Issue #20 (2011) PDF - myweb - Long Island University

We stopped; the boats would go no more. The boatmen started to talk too fast I couldn‘t
understand them. The next thing I knew they were getting out of the boats and into the water.
They started to push the boats. They boats wouldn‘t move, next my uncle and the dentist got out to
help them push. Still the boats wouldn‘t move they were too heavy. The water was only a foot or
so deep. Now we all had to get out. I didn‘t want to step in that dark muddy water but I didn‘t
have a choice. Rosa didn‘t cry, but froze up. One of the boatmen attempted to pick her up but he
was slightly smaller than she was. The dentist gave her his hand.
―Come, please, no snakes-no snakes.‖ Angelo said and she stepped out under her own
power. Our uncle offered her no help at all.
The water was slimy and the bottom was muddy. I thought I would sink. We all had to
push the boats about six feet or so. The boats had been stuck on a tree root. We got back in, the
boatmen started to row. The river gradually widened again and the yellowish glow of daylight broke
through the treetops as the canopy spread. Then the trees and the riverbanks disappeared
altogether. We were out in open water. I know now that it was the Pacific Ocean. I was scared the
boat was too small and we seemed to be going out further. There was no one to look to for
reassurance that we weren‘t going be lost out there.
―Where‘s the land‖ I said looking at Rosa.
She didn‘t say anything. Suddenly we changed direction. I could see palm trees, and then a
beach finally appeared. The beach stretched out for maybe a mile or two dotted with palm trees.
Waves were rocking the boats now. The boatmen turned the boats into the direction of the waves
and let the waves bring the boats onto the beach. When we were near enough, they jumped out and
pushed the boats firmly into the sand.
We gathered our stuff as the boatmen were leaving us on the beach. My sister and I each
picked up our one suitcase and followed them. My uncle still hadn‘t spoken more than a few words
to us. It was Angelo, who started a conversation with us in English.
―I make some work on the teeth for the people here.‖ He said. ―You girls can help me, if
you like.‖
―We like,‖ Rosa said and I nodded.
As we approached the house we would stay in we passed a few smaller structures all high on
stilts constructed of unpainted wood and some tin roofing materials. Our house for the next two
weeks was clearly the best in the village. It was all wood and at least twice as wide as the other
houses with a wrap around porch.
Once inside we were shown a room with two sets of bunk beds and a single bed, no other
furniture. The beds were nothing more than a mattress over wooden slats in a rectangular frame. I
claimed the single bed. My sister took the lower bunk next to me. Two of the other children that
had joined us on the river were also girls. We figured out later that they were also sisters, took the
other bunk.
Everybody went to the beach. The other girls were both olive skinned, dark haired, thin,
and obviously younger than Rosa was. The shorter one was probably closer to my age but she wore
a bra and I didn‘t. I was fair skinned and chubby. I remember what I wore very well- a two-piece
navy blue polka dotted bathing suit my mother had picked out for me. The top was more of a
blouse in a baby doll cut. The two girls were pointing and laughing at me. My sister didn‘t notice.
She was too busy snapping pictures of palm trees with her Kodak 110 instamatic camera. I played
the deaf mute and walked into the water. Coney Island was the only beach that I had been to up
until then. The water was nothing like Coney Island‘s dark green dirty water. It was clean and clear.
The waves were high, at least twice my height. They probably seemed taller than they really were,
because I didn‘t know how to swim and was afraid of them.
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