Chapter Ten
All Hands On Deck
“Ohhhhh” squeaked Cornelia “It’s Aunt Josie. I am as good as dead”.
“What did you tell her this time?” Janvon asked.
“I am supposed to be with you guys, but not if you are going on a boat.”
Janvon gave a mirthless laugh. “If you could not go out with us, can you imagine how she would feel about you know who?”
“What am I going to do?”
“Well, go down below and stay there; quickly she is not looking this way.” Cornelia skulked across the deck, then went down to the cabin. At the moment only Coco was there washing up.
On deck, Aunt Josie was introduced to Julio then she went to look at the engine. They all stepped back and left her and Marlon to work on the problem.
Janvon looked around the boat. The two Jamaican men who he knew were divers were silently sitting by themselves. Julio had taken out a pack of cigarettes and was sitting and smoking as he watched Josie work on the engine. Jimmy stood at the stern looking at everybody. At the moment Mr. Koeman, who seemed obsessed with taking photos of his daughter, had her posing in the bridge beside the steering wheel. Lambert and Uncle Roger were on the sport fishing boat relaxing. Janvon thought of the drugs that were hidden under the boat. When the engine was fixed, it would be sold on the streets of Montego Bay, probably to young people like him and Cornelia and Leigh. He had seen guys on the streets befriend then lure tourists into drug dens. Sometimes the tourists went in full knowledge, and sometimes not. Leigh herself had asked him for marijuana the same day that they met. She said that she had it all the time at home and could not believe that she was in Jamaica and that a Rasta guy wasn’t getting her any. He shook his head and wondered what would have happened to her had she met Jimmy before she met him. Janvon did not smoke marijuana because he promised his mother that he would not. But as he grew up in a home where it was smoked most days of the week, it was not strange to him. Cocaine, he thought, was a whole different kind of drug. Cocaine literally mashed up people. He saw the pinched twisted faces of the crack and cocaine addicts in the lane where he lived with his father. Men that he knew as healthy and strong had become shadows of themselves and distasteful to the society that had nurtured them. There was even one girl in his class at school that had got mixed up with a guy like Jimmy and was now always sick, so people whispered that she had HIV/AIDS.
“No”, Janvon thought as he balled his fists, ‘These drugs will not reach the streets.”
Then his resolve faltered for a moment.
“But how can I stop it without getting us all killed?”
Just then, the engine rumbled to life creating a slight vibration underfoot that seemed to change the boat from a silent carrier into a living being. Immediately the atmosphere changed as the divers and Jimmy started smiling and Julio smoothed back his hair in relief.
“It was the injector pump”, Aunt Josie explained. “From what you described I figured that it needed calibrating.”
“Let’s get this baby moving”, said Jimmy. He looked at Aunt Josie, “are you going with
them, or do you want me to carry you back?”
Josie looked quickly at Roger then spoke.
“I’ll go back with you and you can pay the boss at the same time.” She turned to Janvon. “I guess Cornelia told you that I would not
allow her on the boat.”
“Yes she did Miss Josie.”
“Remember how nervous she was the day we went to lunch, I can’t expose her to these things so fast. Plus she does not have a bath suit and the poor girl would probably
have felt out of place”.
Janvon also looked quickly at his uncle, who had raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
“OK Miss Josie, bye.”
Lambert’s sport fishing vessel drove off in a spume of foam and haze of petrol smoke. Roger looked curiously at his nephew and leaned in to speak to him directly in his ear.
“What is going on with Josie’s niece Janvon?”
“Uncle Roger, Cornelia is in big, big, trouble.”
Back on the yacht, Josie asked to wash her hands and Jimmy directed her to the cabin. Cornelia who had been waiting on the all-clear signal looked up expectedly only to see the back of her Aunt descending the steps. She quickly ducked behind Coco and narrowly escaped being seen. Josie went into the toilet and they heard the door being locked. She looked into the puzzled face of Coco and simply said, “I need to hide from her.”
He nodded in understanding and opened one of the ground level kitchen cabinets that was almost empty. It was large but only stored a few pots and he pointed at it. Without any
question Cornelia crawled inside and curled up, grateful for her hiding place and immediately regretted it as the bottom of the boat rocked tremendously more than the front. After what seemed an eternity, Coco opened the cupboard and assisted Cornelia to get out. She had been cramped from being in that confined space and gratefully stretched out on a bunk. She prayed that her Aunt would not return, as she would surely be caught that time as she decided that she could not return to the cupboard.
Eventually, the boat stopped and Cornelia looked out of the porthole see that they were at Aunt Josie’s workplace and she was walking away from the pier with Marlon. Jimmy got out and did business then Julio reversed the boat to leave. When they were safely away, she joined the men again on deck.
“So that was Aunt Josie,” smiled Jimmy.
“How did you know?”
“Well, she spoke about you. Saying how nice it would be if you got a ride in a big boat like this one. I told her that you and her were welcome anytime.”
Cornelia somehow did not like the idea of Aunt Josie being friendly with Jimmy, even on a business level.
“Are we going in? I think that you understand now that I need to get home before she does.”
When they returned to the marina, Cornelia resolved that this would be the last time that she would see. Jimmy or any of his companions As she rode back into town with Jimmy, she decided that she would tell her Aunt that she spent the day window shopping in the city.
“Penny for your thoughts.”
Cornelia looked at Jimmy. He could be so nice when he was ready, but then he could get rough. She wondered if he had a gun as well.
“Just thinking about my Aunt.”
“Have you thought about everything that happened today?”
“You mean like being stranded and that fabulous lunch that Coco cooked?”
Jimmy looked at her knowingly: “Don’t you like me Lia?”
“Yeah, of course Jimmy.”
“Then why is it that every time I try to touch you that you push me away?”
“I didn’t do that today.”
“True, but that’s because you locked yourself in the bathroom.”
“Jimmy, I needed to use the bathroom.”
He pulled off the road on to the soft shoulder. They were still outside the city proper so the road was bordered by the sea on one side, and by open land on the other.
“Ok. Will you show me if you like me the same way that you know I like you?”
Cornelia noticed that his eyes were soft, even as his hands gently held hers. This could not be the same man who forced her against the tree some days before, nor the chief architect of today’s drug haul. No, this was just Jimmy. A wonderfully sophisticated guy who was so good looking and who showed her some good times that she had never dreamed of before. It made those parties that she had with Marissa and Diego and the others seem so, childish. Well, there was nothing childish about the... Cornelia’s mind went blank as she realized that Jimmy had in fact started to kiss her face again. Not harshly, but warm and with tenderness, just like his hands and his eyes. She felt when the blood rushed to her face and even as her chest seemed to constrict, without thinking, she returned his kisses.
All Hands On Deck
“Ohhhhh” squeaked Cornelia “It’s Aunt Josie. I am as good as dead”.
“What did you tell her this time?” Janvon asked.
“I am supposed to be with you guys, but not if you are going on a boat.”
Janvon gave a mirthless laugh. “If you could not go out with us, can you imagine how she would feel about you know who?”
“What am I going to do?”
“Well, go down below and stay there; quickly she is not looking this way.” Cornelia skulked across the deck, then went down to the cabin. At the moment only Coco was there washing up.
On deck, Aunt Josie was introduced to Julio then she went to look at the engine. They all stepped back and left her and Marlon to work on the problem.
Janvon looked around the boat. The two Jamaican men who he knew were divers were silently sitting by themselves. Julio had taken out a pack of cigarettes and was sitting and smoking as he watched Josie work on the engine. Jimmy stood at the stern looking at everybody. At the moment Mr. Koeman, who seemed obsessed with taking photos of his daughter, had her posing in the bridge beside the steering wheel. Lambert and Uncle Roger were on the sport fishing boat relaxing. Janvon thought of the drugs that were hidden under the boat. When the engine was fixed, it would be sold on the streets of Montego Bay, probably to young people like him and Cornelia and Leigh. He had seen guys on the streets befriend then lure tourists into drug dens. Sometimes the tourists went in full knowledge, and sometimes not. Leigh herself had asked him for marijuana the same day that they met. She said that she had it all the time at home and could not believe that she was in Jamaica and that a Rasta guy wasn’t getting her any. He shook his head and wondered what would have happened to her had she met Jimmy before she met him. Janvon did not smoke marijuana because he promised his mother that he would not. But as he grew up in a home where it was smoked most days of the week, it was not strange to him. Cocaine, he thought, was a whole different kind of drug. Cocaine literally mashed up people. He saw the pinched twisted faces of the crack and cocaine addicts in the lane where he lived with his father. Men that he knew as healthy and strong had become shadows of themselves and distasteful to the society that had nurtured them. There was even one girl in his class at school that had got mixed up with a guy like Jimmy and was now always sick, so people whispered that she had HIV/AIDS.
“No”, Janvon thought as he balled his fists, ‘These drugs will not reach the streets.”
Then his resolve faltered for a moment.
“But how can I stop it without getting us all killed?”
Just then, the engine rumbled to life creating a slight vibration underfoot that seemed to change the boat from a silent carrier into a living being. Immediately the atmosphere changed as the divers and Jimmy started smiling and Julio smoothed back his hair in relief.
“It was the injector pump”, Aunt Josie explained. “From what you described I figured that it needed calibrating.”
“Let’s get this baby moving”, said Jimmy. He looked at Aunt Josie, “are you going with
them, or do you want me to carry you back?”
Josie looked quickly at Roger then spoke.
“I’ll go back with you and you can pay the boss at the same time.” She turned to Janvon. “I guess Cornelia told you that I would not
allow her on the boat.”
“Yes she did Miss Josie.”
“Remember how nervous she was the day we went to lunch, I can’t expose her to these things so fast. Plus she does not have a bath suit and the poor girl would probably
have felt out of place”.
Janvon also looked quickly at his uncle, who had raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
“OK Miss Josie, bye.”
Lambert’s sport fishing vessel drove off in a spume of foam and haze of petrol smoke. Roger looked curiously at his nephew and leaned in to speak to him directly in his ear.
“What is going on with Josie’s niece Janvon?”
“Uncle Roger, Cornelia is in big, big, trouble.”
Back on the yacht, Josie asked to wash her hands and Jimmy directed her to the cabin. Cornelia who had been waiting on the all-clear signal looked up expectedly only to see the back of her Aunt descending the steps. She quickly ducked behind Coco and narrowly escaped being seen. Josie went into the toilet and they heard the door being locked. She looked into the puzzled face of Coco and simply said, “I need to hide from her.”
He nodded in understanding and opened one of the ground level kitchen cabinets that was almost empty. It was large but only stored a few pots and he pointed at it. Without any
question Cornelia crawled inside and curled up, grateful for her hiding place and immediately regretted it as the bottom of the boat rocked tremendously more than the front. After what seemed an eternity, Coco opened the cupboard and assisted Cornelia to get out. She had been cramped from being in that confined space and gratefully stretched out on a bunk. She prayed that her Aunt would not return, as she would surely be caught that time as she decided that she could not return to the cupboard.
Eventually, the boat stopped and Cornelia looked out of the porthole see that they were at Aunt Josie’s workplace and she was walking away from the pier with Marlon. Jimmy got out and did business then Julio reversed the boat to leave. When they were safely away, she joined the men again on deck.
“So that was Aunt Josie,” smiled Jimmy.
“How did you know?”
“Well, she spoke about you. Saying how nice it would be if you got a ride in a big boat like this one. I told her that you and her were welcome anytime.”
Cornelia somehow did not like the idea of Aunt Josie being friendly with Jimmy, even on a business level.
“Are we going in? I think that you understand now that I need to get home before she does.”
When they returned to the marina, Cornelia resolved that this would be the last time that she would see. Jimmy or any of his companions As she rode back into town with Jimmy, she decided that she would tell her Aunt that she spent the day window shopping in the city.
“Penny for your thoughts.”
Cornelia looked at Jimmy. He could be so nice when he was ready, but then he could get rough. She wondered if he had a gun as well.
“Just thinking about my Aunt.”
“Have you thought about everything that happened today?”
“You mean like being stranded and that fabulous lunch that Coco cooked?”
Jimmy looked at her knowingly: “Don’t you like me Lia?”
“Yeah, of course Jimmy.”
“Then why is it that every time I try to touch you that you push me away?”
“I didn’t do that today.”
“True, but that’s because you locked yourself in the bathroom.”
“Jimmy, I needed to use the bathroom.”
He pulled off the road on to the soft shoulder. They were still outside the city proper so the road was bordered by the sea on one side, and by open land on the other.
“Ok. Will you show me if you like me the same way that you know I like you?”
Cornelia noticed that his eyes were soft, even as his hands gently held hers. This could not be the same man who forced her against the tree some days before, nor the chief architect of today’s drug haul. No, this was just Jimmy. A wonderfully sophisticated guy who was so good looking and who showed her some good times that she had never dreamed of before. It made those parties that she had with Marissa and Diego and the others seem so, childish. Well, there was nothing childish about the... Cornelia’s mind went blank as she realized that Jimmy had in fact started to kiss her face again. Not harshly, but warm and with tenderness, just like his hands and his eyes. She felt when the blood rushed to her face and even as her chest seemed to constrict, without thinking, she returned his kisses.
