Spoiled
The face of each family member is worth a fortune.
Except for Elena's, of course, my little friend joins me as we grin and watch the men clean the meat. Perpetua is like a fish on dry land, her mouth falling open repeatedly as she watches the sour-looking men working on the catch.
Suddenly I feel someone next to me and when I look up, I see Magda standing to my great surprise.
The hostility is mainly gone, although her eyes still betray her vigilance. "Tell me, Saray, how did you manage this? Neither of them has ever brought home this much," Magda whispers to me. "What's your trick? I want to beat them too, I never succeeded before so I gave up". Her changed attitude puts me on alert, I definitely don't trust her yet. "No trick, just entered into an honest deal," I tell her briefly. But she shakes her head incredulously. "Nope. There's something you must have done to get that many beasts together. Peter even noted that you didn't even use the shotgun. So, did you catch them with your hands? Do you possess supernatural powers?" she sounds.
"I have to disappoint you, my dear," I answer her coolly. "I am only human. Perhaps the animals were willing to sacrifice their lives for me to put these men in their place? You took it pretty well out on me last night. Now it's my turn. Please, don't tell me you too are a sore loser". With compressed lips, she moves away from my side. Elena giggles. "Did she want to steal your idea, Saray? You should have charged her. Her fiancé left thousands of dollars in insurance money for her. You could have gotten rich," she whispers to me.
My interest is piqued.
I don't think it's ethical to hear a little girl out about her older sister, but this may be my only chance to know where Magda's strange behavior is coming from. Her comments that handling guns, violence and wealth were normal for me still linger in my head. And Esau claimed she had a bad experience not long ago. "Her fiancé left her money? Then what happened to him, how did he die?" I ask curiously.
Elena skims around and then leans closer to me. "We suffer from drug gangs more often. Our island is strategically located in their route. And when they are attacked at sea by rival gangs or when the police chase them, they dump bags of drugs into the sea that wash up here," she declares. "Robin was on the island when suddenly a group approached in a boat. They were fast, he was able to run but they had machine guns. They shot him in the back. So many bullets. He was dead instantly. After that day, Magda changed incredibly, she doesn't like visitors, distrusts everyone who enters the island and suspects them to be related to the criminals."
Shocked to the bone, I don't know what to say for a moment.
This explains the odd looks that were thrown at me when Esau, Peter and Perpetua found me behind the tree. My behavior was most certainly suspicious. No, I absolutely cannot blame Magda; me too, would have done the same. A spark of pity enters me, now that I know her story, she seems more sympathetic.
Looking in front of me again, I see the men wearily wiping the sweat from their foreheads.
The vapor from the hot water they use to clean the meat and the hard work has completely exhausted them. Perpetua spikes much of the meat on a stick and Magda helps her place it over a huge fire. The rest goes in a tall barrel with lots of salt on top. I decide to take a dip in the sea to wash away the smell of the animals on me and relax a bit. Elena jumps up and walks with me to the beach. We entertain ourselves in the water for a few hours, swimming after a school of colored fish and resting a bit under a tree.
"We have to go back. Mom is calling us. I heard her whistle. I think lunch is ready and I'm already dying of hunger," Elena tells me. We get dressed again and start our way back. When we arrive, the table is already set. Much to my delight, my plate has extra meat on it. Everyone has already noticed that I like to eat lots of meat and now that I have caught it myself, I deserve a bigger portion. Esau and Peter still don't dare look me in the eye after their embarrassing loss. My gut tells me that they are bent on revenge, they still don't want to believe that I could bring in so much on my own.
Lunch today proceeds in silence.
Despite the grumpy mood of the men, I am enjoying myself perfectly. Who wouldn't, a simple city woman who has defeated two seasoned hunters? Again, I help with cleaning the table and washing the dishes. When I'm done, I leave with Perpetua and Elena to the plot. "Hey, doesn't Magda ever come to help?" I ask. Perpetua shakes her head in denial. "She used to, but now she prefers to drown herself in grief," she replies despondently. "No matter what I do, she crawls further into her shell. If she keeps going on like this and makes no effort to move on with her life, I fear the worst," the woman explains mournfully.
For some reason, I keep thinking about Elena's story of the tragedy. It occupies my mind constantly.
I wonder if I, too, have experienced the same and that is why this concerns me so much. After several hours of being so busy maintaining the grows, the dusk kicks in. "Time to head back, ladies," announces Perpetua. We collect today's harvest and head to the house. When we get there, we find the men in a completely different mood. They seem to have gotten over their loss and look rested.
"We have so much meat now, for almost a month. Let's have a barbecue on the beach tonight to improve our mood. We haven't eaten outside in a long time," Esau suggests. I go straight to the bathroom, where warm water is already waiting for me. Barbecue on the beach, I'm so in for that. This is the way islanders dine, I think to myself. So not in some fancy expensive eatery with the finest wine.
Hey, do I really sound like a spoiled, rich city brat now? ...
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