3.1 Star of The Sea

I pulled out one of the surfboards placed by the wall behind the bed and took off for a ride. I caught a few good waves with Asmr and Simon. On one attempt I was plunged into the deep hitting the rocks and cutting my knuckles. On the wave, I observed those tall buildings on the coastline. When swells died, we retired for the day. I urinated to my hand to get rid of poison out of the coral cuts – that is a primitive method I learnt from Asmr.

Four of us sat down at The Breakwater for lunch and ordered a submarine each. I told Simon, “I need your help to paint my walls.”

“When do we start?” he asked.

Half Tone entered, “Buddy! My friend, Donato, is getting married. A dinner is set for tomorrow evening. We need to set the place,” he said, “You keep doing this kind of thing, don’t you!”

“Sure,” I agreed, “When is the wedding?”

“Set for tomorrow morning at nine. There’s a lot of work to do. Fill the lawn with white sand and arrange chairs. Come sharp at two.”

“It is already two, you fool!”

“Two-thirty.”

“What about your place?” asked Simon.

“Wind it up,” I postponed it for another day.

“Bring Jokey and Simon,” said Half Tone and got out in a hurry.

I joined Half Tone at Sandy Side – the venue for the wedding located few blocks west on the coastal road. Some guys dumped sand and we scraped evenly to fill the ground. Those chairs came on a truck from a rental and we unloaded them. Then we began to cut fronds and decorate the house. More decors, balloons, foil curtains and colour bulbs to go up. It began to look like a garden in the fall.

I noticed that excited girl in a dark blue skirt and top who ran out of a room. Donato’s sisters were engaged in sewing the last stitches of her wedding dress. Donato was not at home and he was in no way acquainted to me or to Jokey.

“Psst!” I whistled as the girl passed. I was up on a ladder to fix a wire. This slim girl came up and smiled. “I need a glass of water.” And she went to fetch water.

Jokey whispered, “Don’t try it, Kawla!”

“Just a glass of water!”

“Don’t ask her. She is the bride.”

“How would I know?”

The girl returned with a glass of water covered with a plate. I reached down and grasped with her fingers, “Are you Stella?”

She replied, “Yes, I am Stella.”

“Congratulations on your wedding!”

“Thank you,” she was delighted.

“Make sure your first night is not the last.”

She choked in laughter. I passed a wink holding the glass to keep her engaged while the hall was empty.

“Stay on top of things,” I continued.

“Why?” she asked with a cute smile.

“Well, the saucer lies underneath and the cup is on the top. Do you get it?”

“Yeah.”

“Be the cup!”

She broke in laughter.

In the Divi Language we speak in Los Varados, a cup is called jod and often copulating is also called jod. A saucer is a vatu tashi meaning ‘a plate underneath’. All sum up to a vulgar form of a conversation. I just said ‘be copulatory’.

I passed the glass, “Don’t let it break!”

Even Jokey broke in laughter. He could not hold it and the girl too. She giggled in bursts.

Break or a clink is called tellun which also means mating. I just said ‘Do not let him fuck’.

Jokey uttered when she was gone, “Are you out of your mind! Have some manners! Kawla!”

“A little tease,” I told Jokey, “She is not the kind of girl you think.”

At sundown, I sat on the promenade to smoke a fag when Donato came out with her, “Hey buddy! Do you have a motorbike?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Can you give her a lift?”

I threw down the butt and got on my feet swiftly, “Where to?”

“Cherry Spa,” she replied.

Stella climbed the backseat with a huge smile on her face. In a long blue skirt, it won’t be that easy to climb on the backseat of a high-seater dirt bike. But she tucked her skirt, placed a foot on the peg and jumped on the top behind my back, legs straddled and rested a warm body against my back. I noticed those thin olive-tanned legs. I kicked off.

“Do you like a ride around the Camino?”

“Sure,” she responded.

Camino Costero runs around the island. Around the northern swamps, this road is barely paved however a levelled road runs along the coast in Arena Roja. I didn’t head to the swamps but to the Muro; also known as ‘Muro de la perdición’ or the Wall of Doom. It’s a one-and-a-half-mile long ridge of dunes that runs towards south, behind the hills of Enselvado, passing the towns of Florina and Nectar. Beyond the ridge of dunes lies shrubland and the rocky coast of Arena Roja.

“Are you a friend of Donato?”

“No. I’m a friend of his friend.”

“You’re a funny guy,” she said, “Donato does not know me too well.”

“How would you explain this wedding then?”

“There is nothing better to do.”

“Is that so!”

I sped on Avenue Las Américas under the streetlights and through narrow lanes of the old city of Azul. It looked like the streets of Havana and the worst place on earth to be. I climbed Swamp Road and crossed Medio to race up to the top of the dune.

“Wow! This place is cool!” cried Stella.

“Look at that beautiful sky!” The twilight sky at dusk, the oranges gone and only the illuminated version of the horizon with a black ceiling above us and twinkling stars. City lights behind, the waters of Azul on the right, the town of Florina on the left and shrubland before us.

Since she did not ask where I was going, I raced downhill and across half a mile of shrubbery to the rocky coast. I stopped right on the edge.

“Do you want to swim?” That was an invitation nobody in the right mind could deny.

She nodded, “Sure, I’d love to take a dip.”

I pulled down my clothes.

“Oh!” she shocked in surprise, “Nice shave! I like that.” Seeing me naked, she unfastened her bra and rolled down her panties. “I cannot miss this moment. I grew up under the stars.”

We dived behind the rocks of Arena Roja where no man would go. A moment later, we were on the rocks in the open side of the ocean. Us and the red rocks.

I made a mistake. An hour later, I took her to my place in Safa for a little refreshment because we were wet. Murry sat on his bike leaning against the wall next to my gate. I did not see him when I stopped by the gate.

“Kawla! I come looking for you!”

“Oh!” I was shocked, “We are going to the spa.”

“Donato called several times,” Murry grumbled, “You or Stella, none showed up at the spa.”

“We did,” responded Stella from the backseat, “I went home to fetch these,” she showed her wet undies in her fist.

I kicked off immediately and accelerated up the road. Murry had seen enough to know that we took a dip. Her wet hair and damp skirt. He’d tell Half Tone.

“Busted!”

“No,” said Stella, “I can handle him. Donato is off in his mind.”

“Is it a fact?”

“He begged me to marry him. I am doing this on certain terms.”

“Like?”

“For one thing, I will continue with my personal affairs with my girlfriends. Yes, I’m lesbian and he swore to stay away from it.”

“He must have wanted you badly!”