A Family Holiday (19 page)

There was a small museum with a model of what the area would have looked like when it was at the height of sugar production, which Millie was desperate to play with but thankfully was safely encased in glass. They read the information boards whilst Blue chatted to the men outside. Charlie listened for a bit but wasn’t always able to follow what they were saying. When they had taken in as much as they could, they climbed back on board the jeep.

‘What language do they speak?’ asked Charlie, as Blue checked the jeep door was secure.

‘It’s called Dialect. Kind of a mix of English, Creole and something the slaves developed. I can’t really speak it. I only know a few bits, which is enough to get by. But everyone speaks English as well, they just take pride in using Dialect.’

‘Cool, can you teach us the swear words?’ asked George, blunt as ever.

Blue laughed, ‘No. But you do need to know how to greet someone. You can say ‘Hello’ in English or ‘Wah Gwan’ in Dialect.’

Everyone started practising ‘Wah gwan’, all trying to mimic Blue’s proficient local accent. He left them to it and they set off on the next leg of their tour.

Next stop was a short one, but Charlie was impressed with the thought that Blue had put into it. It was a donkey sanctuary. Lots of friendly donkeys that liked to be petted, a couple of foals – and toilets. Charlie stayed in the shade and watched the donkeys from afar, because wherever there were donkeys there were flies, although there were a lot less than she was expecting. Once everyone had washed their hands and was back in the jeep, the engine roared into life again. They took a short cut up Red Hill, a steep and rocky track that made the vehicle bounce about, even at a snail’s pace. The children loved it, and shouted and squealed with each bump. Once back on slightly more level roads they were off again.

‘Nelson’s Dockyard!’ announced Blue, as he swung the jeep past a giant anchor and brought it to a halt. Ted and George were already piling out of the jeep and eagerly looking around. Blue bounded round to the rear of the jeep and helped the others down. He picked Millie up and lifted her expertly onto his shoulders before leading the way. He was greeted warmly by a local woman who pretended to tickle Blue for Millie’s benefit. Charlie saw Blue slip her some dollar bills, but she couldn’t make out the denominations and then their private tour began.

‘Can you see the giant doors up ahead?’ he asked, ‘on the other side is the naval base and dockyard. What do you think they were trying to keep out?’ He was met with a barrage of responses: ‘Wild animals,’ said George. ‘The enemy?’ said Ted, trying to appear uninterested and failing badly. ‘Disease?’ said Eleanor, all of which he dismissed.

‘Nope. Women. The gates were to keep out the women!’ he gave Charlie a cheeky wink as he said it and went on to explain that the navy was very keen that the sailors should concentrate on working and not falling in love with the beautiful local ladies.

Blue was clearly very knowledgeable about the area and was able to make it engaging for each of them, which was a trick in itself. Charlie noticed that he talked to Eleanor about the slaves but to Ted and George he pointed out the restored military buildings and gave an insight into the life of a soldier in the early eighteen hundreds.

‘Admiral Horatio Nelson lived here for three years, but he wasn’t popular and never really liked Antigua so he spent most of the time on his ship.’

‘That’s weird,’ said George. ‘Was he a nutter?’

‘Nope, just very set in his ways.’

He told Millie tales of pirates sheltering in the harbour from treacherous seas and the might of the British Army. Charlie couldn’t fail to be a little impressed.

They walked round to the small museum housed in a beautifully restored pale-blue colonial building which had once been the Naval Officers’ House. Millie oohed and ahhed as Blue pointed out historical artefacts and the boys were mesmerised by the cannons. Before there was a chance for anyone to get bored Blue was herding them back to the jeep. He produced a large flask and poured out fruit punch for everyone.

‘Would you like some island rum in that?’ he asked Charlie.

‘Yes, please,’ said George, holding out his plastic cup.

‘No, thanks,’ said Charlie, shaking her head at George.

Once everyone was bundled back on the jeep they were off again. The rainbow colours of the houses flashed past; many pastel shades and some a bit on the bright side. Some perfect, with that recently painted look and others in need of repair. A few had small verandas at the front, sometimes occupied by people who waved as they passed and one that had a washing machine by the front door. The backdrop of lush green framed it all beautifully.

‘Who likes pineapple?’ shouted Blue from the front and everybody shouted back ‘Me!’

‘Great. You’re going to love our next stop!’

He wasn’t wrong. He stopped at the roadside and greeted an elderly man with a handshake and a hug. Soon pineapples were being sliced up with a small but deadly looking machete of some description and being handed out to the children. Charlie liked pineapple but she’d never tasted anything so sweet or as delicious as this. She knew she was gobbling it down but she couldn’t help herself, it was divine. Blue took a close-up photo of their juice-covered faces and handed out more slices. This time Charlie tried really hard to eat it slowly and savour the exquisite taste. She closed her eyes as she nibbled at the last piece.

‘You’re enjoying that, aren’t you?’ whispered Blue, and Charlie opened her eyes quickly and grinned. She really hoped she didn’t have strings of pineapple flesh hanging between her teeth.

‘It’s amazing.’

‘Black pineapple,’ explained Blue, ‘it’s the best in the world.’

‘Why black?’ asked Eleanor, studying the pineapples on the wooden cart that looked just like any other pineapple.

‘They are darker in colour, sort of dark grey until they ripen and then they go this golden colour,’ explained Blue.

‘Juicy pineapple, juicy pineapple!’ sang Millie and the others groaned.

They meandered through the countryside with Blue calling out the odd point of interest until they were bumping their way through residential areas scattered with more small homes. After three attempts at shouting to the back they finally worked out that Blue was telling them he was going to avoid the capital of St John’s as there were two particularly large cruise ships in dock and it would be crowded. They suddenly left the houses and people balanced on mopeds behind and were bumping along a path that was getting narrower and narrower.

‘Hold on,’ yelled Blue as the jeep lurched and he slowed its speed so that it could navigate the crater-sized hole in the track. The bushes turned a darker shade of green and a few palm trees appeared before Blue brought the jeep to rest on an almost deserted piece of headland.

‘Welcome to Blue’s Bay,’ he said, as he leapt from the cab.

‘It’s yours?’ asked George, looking mightily impressed as he jumped off the back of the truck.

‘No, but as it doesn’t have a name on any maps and only the locals know about it, what’s the harm? I’m letting you in on a big secret by bringing you here. Shh.’

‘Ooooh,’ said Millie, her eyes wide with intrigue.

Charlie sat on the lonely picnic bench, as Blue had instructed, as he ferried various containers from the jeep and assembled them on the picnic table behind her. The unspoiled little white sand beach spread out in front of her and gently sloped down to the clear water caressing the sand in a languid way that seemed to embody what the Caribbean way of life was all about.

A bit further along, and thankfully a safe distance away, Ted and George were playing extreme Frisbee, where they threw it out of reach and points were scored for the most dramatic dive that resulted in a successful catch. Millie had been awarding a million points each time but had quickly got bored and was burying her own legs in wet sand.

Eleanor was paddling and studying the shells that she came across, and beyond her Charlie saw a series of small boats bobbing gently on the rippling surface of the water. The boats were all slightly different but they were motorboats of some description.

Charlie could hear Blue setting up the lunch things behind her. She adjusted her sunglasses and breathed out a relaxed sigh. Her relaxation was short-lived as two huge flies suddenly came out of nowhere and started to frantically loop the loop around her head. She spun round to see that the picnic table behind her displayed a buffet of uncovered food and more flies were fast approaching.

‘Blue!’ she shouted.

Blue bounded over to her, looking from her to the children and back again, ‘What’s up?’ he said, having another look at Eleanor who was still paddling in the shallows.

‘There are flies everywhere!’ she said, scrambling to her feet and skidding out of her flip-flops in an attempt to get away from the food.

Blue laughed and waved an arm over the table as a couple of the flies threatened to settle. ‘Is that all? You’re such a city dweller.’

‘I just don’t like flies. They’re dirty, filthy creatures that spread germs and land on all sorts of vile stuff. Cover the food up,’ she said, taking a tentative step towards the table, but stopping as a fly made a last-minute change of trajectory and headed straight for her. Charlie stumbled backwards and Blue grabbed her arm with a steadying hand and kept her upright.

‘You’re not joking are you?’

‘It’s no big thing. Nobody likes flies,’ said Charlie, shrugging off his strong hand. She felt foolish but her heart was thundering in her chest and the flies were still circling.

Blue gave her a sympathetic smile. ‘Why don’t you finish burying Millie and I’ll cover this lot up? They’ll soon clear off, I promise.’

Charlie backed away. She covered her eyes with her sunglasses and walked away as calmly as she could muster with her heart racing. She swatted away an imaginary fly and pasted a smile on her face as she approached Millie.

‘You okay, Millie?’

‘Poo,’ said Millie without looking up as she continued to busy herself with slapping wet sand onto her thighs.

‘Pooh is safe in the car. We don’t want him to get all sandy, do we?’

‘Silly Charlie! I need a poo. Now,’ said Millie, suddenly looking very serious.

‘Oh, right,’ said Charlie, scanning the small beach and up towards the small lane they had come down but she knew she hadn’t seen any buildings nearby. ‘This could be tricky. Hang on.’

‘No,’ said Millie shaking her head vigorously. ‘Hoooooge Poo now!’ she added, her facial expression changing as the rumble that was ripping through her swimming costume was audible, despite the muffling qualities of the sand.

‘Oh no!’ said Charlie, lifting Millie up under her arms and wading out into the sea as far as she could before dunking Millie’s bottom half. The water around her changed colour as the sand was returned to its rightful place with a little something extra. Charlie bobbed Millie up and down in the water, which made Millie chuckle.

‘Ploppy puddles!’ she giggled as Charlie stifled her laughter.

When the rumbling stopped Charlie got Millie out of her costume and spun her around in the warm water. She gave a quick check to Millie’s behind before carrying her to the shore and setting her down to collect shells with Eleanor. Charlie swam out to deep water and tried to make herself feel clean, but it was going to take more than a dip in the same corner of the ocean into which Millie had emptied her bowel contents. She was starting to turn back to shore when she heard splashing and to her horror saw Ted and George chasing each other straight into the ploppy puddle.

‘Nooooo!’

Lunch turned out to be less stressful than Charlie had envisaged after Blue filled two plastic bags with water, tied them at the top and put one on each end of the table to fend off the flies. Despite Charlie’s reservations it did seem to work. It also kept Millie entertained as she could see her distorted reflection in them and apparently when you’re three that’s hilarious. Lunch was all local fare, made up of conch salad, a tasty rice pilaf, ducana and chop up with homemade ginger beer.

Blue explained each dish to the children and got them all to try a little bit. The ducana was a big hit, although it didn’t look the most appetising of the selection. Blue explained that it was made from sweet potato, sugar, flour, vanilla, water and raisins. Chop up caused a lot of laughter at the table as George performed pretend Karate chops over the dish of spinach, eggplant and okra. Thankfully they all found something they liked and it was demolished in record time.

After lunch Charlie lay on the sand, feeling the sun on her skin, interrupted only by the gently wafting breeze. Blue cleared up, had a game of ultimate Frisbee with the boys and put Millie’s sun hat back on at least half a dozen times. Eleanor was sitting at the now-empty picnic table in a small spot of shade, reading a book. At one point, Charlie almost fell asleep and she smiled to herself; it was a good feeling and she could get used to it. Blue left the boys to it and came over and sat down on the edge of Charlie’s towel.

‘Are you ready for the second half of the tour?’

‘Do we have to?’ asked Charlie, without opening her eyes.

‘It’ll be worth it. Better than this morning, I promise.’

Charlie slid her sunglasses up off her face to rest in her hair like a hairband and leaned up on one elbow. ‘That’s quite a claim. Okay, count me in,’ and she stood up and shook her towel half over Blue.

‘Oy!’ he shouted as the sand landed on him. He was quick to his feet and started to chase Charlie and, although she didn’t know why, she started to run. She narrowly missed being decked by the Frisbee as she dived between the boys and splashed through the shallows before she remembered her closeness to the ploppy puddle but her quick turn up the beach was a mistake. Blue grabbed her and started to tickle her. He was immediately joined by Millie, who was trying to join in but was basically pinching Charlie, which made her laugh all the more.

It was only day two and even if it all ended now she knew this island, this family holiday had done them all some good.

Fleur stamped her foot, her tiny heel making an impressive sound in the echoey stairwell. It was an attempt to steel herself, to get a grip on the nerves that were threatening to make her call a cab and hot-foot it out of there. She paused with the key hovering over the lock and just before she inserted it she heard a noise coming from inside. Either the bed bugs had worked out how to operate the radio or there was someone inside. With a renewed sense of courage she opened the door and marched in with authority. Whatever she had expected to see, whoever she had thought she might find there, Rob the Knob was not even an addendum to that list of remote possibilities.

‘Shit!’ said Rob, clutching the duvet to him.

‘And it’s an utter delight to see you too,’ said Fleur, shutting the door and striding forcefully across the laminate floor.

‘Christ, Fleur, you gave me a fright, I thought it was
…
Well, I thought it was someone else. How are you?’

‘Drop dead, Rob. What the hell are you doing in my father’s apartment?’

‘That’s what I love about you, Fleur, you get straight to the heart of the matter. How’ve you been? I’ve thought of you every single day. How’s your Mum?’

‘Rob, I want an answer or I’m going to start screaming and people will start running and very shortly you’ll probably be hanging head first over that balcony, with any luck.’

Rob laughed and Fleur felt her left eye twitch. ‘You think there’s anyone left in this building after eight-thirty? It’s like the Marie Celeste on a Bank Holiday.’

Fleur had so many questions that needed answering and she needed to boil them down to one simple one quickly, while she still felt in control.

‘Why are you living here, Rob?’

‘So, Papa was good to his word and didn’t tell you,’ said Rob, appearing to suddenly gain confidence as he threw back the covers and got out of bed, wearing only his tight designer pants, his taut abs giving Fleur a reminder of what she was missing. ‘Can I get you a coffee?’

‘If you get me a coffee I would like it red hot because I will be pouring it over your head.’

‘Chill out, Fleur, we’ve come to a business arrangement, that’s all. It’s what men like me and your Dad do,’ he said, with an exaggerated wink. ‘I need to go to the loo and I’ll tell you everything,’ he added, as he started to jog for the toilet. ‘I’ll have three sugars in mine,’ he said as he disappeared into the small bathroom. What was going on, wondered Fleur?

When Rob returned, still adjusting his underwear, Fleur was standing by the window, trying to think straight.

‘Sit down, babe,’ said Rob, straightening out the duvet. ‘Don’t worry, that’s a coffee stain, honest.’

‘I’m fine, thanks.’ Fleur moved over to the small table and chairs and hovered there. She still wasn’t sure if the whole bed-bug infestation was a reality or not, but she wasn’t going to take any risks with the bed. She looked around the small space while Rob fixed himself an instant coffee with a mound of sugar. He sat down on the bed opposite her, parted his legs slightly and leaned forward, making Fleur avert her eyes.

‘How’ve you been, babe?’

‘Cut the crap. Either tell me or don’t tell me, but don’t try to make small talk.’

Rob’s eyebrows jerked up his forehead and he sipped his coffee, which was clearly too hot for him, but he had to keep on drinking or admit his mistake. Fleur smiled to herself.

‘Look, I don’t want to cause any trouble between you and your dad, you know?’

Fleur stood up and put her bag on her shoulder and jangled the keys in her hand.

‘Sit down, Fleur. I’ll tell you. It’s simple, your Dad didn’t want me messing up your life so he offered me some money and the flat,’ catching sight of Fleur’s disbelief he quickly added, ‘just the use of the flat for a bit. I had to let my place go but then the tour got delayed and I needed somewhere. Short-term, you understand. The tour is still going ahead, and we’ve secured some top venues. There’s this Olympic stadium in
…
’

‘Rob!’ Fleur raised her voice to gain his attention, before returning to her usual volume, ‘why would Pa offer you anything after what you did to me?’

‘Technically I didn’t do anything, you overreacted to
…
’

‘Rob!’

‘Okay, okay. He wanted to make sure that I agreed to whatever you wanted. Which I was going to do anyway. I’ve always wanted the best for you, you know that, yeah?’

‘He paid you to agree to the annulment?’

‘Pretty much, yeah. I mean I wouldn’t usually be manipulated like that but I had a bit of a cash-flow problem and what with the tour dates being
…
’ But Fleur was no longing listening, she was already closing the door behind her.

As Fleur left the apartment building she knew what Charlie meant when she said that the red mist descended. She wanted to lash out at someone, to scream, to release the burning from her lungs. She needed to get home as quickly as she could; she hoped that her father wasn’t there because she really couldn’t face him right now. Fleur wasn’t up to facing anyone. There was only one person she wanted to see and she was a few thousand miles away, sunning herself in the Caribbean.

‘Ted, can you give me a hand?’ called Blue as he locked up the jeep.

Ted gave George a friendly shove and jogged over to Blue and Charlie. Charlie stood with one bag containing the essentials, the rest now safely locked in the cab of the jeep and she was feeling a bit wrong-footed. Blue had a brief word with Ted.

‘This way,’ said Blue, handing Charlie his sunglasses and grinning broadly. He patted Ted on the back and headed off down the beach to the water and Ted dutifully followed.

‘What’s happening?’ asked Eleanor, who had been torn away from her book, now safely stored in the cab with most of everything else they’d brought with them.

‘I don’t know,’ said Charlie slowly, ‘but I bet it’s going to be good.’ She had never said a truer word. She watched Blue and Ted wade out into the sea and start to swim, they looked as if they were heading out to sea and Charlie started to walk towards the shore, all the time not taking her eyes off the two almost synchronised swimmers getting further away. Three more strokes and they both stopped swimming and while Ted trod water, Blue hauled himself out of the sea and onto a large white, partially covered, speedboat.

‘I sincerely hope they are not stealing that,’ she said under her breath.

‘I hope they are. This is ace,’ breathed George, who had silently joined her at the water’s edge and was standing open-mouthed next to her. ‘Blue is so much cooler than Uncle Felix.’ She had to admit he was right.

The boat was soon in the shallows and Blue was helping everyone up a ladder and on board. Once on the boat, Millie instantly started to jump up and down and was thrilled by the effect it had as the boat rocked gently. George wasn’t.

‘No, no, no! Stop bouncing, Mills, or you’ll fall in and be eaten by the sharks!’

Millie started screaming and Charlie was tempted to return to the beach and wave them off but, however much a quiet afternoon would have been bliss, she had a feeling that the boat trip, even with an excited Millie and a queasy George, would be so much better. And she wasn’t wrong.

With life vests on the girls and George under strict instruction to stay seated whilst the boat was in motion, Blue stood at the wheel and started the engines, which roared into life. Charlie clutched Millie to her and as the boat pulled away Charlie felt her grin broaden. Once the boat was into deep water, Blue cranked up the power and the boat tore the sea apart as it sped away. The ride was surprisingly smooth and the cool wind and occasional spray on her face was pleasant. It was noisy, but you could just about hear each other over the engines. As they went round the west side of the island, Blue called out the names of various beaches and bays as they passed them; all equally beautiful as each other. Blue was looking away from the shore and he slowed the engine and pointed to his left.

‘Here,’ he said, quickly handing out binoculars. He pointed to a small dark blob in the water. ‘Turtle,’ he said. He added something else but it was drowned out by the shrieks from the children. When the turtle disappeared, Blue fired up the engines and they took off again at speed. Millie was delighted with the ‘nockulars’ and used them for the entire next leg of the journey. From the sea the island looked so lush and green, small hills became bigger ones and all gloriously swathed in a deep-green carpet of trees and vegetation. Many of the beaches were dotted with palm trees. It was like watching someone flick through a holiday brochure.

As they started making their way across the northern side of the island, Blue started to spout facts and Charlie could see the tour guide in him come to life.

‘There are twenty-two small islands off this coast; all sorts of wildlife are reliant on them for food and shelter and we’re going to take a bit of a closer look at a couple of them.’ Blue introduced them to the weave of mangrove swamp and the mangrove nurseries. His keen eye spotted a mangrove cuckoo that was well camouflaged despite its yellow chest. Blue kept calling out directions and instructions until all the children were able to see it through the binoculars. Millie insisted she saw it, even though her binoculars were aimed at the sky, but she did see the large white heron-like bird that Blue informed them was a cattle egret. But the sighting of a large brownish sea bird diving for fish was too much for any of them to stand and hysterical giggles were all that could be heard once Blue had identified it as a booby.

They took off again and after a while Charlie realised they were getting further away from the main island and another island was coming into view quickly. Blue slowed the engines and introduced them to Jumby Bay, a private island of exclusive villas and an even more exclusive hotel. They weren’t close enough to see much but they were still impressed, especially at the long list of celebrities that Blue reeled off who regularly holidayed there.

‘One more stop and then home, okay?’ asked Blue and he received a series of groans in response. The last stop was to be the best by far. He took them out into the Atlantic Ocean, where a pontoon was floating lazily in shallow water, created by a nearby reef. A man in an orange top helped Blue moor up and introduced himself as Sam the Wrangler.

‘Welcome to Stingray City,’ said Sam, handing out snorkels and masks before giving them a briefing on what to do and what not to do and reassuring Charlie several times that, despite the name, the stingrays were safe. The highlight was when he explained that the females grew up to four feet long with males being much smaller. However, to compensate for their size they had two penises. George looked at Ted in glee and Ted snorted his suppressed laughter. They waited for a large tourist party to leave before taking their turn in the water.

‘Remember to do the stingray shuffle with both your feet on the sand and keep your thumb tucked away when you feed them and we’ll be fine,’ said Sam, as he eased himself into the water. Charlie waited her turn at the steps and watched the dark shadows circle around the pontoon as Millie clutched at her legs.

‘No like sharks,’ said Millie, her bottom lip wobbling. Blue, who was already in the water, reached up to her and, despite her fears, she instinctively went to him.

‘They’re not sharks, Millie. Come and see,’ said Blue, holding her tight to him.

Charlie, Blue and Ted could stand up in the water. George and Eleanor swam off in search of the biggest of the rays. Blue put a mask on Millie and showed her how to put her face in the water so she could see the stingrays better and she popped up quickly with a big smile on her face.