The Arcturus Man (49 page)

Jenny no longer had any thoughts of self-preservation.
She now had to save the
small boy who had tried to defend her. She swam as hard as she could to get the boy before he drowned as shock set in. The patrol boat would spot her as they came to help.
She didn’t care.
But they didn’t come.
She couldn’t believe it. They didn’t come. She
could see out of the corner of her eye as she swam that the boat was leaving.
They had
gunned the engines as a huge rooster tail erupted behind the boat. They had no intention
of helping. They were leaving. The rescued boys jumped from the boat.

She grabbed the injured boy and tugged him to the closest upright
cayuco
. The
women and the boys in the boats began beating the water with paddles and anything else
they could find. They were trying to distract and disorient the circling sharks. One of the
older women helped pulled the boy into the boat.
Jenny climbed in behind him.
She
could see men on the shore jumping into the water to swim to the boat.
She tore strips
from her skirt and fashioned a quick tourniquet. Blood was spurting out of the boy’s leg.
The amount of blood was beyond belief. She tightened the tourniquet but it didn’t seem
to slow down the bleeding. The boy would be dead in a matter of minutes.

One of the men climbed into the boat, forcing one of the women to jump off to
make room. He looked at Jenny and the tourniquet. Without a moment’s hesitation, he
picked up the boy roughly and carried him to the charcoal burner at the far end of the
boat where the old woman had been cooking fish. The coals were white hot. He lowered
the boy until his stump was on top of the coals. The stump, still spurting blood in pulses,
was quickly lowered into the burning embers. Jenny had never heard anyone scream like
that before. She felt like she was going to faint. She felt his agony. The stench of burning flesh was horrendous. Jenny was a certified EMT back home and had seen many horrible things, but this was barbaric.
Then again, how else were they going to stop the
bleeding?
God only knew how far the closest hospital or clinic was. She knew that she
couldn’t have done this monstrous thing.

The boy was unconscious now but it did look like the coals had cauterized the
stump. She crawled over to the boy and put his head in her lap as the man released him.
She stroked his head and sang to him.
It was a lullaby her grandmother taught her.
It
was in Swedish, but lullabies really have no language. It was a soft and soothing sound.
His eyes fluttered from time to time. She gradually released the tourniquet. The bleeding
had stopped.

A frantic woman swam to the boat and climbed in.
She scrambled to the boy.
This was probably the mother.
She looked at Jenny kindly and picked up the boy.
She
kept saying
inaduled, inaduled
. Jenny didn’t know what that meant.
She may have been
thanking her.
Another woman pointed to the one holding the stricken boy and said.
“
Nana
.”
Jenny wished she could understand.
The man turned to Jenny and said, “
Gracias
.” That she understood. He nodded to her.

Was this Jenny’s fault?
She didn’t feel that it was but somehow she still felt responsible.
They lowered the unconscious boy into a cayuco and quickly paddled him to the
shore. Jenny followed in another boat.
She kept glancing toward the bend in the cove to
see if the patrol boat was returning. She wished that Jared was here.
An old Land Rover was waiting for the boy.
They laid the boy in the back seat
and sped off. An angry man ran up to Jenny screaming. He pointed his finger in her face
and yelled and yelled until he was red-faced.
He began to push Jenny roughly in the
shoulder, driving her backwards as he continued to scream at her. Several of the women
ran up and pulled him away. Jenny didn’t understand what he was saying, but she could
guess.
She just kept repeating, “I’m sorry!
I’m sorry.” She knew he was the father.
“I’m sorry,” she said again. “
Lo siento
.”
She saw Idel approaching.
“
Buenos tardes, Senior Saila
.” She nodded her head respectfully. He smiled kindly when he heard her address him as “
Senior Saila
.”
“Please Jenny.
We are friends.
I am Idel. We do not have to be so formal, do
we?” he asked.
“I’m sorry Idel.
I just wanted to show you respect in front of your people,” she
said.
“That is very kind, but I will still have the respect of my people if I am your
friend,” said Idel.
“What this man is saying? Why is he so angry?”
“He is the father.
His grief is understandable but no one blames you for what
happened.”
“Where are they taking the boy? Do you think he will be all right?” she asked.
“He is being taken to El Porvenir where he will be flown to a hospital in Panama
City. I am sure they will take very good care of him.”
“How far away is that?” she asked.
“It is about 50 miles. But the car is only taking him to a landing where we have a
very fast boat. They will take him to El Porvenir across the water. It is much faster than
driving on land. The air plane trip will be very short. You should not worry.”
“Your English is so good, Idel.
It is a relief to have someone I can talk with beside Jose’s son.”
“Yes, Jared gave me the American language as a gift. I am very grateful.”
“Jared taught you Engli….ah, American?”
“No, it was a gift. His spirit entered me and gave me the language.”
Jenny wasn’t certain she understood, but it sounded like Jared has more tricks
than he told her about. Had he really done some kind of
Star Trek
mind meld on Idelfonso? It appears that he did.
“That is fascinating. How long did it take to learn American?”
“A few weeks.
Well, Perhaps it was a few months until the spirit did all of its
work. It is difficult to say,” he said.
“Just fascinating.”
She was getting good at Spanish.
Had Jared gifted her Spanish just as he had done for Idel?
Idel didn’t know why this was so interesting to her, but he did not want to offend
his friend’s woman. He lit up a cigar. He offered one to Jenny but she politely declined.
She noticed that most of the men and women smoked, heavily.
It was a shame but she
was their guest and she was not going to judge them. She was still very upset about the
little boy and tried to wipe the horrible images from her mind.
“How long have you known Jared?”
“In man’s world, we have been friends for seven years.
In the spirit world we
have been brothers since the beginning of time.”
“My, that is a very long time, isn’t it?” It was time to change the subject.
Some of the women who had protected Jenny from the father came over and gave
her a large handful of beads.
“These are for your calves and arms. We call them
Uinni
,” said Idel.
“Yes, I remember,” she said. “Thank them for me.
They are very kind.
I know
that a lot of work went into making them. I hope they aren’t giving me a nose ring.”
Idel laughed.
He told the women what Jenny said and they all began to laugh
with him.
It was very funny.
It wasn’t quite as funny for Jenny, but then she remembered some of the freshmen girls at MIT. Their piercings were much more severe than
these beautiful Kuna women had done.
He was still laughing. “Please join me this evening for dinner,” said Idel.
“That would be wonderful. Thank you.”
Jenny was dieing to find out what was happening on the mainland and if Jared
was safe.
Perhaps at dinner? Jared was so secretive. Maybe she could ask in a very casual way. Surely Idel knew something, after all he was the
Saila
. It was killing her to not
know if Jared was dead or alive.
A young Kuna woman ran up to them. Idel spoke with the woman. Jenny didn’t
know if they were speaking in Spanish or Kuna. It didn’t sound like Spanish, but it could
have been.
“This is Maria,” said Idel.
“
Buenos Tardes, Maria
,” said Jenny.
“Maria thinks that it would be a good thing if we took a walk, away from the father.”
“Sure,”
“Wait, I’ll walk with you, if you don’t mind,” said Idel.
“That would be lovely.”
Idel bent down at his knees and picked up a baton.
It looked like a very, very
long silver bullet on a stick. It had a small silver eagle on one end and the tip of a silver
bullet on the other.
“My back is not good. I am getting old, Jenny.”
“That is a beautiful, Idel. What is it?”
“The Americans call it swagger stick.
When they still owned the Canal Zone,
they would often hire our young men to help with the training of their soldiers. They had
a Jungle Expert School at Fort Sherman and, of course, there were always the Special
Forces although they were mostly Hispanic back then. A colonel gave me this swagger
stick as a gift.”
“It looks very special. It must have been an important gift.”
“Yes, it was the colonel’s own stick.
He gave it to me.
We don’t get those jobs
now. Our young men were very good. I think the best thing was the ambush school. Our
young men were given air rifles.
The rifles were very strong.
If a B-B hit you on the
skin, it would penetrate. Their soldiers would walk a path in the rain forest and it was the
job of our young men to shoot the soldiers from hidden places. They could never see us.
I did this thing myself several times. I enjoyed it very much. I must apologize because I
am ashamed to admit that I enjoyed shooting soldiers very much.”
Now she understood why Jared lured Rubio to San Blas. The Colombians might
not have known that the Kuna were such experts at stalking. Jared said that the governments of Central and South America were very disdainful of their local
Indios
populations. It was human nature to underestimate anyone who you believe yourself to be superior to. This was very clever. Why didn’t Jared tell her about this? He could be such an
ass-hole.
“The B-B just broke the skin but if it was a real bullet, it would have killed.
It
was an important lesson for their young men to learn.
We rarely missed and they rarely
saw us. We don’t get those jobs now,” said Idel.
She turned and walked toward the house. The angry father was still arguing with
some of the women. She hoped that he wouldn’t follow her. He didn’t. Idel walked with
her and they continued to talk.
She thought that Idel was a very good man.
She was
pleased that he and Jared were friends.
“Thank you for walking with me, Idel.” She thought a minute.
“Is Jared safe? Can you tell me?”
“Yes, he is safe, but we can not speak of this. The fewer who know about this, the
better, and there are visitors on the island. Later, when we are alone and have dinner.”
He put his finger to his lips. He bowed slightly. “With much pleasure, Jenny.” And with
that, he started to walk back to the village.
Then he turned back to her…and he winked
and grinned. Then he walked away.
“Thank you, Idel.” Jenny smiled. He winked. That was wonderful.
She sat in a hammock. Jenny was worried sick about Jared but had tried hard not
to think about what might be happening.
He drew those killers down here.
They had
hurt him badly the last time. She couldn’t get Jared out of her mind. She willed herself
to have a leap of faith that everything would be good. Idel’s wink was comforting, but in
the quiet of the moment, it wasn’t enough. She had to trust her feelings, not her intellect.
Jared taught her that. She knew Jared would come back for her.
She had to have faith.
He will be back.
She said it again and again.
The fear was exhausting her.
She folded
her hands on her chest and prayed.
She couldn’t think about it anymore.
She just wanted to go to sleep until Jared
returned.
Now she regretted that she told Idel that she would come for dinner. Then
again, maybe that it would be good to spend the evening with Idel.
She didn’t worry so
much when she was around other people. Maybe that would be good. Jenny fell asleep.
“Wake up sleepy head. Time to get dressed for dinner,” said Jared.
Jenny wiped the sleep from her eyes.
She had been crying and the tears had
crusted on her lashes. Was this another dream? Then she saw him.
“JARED! JARED! YOU’RE SAFE.” She screamed and jumped out of the hammock. She rushed into his arms.
“My goodness. You look like an authentic Kuna girl.
She hugged him and squeezed him as hard as she possible could. Then she took a
quick step back and punched him in the arm, hard.
“You jerk.
You could have warned me you were back,” said Jenny.
Jared just
rolled his eyes.
He hadn’t shaved for days.
His clothes were in shreds and the olive drab now
looked black and filthy. All the leather on him was completely green. His hair was shorn
to a buzz cut—there was barely any left.
His machete dangled from his web belt. His
leather and canvas boots looked like someone had scoured them with a Brillo pad.
“So how does all this stuff come apart?”
He started pulling on her blouse.
She
slapped his hand away.
“You’ve been bad.
You don’t get to do that.” But then she pulled him to her
mouth and kissed him as hard as she could. She let him unwrap just a little bit. Jared was
very loving and tender—much more than usual. He persisted.
“No. This isn’t very private Jared,” she said.
“We can find a private place,” he said. He took her hand and led her back to the
house.
“They’re gone for a while.
I didn’t have to ask.
Jose and Zobeida are very
thoughtful people,” he said.
“They have a lot of kids. I guess they know something,” she said.
She helped him off with his clothes.
“You’re not wearing any underwear.
Really!
That is gross Jared. Wow! Little
Jared needs a shower.”
“The greatest risk in a tropical rain forest is infection.
Anything that chafes and
rubs can be deadly. It is much safer without underwear.”
Jenny tried to imagine herself in the jungle without underwear.
She couldn’t see
it. No way!
His wounds from the attack on Eagle’s Head were now only patches of pink skin.
She traced the largest wound with her finger. She thought that there was nothing that
could surprise any more, but Jared kept surprising her. He was positively amazing.
She
looked at his body closely as he changed clothes. No new wounds. Nothing! She didn’t
notice where the snake had bitten him.
“We better get washed up and dressed,” said Jared.
Jenny started to pull her own clothes out of a chest.
“Maybe you could stay Kuna—just for a short time.”
“Sure. Actually I like it very much.”
“I thought you might.”
“Idel told me that you infused him with the spirit of language.”
“Yes, I did. I just helped him along with what he already knew.”
“Well, thanks.
It sounds like a great trick.
Too bad you didn’t think to give me
the spirit of Spanish.”
“But I did.”
“You did what?”
“I helped you with your Spanish.
You had it in high school. It was all there. It
just needed some help in coming back to you.”
“Really?”
“You have to give it some time. Surely some of it came back to you.”
“Well, I guess it did…a little. I just thought I was remembering it.”
“And you did.
I just gave it a nudge.
It is not magic.
You don’t wake up some
morning and begin speaking fluent Spanish.”
Jenny was disappointed.
That is exactly what she wanted.
She wanted to wake
up some morning and be speaking perfect Spanish.
“When are you going to tell me what happened on the mainland?”
“Later! For now just be assured that your safe and the bad things are all behind us
now. Everything has been taken care of. There is nothing more to be worried about. Absolutely nothing!”
“You mean people aren’t chasing us any more?”
“That is exactly what I mean. No one is looking for us here. Even some of the
problems back in the States have been cleared up. Can we talk about this later?”
“You can’t just say later.
It isn’t fair. You always say later. I’ve been worried
sick about you.”
“I’m sorry you had to go through that. I really am.”
“Well tell me something, at least.”
Jared took her arm and they walked out to the beach.
They sat down on a fallen
palm tree. Jenny looked up to make sure there weren’t any coconuts overhead. Slowly,
patiently, Jared told her everything that had happened on the mainland.
He explained
how the Kuna had saved his life.
He told her about the snake bite and showed her the
puncture area. He told her about Rubio and how his men didn’t fare well in the rain forest. Colombia and Venezuela have great rain forests so it is easy to make the mistake that
people from that region are experts in the jungle.
Not true. When Jared drew them into
the Panamanian rain forest, they were in constant fear of snakes, alligators, crocodiles,
large cats, and even spiders and ants.
Luring them into the great Mohinga Swamp
couldn’t have been worse for them. The swamp extended for four hundred square miles
of waste-deep water with only small patches of dry land here and there.
At night it was
as dark as any place on the planet.
“Aren’t we going to be late for dinner with Idel?” asked Jenny.
“Don’t worry. Time isn’t measured the same way here as in the States.
No one
will think we’re late.”
Jenny listened intently.
She didn’t stop him to ask questions.
He told her everything…every detail.
“You said that everything is behind us now. But then you said that no one will be
looking for us…here. That was waffling Jared. Are people still looking for you somewhere else?” she asked.