by I A Thompson
She got out of the car and walked up to a tall, slender woman who looked like an older version of herself. “Hi mom,” she said stepping into her outstretched arms and embracing her. Then she turned to Zach. “Mom, this is Zach. Zach, my mom.”
“Mrs. Livingston, it’s such a pleasure to finally meet you,” he said politely, before adding, “Gina told me so much about you.”
“Welcome to our home, Zach,” Eleanor Livingston replied. “The pleasure is all ours. Gina speaks very highly of you and we were very much looking forward to meeting you. And please forget about those formalities, call me Elle and make yourself at home.”
“Yes ma’am,” Zach smiled at her, feeling oddly relieved that he passed muster, at least with Regina’s mother.
Elle waved them towards the pool house. “Go, say hello to your father and everyone else, then grab something to eat and drink.”
“Yes, mom.” Regina took Zach’s elbow and pulled him with her. Once they were a few steps away, she asked, “Are you okay? That wasn’t too uncomfortable, was it?”
“No, not at all. Your mother is nice. By the way, what did you tell them about me? Just in case I get cross-examined.”
“Don’t worry, they wouldn’t do that in front of other guests.” Regina laughed. “You’re safe. In a nutshell, ever since we’ve been given our cover stories, I’ve been feeding my family with tidbits about how awesome you are; the upcoming Time Magazine star author. I told them we met at a conference about international collaboration, figured if I stick close to the truth, it won’t be so hard to remember.”
“In other words, they’ve been hearing about me for a few weeks now?”
“Yes, of course. Don’t tell me you didn’t tell your family about me?”
“No, I haven’t. First, it’s only my mother that’s left. Second, I don’t have a close relationship, and third, I didn’t think it was necessary.”
Regina rolled her eyes at him. “You’re not good at this role-playing stuff, huh? You’ve got to sell the story! And you can’t do that if you don’t lay the groundwork.”
“As I said, I didn’t think it was necessary, but I do see your point and I’m glad you did your groundwork thing. Makes this family outing a lot less uncomfortable.”
Regina introduced Zach to her father who was standing behind the grill, tending to caramel glazed chicken quarters and barbecue baby back ribs, while chatting with his brother Dickie. As long as Regina could remember, her dad and Uncle Dickie had been the life of every party, entertaining guests with stories of racing stock cars around the region’s red dirt tracks in their youth, hunting wild boars in the woods and playing football for their high school.
Uncle Dickie handed both of them a bottle of cold beer in colorful koozies. Having recovered from their hangovers from the previous day, they both welcomed the refreshing beverages. Within minutes, Zach had joined the chatter about sports and guy activities, as if he’d always been part of the family.
Regina felt it was safe to leave him by himself and walked down to the house to help her mother in the kitchen. She should have known better. Elle had left nothing to chance and appetizers, salads, rolls and desserts were sitting in cooled or heated chafers on a trolley, ready to be taken to the pool house.
“Perfect, as always, mom!” Regina praised. “Do you want me to take this up the hill?”
“Sure, sweetie, that would be nice. Let me just wash my hands really quick and I’ll walk with you.”
Elle wrapped up what she was doing, and the two women made their way up the hill, Regina pushing the heavy trolley. Zach jumped up when he saw Regina, coming to her aid.
“Thank you, Zach, much appreciated. This thing is heavier than it looks. Mom made enough food for an army.”
“No problem, I’ve got it.” He grabbed the trolley handle and quickly pushed it up the hill.
“What a nice guy,” Elle said, wrapping her arm around Regina’s waist. “You two make a cute couple. How serious are you two?”
“Mom! Please! Don’t embarrass me. I like him, but we’re only just getting to know each other.” As soon as the words came out of her mouth, she realized they were true. She did like the Zach she’d gotten to know over the last few days. Sure, there were a few rough edges and a larger than life ego, but all in all, he was a pretty decent guy.
Elle laughed. “No worries, I won’t play the doting future mother in law just yet. You kids take your time. But I’m not going to lie to you, I think, this one might be a keeper.”
Once everyone had helped themselves to a plate of food the older family members gathered around a picnic table in the shade. Zach, Regina, her brother Adam, cousins Tony, Tracy and Nate arranged deck chairs in a circle next to the pool.
Adam fidgeted on his chair, nibbling on his chicken, looking back and forth between his plate and his sister. Since Regina opted to ignore his attempt to get her attention, he finally burst out, “So, Gina, your old buddy, Felix Rutherford, got busted for running drugs. What do you have to say about that?”
Regina could feel Zach’s stare at her brother indicating there was a connection between her and Felix. She glared at Adam. “He’s not my buddy, never was, we just went to school together. I was very surprised to learn of the bad choices he made, but I’m glad he got caught and the flow of drugs into our county has been disrupted, hopefully for a good long while.”
“You’re such a holier-than-though little miss-do-good,” Adam fired back. “In your world, there is only room for good and bad, no grey area in between. Of course, you’ll just paint Felix as the bad guy.”
Nate, Uncle Dickie’s and Aunt Sissi’s youngest son, added, “Felix has really expanded his dad’s business. They now have over four hundred employees, not to mention the work they created for all companies that deliver products to their shop.”
“Yeah,” his sister Tracy nodded. “And they are doing a lot of community outreach, at least half of their workforce are from underprivileged households.”
Regina frowned. “Has it crossed your mind that all of that could be a ploy to get their hooks into as many different demographics as possible? Simplifying buyers’ access?”
26
The conversation at the Livingston’s poolside quickly escalated to an all-out debate between two factions of the family. Regina and Zach on one side, Adam and her cousins on the other. It blew Regina’s mind that her own brother would buy into the lore of Felix, the modern-day Robin Hood, who was using highly illegal means in the pursuit of a good cause. It was such a well-worn, overused cliché and wildly inappropriate in this specific case.
Regina sighed, which turned into an involuntary yawn. She couldn’t wait to get to the hotel, take a shower and go to bed, too exhausted to think of how her family had joined ranks against her and Zach.
One should be careful what one wished for; the getting away had taken a whopping seventeen hours with an hour layover in Miami, just long enough to grab a cup of coffee. Their second layover in Trinidad and Tobago was seven hours long, in other words, roughly six hours longer than Regina would have liked. Despite visiting every shop in the transit area and eating little snacks at two different restaurants, there was endless time to kill, before they were finally able to board their flight to Suriname, the last leg of their journey. Regina chuckled to herself.
“What’s so funny?” Zach asked. He looked as exhausted as she felt.
“I was just thinking about how badly I wanted to get away from my family yesterday. Of course, I didn’t imagine it being such an ordeal. I’m just glad we finally made it here.”
It was well past midnight when Regina and Zach walked out of the airport in Paramaribo into the balmy tropical air. They hailed a canary-yellow cab and a little under an hour later arrived at the Courtyard Marriott hotel. The hotel wasn’t as fancy as the one on Pensacola Beach, but they were able to get two adjacent rooms with a connecting door and a view of the river. Neither one of them had the energy for anything more than unpacking their bags and c
rawling into bed.
The following morning, they huddled in Regina’s room to get their computer equipment set up and get in touch with Hardy and map out their next steps.
They sent Hardy a short message to let him know they had arrived and asked for instructions on where and when to meet him, then they went downstairs for breakfast.
“Wow, this is nice,” Regina commented as she pointed to a gazebo where a dozen tables were set for breakfast. “The advantages of year-round warm weather. Feels very much like Pensacola in late June, early July.”
“A bit muggy for my taste,” Zach mumbled while he followed Regina outside.
“I like how they set up the pool and lounge area,” Regina pointed at lounge chairs underneath gazebos of various sizes that were seemingly at random scattered across the lawn leading to the edge of the river. A three-foot-high fence barred guests from getting too close to the water, a needed protection against piranha attacks on unsuspecting foreigners.
“We should just pose as tourists, while we’re here,” Zach suggested. “That way we can take advantage of these amenities while being hard at work.” His facial expression indicated how fond he was of his idea.
Regina nodded. “That works. It’ll allow us to innocently traipse around and if we end up somewhere we shouldn’t be, we’ll just claim we got lost. Although, one question we may have to prepare for. Why on earth would we pick Suriname as a destination?”
“Given that this once was a Dutch colony, one of us could make up some Dutch ancestors, on whose trails we are.”
“Or British for that matter.” Regina had taken out her phone and looked up the colonial history of Suriname. “Looks like the Brits hung out around these parts off and on throughout the 17th, 18th and 19th century.”
“Whatever makes you happy. We’ll just have to make sure we tell the same story.”
They agreed on one of Regina’s ancestors, who had worked for the Dutch West India Company in the late 18th century until it was dissolved in 1792. While there was no evidence that he had ever been to Suriname, it also couldn’t be completely ruled out.
William Livingston’s documented history then had him work at the Gosport Shipyard in Norfolk, today’s Norfolk Navy Yard, where he became a plank owner of the USS Chesapeake, the first U.S. Navy frigate built in Gosport.
In 1826, William and his family followed Navy Captain Lewis Warrington from Virginia to Pensacola where he was instrumental in the construction of the new navy shipyard that eventually turned into Naval Air Station Pensacola.
“All in all, it’s a pretty plausible sounding story, don’t you think?” Regina looked at Zach.
“Yes, I’m glad you remembered the tidbit about ole William working for the Dutch at some point.”
“Me too. It’s not exactly the most talked about part of his life, it just happens to be how he got into seafaring.”
They wrapped up breakfast and went back to Regina’s room where a message from Hardy awaited them. It read, “Meet at the Queen Wilhelmina Statue at Fort Zeelandia at 2 p.m.”
“Sweet,” Regina said. “That gives us a few hours for sightseeing. Looks like most of the tourist attractions in the historic part of town are within a square mile. We can check some of those from our list, break for lunch and then meet up with Hardy.”
“Yeah, just gotta make sure we don’t get run over in the process. I bet it’s going to take us a little while to get used to traffic being on the opposite sides of what we’re used to.”
They decided to stroll around the Spanhoek neighborhood, roughly a mile away from their hotel. Dressed in comfortable outfits in a breathable material, walking sneakers and outfitted with water bottles and protein bars, they stepped out of the hotel lobby.
Since they were in no hurry, they walked at a leisurely pace. Regina’s keen observation skills had her register every detail of the scenery ahead of them. The place had a Caribbean vibe to it. Bright reds, blues and yellows adorned busses, roofs and building signs. Once whitewashed clapboard houses now looked greyish and weathered.
It definitely wasn’t what one would expect in the capital of a country, but beneath the shabby outer appearance, there was an air of past colonial grandeur. Even though it was barely mid-morning, smells of food from all corners of the earth wafted through the heavy air. The city was the textbook definition of a melting pot. Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas were all represented at almost equal ratios. Religions peacefully coexisted within walking distance of each other.
By lunchtime, Zach and Regina had covered most of the historic part of town, listed as one of UNESCO’s, short for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, World Heritage site. Since they both liked Thai food, they settled on a place called ‘Paradise Bar and Grill’, a few blocks from the place where they would meet up with Hardy.
“Oh my god, this is probably the best green curry I’ve ever eaten!” Regina exclaimed after she took a bite of her food.
“And that wouldn’t have anything to do with you just being hungry, huh?” Zach grinned.
“No. Trust me. We used to have a phenomenal Thai restaurant in Pensacola; unfortunately, it got destroyed by Hurricane Ivan in 2004, but long story short, this dish is better than the one they served, and given that I’ve been mourning the loss of that restaurant for over a decade, that means something.”
“My Pad Thai isn’t bad either; it’s loaded with meat, a nice change from some of these places where you get more noodles and sauce than anything else.”
At 2 p.m. sharp, they walked up to the impressive statue of the formidable Dutch Queen Wilhelmina, who had seen her country and colonies through two World Wars. While they snapped pictures of themselves in front of the statue, Hardy appeared out of nowhere.
Since their encounter had to look coincidental to any potential observers, Zach flagged Hardy down with the request to take a picture of him and Regina together. Naturally, Hardy obliged and after taking a few shots, Zach proceeded to ask questions about Fort Zeelandia and other things he and Regina should be seeing while in the country.
That gave Hardy the opening he needed to offer his services as a tour guide, and he suggested a trip up the river to Sonari River Lodge, an eco-resort regularly frequented by tourists who wanted to experience the rainforest without missing out on the amenities they were accustomed to.
It wasn’t unusual for locals to have multiple jobs and Hardy had been helping his cousin Piotr Groot for years. Piotr operated a small cargo boat and made the trip between Paramaribo and the lodge on a daily basis, transporting goods and people back and forth.
“The boat will leave from the pier over there at 8:30 a.m.” Hardy pointed to a concrete structure with white wooden guard rails, protruding over the edge of the river. “Please be there no later than 8:15 a.m. for boarding. Wear comfortable clothing and apply ample sunscreen and bug repellent; you do not want to get bitten by mosquitos. Should you desire to stay at Sonari River Lodge for a day or two, which I would highly recommend, simply bring your luggage along and arrive a few minutes early.”
Regina and Zach got the hint and indicated they would be very interested in staying a day or two and exploring the area around the lodge.
Hardy smiled widely, a hustler sensing an opportunity to make some extra money. “For a small fee, I’d be happy to be your guide, while you’re at the lodge. Only $500 for two days and $150 per day for any additional days.”
Zach returned the smile. “We’ll let you know when we get there, but thanks for the offer.”
After exchanging a few more pleasantries, the three went their separate ways. Regina and Zach continued their sightseeing after Hardy walked away from them.
27
The following morning, the tourist boat slowly made its three-hour trip up the Suriname River. The boat wasn’t anything fancy, it was so small, passengers in the front of the boat had to sit at an angle to be comfortable, but its bright red paint, black and white trim and sunny yellow awning attached t
o the roof was as cheerful as the smiles of the eco-tourists it transported.
Hardy steadied his grip around the rafter he held on to; it was his 57th tour, and by now he knew exactly what to tell his audience to get them engaged and wanting for more.
With only 18 passengers on board, he and his cousin captain Groot included, he had already completed a round of introductions and found out what everyone wanted to get out of their trip to his beautiful country. And then there were Zach and Regina. He had watched them ever since they came on board and settled into their seats, they had changed since he’d seen them in Washington a few weeks ago; back then, they didn’t exchange two words without getting into an argument, now they looked like an old couple, completely in synch with each other.
As they followed the river’s winding path, Hardy highlighted sights on either side of the river and at Domburg, he pointed at a pristine white sandy beach. “Over here you see White Beach, a popular weekend destination. The beach is man-made and the little yellow flags you see bouncing on the water indicate where safety nets have been installed to protect swimmers from piranhas.”
His audience gasped, prompting him to explain further. “While piranhas are dangerous fish, after all, their name translated to English is ‘toothfish’, they aren’t anything like described in horror movies. Like most animals, they tend to attack when they feel threatened. For their own protection, they usually travel in a pack. They can kill you if you are attacked by a swarm, mostly due to resulting blood loss, but overall, fatal piranha attacks are actually quite rare. With that said, the preferred way to encounter a piranha is when it’s been grilled and presented to you on a plate accompanied with some side dishes,” he finished with an echo of laughter from the crowd.