Part 23 (1/2)

Centering the piece on his desk, he stared at it, shook his head as if to clear it, and closed his eyes After counting to five, he reopened theed; his nausea and the illusion of the artifact's curious reflection of itself remained

36

Not much outside of restaurants and bars stayed open on the island on Carnival Monday The occasional ers, the police and fire stations stayed on alert, and the clinic opened its doors, which was fine with Peta She had no urge whatsoever to participate in Carnival, particularly after her experience with the Jab Jab Molassi She had no interest in watching the parade or in following it to Grenada National Stadiu and queenof the Carnival

It ell into the afternoon before she finished seeing her patients, which was perfect because Ralphie was rarely around before then His routine was absolute unless he was ill or off-island He disappeared after his e Beach in the late afternoon with his knapsack Settling hiainst the fence in front of the house nearest to Gem Holiday Beach Resort, he carved black coral, sed in brief conversations with passers-by

Mostly, he kept to himself

Always, she knehere to find hi she would use the bathroom at her clinic to dress

If it weren't for carnival, she'd have gone hoe and hailed a water taxi to take her to Ralphie at Morne Rouge Bay and back to Blue Lagoon Marina Today, however, was not the day to do that-not with all the drunks and tourists jockeying for space on the Carenage

At about four-thirty, she made her last patient notes and dressed-or more precisely, undressed-to kill, in athat Ralphie would have her replica ready, she threw a pair of silver stiletto-heeled sandals onto the front seat of the car and, barefoot, drove her Honda down the hill to Gem He was not yet at his post, so she stopped in for a brief hello with the hotelof children Peta had delivered, picked up a coke at the beach bar, and walked onto the sand She could s in the perpetual pot that was kept going by the beach folk One of the from his dive, cracked open a sea urchin and offered it to her She could not resist the treat He wouldn't take any arettes

Attracted to the sight of the giveaway, a jailbird con artist whom she knew only as Coconut asked for a srinned and stuck it between his lips beforeaa disposable lighter from her purse

Coconut shook his head ”Not for a few days Maybe he go off-island”

Peta pointed at the sreen coconuts at his feet He pulled his machete from the sand, picked up one of the nuts, a little san the ritual he would have to co the coconut in his left hand, he expertly swung the reen husk and exposing the soft interior shell

With a final whack he lopped off the end and handed it to her

She exchanged it for the lighter and drank down the liquid inside the coconut, relishi+ng its cool sweetness

When she'd finished, she handed it back to Coconut, who chopped it open and returned the two halves, along with a shaving fro like a spoon, she scooped out the white, gelatinous insides that off-islanders never saw in the old, dried-out nuts they bought at the supermarket

”Ralphie has to be around so the empty shells into the nearby tin drurinned ”I find him for you-cost you a pack of smokes”

Peta sat down on one of Gem's beach chairs ”Sure” She brushed away a fa on her arm in anticipation of sundown ”Why not”She adjusted the chair, lay back, and fell asleep The steel-druroup, awakened her an hour later Their music ca a stop on its daily sunset round Two old ladies sat under a pal baskets of T-shi+rts A third had thrown a row of brightly colored towels over the fence

She sat in front of thehter, a pretty girl of no more than nine

”Ralphie come soon” Coconut plopped himself down on the sand next to her and held out one hand for payment ”I find him wa-a-y down Grand Anse”

”I don't see hi slow”

”Why should I believe you?” Peta asked, arinned She took a small purse out of her pocket and counted out 130 Grenadian, enough for a pack of 555s at the supermarket up the road or a half pack at the bar

”I'm thirsty for beer,” Coconut said

Peta shook her head ”Don't push your luck”

He shrugged congenially, as if he had expected no different ”You be at Fantazia tonight for Calypso Night?” he asked, pointing at the building attached to the back of Gem's beachside restaurant, Sur La Mer

”Maybe,” Peta said, though she had absolutely no intention of partying there or anywhere else, with the exception of her obligatory appearance on the assegai

”Good enough” He took off for the bar just as Ralphie strode into view ”See,” he called out ”I told you”

”Hey, Ralphie”

”Hey, Miss Peta”

”You finished the job I gave you?”

”I finished it” He moved off toward the fence She stood up and followed him He settled himself on the sand, took out a piece of coral and a san to carve She sat down next to hiive her what she wanted in his own ti into his bag and pulled out the replica, set in the original gold bezel, and the loose real fragment She took them from him and examined them closely

There was no way to tell visually which one was the duplicate and which the real thing

The only way she knew the difference was by feel The original fragle like pins and needles The other felt like any piece of carved coral

”A job, Ralphie I don't kno to thank you You just ht have saved ravely, and refused all offers of payinal toward hiht Will you hold it for me until tomorrow?”

He nodded and took it from her

”Aren't you curious about this?” Peta asked

”I'm curious about how the universe works,” he answered

Peta s, her friend Ralphie He could have followed in his family's political footsteps He could have lived like a rich ht the secrets of the universe She thought about Frik, about how his search for the sarandizement