The Cay Page 7

  The storms bred, Timothy said, in the eastern North Atlantic, south of the Cape Verde Islands, in the fall, but sometimes, when they were freaks, and early, they bred much closer, in a triangle way off the northeast tip of South America. Once in a great while, in June or July, they sometimes made up not far from Providencia and San Andrés. Near us. The June ones were only pesky, but the July ones were dangerous.

  “Dis be a western starm, I b’guessin’. Dey outrageous strong when dey come,” he said.

  Even Stew Cat was nervous. He was around my legs whenever I moved. I asked Timothy what we should do to protect him. He laughed. “Stew Cat b’go up d’palm on d’lee side iffen it b’gettin’ too terrible. Don’ worry ’bout Stew Cat.”

  Yet I could not help worrying. The thought of losing either of them was unbearable. If something bad happened on the cay, I wanted it to happen to all of us.

  Nothing changed during the afternoon, although it seemed to get even hotter. Timothy spent a lot of time down at the raft, stripping off everything usable and carrying it back up the hill. He said we might never see it again, or else it might wash up the hill so that it would be impossible to launch.

  Timothy was not purposely trying to frighten me about the violence of the storm; he was just being honest. He had good reason to be frightened himself.

  “In ’28, I be on d’Hettie Redd sout’ o’ Antigua when d’tempis’ hit. D’wind was outrageous, an’ d’ol’ schooner break up like chips fallin’ ’fore d’ax. I wash ashore from d’sea, so wild no mahn believe it. No odder mahn from d’Hettie Redd live ’ceptin’ me.”

  I knew that wild sea from long ago was much on Timothy’s mind all afternoon.

  We had a huge meal late in the day, much bigger than usual, because Timothy said we might not be able to eat for several days. We had fish and coconut meat, and we each drank several cups of coconut milk. Timothy said that the fish might not return to the reef for at least a week. He’d noticed that they’d already gone to deep water.

  After we ate, Timothy carefully cleaned his knife and put it into the tin box, which he lashed high on the same tree that held our water keg.

  “We ready, Phill-eep,” he said.

  CHAPTER

  Fifteen

  AT SUNSET, with the air heavy and hot, Timothy described the sky to me. He said it was flaming red and that there were thin veils of high clouds. It was so still over our cay that we could hear nothing but the rustling of the lizards.

  Just before dark, Timothy said, “ ’Twon’t be long now, Phill-eep.”

  We felt a light breeze that began to ripple the smooth sea. Timothy said he saw an arc of very black clouds to the west. They looked as though they were beginning to join the higher clouds.

  I gathered Stew Cat close to me as we waited, feeling the warm breeze against my face. Now and then, there were gusts of wind that rattled the palm fronds, shaking the little hut.

  It was well after dark when the first drops of rain spattered the hut, and with them, the wind turned cool. When it gusted, the rain hit the hut like handfuls of gravel.

  Then the wind began to blow steadily, and Timothy went out of the hut to look up at the sky. He shouted, “Dey boilin’ ovah now, Phill-eep. ’Tis hurrican’, to be sure.”

  We could hear the surf beginning to crash as the wind drove waves before it, and Timothy ducked back inside to stand in the opening of the hut, his big body stretched so that he could hang onto the overhead frame, keeping the hut erect as long as possible.

  I felt movement around my legs and feet. Things were slithering. I screamed to Timothy who shouted back, “B’nothin’ but d’lil’ lizzard, comin’ high groun’.”

  Rain was now slashing into the hut, and the wind was reaching a steady howl. The crash of the surf sounded closer; I wondered if it was already beginning to push up toward our hill. The rain was icy, and I was wet, head to foot. I was shivering, but more from the thought of the sea rolling over us than from the sudden cold.

  In a moment, there was a splintering sound, and Timothy dropped down beside me, covering my body with his. Our hut had blown away. He shouted, “Phill-eep, put your ’ead downg.” I rolled over on my stomach, my cheek against the wet sand. Stew Cat burrowed down between us.

  There was no sound now except the roar of the storm. Even the sound of the wind was being beaten down by the wildness of the sea. The rain was hitting my back like thousands of hard berries blown from air guns.

  Once something solid hit us and then rolled on. “Sea grape,” Timothy shouted. It was being torn up by the roots.

  We stayed flat on the ground for almost two hours, taking the storm’s punishment, barely able to breathe in the driving rain. Then Timothy shouted hoarsely, “To d’palm.”

  The sea was beginning to reach for our hilltop, climbing the forty feet with raging whitecaps. Timothy dragged me toward the palm. I held Stew Cat against my chest.

  Standing with his back to the storm, Timothy put my arms through the loops of rope, and then roped himself, behind me, to the tree.

  Soon, I felt water around my ankles. Then it washed to my knees. It would go back and then crash against us again. Timothy was taking the full blows of the storm, sheltering me with his body. When the water receded, it would tug at us, and Timothy’s strength would fight against it. I could feel the steel in his arms as the water tried to suck us away.

  Even in front of him, crushed against the trunk of the palm, I could feel the rain, which was now jabbing into me like the punches of a nail. It was not falling toward earth but being driven straight ahead by the wind.

  We must have been against the palm for almost an hour when suddenly the wind died down and the rain became gentle. Timothy panted, “D’eye! We can relax a bit till d’odder side o’ d’tempis’ hit us.”

  I remembered that hurricanes, which are great circling storms, have a calm eye in the center.

  “Are you all right?” I asked.

  He replied hoarsely, “I b’damp, but all right.”

  Yet I heard him making small noises, as if it were painful to move, as we stood back from the palm trunk. We sat down on the ground beside it, still being pelted with rain, to wait for the eye to pass. Water several inches deep swirled around us, but was not tugging at us.

  It was strange and eerie in the eye of the hurricane. I knew we were surrounded on all sides by violent winds, but the little cay was calm and quiet. I reached over for Timothy. He was cradling his head in his arms, still making those small noises, like a hurt animal.

  In twenty or thirty minutes, the wind picked up sharply and Timothy said that we must stand against the palm again. Almost within seconds, the full fury of the storm hit the cay once more. Timothy pressed me tightly against the rough bark.

  It was even worse this time, but I do not remember everything that happened. We had been there awhile when a wave that must have reached halfway up the palms crashed against us. The water went way over my head. I choked and struggled. Then another giant wave struck us. I lost consciousness then. Timothy did, too, I think.

  When I came to, the wind had died down, coming at us only in gusts. The water was still washing around our ankles, but seemed to be going back into the sea now. Timothy was still behind me, but he felt cold and limp. He was sagging, his head down on my shoulder.

  “Timothy, wake up,” I said.

  He did not answer.

  Using my shoulders, I tried to shake him, but the massive body did not move. I stood very still to see if he was breathing. I could feel his stomach moving and I reached over my shoulder to his mouth. There was air coming out. I knew that he was not dead.

  However, Stew Cat was gone.

  I worked for a few minutes to release my arms from the loops of rope around the palm trunk, and then slid out from under Timothy’s body. He slumped lifelessly against the palm. I felt along the ropes that bound his forearms to the trunk until I found the knots.

  With his weight against them, it was hard to pull them loose, eve
n though they were sailor’s knots and had loops in them. The rope was soaked, which made it worse.

  I must have worked for half an hour before I had him free from the trunk. He fell backwards into the wet sand, and lay there moaning. I knew there was very little I could do for him except to sit by him in the light rain, holding his hand. In my world of darkness, I had learned that holding a hand could be like medicine.

  After a long while, he seemed to recover. His first words, painful and dragged out, were, “Phill-eep … you … all right … be true?”

  “I’m okay, Timothy,” I said.

  He said weakly, “Terrible tempis’.”

  He must have rolled over on his stomach in the sand, because his hand left mine abruptly. Then he went to sleep, I guess.

  I touched his back. It felt warm and sticky. I ran my hand lightly down it, suddenly realizing that I, too, was completely naked. The wind and sea had torn our tatters of clothes from us.

  Timothy had been cut to ribbons by the wind, which drove the rain and tiny grains of sand before it. It had flayed his back and his legs until there were very few places that weren’t cut. He was bleeding, but there was nothing I could do to stop it. I found his hard, horny hand again, wrapped mine around it, and lay down beside him.

  I went to sleep too.

  Sometime long after dawn, I awakened. The rain had stopped, and the wind had died down to its usual whisper. But I think the clouds were still covering the sky because I could not feel the sun.

  I said, “Timothy,” but he did not answer me. His hand was cold and stiff in mine.

  Old Timothy, of Charlotte Amalie, was dead.

  I stayed there beside him for a long time, very tired, thinking that he should have taken me with him wherever he had gone. I did not cry then. There are times when you are beyond tears.

  I went back to sleep, and this time when I awakened, I heard a meow. Then I cried for a long time, holding Stew Cat tight. Aside from him, I was blind and alone on a forgotten cay.

  CHAPTER

  Sixteen

  IN THE AFTERNOON, I groped west along the hill. Thirty or forty feet from the last palm tree, I began to dig a grave for Timothy. I cleared palm fronds, chunks of sea grape, pieces of wood, dead fish, fan coral, and shells that the sea had thrown up. I marked out a space about seven feet long and four feet wide. Then I dug with my hands.

  At first I was angry with Timothy. I said to Stew Cat, “Why did he leave us alone here?” Then as I dug, I had other thoughts.

  With his great back to the storm, taking its full punishment, he had made it possible for me to live. When my grandfather died, my father had said, “Phillip, sometimes people die from just being very, very tired.” I think that is what happened to Timothy.

  I also think that had I been able to see, I might not have been able to accept it all. But strangely, the darkness separated me from everything. It was as if my blindness were protecting me from fear.

  I buried Timothy, placing stones at the head of the grave to mark it. I didn’t know what to say over the grave. I said, “Thank you, Timothy,” and then turned my face to the sky. I said, “Take care of him, God, he was good to me.”

  There didn’t seem to be anything else to say, so I just stood by his grave for a while. Then I felt my way back to the spot where our hut had been. I located wood and piled it around the base of the palm tree that held our water keg and the tin box. Both were to the lee side of the storm.

  It took me a long time to get the keg and the tin box to the ground, but I found, on opening the bung, that the water was still sweet and that the matches, wrapped in cellophane inside the tin box, were dry. But the two small bars of chocolate that we had been saving for a “feast,” were ruined. I had no taste for them, anyway.

  Feeling it everywhere under my feet, I knew that the cay was littered with debris. I started cleaning the camp area, or what was left of it. I piled all the palm fronds, frayed by the wind, in one place; stick of wet driftwood in another.

  With Stew Cat constantly around—I stumbled over him several times—I worked until I felt it was nearing darkness. I’d found one lone coconut in a mass of sea grape and broken sticks. I opened it and ate the meat, offering to share with Stew Cat, who didn’t seem interested.

  Then I made a bed of palm fronds and sprawled out on it, listening to the still angry sea as it tumbled around the damp cay and thinking: I must feed myself and Stew Cat; I must rebuild the hut and build another signal fire down on east beach; then I must spend each day listening for the sound of aircraft. I knew Timothy had already given up on any schooner entering the dangerous Devil’s Mouth.

  I was certain that the sea had washed away Timothy’s markers atop the coral reef, and I was also sure that my guide vine-rope leading down to the beach had been snapped and tangled by the storm.

  But now, for the first time, I fully understood why Timothy had so carefully trained me to move around the island, and the reef …

  The reef, I thought.

  How could I fish without any poles? They must have been washed away. Then I remembered Timothy saying that he would put them in a safe place. The trouble was he’d forgotten to tell me where.

  I got up and began to run my hands over each palm trunk. On one of them I touched rope. I followed it around to the lee side with my fingers. And there they were! Not two or three, but at least a dozen, lashed together, each with a barbed hook and bolt sinker. They were one more part of the legacy Timothy had left me.

  The sun came out strong in the morning. I could feel it on my face. It began to dry the island, and toward noon, I heard the first cry of a bird. They were returning.

  By now, I had taught myself to tell time, very roughly, simply by turning my head toward the direct warmth of the sun. If the angle was almost overhead, I knew it was around noon. If it was low, then of course, it was early morning or late evening.

  There was so much to do that I hardly knew where to start. Get a campfire going, pile new wood for a signal fire, make another rain catchment for the water keg, weave a mat of palm fibers to sleep on. Then make a shelter of some kind, fish the hole on the reef, inspect the palm trees to see if any coconuts were left—I didn’t think any could be up there—and search the whole island to discover what the storm had deposited. It was enough work for weeks, and I said to Stew Cat, “I don’t know how we’ll get it all done.” But something told me I must stay very busy and not think about myself.

  I accomplished a lot in three days, even putting a new edge on Timothy’s knife by honing it on coral. I jabbed it into the palm nearest my new shelter, so that I would always know where it was if I needed it. Without Timothy’s eyes, I was finding that in my world, everything had to be very precise; an exact place for everything.

  On the fifth day after the storm, I began to scour the island to find out what had been cast up. It was exciting, and I knew it would take days or weeks to accomplish. I had made another cane, and beginning with east beach, I felt my way back and forth, reaching down to touch everything that my cane struck; sometimes having to spend a long time trying to decide what it was that I held in my hands.

  I found several large cans and used one of them to start the “time” can again, dropping five pebbles into it so that the reckoning would begin again from the night of the storm. I discovered an old broom, and a small wooden crate that would make a nice stool. I found a piece of canvas, and tried to think of ways to make pants from it, but I had no needle or thread.

  Other than that, I found many shells, some bodies of dead birds, pieces of cork, and chunks of sponge, but nothing I could really put to good use.

  It was on the sixth day after the storm, when I was exploring on south beach, that I heard the birds. Stew Cat was with me, as usual, and he growled when they first screeched. Their cries were angry, and I guessed that seven or eight might be in the air.

  I stood listening to them; wondering what they were. Then I felt a beat of wing past my face, and an angry cry as the bird dived
at me. I lashed out at it with my cane, wondering why they were attacking me.

  Another dived down, screaming at me, and his bill nipped the side of my head. For a moment, I was confused, not knowing whether to run for cover under sea grape, or what was left of it, or try to fight them off with my cane. There seemed to be a lot of birds.

  Then one pecked my forehead sharply, near my eyes, and I felt blood run down my face. I started to walk back toward camp, but had taken no more than three or four steps when I tripped over a log. I fell into the sand, and at the same time, felt a sharp pain in the back of my head. I heard a raging screech as the bird soared up again. Then another bird dived at me.

  I heard Stew Cat snarling and felt him leap up on my back, his claws digging into my flesh. There was another wild screech, and Stew Cat left my back, leaping into the air.

  His snarls and the wounded screams of the bird filled the stillness over the cay. I could hear them battling in the sand. Then I heard the death caw of the bird.

  I lay still a moment. Finally, I crawled to where Stew Cat had his victim. I touched him; his body was rigid and his hair was still on edge. He was growling, low and muted.

  Then I touched the bird. It had sounded large, but it was actually rather small. I felt the beak; it was very sharp.

  Slowly, Stew Cat began to relax.

  Wondering what had caused the birds to attack me, I felt around in the sand. Soon, my hand touched a warm shell. I couldn’t blame the birds very much. I’d accidently walked into their new nesting ground.

  They were fighting for survival, after the storm, just as I was. I left Stew Cat to his unexpected meal and made my way slowly back to camp.

  CHAPTER

  Seventeen

  TEN PEBBLES had gone into my “time” can when I decided to do something Timothy had told me never to do. I was tired of eating fish and sea-grape leaves, and I wanted to save the few green coconuts I’d managed to find on the ground. There were none left in the trees.