Island of the Sequined Love Nun Chapter 39~41

39Show clipThe Sky Priestess rolled over in stern and slapped the beeping intercom asif it was a m count out of the closet(p)hy stepchild. Im naping here, she said.Get in character, Beth. We halt an order, due in japan in six hours.why dont these fuckers ever c totally at a polish hour?We guarantee freshness. We reserve to deliver.Dont grow a instinct of humor on me at this point, Sebastian. The shock might kill me. Whos the chosen?Sepie, female, nineteen, a deoxycytidine monophosphate and ten pounds.I k forthwith her, the Sky Priestess said. What about our pilot?Im putting two of the staff on him to make authorized he stays in his bungalow.Hes still liberation to hear it. Are you sure you dont essential to sedate him?Use your head, Beth. He has to fly. Well do it with smaller explosions. Maybe hell sleep through it.She was spoiled awake now and starting to feel the excitework forcet and anxiety of a performance. Ill be ready in twenty minutes. Have the ninjas start my music. gather had Favo in a headlock and was administering affectionate noogies to the old mans scalp. I love this fuckin guy. This fuckin guy is the best. I love all you fuckin guys.Malink had never seen noogies and wondered why this bizarre ritual had never showed up in the party scenes in People. He prided himself on understanding white peoples habits, but this was a new one. Favo didnt seem to be enjoying the ritual nearly as oft as tuck was. The tuba had all been drunk. Maybe it was time to rescue his friend.Now we go divulge the girl-man, Malink said. rumple looked up, still holding Favo, whose eye were starting to bug out a illumetle. Kay, the pilot said.Malink led them into the small town, his bowlegged gait more wobbly than normal. A dozen Shark men and crush crashed and staggered behind him. As they passed by the bachelors house and onto the trail that led to Sarapuls side of the island, the music started big band weightys with easy liquid rhythms echoed through th e jungle. The Shark men stopped in their tracks and when the music pa utilize, just for a second, they shouted, Pennsylvania 6-5000 and the music began again.Whats that? slip iner asked.Women and children were stirring from their sleep, creeping off into the bushes to pee, rubbing sleepy eyes and stretchiness creaky adventures. Malink said, The Sky Priestess is coming.Who? tuck finally released Favo, who he had been dragging by his head. The old man gasped, so grinned and sat splayed-legged on the trail.We return to go, Malink said. You should go keister now.The music paused and Malink, along with the rest of the Shark People, shouted, Pennsylvania 6-5000Go now, Malink ordered, once again the chief. The Sky Priestess comes. We must get ready. He glowering and strode back into the village. The new(prenominal) Shark men scattered, leaving introduceer standing on the trail by himself.Tuck heard the sound of large prop planes mixing with the big band music. The Shark People w ere draining out of the village onto the trails that led to the runway. Within seconds, the village was deserted. Tuck staggered back to the beach where hed left his fins and mask. As he stepped over the logs of the drinking circle, there was an explosion and he popular opinion for a moment that hed found a nonher land mine until he realized that the sound had come from the direction of the runway.Not trusting himself to find the path through the village, Tucker decided to follow the beach back to the compound. After hed gone a carbon yards or so, he saw some subject white lying on the beachand bent to pick it up. A long spiral notebook. The moon was highschool in the sky and he could see a name printed on the cover in bold permanent marker JEFFERSON PARDEE.Beth Curtis, dressed in surgical greenishs, waved the guards away from Tucks entry and knocked. She waited a few seconds and knocked again, then walked in. She could just make out a sleeping figure through the mosquito net. Case, get up. Weve got to fly.The body did not stir. Case? She pulled aside the netting and poked the sleeping figure. A green coconut rolled out of the bed and thumped at her feet. You sleep with a coconut? You hapless bastard.She jumped back and a groggy Tucker Case groaned. What?Wake up. We fly in half an hour.Tuck rolled over and blinked through the hangover fog. The cheerfulness was coming up and the roosters were going off all over the island. The room was besides half-lit.What time is it?Its time to go. Get the plane ready. Beth Curtis walked out.Tuck rolled out of bed, crawled to the bathroom, and emptied his stomach into the bowl with a trumpeting heave.40Unfriendly SkiesTuck spooled up the kelvins as he watched the guards scramble about the Lear. Each time one walked sometime(prenominal) the nose, Tuck flipped on the radar and chuckled. The microwave energy wasnt enough to boil the guards in their skins, which was Tucks fantasy, but he could be reasonably certain tha t they would never prepare any children and he might have planted the seeds of a few choice tumors. Once in Houston a maintenance man made the sneak of walking in front of Mary Jeans jet with an armload of fluorescent bulbs meant for the hangar, and Jake Skye had shown Tucker a pocket-sized trick.Watch this, Jake had said. He flipped on the radar and the bulbs, bombarded by the microwaves from the radar, lit up in the maintenance mans arms. The poor guy threw the bulbs in the air and ran off the field, leaving a pile of glass shards and white powder behind. It was the second-coolest thing Tucker had ever seen, the first being the time they had used the Gulfstreams jets to sandblast the paint off a Porsche whose owner in-sisted on parking on the tarmac. Tuck was wait for one of the guards to walk behind the jets when Beth Curtis came on board.She wore her business suit and carried the briefcase and the cooler, but this time she sat in one of the passenger roll in the hays in th e back and fell asleep before they took off. Tuck took the opportunity to suck some oxygen from the emergency supply to help cut through his hangover.When they were pentad hundred miles out over the Pacific, Tuck peeked into the passenger compartment to make sure Beth Curtis was still sleeping. When he was sure she was still out, he checkedthe fuel gauges, then pushed the yoke forward and dropped the Lear down to train off at a hundred feet.Traveling at almost six hundred miles per hour at only a hundred feet off the water did exactly what Tuck had hoped it would. He was absolutely ecstatic with an adrenaline rush that chased his hangover back to the Dark Ages. He dropped another fifty feet and laughed out loud when some salt spray dashed the windscreen.It was a clear sunny day with only a few wispy columnar clouds rising off the water. Tuck flew under and through them as if they were enemy ghosts. Then a speck appe atomic number 18d on the horizon. A second later Tuck recog-nize d it as a ship and pulled the jet up to two hundred feet. Suddenly something rose off the ships deck. A helicopter, going out to spot and herd schools of tuna for the factory ship. Tuck pulled up on the yoke, but the helicopter rose directly into his path. There wasnt steady time to key the radio to warn the pilot. Tuck threw the Lear into a tight turn while pulling the jet up and whizzed by the helicopter wet enough to see the pilots eyes go wide. He could just make out men vibe fists at him from the deck of the factory ship.Eee-haa he shouted (a bad habit hed picked up in Texas cowboy bars, and if this wasnt cowboy flying, what was?). He steered the jet back on course and leveled off at two hundred feet. He was still dangerously low and burning fuel four times faster than he would at altitude, but hell, a guy had to have some fun. He wasnt paying for the fuel, and there hadnt been much low-level flying when hed worked for Mary Jean. People on the fuse might have trouble call up the numbers on the side of the plane to report to the FAA, but you dont soon forget a intercept jet flying close enough to the ground to cool your soup.What in the hell was that? Beth Curtis appeared in the cockpit doorway. Why are we so low?A wave of panic akin to being caught smoking in the boys room swept over Tuck, but he couldnt think fast enough to come up with a viable lie. He said, You havent surfed until youve surfed in a Learjet.Much to his amazement, Beth Curtis said, Cool and strapped herself into the copilots seat.Tuck grinned and eased the jet down to fifty feet. Beth Curtis clapped her hands like an excited child. This is greatWe cant do it for long. Burns too much fuel.A little while longer, very well?Tuck smiled. Maybe five more minutes. We can catch a tailwind at altitude thatll save us some time and fuel.Is this what you were doing the night you crashed?Tuck winced. No.Because I could understand if it was. What a rush She reached out and grabbed his shoulder affectionately. I love this. How could you permit me sleep through this?We can surf some more on the way back, Tuck said. And with that his resolve was gone. Hed mean to ask her about the music and explosions from last night. Hed planned to ask her about Jefferson Pardees notebook, which he carried in his back pocket, but he didnt want to break this mood. It had been too long since hed had any caution from a exquisite woman, and he gave himself to it like a jonesing junkie.Im sorry, she said, but youll have to wait here. Beth Curtis retrieved her briefcase and cooler from the back of the plane and met the dark-suited Japanese on the tarmac. There was another Lear spooling up nigh and a couple of workmen in coveralls waited beside a large cardboard carton.Tuck watched as Beth Curtis handed the cooler to one of the suits, who ran to the waiting Lear. Within seconds, the door was pulled eject and the other Lear was taxied out to the runway. Another one of the suits handed Beth a thick manila envelope, which she stashed in her briefcase. She turned and ran back into the plane. She stepped into the cockpit and put her briefcase behind the copilots seat. Ill be estimable back, ten minutes max. Ive got to make sure these guys get my TV on board unbroken.TV?Thirty-two-inch Trinitron, she said with a smile. To replace the one that youre using.I want a thirty-two-inch Trinitron, Tuck said to her back, but she was already out the door.He looked out the window to make sure she was busy with the television, then pulled her briefcase from behind the seat and threw the latches. To his amazement, it was unlocked. He removed the manila envelope. Under it lay a small automatic pistol. He could take it, but then what? Hold it on Beth Curtis until she confessed to any(prenominal) she and the doctor were doing? And what was that? Research?There was no law against that. He left the gun untouched and opened the envelope.He wasnt sure what he expected to find research notes, b earer bonds, stock certificates, cash, something that would shed some light on all this clandestine behavior for sure. What he found was four come forths of People pickup and four issues of Us. Beth Curtis was smuggling American cheese out of Japan and that was it.He put the envelope back into the briefcase and slid it behind the seat, then pulled Jefferson Pardees notebook out of his pocket. by chance there was something inside that would declare him how the notebook had gotten to a beach some seven hundred miles from where its owner was supposed to be.He flipped though the pages where Pardee had scribbled phone numbers, dates, and a few notes, but the only things he recognized were his own name, the names of Sebastian Curtis and his wife, and the word Learjet, followed by Why? How? Who paid? and Find other pilot. Pardee was obviously inquire the same questions that were circling in Tucks mind, but what was this about another pilot? Had Pardee come to Alualu looking for the an swers? And if he did, where was he now?Whats that? Beth Curtis said as she came through the cockpit door.Tuck flipped the notebook shut and draw a blanked it in his back pocket. Some flight notes. Im used to keeping a log for the FAA. I guess I brought this along out of habit. In the midst of the lie, he almost panicked. If she asked where he had gotten the notebook in the first place, he was dead. Maybe better to confront her here in Japan anyway while he knew where the gun was.She said, I didnt realize there was any paperwork to flying a plane.More than youd think, Tuck said. Im still getting used to how this plane handles. Im just writing down things I need to remember, you know, climb rates and engine exhaust pressures, fuel consumption per hour at altitude, stuff like that. Right, he thought. Baffle her with bullshit.Oh, she said with what Tuck thought was indifference until she reached behind her seat and pulled out her briefcase.He held his breath, waiting for the gun to ap pear. She took out an issue of People and opened it on her lap. She didnt look away from the magazine until they were well over the Pacific, heading home.You know, we havent seen much of you lately. Maybe you should come up to the house and have dinner with Sebastian and me tonight. She had slipped on her fifties housewife personality.Tuck had been thinking about Pardees notebook and where hed found it. He precious to get back to the village tonight. If Pardee had come to Alualu, maybe the old chief knew something about it.Im a little tired. We got a pretty early start. I think maybe Ill just fix up something quick at my place and get to bed early.She yawned. Maybe tomorrow night. Around seven. Maybe we can try out my new TV.Thatll be fine. Tuck said. I have a few things Id like to discuss with you and the doc anyway.Good, she said. I think we should spend more time together. Now explain to me what all these gauges mean.41Whats a Kidney?Privacy is a rare commodity on a small island and secrets weigh heavy on their keepers. Malink was weary with the burden of too many secrets. If he could only go to the drinking circle and let his secrets out, let the coconut telegraph carry his secrets to the edges of the island and let him walk light. save that wasnt going to happen. Secrets sought him out now, even from the old cannibal.He stood with Sarapul and Kimi examining an eighty-four-foot breadfruit tree with a trunk you couldnt get your arms around. Kimi held an ax on his shoulder, waiting for Malinks judgment.Why so big? Malink asked. This tree will give much breadfruit.This is the tree, Sarapul said. The navigator has chosen it.Kimi said, We will plant ten trees to take its place, but this is the one.Why do you need such a big tree?I cant tell you, Sarapul said.You will tell me or you wont cut the tree.If I tell you, will you secure not to tell anyone else?Malink sighed. Yet another secret. I will tell no one.Come. Well show you.Sarapul led Malink and Kimi throu gh the jungle to an overgrown spot piled with dried-out palm leaves. Malink leaned on a tree while the old cannibal pulled away the palm fronds to reveal the prow of a canoe. Not just any canoe. A forty-foot-long sailing canoe. Malink hadnt seen one since he was a small boy.This is why we need the tree, Sarapul said. I have hidden it here for many years, but the remove is rotten and we need to fix it.Malink felt something stir in him at the sight of the big eye painted on the prow. Something that went back to a time before he could remember, when his people sailed thousands of miles by the eye of the canoe and the guidance of the great navigators. Lost arts made sad by this reminder. He shake his head. No one knows how to build a sailing canoe anymore, Sarapul. You are so old you dont remember what youve forgotten.He can fix it, Sarapul said, pointing to Kimi.Kimi grinned. My father taught me. He was a great navigator from Satawan.Malink raised a grizzled eyebrow. That is where yo u learned our language?I can fix it. And I can sail it.Hes article of belief me, Sarapul said.Malink felt the stirring inside him grow into excitement. There was something here he hadnt felt since the arrival of Vincent. This was a secret that lifted him rather than weighing him down. But he was chief and dignity forbade him from shouting joy to the sky.You may cut the tree, but there is a condition.You cant tell anyone, Sarapul said.I will not tell anyone. But when the canoe is fixed, you must teach one of the boylike ones to be a navigator. He looked at Kimi. Will you do that?Kimi nodded.You have your tree, old man, Malink said. I will tell no one. He turned and walked and fell into a light bowlegged amble down the path.Kimi called to him, I hear my friend, the pilot, was in the village last night.Malink turned. The coconut telegraph evidently ran even to Sarapuls little corner of the island. He asked about you. He said he will come back.Did he have a bat with him?No bat, Malink said. Come tonight to the drinking circle. Maybe he will come.I cant, Kimi said. The boys from the bachelors house hate me.They hate the girl-man, Malink said, not the navigator. You come.After a nutritious dinner of canned peaches and instant coffee, Tuck checked the position of the guards, turned out the lights, and built his coconut-headed surrogate under the mosquito netting. exactly the second time and already it seemed routine. There was none of the nervousness or anxiety of the night before as he crawled below window level to the bathroom and pried up the metal shower tray.He dropped through the opening and was reaching up to grab his mask and fins when he heard the knock on the front door and froze.He heard the door open and Beth Curtis call, Mr. Case, are you asleep already?He couldnt let her see the dummy in his bed. Im in the bathroom. full a second.He caught the edges of the shower opening and vaulted back into the bathroom. The metal tray fell back over the opening, sounding like the Tin spell trying to escape from a garbage can.He heard Beth Curtis pad to the bathroom door. Are you all right in there?Fine, Tuck said. Just dropped the soap. He snagged a bar of soap off the sink and placed it in the bottom of the shower tray, then threw open the bathroom door.Beth Curtis stood there in a long red silk kimono that was open in a narrow canyon of white flesh to her navel. Whatever Tuck was going to say, he forgot.Sebastian cute me to bring you this. She held out a check. Tuck tore his eyes from her cleavage and took the check.Five thousand dollars. Mrs. Curtis, this is really more than I bargained for.You deserve it. You were very beatific to take the time to explain all the instrumentation to me. She leaned over and kissed him on the forehead, keeping the warm pressure of her lips there a little too long. Tuck imagined her tongue darting though his skull and licking his brains pleasure center. He could smell her perfume, something deep and musk y, and his eyes locked on her breasts, which were completely exposed when she leaned forward. He felt as if he had been staring at an arc welder and that creamy powdered image would travel across his field of vision for hours. A chasm of silence opened up and wrenched his attention back into the room.This is very generous, he said. But it could have waited. Its not like I have anywhere to spend it.I know. I just wanted to thank you again. Personally, without Sebastian around. And I thought you might be able to explain some of the finer points of flying a jet. Its all so exciting.Never a man of strong resolve, the combination of sight, scent, and flattery activated Tucks seduction autopilot. He glanced toward the bed and the switch clicked off. Sexual response was replaced by the dummy Tuck shaking its coconut head. He looked back at her and locked on her eyes only her eyes. Maybe tomorrow, he said. Im really bushed. I was just going to catch a shower and go right to bed.For an inst ant her pouty smile disappeared and her lips seemed to tighten into a red line, then just as quickly the smile was back, and Tuck wasnt sure hed seen the change at all.Well, tomorrow, then, she said, pulling the front of her kimono together as if she had only just noticed that it had fallen open. Well see you at seven. She turned at the door and threw Tuck a parade queen wave as she left, once again the darling of the Eisenhower era.When she was safely out of the bungalow, Tuck ran to the bed and picked up the green coconut. What in the hell was that about?The coconut didnt answer. Fine, Tuck said, fitting the head back on the sleeping dummy. I am not impressed. I am not shaken, nor am I stirred. Weirdness is my business. Even as he said it, he dismissed the hallucination as his own good sense manifesting a warning, but the duel cravings for a drink and a woman yanked at his insides like dull fishhooks. He turned off the light and let the cravings lead him out the bathroom hatch to the moonlit sea.Forty minutes later he took his place in the circle of the Shark men. Chief Malink stood and greeted Tuck with a jarring backslap. Good to see you, my friend. Hows it hanging?It hangs with magnificent splendor, Tuck said, his programmed response to the truck drivers and cowboys who used that expression, although he wondered where Malink had heard it. But Im a little parched, he said.A fat young man named Vincent was pouring tonight and he handed Tucker the coconut cup with a smile. Tuck sipped at first, fighting that first gag, then gulped down the coconut liquor and gritted his teeth to keep it from coming back up.The older men in the group seemed festive and yattered back and forth in their native language, but Tuck noticed that the younger men were sulking, digging their toes into the sand like pouting little boys.Why so glum, guys? Someone kill you dog?No, Malink said, not quite understanding the question. We eat a turtle today.Having your dog killed must mean s omething different here than it inwardness back in Texas, Tuck realized.Malink sensed Tucks confusion. They are sad because the Sky Priestess has chosen the mispel from their house and she will be gone many days now.Mispel?The girl you followed last night is mispel of the bachelors house.Sorry to hear that, guys, Tuck said, acting as if he had the slightest idea what a mispel or being chosen was. He count on that maybe it had something to do with PMS. Maybe when the women started getting cranky with the old Sky Priestess cramps, they just checked her into a special chosen hut until she mellowed out. He waited until the cup came around the circle before he brought it up again. So she was chosen by the old Sky Priestess, huh? Tough luck there. Did you try enceinte her chocolate? That takes the edge off sometimes.We give her special tuba when she comes, Malink said.Tastes like shit several of the men chanted. aborigine, the fierce one, said, I am chosen and now Sepie is chosen. I wi ll marry her.Several of the other young men seemed less than pleased at Abos announcement.Come on, man, Tuck said. You might need a little attitude adjustment, but youre not chosen.I am, Abo insisted. Look. He turned his back to the group and ran his finger across a long pink scar that ran diagonally across his ribs. The Sky Priestess chose me for Vincent in the time of the ripe breadfruit.Tuck stared at the scar, stunned, hoping that what he was thinking was as far off as his PMS theory had been. The Sky Priestess? That was the music last night, all the noise?Yes, Malink said, Vincent brings her in his airplane. We never see it, but we hear it.And when someone is chosen, then does the jet always fly the next day?Malink nodded. No one was chosen for a long time until Vin cent sent you to fly the white airplane. We thought Vincent was angry with us.Tuck looked to Abo, who seemed satisfied that the chief was backing him up. Where do you go when you are chosen?You go to the white house where the Sorcerer lives. There are many machine.And then what? What happens in the white house?It is secret.Tuck was across the circle in Abos face. What happens there?Abo seemed frightened and turned away. Tuck looked around at the other men. Who else here has been chosen?The fat kid who had been pouring twisted so Tuck could see the scar on his back.Whats your name, kid?Vincent.I should have known. Vincent, what happens in the white house?Young Vincent shook his head. Tuck turned to Malink. What happens?Malink shook his head. I dont know. I have not been chosen.A familiar voice called out of the dark, They make them sleep.Everyone turned to see Kimi coming down the path from the village. The old cannibal creaked along behind him.Abo barked a malign to Kimi in his native tongue. Kimi barked back something in the same language. Tuck didnt have to know the language to know that Kimi had told the fierce one to fuck off.Kimi, are you okay? Tuck barely recognized the navigator. He wa s wearing the blue loincloth of the Shark men and he seemed to have put on some muscle. Tuck was genuinely delighted to see him. The navigator ran to him and threw his arms around the pilot. Tuck found himself returning the embrace.Several of the young men had stood and were glaring at Kimi. integrity of the jugs of tuba had been kicked over, but no one seemed to notice the liquor running out on the sand.Kimi, do you know whats going on here?A pretty white woman with yellow hair. She come out of the fence and take the girl away. They will put her to sleep and when she wakes up she will have a cut here. He drew his finger across the back of his ribs.No Abo screamed. He leaped over the crouching Malink to get to Kimi. Without thinking, Tuck swung around and caught Abounder the jaw with a roundhouse punch. Abos feet flew out from under him and he landed on his back. Tuck rubbed his hand. Abo tried to struggle to his feet and Malink barked an order to two of the young Vincents. Re-luct antly, they restrained their friend. Vincent has sent the pilot, Malink reminded them.Tuck turned back to Kimi. What happens then?You owe me five hundred dollars.Youll get it. What happens then?The chosen has to stay in bed for many days. There are tube stuck in them and they are in much pain. Then they come back.Thats it?Yes, Kimi said.Malink stood now and addressed Kimi. How do you know this?Kimi shrugged. Sepie tells me.Malink turned to Abo, who had stopped struggling and now looked terrified. She said she would not tell. The girl-man put a spell on her.Tuck stood rubbing his knuckles, watching this little tropical opera and feeling like someone had snapped on a light and found him french-kissing a maggoty corpse. The cooler, the surgical garb, the flights on short notice, the second jet waiting on the tarmac in Japan, the guards, the secrecy, the money. How had he been so fucking stupid?Malink was hurling a string of native curses at Abo, who looked as if he would dissever int o tears any second.You dumb motherfuckers Tuck shouted.Malink stopped talking.Shes selling your kidneys. The doc is taking out your kidneys and selling them in Japan.This revelation didnt have quite the accomplishment that Tuck thought it would. In fact, he seemed to be the only one concerned about it at all.Did you hear me?Malink looked a little embarrassed. What is a kidney?