I reared back and thrust the spear into the water a few more times, and on my third attempt it stopped half way underwater, shaking rapidly.
"Grab the stick!" Te' yelled. "Don't let it get away!"
The fish was twisting in a frenzy with the stick running through it, and I grabbed the pole as it slapped on top of the water, then lifted it above the surface to show my prized catch to Teuila.
"Not quite as big as yours," I said. "But not bad for a first time, what do you think?"
"You did great, Jade," Te' said, beaming at me. "Tomorrow, we'll build a retaining wall to funnel them toward us more easily. Then we'll have no trouble catching all the fish we can eat. Let's take a break to enjoy our catch."
As Teuila and I waded toward the shore, I looked around the lagoon and smiled. I knew I’d finally found my slice of paradise.
12
Teuila cleaned and filleted the fish we'd caught then we sat on the beach and enjoyed some fresh sushi marinated in pineapple juice and coconut cream. While we ate, she asked me about my life in the United States and I learned more about her culture on the island of Anuta. The more I listened to her, the more I began to envy her stress-free life in this tropical paradise. With each passing day, I was becoming less dependent on my Western comforts. For the first time in years, I didn't miss having my phone next to me.
When we finished eating, she examined our wounds and decided to keep the bandages on for one more day to let them fully heal. But there was no longer any need for me to wear my bra, and I happily threw it into the pit, symbolizing my liberation from the binds of Western civilization.
"So what's on our agenda for today?" I asked, bouncing up and down like a giddy schoolgirl. "Swimming in the crystalline waters of the lagoon and lounging on the beach?"
Te' ran her eyes over my pale breasts and smiled.
"As much as I'd like to rest and relax, I'm afraid we've got a fair amount of work to do. We don't know how long it will take for your friends to return. I want to build a more secure place for us to sleep, one that's better hidden from the lagoon and any foot patrols.
"Besides," she said, noticing the burn lines around my chest. "I think you need to be careful about getting too much sun too quickly. It's going to take a few more days for you to get a proper Anutian tan."
"Yes,” I said. “Especially since I left all my sunscreen in my purse at your village. What kind of shelter did you have in mind?"
"One higher off the ground, in the trees. It might take us a couple of days to finish it. The most important material will be twine to hold the support beams in place. And that takes a bit of time to produce. But two people can do it twice as fast. Let me show you how to make organic rope."
Te' led me a few hundred feet into the forest until we came upon a clump of short, spiky bushes.
"This is the pandanus plant," she said. "Our tribe normally makes ties using bark, but the fewer trees we have to strip the better in case someone comes snooping around. The leaves of this plant are very fibrous and will be a good substitute."
"You can hold up a house with just a few leaves?" I said, bending the skinny stalks in my hand.
"With the right braiding, yes. Plant cellulose is an incredibly strong material, especially when it's properly twined."
She snapped one of the leaves off near the base, then ran her fingernail along its length to separate the fibers. She pulled a few of the stringy strands apart and lay them in her hand.
"Now they look even flimsier than before," I said, shaking my head. "How can those skinny fibers hold much of anything together?"
"For such an enlightened culture," Te' smiled, "you Americans sure lead a sheltered existence. Watch what happens when we combine the strands and weave them together."
Teuila bunched the strands together in her palm and folded them into a long U-shape, then she bent one end down, forming a small loop at the joined end. As she pinched the loop with the fingers of her left hand, she twisted the horizontal band of strands away from her with her other hand while using her middle finger to lift the end pointing down and pulling it toward her, wrapping the two shoots around one another. She repeated this process for a minute or two, until she'd formed a six-inch-long line of interlaced strands that looked just like a braided rope.
"That's pretty cool," I said, nodding at how quickly she'd fashioned a rope out of natural materials. "But that doesn’t even look long enough to tie around my wrist. What do you do if we need to make a longer rope?"
"It's simple to join extra pieces together," she said. "Watch carefully."
Te' gathered another bunch of leaf strands and folded them in half, pinching them tightly together at the fold. Then she inserted the V-end of the folded shoots into the open end of the braided strands and repeated the wrapping sequence, twisting the two ends of the joined strands away from her while simultaneously pulling the other two loose ends toward her. Within seconds, the loose ends of the first set of strands disappeared into the lengthening braid until there were only the short ends of the new set of strands remaining at the end of the rope.
"Holy crap," I said, shaking my head at how easy it was to create any length of rope using just plant leaves. "Bu
t how strong is it? And how firmly connected are the two joined pieces?"
"Why don't you see for yourself?" Te' said, handing me the waxy twine. "Try to pull it apart."
I grasped the braid on each end and yanked it as hard as I could in opposite directions. Still not believing that a plant leaf could be so sturdy, I lifted my leg and wrapped the twine over my knee and pulled as hard as I could on each side. Still skeptical of its strength, I lifted it in front of me and bent it up and down a few times. When it began to splinter and crack, I looked up at Teuila triumphantly.