Darkness and Diamonds...Chapter Four

Eyes open seemed to be a misnomer. Inky blackness was the floating
place between sleep and dreaming. Talia heard the throbbing sound
behind her as she pulled herself from sleep and it seemed as if it were
the slow rush of blood in her chest and head. Memory was restored then
as the sounds and sensations came flooding back.

It had been a bottle of tequila and salt on the fleshy part at the base
of the thumb that had sent her swiftly into slumber. They were on the
Samurai, Paddy's boat, headed toward an unknown destination. Tales had
been told in the humid sunset after they left the dock. Talia and Greg
had found a comfortable level where they could sit and laugh, while the
heartbeat and blood pressure remained stable. An hour of drinking the
firewater and grazing on crackers, grapes, and dried pieces of some
indescript meat had reminded Talia that she had been awake for
incalculable hours in this ocean of stimuli and calm.

Talia heard the engine in the wheelhouse behind her and sat up on the
vinyl covered bench that had finally afforded her sleep. She could see
Paddy and Greg speaking softly in front of her at the bow of the boat.
Their figures melded into indistinct shades of black. A star filled sky
made their contrast seem like a blind man's attempt at animation. She
soundlessly stood up and snatches of conversation drifted back to
her.

Paddy's soft, deep voice held a chuckle that rumbled from his
chest.

"He'll string you from the palm trees at the marina if he finds you.
You know that?"

Greg brushed of the implied threat. Talia could hear sharp cynicism in
his voice.

"He won't find me and I've only used three of my nine lives."

Talia felt her flesh prickle in the darkness. Paddy continued. "I'll
drop the two of you off and be back in three days. Can she handle all
of this?"

There was a moment of hesitation.

"She's stronger than she gives herself credit for at any given time. I
have no doubt she can handle anything." Greg's voice was soft and she
felt guilty for eavesdropping suddenly.

Paddy made a sound that she interpreted as agreement. "Let's wake her
up. We'll be on shore in less than ten minutes."

Talia was two feet behind Greg when he turned. He was startled for a
moment, a guarded look crossing his face. Then he smiled and was back
to the usual Greg.

"Hey, how long have you been standing there?"

Putting her hand on his shoulder, she returned the guarded look and it
remained as her expression.

"Long enough to know that we are almost there. Of course I am literally
and figuratively still in the dark about where the dark really is in
the world." Greg patted her hand and it seemed like a hollow gesture to
her. She moved to watch silently from the side as Paddy navigated the
chugging boat to a shadowy area where the stars appeared to have
slipped out of the sky, replaced by only black.

The darkness enveloped them as they stumbled across the dock and onto a
packed dirt road. The sound of the jungle ahead of them was a wall of
noise and their eyes followed approaching headlights until a window and
face became a beacon to them. Paddy spoke in another language to a
young boy driving the older model station wagon and in yet another
stage of her conveyor belt day, she was in the car. She and Greg sat in
the back seat on a dark fabric that smelled of perspiration, cigarette
smoke, and sunscreen. The car managed to hit every bump at fifteen
miles per hour for what seemed like an eternity.

Paddy helped them disembark and then they were standing in the abyss of
a dark hole, with nature screaming at them from all sides. Paddy's
voice echoed back toward them across the night as he drove off in the
rattling beast, "See you in three days. Have fun."

Greg held a flashlight at his side and seemed to be fumbling for the
switch.

"Damn. It doesn't work."
Talia took a step toward him, suddenly wider awake than she had been in
twenty four hours.
"What!"

Light flooded the space beneath Greg's face then and he gave her a
leering grin.

"Kidding." His expression was straight out of 'the Shining'.

"If you say, 'here's Johnny," I swear on Elvis' grave that I will kill
you."

Greg made a sound between a snort and a laugh and picked up his
bag.

"Let's go. Come on."

They headed up a path that appeared in the beam of the powerful light.
Keeping as far from the huge black leaves on either side as she could,
Talia hustled behind Greg, hoping that he had a clue where they were
going. This was a major leap of faith and considering his track record,
she wondered what she had gotten herself into, for about the hundredth
time.

Greg stopped then at the top of the path and Talia moved alongside him
to see what was ahead. The thud of her luggage seemed like a period at
the end of a very long run on sentence at the moment. When she found
her voice, it was spidery and thin.

"What in the name of...."

Unsure of her words and the image that was ahead of her she turned to
him and was greeted by a smile that was all too familiar. Greg turned
to face her and his eyes seemed to be sparkling. Talia blinked twice to
be sure she was reading his expression correctly.

"Isn't it beautiful Talia?"

Talia glanced ahead and then back to his face again.
"It's a treehouse. You flew me across two continents using an enormous
amount of jet fuel, boat fuel, and station wagon fuel to plant me fifty
feet in the air in a treehouse. Will I need a machete to cut my way to
the beach? No wait, there is no beach I bet. It's probably razor sharp
barrier reef out there with circling sharks. This is
unbelievable."

Greg, unable to contain his happiness at their arrival at the treehouse
before him grabbed her by the shoulders and kissed her hard, full on
the lips and she wanted to take back the air that had been between them
in the kiss.

"Babe, this is a palace and I can assure you, the beach has the softest
sand on earth, the water is the bluest color you have ever seen, and we
have it all to ourselves. Tomorrow we relax and then the fun really
starts."

His voice was almost reverent as he continued, "More important, this is
the place where we will find what we came here for and unless I'm
mistaken, you are here by your own choice." He smiled at her with a
slightly mocking grin.

Talia stared back at him then with an empty gaze. She looked at the
jungle and the treehouse and couldn't imagine that they would find any
diamonds here at all.