Arrows

excerpt

“Monkoi’ kë ëmo.” Stay where you are, she seemed to be saying. Be
still. It was her tone of voice that I understood. Next thing, I was
getting baked plantain and fish shoved under my nose, and I
realized I was famished. I ate from her fingers in the twilight.
A soft breeze blew from the entrance that cooled my sweat,
making me feel better. I had closed my eyes but now opened them
and noticed a strange expression on her face. Her eyes were intent
on the food she was giving me, from the moment she took it from the
leaves until she put it in my mouth. I took her hand and waited for
her to look at me.
“Thank you,” I said.
“Kejka?”
The tones of such niceties are common to all peoples. She was
asking me if I had meant to say thank you. I nodded. She met my
gaze. We had found one word of mutual understanding. Kejka.
Thank you.Her eyes filled with tears, her shoulders shook, and she
commenced sobbing. She covered her face with one arm and
turned a little away from me, abandoning the food on the ground
beside me.
I sat up faster than I would have done, grunting with pain. Even
marshalling all the Carib words and expressions I knew, I failed
miserably in finding a suitable thing to say to her. I stroked her head,
talking soothingly in Spanish instead, whispering words she could
not understand. It was the weeping of one who has lived through
terrible things and has kept silent too long.
She embraced me, her cheek against my chest. An unknown
tenderness welled up inside me. The touch of her skin on mine was a
new and inebriating sensation as I felt her little hands on my back,
and her arms enfold me. I was holding my weight with one hand on
the ground while the other stroked her coal-black hair.
She started talking, fast, still shaken by sobs. I picked up the
sleeve of my frock, which was lying on the ground, and lifted her
chin so that I could dry her face and nose. She brushed her nose with
the palm of her hand and sniffled loudly. Her reddened eyes were
close to mine. I avoided her eyes as long as I could but then looked

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