Bap Reggie was saying, shouting above the din of reggae music and laughter and empty glasses slammed down on tables.
“John Dainty was alone in camp, with nothing to do, so he decide to hunt lil wild meat for the pot. He take a trail where he did see some bush cow tracks. He cover ‘bout half-mile when he suddenly see this whitish deer in front of he. He raise the shotgun. He get off a quick shot before the deer see he and take off in the bush. He follow. He see thick blood on the ground and he realize that it get hit bad. But then the blood trail stop. John dainty bend to the ground, trying to decide which way to go. And that is when he hear like heavy breathing just behind he…”
Bap Reggie stifled a belch, then stretched for the open whisky bottle. He drank, wiped his mouth, while the two prostitutes by his side looked up at him tentatively. They couldn’t be more than sixteen…seventeen the most, Vibert Sealey thought. They seemed to be getting younger every year. It never ceased to amaze him… the way these women seemed to smell gold. You could come quiet on the landing, playing broke, but somehow they would know…
Sealey reached for a fresh bottle of whiskey. He broke the seal, poured a shot, and then refocused his attention on Bap Reggie’s tale. He’d heard the story before. It was supposed to have happened to a hunter named John Dainty, who was supposed to have shot what he thought was a white deer. Only it had somehow changed into a woman…
“…Nearly jump out of he skin,” Bap Reggie was saying. “All he could do was stand there, staring at she. Then she turn she face sideways, and that is when he see it…this big, big hole by she temple.” He cupped his hands and was showing them the dimension of the wound when he broke off suddenly and stared into the Kamarang twilight. Sealey turned to follow Bap Reggie’s gaze.
A woman stood at the entrance to the open-air disco. In the murky light, he got an impression of long, loose hair, high cheekbones and a flimsy piece of dress that hugged the contours of her body. For a moment she remained at the entrance, like an animal scenting the wind. Maybe I was the influence of Bap Reggie’s story, but looking at her, Sealey was struck by the wild, illogical thrill of something out f the ordinary on the brink of happening. Suddenly her eyes seemed to shift to his table. He could swear that the edges of her mouth curved up in the hint of a smile. But then she was entering the disco, staring through the crush of gawking miners and women as she moved to the bar. He watched her order a beer—he would later learn that it was a cider—from Alvin Benn, the ex-policeman who ran Kamarang’s main night-spot. Now she turned from the bar and again. Yes…he was right about her Amerindian blood…high cheekbones and the sort of a wide, passionate mouth that often seemed to go with that type of bone structure. She couldn’t be more than twenty-two, he thought. Again, to Sealey, she seemed to be staring at them. Then she turned away and headed to one of the empty wooden tables placed in the sand outside. A few lewd invitations followed her, but these were subdued, as if the men were still stunned by the girl’s sudden appearance.
Besides Sealey, Jerry Mentore sighed. “That is woman, boy.” He nudged Leon, who was staring in the woman’s direction. “What you seh, youth?”
The boy swiveled round, almost spilling his drink. He smiled self-consciously then took a sip at is drink to cover his confusion. Mentore grinned at the woman sitting in his lap. “Shirleen, like you got competition.”
Shirleen sucked her teeth. “That is competition? One dry-up red woman?” She wriggled out of Leon’s lap and plumped herself down next to Leon.
Sealey looked at the woman again. Despite her aloofness, he sensed a disturbing undercurrent of sensuality. It was only a matter of time before the men began to crowd her table.
Almost on cue, a tall, fair skinned man, dressed in a white, bell-bottomed suit began to saunter over to the girl. The gold bracelets on his arms glinted in the Kamarang twilight. Sealey felt a surge of annoyance. The man in the suit was ‘Golden’ Bishop, a young miner whose father owned a drege in Kamarang and a couple others in Mahdia and Five Star. He had a reputation for throwing big money behind women he fancied. He also had a vicious streak when he was drunk. There were rumours that he had killed a thin—boned prostitute they called Razorblade at Kurupung.
“Well, said Bap Reggie. “Mister money himself.” He made a thumbs-down sign.
They watched as Golden Bishop, smiling, placed a bottle of liquor on the girl’s table. He sat, then leaned forward and said something to the girl. She responded by turning slightly away, not acknowledging his presence.
The Golden Bishop fumbled in his pocket. His hand came out clutching something. He let it spill from his fingers onto the table. Even from where he sat, Sealey saw the sudden sparkle of light.
“Oh jeeze…diamonds!”, one of the young prostitutes at the table squeaked.
But the girl remained sitting, body turned from the Bishop.
Sealey watched, knowing what was coming next. The Golden Bishop, still smiling, leaned to the girl, prepared to drop the diamonds down her dress.
Sealey couldn’t recall seeing the girl move, but there she was, facing the Bishop, her hand clamped on his wrist. She said something. They saw the Bishop draw back suddenly. The smile was gone. The two stared at each other. Then the girl turned away, staring into the disco.
The Bishop stared at her for a moment. Then he rose, pocketing the diamonds. He made a show of getting up slowly, but his knee bumped the table. He looked at the girl again, then swaggered off to a dim corner out of their sight; not bothering to pick up the bottle of liquor he had placed on the girl’s table .
Jerry Mentore heaved a sigh. Crazy…crazy woman. Ah mean, if she ain doing business, what the hell she dong here?”
Sealey shrugged. The same thought had crossed his mind. The girl had come, shattering the normality of the night. There was no doubt that she had a purpose here. There was a waiting in her. But waiting for what…or for who?
Leon, the boy Sealey had bought into the bush, wondered too…
A crazy, singing elation had surged through Leon as he watched the man called Golden Bishop walk off into the darkness. Bap Reggie and the others had been so sure that she would have gone off with the dredge owner. But he had known that she was different from the other women in this crazy, exciting place.
Strange, but for the past three days on the landing, he had sensed that something out of the ordinary was about to happen in his life. And he sensed now that this woman that he couldn’t stop staring at was part of this something that was about to happen to him. Looking at her poised at the disco entrance, looking at her walking to the bar, he’d had the strangest sensation of having seen all this happen before.
And suddenly he knew that he had to speak to her; even if she chased him the way she had chased the Bishop. He knew, somehow, that if he didn’t go to the woman tonight, there would be no second time, no second chance, because he would never see her again; she would be like a pretty girl seen from a passing bus…just a memory.
He took a deep breath. He mumbled something about going to urinate. Then, before he could stop himself, he had risen, and was picking his way through the crowd and heading for whatever fate lay for him outside…
Sealey was taking another shot of whiskey when something made him glance outside the disco. The girl was staring intently to the north.
Then she smiled, pushed a hand through her hair. Simultaneously, he heard Mentore bite back a yelp of surprise.
Leon was heading towards the girl’s table.
Bap Reggie cackled knowingly. “Vibert…yuh sly young rooster…”
Leon stood at the girl’s table. He smiled at her, and then said something.
Sealey tensed, prepared for trouble.
The girl smiled. She said something. And now they were both standing, and Leon was holding her, and they were both dancing in the moonlight sand…

(To be continued)

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