The Empty Hammock (7 page)

Yes, she had seen them throughout the village and even in Basila’s hut but it hadn't registered that they were worshipped. This was the biggest one she had seen so far. She searched her mind for the name in her history book. They were called zumi…zenty…no, it was zemi. These were the representatives of the Taino spirit world.

Orocobix squeezed her fingers and she gazed back at him.

“Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter for the other. Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth to the other. Now you are two persons, but there is only one life before you. Go now to your dwelling, to enter into the days of your life together. May your days be good and long upon the earth.” The old man’s gravelly voice washed over them in the still night.

Orocobix nodded and Ana followed this respectful gesture while staring into his liquid brown eyes, his hands were slightly trembling and she had to ease her fingers a bit from the crushing weight of his.

“Han-ha’n catu’- yes let it be this way,” the villagers responded. Their features looked eerie in the flickering light of the fire, and for a moment Ana felt like laughing. Would it ruin the solemn ceremony if she laughed and rolled on the ground?

She was finding it hard to concentrate; the pungent odor of jasmine was wafting gently in the air. The villagers chanted han-ha’n catu’ over and over again.

What would Mr. Wilkins say if he could see his top marketing executive, kneeling down, her painted breasts hanging free, in front of a nearly naked man, and in a circle of naked chanting people?

She knew she was on the verge of panic.

How long would this chanting last?

The drums started and then stopped and then the faint whistle of the reed drifted around her.

Ana looked over at the man who was playing, he had his mouth pouted and was blowing with all his might in a smooth stick. The instrument was primitive, but the music was surprisingly emotive.

The gleam in Orocobix’s eyes was slightly predatory; he was looking at her as if she was his last meal.

Ana swallowed. She was attracted to him too and felt slightly ashamed when her erect nipples pushed through her body paint. She looked away from him.

His fingers tightened on hers, crushing her small bones and she was forced to look up at him. He smiled at her knowingly and touched her lips gently with a finger.

The drums started again and as the old man stood his shriveled penis swung like a pendulum. Ana stared at it fascinated, he did not have on one stitch of clothes; his whole body was finely lined and painted in a weird pattern.

She almost jumped as the old man touched her hair and then Orocobix’s chanted something guttural. She could not say which language he spoke.

Orocobix stood up and gently lifted her to her feet. The people cheered, their teeth gleaming in the dark.

Ana blushed.

While the old man had been blessing them, she was more focused on his swinging phallus, speculating on his comfort with his shriveled body.

Now she was married or joined. She was now Mrs. Cacique for better or worse.

She sat beside Orocobix on a low stool, which was uncomfortable in its hardness and tried to make out the features of the people around.

The scent of food wafted on the air and Ana’s belly rumbled, she had barely eaten during the day because of her preparation.

A young lady in a white loincloth brought a calabash bowl and bowed before Orocobix who took it from her. He bowed over Ana’s hand and gave her a sip. It was strong; the liquid burnt her throat as it went down. Orocobix took a sip and handed the bowl to the old man who sat back down.

Was this hygienic?

Ana panicked, these were not the days of antibiotics and aspirin.

Orocobix grinned at her, taking in her bemused expression and pulled her to her feet; he carried her to the center of the circle and started to dance.

Ana stood looking at him incredulously as his feet moved one way and then the other. He danced without self-consciousness and Ana felt conspicuous. She was just standing there because she had no idea how to dance. The last time she had attempted to do anything remotely like dancing before an audience, was in primary school. She had fallen from the stage onto her butt, in front of an auditorium full of friends and family.

Why should she do it now?

Orocobix looked at his wife and smiled; she was biting her lips shyly and wringing her hands, so innocent, and all his.

“Ana.” he took her hand and drew her to him, his heart was beating fast and he could feel her softness beside him, “just move, no one will mind what you do.”

He moved slowly with her and she reluctantly matched his steps.

“That’s better,” he whispered in her ear. The drum started in earnest and other people joined them in the circle of the light.

Ana danced until she was breathless. She suddenly felt free, her body and the music were one. Panting and sweating, she was coughing slightly when Orocobix pulled her to sit beside him on the low, uncomfortable stools.

There were platters of food being handed around by women and one solicitously waited on them. The crowd got rowdy and Ana sat bemusedly beside her new husband.

He glanced at her frequently, his hand gently rubbing hers. Sometimes his fingers would brush her leg and Ana would clamp them together, all her nerve endings were on alert.

“We will retire soon,” he whispered in her ears.

Ana jumped nervously and involuntarily shivered as his hot breath touched her neck. Nobody said anything about retiring with her new husband.

She had never slept with anyone before. Would her first time be in a dream with a Taino chief? Nick, her ex-boyfriend, would really have a laugh at this one.

She rubbed her bare arms; there was a cold breeze blowing from the sea. Her nipples puckered with the change in temperature and she self-consciously crossed her hands over her breasts. She was never going to wear her nakedness comfortably. Orocobix looked at her and smiled, his lips turned up sensually. A heat was building in his eyes as his gaze raked her features possessively.

The fact that Orocobix would have no clothes to remove jolted her, leaving her slightly breathless. He seemed to read her thoughts, and the underlying anticipation that had been sizzling between the two of them increased two-fold.

What kind of lover would this man be? Would he be gentle or aggressive like a savage?

CHAPTER EIGHT

Orocobix stood up abruptly, as if he couldn't take the strain of waiting any longer. “We are going to make our joining official, Ana.” 

The villagers cheered as they heard the loud pronouncement. The music picked up a frenzied beat as the new couple made their way to the Chief’s house.

Ana felt slightly embarrassed; she could feel the eyes of the people watching her as she entered the square shaped hut. The interior of the hut was larger than she expected. In the center of the hut were two huge hammocks, tied to the center pole, which was decorated with wild flowers. In a corner was a huge clay pot with patterns all around it, at the other side of the cleanly swept dirt floor were four low stools with crude patterns carved into the sides.

Ana glanced at the corner of the hut, at what appeared to be a make shift bed, piles of cloth were neatly arranged on top of what looked like straws.

“I thought Tainos slept in their hammocks,” she said out loud to break the nervousness that had her in its clutches.

Orocobix spoke directly behind her, his heated body touching hers. “We sleep in hammocks…other things are done right here,” he pulled her over to the pile of cloths and urged her down. “I sent all the way to Guanahatabey for cloths as soft as these.”

“Guanahatabey is Cuba,” Ana blurted out nervously as Orocobix hugged her to him.

“I have waited all my life for you Ana,” Orocobix whispered in the dark. He ran his hands through her hair. “I get hard thinking about you in the day time, and sometimes I have to hide my hardness from the elders in the council meetings. If you had not joined with me, I would be hard forever, no end in sight.”

Ana chuckled in the dark, enjoying his warmth and the sweet scent of jasmine on his skin…and his talk of hardness.

“I would conquer the Caribs for you,” he trailed his fingers around her breast and his voice got huskier, “I will never allow anyone to come between us. If you are ever captured I will come after you, even if I will lose my life. This is my pledge to you, my flower.”

Ana whimpered in his arms, something was happening to her, her body was turning liquid, she was catapulted into a mass of sensations and he hadn’t even touched her properly. His words were better than any aphrodisiac, his mouth seductive. She was caught up in sensation and deep attraction, but the future for her did not exist here.

“Do you know how to kiss?” She whispered in the dark, capturing his wandering hands and kissing the smooth pads of his fingers. “What is that word?” Orocobix asked curiously.

“It’s this,” Ana brought his head closer to hers and fit her mouth over his; she slowly pushed her tongue across his hard lips and slowly showed him what to do. He learnt pretty quickly, she thought in a daze as their lips locked for what seemed to her a dazzlingly long interval.

“That’s amazing.” His voice was husky; his hand trembled as he pulled back from her lips and touched her hair, then her eyelids. His hands wandered downward and he cupped her breasts and then snaked down leaving a hot trail of sensation in its wake to the juncture of her thighs.

Ana moaned in the darkness, her senses were heightened, her breathing frenzied. All the tactile areas of her body were inflamed as he touched her most secret place.

“Touch me Ana,” his words were garbled against her neck.

She obeyed him.

The drums' beat outside their sensual haven, adding to the pulsating beat of their bodies as they became one.

******

The sun was up when Ana opened her eyes, she glanced at Orocobix. His eyes were closed and his long lashes cast shadows against his skin.

She touched his warm skin and sighed. She could probably have explained everything else to her psychiatrist when she returned to the future, but not last night. All her senses were on alert.

Last night was real. She looked down at her body. The love burns were real.

She wanted to use the bathroom, bathe and do something about the ugly body paint that was on her skin.

Basila made a clear liquid to run the mosquitoes, so she did not need the paint. The paint was a bit too ancient for her; she really did not like dabs of the stuff on her skin.

If only she had a paper and pen or something else to write with, she glanced at Orocobix again. She would probably write a flowery article on the love practices of the Tainos, she could just envision the topic in flaming black script, 'Tainos how did they make out?'

She grinned. The title 'How were Taino babies born. Was it by Immaculate Conception or Passionate Copulation?' sounded better. She would get more sales for that one.

“It is good, that you are smiling,” Orocobix said beside her. He caressed her bare back.

Ana suddenly felt shy, her skin prickled where he ran his fingers. “I don’t suppose Tainos use birth-control, do they? I would not want to have a baby in this dream.”

Orocobix knelt behind her and nibbled on her shoulders, “of what do you speak?”

“Never mind, I will ask Basila. I should have done that last night.”

Orocobix turned her to him, “Ana, what language do you speak when I can’t understand you?”

“Do you really want to know?” Ana looked hard at him.

“Of course I do. I want to know everything about you. We have never left the island, except to go to Bohio, but yet you speak strange things sometimes. How do you know how to do this kiss thing?”

“I can’t really explain it.” Ana ran her hands through her hair, her strangely straight hair. “I am from the future. I don’t know how I'm trapped in this person’s body or what I am doing here.”

Orocobix stared at her then he started to laugh. He laughed until he had to lie back down on their makeshift bed—tears streamed down his cheeks.

He looked so handsome and male, his bronze skin gleaming healthily in the morning light. His strong features befitting that of a warrior rather than a peaceful chief. His slightly full lower lip was turned up in laughter. She could barely keep her face serious too.

Ana slapped him on his leg. “Stop it. I was sleeping at my parent’s house, under a palm tree in the year 2007. Next thing I know, I woke up under a similar palm tree clothes-less with you hanging over me. I was hauled to a hut and stayed there for three days doing the spa treatment, which by the way was great, and then I was joined to you last night.”

Orocobix’s body stilled, “Ana I would do anything for you, I just joined with you, I can’t bear to let you go. If you say these things to people, I will be forced to put you in a house at the bottom of the hill and join with another.” His dark deep-set eyes were serious.

“Do you even believe me? Just a little bit Orocobix?”

“I played in the stream with you at Maima; you cooked a bird for me on your eighth summer. We built a canoe together, when we found the perfect cotton tree. On your ninth summer, when the Caribs came to Maima, we hid in the trees. I held you while you cried because they took your baby brother away,” Orocobix got up and stood in the corner of the hut, his body taut with tension.