Crown Phoenix: Night Watchman Express

by Alison DeLuca

Chapter 3

  The Family

  eil woke up in a comfortable cotton nest. He heard the sound of water as it gurgled nearby. After suffering from that huge thirst earlier, he would always consider it to be the most beautiful sound in the world, he reflected. For a moment, he lay with his eyes closed and a smile on his face.

  He suddenly was gripped with the dreadful certainty that someone was in the room with him. Opening his eyes and sitting bolt upright, Neil saw Odjo. The huge man poured steaming water into a sunken bath in one far corner of the room. He caught sight of the boy, smiled broadly and bowed five or six times. ”Jumanja! ” he thundered, waving at the bath. ”Lunewe! ” With another bow, he set a pile of towels by the tub and backed out of the room.

  Neil felt incredibly dirty. He hopped out of bed and went over to the bath, which was huge and circular, like the bed. He dipped one toe in, pulled his nightshirt off, and quickly stepped in. ”Aaaaah.” He sighed and relaxed in the warm water. His eyes closed. I could stay here for the next two hours, he thought.

  A sudden image came to him of Mana. As he had seen her earlier, in a dream, she hung in the horrible cage off the end of a cliff. The thing twisted in the wind as she tried to shout to him. That thought made him sit up and start washing hurriedly. Where had those men taken her? Maybe she was really being held in a squalid jail cell, or in a room somewhere, or in a dungeon. Maybe she wasn’t on the island at all. Wherever she was, he couldn’t relax and luxuriate in a bath forever while his friends were hauled off on a mysterious train, and Mana was kidnapped.

  He soaped himself again and got out of the bath, his skin steaming slightly. The towels that Odjo had left for him were huge and soft. He wrapped himself in one in order to go in search of clothes, as his dirty pants and pullover were nowhere to be seen. Sure enough, the faithful Odjo had also left a small pile of clean garments which included a long tunic and a pair of loose cotton pants that did up with a drawstring. Neil put them on, along with some soft leather slippers with pointed toes that lay beside the clothes.

  He decided to go and look for Chichilia. He wanted to thank her for the clothes, the nap, and the bath. He also had to tell her that he had to push on, once he had paid his debt to her.

  As he opened one of the huge doors, Neil nearly tripped over Riki. The girl sat with her long, spider legs stretched out across the doorway. Her untidy black hair had been braided into many thin little pigtails and pulled onto the top of her head. At least, half of it had – one side of her hair still swung loose. Obviously, halfway through the hairdo, Riki had grown bored of the braiding process.

  Seeing him, she bounced up and inspected him from head to toe without a jot of shame. ”You look clean.” She sniffed his skin. ”You smell cleaner, too. You stank before. ”

  Neil edged away from her. ”You try getting lost in a storm and almost dying of thirst and see how clean you are after,” he retorted.

  Instead of getting annoyed, Riki merely shrugged and tugged on his arm. “Come on,” she said. “Jirili and Kakujife will be home soon, along with Wekogono. I want them to meet you.”

  “Who are Jirrylee and Cakojiffy?” Neil asked, stumbling over the names.

  Riki laughed, snorting loudly. “Jirili and Kakujife and Wekogono. My brothers and my father.”

  “Jirili and Kakujife –“

  “And Wekogono.”

  “Got it,” Neil said. “And what does Jumanja mean?”

  “It means Boy,” Riki said. “Like you.” She poked him in the ribs with one hard finger.

  “Right,” Neil said, surreptitiously allowing her to get ahead of him so she was out of reach. “How about Vadugo?”

  “Means ‘thanks,’” Riki said, beginning to swell up with importance in her new role as interpreter.

  “Vadugo,” Neil repeated.

  Chichilia appeared at the bottom of the stairs, wearing a long white dress that flowed from a stiff collar encrusted with what looked like real pearls. “Mr. Neil!” she said gladly. “I hope you slept well!”

  Neil approached her and bowed. “Vadugo,” he said, using one of the words he had just learned.

  Riki screamed with delight, and turned to her mother. “Chichilia!” she demanded. “I taught him that word! Hey, did you see him bow to you just now? What a complete idiot!”

  Chichilia opened her mouth, probably to shout ‘Riki!’, but Neil forestalled her. “Thank you very much for letting me sleep, and giving me a bath and - for everything,” he finished lamely. Already he owed her an incredible debt, and he had no way to repay it.

  She smiled and gestured towards a doorway. He followed her into a wide room with a long table that had been set with more bowls of fruit and flowers. Riki immediately took a chair, sat in it, and held on with both hands to the arms. The long, smooth muscles in her arms worked as she began to rock it back and forth.

  “Riki –”

  “And thank you for the clothes as well,” Neil continued desperately. “Maybe I can do some work for you to repay you.”

  Riki stopped rocking the chair and stared at him openmouthed. “You’re actually offering to work?” she asked.

  “Well, of course,” Neil frowned. “I owe your mother a huge debt.” And you saved my life, he thought, but he didn’t bother to say it to her and give her the satisfaction.

  Riki considered this for a moment and seemed on the brink of questioning him further when the door to the room opened. A tall, bearded man entered, followed by two others that looked like younger copies of the first. This had to be Jirili, Kakujife and Wekogono, Neil thought.

  “Djire, Weko!” Chichilia approached the older man and kissed his cheek. He wrapped his arms around his wife and squeezed her for a moment. She hugged him and stepped back to gesture at Neil. “Weko, meet Mr. Neil, who arrived in Lampala this morning.”

  “Well, that’s a polite way of putting it,” Neil said, bobbing his head awkwardly at the huge man.

  In an important manner, Riki added, “I found him on the beach. He was nearly dead. I dragged him back home.” She spoiled the effect by pleading, “Can I keep him?”

  Her father turned and considered Neil for a moment, looking at him with an unblinking stare. Behind him, the two brothers also inspected him, and Neil wished suddenly that he could be back in Firbury College, or in his family’s cottage back home, or on the train with Miriam and Simon; anywhere, in fact, except for where he was.

  Finally, Wekogono looked at his wife and said, “You have, too tender, a heart, Chichilia. You shouldn’t take in strangers just because Riki has found them; this boy could be dangerous.” The two brothers nodded slowly in agreement.

  Acutely uncomfortable, Neil cleared his throat and said, “I, em, I’m very sorry that I invaded your home, Mr. Wekogono. I know that I owe you and your wife a huge debt, and I am willing to work for you, if you will allow me to do so. And I assure you that I mean no harm to you or to your family.”

  “And I assure you that I mean no harm,” Riki echoed in an exaggeratedly deep voice, and giggled. “Vadugo!” she added, in a perfect example of Neil’s attempt to speak Lampalan, or whatever the language was called. She simpered and bowed with a loud laugh at her own wit.

  “Riki!” Chichilia called, and the men winced. Obviously, they were just as tired of hearing it as Neil was.

  “I think I’ll change my name,” Riki complained, but she subsided.

  “She has been very bad today,” Chichilia said to her husband. “But now, we cannot stand around and discuss this now. Can’t we all at least sit down and eat, and talk like human beings?”

  “Of course, Chichilia,” Weko replied and took a seat. The brothers followed suit, and Neil was gently pushed towards a chair by Chichilia.

  “Sit and eat, Mr. Neil,” she said. “Odjo!”

  Another door in the far wall opened, and the omnipresent Odjo entered with a huge tray of steaming bowls and platters. “Djire, Magano.” Odjo put a large plate in front of Wekogono.

  “Djire.” Weko lea
ned back in his chair and closed his eyes tiredly. The fat cook smiled and bowed at least ten times before he retreated, presumably to his kitchen.

  “Are you tired, Weko?” Chichilia put one hand over his.

  “It was a long week.” Weko picked up one of the bowls and handed it to Neil.

  It was filled with what looked like huge shrimp, coated with spices and bursting out of their shells. Neil ladled a few onto his plate and hurriedly passed the bowl to Riki, who began to pile them onto her own platter.

  “The new owners of the company have increased their demands, and we have to find some way of hurrying the new harvest.” He passed a plate of small, crusty rolls, split and filled with cheese and herbs, to Neil.

  Feeling more and more uncomfortable, Neil took one and set it beside the untouched shrimp, and handed them on to Riki. Her cheeks bulged with food, like a hamster. She stuffed one in her mouth, balanced three more on her plate, and went back to eating.

  “As much as I hate to say it,” one of the brothers said in a lowered voice, “it’s all Atol’s fault. Furthermore, this never would have occurred when Mr. Pearson ran the Company.” The other men murmured agreement, and they broke into their own language to continue what was obviously a serious discussion about their work.

  Neil, whose ears had pricked up when they mentioned the name of Pearson, was handed more and more bowls of delicious-looking food. He continued to take a scrap from each and pass them to Riki, who was eating more food than he had ever seen any one person eat at one meal. Where does she put it all? he wondered, considering her skinny wrists, which looked like twigs poking out of her turquoise tunic.

  She became aware of his gaze and blurted out, “You’re not eating anything.”

  Instantly, all eyes fell on Neil, who hurriedly picked up a fork and mumbled shamefacedly, “Wasn’t very hungry.”

  Chichilia dropped her spoon into her plate and threw up her hands. “Weko, you have made our guest feel unwelcome!” she wailed. “Of course he cannot eat! I try to make him feel at home, and I deal with Riki all week while you work on Mixiamani, and now Mr. Neil cannot eat in our own home! And now I myself am being rude!” She burst suddenly into tears, pushed back her chair and ran from the room. The door slammed behind her.

  Riki giggled, but she caught a glance from her father’s eye and quickly subsided. Neil shrank back in his chair, wishing he were invisible, and said gruffly, “I didn’t mean – look, I’ll leave right away.”

  “Perhaps that would be best,” the father said, considering seriously. The brothers also appeared to reflect and nodded in unison.

  “I’m done,” Riki announced. She was apparently unaware of the dramatic tension in the room. “I’m going to find my parrot and play with him.” She climbed over the side her own chair and jumped down.

  “Fold your napkin,” her father growled. She put her tongue out at him and went to the door, and Wekogono dropped his head into one hand.

  “Wait!” Neil said desperately. She turned and he held up his own napkin. “Bet you can’t do this.” Riki regarded him with a screwed-up mouth, an impatient glint in her eyes, and one hand on the doorknob.

  I’m like the prime exhibit in a zoo, Neil thought. He quickly folded the napkin, turned and folded again, and pulled on two corners. The stiff material suddenly emerged in the shape of a rabbit.

  “Ipa!” Riki said, and Wekogono raised his head to stare at her. She came back to the table and demanded, “How did you do that?”

  “Sit down and I’ll show you,” Neil said. “But,” he added, “you must apologize at once to your father for being rude.”

  Wekogono’s eyes opened wide, but in an off-handed manner Riki said, “Oh, sorry, Weko.” Her eyes were glued on the napkin.

  Neil reached for another napkin and repeated the process, and after a minute Riki tried it. A rather crumpled-looking bunny was the result.

  “Aah,” the brothers said together, and Riki looked up, delighted with herself.

  “I did it, Jirili! Kakujife! Did you see?”

  “Now ask to be excused,” Neil said determinedly.

  “To be excused,” Riki repeated automatically. “Hey, can you do any others?”

  “Maybe,” Neil replied.

  “Can he stay?” She turned to her father, threw her arms around his neck, and hugged him.

  He put one arm around her waist and regarded Neil again. “You seem to have bewitched my daughter, Mr. Neil.”

  “Well, I’m terribly sorry –” Neil began to rise from the table.

  “No, no!” Wekogono gestured for him to sit. “I have never seen her act in such a polite manner! I am afraid she is a little over-indulged, and it is a great strain on my wife. Will you stay with us and help her with Riki during the week when my sons and I must go to Mixiamani?”

  “Help you with Riki?” Neil couldn’t help repeating it. He was completely taken aback.

  “You said that you wished to work to pay your debt to us,” Weko reminded him.

  “Well, of course, but –” Neil remembered Mana.

  “Aha! Excellently done!” Wekogono smiled as broadly as Odjo himself. “Now, eat, Mr. Neil, or my wife will have my head! Riki, you may go and play with your parrot.” He applied one loud kiss to the side of her head. “And Jirili, you’d better go and fetch your mother, and tell her that all is well, or she’ll cry herself into hysterics.”

  Neil felt he had just signed up for a most difficult task as he picked up his fork and said, “There is one thing I must do though –”

  “Of course, of course.” Weko waved one hand in the air. “Later you will tell me all about that. Now, Kakujife, certainly you will want to hear what Atol’s decision was in the matter of the new harvest next month…”

  Behind him, Riki rolled her eyes and made good her escape. Envying her heartily, Neil picked up his fork and began to eat as quickly as he decently could, so he could run away from them as well.