“Everybody except for you.”
Man, was this taking me back.
“That’s because I’m especially smarter than you!”
“In your dreams!” Bibi said with a toss of her head.
“In your baby bed that’s wet ’cause you wet in it?”
Score.
“Shut up!” Bibi shouted.
“Bed wetter!”
“I said, shut up!!”
Well, time to put a stop to this. “Hey!” I said sharply. “No fighting, no biting!”
That got them arguing over who started it.
“Don’t make me come in there,” I warned, as if I had any chance of squeezing into that cage.
They started laughing. That was good. Maybe I could turn it up a notch.
“You’re two bad little children,” I said. They roared. “I’m glad you’re in a cage.” Bibi fell off her perch but didn’t stop laughing.
After they wore themselves out and settled down I asked, “Maybe one of you little diablos has a toy gun?”
“We’re not allowed to have toys,” Pugsy said.
“You’re kidding me!” I said.
“We have to work all day long,” Bibi said with a sniff.
“Well,” I said, “since I’m the new boss, I say you can play for a while.” I held out the deck of cards I’d found. “Know any card games?”
“Old Maid!” Pugsy shouted.
“Poker!” Bibi countered.
Poker!?
“Well, you two can fight it out. I’ve got an escape plan to work on. Back in a little while.”
I went for a walk. I needed to know the layout of the place better if I was going to get out of it. I didn’t have an actual escape plan, but I was hoping inspiration would strike if I could find something useful. I’d pretty much covered the main factory compound and was about to head out to look over the offshore stuff I’d ignored on the way in when I ran into Domino.
“Takin’ the nickel tour, Manny?” he asked.
“Something like that, Dommy,” I answered.
“Looks like you’re heading for the crane.”
“Oh? Is that right?”
“Sure is. Come on. I think you’d benefit from a guide.”
I shrugged. “If you say so.”
He led me up toward the crane at the far end of the platform.
I looked back inland and said, “Nice island you’ve got here.” For a godforsaken, barren lump of rock.
“Yeah, the previous owners didn’t know what they had here. Let us pick it up for a song.” I winced, thinking of Glottis and his piano—and both of them gone now. “They scooped out all the coral they could reach with this crane and then abandoned the plant. But we knew we had what it would take to go the extra distance to the big reef.”
We came to a ladder and started up.
“Are you about to lecture me about the ‘winning attitude’ again?” I growled at Domino’s heels.
“No!” he exclaimed. “Slave labor, Manny! That’s the real ticket to success.” Was he that delusional?
“And you expect me to go along with this?” I asked as we came up onto a catwalk surrounding the crane’s control center.
Domino stopped walking to face me directly. “Manny,” he said in a low, solemn tone, “I have all the guns, I have all the transportation, and I have all the brains. What are you gonna do?”
“I’m not going to work for you.”
He shrugged, as if neither cooperation nor defiance really mattered. “Well, there’s not much to do on this island if you don’t work. Take it from me. And think about it… once I’m gone, it’ll just be you and Meche alone on this deserted island.” He sent me a leer. “Don’t tell me that prospect doesn’t appeal to you.”
“Why don’t you just sprout me like you tried to at Puerto Zapato?” I was letting my anger get the better of me. For all I knew, he was looking for any excuse to do just that.
“That wasn’t me,” he protested, sounding almost sincerely earnest, “that was Hector. He’s so unimaginative. Just wants to tie up the loose ends, you know? But I believe, however, that you can be rehabilitated through honest work.”
“What do you know about honest anything?” I sneered.
“You just don’t want to get it, do you, Manny?” He sighed with a dramatic sagging of his shoulders. “Well, this is what I really brought you out here for…” He reached into his breast pocket. I held my ground, bracing myself to be sprouted despite what he had just said. But instead of a gun, he pulled out the deck of cards I had given to the children. He tossed it over the railing, into the sea. “I’m the boss here, Manny. Don’t you ever forget that.” He turned and went back to shore.
Another Shipwreck
I stayed on the catwalk for a while, fuming. I’m not sure what bothered me more—Domino’s need to act like a big man, or that he had to spoil the kids’ fun to do it. I guess he was the sort that had to dominate and control. No wonder I hated the man. I was stewing up there for a long time. Dusk came and I saw souls emerge from the sea and trudge toward the compound.
“Let the ruling classes tremble at a communistic revolution,” I muttered to myself, as if intoning a spell, or a prayer. “The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains.” I kicked the catwalk hard and snarled, “Man, if only Alexi were here, I could really start some trouble!”
I spotted someone familiar moving on the beach and leaned forward. Actually, from where I was, they all looked alike… but how many souls in the Land of the Dead glow in the dark? I ran back to the beach and lost sight of him, but it was getting darker and that only made it easier to pick him up again.
“Chepito!” I called out.
“Huh?” he exclaimed, looking around. “Who?” He spotted me. “Oh, it’s you! Why, I oughta… Look at this!” he said, sticking out one foot. Half of it was gone, probably still wedged in that crevice by the Pearl.
I winced inside, but shrugged and said, “Well, you should have beat it when I said. That wasn’t a very safe place, you know.”
“Well, neither is this, ‘amigo’!” He took a step forward, shaking a fist at me.
“Relax,” I said, “we’re busting out of here.”
“We?” he exclaimed, incredulous. “We are done traveling together! I work solo, my friend, and I walk alone.” He turned and started for the compound again.
He moved pretty fast for a guy who had just recently lost part of his foot. But then he stumbled, dropping his tool. I was right behind him and helped him up. He jerked himself away and started brushing himself off. I picked up the tool. He snatched it away from me and started walking again, a little slower this time.
“Nice drill,” I remarked.
“Drill!?” he snapped. “This here’s a cordless, high-speed, reciprocating chisel. And look,” he showed it to me, “it’s a Bust-All! They don’t usually give these to the new guys.”
“So how’d you get one?”
“I had booty to trade. Trade’s the name of the game out here.”
“Booty?” I asked with a laugh. “Where’d you get booty, Blondebeard?”
“It’s all over the ocean floor,” he said. “Jewelry, precious coins… you people in your fancy boats never know about it ’cause you just never stop and look.”