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To a West Texan like Matt, Barbados seemed like paradise. The taxi drive from the airport in the south to the opposite end of the island was a sequence of amazing and picturesque impressions.
He saw lush greenery right up to the curbs, impossibly narrow roads full of tiny zooming cars and giant lumbering buses. People were walking or bicycling everywhere. There were lots of small shacks, some of which were home, stores, or bars. They came in an array of bright colors—blue, yellow, pink, and orange. Gorgeous trees covered with orange flowers, quick views of a cricket ground, a harbor, and a fort. Policemen were wearing uniforms straight out of an old British movie, right down to the Bobby-style helmets.
As lovely as it was, Matt nearly had a heart attack at least four times, as they drove on the left side of the road! Every time the cab turned at an intersection and headed down the "wrong" side of the street, he was sure he was going to die.
The cab dropped Cheryl off halfway up the island at Speightstown to see her parents. The rest of the drive was faster and not so congested, and he was almost calm until the cab turned off the scenic coastal road and labored up a steep hill to turn onto a driveway lined with poinsettias. And there she was: Darcy sitting in the shade on the wide gallery of a magnificent house, palm trees framing the sparkling ocean behind her. As he walked up to the brightly tiled porch, a radiant smile lit up her face. She took his breath away.
"Hey."
"Matt! Hi! What are you doing here? I'm so glad to see you!"
Her hug gave his heart palpitations, his body chills of pleasure. Trying to suppress what had to be a ridiculous grin, he took a step back.
"You look different!"
"Oh. Well, I’ve modified my looks, partly for training, and partly because I know a lot of people are looking for me."
"Well, I guess that’s good. I wasn't sure you'd be here. I thought you might be training somewhere."
"I'm taking a day off, maybe two days. Coach wanted me to."
"How you doing?"
"I'm fine! I'm doing well. I never expected to see you here. Are you reporting for the paper?"
"No! I came to see you! I came with Cheryl. She’s visiting her family. She suggested I come with her and visit you!”
He hoped she wouldn’t ask how he could pay for this. Whenever he was around her, he felt a little flustered. After all, she was from another planet, something only he, on this planet, knew. Well, and Dr. Sledd—he was also enchanted by her. But his own case was different, way different. It was personal!
"Cheryl's here too? That's terrific! I can't wait to see her!"
"She'll be here soon. The cab dropped her off at her parents’ house. Man, this is a pretty place," he added, taking in the palm trees, the sugar cane fields beyond them, and the ocean all across the horizon.
"Isn't it, though? It reminds me of home...my home, if you know what I mean."
She looked up at the second floor of the house.
"Your home must be gorgeous," Matt said.
"It really is. But let me show you around. Do you know about coconuts, Matt? Look up there. See those? There's a man here who climbs up there and cuts one down for me whenever I want one. They're hard to open but he does it with one whack of a big knife. They're full of milk and the meat is white and sweet and delicious!"
"I know about coconuts, but I've never see them growing on the tree. Cool!"
"And there are two kinds of wonderful bananas growing over there, big ones and delicious little ones they call figs, and lots more stuff I'll show you later. The Senator lives on the second floor. The whole first floor is mine! Come inside and see it, Matt."
She didn't seem to be ailing to Matt, but he wasn't sure. Her face looked a bit more serious, and she might have put on a couple pounds since he'd seen her last. He finally brought it up after their tour.
She poured some exotic fruit drink into tall glasses, which they sipped without ice on the shaded gallery along the front of the first floor. The poinsettias that lined the driveway were waving seductively in the breeze off the Caribbean. It was a postcard setting.
“It’s so good to see you!”
I hope she means that, he thought.
“Really,” she went on, “why did you go to all the trouble just to come to Barbados?”
"Well, Cheryl told me she's worried about you. So I am too."
Was that too personal?
"She is? You are?"
"Yeah. She didn't go into detail, but I gathered that maybe your training hasn't been going that well lately."
She looked down at her hands, wrapped around her glass.
"Well, I guess that's true. My coach says my times are not as good as they were when I started, weeks ago. They've checked everything they can think of. There's nothing wrong with me. I'm not sick. I feel fine. I'm just not running and moving like I did. I thought I was going to win a medal, maybe, but now I'm not sure that'll happen."
She looked at him quickly and then out at the ocean. Matt didn't know what to say. Without thinking he touched her wrist lightly.
She continued. "There's only one thing I can think of to do."
"What?" whispered Matt.
"Ask Hleo."
"Hleo?"
She nodded.
"You mean, you mean, that, that..."
"...the station manager, where I came from," she said, looking around the gallery.
"I thought he wouldn't talk to you. Didn't you tell me that he sort of divorced himself from you when you left?"
"Yes, he did. He still might not talk to me, but it's the only thing I can think of to try. He's one of the best doctors we have. All our people's medical data is programmed into him, including mine. This problem must have something to do with the environment here, with my coming here. Hleo might be able to compare or sort the data and figure out what it is. He's very good at that. I can't think of anything else to do."
"But, um," Matt looked around the gallery himself, "he's a long way away. How are you going to contact him?"
"Maybe you can help with that," she said, and then hesitated. "But it'll have to be later. We have another visitor."
A tiny white Opel was slowly moving up the driveway. Behind the steering wheel (on the wrong side of the car) they could see Cheryl's broad smile. The horn tooted a couple pitiful beeps, the car stopped, and Cheryl jumped out and ran to hug them both.
They spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the plantation house and outbuildings, looking at the poinciana trees, flowers, and vegetable garden, and sitting on the gallery.
The senator kept a green monkey in a cage behind the house that Darcy fed bananas to. Cheryl couldn't make enough jokes about the exalted levels of island society Darcy had attained. When the topic moved to athletics, Darcy remained vague about her condition, but Matt didn't dare press her in front of Cheryl, who still believed her friend was some kind of Canadian runaway.
Darcy had an idea.
"I have some training to do in the morning, Cheryl, but the afternoon is free. Why don't you drive us all to the other side of the island so we can show Matt how beautiful it is?"
Matt was confused—hadn’t Darcy just told him she had a couple days off? "But..." he started to say, but Darcy cut him off with a glance.
Cheryl interrupted anyway. "Oh, yeah! That's a great idea! That's where all we Bajans go on holiday, for picnics 'n' stuff. Let's do that! You'll love it, Matt."
At that moment Cheryl spied a particular pair of trees at the edge of a cane field.
"Hey, look at those trees! They’re akee trees! All us school kids used to gather the fruit under them on the way home. It's not worth anything, but they’re delicious. Let me get you some!"
As she was searching and collecting the hard, little globes, Darcy leaned over to Matt.
"I need your help in the morning. I'll send the driver for you."
