by Tom Poland
Elated and tipsy, Tyler and I went to bed. There is the sleep of the just and the sleep of the just after. We had earned both.
I was happy for Tyler. She had a family again. A new world was opening up for both of us, one filled with hope and promise, one of new beginnings. One black cloud remained. Back in Atlanta, I’d have to deal with the ailing Murphy.
***
Daybreak. The fragrance of coffee, grits, and bacon filled the tree lodge, and when I made my way to the galley, all were occupied with tasks. Rikard picked leaves from water pouring from a bamboo flume into an old glass pitcher. Tyler and Lorie sat on the sofa trying out baby names. Cameron was sipping coffee, loading film into a camera.
I got some coffee and sat by Cameron.
“As long as I live I’ll remember holding a gun on you. You looked like an assassin in that sand cloud, your tripod an assault weapon for all I knew.”
“Well guess what? I am an assassin and so are you. We’re going to do a great voodoo piece and the three of us are going to nail the poachers. I talked to Mullet Man—got to start calling him Rikard—a long time last night after you and Tyler went to sleep. He’s okay with a poaching story. He just wants us to keep Sapelo’s identity a secret. Maybe place it off Louisiana. Can we do that?”
“No, there’s only one Sapelo. People will sure as hell know what island we’re talking about. Any lie will hurt the story’s credibility.”
“Rikard verified what you said about the Bone Yard and what you and Tyler saw in the swamp—about Cade. He said he’ll scout the poachers, get an idea of when they’re striking, and stake them out.”
“Why did he agree to help us?”
“He didn’t say.”
“Photographing poachers in action will be risky, you know,” Cameron said, nervously popping the lens cap on and off his Nikon. The women were watching and Rikard was listening hard.
“You brought some quiet camera gear I hope.”
“Brought a camera with quiet lens slap and a silent motor drive.”
“Good.”
Rikard came over.
“You’re putting a hex on Garrett tonight. Right?” I asked.
“That would be right. Tonight he gets what he deserves.”
“I hope you’ll include the doctor and his sidekicks in your hex too.”
“We’ll see ... we’ll see,” said Rikard.
“I’ll stay a few days to do the right thing, to see if we can wrap up the poaching story. Once it’s done, I’m going back to Atlanta. Things could change in a hurry. I need to get over there ASAP.”
Tyler left Lorie and the baby talk to come put her arms around me.
“I’ll go with you. I owe you a lot.”
Cameron stood, slung the camera over his shoulder, and pulled a light meter around his neck, and nodded at me.
“Let’s go outside. I need to run a light test.”
We went down into the morning freshness where the light, reflected, refracted, and filtered to a shimmering green, resonated among the boughs. Here, the interplay of sunlight, minerals, and water sustained a primeval forest where wood ducks braided through cypress knees and kaleidoscopic shadows burst across blackwater as birds and butterflies fluttered through this leafy paradise. Mote-filled shafts of light lent the island an aura like that of the dawn of creation. Cameron, for certain, was in his element. We walked over to get a better view of the rope bridge and the observation platform, and Cameron leaned against a massive cypress, looked up to the house then back at me.
“We haven’t had much time alone since I got here. I can’t talk to you like I want with Tyler around. I don’t exactly know what’s between you and her, maybe a lot, maybe nothing, but Mary, the nurse in Atlanta, said to give you a message. A special message.”
“What’s that?”
“She said to tell you she’s been in love with you for two years. She wants to share life with you. That she will be a mother to Brit. That you’ll need her.”
“Mary said that?”
“She sure sounds like a woman in love to me. You can hear it in her voice.”
“She can tell me in person when I get back.”
“Not if you bring a woman back with you,” said Cameron, looking up to the house. “You taking her back with you?”
“No. Tyler will stay here with her daughter.”
I didn’t know what to think about the women. I needed time to sort it out, or I could do nothing and just let time itself sort it out.
“Let’s go up and get Rikard to take us to the crabbing spit,” I said.
“Crabbing spit?”
“That’s the place where we’re to rendezvous with Oleander at noon.”
We went up and as soon as I popped through the trap door, Tyler came over and led me back to our room. She eased down onto the bed amid lotions, creams, and some of Lorie’s emerald and gold decanters.
“Are you serious about leaving?”
“Yes. You must know how I feel.”
“Yes, thanks to you, I do,” she said, running her hand along my arm.
“I’m almost free, Tyler … almost free. Maybe I won’t need the company’s group insurance much longer, not if Brit keeps improving. I’m going to resign from the magazine at some point and get Murphy off my back.”
“Someday, I’ll go with you to Atlanta,” Tyler said, her face earnest and radiant.
I couldn’t think straight about the Tyler or Mary. Mary had been the closest thing to a mother Brit had had in this imperfect five-year world of mine. And now I knew how she felt about me. I focused on getting Mal and wrapping up my business on the island. I went into the galley where Rikard was alone sharpening a knife with rhythmic strokes against a long, narrow gray stone.
“Can you take me and Cameron to meet Oleander? He’s going to take us into the village with some boys as escorts. We’re getting the professor.”
“Can’t. Got to gather conjure material. Gonna do in Garrett tonight.”
“Okay, fine, but tell me something. Why haven’t you used your powers to stop the poachers? You could kill them if you wanted, couldn’t you?
Rikard took the knife with its gleaming edge and slid it into a block of wood along other knives.
“I’ve thought about it but they don’t bother me and I don’t bother them. So far, that’s worked. Now, Garrett’s another matter. I’m gonna fix him.”
“You’ve got a child on the way. Do it for the kid. Make the island a better place before your child is born. You want your child to grow up hearing about the poachers, knowing you let them run free on your island. It is your island. Everybody knows that. Your child will know it.”
More silence. He ran his hand along his beard as if the answer hid there.
“A kid changes things doesn’t it?”
“Everything. It’ll change you too. You’ll see.”
“All right, then, maybe I will.”
“So, you’ll take us to the spit?” I asked as Tyler entered the galley, smelling of lotion, wearing cutoff jeans.
“No. You can use my bateau to meet Oleander. I got things to do today. I got to get ready for a major conjuring. Besides, it’ll do you good to be self-sufficient. Can’t depend on Mullet Man all the time. Ever handled a boat?”
“Sure. My dad got us one when I was in high school. We skied a lot.”
“Good. When you get to the barricade, there’s a key wired to the bottom of the last pot of Spartina on the left. Lock it behind you.”
“Will do.”
“Remember one thing. You fellows are on your own. Don’t step in muck, don’t let no poacher cut out your kidneys, and watch for oyster bars.”
Tyler came over. She looked luminous.
“I’m going with you. I want to help you. It’s the least I can do.”
That she would leave her daughter’s side surprised me, maybe because our time together was ending. Though dangerous, I wanted her to go.
We loaded up the bateau and Rikard fueled it. After a few
pulls on the rope the motor stirred and we headed out. I had not handled a boat since high school but it came back to me … like riding a bicycle.
The island’s wildlife amazed me every time I moved through its creeks. Marsh birds attacked the foodchain in sorties … kingfishers, sandpipers, dunlins, sanderlings, and ruddy turnstones. Along the marsh edges, green herons and marsh rats worked at a living. Morning sunlight sparkled off the creeks and the grasses rippled beneath the wind. A smell of freshness, that of a brand new day, washed over us and I thought it a shame such a wonderful day had to be spent retrieving a crazy professor from the village.
We arrived at the spit a few minutes before noon. The sun was high, almost as high as it could get. We all got out and walked into the grasses. Cameron fired off a few photos of the marsh.
The sun reached its zenith and right on time, a white turban came floating over the grasses, growing closer, each step disclosing more and more flowing tunic. Materializing from the grasses like a spirit, Oleander’s white tunic shone against the flourishing marsh, gaining unearthly brilliance.
He was alone.
“Where are the boys?”
“Where are the boys? Their mothers will not allow them to escort you into the village. They say the boys are not yet men. That only men can escort men. They say you have no business in the village, that’s what they say.”
“Oleander, you cannot get us into the village,” I said, frustrated.
“I cannot get you into the village but perhaps the Mullet Man can. He is, after all, well he considers himself black.”
“True, but do they consider him black?” I said pointing to where the seemingly unattainable village and its citizens lay beyond the marshes.
“Do they consider him black? They respect his powers so he has entry into the village. For all practical purposes, Rikard is as black as I.”
“Then he’ll have to take us there. How is the professor?”
“How is the professor? The boys say he talks a strange talk. They say he sounds like some conjuring voodoo priest has hexed him. That’s what they say.”
“Well, if Rikard will help us, we’re going in to get the professor. Then soon I will leave the island, Oleander … leave for good.”
“Leave for good? Leave Sapelo? Your words sadden me. You and the lady are my friends and other than the boys I have friends neither on Sapelo nor the mainland.”
“Yes, Rikard told me.”
“I am an outcast. Neither the whites on the mainland nor the blacks on Sapelo accept me. I tried to better myself upon the mainland but I didn’t fit in. My fate is to be an outsider. It is, Slater Watts, as if I went away to college and returned a stranger. You cannot imagine how that feels.”
“Oh yes, I can, Oleander. I can.”
“You can? Then you know. I have lived the life of the loner but with you and the lovely lady, here, I feel warmth. From that first day you told me the doctor was a devil, I have tried to stop the poaching. I have done what I can to help. Even if I come into harms way, I know I have done the right thing.”
“Oleander, I may not be able to do anything about the poaching. I’ll try but I have to get back to the mainland soon. My daughter has awakened from a five-year sleep. I need to go home as soon as I can, back to Georgia, to Atlanta.”
“Your daughter has come out of her sleep? Then it is good you return to Atlanta. I will do even more to stop the misery. It will be my legacy.”
“Those people are murderers, Oleander. Stay away from them.”
“Those people are murderers, yes, but I am already vigilant for strange things are happening here.”
“What?”
“What? The boys talk of strange snakes near the village. They say the snakes leave tracks like no other. That’s what they say.”
“Snake tracks? What do they look like?”
“What do they look like? The boys tell me the snakes travel together in packs. I myself have not seen them, but I am vigilant. I fear all snakes. Slater Watts, will I see you before you return to the mainland?”
“Perhaps. Tonight we have some photographs to take. Then once we take some other photographs … if we can, I’m breaking camp and leaving. No, wait. Why don’t you come to camp and take the canoe the day after tomorrow in the morning. It’s my gift to you. It’ll save you a lot of walking.”
“Save a lot of walking. Why, yes, my scarred legs thank you. Then I will come to your camp early in the morning day after tomorrow. But if for some reason we miss each other, permit me to embrace you and the lady.”
Oleander gave me the embrace of a European, light hugging with pecks on each cheek. Then he did the same with Tyler, who seemed touched, very touched.
“You have been good to me Slater Watts, and you,” he said to Tyler, his eyes reddening, “I will always remember your kind words about my mother. I am sure she loved me. Now I bid you adieu.”
Oleander turned and floated into the great windblown grasses, his tunic fluttering, a sailing ship upon a sea of green. The sky beyond him held great early afternoon thunderheads as if a storm were to sweep in from the sea.
We returned to the lodge though we first had trouble finding it, so well was it camouflaged, and the armada of gators paid us no heed just as Rikard said.
***
“We’ve run out of options, Rikard. If you don’t take us, we won’t go at all. As you yourself say, you’re black. The villagers respect you. You have been there before. You can do it if you want to.”
“Hell yes, I can go in there. They respect me, know I’m one of them. I damn well should have done it from the start. All right, we’ll head out later this afternoon, well before sunset. Could be a long night. Could be a short one.”
Late afternoon, Rikard, Tyler, Cameron, and I headed out leaving Lorie, heavy with sleep and child, at Conjura. The Lowcountry afternoon light fell upon us soft and suffused as if fine gauze filtered it. When we got into view of the crabbing spit, a large Whaler with twin engines was tied up there, rocking, reflecting the light. Ignorant Garrett stood beside it and hailed us over, like a city cop about to issue a citation.
We put ashore and got out. Rikard, ignoring Garrett, wandered over to a reef of oysters and kicked loose a cluster. The sun had long reached its peak, and our strangely beautiful shadows danced across the oozing muck.
“Well, well, looks like we just keep bumping into one another,” Garrett said. His trademark Styrofoam cup, stained by tobacco, hung around his neck on a cotton string. “Isn’t it high time you left here?”
“Soon, not that it’s any of your business.”
“Good. Let me tell you something that is my business. There’s a doctor here who tends the natives. Your buddy Oleander’s telling the village kids to stay away from him, that he’s a devil. He’s got the children scared of the doctor and that ain’t right. I’m gonna stop Oleander’s damn lying and spying.”
“What’s the doctor here for anyway?” I asked.
“What in the Hell do you think a doctor’s here for? He’s here to keep people healthy, you damn jackass.”
“Then why does Oleander make you and the doctor nervous?”
“He’s … he’s a trouble maker. He likes little boys a bit too much. Know what I mean? He, he upsets them and he don’t need to do that. We’ll take care of him … you’ll see.”
“What are you? The doctor’s boy?” I said. Garrett glowered at me. Close by Rikard held a rock-like cluster of oysters and was nonchalantly prying oysters apart with a large nail. Slowly he made his way behind Garrett, who stepped toward me.
“I’m here on my time to help him. Besides, I’m the law ’round these parts.”
“You don’t have any jurisdiction here, Garret. Nobody does.”
“You’re damn right,” he said, moving his meaty right hand to the checkered handle of his service revolver, unsnapping its strap. “No one’s got jurisdiction here and that’s exactly what makes me so dangerous. You just watch your step. Your leaving here is the sm
art thing to—”
Suddenly, a loud crash jolted the air. Rikard had hurled his oyster cluster into the air, a calculated flight that dropped it dead center into Garrett’s boat. With everyone turned toward the commotion, Rikard drove the nail into the muck dead center Garrett’s shadow and stepped on it. Garrett spun to face Rikard.
“You dumb bastard, I ought to … I ...”
“Ought to what … have an oyster?” Rikard offered Garrett a succulent tan oyster. Garrett stepped back and anxiously worked his hand over his revolver.
“Sorry bout your boat. Couldn’t break ’em loose, so I chucked ’em. It slipped. You just got some oysters, that’s all. Broken up too. Anyone want a oyster?”
“You four can just get out of here. That’s what we want,” said Garrett.
Cameron held his camera by the lens as if it were a bludgeoning tool, and Tyler’s right hand rested upon her waistband. The air crackled with tension.
We stood our ground and as Garrett went to check his boat, Rikard stooped to pull up the muck-covered nail. He held it aloft, glistening beneath the Georgialina sun, which now fell heavily toward the mainland making the nail shine brightly as if it held some supernatural power. Rikard looked at me, pointed the nail at Garrett, and ran his finger across his throat.
Not wanting to enter the village with Garrett at hand, we left for Conjura, never looking back, thwarted from entering the unattainable village yet again.
***
At the lodge, we ate sandwiches and drank coffee. Just before midnight, Cameron, Rikard, and I left Conjura to go to Rikard’s “killing grounds.” Tyler stayed with Lorie.
As we made ready to leave, Rikard brought out a large cardboard box covered in black cloth and set it in the bateau.