The Reef (28 page)

Forb’s face darkened. ‘I’ll tell you, soon. Not now. Later.’

Manolin nodded. He read through the notebooks for an hour, scrutinising the drawings, the research. The ichthyocentaurs knew how to utilise every plant on the island. It was remarkable. They could genuinely make-and Forb had detailed-cures for any ailment, from headache and stomach ache, to anaesthetics and even hallucinogenic drugs. There were appetite suppressants and stimuli, erection enhancers, fertility drugs, antidepressants. Manolin’s mind was struggling to come to terms with the potential. If this knowledge reached the mainland, he could only imagine the number of cures it would bring.

The ichthyocentaurs’ village was calm. Many of them were in the forests, gathering plants.

Manolin saw the ichthyocentaur woman who looked heavily pregnant.

‘How far gone is she?’ he asked Forb.

‘Ten months. She should be due in the next couple of weeks, providing there’re no complications.’

‘Ten months. Interesting.’ Manolin walked with Forb up to the female. He signed
Hello
to her, and she returned the greeting. He got a small thrill every time he could communicate with them.

Forb began a conversation with her for a few moments before turning to Manolin. ‘All is well. She’s looking forward to becoming a mother. Should be any day now.’

Manolin said, ‘Who’s the father?’

Forb smiled and shrugged. ‘Could be any of them.’

‘I’m sorry?’ Manolin frowned.

‘Any of the males could be the father.’

‘Not sure I follow.’

Forb signed something to the ichthyocentaur woman. Manolin thought the clicks she made formed a laugh. ‘The females can take as many partners as they want, as many times as they want, even if all at the same time.’

Manolin was silent for a while. ‘Blimey.’ He looked at the female and around at the others. He’d never noticed it before, but there were no ‘couples’ around. ‘Not shy ladies, then. And I take it there’s not a great deal of courting going on either?’

‘Quite so.’ Forb laughed. ‘If indeed anyone
courts
these days. But seriously, it works well. How many times’ve you been to one of those clubs or inns, or bars, where you see a guy standing on his own in the shadows, and you knew he was thinking unsavoury thoughts, because you were thinking them yourself. All guys look at the women and want them, but can’t have them. A dominant male wins and the weaker ones go home depressed and drunk and alone.’

Manolin nodded. ‘Been there, my friend.’

‘Well, here, there’re no
dominant
males as such. They’re all winners this way. And, the females are seldom satisfied with just the one male. They require multiple partners to be stimulated fully. It’s really rare, because it’s outside of nature, outside of evolution. You see, they’re choosing not to compete. In that way, you could say that they’re superior to us humans and rumel. If only we could get our heads around it.’ He smiled.

Manolin scratched his head, looking at the female ichthyocentaur.

‘So,’ Forb said, ‘the males are happy as they’re always releasing their seed, and the females are happy as they’re getting maximum pleasure. No one ever fights over a woman, too. There is no sexual violence at all. Never had a rape here. What’s even stranger is that they do occasionally take a partner as companion, but they never get jealous of one another. It’s as if feelings never come into it. I would add, before one goes running around fertilizing everything, that humans and rumel are
vastly
more sophisticated. We let feelings and morals get in the way. And that’s a whole different thing all together. It complicates things.’

‘Can’t argue with that logic.’ Manolin thought about the notion. It unsettled him a little, made him silent. He remembered the last scene in his house, with his wife, her lover. It seemed so far away. In his head, he was beginning to justify her actions. Perhaps she needed more partners. Maybe it wasn’t because he was a bad lover to her, or unattractive. Perhaps her actions were a little more base, more natural. He settled on the word ‘primitive’.

Perhaps all people
are
primitive, deep down,
he thought.

Yana joined Jefry as he held a pink flower. He was spinning it, at the stem, between his forefinger and thumb.

‘Look at these colours, Yana. Aren’t they amazing?’

‘Utterly.’ She watched him spinning the flower. ‘Jefry, are you okay after what happened, uh, to Arth?’ She could never read his feelings. ‘You know, the strange thing is, I’ve never been better. Now, don’t

get me wrong, I’m sad that his gone, but that ceremony was different-you know, celebrating his life. That’s a really good thing to do. And it’s made me look at the world differently.’

‘How so?’ she said.

‘Well, I guess I don’t take everything so seriously. I’m not getting any older, and I know for a fact that death is around the corner for all of us, all the time. And when you’re on this island it’s like ... ‘He searched for the word. ‘Well, let me put it another way. This morning I ate an orange.’

‘Okay.’ Yana smiled, frowned.

‘I eat oranges all the time in Escha. But this morning I knew it came from a tree. I peeled it back and smelled it. I felt the juice spitting on my fingers. I ate it slowly. I was mindful of the fact that I was eating it, and that it came from a tree.’

‘And?’ she said.

‘I had never tasted anything as good. It was the most delicious thing I’ve eaten. It’s the pace of things here, you know? Away from the city, you begin to li ve again, to remember those things that really satisfy.’

‘Yeah, I think I know what you mean,’ Yana said. ‘Kind of sensual.’

‘That’s the word. Sensual.’ He dropped the flower, turned to address her face to face. ‘I know I’ve been a crap husband the last few years. But I will change, I will be whatever you need, I promise. We’ve had troubles, but let’s start afresh.’

Her throat felt thick as she forced a smile. A moment passed as he

leaned towards her as if using telepathy. She thought it ridiculous. ‘Look, Jefry. I know we’ve had our problems. I... I want to be open with you.’

‘Of course, dear, of course.’

His kindness made it all the more difficult for her. ‘I’ve done something. Something I’m not proud of. Something I am really ashamed of. I wondered if you ... had the kindness to listen and not judge me.’

‘Of course. Look, I’m a different man now. I’m a sensitive man.’ He held her hands in his. ‘Okay. Look, Jef, I do love you. I love you a lot.’ She looked down, to the right.

He said, ‘And I love you.’

She looked at the bright plants that lined the path up to the volcano’s edge. ‘Right. Well, it happened months ago. I was confused and lonely. But remember I love you, and I... Damn, this is
really
hard to say.’

He said, ‘Go on.’

‘Well. .. ‘Her eyes settled on the reef, down In the distance. ‘There’s no easy way to say this. I’m pregnant.’ His head moved back fractionally. ‘Oh.’ Yana’s eyes reddened. She could see his face change. ‘Really?’ She nodded. Jefry said, ‘I’m not the father, am I?’ She shook her head, a tear running down her cheek. He nodded, sighed then was silent. He let go of her hands and they fell limp.

She said, ‘Tell me what you’re thinking, Jef.’

Jefry turned away towards the sea. A flock of birds caught his eye, graceful as they dove down the side of the volcano. ‘Jef-please. Tell me what you’re thinking.’ He sighed, still looking away. ‘What d’you want me to say?’ ‘Something, anything. Just tell me what you think. Of me.’ ‘What I think of you?’ He laughed coarsely. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Please.’ ‘You mean, you tell me all of this, and you want to know how
you

are to me.’ ‘No, no,’ she said. ‘Not like that. I just want to know what you’re feeling.’ ‘Oh, for fucking Arrahd’s sake ...’ He looked her in the eyes. She turned away. ‘If you gave a fuck about what I was feeling we

wouldn’t be having this conversation, would we?’

She glanced down and noticed vaguely how bold her shadow was in the intense sunshine. ‘Who’s the father then?’ She stared right into his eyes. ‘Manolin.’ He nodded. ‘Why? Was Ijust not good enough?’ She shook her head in tiny jerks. ‘It wasn’t that.’ ‘Well what was it exactly? Come on, you might as well tell me. Get it all out in the open. Had you been having an affair?’

‘No, not at all, no. It was a one-off.’

, Right.’

She said, ‘No, it
was.
Just the once.’

‘Why
him?’

‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘He was sad because he’d just split with his wife, y’know.’ ‘That’s no reason.’ ‘I know,’ she said, fully ashamed of herself. He was cutting her

with precise, thought out words. She felt ridiculously young. ‘Look, it wasn’t that. We chatted and had drunk quite a bit.’

‘You were drunk, was that it?’

‘More or less,’ she said.

‘Was he good?’ he said.

‘What d’you mean?’ Yana said.

‘Was he good? Did
he
fuck
you
better than
I
could?’

She began to cry. ‘No, of course not, that’s not the point at all. It just felt good talking-’

‘You could talk to me!’ he said.

‘Please, don’t raise your voice. I’m truly sorry, Jef. I’ve never done

anything like that before. You ignored me before. That night he made me feel good about myself. He complimented me. Made me feel special.’

The rumel turned and sat on the ground. He placed his hands either side on the lichens. Out at sea were two fishing boats, their sails unfurling as they watched.

Yana sat down next to him. ‘You’d shown no interest in me for months. What was I supposed to think? That you found me attractive? I need to feel attractive to someone, Jef. Everyone does, don’t they?’

He said, ‘Are you asking me or telling?’

‘I’m telling you.’ Her voice was stronger. ‘Manolin doesn’t know yet. We both regret the act. It was a one-off, and now look at me. I’m pregnant.’

‘Yes, yes you are.’ He looked up and down her body. ‘What’re you going to do about it?’

‘What d’you mean? I’m going to have it, that’s what.’

‘You’ve always wanted one, haven’t you?’ Jefry said.

‘Yeah.’

‘You want it, don’t you?’

‘Yeah.’ With her eyes wide she rolled her lips inwards in a smile.

‘Guess I should’ve seen it coming,’ he said. ‘A rumel and a human is never a good mix.’

‘It’s not that at all, Jef. I love you for who you are, not what you are. Anyway, we’re not all that different. There’re loads of rumel and human families.’

‘Couldn’t give you a kid though, could I?’

Yana remained silent, rubbed her hands along the grass-like surface of the lichens that lined the path to the volcano. ‘Look, you’ve been so nice about this. Really nice. Please don’t hate me.’

‘I don’t hate you,’ he said.

‘You do, you hate me, I can tell.’

‘I don’t hate you.’

She said, ‘What about Manolin?’

‘I don’t know how I feel about him yet.’

‘You’ve been so nice about all of this. You’re such a kind person, I’ve always thought that.’ ‘Yeah, I’m a real great guy, aren’t I?’ Jefry grunted a laugh. Yana was silent for a moment. ‘Do you want some time alone?’ Jefry nodded. Yana pushed herself onto one knee. She leaned in to kiss him, but

stopped seeing his expression, pulled back, stood up. She turned back down the path.

‘Looks like rain tonight,’ Forb said.

He gestured vaguely at the bulk of cumulous that were massing to bring a storm. Repeatedly, smoke from a cooking fire in the village rose a short way before being beaten down. ‘Yep, I’d say we should wrap up tight tonight.’

Santiago, Manolin, Yana and Becq all stood around the doctor’s hut. Myranda was preparing some fruit inside, and Santiago, out of the corner of his eye, saw that she was bending over to pick up something. He wasn’t concerned with what it was.

‘How long’s Jefry going to be?’ Forb asked. Yana shrugged. ‘I don’t know. He wanted some time to himself so I left him there.’ She indicated the volcano. ‘That was a good few

hours, though.’

‘Is everything all right?’ Becq asked.

‘Yes, yes. Nothing to worry about. You know us.’ Yana looked towards Becq. ‘I’ll tell you later.’ ‘Another hour and I’ll have to go look for him,’ Forb said. ‘It’s pretty dangerous up there, especially if there’s a storm coming.’ ‘Storm? I thought you said it was rain?’ Santiago said, still glancing behind the doctor.

‘It’s going to be bad whatever it is. It’s a bit early. The storm season isn’t for a month or two yet. Guess you lot have brought bad weather with you.’ Forb smiled. Everyone else remained silent.

‘Will it be a bad one, then?’ Santiago asked. ‘I should hope not, but you can sleep further inland if you want. We’ve huts here and there all the way to the other side of the island.’ Santiago said, ‘When do you think we can use one of the ichthyocentaurs, Forb?,