Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
<strong>Buddhas</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Bikinis</strong> 16<br />
the mosquitoes, <strong>and</strong> by sunrise, we were covered in welts, <strong>and</strong> Maria's face looked like a<br />
football.<br />
For two miles that morning, we trekked through squelching mangroves until a<br />
walking track appeared. Not long after, we stumbled across a lone bush-walker, Karina<br />
Stylok, a backpacker from Warsaw who was trekking the virgins of Hinchinbrook Isl<strong>and</strong>.<br />
Karina, with her nineteen-year-old innocent smile <strong>and</strong> freckles, was at first<br />
frightened, then speechless, as she saw the motley shipwreck crew of monkeys st<strong>and</strong>ing<br />
before her covered in stinking mud. She must have thought we were creatures from the<br />
black lagoon.<br />
‛Thank you, angel,’ Father fell at her feet. ‛You have saved us.’<br />
Karina alerted the police where we were, sharing her meagre food <strong>and</strong> water<br />
supplies while we waited to be rescued.<br />
Later that day, the sorry tale was broadcast on all the news; how a hero saved his<br />
two kids, swam all night bravely fighting off sharks. He was a national hero. It even made<br />
it on CNN. So, the clever man that he was, he rode the wave of all that fifteen seconds of<br />
fame, becoming a politician <strong>and</strong> winning the seat of Ingerton just because he couldn’t tell<br />
his left from his right. He was a fuckin’ idiot <strong>and</strong> I never trusted water again, unless it was<br />
mixed with Black Label.<br />
pool.<br />
This is what Hiroshi misinterpreted as hesitance on my part about getting into the<br />
With goosebumps on her shapely breasts that floated on the water’s surface,<br />
Hiroshi looked more breathtaking than the first time I saw her on the beach, a beauty<br />
enhanced by the soft lighting off the water, reflecting her pale translucent skin. I stared at<br />
her, quite lost for words.<br />
‛Have you never seen a woman naked before?’<br />
‛Yes,’ I commented, ‛but not someone so divine.’<br />
She looked at me with surprise, ‛Yesterday you were in a hurry, but now my big<br />
Superman has hit the go slow button. Maybe you like the chase <strong>and</strong> that’s all. Maybe you<br />
don’t know what to do once you’ve got your prey in your h<strong>and</strong>s. It makes no sense why<br />
you’re so shy. I think you are turning Japanese.’<br />
I was shaking.<br />
‛Are you cold?’ she asked.<br />
I couldn’t tell her I was shaking from fear. Any relationship I had with women had<br />
turned into a disaster. Even my cousin Melina, who attempted to steal my virginity at
Change language