Free A Dolphins Dream by Carlos Eyles Page B

something other than casual conversation, and he answered carefully. “I smoked it when I was younger.”
    “It is bad, yeah?”
    “There are far worse drugs than marijuana. Like anything, if you smoked it all the time it would be unhealthy for you, just like alcohol.”
    “I think Moses take it. It is a worry. What does it do?”
    “Well, for different people it does different things. I used to dream about things I’d like to do.”
    “Yes, dreamin’ is better than work,” she laughed, then abruptly frowned. “They put a man in jail for five years if he have marijuana.  That is the law. Five years of your life! Fijian boys come out crazy. Five years ends their life.”
    “That’s a harsh law.” Compton paused for a long moment, then asked, “Why are you asking these questions?”
    “You are American, you know about drugs.” She paused. “More Americans be comin’ here, and bring their ideas. I’m afraid Moses will do as my husban’ and get drunk on the marijuana and sell our property to ‘em. You know the law say every Fijian must have their property. But if they sell it, that is all they get. We used to live down by the beach, on the other side of the hill. There’s no mosquitoes there and we could fish off the beach but my husband sol’ it and now we live here.” 
    Compton strung his lips tightly together in feigned sympathy. “This is still paradise. It’s very peaceful here.”
    “Yes, very nice, but it’s not the beach.”
    Compton had been holding an empty cup of tea for some time and in the awkwardness of Mariah’s loss he stood to throw the dregs into the swampy water but they fell short and landed on a white stone where he left them for the high tide to consume. Mariah rose and, moving gracefully, glided over to the sullied stone, gazed at it for a moment, then in deliberate fashion scooped up the dregs and walked over to the flower garden where she tossed them away. “You got plenty enough to think about already,” she said.
    Compton apologized. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to dirty up the place.”
    Mariah laughed and dismissed his apology with a wave of her hand. “This old place got so much dirt already you can’t tell the new from the old.”
    Compton shrugged, embarrassed.
    Mariah shook her head slowly, the laughter still in her eyes. “What you want to do is take a bath, eh. Down the path to the sea.”
    Mariah spoke to the girls in the kitchen in Fijian, and shortly Adi appeared with a bar of soap and a fresh towel. In that moment Compton was struck by the generosity and kindness of these impoverished people who were so willing to give to an absolute stranger. Yet despite their benevolence he had the srong sense there was something they wanted from him. What exactly it was, however, was unclear and he pondered their motives while heading down the flowered path. All this was so new, nothing he had experienced before, no frame of references. The people, the place, the uncanny way Mariah could anticipate his thoughts. It was all so surreal. Had he been out of touch too long with people who were real? Who carried no agenda? Do such people even exist?
    He came upon several pools at the sea’s edge but could not determine which one of the four was fresh. The sea is right here, he thought, surely they must all be salty. He began to taste the water and found the first two pools indeed salty but the third pool, to his amazement, was fresh. Must be some kind of spring, right here at the sea’s edge. He disrobed and slid into the pool, which was somewhat colder than the seawater. This place contradicts itself, he mused. Nothing appears to be what it is. He soaped up in the invigorating water. While this has the makings of a rather unique experience, I won’t be here long. What would I do? Where is there to go? This sort of existence would get boring quickly. I’ll stay until Moses goes off to Taveuni and then head back with him. The decision brought a comfort and he found