Coastliners - A Novel Part 23

"What's he want out there?" asked Lolo. "He's right out on La Jetee. D'you think he's run aground?"

"Neh." Aristide snorted. "How could he? All the same"-he got to his feet-"it looks like trouble."

The identification of the craft had changed things. Rouget was not some unknown tourist, drunk in charge of a hired boat. Within a few minutes a small group had gathered on the top of the cliff, watching the distant boat with anxious curiosity.

Aristide wanted to take his Cecilia Cecilia out straightaway, but Alain beat him to it in the out straightaway, but Alain beat him to it in the Eleanore 2 Eleanore 2. He wasn't the only one. Word reached Angelo's that there was a problem at La Goulue, and ten minutes later there were half a dozen people at the beach, armed with hooks, poles, and lengths of rope. Angelo himself was there-selling shots of devinnoise devinnoise at fifteen francs each-and Omer, Toinette, Capucine, and the Guenoles. Farther down the beach, a few tourists watched and speculated. From the cliff the sea was silver-green and crepey, barely moving. at fifteen francs each-and Omer, Toinette, Capucine, and the Guenoles. Farther down the beach, a few tourists watched and speculated. From the cliff the sea was silver-green and crepey, barely moving.

It took more than an hour to reach La Jetee. It felt like longer. Rouget's little skiff had gone beyond the sandbanks, too close to the shallows for the bigger boats to reach it easily. Alain had to maneuver the Eleanore 2 Eleanore 2 into position around the jutting sandbanks while Ghislain pulled in Flynn's boat, using hooks and poles to keep it a safe distance from into position around the jutting sandbanks while Ghislain pulled in Flynn's boat, using hooks and poles to keep it a safe distance from Eleanore 2 Eleanore 2's hull, then together, haul the rescued craft out toward the open sea. Aristide, who had insisted on coming too, held his place at the rudder, voicing his pessimism at intervals. The wind was strong outside the bay, the sea was riding high, and I had to stand beside Alain at the stern of the Eleanore 2 Eleanore 2 to control the swaying boom as the little boat pitched and rocked. So far there had been no sign of Flynn at all, either in the boat or in the water. to control the swaying boom as the little boat pitched and rocked. So far there had been no sign of Flynn at all, either in the boat or in the water.

I was glad no one commented on my presence. I had been the one to recognize the sail in the first place. That gave me a kind of right, in their eyes, to be there. Alain, sitting at the prow of the Eleanore 2 Eleanore 2, had the best view of the proceedings, and kept up a running commentary as Ghislain maneuvered Flynn's boat into range. He had fastened a couple of old car tires to the side of the Eleanore 2 Eleanore 2 to protect the hull from a possible shock. to protect the hull from a possible shock.

Aristide was typically gloomy. "I knew there was trouble," he declared, for the fifth time. "I'd had that feeling, just like the night the storms took my Peoch ha Labour Peoch ha Labour. A kind of doomed feeling."

"Indigestion, more like," muttered Alain.

Aristide ignored him. "We've had too much good luck, that's what it is," he said. "It was bound to turn eventually. Why else would this happen to Rouget, of all people? The lucky one?"

"It may be nothing," said Alain.

Aristide threw up his hands. "I've been sailing for sixty years, and I've seen it happen twenty times or more. Man goes out alone, gets careless, turns his back on the boom-wind changes-good night!" He put his finger on his throat in an expressive gesture.

"You don't know that happened," Alain said stubbornly.

"I know what I know," replied Aristide. "Happened to Ernest Pinoz in 1949. Swept him right over the side. Dead before he hit the water."

At last we got the little boat within range of the Eleanore 2 Eleanore 2, and Xavier jumped aboard. Flynn was lying motionless at the bottom. He must have been lying there for hours, Xavier guessed, because there was a stripe of sunburn across the side of his face. With some difficulty Xavier lifted Flynn under the arms, struggling to move him within reach of the rocking Eleanore 2 Eleanore 2 while Alain tried to secure the boat. Around them the little skiff's useless sail flapped and slapped, the loosened ropes flying dangerously in all directions. Though he did not recognize it, Xavier knew better than to touch the thing-something that looked like the soggy remains of a plastic bag-wrapped around Flynn's arm and trailing pieces of itself in the water. while Alain tried to secure the boat. Around them the little skiff's useless sail flapped and slapped, the loosened ropes flying dangerously in all directions. Though he did not recognize it, Xavier knew better than to touch the thing-something that looked like the soggy remains of a plastic bag-wrapped around Flynn's arm and trailing pieces of itself in the water.

At last, after several attempts, the boat was secure.

"Told you, heh?" announced Aristide with grim satisfaction. "Takes more than a lucky red bead to save you, once your time's come."

"He's not dead," I said in a voice I did not recognize.

"No," panted Alain, hauling Flynn's unresponsive body from the waterlogged skiff into the Eleanore 2 Eleanore 2. "Not yet, anyway."

We laid him down in the stern of the boat, and Xavier put up the warning flag. With unsteady hands I kept busy with the Eleanore 2 Eleanore 2's sails until I could trust myself to look at Flynn without shaking. He was already burning up. His eyes opened occasionally, but he did not respond when I spoke to him. Through the semitransparent thing that clung to his skin, I could see red lines of infection shooting up his arm. I tried to keep the tremor from my voice, but even so I sounded screamy to myself, dangerously close to hysteria. "Alain, we have to get that thing off him!"

"That's a job for Hilaire," said Alain shortly. "Just let's get the boat back to the sh.o.r.e as quickly as we can. Keep him out of the sun. Trust me; there's nothing more we can do here."

It was good advice, and we obeyed, Aristide holding a piece of sailcloth over the unconscious man's face while Alain and I maneuvered the Eleanore 2 Eleanore 2 as quickly as we could into La Goulue. Even so-and with the good west wind at our backs-it took almost an hour. By then there were more would-be helpers waiting on the sh.o.r.e, people with flasks, ropes, blankets. Rumors were already flying. Someone ran to fetch Hilaire. as quickly as we could into La Goulue. Even so-and with the good west wind at our backs-it took almost an hour. By then there were more would-be helpers waiting on the sh.o.r.e, people with flasks, ropes, blankets. Rumors were already flying. Someone ran to fetch Hilaire.

No one could be certain what the thing-still wrapped around Flynn's arm-could be. Aristide thought it was a box jellyfish, washed up the freakish trail of the Gulf Stream from warmer seas. Matthias, who had come over with Angelo, dismissed the likelihood with scorn.

"It's not," he snorted. "Are you blind? It's a Portuguese man-of-war. Remember the time we had them off La Jetee? 1951, it must have been, heh, hundreds of them riding the edge of the Nid'Poule. Some of them came all the way to La Goulue, and we had to drag them up away from the sh.o.r.eline with rakes."

"Box jellyfish," said Aristide stoutly, shaking his head. "I'd lay money on it."

Matthias took him up on that, to the tune of a hundred francs. Several other people followed suit.

Whatever the thing was, it was no easy task to remove. The tentacles-if indeed those feathery, frondlike ribbons were tentacles-adhered to bare skin wherever they had touched it. They clung there, defying all attempts to remove them cleanly.

"It must have looked like a plastic bag, heh, floating in the water," speculated Toinette. "He leaned over to scoop it up-"

"Lucky he wasn't swimming, heh. It would have been all over him. Those tentacles must be a couple of meters long, at least."

"Box jellyfish," repeated Aristide with grim satisfaction. "Those marks are from the blood poisoning. Seen it before."

"Man-of-war," protested Matthias. "When d'you ever see a box jellyfish this far north, heh?"

"Cigarettes. That's what you use for leeches," said Omer La Patate.

"Maybe a shot of devinnoise devinnoise," suggested Angelo.

Capucine thought vinegar.

Aristide was fatalistic, saying that if the thing was indeed a box jellyfish then Rouget was done for anyway. There was no antidote to that poison. He gave him twelve hours, maximum. Then Hilaire arrived with Charlotte, who was carrying a bottle of vinegar.

"Vinegar," said Capucine. "I said that would do it."

"Let me through," grumbled Hilaire. He was gruffer than usual, hiding his anxiety behind a mask of irritation. "People think I've nothing better to do, heh. I've got Toinette's goats to see to, and the horses from La Houssiniere. Can't people pay attention? Do they think I enjoy this kind of thing?" Anxiously the little group watched as Hilaire removed the clinging tentacles with tweezers and vinegar.

"Box jellyfish," said Aristide under his breath.

"Head full of rocks," replied Matthias.

They took Flynn to Les Immortelles. It was the most sensible place, insisted Hilaire, with beds and medical supplies. An adrenaline injection, administered on the scene, was all Hilaire could give, and he was reluctant at this stage to make a prognosis. From his surgery he rang the coast, first for a doctor-a rapid motorboat was available in Fromentine in case of emergency-then to the coast guard to issue a jellyfish warning.

So far no more of the creatures had been spotted at La Goulue, but the old measures were already in place at the new beach, with a cord and floaters stretched across the swimming area, and a net to filter out any unwanted visitors. Later, Alain and Ghislain would sail across to La Jetee to check there. It was a procedure sometimes used after the autumn storms.

I lingered on the outside of the little group, feeling superfluous now that there was nothing useful left for me to do. Toinette volunteered to go to Les Immortelles with Rouget. There was talk of calling Pere Alban.

"Is it that bad?"

Hilaire, who was not familiar with either of the disputed jellyfish types, could not say for sure. Lolo shrugged. "Aristide says by tomorrow we'll know one way or another."

8.

I don't believe in omens. In that I am not a typical islander. And yet the air was filled with them that evening; they rode the waves like gulls. A tide was turning somewhere, a dark one. I could feel it on the turn. I tried to imagine Flynn dying; Flynn dead. It was unthinkable. He was ours-the island's-a piece of Les Salants. We had shaped him, and he us.

As evening approached I went to Sainte-Marine's shrine on the Pointe, spattered now with candle wax and guano. Someone had left a plastic doll's head with the offerings on top of the altar. The head was very pink; the hair blond. There were candles burning there already. I put my hand in my pocket and took out the red coral bead. I turned it in the palm of my hand for a moment, then placed it on the altar. Sainte-Marine looked down, her stone face more ambiguous than ever. Was it a smile on the blunt features? Was that arm raised in a blessing?

Santa Marina. Take back the beach, if that's what you want. Take anything you like. But not this. Please. Not this.

Something-a bird, perhaps-screamed in the dunes. It sounded like laughter.

Toinette Prossage found me still sitting there. She touched my arm and I looked up; behind her, coming up the Pointe toward me, I could see more people. Some carried lanterns; I recognized the Bastonnets, the Guenoles, Omer, Angelo, Capucine. Behind them I could see Pere Alban with his driftwood staff, and Soeur Therese and Soeur Extase, their coiffes coiffes bobbing against the sunset like birds. bobbing against the sunset like birds.

"I don't care what Aristide says," Toinette told me. "Sainte-Marine has been here longer than any of us, and there's no knowing what other miracles she can perform. She brought us the beach, didn't she?"

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. Behind Toinette the villagers were arriving in a line, some carrying flowers. I saw Lolo following at a distance, and in the village, a few tourists watching curiously.

"I never said I wanted wanted him to die," protested Aristide. "But if he does, he'll have earned his place in La Bouche. I'll find him a plot next to my own son." him to die," protested Aristide. "But if he does, he'll have earned his place in La Bouche. I'll find him a plot next to my own son."

"There's no call for any of this talk of dying and burials," said Toinette. "The Saint won't allow it. She's Marine-de-la-Mer and she's the Salannais' special Saint. She won't let us down."

"Heh, but Rouget isn't a Salannais," pointed out Matthias. "Sainte-Marine's an island saint. Maybe she doesn't care for mainlanders."

Omer shook his head. "The Saint may well have brought us the beach, but it was Rouget built the Bouch'ou."

Aristide grunted. "You'll see," he said. "Bad luck's never far away in Les Salants. This proves it. Jellyfish in the bay, after all these years. Don't tell me that will improve trade, heh?"

"Trade?" Toinette was indignant. "Is that all you care about? Do you think the Saint cares for it?"

"Maybe not," said Matthias, "but it's a bad sign all the same. Last time that happened was in the Black Year."

"The Black Year," repeated Aristide darkly. "And luck turns like the tide."

A few days earlier, his doom-laden tone might have made me smile. But I found that I had almost begun to believe in omens again. Once more I glanced at the Saint, trying to read her expression.

"Our luck has not not turned!" protested Toinette. "We make our own luck in Les Salants. This proves nothing." turned!" protested Toinette. "We make our own luck in Les Salants. This proves nothing."

Pere Alban shook his head disapprovingly. "I don't know why you all wanted me to come here anyway," he said. "If you want to pray, go to a church that's still standing. If not-heh! All this superst.i.tious carrying on. I should never have encouraged it."

"Just a prayer," urged Toinette. "Just the Santa Marina Santa Marina."

"All right, all right. Then I'm going home, leave you here to catch your deaths if you like. It looks like rain."

"I don't care what you say," muttered Aristide. "Trade matters. And if she's our Saint, then she should understand that. That's the luck of Les Salants."

"Monsieur Bastonnet!"

"All right, heh, all right."

We bowed our heads like children. Island Latin is pig-Latin, even by church standards, but all attempts to update the service have been rejected. There is magic in the old words, something that would be lost in translation. Pere Alban has long since stopped trying to explain that it is not the words themselves that hold the power, but the sentiment behind them. The idea is incomprehensible to most Salannais, even a little blasphemous. Catholicism has naturalized here in the islands, reverting to its pre-Christian origins. Charms, symbols, incantations, rituals are what remain most strongly rooted here, in these communities where so few books-even the Bible-are read. The oral tradition is strong, details added with each retelling, but we like miracles better than numbers and rules. Pere Alban knows this, and plays along, knowing that without him the church might soon become altogether redundant.

He left as soon as the prayer was finished. I heard the crunching sound of his fis.h.i.+ng boots in the sand as he left the little circle of lanterns. Toinette was singing in a high old-lady's voice; I caught a few words, but it was in an old island patois, which like the Latin, I did not understand.

The two old nuns had remained, and standing on either side of the driftwood altar they supervised the prayers. Quietly, the villagers waited in line. Several people-Aristide among them-removed the lucky bead from around their necks and placed it on the altar beneath Sainte-Marine's dark, ambivalent stare.

Leaving them to their prayers I made my way down toward La Goulue, spread out wide and red in the sun's afterglow. Far, far out toward the water's edge, almost lost in the gleam from the flats, a figure was standing. I walked out toward it, enjoying the cool of the wet sand beneath my feet and the soft lapping of the receding tide. It was Damien.

He looked at me, his eyes filled with the red pandemonium of the sun. Beyond it, a dark line across the sky promised rain to come. "You see?" he said. "Everything's coming apart. Everything's finished."

I s.h.i.+vered. Far behind us came the eerie warble of Toinette's singing.

"I don't think it's going to be that bad," I said.

"Don't you?" He shrugged. "My father went out to La Jetee with the platt platt. He says he saw more of those things out there. Storms must have brought them up the Gulf Stream. My grandfather says it's an omen. Bad times coming."

"I never thought you were superst.i.tious."

"No. But it's what they cling onto, when there's nothing else left. It's what they do to pretend they're not afraid. Singing and prayers and garlands on the saint. As if any of that was going to help Rou-Roug-" His voice broke at the last word, and he stared at the water with renewed fierceness.

"He'll be all right," I said. "He always is."

"I don't care," replied Damien unexpectedly, without raising his voice. "He's the one who started all this. I don't care if he dies."

"You don't mean that!"

Damien seemed to be speaking to something on the horizon. "I thought he was my friend. I thought he was different from Joel and Brismand and the others. Turns out he was just a better liar."

"What do you mean?" I demanded. "What's he done?"

"I thought he and Brismand hated each other," said Damien. "That's what he always pretended. But they're friends friends, Mado. Him and the Brismands. They're all working together. He was working for them yesterday, when he had the accident. That's why he'd gone out so far. I heard Brismand say so!"

"Working for Brismand? Doing what?"

"He's been doing it all along," said Damien. "Brismand's been paying him to string us all along. I heard him talking to Marin about it outside the Chat Noir."

"But, Damien," I protested. "Everything he's done for Les Salants-"

"What has has he done, heh?" Damien's voice cracked; suddenly he sounded very young. "Built he done, heh?" Damien's voice cracked; suddenly he sounded very young. "Built that that thing in the bay?" He gestured at the distant Bouch'ou, where I could just see the two warning lights winking like Christmas baubles. "What for? Who for? Not for me, that's certain. Not for my father, in debt up to the eyes and still hoping for the big break. Thinks he'll make a fortune out of a few fish, how stupid can you get? Not for the Guenoles, or the Bastonnets, or the Prossages. Not for Mercedes!" thing in the bay?" He gestured at the distant Bouch'ou, where I could just see the two warning lights winking like Christmas baubles. "What for? Who for? Not for me, that's certain. Not for my father, in debt up to the eyes and still hoping for the big break. Thinks he'll make a fortune out of a few fish, how stupid can you get? Not for the Guenoles, or the Bastonnets, or the Prossages. Not for Mercedes!"

"That's not fair. The beach isn't responsible for that. And neither is Flynn."

The sun had set. The sky was a bruise, pallid at the edges. "And that's another thing," said Damien, looking at me. "His name isn't Flynn. It's not Rouget, either. It's Jean-Claude. After his father."

PART FOUR.

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