Outlaw in India (14 page)

ZIEGFRIED WAS A DIFFICULT
man to explain. Sheba once called him
a “divine enigma.” He was as big as a man could be without being called a giant.
To the small men scurrying around him, who couldn’t help staring at him, he
probably did look like a giant. But his height and width, and the sheer
thickness of his arms, legs and head, hid a couple of important secrets about
him, secrets he revealed only to the very few people who would ever get to know
him well—that he was actually a genius, for one, and that he had the softest
heart you would ever find in a person anywhere. Ziegfried couldn’t hold a kitten
up to his face without his eyes watering.

Sheba wasn’t as hard to explain but was probably harder
to
believe, because of what
she
believed. She claimed to be a witch who had
lived many times before, a good witch who had once been burnt at the stake in
New England hundreds of years ago, but she didn’t hold it against anybody now.
She was also extremely tall, though not as tall as Ziegfried, nor as wide. She
was lean and reminded me of a giraffe. Her red hair was almost as long as her
body and had small curls that looked like the surface of the ocean when it was a
little choppy— little waves like seashells. Her eyes were bright shiny green and
really sparkled. She said it was because she ate a lot of carrots but I knew it
was because she was always excited. She was in love with the world. She loved
everything and everybody, even the people she didn’t like. Sheba was Ziegfried’s
queen. He said his life was split in two parts: the first, before he met her;
and everything else after. He said it was the difference between darkness and
light.

I couldn’t believe it. Ziegfried and Sheba were both here, standing down at the
other end of the train, hand-in-hand and looking our way. “There they are!” I
said, and started walking quickly towards them. Ziegfried saw me and waved.
Sheba beamed. Then Hollie saw them and ran ahead of me. Ziegfried picked him up
and got a face-licking, and I saw Ziegfried wipe his eyes with his sleeve. His
tears flowed so freely. I felt mine start too; I couldn’t help it.

Seaweed came out of the sky, landed on the platform beside them and started
squawking loudly. Sheba greeted Seaweed then she wrapped her arms around me and
squeezed
me tight. For all the spices in India, nothing
smelled nearly as wonderful as her. When she opened her arms she took my face in
her hands and looked deeply into my eyes, as if she were reading my life since
we had last seen each other, or checking to make sure it was really me and not a
ghost. “You darling boy,” she said. “Not an hour has passed I haven’t been
thinking of you.”

Then Ziegfried gave me one of his bear hugs, which was what it would feel like
if a horse fell on you—I couldn’t breathe until he let go. And he took his time.
He looked me over with tears in his eyes. “We’ll you haven’t gained any weight.
Let me see the arm.”

I showed him my arm where I had been shot by shrimp fishermen in the Pacific
while trying to free dolphins, turtles and sharks from their net. He frowned
deeply with his large bushy eyebrows and shook his head back and forth. He
stared me in the eye and kept shaking his head. “I don’t know, Al. It’s too
dangerous out there, I think.”

“No, it’s not. I’m more careful now. That won’t happen again. Oh! Here. This is
Melissa. And this is Radji.”

Poor little Radji. Ziegfried was truly a giant to him, and he was terrified.
Ziegfried raised his eyebrows to examine the boy as if he were a treasure, but
Radji hid behind me and I felt his fingers clutching the back of my shirt.
Melissa shot out her hand and Ziegfried took it graciously with his fingertips.
Then Sheba and Melissa kissed, which pleased Melissa a great deal. She was so
excited to have company.

“How . . . how is it you both came? And, who’s looking after
all the animals? And, who’s looking after the junkyard?”

“I closed the junkyard for a month,” said Ziegfried.

“And you’ll never guess who is watching our family,” said Sheba. By “family”
she meant a house full of dogs, cats, turtles, goats, mice, birds, butterflies
and everything else.

“Who?”

Ziegfried twisted his mouth to one side. “Your grandparents.”

“No.”

“Yes. They were only too happy to give us the chance to get away to see you . .
. on our honeymoon.” Ziegfried grinned.

“Honeymoon? You got
married
?”

Sheba reached out her hand. Among the many beautiful rings was a new, plain,
soft gold ring. She smiled as only she could smile and her eyes sparkled like
jewels. “Yes. Married.” She tucked her arm inside Ziegfried’s. “We are so happy.
We would have waited for you, dear Alfred, but you were so far away, and we just
couldn’t wait any longer. We had a beautiful ceremony on the point, with all our
family together. And now we are here with you.” She reached over and planted a
kiss on my forehead. “But who is this wonderful young man so attached to
you?”

Sheba tried to take a better look at Radji, but his face was buried in my back.
He was overwhelmed. I could feel him breathing heavily against the back of my
shirt.

“This is Radji,” I said. “He just needs a little time to get
used to you. He likes to play chess. He’s really good at it.”

“Chess?” said Ziegfried, with his booming voice. “That’s wonderful! I didn’t
know anyone played chess in India.”

“Oh yes. They do. And Radji is going to become an expert.”

“Really?” said Ziegfried. He bent down closer. “An expert? Really?”

Radji reached up and whispered into my ear. “What is an expert?”

I whispered back: “Someone who is better at something than anyone else.”

He liked that answer. He boldly stuck out his hand with his chess set.

“I think I remember this,” said Ziegfried. He examined the set carefully. Radji
was pleased. I was almost waiting for him to say, I can beat you. But he didn’t.
He probably thought it though. He’d be in for a surprise.

Melissa invited Ziegfried and Sheba to stay at her house and they happily
accepted. We climbed into the Jaguar together and squeezed the luggage into the
boot and turned onto the road. The car dragged close to the ground and Melissa
drove slowly. Seaweed sat on the roof. I heard him stepping around up there.
Ziegfried and Sheba sat arm in arm in the backseat. Radji squeezed into the
front with me. It was strange to think that Ziegfried and Sheba were married now
but it made perfect sense. He had been hopelessly in love with her ever since he
first set eyes upon her and could barely speak. Seeing them married now made me
think that good things happen to
people even if they have to
wait a long time. Sheba and Ziegfried both waited a very long time to find each
other, but they did. I couldn’t stop watching them now and smiling. They looked
like the happiest people in the whole world.

Melissa was happy to have so much company in her home. She served a pot of tea
with cookies, then immediately set about creating a meal. Sheba joined her in
the kitchen and the sound of their conversation took on the tone of women’s
talk, which was almost like a different language to me. I wasn’t used to seeing
women together much.

Ziegfried wanted to examine the sub. But first he accepted the challenge of a
game of chess with Radji. I was about to warn Radji but then I thought, why
bother? He’ll see for himself soon enough. In fact, I was curious to see how
hard Ziegfried would play with him. Would he take it easy on him because he was
only ten years old and a beginner? Would he give him quarter, at least a little,
or beat him ruthlessly?

He beat him ruthlessly. He never gave him the slightest hint of quarter. They
played five games and Radji never lasted more than seven moves. The whole thing
didn’t take longer than twenty-five minutes. I watched Radji’s eyes grow wider
at every move. Ziegfried played as he did anything else— with complete
attention. At each checkmate it was as if he had reached out with an iron hand
and crushed Radji’s king. Radji never had a chance. I knew that feeling
well.

Was Radji going to be upset? I was worried he might be. I watched him when
Ziegfried stood up to go out to the sub.
Radji stared with
awe. Then he turned to me and whispered with a little smile: “He’s an
expert.”

“Yes,” I said. “He is.”

Radji followed us out to the boathouse. Ziegfried stood and stared at the
little river. “How on earth did you get the sub up the river, Al? Did you pull
it up with elephants?”

“We came at night, on the surface.”

He bent down and scanned the river closely. “It can’t be ten feet!”

“It’s about that.”

He shook his head. “Okay, I’ve got to see the sub, Al. You said you were
depth-charged. Lord Almighty! You never saw a leak? Not even a drop?”

I was nervous to show Ziegfried the sub now. He was so obsessed with safety. I
knew it was important but he always went overboard with it. If he felt the sub
wasn’t safe enough to sail, he could ground me right here and now. It was an
agreement we had right from the beginning. I was the captain of the sub, but he
was the one who decided whether or not it was fit for sea. If he said it wasn’t,
it wasn’t going anywhere.

“Let me see it, Al.”

I UNLOCKED THE BOATHOUSE
door and opened it up. Ziegfried bent
his head and entered. I followed him in, and Radji and Hollie followed me.
Seaweed flew up to the roof. Ziegfried rested his hands on his hips and stared.
“There she is.”

“Yup.”

“She’s still afloat.”

“Yup.”

“How long has she been sitting here?”

“Umm . . . about a week, I guess.”

“And how long since you put the run on the Indian navy?”

“Uhh . . . about a month, I guess.”

“A month?”

“Yes.”

“And what’s the deepest you’ve gone since then?”

“Umm . . . three hundred and twenty feet or so.”

“Well, that’s good. Can’t be any leak. Let’s have a look inside.”

Ziegfried barely fit inside the sub. He had a really hard time getting in, and
then he had to bend over like an old witch. He climbed in and went straight into
the stern to see the engine. “Start her up, Al.”

I started the engine.

“Good. Rev her up!”

I cranked up the power.

“Higher!”

I turned it all the way up. The engine roared. I loved the sound of it. I was
suddenly anxious to get to sea. I wasn’t anxious to leave Ziegfried and Sheba
though. “Should I turn it down?”

“No! Keep her there!”

If I were to put the sub in gear right now, in reverse, it would pull this
little boathouse right off the bank and we’d run into the other side.

“Okay. Let her down now. Turn the batteries on full!”

I did as I was told. Radji stood beside me and waited for Ziegfried to give him
orders too, but he never did.

We stayed a couple of hours inside the sub. Ziegfried spent most of that time
either on his knees or sitting down while he examined everything. I was nervous
the whole time. Radji
sat with Hollie by his blanket in the
bow and patted his fur. I was thinking how nice it would be to have Radji on the
sub with us. He was good company and had already proved himself a valuable mate.
But I knew it wasn’t a good idea for a number of reasons, not least of all that
I couldn’t guarantee his safety, and he was too young to be taking the sorts of
risks I was taking. I didn’t know what I was going to do with him.

“Okay, Al. I’m done for now.”

“And?”

“Well . . . that depends.”

“Depends? What do you mean? What does it depend on?”

“Where are you planning to go next?”

“Africa.”

“That’s what I thought. The east coast, right?”

“Yah. Why?”

“I am sorry, Al. I’m going to have to ground the sub.”

I froze. “Gggg . . . gggg . . . ground it? Www . . . what do you mean? Why? Why
do you have to ground it? It’s working perfectly, honest!”

“Al.” Ziegfried sighed deeply. “Look.” He reached over and took my arm and
turned it over. “Look, Al. This is a gunshot wound.”

I dropped my eyes. “I know.”

“And you know that whoever shot you was trying to kill you, right?”

“Yes.”

“And how’s your hearing?”

“It’s getting better all the time. It’s almost back to
normal.”

“But you got depth-charged by the Indian navy, Al.”

“I know.”

“You were maybe one or two charges away from a watery grave. And Hollie
too.”

I nodded. I was really worried now.

“And you know what’s on the east coast of Africa, right?”

I knew he meant Somalia, and all the pirates there. I nodded.

He shook his head and frowned. “I’m sorry, Al. I really am. But she’s
grounded.”

I felt like bursting out crying but reminded myself that I was sixteen. I was
too old to cry over disappointment. Besides, I didn’t want Radji to see me. But
Ziegfried couldn’t ground the sub, he just couldn’t. There was so much more I
needed to see, so many places I needed to go. Besides, I wasn’t just exploring
any more, I was learning about the health of the sea and preparing for a career
as an environmentalist. The sea was in trouble and needed people to help clean
it up and make it safer for all of its creatures. It needed us to protect them.
Maybe I would have to go to school for that, and maybe not, I didn’t know
exactly, but for now I needed to learn as much about it as I could by myself. He
couldn’t ground the sub when I was only getting started, he just couldn’t. I
felt panic. I was starting to breathe hard, just like Radji.

“Unless . . .”

“Unless? Unless what?”

He took a deep breath and stared intensely into my eyes.
“Unless you make me a solemn promise that you won’t sail within five
hundred miles of Somalia from any direction.”

I quickly tried to see the east coast of Africa in my mind. I knew that Kenya
was next to Somalia, and there was Mozambique and Tanzania and South Africa, but
I was so distracted with worry that I couldn’t remember exactly which country
was next to Kenya except that it wasn’t South Africa. That was on the bottom. If
I made the promise I would almost certainly never get to see Kenya but I wasn’t
sure about the other countries. I didn’t have much choice. “I promise.”

“You solemnly promise?”

He stared at me with a look that would have frightened any man in the world out
of his boots.

“I solemnly promise.”

“Will you also promise to stop taking dangerous risks?”

“I don’t try to.”

“Do you promise?”

“Yes. I promise.”

“We built the sub for exploration, Al. It won’t hold up to what you’re doing
with it. It’s not made for that. We want to see you make it home in one
piece.”

“I know.”

He smiled and dropped his hand on my shoulder. “Okay, then. Let’s go in and
talk to the girls.” He meant Sheba and Melissa.

“Okay.” I let out a deep breath. Whew! Radji, Hollie and I followed Ziegfried
up the ladder and out of the sub. What a tough inspection.

We sat at Melissa’s table and shared a meal filled with lots
of excited talk. Melissa was so happy she was beaming red. With tears in her
eyes she shared something personal with us. “When I poured my brother’s ashes
into the river four days ago, I said a prayer. I was losing the last member of
my family and I was feeling so alone, so terribly alone, and so I said a prayer.
I asked if somehow I could be part of another family. I knew it was a lot to
ask, especially at my age. But they say that’s what prayers are for, asking for
things that seem out of reach. And so I did. And here now, just four days later,
we are all together. And I really feel that you are my new family.” She wiped
her eyes with her handkerchief. Sheba leaned over and hugged her and kissed her
on the cheek. “We are your family indeed, my love.”

Radji sat next to Ziegfried and fidgeted with his chess set. The difference in
their sizes made me smile. Radji ate slowly and listened to the conversation
with great interest, answering questions when he was asked. But he only asked
one question all evening. It didn’t surprise me. It probably took him awhile to
get up the nerve to ask.

He looked up at Ziegfried and said, “How do you become an expert?” Ziegfried
looked down at him the way he would have looked at a mechanic who had asked him
how to replace the valves on a twelve-stroke engine. “Well, you have to play
thousands of games, of course. That’s the first thing. But it is also a very
good idea to pick up a few good books on strategy and study them. Read them over
and over. Maybe we can find a shop tomorrow somewhere and buy you some.”

Radji nodded but I saw the light dim in his eyes. I would
have to tell the others later that he couldn’t read or write. But he could
learn.

At the end of the meal, Ziegfried and Sheba said that they had presents.
Ziegfried handed me a small box. When I opened it I found his watch inside, his
beautiful, golden round watch that had been his grandfather’s. I always loved
it. I couldn’t believe he was giving it to me. “No,” I said. “I can’t take it.”
“Yes,” he said. “I want you to have it. My grandfather would have approved of
you having it. Trust me, Al.” My eyes clouded as I stared at the watch. It had
large black numbers and little crystals inside it. It was attached to a gold
chain. I felt so honoured that he would give it to me. “I love it.” Radji stared
at the watch with wonder, as I had done when I first saw it.

Then Ziegfried gave a small present to Radji. It was wrapped in paper. Radji’s
eyes opened wide. I knew it had probably been intended for me, but that’s how
caring Ziegfried was— he wouldn’t neglect someone, and he knew I would
understand. Radji opened the paper and discovered a lovely golden pen. Radji’s
eyes were all over it, then he looked at me to see if it was okay to accept it.
I smiled at him.

Sheba gave us each a wrapped present. Radji received a brand new journal with a
beautiful cover and the nicest paper inside. It was for writing. When I opened
my present I discovered a book with a picture of a riverboat on it. It looked
like Africa. The story was by Joseph Conrad, and was called
Heart of
Darkness.
“Read it on your next journey,” Sheba said, and winked at
me.

“Thank you both so much,” I said. “It’s really me who should
be giving you presents because you just got married.”

“Oh, you have,” Sheba said.

“How?”

She looked towards Radji, who was completely absorbed with his book and pen.
“You have taken another soul under your wing. Nothing could possibly be a more
wonderful gift to me, Alfred.”

Then Sheba took the necklace from around her own neck and placed it on
Melissa’s neck and kissed her.

“Oh, my darling girl,” said Melissa, “You have a golden heart.”

She sure did.

We started to stock the sub the next day for the trip to Africa. It was roughly
a three-thousand-mile sail southwest. There were islands along the way, such as
the Maldives and the Seychelles. I was particularly interested in visiting
Madagascar, one of those places in the world famous for all its unusual
creatures. As much as I missed home, and as much as I hated to leave Ziegfried
and Sheba right now, the lure of visiting Madagascar and Africa was too great
for me to resist. I was an explorer after all.

Ziegfried, Radji, Hollie and I took the Jaguar and drove in to Panjim to buy
fresh food and supplies while Melissa and Sheba spent the day baking and
talking. I knew how lucky I was to have so much support from such loving people
and I hoped I would find a way to pay them back someday.

We found a shop that sold chess sets and books about
chess.
Ziegfried bought a new set for Radji and a couple of books. Radji examined every
set in the store, then concluded that the one that Ziegfried bought was the
smartest choice. I was starting to notice similarities in the way that Radji and
Ziegfried thought, and it crossed my mind that Radji could learn so much from
him. I even wondered if it were a possibility, too, that Radji return to
Newfoundland with Ziegfried and Sheba, and live with them there, but, as it
turned out, that was not what was in the cards.

When we returned to Melissa’s, and Ziegfried and I began to load up the sub,
Melissa and Sheba came outside. I could tell by the look on their faces that
they had been discussing something and had reached a decision. When Sheba
reached a decision, going against it was like going against the tide. If
Ziegfried depended on the logic of science and mathematics, Sheba used the logic
of the universe. Melissa came to Radji and asked him to take a walk with her.
Radji looked at me with that worried look on his face; I could tell that somehow
he knew what Melissa was going to ask him. And yet he went with her. They walked
away from the house and slowly towards the road. I stood with a bunch of bananas
in my arms and watched them go. Melissa was doing the talking and Radji was
listening. I wished I could hear, though I knew it was none of my
business.

I saw them come back half an hour later. This time, Radji was doing the talking
and Melissa was listening. Then Melissa hugged him and went into the house.
Radji came over
to me and he was wearing a smile. “This is my
home now,” he said proudly. He pointed to the house and the garage and the
river. “This is where I live now. I am going to learn how to read and write, and
I am going to study and go to school. I will fix things when they are broken and
will keep the yard clean and will become an expert at chess. I will learn other
things too.”