The Beach

I spotted Cassie and Moshe darting between the beds, hopelessly trying to attend to all the different requests. When Cassie saw me she made a despairing motion with her arms and said, 'Are they dying?'

I shook my head.

'How do you know, Richard?'

'They're not dying.'

'How do you know ?'

'I don't.' I shook my head again. 'Jesse's calling for you.'

Cassie ran to check on her boyfriend and I continued down the longhouse towards Francoise and Etienne.

Francoise was the worst off – I think. Etienne was asleep, so I suppose he might have been unconscious, but he was breathing steadily and his forehead didn't feel too hot. Francoise, however, was awake and in a great deal of pain. The cramps seemed to come in regular waves about sixty seconds apart. She didn't cry out like everybody else but she bit her bottom lip, and all over her stomach were marks from where she'd been digging her fingernails.

'Stop doing that,' I said firmly, after she'd nearly drawn blood from biting so hard.

She looked at me through dull eyes.' …Richard?'

'Yes. You're chewing your mouth to pieces… You shouldn't.'

'It hurts.'

'I can see, but… Here.' I reached into my pocket and pulled out my cigarettes. Then I ripped off the top of the box and pressed it flat. 'You can bite on that instead.'

'It still hurts.'

I smoothed her damp hair away from her face. 'I know it does, but this way you get to keep your lips.'

'Oh.' She managed to look faintly amused. She might even have managed a smile if another pain-wave hadn't come.

'What is happening, Richard?' she asked, when her muscles had relaxed.

'You've got food poisoning.'

'I mean, what is happening now?'

'Well…' I looked down the longhouse. I wasn't sure how to answer in case I frightened her. 'People are chucking up, and… Moshe and Cassie are here…'

'Do you think this is serious for us?'

'No, no,' I replied, laughing encouragingly. 'You'll all be much better tomorrow. You'll all be fine.'

'Richard…'

'Uh-huh?'

'When Etienne and I were in Sumatra, someone died from eating bad shellfish.'

I nodded slowly. 'Yes, but they probably ate the whole thing. You would have only had a tiny little bit, so you'll be OK.'

'Really?'

'Sure.'

She sighed. 'Good… Richard, I need some water… Please will you bring me some?'

'Of course. I'll be back in two minutes.'

As I stood up, the cramps came back again. I watched her for a moment, uncertain whether I should go or wait with her until the pain had passed, then I jogged down the longhouse, ignoring the pleas I passed on the way.

Incubus

Unexpectedly, I found Jed sitting outside the kitchen hut, eating plain rice with his Maglite up-ended in front of him like an electric candle. He held out his bowl as I approached and mumbled, 'You should eat,' spraying a fan of white flecks into the light.

'I'm not hungry. Have you seen inside the longhouse?'

He swallowed. 'Stuck my head round the door, saw enough not to go in. Got plenty to deal with in the tents.'

'What's happening in the tents?'

'Same as the longhouse. The Swedes seem OK, but the others are fucked.'

'Are you worried?'

'Are you?'

'I'm not sure. Francoise said people can die from this stuff.'

'Mmm. They can.' He took another mouthful and chewed carefully. 'We need to keep them tanked up with loads of water. Can't let them get dehydrated. And we need to keep ourselves fit so we can look after them. That's why you should eat some food. You haven't eaten since this morning.'

'Later,' I said, thinking of Francoise, and scooped a pitcher into the drinking-water barrel. 'And if the Swedes are OK, then tell them to come and help.'

Jed nodded, his cheeks too puffed up to speak, and I set off back across the clearing.

Back inside the longhouse, Bugs was metaphorically and literally losing his shit. He was squatting alongside the line of candles, eyes bulging like cue-balls, whilst a pool of faeces collected around his feet. Moshe was standing a few feet away, gagging, and when he saw me he hurriedly moved away, as if having seen Bugs I'd been tagged with the responsibility of dealing with him.

Bugs groaned. A string of drool looped out of his mouth and swung crazily from his chin. 'Richard,' he spluttered. 'Get me outside.'

I looked around. Cassie was several beds away and Moshe was bent over one of the Yugoslavian girls. 'I'm in a hurry,' I replied, covering my nose and mouth with the crook of my arm.

'What?'

'I'm in a hurry. I've got to get this water to Francoise.'

'I've got to get outside! She can wait!'

I shook my head, then grimaced. The smell was so bad it was making me feel giddy.

'She already has waited,' I said.

His face contorted as though he was going to yell at me. I looked at him impassively while he held the expression, then he gurgled and another stream of shit splashed on to the ground. 'No!' he wailed, then his legs buckled and he slipped backwards.

I took a step sideways to keep clear of the spreading dark puddle. 'Jesus, Bugs. Can't you hold on?'

Bugs whimpered and doubled up into the foetal position, tried to straighten, and doubled up again.

I continued watching him, still breathing into my elbow though it did nothing to block the stench. The giddy feeling was getting stronger, mixing with intense rushes of irritation. It seemed to me, through the pulse that had developed behind my eyes, that there was something self-indulgent about his debasement. How could he not have had the strength to drag himself to the door? He'd distracted me from bringing the water to Francoise, and he was making a terrible mess that someone else would have to clean up. I remembered his stoicism when he'd bashed his leg, and the memory nearly made me laugh out loud.

'I've got to get this water to Francoise,' I said coldly, but didn't move. 'I said I'd only be two minutes. I've already been longer.'

Bugs opened his mouth, maybe to reply, and a slimy bubble of spit popped over his lips. This time I did laugh. 'Look at yourself,' I heard myself say. 'Who the fuck do you think's going to clear that mess up?'

Suddenly a hand grabbed my shoulder.

'My God, Richard! What's the matter with you? Why aren't you helping him?'

I turned and saw Cassie staring at me. She looked very angry, but when our eyes met the anger quickly changed to something else. Something like concern, I noted vacantly, or alarm.

'Richard?'

'Yes?'

'Are you OK?'

'I'm fine.'

'You…' She paused.' …Come on. We've got to get him outside at once.'

'I need to take this water to—'

'You need to get Bugs outside.'

I rubbed my eyes and wished they would stop throbbing.

'Now, Richard.'

'Yes… Right.' I put the pitcher down, a safe distance from the puddle, and went to help her lift Bugs.

He was heavy, being so broad, and he made no effort to walk so we practically had to drag him along the ground. Luckily one of the Swedes, Sten, arrived before we'd got halfway to the door. With his assistance we got Bugs outside and over to one of the diverted streams, where we dropped him so the current could wash him down.

Sten agreed to stay with Bugs—probably a relief after seeing what was going on in the longhouse – and Cassie and I headed back. I wanted to jog but she made me stop so she could feel my forehead.