The Beach

I looked up. Six or seven feet above me, perched on an overhanging rock-shelf, I could see Keaty's disembodied legs. He was swinging them gently like a kid in a high chair and had attracted the attention of a little blue fish. The fish was mainly interested in his ankles. Every time they swung near, it would dart forwards as if to take a bite, but stop abruptly an inch or so away. Then, as his ankles swung back, the fish would flick its fins and retreat, perhaps cursing itself for its lack of courage.

A cold trickle of water eased past the hollow of my temples. With my head pointed upwards, the trapped air was pulling the mask away from my face. I looked down quickly, pushing at the glass to re-establish the seal, but it was no use. Too much water had worked its way in. I rolled the stones off my lap and let myself float back to the surface.

On impulse, I nipped Keaty's ankle as I passed it by, using my bunched fingernails like a row of teeth.

'What did you do that for?'

I rubbed away the itch from where the mask had been gripping my face. Keaty was rubbing his ankle.

'There was this little fish,' I began, then started laughing.

'What little fish?'

'It wanted to bite you but didn't have the nerve.'

Keaty shook his head. 'I thought it was a shark.'

'There's sharks here?'

'Millions.' He jabbed a finger at the cliffs behind him, indicating the open sea, then shook his head again. 'You made me jump.'

'Sorry.'

I hauled myself out of the water and sat next to Keaty on the rock-shelf. 'It's amazing down there. It would be so good to have aqualungs or something. A minute isn't really long enough.'

'Or a hose-pipe,' Keaty said. He pulled a plastic film carton from his pocket. Inside were loose Rizlas and grass. 'I went to Ujung Kulon two years ago. You been there?'

'Charita.'

'Well, in Ujung Kulon there were some corals and these guys there used a hose-pipe. You could stay under for a while, but you couldn't really move around. Still…'

'I don't suppose we've got a hose-pipe here?'

'Nope.'

I waited while Keaty finished rolling the joint.

'…So you've done a lot of travelling.'

'Sure. Thailand, Indonesia, Mexico, Guatemala, Columbia, Turkey, India and Nepal. Oh, also Pakistan. Sort of. I was in Karachi for three days on a stopover. You count that?'

'Uh-uh.'

'Me neither. How about you?'

I shrugged. 'I've never done any of the Americas stuff, or Africa. Just around Asia really. Europe too, I suppose. How about Europe? Does Europe count?'

'Not if you won't count Karachi.' He lit up. 'Got a favourite?'

I thought for a couple of moments. 'It's a toss-up between Indonesia and the Philippines.'

'And your worst?'

'Probably China. I had a lousy time in China. I went for five days without talking to one person except when I ordered food in restaurants. Terrible food too.'

Keaty laughed. 'My worst was Turkey. I was supposed to stay for two months but I left after two weeks.'

'And the best?'

Keaty looked around, inhaling deeply, then passed me the joint. 'Thailand. This place, I mean. It isn't really Thailand, considering there's no Thais, but… Yeah. This place.'

'This place is unique… How long have you been here?'

'Two years. Just over. I met Sal in Chiang Rai and we got friendly. Hiked around a bit. Then she told me about this place and took me along.'

I flicked the dead joint butt into the water. 'Tell me about Daffy. No one talks about him.'

'Yeah. People were shocked when they heard.' Keaty scratched at his stubble thoughtfully. 'I'm not a good person to ask. I barely knew the guy. He was a bit distant, to me anyway. I mean, I knew who he was, but we didn't talk much.'

'So who was he?'

'Are you kidding?'

'No. Like I said, nobody mentions him, so…'

Keaty frowned. 'You haven't seen the tree yet? The tree by the waterfall?'

'…I don't think so.'

'Shit! You don't know anything, do you, Rich? You've been here, what? A month?'

'Just over.'

'Man.' Keaty smiled, 'I'll take you to the tree tomorrow. Then you'll see.'

'How about now?'

'I want to swim – Especially now I'm stoned. And it's my turn with the mask.'

'I'd really like to…'

Keaty slipped into the water. 'Tomorrow. What's the hurry? You waited four weeks.' He snapped the strap tight over the back of his head and ducked under; end of discussion.

'OK,' I said to the flat water, allowing dope and beach life to cloud my curiosity. 'Tomorrow then.'

On my next turn with Gregorio's mask I looked out for any shifting colours in the corals, but the strange effect refused to repeat itself. The coral dwellers were still hidden in their pagoda homes. Either that, or my presence no longer scared them.

Bugged

That night, just as the light was starting to fade, we were given our sea-shell necklaces. It wasn't a big deal, there was no ceremony or anything. Sal and Bugs just wandered over to where we were sitting and handed them over. Still, it was quite a big deal for me. However friendly everyone was, being the only ones without necklaces drew attention to our new-arrival status. Now that we'd got them, it was like our acceptance had been made official.

'Which is for me?' said Francoise, carefully examining each one in turn.

'Whichever you like, Francoise,' Sal replied.

'I think I will have this one. I like this colour on the big shell.' She looked at me and Etienne, challenging us to make a rival claim.

'Which do you want, Etienne?' I said.

'You.'

'I don't mind.'

'I also do not mind.'

'So…'

We shrugged at each other and laughed. Then Sal leant forwards and plucked the two remaining necklaces from Francoise's hands. 'Here,' she said, and made the choice for us. They were both much the same, but mine had a centre-piece, the snapped arm of a red starfish.

I slipped it over my head. 'Well, thanks a lot, Sal.'

'Thank Bugs. He made yours.'

'OK. Thanks, Bugs. It's a really nice necklace.'

He nodded, accepting the compliment silently, then began walking back across the clearing to the longhouse.

I couldn't make my mind up about Bugs. It was weird, because he was exactly the kind of guy that I felt I ought to like, almost out of obligation. He was broader and more muscular than me; as head of the carpentry detail, he had obvious skills; I also suspected he was pretty intelligent. This was harder to gauge because he didn't speak much, but when he did speak it seemed to be things worth saying. But despite all these fine characteristics, there was something about him that left me a little cold.

One example was the way he accepted my thanks for the necklace. His silent nod belonged in Clint Eastwood Land; it didn't feel like it had a place in the real world. Another time we were going to eat some soup. Gregorio said he was going to wait until the soup cooled down – the soup was bubbling and still over the flame – then Bugs made a point of taking a spoonful straight from the saucepan. He didn't say anything, just took a spoonful. It was such a small thing that repeating it now, I'm almost embarrassed by how petty it sounds.

Maybe this stands up to repeating. On the Monday of my second week, I saw Bugs struggling to fit a swinging door on the entrance to one of the storeroom huts. He was having trouble because he only had two hands, and he needed three: two to keep the door in place and a third to hammer a peg into the hinge. I watched him do this for a while, wondering whether to offer any help, and as I began walking over the hammer slipped from his grip. Instinctively, he moved to catch it, and the door also fell, bashing against his leg.