“Remember the time you caught a barracuda and brought it back to the hotel and asked Pete the chef to cook it for you?”
“It was the first fish I ever caught. I was out with Uncle Jack on Captain Jimmy’s boat, fishing for grouper, but a ’cuda took my mullet.”
“Pete thought you were so cute, bringing the barracuda wrapped in newspaper into the kitchen. You were only five then.”
“He told me that barracudas aren’t good eating, so he made me a kingfish instead.”
“Grilled in butter and garlic.”
“And he said he wouldn’t charge us for it since I’d brought him a fish to trade.”
“You really love your Uncle Jack, don’t you, baby?”
“He’s a great fisherman, and he knows everything about boats.”
“You know he was a commander in the navy?”
“Sure, he told me about how he built bridges and navy bases in the Pacific during the war.”
“Uncle Jack is a civil and mechanical engineer, Roy. He can draw plans, too, like an architect. He was a Seabee, and the navy offered to make him an admiral if he stayed in.”
“Why didn’t he?”
“He said to make money it was better to be in private industry. That’s why he moved to Florida, to build houses. My brother can do anything, though.”
“He can’t fly.”
“What do you mean, baby? You mean like Superman?”
“No, Uncle Jack told me he tried to become a pilot in the navy. They sent him to Texas to learn how to fly, but he washed out. He said there was something wrong with his ears that made him lose his balance.”
“Yes, that’s right. I remember when he came home from Texas. He was so disappointed. But Jack can do so many things. You know, baby, if you get really interested in something, you should follow it through all the way. I mean, find out everything you can, learn all there is to learn about it, try to do it or figure it out. That’s what your Uncle Jack does, that’s how come he knows so much about different things. He can’t do everything so well, like flying a plane, but he tries. And you know he’s been practically all over the world. Jack’s a great traveler.”
“I’m going to be a great traveler, too. We travel a lot, don’t we, Mom?”
“Yes, we do, but except for Cuba and Mexico, only in the United States.”
“I like to draw maps.”
“You mean to copy them from the atlas?”
“Sometimes, just to learn where places are. But also I like to make countries up. Oceans and seas, too. It’s fun to invent a world nobody else knows.”
“What’s your favorite country that you made up?”
“Turbania. It’s full of tribes of warriors who’re always fighting to take over all of Turbania. The largest tribe is the Forestani. They live in the mountains and come down to attack the Vashtis and Saladites, who are desert people.”
“Where exactly is Turbania?”
“Between Nafili and Durocq, on the Sea of Kazmir. A really fierce small tribe, the Bazini, live in the port city of Purset. They’re very rich because they own the port and have a big wall all around with fortifications not even the Forestanis can penetrate. The Bazinis also have rifles, which the other tribes don’t. The Vashtis and Saladites ride horses, black and white Arabians. The Forestanis travel on foot because the woods in the hills are so thick that horses can’t get through. And each tribe has its own language, though the Bazinis speak Spanish and maybe English, too, because of the shipping trade. The Forestanis can also speak like birds, which is the way they communicate when they don’t want anyone outside the tribe to know what they’re saying. It’s a secret language that they’re forbidden by tribal law to teach outsiders. If a Forestani is caught telling the secret bird language to a person from another tribe, his tongue is cut out and his eardrums are punctured.”
“Well, Roy, we’ll be in Chattanooga soon. Let’s have a snack and you can tell me about some of your other countries. I hope they’re not all as terrible as Turbania.”
“Turbania’s not so terrible, Mom. Wait until you hear about Cortesia, where all the people are blind and they have to walk around with long sticks to protect themselves from bumping into things and each other, so everyone pokes everyone else with their sticks all the time.”