Eating the Moon

by Mark David Campbell

  I look at Nando, who’s smiling impishly.

  Then with a serious tone, Kyle says, “Sorrow and joy are often mixed. As you know, after Tiki’s birth mother died, Tuss never took another mate, and she raised Tiki alone. She always wanted a baby brother for Tiki. Finally, she has given birth to a wonderful man-child, yet she is still without a partner. I have always held the goodness of Tuss above all other women but dared not speak of it because Dzil was my partner. Dzil has little use for me now. It is well known that she intends to dismiss me.”

  “I’m sorry,” I say.

  “Do not be.” Kyle touches my forehead. “I am old, well beyond the years I could bear a child, and Tuss is alone with a child and she needs me. I have confessed my love for her, and she has accepted my offer to share the child.” She smiles. “And you see, joy has grown out of sorrow.”

  “That’s wonderful news. Isn’t it, Nando?” Again I look to Nando for some kind of confirmation that it is in fact wonderful news and that I’m responding in the appropriate way. By now he’s beaming.

  “What about Dzil?” I say.

  “She is free to choose another mate. Of course, people will say I dismissed her because she has not brought me a child.” She pauses. “I will now accept a small basket of your glorious fish,” Kyle says with a tiny smirk.

  Pico leaps over, grabs a basket, and quickly fills it with the largest, fattest fish in the catch and hands it to her.

  Kyle holds Pico’s face in her hands and touches her forehead to his. “I go now so that you and Nando may discuss more important things than fish and vegetables.” She balances the basket on her head, turns, and seems to float out of the doorway with Pico following.

  Nando is bouncing and smiling so hard he looks like he’s going to pee or pop.

  “Okay, what’s going on?”

  Nando starts slowly and delicately. “Tuss respects you and wishes to honor you for your goodness towards her poor Tiki. With your permission, she wishes to name the child Yabai,” Nando says.

  “I would be honored.” I suspect he has not told me everything yet.

  “Tuss has suffered great sorrow,” Nando says. “As Ix Chel the Daughter of the Moon teaches us, joy can grow from sorrow.”

  “Stop telling me myths and let me know what’s going on.”

  He breathes in deeply, then almost blows out his phrase in one breath. “The man-child Tuss gave birth to has white skin, green eyes, and yellow hair, just like you, Yabai!”

  I look at him with my mouth hanging open. It has finally happened.

  “You are white with excitement. I can see that.”

  “I think I’m going to pass out.” I sit down on the platform.

  “Oh yes, it is so wonderful, but there is more to tell.”

  “More?” I moan and flop backward.

  “My sister and Tuss desire to make an arrangement.”

  I sit upright. “Are you asking me what I think you are asking?”

  “I am asking you to be a daddy with me.”

  Now I’m the one who’s smiling so hard tears come streaming down my cheeks.

  “Come over here,” I command. “I see a daddy I need to kiss.” I reach out, my arms wide.

  Nando climbs up on the platform and straddles me. I grab his wrists and flip him over on his back. Now straddling him, I hold his arms above his head and lean over and lick his nose. He laughs and turns his head to one side. I lightly bite his earlobe. “Nando, can we give our baby another name?” I whisper.

  “What name do you wish to give him?”

  “Leo.”

  GUY TURNED his head and stared out the window at the deep orange leaves of the small maple tree that stood against a steel gray Toronto sky. He began speaking in a slow, measured pace without turning back to look at Richard. “It’s not the whirl of my hair or the tone of my skin, but it’s written in my DNA. It’s not the language I speak but the way my tongue and mouth form the sounds and my hands follow as if they already know what I’m about to say. Whether I face the east or splash myself with water, it’s the altar at which I worship. It’s how my feet touch the ground and carry me through space or move me to the rhythm of music that flows inside my head. It’s in the way I hold my eyes when I look at you and the world around me, and it’s what whispers to me when I close my eyes to sleep.”

  “Who said that?”

  “I did. I wrote it a while ago when I was feeling really bad about things. It was supposed to be my eulogy, but I didn’t have anybody who would read it for me at my funeral.”

  Richard sat quietly watching as Guy continued to stare out the window. A man in a charcoal business suit talking on his cell phone walked along the sidewalk, gesturing wildly in the air as if he were directing air traffic. A couple of young women, still in their teens, dressed in black, their pallid skin offset by their shiny black-dyed hair, came from the opposite direction and passed without taking particular notice of him or his strange public dance.

  Guy slowly turned his head back toward Richard. “Men? Women? Bisexual? Pansexual? Metrosexual? I don’t know what any of it means. My whole life I’ve fought to be homosexual for myself, gay to my friends, and a faggot to the rest of the world. Now what am I? What is anyone, anymore? I miss the days when we were perverts, Nancy boys, fudge packers, and fairies, and only we shared the secret shadowy corners.”

  Richard smiled delicately. “I know it sounds trite, but be more gentle with yourself, try to forgive yourself, and learn to love the person you are.”

  Guy smiled back, looked up at the clock, and rose with both hands pushing against his thighs. “You know what they say. Coming out is never a single event. It’s what you do every morning of every day for the rest of your life.”

  “I guess we’re both working on the same thing, aren’t we?”

  Guy nodded and walked out of the room.

  Chapter 25: Time Runs Out

  “HEY, YOU’RE back in your regular outfit this morning. Where’s your suit?”

  “At home. Waiting for my funeral.”

  “What happened at the meeting?”

  “The chairman told me I had to make an official apology.”

  “Did you apologize?”

  “Yes.” Guy pursed his lips and nodded sharply. “I said I was officially sorry that they were a bunch of muffin heads.”

  Richard placed his coffee on the desk. “Was that the wisest thing to do?”

  “Probably not, but I’m not going to lie.” Guy shrugged.

  “I’m sure they are not all a bunch of muffin heads.”

  “Look, Doc, we’re scientists.” Guy sat forward in the sofa and rested his elbows on his knees. “It’s our job to say things that people don’t like.”

  “So what now?”

  “All my courses have been canceled.” Guy waved his hand. “I’ve got more free time now.”

  “Maybe you can use the extra time to publish some articles and work on your CV. There are other universities, you know,” Richard said calmly.

  “Actually, I’m planning a little getaway. Teaching would have interfered with my schedule.” Guy wormed back and forth on the sofa like he was trying to make a smooth spot in the sand with his butt. “Now, can we return to my story? It’s almost finished.”

  SO, AS I was telling you last week, Dzil has been thrown out, and Tuss and baby Leo have moved in with Kyle. Dzil complains loudly about how she has been deceived and has suffered a great injustice, but few people are willing to listen to her, and some even laugh at her behind her back. She’s now alone and still not pregnant.

  In the meantime, I’ve become a father, and by the time the next moon arrives Nando and I undergo the formal arrangements with Kyle and Tuss. Somehow it’s just assumed by everyone that Pico is part of this arrangement too. The three of us are well on our way to settling into domestic bliss. With lots of hungry mouths to feed at home and with Pico’s help, I’m fast becoming an adequate fisherman. Nando continues to do most of the domestic stuff, as he has always
done. Leo is the focus of our lives. Nando and Pico seem to know exactly what to do with a newborn, while I, on the other hand, have no experience and am nervous. I spend hours staring at him, and whenever I hold him I can’t stop myself from playing with his toes. I count them over and over again—with my fingers, my nose, and my mouth.

  “Yabai,” Nando calls from inside while I’m out on the terrace with Leo making farting sounds on the bottom of his foot as he gurgles. “Take baby Leo out of your mouth.”

  “Yes, dear, I was just counting his toes.”

  “I’m sure he has the same number of toes now as he did this morning.”

  That afternoon the four of us head off to the bathing pool. After his swimming lesson, Nando lounges on the sand while I stand knee-deep in the water swishing Leo back and forth and making motorboat sounds with my lips.

  “I want Leo to be the best swimmer on the whole island.” Nando thumps his chest. “I don’t want him to be afraid to become a man like I was.”

  “You may have been a slow starter, but you’ve more than made up for it.” I blow him a kiss. Pico swims over like a frog, and I lower Leo onto his back. Then I lift Leo up in the air into a strip of sunlight beaming through the breadfruit tree, and I gaze up at him.

  “Are you trying to teach baby Leo to fly now?” Nando says with a slight lyrical tone.

  “No.” I lower him and kiss his belly. “I’m eating the moon.”

  As the sun starts to sink and the shadows become long, Nando takes Leo back to the village, and Pico and I go down to the beach to finish preparing and provisioning the lifeboat. Kizo is still committed to leaving with Luca, and their departure is on the next full moon, only a couple of days away. Everything is falling into place.

  Then that evening it all starts to unravel.

  I’m up on the cliff with Pico tending the signal fire when Den finds us. He’s out of breath and so badly agitated it’s difficult to follow what he’s saying. Eventually we figure out that Molap saw Dzil making secret trips to Luca’s camp, and he followed her there.

  “Molap is angry with her for what happened to him at the finding, and he wants to have his revenge,” Den explains. “So he ran back to the village and told everyone he saw Dzil having sex with a man.”

  “I knew this would lead to trouble.” I slap my forehead.

  By the time we get back to the village things are far worse than we expected, and both men and women are gathered in the women’s plaza. Nando, Pico, Den, and I peer around the side of the pyramid mound and see Dzil standing in the center of the plaza. She throws herself on the ground and writhes around like she is having a seizure while she screeches like a banshee.

  “This is bad, very bad.” Nando shakes his head. “She is accusing Luca of raping her.”

  “Of all the stupid things Luca has done, this is the worst.”

  Kyle climbs to the upper terrace and calls for reason, but Dzil continues to screech and dance around the plaza. People stand on the steps and terraces and watch intently. After the shark incident and his other drunken escapades, many villagers are not too sympathetic toward Luca. A couple of women cry out for Luca’s skin. Kyle, doing her best to contain the situation, raises her arms and rules that before a decision can be made there must first be a formal finding.

  “Nando, you and Den stay here and try to help Kyle calm everyone down. I’m going to Luca’s camp to warn him his time has run out.” I place both hands on Pico’s shoulders. “Pico, make sure the lifeboat is ready to go.” I dart off down the steps and head across the plaza toward the trail leading into the hills.

  “Why are you here?” Luca yells as I approach his camp. “Did you start thinking about my gold and decide you wanted to come along?”

  “Dzil has accused you of raping her. Is it true?”

  Luca spits out a laugh. “I haven’t set foot in the village for weeks. She’s the one who’s been coming up here. I guess she wanted her juice fresh from the tree.” Luca grabs his package and jiggles it.

  “Guilty or not, I’m here to warn you.” I hold my arms out, pleading to him. “Dzil is coming with a group of warriors, and they want your blood. The lifeboat is ready and Kizo is going with you, but you must leave now!”

  “A pack of dykes with wooden spears don’t scare me. I’m not going anywhere without all my gold.” He holds up one of the sacks he has just prepared.

  “Luca, Dzil is out to kill you!”

  He plops the sack down on a small pile in front of his hut. Then he turns and grabs a gourd, takes a swig, and holds it out to me in a way that is more like a challenge than an offer.

  I hold my hands up in surrender. “Please, just take your gold and go.”

  “Look, in case you forgot….” His words are slurred, and he’s wavering back and forth like he’s blowing in the wind. “The minute I set foot on firm soil, they’ll arrest me for abandoning ship during my watch. The crew drowned, and I could spend the rest of my life in prison.” Luca takes another swig and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, flicking the drool onto a bush. “I need you to testify that the captain was on the bridge when we hit and that he ordered me to abandon ship and get you to safety.”

  I stand defiantly with my hands on my hips. “I can’t lie, and I won’t abandon my family!”

  “Fine, Kiddo, if you’re not gonna help me, I’ll just leave you to rot on this stinking island for the rest of your stupid life. Ha! You know, I’ve got half a mind to go back, steal your squeaky-clean life, and pretend like Luca never existed!”

  I shake my head. “Luca, I don’t even know who you are anymore.” I turn and start down the path to the village.

  “Family?” Luca calls after me. “Three faggots, two dykes, and a little bastard—now there’s a laugh.”

  Luca may be a lot stronger than me, but at that moment with the rage I feel boiling, I would really like to hurt him.

  “C’mon back,” he begs. “I was just having fun with you. You can’t leave me. We’re supposed to be brothers!”

  I keep walking.

  The following night, Pico and I are on the cliff tending the fire. For the life of me, I don’t know why I continue to tend the signal fire other than out of habit. The nearly full moon is shielded behind a cloud, giving everything a soft silvery glow. It’s Pico who sees them—a canoe coming from the Far Island, gliding silently through the darkness out along the reef’s edge, then turning in toward our bay.

  “Tara,” Pico says in a low voice and makes a low growl in the back of his throat.

  I don’t witness most of what follows, so I am telling you this as accurately as I can, given the circumstances. Dzil, it seems, ignores Kyle’s ruling to wait for a finding. With the help of three Tara women, she sets out to find Luca. Dzil wants to use Luca’s alleged rape to demonstrate that Kyle has lost control and is no longer a good leader. Once she has created havoc in the village, Dzil will attempt to establish herself as the new Big Woman.

  In the meantime, Luca and Kizo have just stored away most of the sacks of Spanish doubloons in the lifeboat and are returning to camp when Dzil’s hunting party comes upon them. For all his size and strength, Kizo, forgive me if I say, fights like a fairy boy, and it doesn’t take them long to subdue him and tie him to a tree. They net Luca and carry him off. It’s the next morning before Kizo manages to struggle free and find his way to us.

  It’s unlikely that we can get anyone to help rescue Luca and essential that we get him away before Dzil can create a climate of complete chaos. Nando, Pico, Kizo, and I head up the hill toward Luca’s camp. Our intent is not to do combat, but to free Luca and run. We have surprise on our side, and Kizo knows the hill paths well.

  As we creep into Luca’s camp, there are only three guards there, who are quite drunk, and there is no sign of Dzil or the others. I suspect they are headed toward the village to create more havoc. A smack across the back of the head with a log takes out one guard, while Pico and Nando gag and bind another. The third proves to be more difficu
lt and screeches for help before we can subdue her.

  We find Luca tied naked and spread-eagled on the ground in front of his hut. He has been beaten badly and is unconscious. Kizo drops to his knees and sobs.

  “Cut him loose and let’s go!” I call.

  Kizo frees Luca, slings him over his shoulder, and we run down the hill trail headed for the beach.

  I really think we’ve made it by the time we load Luca in the lifeboat and push it into the surf. Then as Nando, Pico, and I stand chest-deep in the water steadying the craft, Kizo, that big idiot, jumps out and wades back to the beach to grab two remaining bags of gold.

  “Forget the gold, Kizo. Leave it,” I yell. “Get in the stupid boat!”

  Kizo opens his mouth to speak, but before he can say anything, I see a spear fly through the air and lodge firmly in his shoulder. He falls over backward onto the sand with a thud and lies motionless face up, the spear pointing skyward. I look to where the spear came from and see Dzil and her band standing on the edge of the cliff overlooking the beach. They appear as shocked as we are. For a moment no one moves; no one speaks.

  Then Dzil screeches like an insane woman, and her small band of warriors hurl spears and rain stones down upon us. I yell to Nando and Pico to push the boat out. We shove hard and scramble aboard. Pico jumps into the stern and holds Luca, who is laid out among his sacks of gold. Nando positions himself in the bow. I bear down hard on the oars and row. Once we are out beyond their range, Nando crouches behind me and places both hands on my straining shoulders. “As long as Luca remains, this madness will not stop.” Then he hugs me and kisses the back of my neck. “Both for Luca and the village, you must take him away.”

  “For Luca and the village?” I choke out the words.

  “Yes. This responsibility belongs to you. There is no one else.”

  “Come with me, both of you,” I plead.