“This whole mission is about emotion, Chiac. I’m just saying, let us play a part.” I was again quiet. Rhys started to piss. “I had better get back to my duty,” he said, when he finished.
“It’s fokin difficult for me not to think about Molly every second of the day, Rhys. I can’t have her with me every moment so I have put her in a safe place, away from me. If I don’t keep her there, I would be driving this section day and night until exhaustion sets in. I would make decisions with my feelings and emotions rather than with my military training and common sense. I would be putting all of us at a great disadvantage when the encounter with Sisimito happens. Sisimito, his Kechelaj Komon, and his Kechelaj Jupuq are strong and dangerous, Rhys. Strong and dangerous.” I put my hands over my eyes as they began to moisten. “I know Molly is alive. Not safe, but alive. At least, for the time being.” My voice cracked with despair. “I know what Sisimito wants.” I shook my head. “I can’t be thinking of her. I can’t be thinking that Sisimito is probably fucking her.”
Rhys hung his head. “Just let us help, Chiac. Let us help you as a person, not only as a commander. Don’t forget what Teul said, “You are more than our Patrol Commander, Sarge.” Rhys moved away, then stopped. The whistling was clear in the quiet night. “Is that a bird?” he asked.
“It’s an ek baläm. A jaguar. Taat saw its prints on the sand when we arrived. I’m sure Choc, Choco, and Teul saw them also.” He looked concerned. “It won’t do anything, Rhys. The fire and smoke will keep it away.” Rhys nodded and went back to the duties of his watch.
I remained a while longer looking at the reflection of the flames on the water. Fishes were still swimming about and a few remaining peenniwali were flying near the bushes at the riverside. The whistling of the ek baläm from the jungle mixed in with the chirp-chirp of the xirs and the soft sound of the small rapids and the lazily flowing waters. I loved my jungle. I was not going to allow anyone to take away my love for my jungle, not even the dreaded Sisimito, his Kechelaj Komon, and his Kechelaj Jupuq. I wasn’t going to have that love taken away from me regardless what happened to Molly. I was nothing without my jungle.
I finally walked back to the fire and threw myself down on my ground sheet. I looked at the men, and at Rhys who was taking a walk near the edge of the jungle. The men were already asleep, some of them covered with their small wet towels. “Tak sáamal,”245 I said, quietly. I scrounged up myself in the fetal position and fell asleep to dreams of battles, blood, and terror.
CHAPTER SEVEN
A LOOK AT THE
COSMOS
Saturday, April 28, 1973
I awoke to Robertson and Taat talking. It was dark, but the fire was still going, a little less strong, but still giving enough light to the camp and surrounding area. I looked up to see if there was any telltale sign of dawn. There was none.
“I still don’t know how you do it, Taat,” I heard Robertson say. “It still puzzles me. You wake the same time every morning. Even with the whistle of the kolol, I would sleep right through.” I could see Taat smiling, but he made no reply as he picked up a pot to go down to the river for water.
I wanted to go back to sleep as I had not slept well, hopefully this time without the dreams that had troubled me so much during the night.
Taat was boiling water for coffee so I decided, instead of sleeping, to doze lightly until it was ready then get up and join him and Robertson. I didn’t join them.
I felt a kick on my rump and turned over lazily. It was Rhys and it was daylight. “Okay, Sleeping Beauty. Time to get up. Piss, shit, whack-off, dress, eat.” He started grinning in amusement and I was ready to make a nasty remark at him when he shouted, “Tutuchci.”246 He laughed out loud, adding, “From the look of things you were having a good dream and you probably do need to have a visit with Miss Palma.247 Just think of all those beautiful women you’ve fucked. I’ll call the men to observe.”
I looked down and there was Tóolok happily standing up and protruding through the fly of my boxers, looking around at the scenery.
“Fok you, Rhys. I just need to piss,” I said, jumping up and turning towards the jungle. “And how do you know that Maya work for a cock-stand?”
“Teul enlightened me. I asked him to teach me some words. You can guess what words he started with.”
I sighed. “Well, when you’re finished grinning, could you tell me what time it is?”
“It’s 0630 hours.”
“Why the fok did you let me sleep so late?”
“You needed it.”
“How the fok do you know that I need more sleep, Rhys? We need to keep going. We’re already moving too slow.” I was becoming unreasonably agitated.
“During my watch and those that followed, you were sleeping very restlessly. You even shouted, at times. Choco took the watch after me. I told him not to let anyone wake you, hoping that what you were dreaming about would pass. It didn’t. I tried to sleep, but you kept calling out. Sometimes you would kick and swing your arms. You caught me a couple times so I didn’t get a sound sleep either. It was not until after 0400 hours that you went into a deep sleep. I still couldn’t sleep well, thinking that I would soon get a kick or a blow. Remind me not to sleep next to you again.”
“You should have moved. You don’t have to look after me like that,” I said a bit roughly, turning back to face him.
“Funny you say that. You’re the one fokin mothering us.” He shook his head. “Chiac. You are our Patrol Commander. You are in command. Military wise, I have a duty to ensure that you continue as our commander. Besides that, you are my friend, my buddy. We look after each other.”
I stared at Rhys, memories of Bas flooding my mind. I pushed them away. “Sorry, Rhys. I’m just foked up.”
“Yes! Always knew that,” he grinned. Anyway, get dressed, get rid of that tutuchci, and come eat. The men are ready. They’re helping Taat clean the camp and smother the fire. We’re pretty much ready to move. There’s still some coffee, not too cold, fruit biscuits and cold oats in your mess tin.”
“Thanks. I’ll get ready.” Rhys turned to go. “Rhys.”
“Yes, Chiac.”
“Tell Medic I’ll have a short briefing with the men before we go.”
“Sarge!”
I had to shit so that was another delay, but it was better to do it then rather than later. Nevertheless, I had eaten and was dressed by 0710 hours. I made a quick trip to the river to wash my mess tins and fill my water bottle.”
“Ready, Sarge?” asked Robertson as he came up to me. I nodded. “Briefing!” he shouted and the men gathered round.
I looked at Rhys, oddly feeling quite unsure of myself. He nodded. No smile. No trace of emotion. “Men.”
“Sarge!”
“Today we will continue walking downriver, first northwesterly for about one mile, then northerly for another two miles or until we reach the Chiquibul Branch River. We should be there about 1000 hours. We’ll take a short break on the northern bank. Eat something. Although that is one of the larger rivers, I don’t think we’ll be able to bath. I want to leave there at least by 1100 hours.”
“Nof248 time for a bath and a smoke,” interrupted Teul, grinning.
I wanted to rebuke him, but how could I with that fokin grin he was wearing. I ignored him instead. “We’ll then continue north through mountains and dense jungle for another three miles until we reach the tributary going east. That will be difficult terrain and could take us up to six hours if the mountains are steep and the gorges deep. That’s the reason why I don’t want to spend too much time at the Chiquibul Branch River, Teul.”
“Sarge!” he shouted, looking mischievous, still grinning as if saying, We’ll madafok swim, regardless.
“That will bring us to, maybe, 1700 hours,” I continued. “We’ll cross the river and spend the night on the northern bank. We’ll swim there, Teul. That’s it for now.” Rhys cleared his throat, loudly and I cussed to myself. �
��One more thing men.” They were already strapping their rifles and taking out their machetes. They stopped, looking at me. “I want to tell you thanks for what you are doing.”
They stared at me, no emotion showing on their faces.
“And what are we doing, Sarge?” asked Teul.
“We’re going to rescue Molly,” I said, quietly.
Wah-co!-Wah-co!-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.
“What, Sarge?” asked Teul, a little louder. “What are we doing? I didn’t hear you.” He was then almost shouting. “We didn’t hear you.”
Wah-co!-Wah-co!-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.
I immediately realized that my men wanted me back. They wanted Sergeant E Chiac, not just their Sarge, and I would give them that. They also wanted me to talk to them about Molly, to make her a person they could feel something for. I would also give them that. “We’re going to rescue my fokin woman,” I shouted.
“Sarge!”
“The woman I fokin love.”
“Sarge!”
“The woman I want to fuck in my bed.”
“Sarge!”
“And we’ll kill all those madafokas that stand in our fokin way.” I cried out.
“Sarge!” they bellowed, and I heard their shout resounding through the mountains and valleys, echoing over and over again.
“Let’s go you buggers,” ordered Robertson, and they moved off, leaving me standing there on the sani-bay.
Wah-co!-Wah-co!-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.
As I watched them walk with their heavy bergens into the distance, unafraid, going towards grave and unknown dangers, tears started to gush. I kicked the sand. I kicked the water. I picked up rocks and hurled them into the bushes at the constant cry of Wah-co!-Wah-co!-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. Then I howled. I knew that the men could hear me, but I didn’t care. They were my men. They were willing to give their lives for Molly and I was going to make sure that they had the best chance of returning to Santa Cruz. As I left the sani-bay and stepped into the river, from deep in the jungle came the roar of the batz.
I caught up with the men about an hour later. They were resting on a sani-bay, having pushed ahead as I had expected them to.
“Sarge!” they acknowledged as I joined them.
“Warriors!” I answered. Robertson came over to me. “How are we doing?” I asked.
“We’re tabing at a very good pace; a march, I dare to say. No incidents except the occasional slip on the rocks. They’re pushing hard, Sarge.”
“Good. I expect nothing less.” I looked around. “Where’s Teul?”
“Right behind you, Sarge. Couldn’t leave you all by yourself in this dangerous jungle.” I could see his fokin grin.
“We should be turning north very soon,” continued Robertson. “If we can continue this pace, we’ll be at the Chiquibul Branch River on target; maybe, even a little before.
“Ko’one’ex!” I shouted.
We continued at a fast pace, but made sure, as much as possible, that accidents were prevented. We walked mostly in the center of the river, avoiding the banksides, looking out for anything that might be skulking there. I had placed Molly aside, once again, concentrating on the mission, ensuring that we were as safe as possible. The men were very vigilant, always knowing what was immediately ahead, behind, and beside them. Every few hundred yards Taat and Choc moved to the banksides and look for signs of the Kechelaj Jupuq. They reported to me only if it were something significant.
“We’re beginning to turn to the north,” shouted Rhys. That meant we had only another two miles or so to tab. Unfortunately, however, the next two miles proved very difficult due to its natural beauty.
There were breaks in the canopy and the deeper parts of the river actually took on a blue hue at times. Within a hundred yards of making an abrupt turn to the north, we came to the largest rapids we had yet encountered. The banksides were thickly overgrown with waha, ix-anal with its clusters of yellow flowers, tye-pú249 with its dark purple flowers, and other flowering shrubs and bushes so we were not able to walk on the banks. Although the rapids were far enough apart, occurring every fifty feet or so, there were drop-offs of two to three feet covered with white rushing water. There were also large boulders and flat rocks slippery with moss. We had to be very careful not to twist or break our ankles or, even worse, break a leg. That would have been disastrous. Also, it would be bad to have our bergens and box magazines submerged at any time. There were also pools, four or five feet deep, and Teul just seemed to have a predisposition to fall into them. Yet, he was able to keep his pack and rifle up. After a while, I wondered if he was not doing it intentionally for whenever he looked at me, which he did after every episode, he always wore his grin.
Cuyche250 trees were plentiful, their white flowers twirling down to the river. Interspersed with them were other broad leaf giants and, occasionally, a giant amate. I had to keep my eyes focused on the river, a difficult job as my eyes sought to engage in the beauty of the jungle around me.
Jut-jut. Jut-jut.
“Good-cook! Good-cook!” responded Robertson.
“That’s it, Medic,” laughed Choco.
We came to a natural dam that had a drop of six or seven feet. Luckily, there were boulders at the sides that we could climb down. Suddenly, there was a wide-open area with grassy sani-bays. The river there was about four feet deep or more so we walked on the sani-bays, avoiding the river and its deepholes. Many of the trees were covered with vines, their leaves appearing golden brown. I didn’t know if those leaves were dead or if the vines were just losing them as happened to some of the trees before they flower. The leaves gave the trees and sani-bays a golden hue which was reflected in the water. I was mesmerized.
We soon lost the sani-bays, however, and had to return to the river. We walked in the middle of the stream, keeping away from the thick bushes of the banksides yet monitoring them for any potential dangers that lurked there, but the river continued to get deeper and the lower part of our bergens were submerged. We were lucky that the flow was relatively gentle, the slope of the river being gradual. If the river was flowing on a steep gradient it would have been a raging torrent and we would have to take the bushy bankside or walk deeper in the jungle and that would have delayed us further.
The river did not curve often and we walked, as much as possible, on the shallower areas. When there was a curve, we walked the inside arc which was less deep and where the water flowed more slowly. When we had no choice but to go through deeper water, we kept our rifles over our heads. As we climbed downward over some rocks, we came to one of the most splendid sights I had seen so far on the march. A creek came from the mountain side above us, cascading its water over boulders down to the river. There, once again, the canopy was thin and the falls appeared blue and silver, reminding me of the Hidden Valley Falls. There Molly and I had fuc … made love all night for the first and only time. I pulled myself from my reverie.
We continued walking, sometimes the water reaching chest height. The vegetation on the banksides was changing and bamboo was becoming predominant. I found a pleasant tablet of memory going back to my young days when Taat and I would leave the kool and go down to the bamboo patch, make our spears, then go off to the river to spear fish for dinner. I never forgot the time I speared a large robaal. I simply stood while the robaal took off down the river, the spear upright on its back, Taat splashing water as he ran behind it. That robaal fed us for two days. Then my memory was interrupted by a shout from ahead.
“Come and see this,” yelled Choc. I could not see him as the river had made a sharp turn and the bushes and trees blocked the view ahead. When I did spot him, he was standing near the left bank on a pile of boulders looking downriver. We walked towards him and as the scene came into view, we were left with our mouths open. At first, it was the beauty of the waterfall, the water bubbling, foaming, rushing, and cascading down some thirty feet onto and around boulders, falling into a narrow gorge, mist rising from it. Then it was r
ealization that we were not able to go down it. It would be dangerous and irresponsible and someone would definitely get hurt.
“Briefing!” I shouted. The men gathered around. “We can’t go down that,” I said. “We’ll have to go around it.”
Choc sighed loudly. “Sarge. You see what that fokmi bankside is covered with?” I looked and grimaced. I had been concentrating on the falls and had not looked at the bankside. “It’s bamboo. Big fokmi bamboo patch.”
“We either go through the bamboo, or go back until we can climb the bankside and go around the patch. We will have to go into the jungle and then get back to the river up ahead if it doesn’t continue in a gorge.” We all stood looking at the large area of bamboo lining both banksides above and below the falls. “Standing here won’t help us. What do we do, Men?”
“We don’t have to go back very far,” offered Rhys. “The only thing is, we don’t know how deep from the bank the bamboo is.”
Wah-co!-Wah-co!-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.
I looked around. How I hated that call. “Any other comments or suggestions?” There was no reply. “Come on. We’re a team. What happened, Teul. You worked your fokin mouth a lot last night.”
“We go back,” he answered.
“Okay! Ko’one’ex,” I ordered. I just hated turning back especially if I was uncertain that it would be helpful.
“Ko’one’ex,” shouted Rhys.
We turned back, Choc ahead with his machete and Rhys covering our rear. Fortunately, it was not a long distance for, after about two hundred feet, the bamboo patch on the western bank separated leaving a narrow bushy passageway into the jungle. The bank was about five feet above the water and Choc immediately called Choco and they began digging into it with their machetes. Luckily, it was mainly clay and they soon had a couple steps in place above the water. Choco helped Choc up onto the bank and Choc quickly had a small area cleaned for us to climb up on. We still had to help each other up, and, of course, this provided Teul an opportunity for much amusement at our expense.
Sisimito II--Xibalba Page 20