“Mmm,” I hummed. “This is almost as good as sex. Sweet, juicy, and succulent. Just like you.”
Te’ plucked another fig off the branch and bit it in half, squeezing the moist nectar over her hand.
“I see what you mean,” she smiled. “This is definitely getting me in the mood. Let’s hurry up and finish building our nest so we can have some more fun.”
As I finished eating my fig, I looked up at the web of golden branches above us, marveling at how far the crown extended out in all directions.
“At least we've got pretty good protection from above. Will those leaves keep us dry when it rains?”
"Only during light showers. We'll have to build a thatch over our heads to channel heavier rainfalls away."
"What about beneath us?" I said, wobbling on the thin limb. "What will keep us from falling between the branches?"
"We'll have to put some additional support beams in place. We'll use the twine to hold them together. Come on, it's time to go gather some more supplies."
Teuila led me back into the brush and we hacked down a handful of ten-foot-long poles about three inches in diameter. We carried the poles back to the banyan tree where she tied three crossbeams between two overhanging branches about fifteen feet off the ground. Then she placed the longer poles over the crossbeams, creating a webbed floor in the shape
of a fan spanning between the radiating branches. After she taught me how to wrap and tie the twine so that each connection was tight and secure, it only took us a little over an hour to secure the floor. When we were done, she stood on top of the latticework and held out her hand.
"What do you think?" she said, inviting me to join her on our newly installed deck. "Does this look more comfortable than lying in a pit for the evening?"
I stepped gingerly onto the web of poles and flexed my knees to see if it would support my weight. The poles bent slightly, like a firm mattress.
Te' sat down on the web and smiled.
"Lie down beside me and see how comfortable it is."
I lowered my body onto the lattice, then lay on my back. The hard poles pressed into my flesh, especially where we'd lashed the ties around the connections.
"Not quite as comfortable as my mattress back home, but at least it's less lumpy than lying on the ground."
"We're not finished yet," Te' said. "We still haven't laid the carpet for our new home."
"Carpet?" I said, pinching my eyebrows imagining how the rough surface of our jerry-rigged deck could be converted into something as smooth and comfortable as the broadloomed floor of my house back home.
Teuila took my hand and we shimmied down a nearby vine, then she led me a little deeper into the forest where she hacked off some wide strips of bark from a mulberry tree. Then she climbed a coconut tree and passed down a handful of long palm fronds. When we returned to the banyan tree, we cut and lay the thick pieces of bark horizontally across the webbed floor until all the gaps between the poles were covered, then we sat down again.
"Better?" Te' asked.
"Definitely," I said, surprised at how similar her construction technique was to the conventional wood-frame houses I'd seen built in the Midwest. "It's still a bit hard though. Will we sleep on it like this?"
"There's one last step," she said, handing me one of the palm fronds. "Now we're going to make the carpet."
She began tearing the leaves into one-inch-wide strips, laying the strips on the floor in neat parallel lines. Then she placed another strip perpendicular across the leaves and deftly wove it over and under each of the underlying strands. With each successive strand, the leaves began to form a beautiful two-foot-square mat of interlaced leaves that looked as pretty as any placemat I'd find at Crate & Barrel or Target. When she finished, Te' lay the mat over the bark and asked me to sit on it. The soft leaves absorbed my weight and felt as soft as carpet.
"This feels almost as comfortable as my broadloom back home," I said, running my hands over the cushiony mat. "But it's much prettier. The two of us might be able to find a whole new vocation when we return to the United States. People would pay big bucks for this kind of natural fabric. What else can you use this stuff for?"
"We use the same weaving technique to make baskets, handbags, fishnets, all kinds of useful objects," Te' said.
I shook my head at the myriad uses of the island's natural resources.
"You guys really are self-sufficient on this little island, aren't you?"
Te' smiled at me as she thinned her eyes.
"Are you sure you want to go back to America?"
"Ask me in another week or two. I'm growing more fond of this lifestyle with each passing day."