 
What others are saying about _Fish-Eye Lens_ :

"A spot-on blend of drama, intrigue and social commentary... an enticingly decadent read."

~ Kathy Borsuk, editor, _Times of the Islands_ magazine

"Rathgeb gives readers an affectionate glimpse of island life, East Taino style, from the point of view of the strong and winning women who refuse to let a greedy developer pave paradise. It's as if the Ya-Ya Sisterhood had hooked up with Jimmy Buffett for a few margaritas and then decided to kick some butt."

~ Howard Owen, author of _The Reckoning_ , _Littlejohn_ and seven other novels

*****

FISH-EYE LENS

By Jody Rathgeb

Published by Belle Isle Books, an imprint of Brandylane Publishers, at Smashwords

<http://www.belleislebooks.com/>

Copyright 2012 by Jody Rathgeb

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

*****

For Tom, who has made everything possible

****

CHERRY

CHERRY HAD BEEN told that Taino Islands men would hit on her, but she hadn't expected it to happen so soon or so outrageously.

First, there was the taxi driver, a self-styled dandy in gold chains, Superfly hat and two-toned shoes, who put his hands on his hips and gave her a good once-over. "My, my, my," he said. "You sure you want to go over to East Taino? I have a nice, cool room with champagne on ice, just waiting for you." This despite the fact that she was obviously traveling with two men.

Cherry was flustered with such attention. She felt she was OK in the looks department, but she certainly didn't feel attractive in any way after a day of flying, muscling video equipment and now shuttling around Grand Taino in the back of a stuffy taxi, the windows up despite an obviously faulty air conditioner and the air choked with Mr. Smooth-Talk's cologne. Island paradise? The only palm trees visible were covered by construction dust, and the road was nowhere near the beach. As they passed acres of half-finished high-rises, she wondered if tourists to the island were driven along the same route, or if Frank had chosen it to remind the crew that they were here to work, not play.

But when the taxi stopped and she was able to breathe again, her mood improved. They were at the ferry dock, and there—beyond the rusted cars, the disintegrating half boat, the donkey foraging in an oil drum full of fragrant garbage and the seriously sagging dock—was the most gorgeous shade of blue she had ever seen. Not one of the travel-brochure adjectives did it justice. The water here wasn't turquoise, azure, crystalline or aquamarine—just incredible. Incredible blue.

Her hair still clung to her neck, and she was embarrassingly aware of the half-circle sweat stains under her breasts, but Cherry happily hoisted her share of the equipment and followed Frank and Mark to load it all on the ferry. Within three steps, though, she felt her load lighten as a tall, broad-shouldered black man stepped up to help her.

"I'm Stag, and I'm in love," he said, drawing out the word while letting his eyes slip down her body.

"I'm Cherry, and I'm married," she replied, trying to strike a note somewhere between "nice to meet you" and "get lost."

He nodded toward Frank and Mark. "One of them your husband?"

"No," she said, smiling at the ridiculous thought.

"Well, then. Your husband's not here and I am. Isn't fate wonderful?" Although he was carrying a tripod and heavy metal box, he managed to free a hand to stroke her arm.

Cherry rolled her eyes. "Would it help if I just said no?"

"If I said you have a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?" he countered.

She laughed at the moldy pickup line. "That one is very old," she said. She boarded the ferry and put down her things, then reached for what he was carrying. She was surprised when he got on the boat, too. "You're going to East Taino?"

"I live on East Taino," he said, sliding next to her—too close—on the bench. "And you will be staying just down the road from my house, at Nuco Hills Hotel, and you're working on some movie about Benny Royston for—Big something. Is it Big Blue?"

"Big Green Productions," Cherry said. "So how do you know so much?"

"Sweetheart,"—he pronounced the word in a bad imitation of Bogey—"everyone on East Taino knows everything. Talk. That's our business there. Your business is our business. Now about your time off tonight..."

"Yeah, I can tell it's all about talk there," Cherry said, trying to inch away from Stag without toppling off the end of the bench. Then she dropped her sarcasm. "So you think people will talk to us?"

"Oh, yeah. Especially about Royston. Why you wanna make a movie about him, anyway? I'm much better looking."

Cherry was beginning to find Stag's corniness fun, and he _was_ good looking, in addition to having the longest, curliest eyelashes she had ever seen on a man. "Well, first, it's not a movie like in the theaters; it's a documentary. And it's not really _about_ him. It's about how all of you on East Taino got him to stop his project."

The ferry was in open water now, and Cherry wanted nothing more than to enjoy the wind in her hair and the blue, blue water. But Stag huddled closer to be heard over the motor. "So you'll be talking to Zeke, Chip?"

Cherry sighed. "No. Mark will do them. I'm assigned to the women. Phyllis Mitchell, a Mrs. Carroll, and I forget the other."

"Liz Walker," Stag said, reaching into his backpack. He produced two Heinekens. "Beer?" Cherry glanced to where Frank and Mark sat, two rows ahead. Stag shrugged and pulled out a ring of keys that included a bottle opener. "They won't notice," he said, popping a top and handing her the beer.

She took a grateful gulp.

After opening the other bottle, Stag put his arm around her. "They don't know it, but you got the best of it," he said. "It was those three—Phyl, Kate and Liz—who really got that thing going."

Cherry took another swig and smiled to herself. Maybe for once, even if by mistake, Frank had given her more than the grunt work. She began to feel better about this assignment. If East Taino talks and these women are central, she thought, this might be the time to show Frank her strengths.

It would all depend on what shows up on camera.

*****

LIZ, DAY ONE

UM, OK. HOW do we do this?

I want you to be comfortable. That's why it's just you and me. I'll need a place to set up the camera, but otherwise, it's your home. Where do you usually talk with friends?

Oh, kitchen table. Unless you want to go down to Z's... but you said you wanted just me. You are talking with other people, right? This was Phyl's cause, you know, not mine.

Yes, we're talking with a lot of people. Well, the team is. Just relax and tell me about Benny Royston's failed project. I think they're calling this "The Royston Rout."

Good title. Sorry I'm a bit nervous. I can gossip with the best of them, but telling a story is not my thing. Can I get you a drink?

No, thank you.

Mind if I have one? Yeah, I know it's morning, but drinking is just a way of life here. I'll just be a sec...

Yeah, booze, gossip and sex. That's about all there is to do on East Taino, when you're not swearing at a water pump or your car. I'd go crazy here if I didn't work. I keep telling Kate she needs to do something regular, especially with Ed gone most of the time.

OK. There. Wait. Let me light up.

So let's begin. Benny Royston?

Yeah. Well, the first thing you need to know about East Taino—maybe the second, after booze, gossip and sex—is that race doesn't matter. Well, it does. Everyone knows what color you are, but there aren't clear divisions like there are in the States. So this has nothing to do with Royston being white. I mean, I'm white, Phyl's white. But in this we were totally on the Taino side. Not that there were "sides." Well, yeah, there were, but it was all about what's good for East Taino, not white-black.

I see.

No, you don't. You just want me to get to the story, right? But this is more important than the story. Look, have any of the local guys come on to you yet?

_I really don't think_...

Come on. You're a white girl, probably in your early thirties?

Yes, and married.

Yeah, and that hasn't stopped them one bit, has it? "Hey, I'm married too," they'll say, like you have a common hobby or something. I know. I still get it, and I'm almost fifty. Heard 'em all. "You know you want it, baby." "You shouldn't have to be alone." "You know you need a lover." It's all bullshit. I think there's natural Viagra in the water here.

I think you hit all the lines. It is amazing.

Pretty flattering, too. Thing is, it's got nothing to do with you. It's a white girl thing. Kind of like a trophy wife, except that a wife is the last thing they're looking for. They've already got one of those, and probably a "baby mother" for what they call the outside family, and a current girlfriend.

You make it sound so calculated.

You're blushing. Who hit on you? Yeah, it shows. Who? Come on. I can always just ask at Z's and find out.

Uh, a guy called Stag?

Oh, yeah. Of course. The man just loves sex. Well, he's not as bad as some. Kind of a gentleman. Not like Z, but...

Now, what does this have to do with Benny Royston?

Well, like I was saying, it's not a black-white thing. People didn't have it in for Benny just because he's a white developer. Hell, if that had been the case, these islands would've never developed. It was the Brits started it all. And half the new places you see going up are Canadian or American developers.

I know—that sounds defensive, but here's my point: Benny's just an asshole. He's not a nice guy, and he doesn't have a clue about living here. Not that he really wants to live here. He wants to build this ideal notion of paradise, then wall it off from the rest of the island, which was a real paradise long before he was ever born, thank you very much.

You heard about what he did at John's store? No? Well. See, produce gets here every other Thursday, more or less. If not Thursday, word gets around when. So everybody shows up when the boat reaches, waiting for John's truck. It's kind of a free-for-all, with people opening the crates of their own as the truck gets unloaded, but there is a certain order. Protocol. You can open a crate, but only after John hands it to you. He's fussy about his truck, so you help unload, but his way.

It's not a real big deal. All you have to do is watch the first time to figure it out. But not Mr. Big-shot Royston. He's up on the tailgate almost before John has the brake on, looking for mangoes. John was cool, but those mamas waiting for their mangoes let the jerk have it.

Now, you would think that a bunch of big black women screaming might tell a white guy he's crossed a line. Not him. Perfectly oblivious to what's going on—the fact that no one's taking this well. Then he gets all annoyed when Trini won't ring him up and does everyone else first. The man just didn't have a clue. I think that was one of the first things that got people looking at him funny.

So. Where was I? Yeah, well, showing you he's an asshole. There are lots of assholes around, though, so as far as I was concerned he was just one more. I really didn't know him well. I think the first time I met him he had been around for almost half a year. We don't exactly move in the same circles. There's a certain rich white clique here that I am definitely not a part of. I think Dan's mother—Dan's my husband, up in Ohio—I think she was kind of into it in the early days. But I don't look for that stuff. I just like the place, and I thought it would be good for my work. I kept hoping Dan would get out of his rat race and come down... but, well, that's not what you want to hear.

Yeah, Royston. I think the longest conversation I ever had with him was up on his beach. Well, not his beach, because the beaches here aren't private property, but you know. I was looking for good stones. That's what I do—make carvings out of the coral and limestone bits from the beach. Well, I guess you can see that, looking around here. Anyway, I was scoping out material up by St. Mary, and he was out on the beach, looking around. We did the usual "I'm so-and-so" bullshit. So I found out he's a Miami developer who bought a huge amount of land up that way, planning to turn it into something like Celebration, Florida. Didn't impress me too much. I've seen lots of big plans here. You just wait and see. I was curious about the long hair and all the tattoos, though. Turns out he was a wrestler... another world I know nothing about. I guess he was kind of a low-level player in one of those fakey wrestling outfits before going into developing. God knows where the money came from. Couldn't have been from the wrestling, unless it pays better than I think. Anyway, Phyl knows more about all that.

He seemed pretty stuck on himself and a know-it-all, but you know, most guys here, white and black, are know-it-alls. Experts on everything. You get past it, or you don't have any male friends at all. Take Chip. Hey, I love the guy, and Phyllis obviously does—I'll never figure out that relationship, though—but you can't mention or do anything without him telling you how to do it better. He's even told me how to do my carvings, as if I'm some rookie just dabbling in art. Hey, I was selling big pieces to hotels and restaurants, thank you very much, while he was pissing around running weed in the Bahamas. OK, maybe that's not a good example, 'cause he probably made a whole lot more money than me in those days, but...

Hey, I forgot about that camera. Can you erase that? I don't want to get Chip in any trouble. Besides, that was years ago. He doesn't do that anymore. Retired.

I'll take care of that. But you were talking about Benny, not Chip?

Oh, yeah. Well, I wasn't going to hold being a know-it-all against Royston. But I didn't take a liking to him, either. Something a little shifty there. Too... calculating, maybe? Like he was trying to figure out if I was someone he could use in some way. Later I checked him out with Z—Zeke knows everyone, and I trust him—and it was just the usual story. Big money, big plans. An asshole, but an asshole who was actually getting things done instead of just talking about them. I think one of Z's weaknesses is that he admires anyone who gets things done. Funny thing is, he's the one Taino guy who really gets things done. Look at all he's done here in Nuco: the bar, the seafood shack, the office center. People thought he was crazy with the office center, but now it's like they can't live without it, making copies, Internet connections, overnight shipping. It was needed. The man thinks. And you know, I don't think Phyllis would have had a prayer against Royston if Z hadn't put himself behind her after Royston screwed him so.

_Royston screwed_... _?_

Well, yeah, didn't anyone tell you about that? Let me make another here. Sure I can't get you one?

See, Z helped Benny out when he first came to East. Benny had some good connections over on Grand, but he didn't know anything about East. Things are different here. It's a whole lot further away from the States than Grand, figuratively speaking. So Z, being such a nice guy—and, as I said, kind of a sucker for getting things done, and for anyone with money—he showed him around. Helped him find workers, introduced him to the boat guys, that sort of thing. Like I said, Z knows everyone. And he's a decent person. I still don't understand what happened between him and Cynthia all those years ago, why she threw him out. Well, of course there was the running around, but all these guys run around, and most island women almost expect it. And they're still friends. Maybe more, now.

Anyway, Z probably got a little too trusting of Benny and started talking about his own plans. He's been working for years on a plan for a little marina down by Columbus. He just needs to build up his current stuff a bit more and get things straightened out there before he can pay attention to it. Well, I guess he mentioned it, because next thing you know, Royston is sniffing around to buy land in Columbus and comes up with a parcel right next to Z's. And then starts talking about a marina. Z's idea. OK, so maybe Royston had the money to do it quicker, but it was pretty dirty, we all thought.

Z didn't say much, but I knew he was hurt and pretty mad about it. Royston's name would come up in conversation at the bar, and he'd get all quiet. And he was pretty cool whenever Benny would stop in. He's enough of a businessman not to alienate any paying customer, but you could tell there was no love lost between them.

But that was nothing compared to Phyllis. Lordy, Phyl. East Taino's one-woman environmental committee. She and Kate are my best friends, but you know Phyl can get a bit on the high horse. There's still a lot of schoolteacher in her. I'm not sure if Evan had lived, what the islanders would have made of them both.

Evan?

Her husband. He died almost right after they retired here—heart attack while washing windows. They were both teachers. I hardly knew him, but I understand they were pretty much the same person, and Phyl still has a certain gotta-do-it-my-way aspect to her, despite island life. I think it was good she hooked up with Chip, weird as that is, because he keeps her real.

Well, mostly. When it comes to development, she gets crazy. She and Z have gone at it, even. She wants to keep the East Taino she moved to.

So you can see she and Royston were not going to mix from Day One. I don't know as they've ever spoken, but they certainly know about each other and there are no nice words there.

Chip kept telling her that as long as Benny was within the law, she was banging her head against a wall. Number one, lots of the islanders wanted what Benny was bringing, because it meant jobs and because there's a certain dazzlement over money here. Two, what can you do? Things aren't going to stay the same, and whether Z puts in a marina or Benny puts in a marina, there's still a marina, right? And of course, Chip's seen it all before, in the Bahamas, so he knows how it goes. But not Phyl. I mean, I'm sympathetic to being green. I don't want to see high-rises on the beach or anything. But she just took it all personally.

And she certainly kept up with him. When she'd get together with Kate and me, she could tell us tons of things about the guy that we didn't even care about. Of course, she's much more computer-literate than us, so I know where she got a lot of it. Sometimes it would get tiresome. Same stuff, over and over. I've forgotten most of it. Sometimes I think Phyl needs to drink more.

So where was I?

I'm not sure. Zeke and Royston, Phyllis and Royston?

Well, yeah. What I'm saying, I guess, is that there was always this tension. It's a small island, so you get along, but underneath you're aware of who really gets along with who and past histories. And I guess it would have gone on that way if Benny hadn't done the really stupid thing.

Which was...?

Deciding that the beach belonged to him. See, the beach doesn't belong to anyone except the government. There is no private property up to the high-water mark. Yeah, the government looks the other way when the big resorts on Grand Taino pretend it's their beach, putting out buoy markers and reserved beach chairs and all that shit. But you don't do anything permanent.

Benny, on the other hand, being an asshole, was oblivious as usual. He just decided that instead of a rocky beach by his Celebration development, he wanted a sandy beach. The kind you see in the ads. So he blasted the rocks. Don't ask me how he got the explosives in, if that was legal or not, because I don't know. But there was a lot of banging going on down in St. Mary, and it wasn't the usual island guys having sex.

Well, you would've thought it was Phyllis herself being raped. She and Kate came flying in here one afternoon, and they know that's my work time. I finally had to tell them no visits or calls when I'm working; otherwise, I'd just sit and drink with them and never get anything done. I learned that the hard way.

So when they came in like that, I thought someone died or something. And I guess according to Phyl that's what happened. She was crying and carrying on, saying we have to get him arrested or deported or something. Even Kate was worked up, and Kate's Taino enough to be a bit more laid-back. Granted, Kate's an oddball for a Taino Islander, with that Georgia-peach accent. It still cracks me up to hear her put it together. "Well, the boat just didn't re-ach," she'll say. Our island queen.

Anyway, Kate was agreeing that this was serious stuff and we had to do something. I thought, "We?" You know, just dealing with the government to live here is hard enough. I don't need to be calling attention to myself and making trouble. But Phyllis had a point. Why bother living in paradise if some jerk is going to come and blow up the beach, just to make it nice and tidy?

So Phyl gets in high teacher mode and arranges a town meeting. Well, an island meeting. And who shows up? Her and Chip, Kate and Ed, me and a couple of people from Nuco Hills. No islanders other than Kate, not even Z. I tried to get Cynthia to come, but she didn't seem to think it was any of her business what was going on up in St. Mary.

I didn't think we would get very far, not having the locals behind us, but Phyl and Chip were strategizing away. I was a bit surprised Chip got in the act, but I guess there are a lot of things I don't know about Chip. Ed was crucial, of course. He edits the newspaper on Grand, which is why he's away all week and only comes to East on weekends. Obviously a key person to have. So he was supposed to bring up awareness of what was going on, and Phyl and Kate were going to see how far they could get with the Department of Environmental Resources, and Chip was going to snoop around for some dirt on Royston's organization. I was supposed to hang at the bar and talk to the locals, trying to get some interest there. Tough assignment, right?

I did manage to get Z and a couple of other guys talking about it, at least, and I must say the whole thing was what got me closer with Z. I don't know if I should blame Phyl or thank her. But as far as all her plans, I don't know. It was like we were playing at being the World Wildlife Federation or something. What a fuckup.

Damn, I'm out of cigarettes. How much longer you want to do this?

We won't be much longer for today. I promised you we'd quit at eleven. But I think we're going to need more time. Can I talk with you another day?

Yeah, sure. I'm not going anywhere.

But do tell me what went wrong with Phyllis' plan, in your opinion.

Well, on the one hand, we did get more people keeping an eye on Royston, even if some of them were halfhearted about it. Information is power, Phyl says. But on the other hand, we got nowhere with the government. Politics is the same everywhere, I guess. You would think after standing around watching the Bahamas and other places in the Caribbean, they'd want to make sure to preserve what makes paradise paradise. But then money comes into play. I've never met a politician yet who couldn't be lured away from principle by a few bucks. And Benny has a lot of bucks.

Phyllis got the department to take a look at what Royston was doing, see, but it didn't do any good. Too many people in high places were actually investors in his organization! What's good for Benny is what's good for me, and what's good for me can't possibly hurt the country. Poor Phyl. She was very, very upset. But Chip took care of her. Convinced her to move everything underground for a while and just go into spy mode. I think Chip misses the old days, the game, to tell you the truth. So that's what happened.

Hey, I gotta go get some smokes at Z's. Can we stop?

*****

PHYLLIS, DAY ONE

I LOOKED UP your organization. Pretty impressive. A bit different for a green outfit, though: Instead of joining in, you just document environmental battles? Don't you feel you're just sitting on the sidelines?

Heavens, no. This is where I feel I can do some good. Tom Stoppard said that if you want to change the world, journalism is a good short-term weapon.

Hmm, I like that. We really have to hook you up with Ed. That's Kate's husband. You haven't met him because he works over on Grand all the time. He...

Is an editor for the newspaper. I know that, and I hope I can meet him. But there's another team working over there, so I probably won't get to talk with him.

Well, maybe Friday at Z's, if he makes it in time. You do have to go to Z's on Friday, maybe even do some filming there, just for the local color. I'm sure you'll want to have scenes of island life to intersperse with the interviews, and that's an excellent place to get a feel for things here. It's nothing really special—just a bar and some tables, opened up when the weather's right or with the screens closed when it's buggy—but it's a nice place to mingle. Not too white and not too black. Maybe Z should just paint it gray. Anyway, it's important for what you're doing, 'cause the place and Z himself were quite involved with "The Royston Rout." I have to tell you, I don't like that as a title. Much as I disliked the man, this wasn't about him; it was about the arrogance of all developers and the belief that a few greased palms will get you past any responsibility to the land and sea.

Yes, well, I'm not the final say on the title, so we won't go into that. You might want to make your suggestions known on the website.

Oh, I'm sorry. I've offended you. Liz keeps telling me that I never stopped being a teacher, and I guess she's right. I do apologize. Say, can I get you anything? Iced tea? A beer? Rum and Coke?

No, thank you. It does amaze me how much people here seem to drink.

Lizard says our only activities are drinking, gossip and sex. She should know.

Oh?

Well, let's not get into that. I love Liz, and we all have our skeletons. Heaven knows I took enough of a gossip hit when Chip came along after Evan died. Some people still love to tell you how he took advantage of the grieving widow, or how the merry widow took up so soon with him. Let people talk. They don't know.

Well, anyway. Where do you want me to start?

_Why don't you just talk about Ben Royston a bit. How you met, why you had suspicions_...

Suspicions? Well, of course. Here's a white man who breezes onto this island saying he's going to do this and that, and it's obvious from the start that he cares nothing about learning his way around first or about whether East Taino needs a Florida-style development. When Evan and I decided to retire here, it was because we wanted to be a part of this community. You don't mold East Taino to your ideas of paradise; you learn about East Taino and if it's right for you. Unfortunately, there are lots of people who don't understand that. Look at Nuco Hills. I know some of those people have been around a lot longer than I have, but they still don't understand that this is not their private island. Nuco Hills, by the way, is a redundancy. In Taino, a "conuco" _is_ a hill.

So of course I suspected the guy. I'm from Maryland, near D.C. When I grew up, it was rural. Today it's all I-95 and exits. I know what unhindered development can do. It destroys, and things will never be the same. You can't reclaim prime farmland after it's been paved over or turned into suburbia.

People never seem to learn, though. The Taino Islands could look to Florida to see what was lost, to the Bahamas to see what was lost. But dangle a few dollars in front of a few politicians, and preserving the environment becomes just lip service. I've been around here a few years now, and I have to say I'm very disappointed in both political parties.

Well, I suppose I'm preaching to the choir here. Your organization wouldn't be here if you didn't agree, right?

Uh, yeah. Of course we do. We try, though, to keep the viewpoint in the background and concentrate on events rather than politics. Now, what were you saying about Benny Royston?

Yes. Well, the first time I met him was at the government Christmas party, um, year before last. I was with Kate and Ed—Chip steers clear of those affairs, and I don't know where Liz was. Oh, yes I do: She went back to the States that year to visit Dan. Bitching all the way. Liz wants Dan to move here, but quite frankly, I don't think he's an East Taino person. He likes his college town, and I don't think he can live without museums, the latest films, jazz. She says the university is driving him crazy, but we all go crazy in the way we prefer, right? I think that's the great tragedy of their marriage. She's island, he's not. And then Z...

Well, anyway, I met Royston at that party. He barely seemed to register that I was there. His interest was definitely in Kate, I could see, even though Ed was right there. Kate was three sheets to the wind that night, so I don't think she even noticed, but Ed, I'm sure, picked up on something.

At the time, though, that was all beside the point for me. My antennae went up when I heard that he was the guy up at St. Mary. I tried not to be confrontational—Chip keeps telling me I have to play things cool—but I sized him up pretty quickly. Not only is he a developer, he's not a very smooth one. There were no justifications for what he was doing up there except that he expected to make a lot of money. He didn't care about the people of East Taino and cared even less about the ospreys, the flamingos and the pelicans.

So I guess you could say we had a cool beginning, and things got colder from there. Right after Christmas he started bulldozing right next to Bird Pond, and within a year there was all that blasting on the beach. Did Liz tell you about that?

Yes, but I'd like to hear your comments.

Well, if Chip hadn't been out fishing I wouldn't have known anything. He's the one who first saw what was going on, and he called me on his cellphone. It was unbelievable. We both knew it couldn't possibly be legal. I went to tell Kate. I figured that since she's Taino-born she might have an idea about what to do. But she's spent most of her life in the U.S., so I guess that wasn't such a good idea. We went on to get Liz, I don't know, just because the three of us have been friends for so long. Liz wasn't happy to see us—we interrupted her sacrosanct work time—but she figured out how important this was.

We decided to set up a meeting about it. Benny was invited—I wasn't trying to ambush him, just wanted to make people aware of what was happening and its impact on the environment—but he didn't deign to show up. I won't say it was a particularly successful meeting, but it was a start.

Now, things don't work quite the same down here as they do in the U.S. Working with lawyers, within the system, only gets you so far. You really need to get the people stirred up for anything to happen. And it's got to be their idea. The Taino people resent others telling them what to do. I guess it's all those years of the British keeping them under their thumb. So the most important thing to come out of the meeting was the idea to nourish a grass-roots movement that would pay attention to what Benny was up to.

Obviously, I'm not the right person for that job. I know my limitations, and I know that there are people here who still look fish-eyed at Chip. He's clean, and has been for years, but gossip here dies hard. And I, of course, am guilty merely by association.

So we ended up giving that end to The Lizard. She's good at that; she's a networker. Did you know she ran an art gallery back in Ohio?

_She didn't mention_...

She never does. She takes pride in being such an island girl. But truth is, she ran away from a completely different life.

Ran away?

Well, in a sense. Didn't she tell you anything about why she's here?

_We were focusing on the events here, not_...

Cherry. May I call you that? Yes, I'm old enough. East Taino is political, yes, but above all it's personal. You'll never understand this place if you don't pay attention to who is doing things as well as what's going on. So let me tell you about Liz.

_I really don't think this is the_...

No, no, it's OK. This isn't gossip; it's background. And despite her not saying much about herself, Liz won't mind my telling you. I love her. But you have to understand where she's coming from, because her part in this is all tangled up in her personal history.

So, Liz. She first came here on her honeymoon trip with Dan. I'll bet Dan regrets that. But his family had been coming here long before that, and who's going to pass up what amounts to a free honeymoon on a remote island? That house she lives in was built for her in-laws, who really loved it here. Dan never was comfortable with East Taino, though. He would enjoy shorter trips, but he's just not the type. Lizard was. She fell in love with East Taino right away—maybe more in love with this place than him. I think over the years they argued about the house. Dan wanted to sell it after his parents died, but she talked him into keeping it. She was doing fine at the gallery, plus as The Professor's Wife—I hear she puts on a great English tea—but she felt stifled. Her words, not mine.

Well, you know how marriages go. She wanted here, he wanted there. And no compromise for her. So she mostly lives here and sometimes goes back for an extended visit. Weird for a marriage, but I guess if you don't have kids it doesn't hurt anyone. She's become a fixture here, and he's still just a visitor now and then. I think in her heart of hearts she still believed—believes—that he would eventually come here.

I'm not so sure that's going to happen. I've met Dan only a few times, but I can tell he really isn't an island kind of guy, so he never stays long. Lizard's been good about it, but I think she's been frustrated. I pegged them for divorce a long time ago, but so far they're still together.

Yes, I see you checking your watch. You think I'm rambling. Believe me, you're going to be glad you know this, because I haven't even started telling you about Cynthia and Dashiki.

Cynthia? Liz's neighbor?

Yes. You catch on pretty fast. You'll get there.

I'm sorry. Here I am in class again. So, that's our Lizard. Back to the story. Or what you consider the story. These days, I'm not so sure what the story is. Where were we in your story?

Uh, your meeting about the blasting on the beach.

Oh, yes. Well, I don't like talking about defeat, but that's where Kate and I ended up. Through a lot of phone calls and a lot of cashing in of favors, we got on the agenda for the Environmental Committee. Kate and I cleaned up and looked all professional, went in with documentation, told them that Royston had clearly violated the Taino Islands laws. They said they'd consider it. Later, Nacky caught up with me at Z's. He's the East Taino field guy for the Department of Environmental Resources—a really cool young guy from New Zealand, very dedicated. He told me that after we left, it came out that three of the committee members are in cahoots with Royston.

OK, I can hear Chip yelling at me even though he's not here. "Cahoots" is Phyllis-talk. What I mean to say is that they admitted they have financial ties to his enterprises. Don't say it. I know that would be a major scandal in the U.S., but here it's just business as usual. There was no way that committee would do anything at all about Royston. We were dead in the water.

I tried to back off. Really I did. But I'm just not made that way. I'm not Liz. I see something that I think is wrong, I have to fight. But that meant that I had to depend on Chip and Liz, doing it the quiet way, and whatever enthusiasm Ed could raise in the paper. I had to chill out. I had to be island. And you know, I've lived here for six years, but I still have trouble being island.

Cherry, it is lunchtime. Girl, you have to eat. Turn that thing off, let me make you a sandwich and we'll get back to it later.

*****

Yes, chilling out. You're good at what you do, you know? OK.

Well, Ed certainly did his part. He got an editorial in the paper about the blasting—wait, I have it here somewhere. There. You don't need me to do anything as corny as reading it out loud, do you? Thank heavens. I always think that's a bit stagey in documentaries. And he sent a reporter out to interview Benny, who didn't come across very well at all. So the newspaper took up the cause, but around here that's not saying much. When the press criticizes the government, the reaction is like there's a fly in the room. Big deal. It's a different system here. It's not "If I read it in the paper it must be true." It's "The government says so, so it must be true." Ed doesn't like to hear that. It's been pretty frustrating for him, coming from the U.S. and discovering that journalism is even less appreciated here. But it was great that he was able to get the job, even if it does mean he spends all his time on Grand Taino while Kate's here on East.

Why doesn't she live there with him?

Oh, it all has to do with family land in general and Kate's family in particular. When her mother left to live in the U.S., it caused lots of family problems. It was what I call a Taino divorce: People just split and go their own ways without anything legal happening. Trouble was, the Woodman family liked her husband—Kate's father—a whole lot and thought Livia was making a big mistake. Apparently there were hard feelings up until the day she died.

So when Kate wanted to come back and live here, her aunties made it clear that she could claim her family land only if she promised to stay here. This was before Ed got the job, so that was easy for Kate. She really does want to live here. But now it means that she and Ed have a commuter marriage, which is sad because they really are a great couple. They're coping, though. Ed's totally committed to living in the Tainos, and he does have some plans to try to get the paper to open an office here as the island develops. Ironic, isn't it? As the island develops. Oh, well.

Hey, this time you're the one who got me off the track by asking about Ed and Kate. Anyway, Ed did his part, and Kate kept working at finding the right people in the government where she could press the case. Like everything here, though, it was a slow process.

Meanwhile, we didn't know it at the time, but Kate was also dealing with an interesting wrinkle. Benny Royston started coming on to her. She didn't say anything to Liz and me about it for a while. I think she found it embarrassing, and she certainly didn't want any bad gossip about her to get around. For one thing, she's totally devoted to Ed and would be devastated if he even heard a whisper about such a thing. And then there was her family, who were watching her so closely, waiting for her to screw up. Or just screw, as it were.

I don't think she ever took Royston seriously. I think she told him if he wanted a "piece of black ass" to look elsewhere, but she did take Taino gossip seriously. As Liz says, it's not whether something is true. It's whether everyone here believes it's true. So I think that's why Kate didn't come to us right away. Until everything blew up with Dashiki.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. I'm laying low, Ed and Kate are doing their thing, and then there were Chip and Liz. Well, Chip was in his element. Just fishing and helping me around here were starting to bore him, I could tell, but even though there were opportunities for "adventure," shall we say, he didn't want to do anything risky in these islands. I guess you know his past is a bit on the shady side. Let's just leave it at that. It's past.

But having him sort of tail Benny Royston—now there was something he liked. He was fishing by St. Mary a lot more than usual. He'd take his camera along. Chip as James Bond. There's a picture for you. Unfortunately, he wasn't getting much. After the beach blasting, Royston seemed to lay low and just do what developers do, legally. So we weren't getting much there.

And then Liz.

I think I'm ready for a drink. Would you like anything?

No, thank you. But go ahead.

You do drink, don't you? I'd hate to think we all keep offering you drinks and insisting you visit the bar if you're AA or something.

_No, no. I drink_... _but I am working._

Never stopped anyone else here. Anyway, Lizard. Well, as I said, Liz is our girl for networking. Or you could say she's just a gossip magnet. She started turning the conversation at Z's toward development, and the guys picked it up. And it didn't take much effort to find out that Benny had already turned a lot of people against him, just in the way he does business. But she found it harder to get them to do anything about that. Guys on East Taino are used to just letting things go, because you never know when you might need someone's help, even someone you don't like much. It's island life. Most people try not to make enemies.

As for the women, that was even harder. Liz tends to get along with men better than women to start with—actually, that's true for all of us white women... Kate's an honorary white woman. Or maybe that's American women. I don't know. We're just not the same. Take what I do. An island woman would never—ever—get out and dig in the garden or move piles of dirt. She'd hire a guy, even if she couldn't afford it. Or else it wouldn't get done.

But anyway, that's background. Liz does have a few good friends among the women, first and foremost Cynthia. Cynthia and Z both helped Liz so much when she was first settling in, and they've pretty much worn a path between the houses. I think half of Liz's tools and things are at the Moores' and vice versa.

Liz seemed to think that if she could convince Cynthia that Royston was bad for the island, Cynthia could bring aboard lots of other women. After all, Cynthia is a fairly typical island woman: smart as a whip, but never lets on how much she knows. These women fill their lives with their children and grandchildren when they have the potential to really make waves. It's a cultural thing.

I'm so sorry, but I'm going to have to stop you here. I'm supposed to go to a team meeting. Can we set up another day to continue?

*****

KATE, DAY ONE

WELL, THIS IS exciting. Liz and Phyl told me it's fun, that you just let us ramble on, so I am all ready for you, child.

Now I'm sure you don't need me to tell you what you already know, so I suppose we'll have to start with Benny and me. You probably heard all about it, but not from anyone who really knows, even Phyllis or The Lizard.

OK. I guess I should tell you that Ed and I talked about this a lot last night, about what I should share. It's been hard living with the gossip, especially because of my family, but at least Ed understands and helps me ignore folks who just love to cause trouble. You know, the "Christians." But having this air on American TV? That seems pretty weird. I worry more about my friends in Atlanta than people here. When it comes right down to it, religion or no, East Taino is more forgiving.

OK, yes, I'm stalling. I really wish Ed was here, but OK.

Benny Royston—that day he made a pass at me—I don't think he knew what he was getting into. I'm sure he knew I'm married, and that Ed works on Grand, but I think—well, I believe—he figured I was just another island girl. Well, I am, but I'm not. I was born in Caneytown, but that's about it. Here people call me that American girl, Livia's daughter. As if they don't know my name. But Benny Royston? He's in his own world. He probably figured I could be had for the status symbol of doing it with a white man.

Wow. So what happened?

A blow-by-blow description? Honey, you're quite the voyeur, aren't you? Well, I was holding fort at the store while Auntie Susan took a little break. Benny came in for a case of water for his work crew. It was a normal business transaction, but as I was handing him his receipt he suddenly grabbed my wrist and said something like, "You know, I could make your weeks go faster."

I wasn't born yesterday. I knew exactly what he was saying, but I chose to treat it lightly. I did Blanche DuBois. You know, I did play her once, with my theater group in Marietta? I put it on. "Why, sir, I am a married woman. I don't need to depend on the kindness of strangers."

It went right over his head. A true Stanley Kowalski. "I mean, you and I could get it on," he said.

Well, of course I knew what he meant, and it pissed me off a little bit, so I became more direct. I told him that he could find a black piece of ass somewhere else, and otherwise he could deal with Ed.

But the man wouldn't give up! He said he heard that Ed couldn't do the job—probably a reference to the fact that we can't have kids, no thanks to Auntie Rita for that piece of news. And also, he said it was obvious that I preferred white meat. The man was just plain crude!

I told him to get out of the store. He just stood there grinning. I asked if I had to call the police. Ooh, I'll never forget this. He pointed at me and said, "I'm going to get you. I get what I want." Then he left.

Now, honey, I've had men make passes before and it's no big deal. But I didn't like what he did. It made me uneasy, you know? Of course I called Ed and told him all about it. But Ed's so easygoing that he just laughed it off. He told me he was flattered that other men thought so highly of me.

His attitude did help a bit—he made me laugh at it—but on the other hand he wasn't the one who had to be dealing with it. If I had known then what I know now, I would have insisted that Ed deal with it—confront Benny or at least say something. But I let it drop. Maybe I should have known better.

What happened then was maybe a bit funny, but also annoying. Benny started courting me. And I mean courting! He sent me flowers, with an apology note. Flowers! Do you know what it takes to get a bouquet delivered from Grand to East? Really delivered? They sent a girl with a bouquet over by plane. Quite the gesture, and I do admit it appealed to the drama queen in me. I guess the man does have a certain charm. But it's not as if I had changed my mind about him.

Then the little gifts started arriving. One day he sent one of his guys over with a huge fresh snapper. Then, I don't know who he was talking to, but I came home one day to find a collection of Tennessee Williams plays at my door. Now, I did nothing to encourage this, and in fact I behaved rather ungratefully. When it really got sticky was the day Iona called me and said there was a pair of earrings waiting for me at her shop, compliments of Benny Royston.

Well, the last thing I needed was for stuff like that to get out, and I knew Iona wasn't about to keep such a juicy bit of gossip to herself. I wasn't worried about things getting back to Ed—he knew everything as it was happening—but with my family you can't be too careful. I love my aunts, but they can be a bunch of old biddies, and they'd rather believe a nasty lie than an innocent truth.

So I did what amounts to a very stupid thing. I went to Royston's work site to tell him to stop. Wrong, wrong, wrong! I no sooner got out of my car than he said, all jokey, "I knew you'd come to me." And there were all these guys standing around watching. I tried to keep cool, lowered my voice, told him I would appreciate not getting any more gifts. He leaned toward me as if he couldn't hear me, then all of a sudden he had his arm around me and he kissed me. Right there with all these guys looking. I was mortified.

I didn't say another word—just left. I felt... I felt very embarrassed. I wanted to confront him, but he turned it around and made it look like a lovers' quarrel. Ed was still reluctant to say anything to him—he's not a fighter, except in print—but he could see how difficult this was. So I went over to Grand Taino for a couple of weeks and stayed with him. We hoped that things would die down, and they did. Without my presence, Benny couldn't fuel the drama, so the gossips turned elsewhere.

After that, I was very careful to always be with the girls if I wasn't with Ed. I didn't say anything to them about it because I didn't want to start things up again. Liz asked me about a rumor that I had a thing going with Benny, and I just laughed about it. And she's such a dear friend that that was good enough for her.

Now, all of this was happening during Phyllis' big campaign after the beach blasting. So I'm sure Benny had some idea that something was going on, and I just wonder how much of his little game had to do with that. Ed doesn't think he knew I was involved, but that doesn't make sense. He knows we're married, and Ed wrote that editorial. And everyone knows how close I am with Liz and Phyl. I can't imagine even Benny Royston—he's not in the gossip loop—well, he had to know we're friends. So I wonder. Did he have a plan behind that little game?

Wow. It actually felt good to tell you all that. Even the girls never heard the whole story.

How do you think it plays into what happened to Royston?

Hmm. That goes in two different directions. The thing about Dashiki is the obvious one, but I've thought a lot about this, and I think that it also got me really motivated. I don't mean to hog any credit here, but what this all came down to is island women, and they—we—are not very easy to move!

Benny Royston was like a reminder of who I am, or at least where I come from. Growing up in Atlanta, I always thought of myself as American. And folks here certainly did. I've been "that black American girl." Not said in a nice way, either.

Of course I resented it. Phyl kept telling me I shouldn't, that everyone had to go through this crap. I mean, look at her. She happens to get some help from a friend who happens to be a guy, and they're all over her about her "immoral lifestyle." Give me a break. Phyl's sixty-three, and Chip is, I don't know, probably about the same. If they're getting it on, good for them!

Well, I'm getting away from what I was saying, which is, after Benny came on to me, at first I wanted to keep it to myself. But then when I heard about Dashiki I knew I had to say something because—you know, it's the old white master thing, and guys like him would just continue to get away with it. That didn't have a whole lot to do with the environment, but it's where I'm coming from.

What's this about Dashiki? Everyone keeps mentioning her, but no one explains.

Oh, Dashiki. Can that wait for another time? I know you planned to stay longer, but I need to think that over first.

*****

PHYLLIS, DAY TWO

LET'S SEE, WE left off with you telling me about Liz trying to get Cynthia interested. We can start there. And since Cynthia is Dashiki's mother, perhaps we could get into that a little. Everyone keeps mentioning Dashiki, but so far I'm in the dark about what she has to do with all this.

Well, Cherry, I have something else in mind, if you don't mind. I've been giving your project a lot of thought, and what I think you need is more background on both Royston and East Taino. I'm making some tea. Would you like some?

_That would be nice, thanks. But_...

Now for Royston, I've prepared some material for you. It's right there, in that folder. Everything, even where he went to elementary school. You'll see that his background in real estate and construction is pretty thin, and his Florida mentors weren't the most scrupulous of men when it came to the environment, so we're on our way...

_Mrs. Mitchell, I appreciate_...

Stop that Mrs. Mitchell stuff. I'm Phyllis. Phyl. Look at the folder. You'll see how he is.

_Phyllis. Please. Let me do my job as I do it. It's very nice of you to compile all this, but we have people doing this already_... _Thank you, yes, I do take sugar_... _What I need from you isn't all this background, but some clear telling of what happened. I realize it's exciting for you that the company wants to document this, but you have to realize that we're on top of it. We don't need to start from square one on Royston. We need to document the feelings, the comments, the motives behind what made East Taino reject him._

Then understand East Taino! Cherry, this is not your average eco-battle. What we have here, what we do here, is tied up in culture, in ways of doing things that can't be separated from... oh, where you come from, and who's your cousin and whether you're a Caneytown boy or a Columbus boy. You can't just come in here and understand something that happens unless you know us... know them.

OK. I understand what you're saying. Really. But that doesn't change anything for me. I would love to stay here, immerse myself in East Taino, sit and drink with you and Liz and Kate and Zeke and Chip. But I'm here with Big Green Productions, and I have a job to do. Please let me do it.

OK, OK. You do your thing. Ask me what you want to know.

Well, tell me about Cynthia, and about Dashiki.

Hmm, the Moores. Cynthia, yes; Dashiki, no. The girl's only seventeen years old. I don't think she needs to be involved here. But Cynthia, her mother, chose to become involved, so I guess we can talk about her.

Good. So?

So, what?

Please don't do that. But OK. Can you tell me about how Cynthia became involved in opposing Benny Royston?

Oh, all right. Cherry, you and I need to get drunk together one of these nights and get this all hashed out. But meanwhile, Cynthia.

Let's see. Cynthia, I think, could have easily run any business on this island—a store, a restaurant, a guesthouse. But she's East Taino, so instead she married young and had kids and raised them and basically taught Z everything he needed to know about keeping his business organized, profitable. She's bright, very bright, but there hasn't been much motivation for her to use her brains. If she were of another generation, or her family more well off, her parents might have been able to send her off to Jamaica or England to college, and—who knows—she might be running this country. There are hundreds like her.

So I'm not surprised that she and Liz hit it off and they became good friends. There are plenty of differences, of course. But they're both stubborn broads, like Evan would say, and they bounced off each other in a way that was fun. Not just for them. I was there one time when the two of them got into religion. Man, did we laugh! Both were serious—Liz used to be Lutheran, even though she hasn't been to church in, well, who knows? And Cynthia's quite the devout Baptist. But neither one is too bullheaded about it, like some of these island women. They know how to joke about themselves. And I don't think Cynthia gets much of that back-and-forth with some of these women who spend every free minute with their Bibles. I suppose she's an odd duck to them.

Anyway, that's them. I never got along with Cynthia quite as well. We're OK now, but when Chip moved in with me there were a lot of nasty things said to me, and I'm still trying to get past that. This is before Liz and Kate got here, so I was pretty much alone. Cynthia didn't do anything outright, but like the others she was cool to me when I'd see her in the store and such. I guess I've been kind of shy of the black women here ever since. Anyway, that's neither here nor there.

Because the two of them could talk, Liz figured Cynthia was the best way to get the local women interested in keeping East Taino at least somewhat free from development fever. And Liz wasn't afraid to throw in a little bit of old-time religion, too—stewardship of the earth, what would Jesus do about destroying God's creation and all. You gotta admit she has guts. So she was trying.

Did it work?

I truly don't know. Everything went in a completely different direction when... Oh, how do I do this?

Phyllis?

Well, I guess I'm going to be the one. Everything changed when Dashiki got pregnant. That's why you haven't met her—she's been with relatives in Miami. And the father is Benny Royston.

Uh, say again?

You heard me. Not Liz's plan, but what better way to get Cynthia involved, right? Though obviously her involvement had nothing to do with the environment.

You know, if it had just been a local boy, this wouldn't have been a big deal. Happens all the time. But this guy is, what, in his thirties? Foreign, white, and, oh yeah, by the way, married, and we haven't even gotten to the part about a little bit of business rivalry with the girl's father. The shit, as they say, hit the fan.

I can only imagine!

Yeah, it was pretty hairy. Cynthia wanted to keep it quiet, but Z just went nuts. I wasn't there, but I heard there was one night at the bar when guys had to hold him down to keep him from heading up to St. Mary. Kate was there. She can tell you. All of a sudden, Benny Royston WAS dangerous, but it was all about Dashiki, not the beach.

So Royston left because of that, not what his business was doing?

You sound disappointed. No, it was a little more complicated than that. You can't toss a guy out of the country because he gets a girl pregnant. Although I'm sure Cynthia would do something about that if she really did run the country.

Actually, it was Chip who got things rolling. One night... do you have to get that?

Yeah, I'm sorry. It's my boss.

Hello, Frank. Yes. I'm with Mrs. Mitchell now. Yes, I am. I know. I know. Yes! Frank, I know what you want, and you'll get it. We just have different ways of doing the interviews—all of us.

Yes, I'll admit that. I'm not using the script. Mark doesn't either, I know.

So is that a requirement, or do you just want good results? Um-hmm. Tell you what. Why don't you take a look at my raw footage first, then we'll talk. OK. Yes. Look, can I get back to this one? I don't want to interrupt her chain of thought too long. You know I hate do-overs. Yeah, I'll call you later. Bye.

Sorry. Can we get back to it?

Bosses who don't get it. Been there.

Yeah, let's just go on, OK? You were saying something about Chip?

Chip. Right... talking about men who can piss you off.

What?

Like your boss—Frank, is it? Thinking they know everything about what to do.

What are you talking about? I'm confused.

Oh, I'm just remembering about Chip playing God. After the Dashiki business.

Oh! Well, of course. Go on.

Like I was saying, it was Chip who got things going. I guess it all turned out good, but at the time I was pissed, too, because he was playing it so close to the chest.

I'm not quite following you, but go ahead. Tell me.

Well, one night Chip sat down at the bar with Z, and they talked a long time. Next evening he told me he was going over to the Moores', and then I knew something was going on, but I couldn't get it out of him. I assume he talked with both Z and Cynthia there. I'll tell you, I was furious that he wasn't letting me in on it, and when he got back we had a big fight about it. And it wasn't just us. Kate and Ed were keeping to themselves, and very quiet. Liz started acting funny. All of a sudden, it's like all the friendships and relationships were off. And I guess I contributed to the mishmash. I mean, not to blow my own horn, but I was the one who had gotten things started, and now felt like the odd man out. Seemed that deals were being cut right and left, and no one was really focusing on the environment at all.

Deals?

Yeah. You know, this is pissing me off again just thinking about it. Maybe you should talk to someone else about this. I was definitely out of the loop. Liz got pulled in early, and when Kate got wind of what was happening she opened up about his come-on to her, and everyone was talking about sex and no one was talking about the beach or the birds.

But you did hear something?

Uh-huh. Look, I know I seem like a moody bitch, but I'm not really feeling like doing this anymore today. Maybe you ought to talk to someone else, then come back to me.

Look, Phyllis. You obviously know a lot about how these documentaries run. If you really don't want to talk about this, that's OK. But if you want to keep your perspective—the environmental perspective—in the picture, this is your chance.

I know, I know. And I will give you what you want. You're a good kid. I don't want to ruin this for you. Especially now that I have an idea about what you're going through on your end. But today's not right. Go talk to Liz, then come back to me.

*****

LIZ, DAY TWO

SO, PHYL TOLD you, huh?

That's quite a greeting. You people have speed-dial, don't you?

Hey, what do you expect?

All right. In that case, I expect a beer.

Whoa! Cherry goes island! What would your company say? Coming right up, dear. So what do you think of our little Dashiki? Probably big Dashiki now.

_Well, since I've never met her I can't say much. Though you did warn me about the sex stuff here. Thanks. Oh, by the way, I have to tell you about Stag's latest line_... _but let's do our thing here first._

Man, you just don't stop working, do you? I take that back about you being island. But OK, what do you want me to talk about?

Well, Dashiki of course.

Hunh. Yeah. Well, she's Cynthia's youngest.... I've heard that Z has a younger boy, too, over on Gull Cay, but she's at least the youngest for THEM. And you know how it is with the baby. Cynthia's a pretty strict mother. She wasn't one of these who leave her kids with the grandmother. And it was all "yes ma'am," "no-ma'am." She managed to get four kids set out right, and they're all doing pretty well, though they're all in either Miami or Freeport now.

The youngest always seems to get spoiled, though. Not that Dashiki's not a good kid... but she was always around adults more, so she got treated older than she is. Add that to how fast kids here get into sex, and, well, no big surprise.

Well, that's not quite right. It was a surprise, being it was Benny Royston. Cynthia didn't even know Dashiki knew him, and the how and where and all was a bit of a mystery at first. Turned out Royston went to Sports Day at the high school 'cause of his wrestling interest, saw her competing in a race—she's a good runner, Dashiki—and flat out went for her.

Was it mutual, or like a predator?

That's what we all wondered. But according to Cynthia, who finally got it out of her, it was mutual—at least from a teenager's point of view. Think of it. A very rich white guy comes up to a group of girlfriends and picks you out to talk to, does a little sweet talk in front of your friends and offers you a ride home. We're talking high school status here. She's queen bee, going off from school in his car, swearing her friends to silence, showing off little gifts. I don't think it took much convincing for her to get into a physical relationship with him. To us, he's a creep, but it had to be very flattering for Dashiki.

As to specifics, who knows? Sometimes I can't figure out my own reasons for having sex. Certainly...

Anyway, when she figured out she was pregnant, Dashiki at least did the smart thing and went to her mother first. Cynthia wasn't at all happy, but young pregnancies are pretty common on the island and the prevailing attitude is, whattya gonna do? She was probably figuring there'd be a quick marriage to some lanky kid from school. Then she asked who the father is, and that's when she lost it. She told me she screamed at Dashiki for about an hour, then got a grip and started thinking.

And, man, did she move fast. Before Z got home that night, Cynthia had made arrangements with her sister in Miami to take Dashiki for a while, packed her things and sent her over to me. I got the quick story and the job of getting the girl over to Grand and off to the States the next morning quietly—Cynthia was going to tell Z she was already gone. She seemed afraid of what might happen. I've never known Z to be a violent guy, but Cynthia was taking no chances. More than one pregnant teenage girl has been beaten up by her own father on this island. Dirty secrets, you know.

In fact, Cynthia and Z did have a terrible fight that night. Our houses are so close we could hear it. Dashiki and I sat here getting bits and pieces. She cried a little, but mostly didn't seem to think she had done much wrong. She was convinced if she stayed Benny was going to support her and the child, like so many of the guys here do with their second families. Maybe he would have. Who knows? He certainly had the resources. But Cynthia was hellbent on making sure he never knew about the baby. As if.

_This is amazing. I suppose no one thought about_... _other options?_

Come on, you don't have to be here long to figure that one out. No one divorces; no one has an abortion. It just doesn't happen, even if you're not religious, which most folks here are despite all the fooling around.

So Cynthia did what she wanted, keeping Dashiki safe and leaving Z to rage and fume. And he sure did. I heard a lot of it, let me tell you. He almost chased away all his customers, drinking up his own stock and ranting on about Benny every night. Kate said a bunch of guys physically kept him from jumping in his truck one night to go confront Benny. But Cynthia was working on him, and it was her brains that won out over his macho anger. Suddenly, Phyllis had two extremely motivated allies in her fight against Benny Royston. I almost started to feel sorry for the guy.

See? I bet you thought I'd never get back to the story. And here we are. Let me get you another. I need one.

As for Royston—who knew what he was thinking? He knew about the pregnancy, of course. How couldn't he, with Z being an ass and all. But he didn't do anything as far as we could see. Didn't go to Miami to find her, didn't come clean with Cynthia. I guess for once he just let island ways be. So in a way, he pretty much did himself in so far as Cyn... damn.

Hey, that's Kate. I'm going to take it, OK?

Hey, sweetheart. Oh? Um, all right. Everything OK? Well, have a good time. Hang on, I'll tell her.

She's over on Grand and decided to stay overnight with Ed. Wants to cancel her time with you—or postpone it, whatever. Apologizes, blah, blah. You can catch her tomorrow, OK?

_Well, I guess_...

She says it's fine. We're having a little chat about Dashiki and fallout. No, Kate. Not yet. You think? Yeah, well... you're right, I know. I just thought... yeah, I know. OK. I will. I promise. I know. It's just not easy, especially with Dan.... Yeah, OK. If you can, I can. I will. I promise. Please shut up. Go pretend you're a tourist. I'll take care of it. Yes. Goodbye. Goodbye. Stop talking. Goodbye.

What was that all about?

I'll get there. Where's my lighter? Ah. Where was I?

Um, Benny not doing well with Cynthia.

Yeah. Well, you get the picture. Cynthia and Z may have their differences—it's a very odd marriage—and they didn't agree in their reaction to Dashiki—though Z didn't get much choice in the matter—but in the end it sort of brought them together. I don't think either one was interested in money, or marriage or any sort of real fatherhood... they just wanted the guy gone. And since you can't get rid of a foreigner because he's screwing around, Phyl's environmental cause came in real handy. You see... oh, man.

That's me. You mind?

_Hi, honey. What's up? Working, of course. I'm in the middle of an interview, so_... _What? Why? Bill, no! Of course I can't come back early, at least not for something like that. You can go alone. Well, yes, I know. But so what? A stupid bank president isn't like the president, or something. But it's only a party. So go—go and send my regrets._

Bill, don't be an idiot. What century are you living in? Your wife has a job and is out of the country—that's that.

Why are you being so miserable about this? Oh, for heaven's sake! This isn't the fucking 1950s!

Wifey, wifey!

Look, I am working here. The answer is no. You have a job, I have a job. Yours requires you go to a stupid dinner party. Mine requires my presence on East Taino. End of story.

Oh, come on. Stop being such a fucking jerk. Look, call me tonight, OK? Look... Yes. OK, I'm sorry. Of course I love you, but... hey, let's talk later, all right?

Yeah. Yeah. OK. Bye.

I'm sorry, Liz.

Oh, don't be. I've been there. He'll get over it, and you'll get over it. Sorry for teasing you.

No, you're right. It's not a big deal.

Yes, it is. It always is. You wanna talk about it?

No... no. Let's just go back to the interview.

Yeah. Well, this might be a good time, now that we're kind of on the topic of marriage. See, there's something I gotta tell you. And it sort of has to do with that phone argument you just had, and with this whole Cynthia-Zeke thing, the shit they were going through. Kate made me promise to tell you. I knew I had to, but I was going to wait.... I know it's important, and it's not as if it's a secret. It's... well, I guess I'm the one who should say it... for the cameras and all. So... let me get myself together here.

Wow, this must really be something. You have two cigarettes lit, you know.

Oh! Shit. Well, whatever. OK. Here goes, and don't interrupt me or I'll lose my nerve.

Z and me... well, 'round about when all this was happening we, um, had a fling, I guess. Yeah, a fling. I can't call it an affair, 'cause it didn't go very far. It was... I don't know. A matter of being there, being friends, getting close over this whole Royston thing. I was staying later at the bar, and it was just him and me. We'd talk about Benny, yeah, but then ourselves. He opened up about how he and Cynthia were parting ways, mostly just living together as friends but not really connecting. And that's kind of how Dan and I have been. I think you might understand that sort of thing, right? Well, anyway, one thing led to another...

Well, how much of this do you need to know? I could probably go on forever about menopause and suddenly feeling young and pretty again, or his marriage, my marriage, getting caught up in the island ways. But that doesn't have anything to do with this Royston thing. The fact of our affair—our fling—does have a lot to do with it, because everyone found out—but not the meat of it. And the fact of it is the only reason I'm telling you. That and Kate telling me I had to.

OK, I lied. Interrupt me. Ask me something.

How about I make us both some real drinks? Stay there. I've seen where you keep things.

Liz, thank you.

Why?

For being so honest. For trusting me with this tape. For telling me something it's clear you didn't want to tell about. What did Kate say to you? Why did she push?

Kate—Kate cares about this a whole lot more than she lets on. After all, it's her country. Phyl and I love the place, but we're still foreigners. At the end of the day, it's Kate's deal. And she knows it's important to tell it all, warts and all. She said she was upfront about Benny's pass at her, so I had to be the one to tell you about Z and me.

But I'm a bit confused on chronology here. When did these things all happen—Benny and Kate, Benny and Dashiki, you and Zeke?

Well, I guess that's a good question. Let's see. Benny came on to Kate around the time of the blasting and the meeting. And Sports Day was a week or so later, so I guess he took after Dashiki even while he was sending Kate gifts. The man likes his black women, doesn't he? Trying to out-island the islanders, I guess.

Anyway, it was after the meeting—a good couple of months after the meeting, while I was talking up the grass-roots effort, as Phyl calls it—that I started with Z. And he and I were going maybe a couple of months, maybe a little more, when all hell broke loose at the Moores'. So I guess Benny moved in on the kid pretty fast. One, two... about four and a half months till she missed a period.

Meanwhile, you and Cynthia...

Were still friends, yeah. Are still friends. It was an odd situation, and, believe me, I felt odd about it. Keeping secrets, acting normal. And when I was the one she turned to to help get Dashiki out—man, that was weird. But I learned a lot about myself. Not things I especially like. That I can lie so well, so easily—and I always thought I was pretty upfront and honest.

Actually, after that night with Dashiki, I tried to cool things down with Z. He wasn't going to hear it, though. We had a fight, actually. I saw it as one of those stupid island pride things. His wife was going her own way and his daughter had just betrayed him doing it with an enemy, but, by damn, he still had a white lover, didn't he? He didn't say any of this. It was me, accusing him of using me and wanting to brag about our relationship. I don't know why I said that. He had never, ever, been like that. Most of these guys can't wait to brag about how many women they have, but Z was keeping the secret. That's what I mean about him being more of a gentleman than most.

I think it actually hurt him that I thought he'd blab. That's what he focused on. Didn't want to hear about how hard it was for me to be living a double life, not even telling my closest girlfriends what was going on. Nope. He just assured me that no one was going to know. And I don't know. In the heat of things that sounded a little like respect, and I gave in. So nothing changed. I'm still between him and Cynthia, still lying to my friends... and feeling like a sexy young thing again.

_Are you still_... _?_

Oh, God, no. Eventually, everyone found out. But I'll get to that later, if it's OK with you. I'm trying hard to keep your "story" straight for you, so you'll have to bear with me a bit on this.

No, I want to know everything now.

Oh, Liz, you should have seen your face. I finally loosen up, and you can't take it!

OK, kid, got me. Let's have another drink.

So when are you going to tell me the rest?

Hey, give me a break. It's your turn. You want another lime? Well, you got one anyway. Here. Now I want you to tell me about Cherry. And... Bill, is it?

_Well, OK. Let me turn this thing off_...

Oh, when it comes to Cherry's personal life we turn off the cameras, huh? That's not f...

*****

KATE PHONE CALL, DAY TWO

CHERRY? IT'S KATE. Look, I'm sorry about canceling. This came up, though, and I hoped you'd be flexible enough to deal with it.

No problem. Liz and I just had an extended session—thanks to you—plus an unofficial girl talk. It was nice.

She told you?

About her and Zeke? Yes. Actually, I do have some questions for you about that, eventually. At first, I thought you three were so close, but you're not actually, are you?

Hmph. Well, island life does keep you at distances sometimes. I guess it's part of the deal. I didn't blame her for keeping that from me any more than I would expect her to be upset about me keeping quiet about Benny.

Uh, Kate? I guess I should tell you this call is being recorded. For the company.

Oh, that's OK. Living in a fishbowl is nothing new for any of us here. Do whatever you have to, hon. Work is work.

_Well, I'm starting to feel funny about it. I like you all. This is an interesting place, and I'm not at all surprised you wanted to keep it_... _pristine, as it were._

Cherry, that's all we can hope for. Honey, we all have to get together for a drink, without your damn cameras and recorders. Meanwhile, can we set up for tomorrow? I'm coming in on the midday plane, so I can see you, say, about one thirty or two.

That's good for me. Stag said he'd take me fishing in the morning, so I'll be ready to work again.

Stag? That piece of shit? Don't tell me you're getting involved with him!

No, I'm not getting involved. We're just going fishing.

Cherry, be careful. Stag is not going to be content to stay your friend. It's none of my business, but you need to watch that boy.

Noted.

You be careful?

Yes, ma'am. I'll talk to you tomorrow, OK?

Good deal. You take care. Bye.

Bye.

*****

CHERRY

THERE WAS NO one behind the bar at the hotel, so Cherry made her own rum and Coke, noting it on her tab. She liked this casual, trusting system, just as she had come to like so much about East Taino. The women she was interviewing saw the island like an ill-behaved but endearing cat that could still look innocent despite feathers sticking out its mouth, but Cherry heard only the purr and saw only the contented curl of a tail.

She moved to the patio, dragging a chair up to the table so she could write on her pad. She couldn't believe she was actually writing notes for a phone call, but she didn't trust herself to keep her cool when she called Bill later.

His call had upset her more than she'd let on to Liz. When she married him four years ago, she had known he was more traditional and conservative than her, but the ways in which that affected her—his critical eye when she dressed for some social event related to the bank, or a refusal to join in some light-hearted fun like karaoke with her friends—were rare and minor. Mostly, she put it down to their age difference, since he was fifteen years her senior, and his seriousness about his career.

But Cherry had never before traveled for business, and she was shocked at his annoyance and insistence that she return for the bank president's stupid soirée. What she took from the call was that he believed his work was much more important than hers.

She took several swigs of her drink, stared at the sea a while, then began jotting notes:

- _— social event vs. actual work_

— _expectations. Why on me, not you?_

— _imptce of the doc. My work more than me_

— _if you wanted an Ashley Parmenter, why marry me?_

Cherry paused as she thought about the cool, haughty blonde who dominated most of these bank events. She could tell Bill was smitten by her style, but had always assumed that his enjoyment of such women was just a fantasy, much like her own "bad boy" thing. Could it be that Bill really wanted her to become that kind of woman?

Was she going fishing tomorrow to test herself against Stag—"that piece of shit," as Kate so judgmentally put it?

She put down her pen. No, she wouldn't call tonight. She got up to freshen her drink and see if anyone else had appeared in the bar. She could use a good conversation about why dried conch is superior to fresh, or how the government messed up when the last hurricane came, or anything other than relationships and the environment. She needed a night off.

*****

KATE, DAY THREE

IT SEEMS LIKE forever since I last taped you. I'm going to ask you to rehash some things, so I can get your perspective, OK?

Fire away, honey. But first, how was the fishing?

Oh, it was nice. I didn't catch anything, but Stag got a couple snappers worth keeping. I think I was too dazzled by the surroundings to pay attention to fishing. So many blues, so clear. This really is a beautiful place.

And Stag? He kept hands off?

_Yes, yes he did. There was a moment when I thought,_ _"This is it," but he kind of turned what might have been a lunge into a rather awkward little pat, like he had second thoughts. I didn't say anything and he didn't say anything, and things went on as normal._

I have to say I'm surprised. Guys like him don't have second thoughts. And don't be surprised if what he tells the guys at Z's doesn't match up to what happened. You watch yourself, honey. Guys like him will talk a big game even if nothing happened.

What do you mean, guys like him?

All these local guys. If they aren't screwing like rabbits, they act like they do. "It takes three women to satisfy me," and that shit. Hell, if they treated one woman decently they wouldn't need any more.

_Kate, really! You sound_... _well, prejudiced._

No kidding. Yeah, I am. I admit it. I don't know. It may have been my mother's influence. She was so bitter about her marriage, and I think she was determined that I wasn't going to be another Good Island Girl. Translation: Get knocked up, marry young, have a mess of kids, then get cheated on... and be expected to just take it.

She kept me away from the Tainos as much as she could, actually. I was the one who loved it here, and then she really doubled her efforts at letting me know just how rotten these men can be. I guess she did a good job.

You see your mother's hand in it, yet you still want to trash all the men? Hasn't living here changed your mind, even a bit?

No, actually. To be blunt. Look at Zeke. Lizard swears he's different, he's not like that, but his actions say different, don't they? Then there are the old guys and the preachers. Oh yeah, the preachers. They talk a good game now, but just take a peek at the past. Twelve children by this woman, four more by that one. God, save me.

_And_... _sorry if I'm getting too personal_... _that's why_...

I'm married to a white foreigner? Maybe. But remember that I'm a "foreigner," too—at least as far as people here are concerned. And I dated black men in Atlanta. I just never really hit it off with anyone other than Ed. He's asked me that question, too... a little bit of insecurity on his part. I just say that life happens as it happens. I mean, Ed had a lot of shit to get over with me, too. I do think interracial relationships are easier here than in the States. I don't know. Sometimes we get into this, but mostly we just go on as we are. Wasn't it Woody Allen who said the heart wants what the heart wants?

Well, we're way off message, aren't we? What was it you wanted to ask me?

Oh, yeah. Wait a minute. I have notes.

You have NOTES?

Of course. You know, you girls seem to think I'm just in this for the gossip, but I'm working here. There's more to this than having a drink and a chat. Although I wouldn't be opposed to a drink.

Aha! I knew you were OK. Welcome to East Taino, notes and all. Coming up. And your notes?

Yes, well. We may be going all over the place today, but that's OK. I just need you to help me get more perspective on all this stuff Liz and Phyllis laid on me yesterday.

Yeah, you really got hit with it. You must think The Lizard's right. All we do here is drink and have sex.

And gossip about it. So, let's gossip. Tell me about your relationships with Dashiki and Cynthia.

Mine? Well, not as close as Liz's. Cynthia was nicer to me than most Taino women, but still... wary, I guess that's the word. When I first came we were friendly but not friends. Most of what I knew about her—and probably vice versa—came from Liz. I thought Cynthia was a pretty smart cookie, but thought she was also dumb for not just outright divorcing Zeke. These East Taino "divorces" just piss me off, because it's always the woman who's putting on the brave face and still going through the motions. It's almost like she's still married and he's single but with all the benefits of being married. So anyway, Cynthia and I weren't exactly on the same plane.

Dashiki? She was a kid. I didn't give her much thought. She only came on the radar when she got pregnant.

Did you ever talk to either one of them about Benny's pass at you?

Well, everything happened so fast it was kind of hard to keep up, but I did try to talk with Cynthia, right after I found out about Dashiki being sent away. I thought she should go a bit easy on the kid and wanted to tell her what a jerk Royston is. No, not just a jerk. A predator. I figured I'd tell her about the Benny thing so she'd know the whole thing didn't start with Dashiki.

What a mistake that was! She had of course already heard about it—after that Iona bit, I guess everyone got it. But she got her version from all those Good Church People, so she thought... I don't know, that I was there to protect my lover or something? It was all screwed up, and everything I said seemed to make it worse. So I just dropped it. I wanted to help, but it was turning around on me, and like I said, I didn't need any more gossip to add to my aunts' arsenal. Next question.

Phyllis and Liz say you were there the night Zeke wanted to hurt Benny. Tell me about that.

Whoa. Yeah. That was something. Ed and I were both there. He was on island for the weekend, and we stopped in to buy a bottle of wine for dinner and stuck around to talk with some Nuco Hills ex-pats we know. Really stuck around—ended up staying a pretty long time. I saw that Zeke was putting away rum pretty fast but figured he was entitled, after all that had been going on. It probably would have been OK, if he hadn't looked up just when Royston's Hummer went by.

A Hummer? Oh, of course.

Now, now, Cherry! You must maintain your journalistic objectivity, right?

_I work for a green company. I'm allowed that prejudice. Anyway_...

Well, that's what set off Zeke. He started going on about "that sonofabitch," and some of the guys took that to mean Royston's business dealings, and they muttered agreement, and that got Z all suspicious and asking them what they'd heard, and they tried to smooth it over, but you know how people glance at each other, and Zeke figured they knew everything and he just couldn't stand it. "Well, I'm going to take care of him," he started saying, and he was rummaging around under the bar. "I'm going to take care of him." And I heard a woman do a little squeal thing, and when I looked over there was a gun on the bar.

That's when things got serious. Meat said, "Zeke, you're not going to do that," and reached for the gun, and Zeke grabbed his shirt and said to leave it alone. People were looking at each other, trying to figure out what to do. It wasn't like in the movies. No one was brave enough to really come forward, so there was just a lot of looking around, and the gun just sat there. Then Zeke reached for it, and it was like, whoosh, everything happening. John-Dee pushed Cleve, and the two of them blocked the door while Meat and Harold went for Zeke. So then it was like the movies. I was terrified the gun was going to go off and hurt someone. Truth is, I hid under the table. I guess they don't call me a drama queen for nothing. So I can't tell you what happened then.

I did hear a chair break, though. So I was there thinking about the Wild West and someone getting conked over the head when people started laughing. I crawled out to see all of them, including my husband, in kind of a heap on the floor. Apparently they tried to sit Zeke down, and the chair tipped and broke, carrying everyone down. I think Ed was the first one to laugh, and you know how that gets people started, even though there were a lot of bruises and some blood around. Zeke wasn't laughing, but he seemed to have calmed down a bit.

So that was our big bar fight. Of course, it got all embellished later, and Meat played the hero, and it seems more guys were involved every time I hear it. God, I love this place.

Wonderful story! Kate, you are going to be the star of this documentary. I actually wish I could film a re-enactment. But that's not how we work things. Let's have another.

Sure. So that ends the big night at Z's. Anything else?

Actually, yes. Though this might be less fun to talk about.

Well, I'm on my way to being able to talk about anything, with a second drink before it's even two o'clock. Ask away.

OK. Getting back to the whole environmental thing. Phyllis seems to feel she was left out of things, that people were starting to make plans without her. Is that true? What was happening there?

Oh, boy. Phyllis. How do I start this?

Well, Phyl was a bit... what's the word? Protective? No, it's something else kind of like that... oh, you know, she thought she OWNED this little battle against Benny.

Proprietary?

Yeah, that's it. Now, Phyl's a dear, but she loses perspective. It's true that probably nothing would've got moving without her. The rest of us all tend to just want to let things be, but she gets organized, makes a plan, starts to move. Do you know she still makes detailed lists of what she's doing every day? She uses her old lesson plan books. It's amazing.

Anyway, she really is the one who got things moving. But what worked for her in school just doesn't compute when it comes to East Taino. With her, everything is like... you ever see one of those little Jack Russell terriers when they grab the end of a rope? You can lift that dog clear off the ground and he won't let go. That's Phyl. I sort of like that about her, but Taino people despise dogs like that. Island dogs think about things. They'll be lying in a driveway when a stranger comes up, and the dog'll just lift his head, trying to decide if the guy looks suspicious enough to be worth barking at. No sense wasting energy getting up and barking if it ain't necessary.

That's interesting. Do you know your accent gets heavier when you've had a couple drinks? Oh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that.

Oh, it's OK, honey. Liz and Phyl are always teasing me and making fun of my accent. It's true, I guess.

Well, I apologize anyway. And for interrupting. You were making a point about Phyllis?

Well, I think you can see where I was going. Chip thought calling Benny out on what he was doing was a good idea, but he knew—so did I, and so did Ed and Liz—that Phyl's way wasn't going to work. So we started doing our own thing.

Giving it to the island dogs.

Right!

But didn't you know it would hurt her feelings?

Honey, just about everything hurts her feelings. Haven't you realized that? Phyllis is a very sensitive woman, and she'll start crying just because a song reminds her of something sad. That bossy teacher thing is just the way she copes. We knew she'd be hurt, but Chip said we could deal with that later. And we took our cue from him. After all, he's the one who lives with her. The rest of us figured he knew the magic words to get her to understand things. What a crock that was! Chip, it turns out, thinks he knows a whole lot more than he does. So yeah, things got a little messy in the end. But by that time, the tide started turning and islanders WERE starting to get involved, so that seemed to smooth things over for her. The fact that she told you she still feels that way is... well, we're just going to have to do a Phyllis night again.

A Phyllis night?

Oh, man, I am revealing secrets right and left, aren't I? Let me see how I can explain this.

Well, you know that Liz, Phyl and I were friends before this ever started, right? Even though we're not exactly the kind of people who would gravitate to each other anywhere else. I mean, face it, if Phyl and I had met in the States there would have been nothing. Same with her and Liz. And Liz and me? We might be friends, but not too close... too much competition.

You've thought about this a lot.

Yes, I have, mostly because of Ed. He has watched how this happened, and commented on it, so maybe I have noticed a lot of little things.

Anyway, Liz and Phyl were here before me, so I don't know exactly how that all came about. Except maybe it was just that they were both so different from those Nuco Hills white women and latched onto one another as protection.

That sounds like an interesting digression, but go on.

Then I came down and got into the surprise of my life about being a "foreigner" and "not from here." Ed was actually having an easier time adjusting. I was bouncing around among my aunts, going crazy without anything to do, so I offered to start helping out at Auntie Susan's store. That's where I met them. They came in one day all giggly—they had been drinking, obviously, and were daring each other to buy stupid things, like the smoked oysters that sell here for something like twenty-five dollars. I don't think anyone has ever bought that tin. It might be twenty years old, for all I know.

Well, for me they were kind of a breath of fresh air, so I started joking with them a bit, and Liz looked at me and said, "Now, who the hell are you?"—imitating my accent. So we started talking, and I guess I let my hair down a bit and started complaining about the aunts and how Ed was gone so much. Phyllis started yelling, "Kate night! Kate night!" and Liz said I had to go out to Z's with them that very night.

Now, Ed and I had been to Z's, and my first impression of the place wasn't all that great. I was still in my Atlanta buppie mode, and I expected... I don't know, someplace you could get a good glass of wine or a martini. OK, I was a snob. So I was kind of like, "Nahhh"—but I was really ready to talk with some women who weren't all "Bless the Lord" every other sentence. So I went and had the time of my life.

What was different?

Mostly it was the company. Those two were so crazy, even before we started drinking, and it was just nice to be with such down-to-earth people. And they seemed to know everyone and talked to everyone. I just had a really good time. They had me not caring if the aunts heard about it.

So I was having a good time and figured this was it, a girls' night out. But then they started with "Kate night! Kate night!" again and "Kidnap! Kidnap!" Before I knew what was happening, they hustled me into Liz's truck and we were off on a nighttime tour of the island.

I didn't get it. I kept saying, "I've been here, I've been here," but they were dragging me off to see the moon off St. Mary, the big tamarind tree at the abandoned fruit farm, everything. Finally, Liz said, "Yeah, you've been here, but just look at it," and I got it.

... _Um?_

Obviously, we need a Cherry night. It was seeing where I was, silly! Appreciating East Taino. They had started this to keep their own spirits up—reminding each other why they were here in the first place—and that's what they gave me that night. Ed thought it was brilliant. The two of us even have "us" nights now.

So you think a Phyllis night would be helpful.

Damn right. We may have let Phyl dangle too long. Things worked out the way she wanted, but maybe that's not enough. Hey, maybe we can combine a Phyllis night and a Cherry night. That would be cool.

Mmm, I can't say I'd turn that down. So you think Phyllis is going to be OK with everything?

Honey, we won't let Phyl NOT be OK. Let me work on that. Between us and Chip, we'll have her taking more bows for this than she can bend.

Chip. Tell me more about him. He seems a bit of a mystery man to me.

No kidding. He's a mystery to us all, even Phyl, I think.

Well, you know the line on him. Retired drug runner. Isn't that a great résumé item? Can't you just see the movie credits rolling? Sometimes I wonder if it isn't all bullshit. But then once in a while there will be a conversation, and he does seem to know a hell of a lot about teeny-tiny Bahamian islands, Cuban political connections, Coast Guard operations... weird stuff like that. So you wonder.

Most people here don't care, though. If he's being watched, it's very quiet. He's just another white guy living in the islands.

Him and Phyl, though, that's another thing altogether. Even Phyllis says she doesn't understand their relationship. He was just so good to her after Evan died, showing up to fix things or bring her fish. It was the companionship that brought them together, Phyl says. Eventually, they were spending so much time together that it seemed stupid to try to keep up two houses, so Chip sold his and moved in with her. I'm told there was plenty of talk about that! Liz said every single minister on the island visited Phyllis and told her it just wasn't right. Apparently, no one said a word to Chip. My, isn't that interesting?

But they ignored the gossip, and now everyone more or less thinks of them as a couple. Phyl swears there's nothing sexual about it... but they can be awfully sweet and loving, sometimes like teenagers. Then again, they can fight like an old married couple, each one knowing which button to push.

I don't know. I guess I haven't told you anything you can't see for yourself. You have met Chip, haven't you?

Yes, but just the once at Zeke's. He seemed interested in the documentary, but he made it clear he did not want to be interviewed. I guess if he is a retired drug runner, that's why.

And if he isn't, he keeps up the pretense quite well, doesn't he? Tell the truth, I'm not so keen on Chip myself, but he and Ed get along great. Ed and I have talked about how odd that is... they don't seem to have much in common. But they still have great times together, fishing and tinkering at stuff around the house. I guess you just don't question friendship too much here. It's kind of a miracle to find people you can get along with, in such a small place. That's why I'm just so grateful Liz and Phyllis were here for me.

But I gather you don't think much of Liz's relationship with Zeke. Or what it was, I should say.

Well, after all I've said about island men, you might be surprised to know that I wasn't totally shocked or against it. I mean, I like Zeke. I don't like his running around, but when Liz told me about it... I guess I don't make much sense. I was happy for Liz, you know, because she was so alone here. You know, I have Ed, and Phyl has Chip. I know—there's Dan. But the two of them seemed like it wasn't going to work. So, I don't know. Zeke—well that ship had sailed. And I didn't want Liz getting hurt, so going in knowing that Zeke wasn't going to change his life for her...

I'm still not making any sense, I know. Um... I was happy for Liz; it was something she needed. And it being Zeke was better than lots of others.

Did I answer your question?

I think so.

I know how I come off. Like I say one thing and do another. Let's just say I have principles, but I can bend, too. I think it surprised Liz. She told Phyl long before she told me, probably because she thought I'd get all huffy on her.

Hmm. Uh, look, I got off the track. This is way too much gossip and not much I can actually use. Let's get back to the Royston stuff.

OK, I'll freshen our drinks.

Well, here's a good question for you. Liz says it was your battle more than Phyllis', because it's your island. True?

Now, that was an interesting thing to say. Liz said that?

You seem so surprised.

Well, I am. I guess I never thought about it that much.

And you know, you haven't really said much about what was going on—how you felt about what Royston was doing or anything. You want to give me that for the record?

Well, I'll give it a try, but to tell the truth, I wasn't so into it at first. I mean, yeah, I was upset that day Phyllis came flying in here all upset about the beach blasting, and I set out to help, but then I sort of got preoccupied with my own problems, after the Benny thing at the store. You have to understand how crazed I was about dealing with my aunts, the gossip, all that.

That makes me sound very self-centered, I know. I was interested in preserving East Taino, really. I did take it seriously, at least as seriously as Phyl. She made sense. I don't want crazy development here. This island can't handle big resorts and huge estates. We don't have the infrastructure for it. I don't want things to get out of hand.

At the same time, as a native I can see how those dollars are irresistible. These people have lived day to day for a long time. They've always been land-rich, but until now no one wanted the land, so they scraped by. Now all of a sudden the Benny Roystons come in and they can sell a piece here and buy a Land Rover, or sell a piece there and finally finish their house. Hey, fishing's going down the tubes and it's hard work besides, so why not give your family a little something?

Phyllis—she comes from a different place. She's in a position to take a position. I don't think that any islander would disagree with her, but when it comes to the choice between what's good for me and what's good for the island... well, we're not known for having high principles. Maybe that's harsh, but people look after their own futures first.

And your future?

Hunh. I guess I'm the prodigal daughter, but I do see myself with a future here. Even with a white husband. He's OK with this place... I'm pretty proud of how he's fit in. Sometimes I think he fits in better than me. So yeah, I see a future here.

Liz and Phyllis don't?

Oh, we talk about that one all the time. I think each of them came down with the idea of being here forever, but things change, you know? Now that Evan's gone, Phyl goes back and forth, worrying about health and getting older. Sometimes she says she's ready to just die here, and other times she talks about when will be the right time to go back to the States and check herself into a nursing home. She's a little bit into denial. Liz and I let her be there. God knows what Chip is telling her.

Liz, well, she's younger and would love to stay here. Her situation is more personal, with the whole thing with Dan. I think if he'd come down, she'd stay here in a heartbeat. But I don't see that happening. So I don't know. I don't think she knows. This thing with Zeke—was it a cry for help or a declaration of independence? So far as I know, Dan still doesn't know anything, so I guess it's neither.

I don't know. I told her I just can't imagine doing that to Ed, and she said I just can't imagine being left feeling unattractive for so long. That she didn't really want to start anything with Z other than friendship, but his talk made her feel so good that she just slipped into the rest. But I still can't see it. More power to her, but I can't see it.

You're looking a little snockered.

I'm feeling a little snockered, as you say. Can we turn that thing off?

No problem.

*****

PHYLLIS, DAY THREE

LOOK, CHERRY, I just want to say right off that I apologize for being so short with you last time. I was having a bad day, and I guess I just took it out on you. So, a peace offering.

Ooh! The Beaujolais Nouveau! How did you get this? And how did you know?

Chip went over to Grand today, so I made him search. I figured someone over there would have French connections—hey, the French Connection! Chip loves missions like that, too.

As for knowing... the people in your company know you better than you think. That guy Frank said you were really into wines and that you had commented that being here you'd miss the Beaujolais Nouveau. I just put two and two together.

Well, thank you so much. This is terrific. Let's try it.

Right now? You don't want to save it?

No, no. This is meant to be drunk right now. That's the whole point.

Oh, I didn't know. Evan and I never got into the wine thing much. You don't mind sharing it with a wine idiot?

Of course not. Got a corkscrew? This is great, Phyllis. But you didn't have to, you know. I'm still just doing my job.

Well, I gather it's not the easiest job. Frank was nice enough, but I picked up some vibes... do you feel some sexism going on there?

You noticed, huh? Oh, it's not bad. Those guys try, but they're another generation and the old habits seep through, it seems. I'm the junior person, so I don't get much say in how things are done. You may have noticed that my assignment is talking to the three of you, and not to Zeke or Ed or Chip. I don't think Frank and Mark consciously decided that I would do the women, but that's the way it happened.

Well, say something, girl! Even if it's unintended, don't let them get away with that.

No, no. It's not worth making noise over. I don't want to make trouble unless it's something really important. My grandfather always told me to pick my battles, and this isn't one I want to fight. It's nothing.

Well, that is where we're different.... Hey, this is good! Thanks for sharing.... I do battle. I couldn't let something like that pass, even if it wasn't intended.

Yeah, I've gathered that.

Not to put down your powers of observation, but I have no doubt that Liz and Kate also told you right out that I don't pass up a battle.

True. And guilty.

Guilty?

Of talking about you.

Oh, heavens! We all talk about each other here. I've gotten used to it, mostly.

Well, I kind of wish I had some of your fight. I keep feeling like I'm not getting a whole story here. I mean, you and Liz and Kate have been great, but I wish I could get on the other side, too. I'd love to be able to talk to Royston.

And Big Green won't let you?

_They probably wouldn't_... _but they can't get to him, either. His people have closed ranks. This gossip mill can work against you as well as for._

Will you be able to finish the documentary without him?

Oh, I'm sure they will. "Benjamin Royston declined to be interviewed," blah, blah. It's too bad.

Hmm. Maybe I can really make things up to you.

Huh?

Well, it's third party—maybe fourth, who's counting?—but I can tell you about the night Benny and Chip partied together on Grand.

They did? Pour that wine and talk.

Well, it certainly wasn't anything planned. And mind you, I'm telling this only from what I know from Chip. But...

This was, oh, way back, before Benny blasted the beach but after we knew he was here... not in a favorable way. Chip had gone over for stuff we needed, plus his usual dose of bullshit. I'm just not audience enough for his fish talk, or the bragging about past exploits and all. So he likes to spend a night and hang at Marina Manny's getting into mischief. I usually don't even want to know what he's been up to, but he did tell me about this later because of what happened here.

On this particular day, Chip was hot to find a new truck—well, you know, newer than what we had—and get it here. When he decides he needs something, he goes all out and money is no object, so he was bound and determined to find what he wanted. And to get it here right away. Plus he's always such an optimist. He was so sure he'd have a truck to ship after a half day on Grand that he wasn't even planning on staying this time. He even called Jerry and made plans in advance to get a truck put on Jerry's boat that day.

Jerry the supply guy?

Yeah. Well, Chip doesn't fool around, and he did in fact find what he wanted just that morning. Paid cash—he always pays cash—and drove the thing out to Gull Point by two, which is when Jerry said to be there. Lo and behold, the boat's already full. Along with some cement, there's this huge container of Royston's already on, taking up all the space.

Chip's pissed, of course. To hear him tell it, he almost punched out Jerry before even asking a question. But that's Chip talk, I'm sure. I think he's a little more diplomatic than he makes himself out to be. Still, I believe some strong words were exchanged. I'm just so glad I wasn't there.

The bottom line was, even though Chip had made arrangements, Jerry took the first person to give him something to move, without even giving Chip the chance to get there at the agreed-upon time. Jerry is not known for his customer service. Most people know not to trust him, but Chip is above all an optimist and a believer in the goodness of human nature. How he ever made money in drugs I'll never know.

Oh. Strike that, please.

So there's this big to-do between them down at Gull Point, the upshot of which is that Chip agrees to let Jerry ship it the next day, but also decides to call Will and even pay extra to have Will take the truck the next day, just to show up Jerry. Thank God I wasn't there. I would've been a basket case, playing one guy off another.

But OK. Chip's staying over at the marina hotel, and he goes to get some dinner. He's sitting at the bar, shooting the bull with a couple of guys he knows, when he becomes aware that the other white guy at the bar is talking East Taino stuff. He's never met this guy but likes to know everyone on East, so he introduces himself.

Turns out it's Benny Royston. What's the line? Of all the gin joints in all the world, or something like that...

Well, Chip is still pissed off at Jerry, and at Royston by proxy, so he lit into the guy. Called him names, accused him of strong-arming Jerry, ya-da-da... enough to get Benny pissed at him. Before you know it, Manny himself is coming over and telling them both to take it outside. At which point Chip realizes he's gone too far and starts making like the two of them were just fooling around. Buys Royston a drink, and I guess he didn't really want to fight either, so he goes along and pretty soon they're doing that guy-bonding thing, except that they're both kind of watching each other because it doesn't take a genius to realize that they're about as opposite as you're going to get, politically.

So it went on and on, the way it does with Chip. He spends half a night barhopping with a guy he's just met and doesn't really like. But that's Chip. Like I said, he's an optimist. Always looking for a way to connect.

And did he connect? Did he find out anything about Benny Royston, really?

Actually he did, a little.

_So_...

Well, for one thing, he found out about that wrestling thing, which the Royston Enterprises website conveniently ignores. It appears that after the private schools and the summers in Europe, this was part of Benny's big rebellion. His father of course wanted him in the real estate business, but instead Benny started working as a bartender along with some buddy from school. Not that he needed the money, just something to do while annoying his parents.

The bouncers at the bar—this was a fairly big place, in Miami—were doing that to pay their bills while trying to break into the wrestling circuit. I gather it's kind of the equivalent of the waiter who's really an actor. They told Benny he had the look, if he would polish it up, and his school sports background gave him at least a start in learning the trade. Or do you call it an art? I don't know. Wrestling does not appeal to me at all.

So Benny decides to be the next Hulk Hogan, or whoever the big guy in the field was at the time. Daddy is kind of intrigued by the idea, and offers the muscle and money for getting an agent, PR and all the other stuff. Mummy, of course, hates it. Remember, she's a South Carolina belle who's already been brought down by a guy who makes his money in business. And now the fair-haired boy is letting that hair grow and getting tattoos and bulking up in ways that—well, Kate could do this better—are "just right unseemly."

I find it hard to believe that Benny told Chip all this.

Oh! Well, of course I'm putting two and two together.

Mmm.

Anyway, it wasn't until later that Benny came back into the family fold, during a photo shoot on Grand for a fashion magazine. Somehow he was selected as... oh, you know, background or context or something for the girls, and then had time on his own. He came to East Taino on a day trip, and suddenly his father's genes kicked in. He gave up wrestling in a flash—though he kept the look—and started learning the business, all the while keeping his eye out for the opportunity here.

So that's how it really happened, huh?

Yeah. Trouble is, Benny is who Benny was. He doesn't understand these islands at all, just sees them as another place to scrub up and expand. He told Chip he considers us—people like Liz and me and even the Nuco Hills people—campers, as he put it.

Campers?

Yeah. He's just appalled that we live without air conditioning. Thinks that's totally uncivilized. He would look at this house and say we're roughing it. See? This is his perspective, as you say. He doesn't want East Taino at all. He wants Miami, or what's already been done to the Bahamas and Jamaica. De-sal plants instead of water conservation, imported deli meats instead of a chicken you pick out in Teddy's yard, a Hard Rock Café instead of Z's.

What did Chip say?

Chip's not the argumentative sort. Well, at least not when he doesn't have something at stake. He just takes in information for later. So I imagine he did some political footwork there. When he came back, though, he wasn't thrilled about Royston at all, and I think that's why he got as involved as he did when I got upset. He and I are very different people, but we intersect in some ways.

Hey, honey, this bottle is empty. Does that mean the interview's over?

I guess so. I'm certainly done as far as work is concerned. I've been drinking all day. You want to follow up this good stuff with some of Z's four-dollar special?

Sounds good to me. Chip's probably there already anyway.

*****

LIZ, DAY FOUR

HONEY, YOU LOOK like hell. Sure you want to do this?

I don't have a choice. I'll be all right.

Man, you were fun last night.

Liz, please—not on the tape. I'm already running.

Oh. You just don't give up on this work thing, do you?

_Please, this is not about me. Let's talk about_... _about Zeke, OK?_

You were much more fun last night. OK, Zeke. He'd tell you anything you want to know. Why don't we just go down there, have some hair of the dog and talk?

Because. Because my assignment is to talk to you, not him, because you can give a perspective on him that he can't, because I couldn't possibly start drinking again this morning. Because I have to separate work and having a great time with all you wonderful people. I have to be a good girl.

Hmm. The words of someone who wants to be bad. But OK, Cherry, dear. I can be a good girl, too, you know. Really.

Uh-huh.

There. Made you smile. That's better. OK, I'll talk and you can just sit there and tape. Coffee?

Please.

So you want to know about Zeke. Zeke... well, he really is one of this island's big movers and shakers, even though this new young group in power looks down on him, I guess because he really is a self-made man. Came from nothing. His daddy loved plants and insisted on trying to keep a farm going here, even when other guys of his generation jumped on the opening of the fish processing plant on Seagrape Cay and made some money. So they were poor even by the standards of the day. His mommy made him walk to school barefoot and put the shoes on when he got there, so the younger kids in the family would have them to wear. Sounds so quaint, doesn't it? And kind of hard to believe in someone of our age... my age, not yours.

He wanted to go his own way... I don't know about you, but I've met very few men who actually want to follow in their fathers' footsteps. So he says he spent all his time away from school on the water, thinking he'd join the big money in fishing. He had an uncle who thought Jonah—that's Z's father, ironic, isn't it?—he thought Jonah was crazy for sticking to the land, so he took Z everywhere and taught him everything.

And that's where things were going when he met the late, great Ed Fleming.

Fleming as in Fleming's IGA on Grand? And Fleming's Variety Store?

Yeah, and Fleming's Propane and Fleming's Texaco, and probably it would've been Fleming's Telecommunications if Cable and Wireless hadn't beat him to the punch there. Too bad.

Anyway, it was a school trip to Grand for graduation. You know, in order to "deserve" the party, the kids have to sit through a program of religion and so-called inspirational talks. But in Z's case, Ed really was inspirational. He took the man's words about grabbing opportunity to heart, and even skipped the party to approach him and talk more.

I guess it was meant to be or something. Ed was taken by this skinny kid from East and took him in. Z moved to Grand and was like a personal assistant-slash-protégé-slash-student-slash-buddy. Spent five years learning about making deals and getting the big picture and all that, then came back to East to start in a fresh place.

Thing is, though, he never wanted to exploit East Taino. He just wanted to do some good and make a living. He was looking at both sides, too—locals and tourists. Little by little, he built things up. And he was still his father's son in a way—never sold the land he inherited, and bought up some parcels no one else thought would ever do anything.

Don't let these young guys tell you East Taino is just starting. It just started when Zeke got to work. At least that's the history I know.

And the bar?

Well, I think for a time Z was looking to tourism as the next big thing here, so he opened that place, but it was a bit too early. Mostly just a place for guys to get drunk after work at first. But then the Nuco Hills gang started coming, thinking it was funky and fun, and it took off. Other guys have tried to copy him, but they just get the guys getting drunk after work. Z's somehow is the only place where it's black and white together. It's hard work, but a little gold mine, too. He says he considered opening a small hotel, too, but finally realized that he just didn't have the energy to run two things for tourists. Tourists are pretty demanding, you know. So he kept the bar, which has done pretty good, and focused more on other types of development, like the seafood shop and the marina.

_But the marina didn't get off the ground_...

Yeah, the Benny thing. You want me to get into that now, or go on with Zeke?

_Hey, if you have more to say, go on. I'm all ears_... _and camera, I guess._

OK. More coffee?

Well, Zeke is pretty thoughtful about what goes on here. Even if he is out to make a buck. He may not be well educated, but he reads a lot, and he makes connections. He understands about turtles, overfishing and stuff, but I think he kind of has a balance about it. Let's put it this way: He wouldn't ask someone to go for a turtle, but if a guy he knew brought one in, he'd sure buy it and sell it in the shop, because he knows some local woman who remembers the old days is going to want it. That turtle is already dead, so why not make something off it?

You look like we just murdered your firstborn. Sorry, Cherry, but that's the way it is here. I never could get Phyl to accept it, either, which is why... well, you know.

So, what else you want to know?

Well, what made him decide eventually to deal with Benny instead of just kill him, as Kate so eloquently described?

Oh, yeah, the deal. That, my dear, requires a drink.

Liz! It's only nine thirty. Are you nuts?

Nine thirty's respectable here on East. Didn't you notice?

Liz, are you an alcoholic?

I take it that means you don't want one. No, Cherry, I am not an alcoholic. Although I have asked myself that. What I've decided is that I have an alcoholic personality, but I'm not there yet. I'm just under a lot of stress, and this is my way of coping.

Stress?

Well, yeah! Look, I live here, which is paradise to some but has its own problems, and I'm alone because I can't get my husband to leave his cushy lifestyle to be with me. Does he love me? Is it over? I don't know. I mean, yeah, we're different people, but you would think that if we really had something we'd be able to figure this out. Instead we fight over the phone and the Internet, and then I fall into this thing with Zeke. I don't know. I'm all screwed up. I just know that here is where I want to be, where I need to be as an artist. If I'm not here, then I'm someone else. Someone I don't like so much. Oh, fuck, I'm sorry.

_It's OK, don't feel bad. I didn't realize_...

It's not that bad, really. I'm just pissed off because I got another e-mail asking—no, demanding—that I go home. Home. Here is home. Dan just doesn't get it.

Look, I didn't mean to do that. Where were we?

No. Don't do that. You sweep it all under the rug, you will be an alcoholic. I understand, Liz. My marriage isn't exactly perfect, either, you know.

You? What's wrong? Fighting about who does the dishes?

I'll ignore that, because I'm trying to be sympathetic. But if you want me to be just a professional stranger, I... Oh! The tape's still running. Here.

*****

Wait, wait. This'll be fun. I'll edit it out but save it for us. Kate, you be the narrator.

Kate: Wait! I'm calling Phyl. Phyl, get your Yankee butt over here to Liz's. Cherry's here and we're going to do a documentary on three foreigners who become island women.

Liz: Four!

Kate: Four foreigners, sorry. Hurry, we're already running the tape. See y'all. OK, now, ready?

We're already running.

Kate: This... is a memory play. As such...

Liz: Oh, no. We're not doing Tennessee Williams, with "dependin' on the ki-endness of stray-angers" and all that bullshit.

Why, what's wrong with thay-at, Liz?

Kate: Now, just stop imitating my accent. Both of you do a lousy job of it, anyway, you little no-neck monsters.

Liz: Kate the cat.

No, that's Maggie the cat. Kate's a shrew.

Kate: Wrong author.

Now, c'mon, we need an intro.

Liz: OK, me. Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

Yeah! Da-DA. Da-da-da-DA-da.

Kate: And this is an improvement? Oh, here's Phyl. We'll get her to do the intro, OK? Phyl! C'mon, hurry! You're on _Candid Camera_.

Phyllis: What? What? What do you want?

Sit here and do an introduction to our documentary.

Phyllis: Just like that? Um, OK. Welcome to East Taino Island, once the playground of the pirate Anne Bonny and now home to her spiritual descendants, Elizabeth Walker, Katherine Carroll, Phyllis Mitchell and Cherry Hartford. Is Cherry a nickname? I should use a real name.

No, it's just Cherry.

Liz: This is boring. I think Phyl needs a drink.

Kate: Everyone needs a drink! You be bartender, Liz-z-zeke.

Phyllis: Oh, very clever. Now I see what this is all about.

Liz: What'll it be, ladies?

Kate: I'll have a piña colada, heavy on the coconut, and don't forget the little umbrella.

Liz: Umbrella? Where the hell you think y'are?

_Oh, oh! That's a movie line, too!_ M*A*S*H, _right? It's Bill's favorite._

Kate: This is getting way too derivative. I'm the narrator, so I'm taking charge. Let's start with your finest Island Girl Moment, OK? Who wants to go first?

_Well, since I'm new and not really officially an island girl_...

Liz: Sez who?

My moment is easy. It was that first night when Stag hit on me.

Kate: Why you little tramp! You told me he didn't!

I hardly knew you, Kate! But he did.

Liz: And what did you say?

Liz! I was nice but I turned him down.

Phyllis: So how is this an Island Girl Moment, then? That's nothing to gossip about, if you don't give us the details.

_Because I felt_... _it was the first time in a long time someone's made a pass at me, and it was all a part of suddenly being here. It's when I knew this was different from my U.S. life, and I'd have to really be my own person again._

Liz: OK, fair enough. My Island Girl Moment was that day my well pump broke when my cistern was dry, so I had to drop a bucket down the well and haul up any water I wanted to use. To me, that's the essence of being here.

Phyl?

Phyllis: Hmm. Well, I don't want this to be a downer, but it was the day of Evan's funeral. Everyone was so nice, but they were all talking to me like it was a given that I'd be going back to Maryland. I remember looking out to sea to help blink away some tears, and the color hit me, and the thought hit me: I'm staying. I don't remember who I said it to, but I said it out loud: "I'm staying." And I did.

Wow. That's amazing. OK, Miss Narrator, your turn.

Kate: Well, I'm not going to say it's when Benny Royston hit on me, or when Auntie Ruth told me to go home and I said no. I wouldn't call either of them my "finest." But there was...

Phyllis: Whose phone?

_Mine. Hang on. Cherry Hartford, Big Green Productions. Yes, Frank. Yes, I am. I've talked with Mrs. Walker this morning and I have an appointment with_... _um, Mrs. Mitchell later today. Uh-huh. You have?_

_Well, yeah, there is a lot._... _Well, yes, it's more personal, but that's what_... _That can be edited out. The_... _The point is_...

_But that's not how it works. What I've been learning is that the personal stuff is all tied together with_...

Look, I am with one of the interviewees now. Can I we talk about this later? Tomorrow, maybe? I understand. I do understand. But Frank, I want to make the case for keeping the relationships in the piece. Without them, it wouldn't have happened. OK. You will? Here? Great. But you will listen? Your mind isn't made up? Yeah.

First plane's good. Do you want me to meet you at the airport, or are you coming to the hotel? OK. OK. Bye.

You all can probably figure that one out, can't you?

Liz: Here, Cherry. Rum and Coke with lots of lime, like you like it.

Thanks. Well, he sure knows how to put a damper on a party, even all the way from Grand.

Phyllis: Now, look. You are not going to let this happen. Your job isn't your entire life, and you're not going to let Frank run it.

Liz: Go, team!

Phyllis: We are going to help. He's coming here? OK, by tomorrow morning you'll just overwhelm him with logic and rightness.

Kate: And goodness, and the American way, by God! I'm teasing, Phyl. Of course we'll help. Now, what's his problem?

Well, you heard. He thinks what I've done so far is too personal and involved in local relationships. Not enough concentration on facts and events. The prick.

Phyllis: Now, now. We can deal with this. Liz, get me some paper and a pen.

Liz: Yeah... oh! Cherry, that tripod nearly killed me. Can't you put that away now?

_Oh, shit! It's still on! I have got some major backped_...

*****

PHYLLIS, DAY FOUR

WOO! I'M A bit bushed. You sure you want to go on today? We could wait and see what happens after your meeting with Frank tomorrow.

Nope, I'm already running. I feel good about the plan, so let's go.

Oh, OK. So I guess it's left to me to tell you about the marina deal. Let's see if I can do it the way Big Green apparently wants it.

Hmm. One night at Ed and Kate's, Chip brought Zeke and Benny together, and they sat down and wrote up an agreement where Benny sold his Mangrove Landing property to Zeke and agreed to let Zeke be the sole developer of a marina on the site. The other people at the meeting were Ed and Kate Carroll. Those are the facts. The end.

Phyllis!

I'm just making a point. Keep that to show Frank the difference. Now I'll tell you the story.

Chip sort of brokered the whole thing. He just loves that kind of deal-making, so when everything came down the way it did, he decided to get in on the action and use his one night with Benny to his advantage. He had the idea, but first he had to get Zeke to go for it.

He told me Zeke was pretty stubborn at first. And I guess it didn't help that Chip's wheeling and dealing doesn't always go just so, and Zeke knew it. So Chip got Ed and Liz involved, to warm him up. That took awhile. Finally, Zeke got it, and then it was full speed ahead.

So Chip set up this meeting. No easy task, let me tell you. Benny was a bit suspicious, despite his night with Chip, so at first he stonewalled. Stopped answering Chip's phone calls. It was kind of funny, because it was so obvious. Chip called Benny's cell while he was talking with Ed, trying to work it all out. No answer. Ed handed him his cellphone—a number Benny wouldn't recognize. Damn it if Benny didn't fall for it and pick up. Caught! Then Benny wouldn't agree to meet at the bar. So Chip suggested Ed's as a more neutral spot. Let me tell you, Kate sure wasn't pleased about that.

She was even more unhappy when Ed and Chip decided that Liz was out for the meeting and Kate was in. The thinking was that one so-called neutral party—Ed—would look logical, but two might be suspicious. So Liz was scratched, which made her unhappy, 'cause she likes to be in on things, you know? And Kate was in because it would look more normal for her to be in her own home. Besides, her being around might make Benny uncomfortable, because of that history, and Chip thought it was good to keep him a bit off balance. Some people call Chip a burnout, but the man does think things through.

So there they were. Kate came through and played her part beautifully. You realize, of course, that I wasn't here. Liz and I got it all right after Royston left. We went over and the others did a blow-by-blow for us. That was fun.

Anyway, Kate did a gracious Southern hostess thing, brought out peanuts and cheese and crackers and served drinks, then pretended to fade out with "You boys let me know if you need anything." Of course, after she closed her bedroom door, she snuck back out into the living room to eavesdrop.

So it was Zeke's turn. He did it serious. Chip said it looked like he was just barely controlling himself and could snap at any second. Everyone joked about that later, but I have the feeling it might have been how Zeke really felt.

He started by talking about the situation with Dashiki—the wounded father. Says in his understanding of things, the baby's father should take some responsibility, that sort of thing. Well, this is what Benny was expecting, so he starts off all breezy and smarmy, saying, well, you can't be sure I am the father, now, can you? Pressing his luck, too, insinuating that Dashiki was promiscuous—right in Zeke's face!

But Zeke was cool. He said, look, we can do this your American way, and have your lawyer and my lawyer and DNA tests, or we can do it the Taino way, and have your lawyer and my lawyer and testimony from everyone in Caneytown, including the school principal and Rev. Albright, who both saw you stalking a minor. Yeah, he used the word "stalking"—nice touch. Either way, it's not going to be pretty and it will be expensive, Zeke said.

Or we can work something out.

Well, Benny was starting to get the idea that this wasn't going to be easy. He blustered around a bit and said this sounded like blackmail and he could get Zeke in a lot of trouble, but Zeke stayed calm and said he was simply offering some choices that would allow Benny to fulfill his parental obligations. Don't you love it?

What were Chip and Ed doing during all this?

Ed kind of went into the background, opening beers and putting out more crackers, acting as if this was only mildly interesting: "You guys are just using my kitchen." Chip just sat there sucking on a beer, watching them. Ed said it looked like he was at a tennis match.

So Zeke laid out what he had in mind—actually, what Chip had suggested, but Benny didn't know that. Remember that Benny bought up land right next to Z's property where he wanted to build a marina? Well, Benny sells Zeke his marina land, which would double what Zeke already had—and Zeke emphasized the word "sell." Said I am not asking you to give me that land. Only to sell it at $10,000 an acre.

Well, Benny started laughing, because, let's face it, that's very low for that area. Said Zeke had to be crazy, and he wasn't in business to lose money.

But Chip had done his homework. He knew that Benny had bought the land for that very price, because old man Jefferson was desperate for money to go to Miami and get a mastectomy for his wife, and Benny took advantage. See what kind of guy he is? The sleaze!

No one mentioned that, though. Instead, Zeke just said, Ben, you're not going to be losing money you already have. You'll only lose what you could do with that land in the future. But you have a son or daughter who will need something in the future, too—so all you're doing is passing that future money on to them. Through me.

Well, Benny didn't want to let go. He wanted to know how he could be sure Zeke would pass on the profits and not just keep them.

High drama time. Zeke stood up. "I am a grandfather and a Taino Islander," he said. "If you don't know us by now, you don't belong here."

Well, there was something about the way he did it that just erased the smirk from Benny's face. Ed's the one who said that. The man got serious. He said the offer was worth thinking about, but he'd have to get his lawyer involved. That's OK, that's good, Zeke said. We'll just sign an informal agreement and let the lawyers work it out.

Now, of course Zeke already had a statement made out, and he whipped it out right then. Benny started to laugh again, but—I don't know whether to believe this or not, because it sounds so staged, but I wouldn't put it past Chip—Chip stood up and Zeke and Ed both took a step forward, all at the same time. Chip swears it was spontaneous, but I wonder. So Benny picked up the paper and started reading.

It looked as if it was going to come off, but then he got to the noncompete clause and started squawking again. Zeke just kind of shrugged, as if it wasn't all that important. Let's just let Mr. Minnich and Mr. Koren work that out, he said.

So Benny signed. He signed! And Zeke gave it one more touch. He took a swig of his beer, tipped back his chair and said, "I'd say it was a pleasure doing business with you, but it wasn't. Still, consider yourself lucky that I'm a reasonable man."

What a crock. If it wasn't for Chip, Zeke would've killed him if he had the chance. But Kate pronounced him brilliant and had Liz make up an Oscar. Haven't you seen it at the bar?

I wondered about that.

Yeah. Man, did we party after! We just didn't know.

Know what?

Well, Royston wasn't that easy to crack. Yeah, the legal stuff started moving, but the man was pissed and he decided to play rough.

What do you mean. Isn't that it?

No, honey. That wasn't the end. But right now it's the end for me. I'm about ready to fall asleep.

You can't just leave me hanging like that!

Yes, I can and I will. Here's what I want you to do. Get together with Kate tomorrow morning after your thing with Frank and talk about Liz.

Liz? Why? And why not Liz herself?

Liz is not objective about herself. And you have to know more about her to understand how Benny thought he could get his revenge.

Phyllis, this isn't fair!

Look, you want me to go back to just-the-facts-ma'am? Didn't think so. Patience, girl. Talk to Kate.

*****

CHERRY

WHAT A FRIEND we have in metaphor, thought Cherry, watching Teener's taxi take Frank away. The meeting had gone well, thanks in no small part to the island girls.

The metaphor—East Taino as a large, dangerous and unpredictable animal, and thus requiring a different approach from the standard documentary—had been Kate's, although it was Phyllis who had identified Frank's dislike, even fear, of the out-island.

Brilliant, really. Caught up in her own first impressions and the need to get working, Cherry had missed seeing Frank's discomfort. It didn't dawn on her until the girls did some quizzing.

"Why has he been staying on Grand and not here?"

"Yeah, this is where the action is. Was."

"We never even got to meet him."

Only then did Cherry remember how Frank had ditched after the first night. He'd complained about the spotty Internet access and cellphone dead zones, and used that excuse to set up shop in a posh Grand Taino resort. "Someplace civilized," he'd said, his eyes (in retrospect) making furtive movements, as if East Taino's evening sounds contained jungle noises instead of the steady susurration of palm leaves and lap of waves. Some environmentalist.

So, according to plan, Cherry ignored the misogynist Frank—the man who'd assigned her the women because he thought getting rid of a developer was a man's game—and played to the elitist, even racist, Frank.

Heading back to the patio, she paused by the empty hotel bar, shrugged, and allowed herself a celebratory beer. She wanted to share this with her trio, but not quite yet. Sure, they'd been helpful, but they were also hiding things.

She settled into a lounge chair. Yeah, what was all that about? What was really going on, and why couldn't they just tell the story? All this intrigue and gossip. They even gossiped about each other!

She took a long pull on her beer and recalled what she'd just said to Frank: "Those donkeys on Grand Taino could be in a petting zoo, but the ones here—well, these guys will tell you that you have to wait and watch before you put a rope around one's neck. The people are the same—skittish, liable to bolt. I'm doing the watching and waiting, Frank. But I know you want that donkey. I'll get you the donkey."

Cherry laughed, hardly believing it had worked. Maybe because it was true? Were Kate, Phyllis and Liz just skittish donkeys?

Maybe.

*****

KATE, DAY FIVE

WELL, HONEY, THAT is just great. Let's call the others.

I already talked to Phyl. And she was on her way to see Liz, so I figured she'd share the news. She will, won't she?

What do you mean?

Well, she seemed a bit funny about Liz yesterday.
Oh. Yeah. I'm supposed to tell you about Liz. You want to know more about her, right?

Well, this wasn't my idea. I'm kind of confused. Phyllis said I should talk with you about her, instead of anyone telling me what happened after the marina agreement was made.

All in good time.

What kind of game are you guys playing? I get the feeling you're all running the show, like you don't trust me to get it right or something.

No, no... we do trust you, Cherry. It's just... well, it's true that we've held back a bit...

No shit.

But we're trying to help. Really. And maybe to protect ourselves a bit. This isn't a wham-bang, here's-what-went-down kind of thing here. It's all... delicate. There are people involved here, people who are going to continue living on this island, and what we say—no, it's more how we say it—well, we're going to have to live with it. You'll all pack up your cameras and recorders and after the show airs you won't give East Taino another thought. But we're going to be here.

Please, don't get mad. We are trying to help. We're trying to give you the story you want, but we've got other things to consider.

I haven't convinced you, have I?

Not really. But it doesn't matter. Let's just go on. What do I need to know about Liz that I don't already?

Well, this affair with Zeke. They were trying to keep things very, very quiet, you know. Not just because of Cynthia and that whole thing, but remember that Dan's mother lived here before she died, and she had all these friends in Nuco Hills. So there were people who knew Dan when he was younger, and who could easily pass island gossip on his way. And Liz wasn't out to hurt Dan or anything.

But it didn't happen that way. One night, way after the bar was closed, someone walked in on them. You know, one of those "door opens, oops, sorry" kind of things. Quick, but who knows what was seen?

Who was it?

Uh, let's just say someone, OK?

_Look, you're doing it again. All I'm asking for is a little honesty, and_...

Honesty is not the best policy here. Cherry, trust me. This person should not be named. I'm sorry, but I will not tell you who.

Go on.

Honey, really, trust me.

Go on.

Well, that was when Liz decided to tell Phyl and me what was going on. Well, Phyl at first. And she sort of asked Phyl for advice on how to handle it, since Phyl had already been through the mill when it comes to gossip. Just in case, you know.

Phyl had come to the conclusion that trying to set a record straight was useless, and besides, in Liz's case the gossip would be true, so that wouldn't work anyway. So she told Liz to deny nothing, in fact to tell everyone she and Z were having an affair, flirt with him like crazy... make it into a joke, sort of. The theory was that then no one could tell the difference between the gossip and the joke, and pfft, it goes away.

It was a good plan, and it did work for a while. Some gossip did get out—boy was Phyl furious—but...

Wait. Phyllis was furious?

Uh, yeah. Um, you know, she just took it bad because of what she had been through, and Liz is her friend. Anyway, it got to be someone would "learn" that Liz and Z were an item, and they'd say, "Yeah, yeah." Pretty smart, that Phyl.

Liz did a good job. Played it up big, even in front of Cynthia. At first, it seemed Cynthia wasn't sure about the joke—after all, Zeke ran around on her before—but Liz was having so much fun with it that Cynthia decided to get in on the act. One day in the store Trini asked her if it was true her husband had a white woman now, and Cynthia countered with, "That boy don't know how to keep no Taino woman happy, and you think he gonna charm some white girl?"

Actually, though, when she heard about that, Liz got pretty upset. It made her realize that she had doubly deceived a woman who was a friend. And then, there was the fact that Zeke was being dissed. Liz claims that she was in it just for the sex, but I think she was starting to fall for him a little, too.

Anyway, the gossip-dissolver, as Phyl called it, worked so well that Liz and Z continued to carry on instead of chilling it, which was probably a bad idea. But what are you gonna say to her? I don't claim to know everything going on inside her head, but what I think is, she was so upset by the ongoing argument with Dan that she just lost it when Zeke started paying attention to her. Or maybe it was the romance of living on the edge and all that. She is an artist, after all.

Fact is, I don't know. Things were a little funny between her and me there for a while, 'cause she knew how I felt about Taino guys. So she wouldn't say much about it with me, though she did tell me the truth when she started all this fake affair stuff. I was left to guess a lot of things. A lot of things.

The whole thing also put me in a bad position when it came to the marina deal. Liz wanted to be there real bad. She wanted to see Zeke stick it to Benny. But there was a consensus that that was a bad idea, so I ended up getting stuck.

Wait, wait. A consensus? And why was it a bad idea?

Well, maybe not a consensus—but you don't think that whole thing went down without some planning, do you? Chip had it all together, and he actually called a meeting about it. He was working hard.

Tell me about this meeting. Who was there?

Let's see. Chip, Ed, Zeke, Phyl, me, Liz and this guy from Grand—what was his name? Michael Williams, that's it. He handles the legal stuff for the paper and came as a favor to Ed. He didn't say much, just kind of listened and only spoke up if there was some legal point to make.

It was a pretty disorganized meeting. Chip had the whole plan laid out, but he's not a detail person, like he didn't even think about how it would look if the meeting with Royston was all just guys. Liz is the one who pointed out that Benny would think it was more casual, island-like, and not get too suspicious if a woman was around, too. I have some smart friends, you know?

Of course, Liz thought the woman would be her, but then we all started talking about it, and Zeke is the one who said he didn't trust her to keep quiet enough. Liz got pissed off and started giving him what for, and that's when Chip pointed out that what she was doing was exactly what shouldn't happen, and that she shouldn't be there at all. And this was even before we all knew about the affair, remember. Liz started arguing with him, but Ed said he agreed with Chip, and that shut her up. It's funny—everyone seems to like and, well, respect Ed, even though he really doesn't say too much and tries real hard to stay out of island politics and gossip. Anyway, Phyl was out of the question—of course, she got pissed off, too—and that's when everyone looked at me.

Let me tell you, being around Benny was the last thing I wanted to do. But Chip and Ed seemed to think it was perfect, that it would make him uncomfortable while being perfectly logical. So there it was.

But the thing was, I was unhappy, Liz was unhappy and Phyl was unhappy. It was like island guys taking over. OK, so maybe Chip and Ed are far from being island guys, but you know what I mean.

But it worked out.

Well, yeah, better than we thought. At first. Benny left pretty pissed off. Said he was going to contact his lawyer, take us to court, that sort of thing. Nobody took it seriously, 'cause we knew we had him. What we didn't count on, though, was that he had already been around the island enough to figure out that things here aren't always what's going on on the surface. He may be Miami, but he has some street smarts, too. I don't think Chip bargained on that.

So what did he do?

Nothing, for a while. Just watched. And that was the problem, because Liz and Zeke were still carrying on, and Benny was watching. And he had his people watching. Poor Liz didn't have a chance. Here she's thinking she's living in this safe place where you can keep your doors and windows open, and all along there were people spying on her.

I'm confused. We're back to Liz and Zeke?

Cherry, are you purposely being dense or what? Get with the program, girl! Gossip! Benny had heard the scuttlebutt about them, and, being a schemer himself, decided that there might actually be some truth in it. So he started watching. And Liz and Z just played right into his hands.

Man, he was serious, too. Managed to get photos and everything. Everyone's still wondering who he had working for him, if it was anyone on island. 'Cause if so, that person is toast. I have a few suspicions... but that's neither here nor there.

So. Now Benny has some goods on Zeke, and he's betting that Z doesn't need a scandal, especially after he just got through playing the aggrieved father and all. He figures he's going to turn the tables on him and maybe even get his land for the marina. So he calls up Zeke and says, "We have a little more to talk about." Arranges to meet—this time at the bar, that's how cocky he was—and then calls up Liz and asks to meet her at the bar.

Well, this happened bam-bam, so Liz was confused, of course. He made it sound like he just wanted to talk to her, so her wheels started turning and she thought maybe he was trying to figure a way to wiggle out of the deal. But what that had to do with her—well, she had to wonder. Maybe he thought she had influence with Cynthia or something. So she went.

When she got there, Benny was sitting with Zeke, and Zeke didn't look too good. She came up to the table and saw the pictures all laid out. It was pretty clear what Benny was doing. And Benny was enjoying it immensely.

I'll let Liz tell you all the details, but the upshot of it was that Benny was essentially blackmailing them. Good old Lizard, though... she was able to think fast, and did she ever. She turned to Z and said, "Well, that would solve your problem with the environment people, so why not go ahead?"

Now Zeke was confused, but he knew Liz well enough to know she had some scheme, so he played along. They made out like there was a problem with the land and the plan to turn it into a marina. I'll let Liz tell you, but apparently she and Z just kept going back and forth, making it up, and Benny believed them. But he wasn't about to let them off the hook, either.

So Liz sighs and pretends to think, then says she might be able to sign her house over to him instead of the marina land, would that do? Well, that house has been on prime beach property for years, and you could almost see Royston slobbering, she said. He tried to be cool, but she knew he was already forgetting about the marina land.

She told him since it was family land she needed to work out a few things, though, so asked for some time to do that. Well, Mr. Dollar-Signs-in-the-Eyes decided he could be gracious now, so he gave her a week. But he also threatened to take the bar if she didn't come through.

You do need to hear it all from Liz, though. She does a great imitation of Benny.

_Wow, that's amazing. Let me ask you_...

No, no, no, Cherry! I shouldn't have been telling Liz's story anyway. I am not one to upstage another actor. You talk to her now, OK?

*****

LIZ, DAY FIVE

MY TURN, HUH? So what do you know so far?

Come on. I know you and the other girls are on the Coconut Telegraph. And that I'm the only one who's being kept in the dark. So don't be coy. Tell me about the second meeting with Royston.

My, a little tetchy are we? Let me get the rum.

Liz.

What? Just because you're a little pissed off, you're not going to have a drink? Honey, I think I can read people better than that. If you aren't island material, I don't know who is. Wait, I have some Coke back in here somewhere. There. Hey, did you bring my cigarettes?

Oh, yeah. Here.

Lemme get my purse after I'm done here.

No, that's OK. Forget it. You serious about me being island material?

Cherry, you have East Taino written all over you. You... you gonna answer that?

It's Bill. No.

Oh? No, he's being insistent. Answer it. It might be important.

It's not important.

Look, I'll leave if you want.

_No_... _oh, all right. Yeah? Yeah, look. You know I'm working. This is not_...

Bill, this isn't the right time. Yes. OK, I believe you. It's very nice of you to keep track. But I'm still not sure that's what I want. Besides, what are we going to do? You're going to fly down here this minute? Be realistic. And I hate the idea that we're going to—and I'm not sure I'm even ready for that!

_God, you sound like the guys here, all hot to mate and then let the woman_... _no, I'm not. I'm just saying for example. I_... _oh, this is stupid. Look, I'm at work. In fact, this conversation is on my tape. I'll call you later, OK?_

_No_... _don't call me that. It only makes me want it less. I'm no one's mommy and right now I'm damn glad about it._

No. No. We're not doing this. I'll call you tonight.

Not even goodbye, I love you?

Not today. Shit. I lost track of where we were. What were you saying?

Well, I was going to tell you how island you are. But if you want to talk about Bill...

No, I don't. Really. I'd like to get back to where we were. Um, tell me—tell me about that second meeting with Benny Royston.

Second meeting? You mean the blackmail?

_Yes, if that's what you call it_.

But Kate already told you.

Yeah, what happened. But I want to hear it from you, plus how it all felt. And how you came up with this idea of offering your house.

Oh, OK. Let me light up.

Well, God's truth, I had no idea anything was going on until I got a call from Benny out of the blue. And all he said was he'd like to talk to me and meet him at Z's. I figured it had something to do with what all was going on—hell, I knew it wasn't a social call—but it seemed odd he would call me. Still, I figured maybe he had also called Phyl and Kate. At any rate, he didn't give much notice, so I didn't have time to think too hard about it. I just went.

When I saw him sitting with Z, that's when I started to get a bad feeling. And then those pictures. God! Pretty raunchy stuff, and I looked horrible. Porn is not sexy when you're involved, especially when middle age is creeping up on you.

_Liz! How can you joke_...

I've gotta joke about it. It was that bad. Cherry, it was like the world froze. I was, like, watching myself, disconnected. I was still me, but not really. Z wouldn't look at me, and Benny wouldn't look away. And I don't know where it came from, but I started talking about the Department of Environmental Resources. Shit, I don't know where I got that. Probably from listening too much to Phyllis. I knew I was making things up, but it didn't feel like it. Just like Phyl took over and was spouting off. I told Zeke maybe it was best, because of all the problems meeting the DER requirements, and how he didn't have the money to either fight it or meet the regs.

The way Zeke looked at me, I thought he was going to blow it. One of those "have you lost your fucking mind" looks. But then he actually said, "Liz, are you out of your fucking mind?" and started to argue with me, and I knew it was all right, he got it. He was damn good, too. Pretty soon we were fighting over this completely fictitious problem, with all the petty details—who he knows in the department that would help him, how East's inspections are spotty and worth a risk, how much money it would cost... trust me, it was almost a real argument. I thought he might hit me when I threw in a bit about how his name was toast in Grand when it came to borrowing more money. Maybe that one was a little bit too close to the truth, you know?

We should've gotten Oscars. At least I wish Kate had heard it. But Benny was eating it up. I think he was a little confused at first, but like everyone else he's been through the mill with the government here, and I think we were making the marina idea a little less attractive. Zeke and I kept it up—we didn't know what else to do—until Benny finally broke in and said, "Look, I changed my mind. Forget the land. Give me this bar."

Well, that shut us up for a few minutes. Didn't see that one coming. Zeke just deflated on me. Sat there looking at the table, and I knew he was thinking about how hard he had worked for the place. So I had to come up with something. And of course it was the house.

I'm making another. Want one? Oh, of course you do. You gonna answer that?

No. It's Bill. I'll call him later.

Cherry, we need to talk about this, you know.

Let's just go on, OK?

All right, your call. So. The house. This house. My big bargaining chip, and it's not really just mine to bargain with. But what we needed was some time, time to think about this and figure out a way to deal with it. And Benny doesn't know the situation here; it's not as if he cared that much about the Nuco houses before. Yeah, campers—but he had to know that this place is worth quite a bit, being right on the beach and all. So I dove right in. Here—sorry there's no lime, but the boat didn't reach at John's, and the only ones there were already fuzzy.

Forget that. Go on. What did you say?

I told him he didn't want the bar 'cause it was commercial property, and his bailiwick was residential. Commercial would open a whole new can of worms. But I did know of a residential property that might suit him—I tried to build it up before I said it was my house.

I don't think I needed to build it up. When I said "my house," his eyes lit up and he even reached for a pen. This was something he wanted, I could see.

Then Zeke broke in. I don't know if he was talking for real or going on with our playacting, but he tried to tell me I shouldn't even consider signing my house away. Whatever Zeke meant, it made Royston even more hungry.

By now I was scaring myself, because even though I felt like this wasn't really happening, I knew it was real. Shit, here I was playing games with a house that's mine only because my husband's family was smart enough to buy into this island years ago. But I had something Benny wanted, and I was definitely going to use it.

So I went on lying and told him there might be a few problems transferring the title because lots of government records got lost during Hurricane Andrew. Well, some of that was true, but the land title records weren't lost. But Benny, being a newcomer, didn't know that. So I asked if I could have some time to work it all out for him.

Well, again, no one really likes to deal with the government, so my offering to do that legwork was a sweet deal as far as Benny was concerned, and he said yes. I asked for a month; he said I should be able to do it in a week. I laughed a little and said I'd try, but you know the government here. He said yeah, try hard. I'm getting that house, he said, and then he gathered up his photos and left.

Cherry, I thought I was going to throw up. I'm one of those people who can carry on during a crisis, but when it's over I fall apart. I kind of went hysterical on Zeke, and he was sweet enough to hold me and all, but I think that was the beginning of the end for us. If there's one thing these island guys can't stand in a woman, it's crying. They don't get helpless like other men, they get pissed off, like you can really control crying and are doing it just to make them mad.

Yeah, looking back, that was when we fell apart. We were still friends—we are still friends—but the other stuff took on a definite chill. It was like we used up all our in-sync stuff during that little charade, and nothing was right after. At first it just seemed like we were too busy to get together. I'll admit I used it as an excuse, and I think he was doing that, too. And then as things went on, I was getting closer to Cynthia and things just didn't feel right anymore. Plus I was having guilt about the house on top of guilt about Zeke when it came to Dan. Too much guilt. It was easier to stay away, or to always be with my girlfriends when I was around the bar. And then I heard he had taken up with this Indonesian girl who works down at the hotel in Caneytown, and I realized I wasn't even jealous. Kind of relieved, in fact.

Um, Liz?

Yeah, honey?

You know the camera's on. Can we get back...

Oh! Yeah, yeah. Hey, can we stop for today? Maybe Phyl wants to talk, but I'm talked out.

*****

PHYLLIS, DAY FIVE

I DIDN'T EXPECT to see you today, so the house is a bit of a mess.

_Don't worry about that. It's OK. Let me make some adjustments  
here_...

Thanks for letting me come. Liz said she was all talked out, so I thought I'd take a chance.

Is she OK?

I'm not sure. She seemed all right while she was talking about what happened, but then she went off on a tangent about her and Zeke, and then she didn't want to go on.

Hmm. She has been a lot moodier since all this Royston stuff, I will say. Sometimes she's the tough Lizard with a drink and a cigarette, and then she gets... distant, sort of. Kate and I aren't sure what it all means. We thought doing the documentary would help her sort it all out, but apparently not, I guess.

There, that should do it. Now, I guess you should start picking up the story after Liz made that bluff about turning the house over to Benny.

Yeah. Cherry, at the risk of incurring your wrath, can I start instead on another tangent? I promise it will be important later.

Phyllis, I've given up trying to control this thing. Talk away on whatever you want to talk about.

OK. Well, class, today's topic is religion. Are you a churchgoer, Cherry?

_Uh, this is a surprise. Yeah, I am. Not as regular as I should be_...

What religion?

_Roman Catholic_... _Phyl, where are you going?_

East Taino doesn't have many Catholics, and definitely no Catholic church. In fact, even though we have tons of churches, almost all of them are some form of Baptist or a self-styled fundamentalist group. I go to one of the Baptist churches, even though I still consider myself a Presbyterian. That just kills Kate. She actually was raised Baptist, but now she's completely opposed to all things religious. An adolescent rebellion that stuck, I guess. I think she still believes in God, but even more than that she believes that most churchgoers are hypocrites. She gets in her digs, but we've argued about it all so much that now we mostly just ignore the topic.

Liz, I think, is very spiritual, but she just does her own thing. No churches, but she prays out on the beach and works harder than anyone I know at having a Christian approach to life. She was raised Lutheran. I believe she thinks about religion more than all the people in my church put together, but you'd never know it from her lifestyle. My church looks down on anyone who drinks, smokes, dances, plays dominoes or has fun of any sort. I don't know why they tolerate me. I'm their token sinner, I guess.

I keep telling Liz she should include religion when she goes into her drinking-sex-and-gossip routine, but that wouldn't fit her image, would it? Besides, it wouldn't be accurate with the religion in there, since most of the religious people here think drinking is a sin. Some of them do drink, and they have their second families, too, and they're just as willing as the next person to spread gossip. So Kate's sort of right, and there are a lot of hypocrites here. I suppose there are everywhere, but things are just magnified here, you know?

Phyllis, are you heading somewhere here?

Yes, actually I am. I'm sort of telling you what happened next with Benny Royston.

I'm not getting it.

Not yet, but you will. I just wasn't sure how much you've paid attention to the church scene here. You need to know how important it is to some people. For some of these women, Sunday is the highlight of the week. It's the only chance they get to put on clothes that aren't fish-stained or stretched out from having kids hanging on them. And do they ever take that chance! You might think a woman is completely poverty-stricken during the week, but in her closet she has a full selection of church clothes. White for special occasions, lavender for family funerals, black for other people's funerals, plus matching hats, shoes and purse for each outfit. Going to church, or a funeral, is a big social event.

Now the men, it's a different story. There are men in the churches, but it seems as if they're all either very young or very old. With some exceptions, guys tend to drop out of the church as soon as they're old enough to be beyond the reach of their grandmothers... but when a man starts showing some age, he turns back to religion. Well, not all of them, but enough. Still, the character of the churches is pretty much female.

Now, Cynthia and Zeke—that's pretty classic, from the outside. She's one of the sisters, and he shows up only when it's really, really important. But I think underneath it all there's a certain respect. As far as I know, she has never complained about his bringing home money made from the bar, and he doesn't interfere or complain when she decides that cooking for a funeral of 150 is something their household should just absorb. There seems to be an understanding there.

I don't claim to understand their relationship, but from the way Evan and I were, it didn't surprise me that when this blackmail thing came up with Royston, Zeke came clean with his wife. There's enough of that old-time religion in Zeke to lead him to a full confession—not necessary, I might add, because Cynthia knows him well enough to have figured things out.

I can't begin to imagine what went through Cynthia's mind. If your husband came home telling you he was having an affair, and the person he was involved with was also in trouble, would you stick out your neck for her? You see what I mean. But Cynthia's a very special person.

You know, in fact, maybe I shouldn't be telling you this. Maybe you should hear it from Cynthia.

_Oh, Phyllis, no_...

Yes! You should interview Cynthia. Nope! Don't say it. I know she's not assigned to you. But it's not like you're talking to Zeke or Ed—she's not assigned to anybody. So what's to prevent you from doing a little background interview?

This is a great idea! Just do it, and the company will thank you later. You're the only one who has a clue how things really happen here. Show them. I'll have Liz arrange things with Cynthia. It'll be great.

_I know, I know I said I gave up trying to control things_... _but this is_... _do you really think she'd talk to me?_

Well, let me work on that.

I've been thinking I should see her, but I didn't know how to approach it.

We'll set it up.

_But_... _just in case it doesn't work out_... _could you at least give me a hint of what's going on? Why is it so important to talk to her?_

Well, OK, I guess I owe you that. Let's see how I can summarize...

Zeke—he went to his wife and told all, and essentially asked for help in keeping what they had. And then it was Cynthia who took charge of what happened next. She's the one who pulled things together for what you call "The Royston Rout."

There. Good enough? I think so, from your expression. Cherry, let me make some phone calls. I'm sure I can get you talking with Cynthia tomorrow morning, OK?

_Well, all right. I guess then we're done for today. Let me get this_...

*****

CYNTHIA, DAY SIX

EZEKIEL SAYS YOU get used to the camera, and after a while you don't even notice it. I hope he's right.

That usually is what happens. And don't worry—if you say something you really want to have taken out, I can do that for you. All I want is to hear from you what happened with Benny Royston.

But Elizabeth and the others told you so much, she said!

_Elizabeth? Oh, Liz, right. They have told me a lot, but it's always nice to get a different person's perspective on things. Now, just relax and start wherever_...

This isn't easy, you know. My grandmamaw always told us don't go cryin' in the road. And I'm not too happy about Ezekiel telling everyone our business.

Well, I'll try not to pry too much, but you have to remember that what you did was a good thing. I just want to hear about it in your own words. Would it help if I asked questions to get you started?

OK, OK.

OK. Why don't we start with broad background, like when did you become aware of what Royston was doing on the island?

Ezekiel told me about him when he first got here, but he was just a name to me. Lot of these white developers come and go. You never know who's gonna stick. But then other people started talking about him. Elizabeth told me what happened at the store the day he jumped on John's truck, and Rita said he blew up the beach when he didn't like how it looked. Imagine!

Rita?

Yes, yes, Rita Gibson. You know, from down Caneytown.

Gibs—oh, Kate's Auntie Rita?

Yeah, yeah, that's her. She's my prayer partner. Rita goes to the Caneytown church and my people are here in Nuco, but we get together every Wednesday when we can. We pray for her niece a lot, you know.

Yes, I imagine. Kate's not exactly the model island woman, is she?

Oh, she's OK. She just needs to settle down some and start believing in the Lord. But she's her mother's girl, yes, yes. Four girls—Susan, Rita, Livia and Delia—one's gonna be the wild one, you know. Goes off soon as she's of age and hardly didn't ever come back. Then the daughter, marrying that white guy. But he's OK, you know. Treats her right, nice boy. She's the one got to settle down.

Well, let's get back to Benny Royston. When did his name come up again for you? Oh. I can see from your expression. Mind telling me a little about that?

She's a good girl, Dashiki. I don't know what got into her taking up with him. And what's he want to go after a young girl like that, him married? That's something I'd expect from one of those Columbus boys hang out under the tree, not some big-name businessman. I blame him, I do.

But then why send her away, like she did wrong?

I told you—you don't go cryin' in the road. Ain't nobody's business 'bout this girl, and I want to keep it that way.

I know, I know, some folks say sending her away while he stayed was like saying it was her fault. But Ezekiel took care of that, didn't he? He let Royston know where the Lord was and what was right, yes, yes.

So you knew about Zeke—Ezekiel's—plan to force Benny into signing over the marina land?

Ah, well, I didn't know who came up with the plan, but Ezekiel told me all about it. I don't know what people been telling you about us, but we are still partners. There are some things we don't see eye to eye on, but where we don't agree we don't go cryin' in the road. Some folks say I'm a foolish woman, but they don't know, they don't know. You keep things together, you keep them even. All I ask is he don't go pushing things in my face.

And that was what Benny wanted to do, right?

Look, child. I know what was going on. Ezekiel—he's got a problem with a certain kind of sin, you know? I give him no cause. I pay my duties as a wife. But he—I pray every day that the burning leave him. Until then, we have an understanding. An understanding.

So when this thing come along, Ezekiel comes to me first. He knows, he knows. Not his fancy drinking friends or these white girls—me.

_And you_...

Oh, I prayed on it, child, I prayed hard yes, yes. And the Lord said to me that I couldn't do this alone, I had to have help, and my grandmamaw would understand. Yes, yes.

Rita prayed with me, and we two understood how things are with Mr. Royston and the Lord. Our Lord is not his lord, you see. "Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold... And the Lord plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made."

Gold is his lord, so our Lord decided his lord would become useless on East Taino.

_Um_... _I'm not sure what you mean._

You're not a Christian woman?

Well, yes, I am, but um, my religious background is a bit different from yours maybe. I'm probably not as well versed in the Bible as you are, you see.

Well, child, it's not hard to figure out. No, no. It's—what is it Ezekiel says?—"Your money's not good here." Only he says it friendly. We said it serious.

We?

Think on it, child! Who do you see at the counters here on East? Not the men who built the stores—the women who run them. What if no one would sell you food or medicine or hardware or cement?

Ah! I get it. An economic boycott. In reverse, against only one person, right?

Yes, yes, you got it.

_Wow. That's_... _that's fantastic! Tell me more. How did you get it started? Who was involved? How did it all work?_

Slow down, slow down. Now, once Rita and I worked it out, it wasn't hard to spread the word among our sisters. Even the women in other churches helped, once it was explained to them that Mr. Royston was not a godly man and not helping our communities. No one told them what to do; they just did things their own way. Diana just ignored the man—she looked right through him like he was a jumby. Felicia would say, "That's not for sale," anything he wanted. Jeanne—one time when she had no other customers, Jeanne locked her doors when she saw his truck.

Oh, he was angry! He swore at us, he threatened. But East Taino was too fast for him. When they found out about everything, most of the men started doing the same thing, and he couldn't buy anything here. He had to go to Grand for everything. Dora at the airport couldn't deny him a ticket, but once she did manage to go slow enough to make sure he missed the plane. Yes, yes!

Oh, he tried to get around us, and made some of the people who work for him fetch things. But they got the same treatment, even for themselves. And they know where they're from. If they worked for him they couldn't buy groceries, but if they had no job we'd carry them until they did.

This is brilliant! How long did it go on?

Oh, he was stubborn, stubborn. We went on maybe a month, maybe more. He tried to go to the government about it, but there were enough of our women working on Grand to set them straight.

Now, I don't know where it went from there. Ezekiel says there were things happening all over, but that the sisters should just stay fishy. Pretty soon we didn't see him no more.

Stay fishy? What's that?

You don't know that? Ah, child! Think on it. You ever see a fish smile? Or frown? Or look upset, even when you're about to catch and eat him? No, no. A fish, he just looks at you. Just looks. That was what we did.

Stay fishy. Perfect, just perfect. Mrs. Moore, you are precious! I'm so glad you agreed to see me.

Now, you mind you do right here. You do right. You go talk to those white girls and Livia's girl, OK—they'll tell you how it was. But remember! You don't go...

Cryin' in the road, yes, yes.

Ha, ha! That's the fishy look, yes, yes.

*****

LIZ, DAY SIX

...AND KATE, BUT I wanted to get to you before the afternoon 'cause I know that's when you work. You ready?

I guess. Just tell me why you're so excited.

Oh! Yes. Calm down, Cherry. Be professional. There. I was just with Cynthia, who told me about how Benny Royston was boycotted all over the island. I can't believe you guys didn't tell me this before, but now I want to hear everything from everybody. I don't care if there's repetition; I want to hear the whole thing from each of you. So, go.

Well, gee. Can I make a drink while I talk? Get you something?

Go ahead, but not for me. Just tell me!

Well, honey, on my end there's not much to tell. I was told to keep a low profile when the shit hit the fan, and, believe it or not, I did. There was about a month when I just worked here, mostly alone except for reports from Phyl and Kate. I didn't go down to the bar, missed Festival Weekend altogether, and even my groceries were delivered. It was awful and wonderful at the same time.

Awful and wonderful? Explain.

Well, Cherry, you know me. Yeah, as an artist I work alone, but at heart I'm a social creature, and being cut off from the island really hurt. I mean, what I like about this place has a lot to do with the people, and suddenly here I was completely alone. You asked once if I'm an alcoholic... well, that period was about as close as I have come. Kate and Phyl, and Cynthia, did their best to keep visiting me, and there were times when I would hide out with one of them when Benny started getting antsy about my promise and came looking for me, but... oh, I don't know, being kept away from Z, so suddenly, hurt me. I knew it was for the best and that Cynthia was being an absolute saint on my behalf, but... well, there was residue, I guess.

Looking back, I guess it was the best thing that could have happened. The thing with Z could only have gone on to disaster. Benny was a wake-up call. And that whole time—I call it my hermit period—was some of the best work I'd done in a long time. Work was all I had. And that turned out to be so, so wonderful...

But I guess I'm jumping around too much. Um, help me here.

OK, let's go back a bit. Who told you to keep a low profile? Who was running things?

Interesting. I never thought about that, but I guess by that time it was Cynthia and Z. Cynthia was... she was astounding. I don't know what I expected—names, curses, maybe even a catfight—but I remember the day she came over, maybe it was even the very next day, and just wrapped her arms around me. God, I felt like a little girl coming home to mommy. Can you believe it? I screw around with her husband, and she treats me like a daughter, telling me it's going to be all right. Cherry, I was... I'm sorry...

It's OK. Go on, if you can.

Well, Z wasn't far behind her, and the two of them told me they were going to take care of it, and all I had to do was stay put. I had no idea what was going on, but—well, they were so beautiful together, I just had to... to listen? Obey? I don't know.

I only found out what was going on from Phyllis and Kate, who would bring me reports from all over the island. I really, really wished I could just see it happening, but of course I couldn't. So I worked, and drank, and listened. All I knew was that all these women, who I thought considered me a hussy, instead were closing ranks around me. I still don't know why. Is it any wonder I absolutely love this place?

So I'm afraid I can't tell you much about the boycott, since I was just here all the time.

_Liz, this is absolutely amazing. When did_... _was there an end to it all? I mean, you seem to be in circulation now._

Well, you know me, honey. I can't stay under wraps forever. There was one day when I couldn't stand it anymore, and besides I needed some cigarettes. So I—Cherry, you ever think about turning that damn thing off?

I'm sorry, Liz. I'm going to take this, OK?

Hi honey, what's up? Aww. Me too. Working. Well, yeah—why do you always seem surprised when I say that? OK, OK. Anyway, why'd you call? Oh. But—you know I can't. And besides, I'll be back next week.

_Bill, what's the matter with you? I don't care how good it is—no, not that again. Let's just say that ship has sailed this month_... _and we still need to talk about that, anyway. Besides, coming back as scheduled with Big Green is free and—I know you do. Honey, let's be adults, OK? I have work, and you have work, and if you fucking dare tell me yours is more important I swear I will throw this cellphone into the ocean—I can make it from here—and I'll never come back. Got that?_

_What? I am not! Let's get this straight. I love you. But you seem to have a warped sense of what a wife is. We're supposed to be partners, Bill. You never said_...

_You never said that to me. It is really_... _is it really the most_... _I can't believe_... _I thought_... _look, can I call you back? We need_... _Bill, I gotta go. I can't_... _honey, no._

I'm sorry, Liz. Give me a minute.

Sweetie, take all the time you need. That sounded like a phone call from Dan. Come on, you need one now. Let me get it.

_Well, nothing like airing your troubles in public. I'm sorry_... _and I'm sorry I keep apologizing, too._

Cherry, been there, done that. Maybe not the same issues... but if I had a nickel for every time we fought on the phone, I could've paid to have him kidnapped and brought here by force. Here. Drink up.

My camera's still running.

Fuck the camera.

_Let me_...

No. You were working, and you're going to get back to work. If you stop, he wins. Let me see. I was... well, isn't that a nice coincidence... I was telling you about how I got back on the horse. Take your drink and get your ass over there.

OK. Let's see. It was the day I went to Z's again. I needed cigarettes, and I had just had it with house arrest. So I went on down. It was the middle of the day, and I figured Benny was persona non grata there anyway, so it would be OK. Damn if the guy didn't show up. I guess he was still trying to press Z, or work out a deal, or maybe looking for me, even. It was so weird. There was a moment when we first saw each other, and I panicked. Shit, you know? But then I "went fishy," as Cynthia says, and kind of looked through him. He just looked at me awhile, and I thought he was going to say something. He could have—I didn't have any reason in the world ready as to why I hadn't done anything about the house. But I guess by that time he'd taken a lot of shit from everyone on the island. And he just looked away, pretending that he hadn't really seen me! I think that was when I knew we had won. He blinked.

After that, I figured I could leave the house, and nobody told me different, so things got a bit more normal for me. And it's a good thing, too. Maybe about a week later, I met the designer for Green Reef down at Z's and everything clicked.

Green Reef?

Oh, it's that eco-resort going in on Whale Fin Cay. Very, very upscale. The kind of place I'll never be able to stay, for sure. But this guy liked my stuff that's at the bar, and when he found out I did it we started talking about my providing lots of sculptures for the place. Which is how I got all this work I've been doing lately.

So I feel a little guilty about just about everything. I cheat on my husband and instead of punishment I get this wonderful sisterhood protection, plus a major job, and a minor role in getting this fucking developer off the island. Maybe back then I was drinking because everything was so up in the air and unsure. Now I drink because I'm so damn happy.

Liz, you're not sounding happy.

Yeah, well. Hey, kid, I don't want to throw you out, but I actually have a deadline for shipping some of these things out, and I want to do a few extra touches. You mind?

No! No, I knew you wouldn't have much time. I'll just move on.

You sure you're OK?

No big deal. Get to work.

*****

PHYLLIS, DAY SIX

SO, HOW WAS the Cynthia thing? Isn't she great?

Phyllis, I am so glad you suggested that. She was great, and I got so psyched I already went over to Liz's place and talked to her. I'm not sure I forgive all of you yet for keeping this from me, but man, it was worth the wait. Most of the stuff we do at Big Green doesn't end up with such drama.

I knew you'd love it, but we had to make you really appreciate it, didn't we?

Well, I always suspected that you were the one calling the shots here. You and Chip, right?

Ummm. Add Z to that. And Cynthia. Actually, it turned out to be a whole island thing.

So I understand. But let's go back, since I'm running here. Tell me how you learned about the boycott and how it went, from your point of view.

Well, from what I understand, it all came out of the Moores' house. That night at the bar—when Liz and Zeke were playing it all by ear, I guess—convinced Z that if Liz was willing to place her house on the line to protect his business, he had to do something to protect her. At least, that's what got back to me, through Chip and—maybe a more reliable source—through Ed. And you know not to tell Chip I said that. Anyway, it still sounds pretty extraordinary to me, that an island guy would actually go to his wife for help, but then it's not fair to stereotype, either. And you can tell Kate I said that.

I'm sure Cynthia probably told you something about God telling her what to do. Which is OK. I'm not one to mock what I don't understand, and to tell you the truth I'm a bit impressed by some of the strong faith I see around here. Not that it isn't tempered by some very human, very nasty stuff in some cases. Anyway, God aside, what she and her friends came up with was brilliant, and they certainly had the network to make it work.

Of course, no one bothered to tell me what was going on. I found out only by being at John's store one day when Benny tried to buy a case of Coke. I was in the back with the onions and garlic, so at first I wasn't aware of anything, but then I heard him say very loudly, "Are you going to wait on me?"

Apparently Trini had been ignoring him standing there, and ringing up other people instead. Her usual passive-aggressive way of doing things. But when he asked like that, right out, she finally looked him in the eye. "No, Mr. Royston, I'm not," she said. "I don't take ungodly money."

Well, that confused the hell out of him. I think he said something like, "Oh fuck," and walked out. So I had to ask Trini what that was all about. She just shrugged and said she wasn't going to take business from a bad man. Not that I disagreed with her, but it was all very odd and sudden. I couldn't help but ask what John would say, and she said he told her it was all right.

Well, it all seemed very curious to me. Later, Chip explained what it was all about. Z apparently had run it all by him before it got going. Kinda funny when you think about it.

Anyway, I thought it was a great idea and wished I had thought of it in the first place. I wasn't sure any of it would work, but even if it just made the guy stop and think it would have been worthwhile. Turns out it did a whole lot more, 'cause I guess our Benny Royston is not a man of much patience.

It sure was fun to watch. Of course, I wasn't around for everything, but I heard and saw enough to enjoy the show. Lots of "What the fuck's wrong with you people, this is good money" and peeling out of parking lots. Cherry, you would have loved it. It's a greenie's dream come true.

Weren't there repercussions? I can't imagine he would just take it.

Well, he tried. First he tried playing the game their way and sent in other people to get what he wanted. Of course, this place is small enough that everyone figured that out right away and nipped it in the bud. Then he thought about using tourists. He'd introduce himself to people, give them money—lots more than they'd need to buy his stuff—and make up some story about allergies to the cleaning fluid used in the store or something. That worked a couple of times, but since he almost always had to approach people as they were going to the store, the shopkeepers learned to keep an eye out the window and come up with some way of getting the visitors to back out of the deal. I think Evelyn even told one couple that he was rich but crazy, and certainly didn't need a box of chicken since his mansion had a team of chefs working for him.

It was a wild time. I don't think I ever realized how much pent-up creativity there is on this island. Everyone was having a great time making up stories, coming up with excuses, slipping away. To tell you the truth, I think it brought people closer together. There didn't seem to be a churchgoing–non-churchgoing division anymore, and some of these women who would look down on anyone who went into a bar were suddenly very interested in what happened at Z's or Rodney's the night before.

Of course, that didn't last after he left. Well, maybe a little. The arguments seem a little bit softer these days, or maybe that's just my take on it.

Well, how long did it take to actually get him to leave?

Hmm, I'm not sure he's really gone yet. Someone with that kind of money and investments would hardly just abandon everything. I keep worrying that he's going to come back.

Anyway, to answer your question, about three or four weeks. He did try to pull some political strings and had the ear of a couple of government people, but the island commissioner was also onboard with us, and he had the ear of more, so that got Royston nowhere. And then he tried some American muscle, but that backfired because if there's anything these government people hate, it's being told how to run their own country. If Benny had had any sense at all about how things run here, he would have known that... only goes to show you how little he regards this place. He really is a user.

Liz uses the term "asshole."

Well, of course. How is Liz doing, by the way?

You're asking me?

Yeah. She's been keeping to herself a lot lately, and that has me worried. I don't think it's all because of her big project for Green Reef. Something's going on, and the lady's not talking to her friends. I wondered if she talked more to you.

She didn't say much on a personal level, just about the work. She does seem a bit more low-key than when I first met her, though. Less spunk. You think everything's OK?

Well, I guess we'll find out eventually. Anyway, back to Benny. After several weeks of realizing he was the most hated man on East Taino, he did leave. But it's not as if he gave up... even yet. OK, he shut down operations up at St. Mary, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. He could be just waiting for things to cool down so he can start up again, you know? Maybe that's why I came on so strong to you when you first got here. I figure the sooner this thing gets known beyond here, the better leverage we'll have against the guy.

Do you think he's here physically? I mean, the company can't seem to get a fix on where he actually is.

Nah, I doubt he's here. The way this gossip mill runs, we'd know. No one "sneaks" onto East Taino. My guess is he's lying low in Florida or somewhere else in the family empire.

So what else do you want from me today?

I guess that's about it for now. I should get over to Kate's soon.

Oh, yeah, she'll give you some good stuff, since she was more on the front lines, so to speak.

What d'you mean?

Well, you know, with her Aunt Susan's store. She was closer to what was happening. Actually, I never really heard everything from her point of view myself, so I'll be interested to find out what she has to say.

Hey, are you going to the bar later? Maybe I'll catch up with you there.

*****

KATE, DAY SIX

SO WHAT IS this, _Rashomon?_ Y'all want to hear the same story for the fourth time today?

Actually yes, if you don't mind.

Mind? Honey, I've been itching to tell all since Day One, but Phyl said not to. She thought it would be better to take one step at a time.

Phyllis, huh? Maybe I should just turn over my salary to her.

Now, don't be like that. She's on your side, you know.

Yeah, I know. Anyway, Miss Taino Star, "Benny Gets the Shaft," take four.

Why, thank you. Let's see... I guess for me it started the day I went into Auntie Susan's shop and found the whole auntie brigade there. I'm paranoid enough to think it had something to do with me, but it was all about him. Auntie Rita laid it out for me, although it took me awhile to catch on because she just kept calling him "that godless man." When she got to "that godless man who tried to corrupt you," I finally got it... though I was stunned that they seemed to actually be taking my side on that incident. We had never discussed it, and I always assumed that they just blamed me. It was kind of nice to think that they sometimes had nice thoughts about me... however belated they were.

Anyway, I was given instructions: Under no circumstances was I to sell him anything. It didn't matter if I actually said no, or went fishy or pretended to be too busy or not to see him—he was not to be a customer. Well, Cherry, I was astonished! I asked what happened, and Auntie Rita just said, "He is a bad man, and we do not want him in this store."

Later I got the story about Cynthia and all from Auntie Delia. She's always been the one I'm closest to. She's the one who let on that it was all really about saving Liz's ass. I'll tell you, I was rather touched by it all. Here I'd been sure my aunts were typical church hypocrites, and here they were actually coming to help Liz, of all people. I mean, if I'm a hussy because of my American ways, you can imagine what they think of Liz.

But that's something else altogether. After that little meeting, I sort of forgot about it during the day, and I was in the back when Benny finally did come in. So I missed the first part, but when I came out there was Auntie Susan, stock-still beside the cash register, just looking straight ahead like there wasn't some tattooed freak in front of her. Gone fishy. I just stopped and put down the box I was carrying, 'cause I knew this was going to be good stuff.

Benny broke first. Of course. No one goes fishy like these island women, and I know from experience how unnerving it can be. "Are you going to ring me up?" he said—a bit testily, I might add. I think he had already been through this at John's.

Auntie Susan looked at me and asked if the stocking was going OK. I took my cue and asked if she wanted all the rolls of toilet paper on the shelf or if I should hold back a box. She answered me, then shook her head. "I thought I heard someone come in," she said, still looking right through Benny, "but I guess God didn't send us no customers."

Well! Benny looked as if he had just entered the Twilight Zone, and he thought I was going to save him. "Will you tell her I want to buy these onions?" he said, or whatever it was he had on the counter, I don't remember.

Oh, it was fun. "I'm sure you'll get some customers later," I said, and walked back into the back. I waited a bit before peeking out again, and it was just in time to see Royston leaving. I wasn't sure whether to hug my aunt first or call Phyl! I think I did it in that order.

And that's it?

Well, he did try again, but it was later that day and I was gone. I guess he thought that when Auntie Susan left and put my cousin's girl, Shakira, at the register, he might have a chance. But Shakira had been given her orders. She did it direct, just telling him, "I'm not allowed to sell you anything." I guess even he wouldn't want to stand around arguing with a twelve-year-old, especially one so earnest and serious like her.

He didn't try any of the substitutes or tourist things at our store—we don't get as many tourists in Caneytown as there are in Nuco, anyway, so really that was it. I did hear that Carson sold him some fish—but then Carson got rounded up by the churchwomen and that was that.

And that's about all I can tell you on that.

Oh, no, it isn't. Someone's got to tell me what happened next.

Honey, there is no next. Least, not as far as I know. You probably need to check in with Liz again to see if there have been any other developments. She's been quite the hermit lately, so maybe there's something she hasn't told me.

Everyone keeps commenting on Liz. She seemed OK to me, maybe a little quieter, but Phyllis seemed to be worried about her, too.

OK, now I know something is going on. When Liz gets quiet, wheels start turning. We'll get to the bottom of this. Are you coming to Z's tonight?

It looks as if I'm expected. Phyl asked me the same thing. And you know I can't disappoint Stag.

Oh, Stag! I almost forgot about him. He still hitting on you?

_Yeah, in a way,_ _but it's almost like a standing joke now. He's really a nice guy. Just too much sex on the brain, I'd say._

The brain is not the organ he is concerned with, Cherry.

Yeah, yeah. It's OK, Kate. Don't get all Auntie on me.

Ouch! Well, I will see you later. Hey... bring your camera with you.

Why?

Well, if Liz is hiding something, we'll get it out of her and you'll want to record that, won't you? And if not... well, we'll just have fun.

*****

Z's, DAY SIX

LIZ: HERE YOU go. Z knows to give you double lime now. Looks like you've made it on East Taino. Hey, what's that for?

Kate told me I should record here tonight, just for fun.

Liz: Are you nuts? You're not going to get anything you can use.

Well, probably not; it's just for fun. Maybe I can end up blackmailing someone. Oh! Sorry. I guess you don't consider that a joke.

Liz: Oh, it's OK. I know you didn't mean it. I'm sorry.

Kate: So! We're all going to be stars tonight, right, Cherry? Hey, I was supposed to get you your first drink.

Hi, Kate. Ed, nice to see you. Hey, maybe I will actually get to tape you after all.

Ed: Yeah, what is this?

Kate's idea. Just for fun.

Ed: Dangerous fun, I'd say. Everyone on this island's getting so used to being on tape they'll probably start confessing all their secrets.

Liz: Do you really think there are any left to tell?

Ed: Probably not. Hey, Kate! Wait. I'm having something different. 'Scuse me.

Liz: 'K. So, Cherry, what's up with you now that you have the grand finale to our story?

_Well, I'm not done yet—Hi, Keith, how_ ' _ya doing?—I'd like to do one more time with each of you, kind of a recap-and-reflections thing. Can you stand me for another day?_

Liz: Stand you? I think we're all going to miss you when you go. What's the company plan?

I probably won't know until after tomorrow's meeting. I don't think the guys working on Grand are ready to wrap up yet, so I might have to hang around until they finish their end. If I can pretend I have other stuff to do, maybe Frank won't come up with clerical crap for me and I can play a little, but we'll see. Ed, do you know if Mark and Ron are close to wrapping up over there?

Ed: Beats me. I told Mark just about everything I know. Not just about Royston but life, the universe and everything. But I don't know what the other guy—Ron, is it?—I don't know what he's been up to. Hey, Phyllis! Nice to see you. Where's Chip?

Phyllis: Hey, stranger. When did you get in?

Ed: Just a little bit ago. The late Flamingo flight.

Phyllis: Hi, Cherry, sweetie. Chip's getting our drinks, and hitting on your wife. So Kate gets laid tonight, huh?

Phyllis!

Liz: How dare you steal my line! Is this kind of stuff really worth the tape?

Phyllis: Tape? We're being taped?

Ed: No offense, Phyl, but I think I'm going to rescue Kate.

Phyllis: Good idea. Chip's been over to Grand and is still in his talk-your-ear-off mode. Sic 'im on the locals. We're on tape?

Yeah, it was Kate's idea. Just for fun.

Phyllis: Whose fun? Looks to me like work for you.

Well, when I start drinking too much you can take over and surprise me with shots of me with my skirt over my head.

Liz: As if. I see you with your skirt over your head, I'll give you my house and move back to the States. Hey, speaking of misbehaving, where's your friend Stag?

Phyllis: Look at her blush!

Come on! Remember, I'm a married woman.

Phyllis: Yes, you remember you're a married woman. Where the hell did Chip go with my drink?

Liz: Seriously. What is going on with you and Stag?

Seriously, nothing, so far. But I get the impression that the situation could change at any second, and it's all up to me.

Liz: Oh... Cherry! Hate to say this, but been there, done that. What about Bill?

What about him?

Liz: Uh-huh. You've been fighting some more. E-mail or phone?

Both.

Liz: OK. I am not going to project my experience onto you. But do think about this. East Taino isn't the kind of place where you can experiment... at least, not without everyone knowing. Remember: booze, sex and gossip.

And religion.

Liz: Yes, of course. But think, honey!

Did you?

Liz: Not fair. No, I didn't. And look where it got me.

It doesn't look so bad to me.

Liz: Bullshit.

Kate: You two look way too serious here. Come listen to Chip. He had another "conversation" with the minister for finance over on Grand... great stuff.

Liz: In a second.... Again, bullshit.

Liz, I don't want to talk about this.

Liz: I don't care if you want to. Cherry, you don't want what you think you want. It's easy down here to forget normal living and get into this "live for the day" thing. But it'll catch up to you. You need an anchor. Several anchors. For me, even the work wasn't enough. I need Dan.

Dan?

Liz: Yes, yes, yes. I know. Probably like everyone else, you think it's hopeless. I know... it's true that he doesn't love East Taino like I do. But you know, I think I've learned that I love him even more than East Taino. I'm going back, Cherry.

_What? When did this_...

Liz: I finally decided today, after you left. Reliving this whole thing with Z made me think a whole lot, and I've been on the phone with Dan just about every day lately. So I called today and told him everything.

_He's_... _?_

Liz: He's hurt, he's angry, he wants to punch Zeke; I don't know, maybe he wants to punch me. But he wants to keep me, and that means so much. We need to talk face to face. I realized finally that I'm willing to even give up East Taino if that's what it takes, and I think he finally realizes how much this place means to me. We need to sort it all out, so I'm leaving.

When?

Liz: Next week. I figured I'd...

Phyllis: Are you two ever going to join the party? Oh. This is A Conversation, right? All right. Later.

Have you told them?

Liz: Phyl and Kate? Not yet. I thought tonight.

Well, you need to do that right now. They're your friends; they need to know.

Liz: No, wait. There's you. Cherry, think. Think before you even go over to that table to say hi to Stag. Yeah, I know he's there. I saw your eyes while we talked. Honey, I'm not one to be moralistic, but just ask yourself: Is this something real, or is it just a convenient way of avoiding what you and Bill need to talk about?

OK, OK. We both have things we need to do. Let's go. Do you want to keep the camera here?

Liz: No, we don't need to record this. Not that I can see, anyway.

I'll tell them to come over.

*****

Ed: Hey, look, I'm Cherry.

Kate: Honey, get that thing out of my face. Cherry never did that. Where is she?

Ed: She left. Asked me to keep the tape running as long as I could stand. Which might not be very long. Chip keeps buying rounds.

Phyllis: Oh, he is? He was wondering today why he can never get ahead. I hope you recorded him buying those rounds... now I'll have an answer for him.

Liz: Cherry left? For a while or for good?

Kate: I'm getting refills. Everyone ready?

Ed: For good, I think.

Liz: Sure, Kate. Alone?

Kate: Huh?

Liz: No, not you... yes, I want another. Ed, was Cherry alone?

Ed: Far as I could see.

Phyllis: Well, she wasn't with Stag... he's over there. Liz, what's going on?

Zeke: Liz, I think maybe you ought to follow your video friend. She just left on foot, and I don't think she's too steady.

Liz: I'm on it. Where's my bag?

Kate: Should we come with you?

Liz. Um... yeah. You too, Phyl. Let's go.

Ed: What about me?

Kate: Keep recording. Have fun. Try a different medium.

Phyllis: Interview Chip. I want him to see what he looks like drunk.

Liz: Ed, you're wonderful. If there weren't already too many men in my life, I'd jump your buns.

Ed: Yeah, talk, talk, talk.

Kate: See you, sweetie. I'll tell you everything later. Oh, and don't forget to drop that camera off at the villa for Cherry. She's going to need it.

*****

CHERRY

Dear Bill,

_F_ _irst of all, I love you, and I don't ever, ever want you to doubt that. But we have some serious issues that we have to discuss, and it's not_

Cherry put the pen down and rubbed her face. This was not the way to start. She tore the sheet from her pad and started again.

Dear Bill,

Yes, I've had too much to drink, but maybe that's the best way to start. We've kept too many things to ourselves, and maybe getting drunk together would be a good thing for us.

I wish you were here right now so you could see this place. And see me in it. I feel like myself here.

No, I'm not going to run away to an island. I know this isn't the place for me. But is us the place for me? That's what I need to know.

She felt something on her leg and looked down to find a trickle of blood. Must have been from when she stumbled coming back to the hotel. She stood to get something to wipe it with, and felt the room spin. She lurched toward the bathroom and unwound a handful of toilet paper. Plopping down on the floor, she dabbed at her scrape. It wasn't so bad.

The coolness of the tile against her butt and bare legs felt good, but she knew how ridiculous she looked, even if there was no one around to see her. She had spent so much time putting people on camera that she was beginning to believe everyone, herself included, was merely performing for something—a documentary, a reality TV show, a movie about her life.

"I'm no star," she said aloud. She grabbed the edge of the vanity and hoisted herself up. The scrape seemed OK. She returned to the desk.

I don't know if I can be the wife you want me to be, and I don't know if you can let me be the wife I want to be. The woman I want to be.

She stopped and stared at the paper a long time. She felt herself nodding, drooping. She moved to the bed and stretched out to consider the woman she wanted to be.

Cherry awoke to a tapping and her name being called. Confused, she called Bill's name.

"Cherry?" It was a man's voice, but hushed. It must be late.

Was it Stag? She sat up on the bed, paused. Should she answer? Did she want to answer?

"Cherry? It's Ed. I'm going to leave your camera under the beach towel, OK?"

"Ed!" She leaped toward the door, still blurry and unsteady but somehow deliriously happy. She slid open the screen and nearly knocked him over with a lurch. "Oh, thank you," she said, grabbing the camera from him.

"You OK?" he asked, steadying her.

"Yes, yes." She started to cry.

"You sure?"

"Yes, thank you."

He paused, torn between mentioning the tears and ignoring them. "Sorry I woke you. Go back to sleep," he said, turning her back toward her room.

"Yes, thank you." She heard the screen slide behind her and his swift steps.

Her head was clearer now, but she was still sleepy. Cherry glanced toward the desk and saw her unfinished letter. It would stay that way. No letter. Tomorrow she would call Bill and tell him the only thing that mattered.

*****

CYNTHIA, DAY SEVEN

WE FORGET HOW beautiful it is. Then we see someone doing what you're doing, and we're reminded.

Cynthia. Hi. I didn't realize anyone else was here.

I just came up. I wasn't sure if I should disturb you.

_No, it's all right. It's just that I realized I had done all this taping here, but still hadn't tried to get this morning feeling. I'm afraid I'm still not going to have it. You can tape all you want, but you still can't gather up the way the wind is_... _or much else except for that beautiful blue. I mean, that's really something, but there's so much more._

God's presence.

Yes. That's true. Yes. She's here.

She?

_Sorry. That probably offends you. It's just that I've spent a lot of time with this group of women and_... _well, there's kind of an unspoken thing about God being a woman. You know, Mother Nature and_... _I'm sorry, I didn't think._

No, no. It's OK. I can understand. I wouldn't mention it at my church, though. No, no. But I understand. Maybe I agree a little.

Well, that makes me feel better. And maybe you'll understand for me that this is more church than church.

Yes, yes. Why do you think I'm here, Cherry? I'll go to church this morning, but first I come here. It's my time with God.

Cynthia! You really are a rebel, aren't you?

Not a rebel, no, no.

No, wrong word. But you do have your own thoughts. There's more than what the pastor tells you.

For more than me, child.

OK. Guilty of stereotyping. Cynthia?

Yes, child?

Thank you.

I didn't do nothing.

Yes, you did. You did a lot. For East Taino. For Liz.

For Ezekiel.

Yes.

It's what God told me to do.

The world needs more Christians like you.

Look, look at that pelican. Get him.

_Oh_... _yes! I love how they go sploosh. So awkward, but they always seem to come up with a fish._

Yes, yes. Beautiful.

*****

PHYLLIS, DAY SEVEN

I CAN'T IMAGINE anything you want to record, after everything else.

Well, I never let an interview go without asking my last question, which is: What were you ready to tell me that I didn't ask you?

That's an interesting question.

You'd be surprised at how many times people were prepared to say something, and if I didn't ask the right question they'd just keep it to themselves. So I just made it my habit to ask about what I didn't ask.

And on my side, I actually prepared something to say to the camera today. May I?

All yours.

OK...

East Taino is a fragile place. We have to be very careful about how we develop, even if development is inevitable. Without some sort of checks and balances, we could become the Bahamas, or Jamaica, or Grand Taino—which is well on its way to becoming the other two. When the people of East Taino said to Benny Royston that unchecked development is unacceptable, it was drawing a line in the sand. The battle to preserve what we have isn't over, but this was a start. We need to stay vigilant and understand that the lure of money isn't always what's best for the island.

There. How's that?

Very nice. Now do you want to get real with me and go beyond prepared statements? Phyllis, you have more to say than what you can write down and teach.

Cherry, don't break my balloon. You've given me a chance to say something. Let me say it.

OK. OK.

And this one isn't for the camera, but again I'm sorry I tried to run things for you. It wasn't anything to do with you, you know. I've just needed to tell this story, and to, well, annotate it.

It's OK, Phyl, I understand. I might have been the same way if we were in different places. Isn't it great, though, that it ended up the way it did?

Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.

_And_...

What?

_And_... _where are you going from here?_

Liz tipped you off, didn't she? Yeah, I do have some plans.

So, tell. This is a part of it.

Well, I hate to talk about things before they're planned...

Phyllis, stop being a teacher for a second and drift. Free-associate.

Yes, you're right. I have been thinking of using this momentum. At first I thought I'd volunteer with the Taino Islands Preservation Trust, but they're so close to being a government agency that I didn't think I'd be able to cope with their politics. So instead, I'm thinking of starting some programs for kids during their summer breaks. Sort of a day camp thing where they can learn more about nature on their own island.

That sounds like a great idea.

I figure I'd try to get Cynthia involved. I think she'd enjoy it, and it might help spread the word, if you know what I mean. Also Kate... can you imagine what she might do with skits and plays with a nature message? I could use Chip a little, and Zeke... of course I wanted Liz to be there, but now it seems she's somewhere else. What do you think?

I think it's right up your alley. Teaching, the environment. Even if the only thing you got across was that snakes are good because they eat rats, that'd be something.

Yeah, it's something. So, what do you think about our Liz?

Well, there's a change of subject.

Well, we have been ignoring the elephant in the room, haven't we?

You tell me about it. I left the bar early.

Yes, I know. Everyone knows. And not with Stag, which was a good decision, since if you had left with him everyone would know that, too. We followed you, by the way, but you went right to your room, so we figured we'd leave you alone.

Oh, let's not turn this to me. You wanted to talk about Liz and her decision, and I think that's fitting for a follow-up interview.

OK, but don't think you're going to get away without a third degree. Liz. Well, I'll miss her, but I do think it was a good decision. She's been running away too long, and it's time for her and Dan to work it out.

Do you think they will? It almost sounds like they'll never find a compromise.

Cherry, there's always a compromise somewhere, of some sort. It's just that a lot of people don't look hard enough. I think the obvious one would be a back-forth thing. You know—a few months here and a few months in Ohio. But they might come up with something else. Anything is better than where they've been. She still loves the guy, so they've got to put an end to this complete separation. Time is too short...

Now you're thinking of Evan.

Yeah, you're right. But all marriages are different, aren't they?

You're determined to turn this back on me, aren't you?

You better believe it, honey.

OK, OK! You want to know about Stag, I'll tell you. It was fun, it was flattering, but I never took him seriously. The only problem was keeping his island male ego intact while letting him down—something I shouldn't have even worried about, because he apparently still thinks very highly of himself. I suppose you'll soon be hearing from Chip that I'm just a bimbo who didn't know a good thing when she got it offered to her on a silver platter.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

_But I don't give a rat's ass about that, because just as the rumor gets going_...

... You'll be gone, right?

Wrong.

Wrong?

Yeah, wrong. Liz is going, but I'm staying.

What?

I'm staying. I convinced Bill to take some time off and come down here for a vacation. We'll stay at Liz's house and talk.

Wow. Good for you, girl. Any ideas where it's going to go?

None. He still wants a baby mother, as they say here, and someone who will put on dinner parties for the bank president and his wife. I need more.

Your job? But you hate that, too!

Damn right. But what I hate is the bullshit that comes with answering to Frank and having to fight for every little thing. I love the actual work. I think I'd like to do my own work.

Documentaries?

Yes. I know I'm no Michael Moore, but I think I do have some talent at bringing out people in interviews, and I have a lot of interests beyond those of Big Green. Maybe I'm crazy, but I'd like to take a chance while I'm still relatively young.

You're not crazy at all. Go for it, honey! And I do see room for compromise there, too.

I was hoping you'd say that. Your opinion means a lot to me.

Mine? You mean I'm not being too pedantic?

Phyllis, as Liz so eloquently puts it, you can be a pain in the ass, but not when it comes to seeing things in relationships. I've noticed. You don't gossip so much as worry about people you care about. I don't know anything at all about you and Evan, but from what I hear you had a good, strong marriage, and now you're making a success of living with a guy who would drive most women into the loony bin.

Is that what people say about me and Chip?

Basically, yeah. That you're a saint. And I agree. Let me ask you: It was Chip who walked in on Liz and Zeke, wasn't it? And then let it slip?

Yes. How did you know?

Elementary, my dear Phyllis. Remember that I can review my tapes and pick up things that usually just go by in a conversation.

You could be a dangerous force, Cherry.

But I'm not. For you, anyway. How do you and Liz reconcile that?

We don't have to. It's the essence of friendship. And marriage. It's compromise.

I see. At least I'm beginning to. I hope you'll like Bill.

I hope you'll like him.

Are we through? Can I turn this off so I can have a good cry?

All yours.

*****

KATE, DAY SEVEN

HERE'S YOUR DRINK. I must say things have certainly changed since you first got here. That first day I thought I might be dealing with one of my aunts, the way you wouldn't have a drink.

Well, let's just say I've gone island on you.

Yeah, and for a while longer, I hear.

Man, I can't take a step without you girls reporting it to each other, can I?

Welcome to our island. Anyway, I think it's just great that your husband's going to come down. Think you'll be up for a dinner with Ed and me, or do you want to keep all to yourselves?

Well, he has to get to know everyone so that he can understand where I've been, so of course we'll get together.

Where you've been in more ways than one. We're rooting for you, Cherry.

Thanks.

So what can I possibly say today?

It's the same question I asked Phyllis: What didn't I ask you that you have been ready to tell me?

Say what? Oh. I get it. But no, there's really nothing else. You know about what Phyllis wants to do, which I think is a great idea.

I do, too. And she said she wanted you to be in on it.

Honey, I am already sketching out plans. Look at this! I've been thinking about skit topics and role-playing games—I've already come up with one where they have to eat like different types of birds—but I have to work out whether to have them use a sieve to be a flamingo, or actually try to get something to eat by sticking their open mouths in water and shaking back and forth.

Kate! Remember you're dealing with children here! Oh, I'd love to stay for the summer and watch this.

It'll be fun. We'd really rip it up with Liz, too, but I think we'll be able to turn a few people on their ears.

Well, I hope Cynthia does get involved, just to keep you and Phyl in line.

Or maybe we'll corrupt Cynthia. What do you think?

_That's a really big job. And I don't think it's entirely possible. But maybe_...

Well, a maybe's good enough for me.

_But back to this Benny Royston thing_...

What about it?

I want to know what you think about it all, how it affected you, whether it changed anything for you or, in your opinion, East Taino.

Hmm. Well... I guess whatever bug Phyl's got up her ass is catchy, because I'm pretty happy about getting him off the island, and not just because of my own experience with him. I might not be a real native, but I think I'm close enough to see that how we develop is the question, not whether we will develop. It's like Atlanta. Take one strip of land. Do you want it to be all Wal-Marts and Wendy's, or pretty gentrified townhouses, or something else that somehow keeps a feeling of tradition while letting life go on? I haven't worked it all out yet, but I'm for keeping this sense of community that kept Liz here so long... that accepts people like Phyl and Chip, that makes commuting to Grand tolerable for Ed, and that still allows people like Hilda to live here.

Hilda?

My next-door neighbor. She doesn't appear to have a brain in her head, but her bread and cakes are so wonderful! I know my friends back in Atlanta would say she's dirt poor, but she manages to keep things together by selling her baked goods and doing a bit of cleaning for the white people here and there. And she's right here, so when she does need a bit of help, people notice and pitch in. That's what I like about East Taino, and that's the kind of thing I want to keep. Royston didn't even know that people like Hilda exist, and if his kind of plans are where we're going, she won't.

That's quite a speech.

You think I'm going to let Phyl show me up on this documentary? Uh-uh!

Do I sense a bit of upstaging going on? Are you a star or a diva?

Oh, you bitch! But anyway, I do believe what I said. So yeah, the whole thing has changed me a bit there. And...

And?

I don't know, maybe you'll think I've just given in... but I'm thinking of joining a church here.

Wow. Go on.

I guess it was seeing how they all came together like that. I could use more of a group feeling. More than just three of us against the world—and now it'll be only two of us once Liz leaves, then you. I'm still, you know, "ehhhh" about the actual beliefs, and no, I am not going to start telling people not to drink or smoke, so I don't know if it'll work out, but I thought I might make a little effort at being "a proper woman," as Auntie Susan puts it.

Her church?

Yeah, for starters. Maybe I'll "go shopping." I don't know. I'll just take some baby steps and see where it goes.

And this came from the whole Benny Royston thing?

Essentially. Tell the truth, I didn't really respect the religious people here until I saw what went down there. But maybe there's something to be said for it. This might be hard for me. Maybe it won't work.

And maybe it will.

Yeah. We'll see.

*****

LIZ, DAY SEVEN

NO, NOT YET. I want to get this done before you start showing me all the house stuff.

Well, OK. Guess I'm just pleased that you're going to stay here. I wish I could meet Bill. Too bad our flights don't overlap. Hey, want a drink?

In a bit. You seem in good spirits.

Oh, I am. Making the decision just seemed to lighten things up. I know there's a lot of shit to deal with, and I'm probably going to get down again when Dan and I get started, but I know we have to do this, and just facing it makes a difference. Hey, before you sit down, hand me that box of matches. Thanks. So what's on the agenda today?

Come on. I know you probably already talked to Kate and Phyl. You know the question.

What did I want to tell you that you didn't ask?

See.

Well, honey, I have all sorts of advice and things to say... but what do I know? I think you covered everything and then some.

So you're not going to elaborate on anything?

Elaborate? What's to elaborate?

_You know, Liz, you are more fun when you're in a good mood, but you're also more_... _opaque._

Whoa. Bring out the fancy terms.

Liz.

Oh, OK. You want to get nosy about the Zeke thing, right? Tell you, Cherry, you have the makings of a damn good island gossip. And you have the drinking part down. Now about the rest...

You, not me.

Persistent little bitch, aren't you? OK, OK. What do you want to know?

_How did it end_... _just like that? And how is it that you all still seem to get along? If I hadn't heard the whole story, I never would have guessed anything._

Anything what?

Anything between you and Zeke—down at the bar, you seem just like good friends, nothing more. Or anything between you and Cynthia—again, just a nice neighbor thing. No history. Histories.

Well, maybe because that's the way it's supposed to be. It's the way it was, for a long time. Then, I don't know, there was this craziness. It was really all me. Yeah, sure, he was certainly ready—but I don't think I've met an island guy yet who isn't always ready for sex. Like I said, must be something in the water or DNA. But it was me. So it was all tangled in with the fights with Dan, and Zeke was there. I had always found him attractive, but then all of a sudden it was all heat and the moment. We went from being friends to having sex. No in-between flirting or growing attraction, or thinking alike about things. Well, maybe a little of that, because of the whole Benny Royston thing. That was what we kind of hung our hat on, what kept us talking when we weren't having sex. Am I making any sense?

I think so. Go on.

While it was going on... well, it was almost like it wasn't really happening. I mean, I had my life here, and everything was normal. I saw Cynthia during the day and we talked and shared stuff from our gardens, the usual. And then in the evenings I would meet Zeke down at the bar, and it was like a totally different life. A disconnect, sort of. I was sort of watching myself being self-destructive. Yes, watching. Like, what is she doing? Very weird.

Then the longer it went on, the more I got used to it and it seemed almost normal in my mind. Man, I was messed up. And the thing is, it didn't make me less lonely but more, because I couldn't—well, wouldn't—say anything to my friends about it. It was a habit. You know, I never believed in this crap about sexual addiction, but that's sort of what it was like, an addiction. I wanted to get out of it, and then I didn't, either.

_So when Chip saw you_...

How did you know that? Who told you it was him?

No one told me. I put it together.

You're a smart cookie. Yeah, it was him.

So you could have made sure he didn't tell anyone, right?

Too smart. Yes, yes, I confess! Seriously, though. I know how Chip is. He's a bigger gossip than any of us, and he's lived on the edges for so long he doesn't think twice about how other people look at things. To him it was just "ho-ho!" And something to tell the other guys with a nudge and wink. Yeah, I knew he'd spread it. Maybe not on a conscious level, but underneath I was probably looking for a way out and Chip was it. In the middle of all that, Benny Royston just didn't cross my mind.

That came later.

Hell, yeah. In spades. I mean, it's one thing to fuck up my own life, but for me to screw my friends like that? What a piece of shit I am.

So when you offered your house to Benny, was it a ploy to buy time, or were you serious?

I don't know. Both, I guess. I made the mess, so I figured it was up to me to get out of it.

You didn't expect the backup.

Man, that floored me. And that's when the gears started turning and I started to get my head on straight.

You're not saying anything.

Do I have to? I'm just waiting for you.

Don't be so damned smug, sister. You pull that kind of shit on Bill, you're going to be sitting talking in this house for a long, long time.

We'll get to that later.

No, we'll get to it now. You signed on, honey. Next week, when Bill gets here, what's the conversation about?

I think I'll have a drink now.

Only on the condition that you stop being... what's the word? Opaque.

OK then. The truth is, I don't have a plan or anything. I just want to get him here, both of us away from our lives there, and talk about all the stuff that's been gathering.

Like?

You know. The ticking biological clock, his expectations, what I want.

And you're still miles apart?

_So far as I can see, yeah. I know if I'm going to have kids it should be now, but it just doesn't feel right for me. It's just_... _well, he has all these expectations for me, and I don't fit them. How could we have not seen this coming?_

Maybe in the heat of things you didn't want to. Do you have expectations of him?

No, of course not. Well, maybe. Yeah, I guess.

OK, so you do have a lot to talk about.

Any advice?

From me? Are you kidding? Cherry, we're in the same boat, just doing it in different places.

Well, thank you again for offering your house. And we'll take good care of the cats.

Hey, it's not as if I'm not going to be calling you every third day. You think I'm going to leave here without a whimper?

I don't know anything about anyone anymore, it seems.

Well, that's the fun of it, I guess. Hey, you ready to knock off for the day?

I thought I already did.

Well, c'mon. Turn that thing off and let's get the girls for some rum on the sand.

That's a great idea.

*****

PHYLLIS' HOME, DAY EIGHT

LIZ: OH, DON'T tell me we still have to put up with that fucking camera.

Come on, you know you want your goodbye party to be on tape, right?

Phyllis: Correction: first goodbye party. The real blowout is going to be at Zeke's, and we are not allowing Cherry to bring that thing there again.

Ed: Hear, hear! I for one do not appreciate having my drunkenness recorded for all time.

Kate: Sweetie, it already is, in my head. All of it from Day One. Arthur! Nice to see you. Where's my conch?

Arthur: Coming, coming. I haven't been conching lately.

Phyllis: I'll defend him. Chip and I made him drop everything else to get the fish for today.

Kate: Yeah, but I've been waiting for weeks!

Arthur: You know, the weather, things are muddy out there...

Chip: Kate, will you stop harassing him when you don't know anything at all about fishing? Come on, Arthur, I'll protect you from these women. Ed? Come on, grill! Guy stuff.

Ed: Excellent idea.

Kate: You guys always stick together.

Chip: As if you women don't.

Phyllis: All right, all right! I will not have you two doing your battle of the sexes. Kate, you and I can talk about the men later, OK?

Chip: Ed, Arthur, come on out to the grill. It's a losing battle in here.

Grilled fish? Sounds great.

Kate: Oh, it's marvelous the way Chip and Arthur do it. Those two could go into business.

Phyllis: Should go into business. It would keep Chip out of my hair.

Liz: I heard that. Stop ragging on Chip. Never insult the chef before you get something to eat.

Kate: So, grilled fish... what else is there?

Phyllis: I made most of the usual stuff, farming out some to other people. Coleslaw, potato salad, rice and peas, you know.

And the weird American brought an actual green salad, having learned that you can just barely get anything green in a meal here.

Liz: Are you casting aspersions on our local cuisine?

Yeah. Wanna make something of it?

Kate: Ooh, drama! Phyllis, get these girls some drinks.

Cynthia: Hello-oo!

Phyllis: Hi, Cynthia, Zeke. Come on in. Zeke, beer's in that cooler and the other guys are out back at the grill. Ooh! Champagne!

Zeke: Well, we have to make proper toasts.

Phyllis: But a whole case?

Zeke: Come on. I know how you girls can drink.

Liz: Oh, so the first toast is an insult, right?

Phyllis: Cynthia, I know you like Dr Pepper, so I stocked up on it. It's in the fridge, and after this you have to get them yourself. This whole operation is self-serve.

Liz: Well, I'm going to serve myself to the company of men for a while. See if they're doing the fish right.

Cynthia: Even if they aren't, they wouldn't admit it. No, no.

Liz: You are absolutely right there.

Rita: Hello?

Cynthia: Rita, I'm glad you came.

Kate: Auntie Rita. Auntie Susan. Yes, I know. Ignore the drink, OK?

Phyllis: Hello, hello! What can I get you...

Chip: Phyl! You got some limes?

Liz: Never mind him, I'm getting the limes.

Cynthia: I told you. They're helpless.

Liz: Rita! Susan! I'm glad you could come. Did Phyl introduce you...

Susan: I think I remember you. You came into the store looking for mushrooms one day, yes?

_Yes, I'm Cherry from Big Green. You know_...

Liz: Cherry? You sure you want this thing on?

You're probably right—this is too crazy. For now let's forget it.

*****

Rita:... didn't think I would like it, but it was good. I guess men can cook.

Cynthia: Only when it's on a grill. Put them in a kitchen, and forget it.

Zeke: Now, you know that's not true. Remember Z's famous conch fritters.

Cynthia: From my recipe. And don't you have Vera doing the cooking down there?

Hey, I thought you said you were ready for speeches. Let's go! I'm all set up.

Kate: Is it my imagination or has this girl gotten really cheeky lately?

Susan: She been in your company, you know.

Kate: Yeah, just think what you're going to be like if I hang around you long enough.

Rita: Maybe it will work the other way. Pastor Roy hopes so.

Kate: Or maybe we'll meet in the middle. Sure I can't get you a drink, Auntie Rita?

Zeke: Well, she will have champagne for this. Right?

Rita: Oh, no, no.

Kate: Yeah, look at that, she says no, but the arm goes out.

Susan: Come on, Rita. I'm going to have some.

Are we ready for the toasts, or should I turn this off?

Arthur: No! Almost ready.

OK, then. Who's starting. Zeke? Over there.

Kate: Bossy, too. Cynthia, you're going to have to whip her in shape.

Cynthia: Why me?

Kate: You're the one going to be living next to her. You took care of Liz. Now you have Cherry.

Zeke: OK, uh... we're having this expensive champagne...

Chip:... aka rotgut.

Zeke:... to say goodbye to our friend Liz...

Cynthia: Elizabeth.

Zeke:... Liz, who is moving back to the U.S.

Liz: For just a while, I hope.

Zeke: So we want to make a toast to a good neighbor and wish her happiness and a speedy return.

Ed: Hear, hear! And to a good artist, the only person who sees all the junk that washes up on the beaches as being something beautiful.

Arthur: Another. To Little Fish.

Liz: Arthur! How sweet.

I don't get that one.

Liz: Oh, I've bugged Arthur so much to bring me fish, telling him I'd even take the little ones, that he started calling me Little Fish.

Kate: Well, we can't let the men do all the toasts. To Liz, who is so much a part of East Taino that she's the one who taught me how to live here. You can indeed depend on the kindness of strangers when you're part of this special place. Seek a life useful, honey.

Phyllis: What does that mean?

Kate: Oh, it's something from my college days. The theater fraternity.

Phyllis: Oh. Well, let's expand on that, because Liz has certainly been useful here. Dear friend, we thank you for your generosity. You were willing to put your own house up against those who would ruin East Taino, and we thank you for that. You know there are way too many things to say, so I'll... we'll... I'll miss you so... Kate, help.

Kate: It's OK, honey. She's not leaving us forever.

Cynthia: We will all miss you, Elizabeth, but you will be back, I know. So, to your return.

Liz, I'm not taking your place, just holding it for you. Come back to the island that needs you, if only to remind people of what's important.

Chip: Now, wait a minute here. There's a little too much skirting around the issue here. We need to toast the person who made this party possible, don't we? To Benny Royston!

Phyllis: Chip!

Kate: Did you have to even bring up his name?

Chip: No, no, let's be fair. Without him, we would've gone along not even thinking about what we're doing, and it might have been one of us who tipped the balance. We have him to thank for showing us where stupidity starts. Not that we're immune, of course.

Zeke: Not a bad way to put it. I will drink to him. Cynthia?

Cynthia: I wouldn't think it, but OK, OK.

Liz: Yeah, what the hell. To Benny. Zeke, pour another round?

Zeke: Sure, but everyone go easy. We have another party to go, you know.

Phyl: And that's why you brought a whole case of champagne, right?

Are we done with the toasts? Can I turn the camera off?

Liz: Well, it looks like someone's anxious to party down. Welcome to East Taino, Cherry. And don't think for a minute that you're the only one looking through the lens.

_Noted_.

###

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jody Rathgeb spent sixteen years as a full-time journalist before launching her freelance writing career in 1994. She is a regular contributor to _Times of the Islands_ , a regional magazine for the Turks and Caicos Islands, and from 2003-2008 she lived on North Caicos, where she and her husband built a retirement home. Her nonfiction and fiction pieces have appeared in numerous publications, and her weekly blog, "An island life/a writing life" can be found on her website, <http://www.jodyrathgeb.com/>. She currently resides in Richmond, Virginia, with her husband, Tom, and two cats. _Fish-Eye Lens_ is her first novel.

