The Royal Handmaid (32 page)

“I think we’re really alike in more ways than you think. Neither of us has any polish. The only difference is that I’ve let the Lord come into my life. I’d like to see you do the same thing, Cerny.”

“Too late for me,” Cerny said with a tone that seemed to shut the door to further discussion. “That’s for better guys than me.”

He turned and moved away from Travis, going to one of the natives and reaching out his hand for the paddle. He sat down and concentrated on propelling the craft through the rolling sea.

****

Rena was soaking wet. The catamaran was lifting now in two directions. The bow would rise and fall, but at the same time one of the hulls would dip. At times she was terrified, thinking the vessel was going over for certain, but it never did. The wind and rain had arrived viciously, and the craft was tossed about like a chip. She was holding tightly on to the gunwale when Travis came over and sat down beside her. He put his arm around her, and she turned to him, grateful
for the assurance she saw in his face. Although it was only midafternoon, it was almost as dark as twilight.

“I don’t mind telling you, Travis,” Rena said, wiping her face with her hand, “I’d just as soon not be here.”

“Me either, but we’ll be all right.”

At that moment the ship was wrenched forward and cast to the left. Travis was nearly thrown overboard. Rena grabbed at him, and he managed to hang on to the side of the vessel. Others were scrambling to stay in, and it was a miracle no one was thrown out. The craft righted itself, and Lomu was shouting orders at the rowers, who were paddling furiously. “I’d better go help paddle,” Travis said.

“Don’t . . . don’t get lost overboard.”

“I’ll try not to. You know what this reminds me of?”

The rain had plastered Rena’s hair down and was running down her face. Her clothes were soaked, and her hands ached from holding on to the leaping, plunging craft. “It reminds me of the book of Acts, the part where Paul is on the ship and they’re in a bad storm. You remember what he said? He said, ‘I believe God.’ Well, that’s what I do. I believe God put us here to witness to Lomu and his people, as well as the sailors who came with us. And if that’s what’s on God’s mind, He’ll get us there.”

Rena reached up and pulled Travis close, putting her lips to his ear. “You’re a comfort, Travis Winslow.” She kissed his cheek, and when he drew back, he had a surprised grin on his face. “You’re getting to be right forward, woman!”

Despite the dangers of the moment, Rena found that the fear had left her. “I guess you’re right about that. We’ll talk about it later.”

Travis realized at the moment that Rena was now a woman of real faith, and she had taken on a new humility.

****

“Doesn’t look like there was ever a storm, does it, Rena?” Travis was pulling rhythmically at one of the oars, and Rena
was beside him. The sea had calmed overnight and was now almost as still as a tabletop. The catamaran sliced its way through the sparkling green waters, and ahead of them a long line of beach was marked with people singing and crying out.

“It’s amazing how quiet the ocean is,” Rena said. “I believe our fellow passengers got a bad scare yesterday.”

Indeed, it was true. At the worst of the storm, all three of the veteran sailors had been sure they were all going to die. Now that the danger was over, it appeared to Rena that Olsen and Day had put the storm and their fear out of their minds. But she kept watching Novak, who seemed more contemplative than he had in the past.

“You’ve been talking to Novak a lot,” Rena said.

“God’s given me a promise that he’s going to get saved,” Travis said. “He’s a tough nut, but the hound of heaven is on his trail.”

They had no time to continue their conversation, for the catamaran had reached the sandy shore. Many native men plunged in to grab the vessel and drag it ashore. Rena and Travis both stood up and leaped out into the water. “They seem glad to see us, don’t they?” Travis said as they waded to shore and were quickly surrounded by curious natives chattering at the top of their lungs.

“I wish I could understand them,” Travis said.

“We’ll learn,” Rena said.

Chief Lomu was smiling as his people gathered around the white visitors. They all wanted to touch them, and many were crying out in wonder. Finally Lomu raised his hand, and silence came over the group. He began to speak, and Chip, who was standing close to Rena and Travis, whispered, “He’s telling them that we’re visitors. That we’ve come to tell them about a new God who made all things.”

“Well, that’s a good thing for missionaries to have the king of the island on their side.”

Lomu finished his speech and came over and spoke to them briefly.

“The chief says we are going to stay at his house.”

“Tell him we’re very grateful,” Travis said.

Rena asked, “Is his house big enough?”

“I have no idea,” Chip said with a grin. “But I always wanted to stay at a palace.”

****

The “palace” was not exactly what Chip had envisioned. It was an expansive open shed supported by round beams cut from trees. The roof was made of saplings tied together with vines, and the whole thing was thatched with long leaves.

“But it doesn’t have any walls!” Rena exclaimed as they moved through the house.

“I guess you get to know people pretty quickly,” Travis with a laugh. “Not much for modesty, though.”

Indeed, there was not much use for modesty. Travis and Rena soon discovered that the king had many sons and daughters and most of them lived at the so-called palace, sleeping on simple pads stuffed with dry grass. Rena was assigned to a corner with the king’s oldest daughter. She was given a pad to sleep on, and that was it.

Before they even got a tour of the island, the king’s daughter, Lomishu, made it quite clear that Rena would not be idle while they were there. Lomishu took Rena by the arm and pulled her to a large area of the palace that was obviously used for cooking and food storage. The dark woman handed Rena a large empty vessel and took one for herself, and then pulled her out of the palace and down a trail.

Even with no words passing between them, Rena understood that they were going to get water. Rena smiled to herself, thinking back to how she would have reacted to a similar situation only a year ago. She understood that her role here was to be a servant, much as Christ was a servant when He came to earth.

After they had filled their vessels in the stream and returned
to the palace, Lomishu told Rena, through Chip, that she could investigate the island with her friends.

The rest of the evening was given to walking around, investigating the new environment, but the islanders were so curious they could not get far without attracting a crowd. Both Travis and Rena had picked up a few sentences from Chip, and when they spoke to the islanders, the people were ecstatic. More than once the women gathered around Rena, chattering and giggling, wanting to touch her auburn hair or her white skin.

“You’re quite a curiosity to them,” Travis commented with a grin.

Chip nodded. “They’ve never seen white people before.” One young woman came and stood before Rena, touching her arm and obviously asking a question.

“What does she want to know?” Rena asked curiously.

“She wants to know,” Chip said with a shy grin, “if you’re white all over or just on your arms and face.”

Rena flushed and said, “Tell her that I am.”

Travis tried not to laugh but couldn’t help it. “They seem like nice folks.”

“I think so too.”

Novak, Day, and Olsen were staying with other families. They were still carrying their guns, and Travis said, “I hope they don’t use those things. That would be tragic.”

“Surely they won’t,” Rena said hopefully.

Lomishu approached the group and said something to Rena as she took her by the hand. “My father needs us,” Chip translated as Lomishu led Rena toward the palace.

For the next few days Travis and Rena watched carefully to see what the sailors would do. They were not terribly surprised when Day and Olsen got access to some liquor and became so drunk they passed out.

“There’s nothing we can do about that, I’m afraid,” Travis said grimly. “I noticed that Novak drank a little, but he didn’t get drunk. Maybe he can handle those two.”

“I wish he’d take those guns away from them.”

“Maybe we can talk him into that. He knows they’re not the steadiest men in the world. They could cause real trouble.”

****

The days passed quickly for Rena. She spent a fair amount of time with Lomishu and her mother, Lomu’s wife, learning how to cook Lomu’s favorite foods and attending to Lomu’s every wish. At one point it occurred to Rena that she might be called a royal handmaid. But somehow the title sounded more romantic than it actually was.

Rena and Travis spent an enormous amount of time studying the language. They had plenty of tutors. Chip, of course, was their main teacher, but the natives were fascinated by the white people’s attempts to learn. “They never saw anyone who couldn’t speak their language,” Chip explained, “and now it tickles them that you can’t.”

“I get so angry with myself,” Rena said. “I want to speak to them so badly.”

“You’re doing good, Miss Rena.”

“Better than I am,” Travis said ruefully.

“Well, we’re both making a lot of mistakes.”

“You’re right about that,” Travis said with a laugh. “I tried to say, ‘That’s a beautiful baby you have,’ to one woman, and they all started laughing at me.”

“You know why, don’t you?” Chip asked.

“Not really.”

“You didn’t say the baby was beautiful. You said the snake ate the baby.”

Rena burst into a good, hearty laugh and shook her head. “There’s no telling what I’ve said to some of these people.”

“I’ve been thinking we should have some kind of a service,” Travis said. “I asked Lomu about it, and he’s willing enough.”

“You know, I have no idea what day of the week it is.”

“All I know is it’s somewhere in mid-April, but I’ve lost
count too. So let’s just say tomorrow’s Sunday, and we’ll have a service.”

****

The crowd for the service was large, for everything the white people did was a source of interest to the natives. Chip served as the interpreter, as usual, and Rena insisted that Travis speak.

“You sing and then I’ll speak,” he said.

“All right,” Rena agreed, smiling.

The sun was already a quarter of the way up the sky, and the morning breezes were cool.

Rena stood up and waited while the group settled down. She started singing in her clear contralto voice, and the natives, who had discovered little about music except for some very somber chant, were transfixed by her voice as it rose. They did not understand the words, of course, but as she sang, Chip would translate them from time to time. She sang her favorite hymns, and when she finally smiled and sat down, the natives began waving their hands in the air.

“They like it,” Travis said. “I hope they like what I’ve got to say.” He stood up and began his sermon, speaking a sentence or two at a time and then waiting for the translation. Chip, he felt, must be very good at this, for he saw that no matter what he said or how he said it, the islanders showed the same kind of emotion he wanted to convey. When he lifted his voice, Chip’s voice lifted also. When he spoke quietly, Chip modified his speech.

“We’ve come to speak of the God who made the sky and all the stars and who made the earth.”

Rena sat off to one side, her focus fixed on Travis. He spoke simply, slowly, and eloquently. He did it so well that she hardly noticed Chip’s voice as he translated the words. As Travis spoke of the goodness of God and the strength of God, she scanned the congregation of dark-skinned faces. Some were no darker than a white person who had spent
much time in the sun. They all had dark liquid eyes and dark hair, and they listened with a reverence and an attention she had rarely seen in a crowd in the States.

“This great God who made us all and who loved us all,” Travis was saying, “knew that all men and all women have wrong in them. And because they have wrong in them, they have to pay for this wrong, but this great God did not want people to perish. So he had His own son come to be born on the earth. His name was Jesus, and that name means ‘One who saves His people from their sins.’ ”

He went on to briefly describe the life of Jesus, and then when he spoke of His death on the cross, to her amazement Rena saw many villagers wiping tears from their cheeks. These were a compassionate people, tenderhearted, she saw, and her own eyes began to grow wet with tears.

“So we have come to tell you about this Son of God—Jesus—who is alive today in the heavens with His father. But we can all know Him, and when we die, we can go live forever with the one who has loved us so much.”

Travis closed his sermon with a prayer and then asked Rena to sing again. She stood up and began to sing “The Old Rugged Cross,” looking at each individual in attendance as she worked her way through the verses. At the edge of the crowd, to her surprise, she saw Cerny Novak. As soon as she met his gaze, however, he dropped his head and turned and went away.

After the service was over, many came around asking questions about Jesus. Travis sat beside Rena, and with Chip by their side to translate, the two of them answered every question as well as they could.

Finally they left the gathering place and went down to the beach to talk about the service. “That was a wonderful service, Travis. We’re going to see God do great things here.”

“Your singing moved them, Rena. That’s going to be a real tool for evangelism as soon as you learn the language.”

“I’m going to ask Chip to help me learn the words to some of the old hymns so I can sing in their own language.”

“That’s an excellent idea,” he said, gladness in his voice.

Rena picked up a beautiful shell and examined it. “Did you see Novak?” she asked. “He was at the edge of the crowd.”

“I saw him. I was glad he came. The other two didn’t show up, though. I think they were drunk again.”