AncilShe then smiled again, “How sweet. I haven’t really figured out how I feel about you yet.”
I had the urge to let her know the amount of times that I saved her life but I decided not to push the envelope. She should have been all over me especially after I saved her life so many times.
“But I don’t think now is the best time to talk about that,” she said.
“I agree. Let’s talk about it when we’re six feet under.”
She didn’t respond.
“It’s not that I don’t like you,” she eventually said. “I’m just not in the right state of mind right now to make a decision like that especially after everything that just happened. I mean, look at me. I’m in a mess and I’m smelling like leftover food dipped in fried feces with slight piss. The last thing I want to do right now is be in any way romantic. I hope you understand.”
I understood clearly but I still had to be a brat about it, “Your loss.”
She laughed.
“All this could have been yours.” I joked, doing a little dance.
“I hear you.” She laughed as she just continued walking.
The further away we got from the shore, the more beautiful and magical the scenery became. The trees, the flowers and the way they danced in the wind was something peaceful. The sound of the rustling leaves added greatly to the peaceful setting. The scenery was only a mere shell of its former glory but it was still amazing to watch. I couldn’t help but pick a few Starch Mangoes that were hanging from the trees begging to be eaten. There was a river stream among the trees that meandered onwards towards the sea. The water wasn’t completely clean but it was clean enough for us to wash away the oily substance that was on us and ultimately get rid of the awful smell that beset us. Megan frantically scrubbed her hair in the water for quite a while. I decided to venture into the forest by myself when I was finished washing up while she was cleaning up because I was getting impatient waiting on her to get out of the water. My plan wasn’t to leave her but to just excuse myself for a while. There weren’t any visible signs of threats in Tobago so I was beginning to wonder if the Midnight Robber’s base was really there. It didn’t seem so. The place was too peaceful.
The evening sun tickled my face. No not tickle, it gently scratched my face. The heat was horrendous but it was all part of the experience. While walking I noticed a Scarlet Ibis in the tree. It was the biggest Scarlet Ibis I had ever seen in my life. I didn’t know Scarlet Ibises lived in Tobago. The red feathered creature was completely still as it perched itself on a tree branch almost majestically. Staying completely still was the best option for me to get a good look at the creature. It didn’t see me, and if it did, did it really care that I was there? I went closer to it expecting it to eventually fly away but it didn’t. Suddenly the sounds of helicopters resonated from a distance. It sounded distant but the noise caused the Scarlet Ibis to fly away but it couldn’t fly. The bird fell to the ground and ran off. It kept on trying to fly but it just kept falling to the ground. His left wing was paralyzed it seemed. A large group of helicopters flew over my head. I ran back to the stream and rushed Megan out of the water. We ran until we arrived at a small hut in the middle of the forest. It was kind of strange to find that out of nowhere. Megan and I cautiously walked in with our guns in hand. As we entered a man with a colorful long embroidered cloak covering his entire body caught our eye. His face was red and out from his head two large horns pointed out. His eyes were huge and his teeth were sharp, almost vampire like. He sat on a rocking chair in the middle of the small wooden hut and he held a large book in one hand and a feathered pen in the other. The man did not look human at all. The sight of him brought so much shivers up my spine that I almost fell to the floor as I saw him. Megan and I were about to turn around and flee when the man said, “hello children. Don’t run.”
We stopped in our tracks as we heard him speak. He sounded friendly but we still decided to pull out our guns anyway in case he made any wrong moves.
“They always run,” he said. “Like if I looking like a beast or something. I just want to have fun. I just want to…..” his eyes opened wider. “Buuuubbbble!”
As he spoke I noticed a few skeletons on the floor. The man noticed that I saw them and said, “what happen my child? You never see death before?”
Megan tried to walk away but I held her back. I wanted to hear what he had to say. His large eyes captivated my curiosity. Were his large eyes real or just stuck on to his face as part of the costume?
“Ummm….Who are you?” I asked.
“I is death,” the man responded. “I am the face of death. Some people call me the Grim Reaper, some even call me the Devil. But I’m more commonly known in these parts as…..” his eyes widened. “The Bookman.”
I heard of the Bookman before. The Carnival character always had a book on him where he wrote down names of people who were prospective souls for the devil.
“So if you write a name in that book you have, that person would die?” I asked.
“Well let we see nah? What is your name son?” The Bookman asked.
“I’m not going to give you my name,” I said.
“How about the little girlie over there?” He asked referring to Megan.
