She took the short beveled stick and placed it against the inside edge of the string then twisted it a hundred and eighty degrees, creating a tight loop around the shaft. Then she positioned the rounded end of the stick into the notch of the larger piece of driftwood and placed the smaller piece of driftwood over the pointed end. Then she angled the bow parallel to the ground and began swiping it forward and back. As if by magic, the beveled stick began rotating rapidly in the shallow hole in the driftwood.
"Holy cats—you weren't kidding!" I said, amazed at the ingenuity of the device. "That way is so much more efficient than the way Tom Hanks did it!"
"Tom who—"
"It's just another one of our crazy Western stories that I'm sure you'd find amusing." I noticed Te' was pressing firmly on the top piece of driftwood as she sawed the bow. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"When you begin to see smoke, place the shavings around the twisting piece of wood. We'll need to act fast to ensure the heat ignites."
I watched with fascination as Te' jerked the bow forward and back until the lower
end of the stick started turning black and small wafts of smoke began rising from the fulcrum.
"Now, Jade!" she panted. "It needs fuel!"
I bunched the dry shavings around the edge of the stick, watching the smoke grow thicker and denser. When tiny orange embers appeared under the shavings, Te' bent down and cupped her hands around the pile, blowing gently into the nest. Within seconds, it erupted into flames as she began piling small twigs onto the pile. Eager to not have all her hard work go to waste in the fledgling fire, I began to throw a bunch of larger twigs and leaves onto the pile, throwing up a large plume of gray smoke.
"Be careful," she said, pulling the material off the flame. "We don't want to smother it. A fire needs plenty of oxygen to burn efficiently. If it has more fuel than it can burn at any one time, it just creates more smoke. The key is to feed it only as much as it needs to keep burning at the desired intensity."
Within seconds, the smoke began to dissipate as the fire steadily grew while she fed it increasingly large twigs and logs. When the flames reached a height of six inches or so, Te' looked up at me and nodded.
"We're almost ready to begin cooking our fish. Can you gather ten or fifteen small rocks so we can build a cradle for the grill?"
"Absolutely," I said, my mouth already watering at the idea of our eating warm food for the first time in three days.
When I returned to the pit with a handful of rocks, Te' placed them in a two-foot-wide circle around the fire then held some long branches above the top of the flame, charring them a dark brown color.
"I think we've got everything we need now," she nodded. "If you bring me two of the larger fish from the pen, I can cut them up and begin grilling them."
I went to the holding pen and snared two fish with a spear and carried them back to Teuila. She placed each one on the large piece of driftwood, cutting off its head and slicing it under its belly, removing the entrails and pulling the flesh away from the spiny skeleton. Then she spaced the charred poles about two inches apart over the top of our fire pit and placed the fillets on top of the makeshift grill. As the flesh began to sizzle, she fed the fire with medium-sized twigs, keeping the top of the flame a few inches below the slats.
"You're a master at this outdoorsy stuff, aren't you?" I said, shaking my head at how seamlessly she'd learned to live off the land.
"You get pretty handy at doing these things when you've been doing it your whole life," she said, turning the fillets over with her bare fingers. "Tonight, it'll be your turn. But for now, let's enjoy our new catch."
As we ate the perfectly charred fillets with our bare hands, I oohed and ahhed at how delicious the fish tasted.
"Ok," I said. "Scrap that basket-weaving idea I suggested earlier. I think your real calling is in the kitchen. I think we should open your own authentic Polynesian restaurant when we get back to the States."
15
After we finished eating, Te' and I strolled hand-in-hand along the shore of the lagoon while I stopped periodically to pick up pretty shells strewn along the beach. I marveled at the magnitude and diversity of the beautiful specimens, sprinkled like gleaming jewels across the pink-colored sand. Displaying in all kinds of shapes and colors, I felt like a kid in a candy store as I picked up the fascinating objects and turned them over in my hands.
"I've been to a lot of beaches in my life," I remarked. "But nothing like this. I've never seen such a huge variety and quantity of seashells ever. This is truly a magical island."
"Maybe it's because there's no other islands for hundreds of miles around," Te' nodded. "Or maybe it's just because there's fewer tourists picking them up."
"Is that what I seem like to you?" I said, pinching my eyebrows in disappointment.
"Well," she said, squeezing my hand playfully, "I suppose you're still technically a tourist since you aren't officially living here. But if you keep learning all of my native island secrets, we'll have to make you an honorary citizen soon enough."
As I continued picking up and examining one beautiful shell after another, Teuila suddenly became silent as she gazed out to sea.
"What's it like on the other side of the ocean, Jade?" she asked. "Will I be like a fish out of water in America?"
I stopped and placed my hands over Te's shoulders as I gazed into her eyes.
"Not as long as you're with me. You speak near-perfect English, and you have an amazing array of practical skills. I can teach you everything else you need to thrive in my country, just like you're showing me here."