The Empty Hammock (17 page)

They were walking in a place that was overhung with trees, which grew close together. “I think I know where this is,” Ana announced to Orocobix.

He looked back at her and frowned. “You should. We used to play here.” He started to climb down the incline toward the stream.

Ana rolled her eyes and caught Guani staring at her fixatedly.

“I meant the future,” she caught up with Orocobix, and screamed as her feet hit the cold water. “This is biting cold,” she shivered as they waded through, “this is near the water wheel at Seville Great House.”

Orocobix grabbed her hand as she tried to get a foothold on a stone. “We will be traveling through the caves.” Orocobix said to her as they headed toward a minute waterfall in the hill.

“I have never been through a cave.” Ana said thoughtfully, she was in good spirits; she was getting a tour of old Jamaica. It was a pity that the place had no distinguishable landmarks that she knew.

It was all green and lush and filled with overgrowth and waterfalls. Where were the waterfalls in the future?

“Duck,” Orocobix’s voice was close to her ear as they approached the waterfall; the loud sound of the water crashing on rocks filled the air. Ana used her tongue and licked the excess moisture that was on her mouth from the persistent sprays and then ducked as Orocobix dragged her into a cave.

It was pitch black, and so it took her eyes a while to adjust to the dim interior. The rest of the entourage followed and as they tumbled into the cave, Orocobix lit a torch and handed her the heavy stone base. Fire crackled at the top and she welcomed the heat because the waterfalls had drenched her.

She peered into the darkness and gasped at the huge drawings on the walls, there were stick men with weird looking creatures surrounding them.

“Orocobix, who did these?” Ana went closer to the inner rock of the cave her mouth opened in awe.

“Those were done by the Ciboneys, our servants.” Macu came to stand and peer at the drawings with her. “These were done by our people.” He pointed to a pictorial of an ugly zemi head. He looked pleased. “That is the god of the caves.”

“How can you tell the difference?” Ana questioned Macu. Orocobix was content to lean on the cave wall as Ana and Guani, who had never been inside a cave, looked like eager children waiting on Macu to explain.

“Our drawings are better,” Macu said simply.

They walked slowly down the passageway that was wide enough for five people to walk shoulder to shoulder. The ground was dry and curiously smooth.

“The river flows through here sometimes.” Orocobix said, as she looked down at the smooth cave floor. “That’s why in here smells slightly fishy,” Ana murmured. “How do you know that the river will not be upon us soon?”

“This is not the season for it.” Macu pointed at the roof of the cave. “Look at that.”

Ana looked up and almost fainted, there were veins of shiny yellow metal interwoven in the stony roof. The veins of yellow threads glowed dimly in the semi dark and seemed to wink in many places as the light bounced from it.

“That’s caona—gold. I have never seen it like this before.”

Orocobix took a sharp edged stone and dug out a chunk of the cave wall.

Ana wanted to hold on to it. She could barely believe it. She was staring at gold. Her heart raced. Her palm went damp.

Suppose the Spanish did not find this source? It would mean that in twenty-first century Jamaica there was still gold under this very cave. She would only tell her mother and Carey and then they would be rich. She could quit her job. Her mouth was practically drooling over the rock when Orocobix took it from her and threw it on the ground.

“Why?” Ana almost screamed her wrath. “It’s gold.”

Orocobix looked at her closely and the others were obviously puzzled.

“You are sitting on a gold mine.” She almost ground her teeth in frustration, “gold means a lot to people.”

She took up the chunk of rock and then threw it back down. Was she any different from the Spanish to come? Carrying on over something that these people obviously put little value on.

“This will be what the new people will want,” Ana said hoarsely.

Macu and Guani looked at her puzzled.

******

They walked underground for what seemed like hours. Orocobix seemed to know exactly where to go, without compass or map and at one stage they stopped to eat on top of the cave where the noonday sun was blazing overhead.

When Ana stood beside the hole at the cave top she was in awe. They were in a hill, she could see for miles around. Everywhere she looked there was greenery, even the river that was flowing below was green, and its still depths reflected the trees on its banks.  The deep green water was very still. At the top of the river in the distance she could see a waterfall, little boys could be seen splashing around this area and Ana shouted to them and waved.

They waved back. Orocobix smiled. “Those boys are from the Hutey’s tribe.”

“Do you know everyone here?” Ana asked curiously, as Orocobix bit into his bammy chewing slowly.

“Mostly, Hutey’s tribe wears more cloth than the rest of us. They trade cloth to everyone on this land.”

Guani shifted uneasily on the stone where he lounged and tried not to look at Ana as she talked to her husband. He knew that the pain in his heart was love. He could barely breathe when Ana came near him and he smelled the natural scent that was hers alone.

She treated him with respect and she did not seem to mind that his forehead was not flattened. He was finding it harder and harder not to touch her. Right now, her hair was ruffled in the wind, its unadorned strands looking silky in the sunlight. She was smiling with pleasure as she spoke to the Chief, her lips slightly pink and dewy. He could barely contain himself from blurting out his undying devotion. He wanted her like he wanted no other.

Macu looked over at him sensing his thoughts and shook his head imperceptibly; ‘she is the chief’s woman,’ his brother’s eyes said. But his heart still ached when he looked at her.

“Why did we not take this route when going to Maima?” Ana asked curiously.

“There are many ways to reach Maima,” Orocobix smiled. “We could travel by sea too, that would take us a shorter time.”

“I would love to travel in a canoe,” Ana said longingly.

“We will, when we go to Bohio for the council meeting.” Orocobix pushed her hair behind her ears. “There you will meet Guacanagari.”

“And I will tell him his trust is misplaced and he is a shame to his people, siding with the strangers against his own people and allowing them to go into slavery. I will tell him that his death in the mountains is a fitting end to his life.” Ana said passionately.

Everyone was silent after her outburst with varying shades of dismay on their faces.

“He will die in the mountains?” Guani asked sadly.

“He will turn against his own people?” Macu asked angrily.

“This I will not believe,” Orocobix stood up and walked over the rocky expanse of the top of the cave and stood at the side of the hill facing the river.

They walked through the caves and ended upon a well-trodden trail behind some undergrowth; very close to the settlement of Bieke. Guani was excited; it was his first time visiting another tribe.

The people ran to meet Orocobix and by extension Ana. She was not feeling as much joy as she thought she would have felt on returning to Bieke. The group had been mostly silent coming back. What had she expected after blurting out to everyone that their most loved visionary, Cacique Guacanagari, was going to betray his own people?

She wished, not for the first time, that she was on the island of Bohio. At least, she would have been at the very pulse of all the happenings, instead of here in Jamaica where no real action will happen for the next fifteen years or so. She would have wanted to be at Maima when Colón pulled his eclipse stunt on the third voyage or to see the Spanish and English fight over the island. Instead, she was stuck on the wrong island; in the wrong time.

Why was she here anyway? Was it to warn the people?

She felt disheartened, when she goes back to the future will anyone believe her, or will they just label her as senile like her father?

She remembered his earnest eyes when he asked, “Do you believe me Ana?”

She should have believed him and then asked him more. How else could he have spoken with such authority about where the sites of the different villages were and exactly where to find artifacts?

“You are dreaming again?”

Ana jumped and looked behind her, the old medicine man was standing close to her, his eyes large in his wrinkled face. Was that a loaded question, given the irony of the situation?

“You can talk to me Ana, you used to all the time.”

Ana shrugged, “I just got back from Maima and I was just reflecting on how different the place had become.”

The medicine man shook his head. “The news is already traveling about the village, that you predicted that strange men would come and that Guacanagari, the great prophet, will betray his own people and sell them into slavery.”

Ana shrugged and looked around for Orocobix, he was talking to some men in a circle, he glanced at her and then looked away frowning. Obviously, he was still angry with her for bursting his bubble of bliss, accusing the ‘most revered’ one of a mean act.

“Come,” the medicine man took her hand and they walked toward his hut.

“The witch is back,” Tanama hissed as they passed Basila’s hut.

Ana looked over at the defiant expression of Tanama and grinned. Her sister was angry and her whole body quivered with it.

“You know Colón said that you people knew no evil.” She winked at Tanama, “but obviously he did not meet you.”

“What are you talking about mad woman?” Tanama asked viciously. “You speak strange names and of strange people and you expect that I will follow you like the rest of this village. I am not stupid,” she spat.

Ana stopped and the medicine man was forced to stop with her. She went close to Tanama and looked the girl in the eye, she was indeed beautiful; her long lashes were thick, they framed warm chocolate eyes that were flashing in anger.

“Tanama,” Ana touched her hand and the girl flinched, “do not believe anybody readily, be suspicious and cautious, that’s a very good trait in these times. Keep it up.”

She left Tanama gaping at her.

******

The medicine man’s hut was close to the hut of the zemis. They both sat on the low stools in the semi-dark of the hut.

The medicine man was silent, his flaccid penis hung between his legs and his brown body hunched over.

Ana could not bare the silence so she spoke first. “I just want to know what kind of illnesses your people face.”

He reached for a tobacco leaf.

“Please do not smoke,” Ana said quickly, “it’s not good for you.”

He put back the leaf and said huskily, “you’ve always said that. He cleared his throat “the people here have few ailments; I usually cure these ailments with a variety of herbs.” He pointed to a cloth in the corner where numerous herbs were being dried.

“I have not seen promiscuity here, or anyone with anything looking like sexually transmitted diseases. Not that I am a doctor or anything. So how is it that the disease Syphilis was said to originate here in the New World?”

The medicine man stared at her blankly.

“Wouldn’t it be fair to assume that some people would be on the verge of dying or suffering? Or the epidemic would have killed you all by now before the explorers reached the Caribbean shores. Why then does everyone look so healthy, well rested and happy? What about the sickness and sores?”

How ironic, that the original inhabitants were accused of giving the promiscuous sailors from Spain syphilis.

The medicine man cleared his throat and Ana stopped agonizing over the second bit of abuse on the Arawaks and looked at him properly.

“Behique?” 

“I know why you are here.”

“Why?” Her question was eager.

“You are only here because you said you believed.” His eyes were deep brown and for a minute, Ana felt as if she was staring into her father’s eyes.

Ana sat stunned and the medicine man started chanting in the silence.

How could he know that? She had only told her father that she believed him about visiting the past.

“Behique, what are you saying?” Ana asked the medicine man fearfully.

The Behique ignored her and continued chanting.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Ana was getting to like the laid-back living of the past. Bieke was not as busy as Maima, but there was always something new to do everyday. The days were spinning into each other and she could hardly tell the time.

The Tainos had a simple way of doing it. They counted the cycles of the moon. They only counted to ten and then they started over again.

They based there planting season from watching nature, they had an almost accurate system of determining when the rain would come, and as she found out on her third day back at Bieke, they were pretty accurate with their sense of hurricane arrivals.