Chapter 43
ZINZI
Accompong, Maroon Village, Cockpit Country
The pounding in my head, the pain that makes my eyes water and my jaw tense, won’t quit.
I don’t believe my mother’s claim about hurricanes and my sensitivity to them and other changes in the weather, but something is coming.
Or it’s the baby, a miracle for a woman my age, unmarried and just beginning to come to terms with falling in love with the man I’ve slept with twice.
It felt good to confide in Vivian Jean about my possible condition. As I approach my mother’s home, I decide to wait before sharing the news with Momma Hazel. That will stir up a different kind of storm.
I stop as a sudden guttural scream rips through the air—someone crying out in pain. It isn’t coming from my mother’s house. I quickly turn and head back to where I was moments ago. The scream is coming from Vivian Jean’s hut.
I rush into the house. Tully lies on the bed, his bare legs bent and his left knee pulled toward his chest.
“I was bitten on the calf by a spider and it hurts like hell.”
“What kind?” I pose a question that neither of them can answer. They can’t tell one spider from the next.
Tully opens his hand. “I killed the damn thing.” The insect is as large as his palm, and Tully is a tall man, with long limbs and fingers.
“Give me the bug.” I take the creature from him, and it’s not entirely smashed. “I’ll take this to my mother. She’ll know what it is and how to treat the bite.”
Tully is already sweating profusely.
“It really hurts,” Tully repeats, with a short laugh. He notices the fear on Vivian Jean’s face. “I hate spiders, but I couldn’t help yelling. It didn’t hurt that much when it actually bit me, but then … sorry for making such a fuss.”
I glance from Tully to his wife. “I’ll be right back. My mother will sort this out.”
As I make my way to her hut, I decide that if she can’t, I’ll just wake up everyone—Colonel Rowe, Iris, Katherine, Robbie, and Othella.
“Who is hurt?” my mother asks as I enter the house.
“You’re up. Good.”
“How could I not be with all the ruckus?”
“Vivian Jean’s husband was bitten by this.” I open my hand. The expression on my mother’s face confirms my concern. “It’s a banana spider, isn’t it, Momma?”
“No, not exactly. Some call it that because it travels from Brazil to Jamaica on banana boats.” She walks with a heavy gait toward her basket of herbs in the corner of the thatched-roof house. “It’s a wandering spider, and it’s deadly.”
I place the bug into my mother’s outstretched hand, and my mother sets it aside. “We need something to relieve the pain and draw the poison from his body.” She slowly moves from one spot to another, opening one basket after another. “Where was he bitten?”
“In the calf,” I reply.
“Good. That’s quite a distance from his heart.
” Momma Hazel clears away a collection of herbs and jars I recognize, either by sight or by their strong aroma.
There’s ginger, soursop leaves, allspice, leaf of life, and guinea hen weed.
She hands me the leaf of life. “You need to go now and apply this to the wound. It will help prevent swelling while I prepare the poultice.”
I blink, anxiety rolling off my brow like perspiration. My mother hasn’t said it, but I can feel her apprehension. Tully’s life is in jeopardy.
“Go on, child. Stop staring and hurry up. Mi be right behind you,” she says, glancing at the spider she holds. “Mi have that boy with the plant, Robbie, take a look at it as well. He might know something about poisons.”
As I run to Vivian Jean’s hut, I realize I need to go to the colonel’s yard next to wake up Robbie, Othella, and Katherine.
It won’t be easy—not that I’m not in good physical shape or worried about the possible baby in my belly.
It’s the rain. It is falling hard and heavy.
The wind is blowing, and the weather will worsen before it improves if the crater-sized pain in my head is really the sign my mother claims it is.
“My mother’s coming. Hold this over the wound,” I say to Vivian Jean. “I’m going to wake up Robbie. He may be able to help.”
“Zinzi,” Vivian Jean says, her voice shaking. “What kind of spider was it? Is it poisonous?”
I glance at Tully, his eyes closed and his face a mask of pain. Then I catch Vivian Jean’s gaze and nod.
“Yes,” I whisper. “It could kill him.”
I keep my head down as the storm brings heavy rain and strong winds that could tear the clothes from my back. But I need Robbie. My mother’s poultice is potent, but it isn’t a cure. If there’s something Robbie can tell them or help them with, I believe he’ll do it. That’s the boy’s nature.
As I reach his hut, a kerosene lamp burns and the door stands wide open. I move cautiously forward.
“Othella? Robbie,” I call, taking each step slowly. My eyes are peeled and my body is tense. Something feels wrong.
“Is anyone home?” The hut isn’t large. It consists of one open space with two connected rooms. I pause to listen. What do I hear? A moan? Was someone calling my name?
I turn sharply and run toward the room farthest from the entrance. As I step through the archway, I find Robbie on the floor, groaning and holding his arm. But he hasn’t been bitten—he’s been beaten.
“He took her.”
“Who?” I ask. “What happened, Robbie? Who hurt you? Where’s Othella?” I move to help him sit up, but he’s covered in bruises and cuts, and his arm is oddly bent. “Who the hell did this to you?”
I walk further in, and see that Katherine is already here. “He took Othella. The white man from the dinner.”
Robbie’s voice is unsteady as he says, “He hit me in the head.”
“He’s badly hurt.” Katherine looks at me with worried eyes.
“Slow down, Robbie. Let us help you.” I place a hand on his shoulder and he squeals in pain.
“Damn it,” he winces. “My arm. I think it’s broken.”
As Katherine and I help him to the cot, I realize who Robbie and Katherine are talking about. My stomach drops. “Tony Schaefer. He took Othella.”
Gritting his teeth, Robbie nods.
“How did he find us? How did he get here?”
“He must’ve followed us,” Katherine says.
“Can you walk? You have to come with me to Vivian Jean’s place. My mom is taking care of Tully. He was bitten.”
“By what?” Robbie’s eyes appear to roll back in his head.
“Don’t pass out. Not yet. I need to get you to Vivian Jean and my mother. You might be able to help my mother with Tully, and she can help you, too.”
“I need to go after them,” Robbie says. “Schaefer will hurt Othella.”
“You can barely stand,” I tell Robbie. “Katherine, get him over to Vivian Jean’s hut, and stay with him and the others.”
“Where are you going?”
“Robbie’s right. He’ll hurt her,” I reply. “I’m going after them.”
“That’s not a good idea,” Katherine says.
“I have to go after them.”
She huffs. “Then help me get Robbie to Vivian Jean’s first.”