The Arcturus Man

by John Strauchs

  Each of the small boats had a woman waiting to receive the catch. Most appeared to be grandmothers. Everything was neatly processed by the women as soon as it came on board. Jenny tried hard to keep up. She was a marine biologist and should be an expert on fish but the Kuna women made her look clumsy and inept. Through Jose’s son she learned that the Kuna were a matriarchic society. The women took care of all the money and managed the various family businesses.

  One of the women cried out. Jenny looked toward where she was pointing. A military-looking patrol boat suddenly appeared as it rounded a small peninsula protecting the cove. A Kuna woman close to Jenny’s boat paddled her boat closer. She was yelling at the boys. Several of them swam to Jenny’s boat and capsized it. Each of the boats without a sail was turned over. Some of the boys and one of the girls climbed on top of the overturned boats and then jumped off. They climbed back on and jumped off again. It was to appear like a game. At first, Jenny couldn’t understand what was happening. The boys were now throwing some of the fish that had spilled out at each other. They were yelling and screaming. The patrol boat would simply think that the children were rough housing. It was very clever. These were very clever people.

  One of the younger women swam over to Jenny who was clinging to the side of her overturned boat. Jenny’s eyes were wide with confusion. The young Kuna woman seemed to understand. She stroked Jenny’s shoulders to show that there was nothing to be concerned about. Jenny glanced around her cayuco and glimpsed that the patrol boat was closing fast. The Kuna woman pulled Jenny away, back behind the overturned canoe. She pinched her nostrils shut, gesturing for Jenny to do the same. She made an overt movement of holding her breath and then submerged beneath the boat, pulling Jenny along with her. She grabbed Jenny by the buttocks and pushed her up until she was horizontal in the water, floating underneath the overturned boat. It startled her.

  Now Jenny understood. They were hiding her from the patrol boat. They could see her legs if she hung down in the water. She had to float in the water. Jenny leaned back so only her nose and mouth were out of the water and lifted her legs again so they were entirely within the boat. There was enough air trapped under the boat that breathing wasn’t a problem, at least not for a while. The sun was so bright and the water reflected so much light that it wasn’t at all dark. She could see well. She could even hear the children yelling. Then she heard the roaring motor of the approaching patrol boat. The young Kuna woman left Jenny and swam out. Jenny grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back.

  Jenny pointed to her crotch. She used one hand to show a waving motion, as if something was flowing out. The Kuna woman didn’t seem to understand at first, but suddenly, the significance of what Jenny was trying to communicate became clear. Jenny was menstruating. The woman showed alarm. She gestured to Jenny to stay there but it was evident that she was reacting to what Jenny was signing. The menstrual blood was going to attract sharks.

  There was no reef in the lagoon. No reef meant fewer fish and that meant that sharks would be infrequent, unless something attracted them. Sharks could sense the blood from miles away. Perhaps they had enough time until the sharks arrived. The young Kuna woman yelled at the children and they immediately began to climb on upright boats and even on top of the overturned ones.

  Jenny held her breath and lowered deeper into the water beneath the boat. She rolled slightly and looked up. The light was diffracted, and without goggles, it was very difficult to make out images but it looked like men on the patrol boat were talking to the Kuna. It looked like some were in uniform and others were not. There were ten or more men on the boat. Jared had already explained to Jenny how much the Kuna disliked outsiders, especially outside officials and military. This was probably a rare occurrence.

  She couldn’t see, so she floated to the far side of her overturned boat. She wanted to see what the women and children were doing. A few glanced toward her with disapproving eyes. She was about to swim back under the boat when she saw it. It was a shark. It darted up and brushed her legs. She instantly felt the burn as the salt water worked on the raw skin. Jenny glanced down between her legs. She couldn’t see any blood but she knew that her Tampax was probably gorged with blood. If she got rid of it, it might float to the surface and attract attention. She really didn’t know if it would float or not, but it was too risky.

  She slid under the boat again and resumed a floating position but turned her head again and again on both sides, looking deep into the water. Another shark swam beneath her. Maybe it was the same shark. She panicked. She pulled her blouse over her head so that her blond hair wouldn’t show. The shore was fifty meters away. She had to go for it before she was attacked. It could only be seconds now before she was hit.

  Jenny swam out to the far side of the boat again and began to swim for land. Now there were at least two sharks circling her. She sensed there were probably more. She lost her head and began to sprint toward land. She was now in sight of the patrol boat. For the moment they weren’t looking her way but they did see the sharks. There was some kind of commotion on the patrol boat. The men on the large boat threw lines into the water and pulled some of the boys onto the boat.

  Another shark raced by her. This time it grazed her midriff. It wasn’t a bite yet but it hurt. She was sure she lost skin. She was out of her mind with fear. Hiding from the patrol boat was no longer a priority.

  A boy jumped from one of the sail boats and dove beneath Jenny. He had a spear gun. As one of the sharks made another pass the boy shot a spear. It was a glancing blow and veered off the shark. Without goggles Jenny couldn’t see clearly. The boy was defending her. The shark darted away and then turned back. In an instant it was on the boy. A crimson cloud blossomed in the water around the young boy. Jenny was horrified. The shark had taken the boys right leg beneath the knee. It was horrible. He couldn’t have been more than 9 or 10 years of age. It wasn’t a very big shark, but it was big enough to have taken the leg.

  Jenny no longer had any thoughts of self-preservation. She now had to save the small boy who had tried to defend her. She swam as hard as she could to get the boy before he drowned as shock set in. The patrol boat would spot her as they came to help. She didn’t care. But they didn’t come. She couldn’t believe it. They didn’t come. She could see out of the corner of her eye as she swam that the boat was leaving. They had gunned the engines as a huge rooster tail erupted behind the boat. They had no intention of helping. They were leaving. The rescued boys jumped from the boat.

  She grabbed the injured boy and tugged him to the closest upright cayuco. The women and the boys in the boats began beating the water with paddles and anything else they could find. They were trying to distract and disorient the circling sharks. One of the older women helped pulled the boy into the boat. Jenny climbed in behind him. She could see men on the shore jumping into the water to swim to the boat. She tore strips from her skirt and fashioned a quick tourniquet. Blood was spurting out of the boy’s leg. The amount of blood was beyond belief. She tightened the tourniquet but it didn’t seem to slow down the bleeding. The boy would be dead in a matter of minutes.

  One of the men climbed into the boat, forcing one of the women to jump off to make room. He looked at Jenny and the tourniquet. Without a moment’s hesitation, he picked up the boy roughly and carried him to the charcoal burner at the far end of the boat where the old woman had been cooking fish. The coals were white hot. He lowered the boy until his stump was on top of the coals. The stump, still spurting blood in pulses, was quickly lowered into the burning embers. Jenny had never heard anyone scream like that before. She felt like she was going to faint. She felt his agony. The stench of burning flesh was horrendous. Jenny was a certified EMT back home and had seen many horrible things, but this was barbaric. Then again, how else were they going to stop the bleeding? God only knew how far the closest hospital or clinic was. She knew that she couldn’t have done this monstrous thing.

  The boy was unconscious now but it did look li
ke the coals had cauterized the stump. She crawled over to the boy and put his head in her lap as the man released him. She stroked his head and sang to him. It was a lullaby her grandmother taught her. It was in Swedish, but lullabies really have no language. It was a soft and soothing sound. His eyes fluttered from time to time. She gradually released the tourniquet. The bleeding had stopped.

  A frantic woman swam to the boat and climbed in. She scrambled to the boy. This was probably the mother. She looked at Jenny kindly and picked up the boy. She kept saying inaduled, inaduled. Jenny didn’t know what that meant. She may have been thanking her. Another woman pointed to the one holding the stricken boy and said. “Nana.” Jenny wished she could understand. The man turned to Jenny and said, “Gracias.” That she understood. He nodded to her.

  “Por Nada, Senior,” said Jenny. Was this Jenny’s fault? She didn’t feel that it was but somehow she still felt responsible.

  They lowered the unconscious boy into a cayuco and quickly paddled him to the shore. Jenny followed in another boat. She kept glancing toward the bend in the cove to see if the patrol boat was returning. She wished that Jared was here.

  An old Land Rover was waiting for the boy. They laid the boy in the back seat and sped off. An angry man ran up to Jenny screaming. He pointed his finger in her face and yelled and yelled until he was red-faced. He began to push Jenny roughly in the shoulder, driving her backwards as he continued to scream at her. Several of the women ran up and pulled him away. Jenny didn’t understand what he was saying, but she could guess. She just kept repeating, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry.” She knew he was the father.

  “I’m sorry,” she said again. “Lo siento.”

  She saw Idel approaching.

  “Buenos tardes, Senior Saila.” She nodded her head respectfully. He smiled kindly when he heard her address him as “Senior Saila.”

  “Please Jenny. We are friends. I am Idel. We do not have to be so formal, do we?” he asked.

  “I’m sorry Idel. I just wanted to show you respect in front of your people,” she said.

  “That is very kind, but I will still have the respect of my people if I am your friend,” said Idel.

  “What this man is saying? Why is he so angry?”

  “He is the father. His grief is understandable but no one blames you for what happened.”

  “Where are they taking the boy? Do you think he will be all right?” she asked.

  “He is being taken to El Porvenir where he will be flown to a hospital in Panama City. I am sure they will take very good care of him.”

  “How far away is that?” she asked.

  “It is about 50 miles. But the car is only taking him to a landing where we have a very fast boat. They will take him to El Porvenir across the water. It is much faster than driving on land. The air plane trip will be very short. You should not worry.”

  “Your English is so good, Idel. It is a relief to have someone I can talk with beside Jose’s son.”

  “Yes, Jared gave me the American language as a gift. I am very grateful.”

  “Jared taught you Engli….ah, American?”

  “No, it was a gift. His spirit entered me and gave me the language.”

  Jenny wasn’t certain she understood, but it sounded like Jared has more tricks than he told her about. Had he really done some kind of Star Trek mind meld on Idelfonso? It appears that he did.

  “That is fascinating. How long did it take to learn American?”

  “A few weeks. Well, Perhaps it was a few months until the spirit did all of its work. It is difficult to say,” he said.

  “Just fascinating.” She was getting good at Spanish. Had Jared gifted her Spanish just as he had done for Idel?

  Idel didn’t know why this was so interesting to her, but he did not want to offend his friend’s woman. He lit up a cigar. He offered one to Jenny but she politely declined. She noticed that most of the men and women smoked, heavily. It was a shame but she was their guest and she was not going to judge them. She was still very upset about the little boy and tried to wipe the horrible images from her mind.

  “How long have you known Jared?”

  “In man’s world, we have been friends for seven years. In the spirit world we have been brothers since the beginning of time.”

  “My, that is a very long time, isn’t it?” It was time to change the subject.

  Some of the women who had protected Jenny from the father came over and gave her a large handful of beads.

  “These are for your calves and arms. We call them Uinni,” said Idel.

  “Yes, I remember,” she said. “Thank them for me. They are very kind. I know that a lot of work went into making them. I hope they aren’t giving me a nose ring.”

  Idel laughed. He told the women what Jenny said and they all began to laugh with him. It was very funny. It wasn’t quite as funny for Jenny, but then she remembered some of the freshmen girls at MIT. Their piercings were much more severe than these beautiful Kuna women had done.

  He was still laughing. “Please join me this evening for dinner,” said Idel. “That would be wonderful. Thank you.”

  Jenny was dieing to find out what was happening on the mainland and if Jared was safe. Perhaps at dinner? Jared was so secretive. Maybe she could ask in a very casual way. Surely Idel knew something, after all he was the Saila. It was killing her to not know if Jared was dead or alive.

  A young Kuna woman ran up to them. Idel spoke with the woman. Jenny didn’t know if they were speaking in Spanish or Kuna. It didn’t sound like Spanish, but it could have been.

  “This is Maria,” said Idel.

  “Buenos Tardes, Maria,” said Jenny.

  “Maria thinks that it would be a good thing if we took a walk, away from the father.”

  “Sure,”

  “Wait, I’ll walk with you, if you don’t mind,” said Idel.

  “That would be lovely.”

  Idel bent down at his knees and picked up a baton. It looked like a very, very long silver bullet on a stick. It had a small silver eagle on one end and the tip of a silver bullet on the other.

  “My back is not good. I am getting old, Jenny.”

  “That is a beautiful, Idel. What is it?”

  “The Americans call it swagger stick. When they still owned the Canal Zone, they would often hire our young men to help with the training of their soldiers. They had a Jungle Expert School at Fort Sherman and, of course, there were always the Special Forces although they were mostly Hispanic back then. A colonel gave me this swagger stick as a gift.”

  “It looks very special. It must have been an important gift.”

  “Yes, it was the colonel’s own stick. He gave it to me. We don’t get those jobs now. Our young men were very good. I think the best thing was the ambush school. Our young men were given air rifles. The rifles were very strong. If a B-B hit you on the skin, it would penetrate. Their soldiers would walk a path in the rain forest and it was the job of our young men to shoot the soldiers from hidden places. They could never see us. I did this thing myself several times. I enjoyed it very much. I must apologize because I am ashamed to admit that I enjoyed shooting soldiers very much.”

  Now she understood why Jared lured Rubio to San Blas. The Colombians might not have known that the Kuna were such experts at stalking. Jared said that the governments of Central and South America were very disdainful of their local Indios populations. It was human nature to underestimate anyone who you believe yourself to be superior to. This was very clever. Why didn’t Jared tell her about this? He could be such an ass-hole.

  “The B-B just broke the skin but if it was a real bullet, it would have killed. It was an important lesson for their young men to learn. We rarely missed and they rarely saw us. We don’t get those jobs now,” said Idel.

  She turned and walked toward the house. The angry father was still arguing with some of the women. She hoped that he wouldn’t follow her. He didn’t. Idel walked with her and they continued to talk. She
thought that Idel was a very good man. She was pleased that he and Jared were friends.

  “Thank you for walking with me, Idel.” She thought a minute.

  “Is Jared safe? Can you tell me?”

  “Yes, he is safe, but we can not speak of this. The fewer who know about this, the better, and there are visitors on the island. Later, when we are alone and have dinner.” He put his finger to his lips. He bowed slightly. “With much pleasure, Jenny.” And with that, he started to walk back to the village. Then he turned back to her…and he winked and grinned. Then he walked away.

  “Thank you, Idel.” Jenny smiled. He winked. That was wonderful.

  She sat in a hammock. Jenny was worried sick about Jared but had tried hard not to think about what might be happening. He drew those killers down here. They had hurt him badly the last time. She couldn’t get Jared out of her mind. She willed herself to have a leap of faith that everything would be good. Idel’s wink was comforting, but in the quiet of the moment, it wasn’t enough. She had to trust her feelings, not her intellect. Jared taught her that. She knew Jared would come back for her. She had to have faith. He will be back. She said it again and again. The fear was exhausting her. She folded her hands on her chest and prayed.

  She couldn’t think about it anymore. She just wanted to go to sleep until Jared returned. Now she regretted that she told Idel that she would come for dinner. Then again, maybe that it would be good to spend the evening with Idel. She didn’t worry so much when she was around other people. Maybe that would be good. Jenny fell asleep.