Anatomy of Evil

by Brian Pinkerton

  “Jamarqui,” said Gary, greeting him with a happy bellow. He stood up and shook the man’s bony hand. “You’re here about the boat?”

  Jamarqui nodded. “Yes. Your papers. Tomorrow, we meet at 7:00 a.m. and I give you key.”

  Gary glanced at the paperwork. “So…standard stuff, liability waiver, responsibility for any damage, and you want me to fill out my itinerary.”

  “Yes please,” said Jamarqui. He shuffled the papers to extract a map. “Show on here. But see the red…”

  His fingernail lightly scraped across the map, drawing attention to an area at the island’s southeastern tip blocked off in a red border. “Do not go,” he said.

  “Are there strong tides?” asked Gary.

  “No,” said Jamarqui.

  “Dangerous reefs?”

  Jamarqui shook his head.

  “Then what is it?”

  “Spirits.”

  “Spirits?”

  “Yes.”

  Gary laughed. “Like evil spirits?”

  Jamarqui nodded, remaining somber.

  “Okay,” said Gary, quickly dropping the derisive demeanor. “I didn’t mean to laugh. I thought you were joking.”

  “A joke?” said Jamarqui.

  “Not a funny, ha ha, joke, just a, never mind. Evil spirits it is.”

  Gary continued flipping through the paperwork. “Do you want me to take care of this now?”

  “Fill it out, bring it with you tomorrow,” said Jamarqui. “And payment. Cash is good.”

  “Got it,” said Gary.

  Before Jamarqui departed, Gary asked, “Can I ask you about the evil spirits?”

  Jamarqui appeared startled. “Yes?”

  “What happens… Why are there evil spirits?”

  “Not good to talk about it.”

  Gary nodded, looking into the man’s deep, dark eyes. “Got it. Okay. Thank you, Jamarqui.”

  Gary returned his attention to the table. “We’re all set,” he announced. “We meet at the pier at seven a.m.”

  “We’re going to catch our dinner,” said Rodney. “Tuna, wahoo…”

  “And giant trevally,” said Gary.

  “Yes. Giant trevally, depending on if Gary pulls one into the boat or the fish pulls Gary out of the boat.”

  Gary just smiled and nodded. “I’ll remember that when you’re begging for help reeling in that big tuna.”

  “So who’s in?” asked Rodney. “The guys for sure. What about the ladies?”

  “This is a big boat, plenty of room,” said Gary. “It’s covered so you won’t burn up. Emma…?”

  “You know I can’t take all that bouncing in the waves with my hip,” she said.

  “Kelly?”

  “Staying back, but thank you.”

  “Aww… Ladies, this is once-in-a-lifetime. Carol?”

  “Yes,” came the response from her husband Jake.

  “Carol, your voice got deeper,” said Gary.

  Carol looked at Jake, wide eyed. “I am?”

  “I want you to go. It’ll be fun. Come on,” said Jake. “It’s our last day.”

  “Okay,” said Carol. “If that’s what you want…”

  “Is it what you want?”

  “I don’t know. Is it? I mean, yes, I guess so.”

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” said Gary. “So we got five. Bring your gear, the strongest rods and lines you’ve got. We’re going monster fishing!”

  As the group departed from the dinner table, the hotel manager came by to thank them again and offered his assistance in any way to make the stay more comfortable.

  “You’ve been great,” said Rodney.

  Jake asked the hotel manager if he would be willing to take a group photo on the beach, and he immediately agreed.

  As the sun sunk into the ocean, they gathered on the white sand, an obvious unit of tourists in their colorful T-shirts, khaki shorts, sunglasses and flip-flops. Jake had to coax Carol to join them.

  “I don’t like having my picture taken,” she said. “Do you really need me?”

  “You’re part of the group, you’re my beautiful wife, get the hell in the picture,” said Jake. “You’ve been ducking out of every photo since we got here. The boys won’t believe you were really here.”

  After the hotel manager snapped several shots—a couple serious and one silly—Gary generously tipped and thanked him.

  Rodney walked over to Sam, who was admiring the rolling waves of the sea.

  “You’ve been awfully quiet, Sam,” he said.

  “Quiet?” said Sam. “Contemplative.”

  “You doing okay?”

  “I am. Thanks for asking. I know I haven’t been my usual self.”

  “You’ve been through a lot.”

  “Yes.” Sam sighed. “Coming here is just what I needed. It’s so alive. The water, the wildlife, the colors, the children playing on the beach. It’s a reminder of how beautiful life can be.”

  “It really is,” said Rodney. “You know, I spend most of my days on concrete. The streets, the alleys, the sidewalks. Pounding the pavement. Nothing against my job or the city, but it’s definitely not like this.”

  “Susanna loved the sea,” said Sam, still gazing out wistfully at the deep blue water.

  “I wish she could be here with us,” said Rodney.

  Sam turned and smiled at Rodney. “But she is. She’s with us. I can feel it.”

  Rodney smiled warmly at this. “Yes, she is,” he said.

  “Who’s up for a nightcap on the beach?” announced Gary. “One more before we hit the hay.”

  “Thanks, but I’m good,” said Jake. “Carol and I are going to turn in. I’m feeling a bit wiped out. Too much sun and seafood.”

  “I’m turning in as well, but thank you for the offer,” said Sam.

  “I need to lie down, the chairs on the beach are not comfortable,” remarked Emma. “I’m heading back.”

  “Do you need me to help?” offered Gary.

  “I’ll manage,” she said. “What I really need is my physical therapist.”

  “A couple of ibuprofen is what you need,” said Gary.

  “Can I help get you settled in your room?” Carol asked Emma.

  “Thank you, Carol, that would be lovely.” After a round of goodbyes, Carol accompanied the limping Emma to her thatch-roofed bungalow.

  Kelly walked up to Rodney and Gary. “Well, boys, I’m turning in too. It’ll just be the two of you.”

  “Fine,” said Gary. “More fun for us.”

  “Like two peas in a pod,” said Kelly. “Don’t stay up too late.” She moved in to give Rodney a kiss on the cheek.

  “Yes, mommm,” said Rodney in a teasing little boy voice.

  Gary and Rodney walked across the front of the hotel to an area of beach chairs facing the ocean. Small red land crabs scattered from their approach. They stopped along the way to pick up rum drinks at a small, makeshift bar manned by a dark-skinned man with white whiskers.

  As they settled into their chairs, Gary asked, “Is Sam okay?”

  “Yeah,” said Rodney. “You know Sam. It’s been tough on him.”

  “Wish he would have joined us for a drink.”

  “Sam’s a teetotaler.”

  “Well, this is my last one of the night.”

  “Me too. Need a clear head for monster fishing.”

  They took in the view, watching the surf roll in and pound the shore, sending plumes of spray into the air. A gathering of villagers with fishing nets fought to keep their balance in the waves.

  “I have never been so relaxed,” said Rodney. “The pace here is so slow, you can really enjoy life.”

  “I wish we had more than one day left. I could stay for another week.”

 
“Not me. Gotta get back to the little miss.” He took out his iPhone and pulled up a photo of his three-year-old daughter. “Check this out, she’s getting so big.”

  Gary took the phone and smiled at a snapshot of Christina in a pink party dress on Rodney’s back porch, holding a messy orange popsicle and grinning.

  “She’s staying with Kelly’s parents,” said Rodney. “They have a farm in southern Illinois.”

  “They got her milking the cows?” Gary handed back the phone.

  Rodney laughed. “Maybe.”

  A short, stocky man in swimming trunks and a Hawaiian shirt walked along the beach toward them. His tanned features were etched deep with wrinkles. He wore a pair of reading glasses pulled above his eyes and into his thick, sun-bleached hair. As he drew closer, he looked at Rodney and Gary and waved.

  “What’s up,” said Rodney.

  The man came over. He appeared to be in his sixties, remarkably fit for his age. “Americans?”

  “Chicago, Illinois,” said Gary.

  “Chicago?” said the man. “I’m from down south. Tennessee. You staying at the hotel?”

  “Yeah,” said Rodney. “You?”

  “Nah,” he responded. “I have a place.” He stuck out his hand and they shook it. “How do you do, I’m Louis. Is this island a best kept secret or what? Locals are a bit weird, but the scenery is unbelievable.”

  Rodney and Gary engaged in a conversation with Louis and discussed their lives back home. Louis wasn’t a football fan, so he didn’t recognize Gary’s name. When he discovered Rodney was a Chicago cop, he said, “This island needs some cops. You gotta watch out, you can get your wallet stolen. Happened to a nice young couple the other day. They lost their cash, credit cards, passport, everything.”

  “I will definitely keep my eye out,” said Rodney. “A crime is a crime in any country, you know?”

  “Some of them are so high on junk…”

  “That’s not good,” said Rodney. “Where I come from, we got a serious problem with drugs. Heroin’s getting bad again. I got zero tolerance for that stuff.”

  “How long you staying?”

  “Tomorrow’s our last day,” said Gary. “We’re taking a boat out and doing some ocean fishing. We’ve been mainly in the flats and some of the coastal reefs.”

  “I live to fish,” said Louis. “And this place is the best. I know all the hot spots like the back of my hand.”

  “Then let us pick your brain.” Gary stood up and unfolded the map Jamarqui had given him. “We had some ideas of where to go, but you might have some recommendations.”

  “We’re looking for yellow fin tuna and sailfish,” said Rodney.

  “And giant trevally,” said Gary.

  “Yes,” said Rodney. “My buddy here is determined to land a monster fish.”

  Louis flipped his glasses down over his eyes. He studied the map, standing alongside Gary. Gary pointed to the area with the red border drawn around it. “The guy renting us the boat said we shouldn’t go there. I think he meant to tell us the surf was dangerous, or the reef, but he said it was ‘evil spirits.’”

  Louis chuckled. “Evil spirits?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Is that really what he said?”

  “Yeah, so I guess it’s off limits.”

  “Bullshit,” said Louis. “That area on the southeastern tip is the best fishing there is. There’s nothing dangerous about it, and no ‘evil spirits.’ They don’t want you going there because it’s a fisherman’s dream. It’s a moneymaker for the locals, they’re just trying to keep tourists from getting in on the action. You want to catch some trevally and big tuna and have a real fishing adventure, that’s where you want to be.”

  Gary smiled. “His name was Jamarqui. He was acting kind of coy when he told me about the evil spirits.”

  “Evil spirits.” Louis laughed, flipping the glasses back up on his head. “That’s a good one. Don’t let these natives pull a fast one on you.”

  Louis wished them luck on their adventure. He headed back toward the crashing waves to continue his walk along the beachfront.

  “Go have fun, boys,” he called out to Gary and Rodney. “Go catch yourself a monster.”

  Chapter Eight

  Sam started his day witnessing the first glimpse of the sun. After getting dressed, he headed to the hotel’s small café to read his Bible and watch the full sunrise. He was alone, staring out at the ocean’s swirl, which appeared to extend forever into the horizon. Eventually one of the young hotel workers arrived to open up the café to sell light breakfast items. Sam ordered a large, black coffee. When the hotel worker asked about the book Sam was reading, Sam engaged him in a conversation about God and his religious beliefs. The boy talked about a small Catholic Church on the island and regretted losing touch with his faith over the years. He expressed that he often felt lost in the vastness of life, not unlike the island’s tiny presence in the overwhelming sea.

  Before Sam finished his coffee, he had renewed the boy’s commitment to a relationship with God.

  “You’re still young. You will find all the answers in your search for meaning,” promised Sam.

  At the designated meeting time, Sam headed to the pier with his fishing gear. A pure blue sky colored a beautiful morning. The surf rolled in on the white sandy beach, collapsing in a steady, relaxed rhythm.

  Gary and Jamarqui stood in the 35-foot charter boat as Jamarqui provided instructions. Sam waved at them and walked over to Emma, who stood at the foot of the pier, leaned on a cane.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to join us?” asked Sam. “There’s room for more.”

  “No, you’re sweet, but I’m going to stay back,” said Emma. “The waves and bumping around aren’t good for me. I’m going to have a nice, lazy day on the beach. Kelly’s going to keep me company. I’m going to catch up on my reading and finish my tan.”

  Then she asked, “How are you holding up?”

  “Some times are better than others,” he acknowledged. “It’s hardest at night, before I go to sleep, and then right when I wake up. I’m alone with my thoughts. I’m better when I’m around other people…my friends, my students, my activities.”

  Emma said, “I really miss her. She left us much too soon. She was my best friend.”

  “It’s all part of God’s plan,” said Sam. “All you can do is keep the faith.”

  Rodney and Kelly arrived then, carrying a large cooler, each holding one end by the handle, making clumsy movements through the sand. “We made sandwiches for everybody,” announced Rodney. “We’ve got chips, sodas, cookies, fruit, brewskies…”

  “We got carried away, there’s probably enough food in here for 20 people,” said Kelly.

  Gary waved at them from the boat. “Almost ready!”

  Rodney and Kelly put the cooler down in the soft sand. Emma and Kelly began a conversation about their plans for the day, minus the men. Jake and Carol arrived next. Jake carried a healthy load of fishing gear, but appeared pale and uncomfortable, moving slow while Carol spoke to him softly with a look of concern.

  Rodney asked Jake, “What’s up? You can’t be hungover, we didn’t have that much to drink.”

  “No,” said Jake, pushing out his words with effort. “Something I ate didn’t agree with me… I was puking all night long. Bad seafood, drinking water, could’ve been anything. I can’t keep anything down.”

  “You okay to fish?” asked Rodney.

  Jake winced in the sunlight and frowned. “No,” he said. “I better hang back. It pisses me off, ’cause I was really looking forward to this. But with this stomach and those waves… Bad combo. I just don’t think I can do it.”

  Carol lightly touched his arm. “Please let me take care of you.”

  “No,” said Jake. “You’re still going.”

  “I don’t wan
t to go,” said Carol. “You need me.”

  “Just go, honey,” Jake urged her. “It’s going to be fun. It will be good for you. It’s an adventure. What else are you going to do? Lay around? Shop in those little junk shops?” He pointed to a simple, decorative bracelet on her wrist, addressing Rodney. “She talks to the locals and gets sweet-talked into spending our money on cheap junk.”

  “It’s not junk,” Carol said softly.

  Jake responded, “You’re paying money for nothing, it’s like catering to panhandlers.”

  “Somebody made it,” said Carol. “I wanted them to feel good about it. I know it’s not worth what I paid, but at least they’re trying…”

  “Spoken like a Good Samaritan,” said Rodney.

  Gary called out from the boat: “We’re all set. Let’s start boarding.”

  “Seriously,” Jake said to Carol. “Join them. At least one of us will get to enjoy it.”

  Rodney said, “I’ve got extra rods and lures. I’ll give you some pointers. You’re going to have fun.”

  “Well, okay,” said Carol. “If you think I should.”

  “Yes,” said Jake. “We all think you should. And I think I should go back to the room and puke before I do it right here on the beach. Sorry all.”

  Jake left, staggering in sloppy steps on the sand. Carol watched him go, eyes wide like a puppy watching its master leave the house.

  Gary came over to say goodbye to Emma. “We’ll be back around four. How’s the hip?”

  “I took some more ibuprofen. I’m an ibuprofen junkie. I’ll be okay.”

  He hugged her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Love you, babe.”

  “Go catch some big ones,” she told him.

  Rodney also kissed his wife goodbye. “If you go into town, be safe. There are some crazy drivers around here,” he told her. “I don’t think they have speed limits.”

  Emma and Kelly waved together from the sand as the group boarded the boat. Jamarqui climbed off the vessel and helped to push it from the pier. Gary started up the motor, seated at the center console under the shade of a short, worn covering.

  The fishing boat headed out to sea, cutting into the waves with confidence. Carol settled into one of the cushioned seats in the back, while Sam remained standing at the front, facing the ocean as the breeze blew through his hair.