"It's one of our staples," Teuila said. "The taro root is actually a vegetable, not a fruit. We use it in much the same way that Westerners use potatoes. It's a very nutritious side dish that soaks up the flavors of other foods it's paired with. Do you like it?"
Holding the curved tubular vegetable in my hand, it reminded me of one of my favorite sex toys that I’d use on lonely nights to stimulate my G-spot.
"Mmm," I said, sucking the rich seafood juice from the tip of the bulb while raising a suggestive eyebrow at Teuila. "I'll definitely have to try more of this. I can imagine all sorts of ways it can be paired with other delectable dishes."
After I devoured the rest of the food on the serving plate, the old lady smiled at me and said something to Teuila.
"We should probably start getting you rea
dy for the celebration tonight," she said, glancing at my soiled hiking clothes. "You must be looking forward to a bath. Let's get you cleaned up and into some fresh clothes. There's a private section of the lagoon where I can take you if you're strong enough to walk. Then my matua and I will prepare you with our local costume for the festival."
My pussy suddenly pulsed at the thought of bathing privately with Teuila.
"You're really having me go native, aren't you?" I said. "I think a swim in the lagoon would be very refreshing. I shouldn’t have any trouble walking as long as you stay close by my side."
"I wouldn't think of leaving you," Teuila smiled. "Besides, I saw the way some of our young tribesmen looked at you when you came into our village. I need to make sure they don't get any ideas about the sexy white girl in their midst."
5
As Teuila escorted me toward the bathing lagoon, women and children smiled at me from the open verandas of their huts flanking the main thoroughfare of the village. But a group of men carving a dugout canoe on the main beach eyed me suspiciously when we veered off onto a flagstone-lined path leading into the woods. When we reached the secluded lagoon, I peered around me at the natural splendor of the landscape.
"Your island is so beautiful," I said, inhaling the fresh onshore sea breeze. "Where I come from, people pay a small fortune to visit these tropical paradises. And here I am, being feted by my native hosts, with never a thought to any kind of compensation."
"At least for a few more weeks," Teuila frowned, reminding me of the cargo ship pickup that was scheduled to pick me up later this month.
"If not earlier, if my shipmates return before then." I glanced toward the thick canopy of trees lining the lagoon. "If I hide in the forest, will you tell them I'm still lost? I'm in no hurry to leave this Shangri-La."
"I'd be happy to, but I think my father will have other ideas. We have to be careful not to test his patience too much. He's very suspicious of European visitors overstaying their welcome. He's heard stories of the destruction they brought to some of the other Polynesian islands."
I nodded, recalling how the indigenous people of Easter Island were nearly wiped out by disease and infighting after Dutch settlers arrived.
"I can appreciate why he'd want your people to be left alone. But you'll have to stop referring to me as European. I'm actually from the United States. I'm technically an American."
Teuila chuckled as she shook her head.
"They're just another colonial oppressor as far as he's concerned. He doesn't trust anybody who travels to these islands on fancy boats and planes. He thinks you'll corrupt our simple and natural way of life."
"He's probably right," I said. "Lord knows, our so-called advanced civilization has plenty of shortcomings."
I looked at Teuila's simple one-piece toga and motioned to my soiled clothing.
"Shall I take these off and leave them on the beach? Will you be offended if I swim in the nude?"
"Not at all," Teuila smiled. "It will give me a chance to clean your garments while you cool off. We all swim naked when we're bathing in the lagoon."
I glanced around me to see if anyone else was stealing glances from the surrounding brush and slowly began to disrobe. I knew that if anyone wanted to gawk at the white woman while she bathed that they could easily hide undetected behind the thick blanket of foliage, but I didn't really care. There was something about this remote island that seemed so natural and carefree to me. I was far more mindful of the impression I'd leave with the pretty native girl.
I turned my back toward Teuila, then pulled down my cargo shorts and panties, and slipped off my sweaty t-shirt and bra. It felt good to be liberated from the vestiges of Western civilization, and for the first time in my week-long tour of the South Pacific, I slipped into the warm waters of the tropical lagoon completely naked. It felt exquisite to be immersed in the buoyant salt water, and for the longest time I just floated on the surface, watching the wispy white clouds pass slowly over the sky. When I caught sight of the thin contrails of a jet aircraft high up in the atmosphere, I couldn’t help smiling.
Those suckers have no idea what they're missing down here, I thought. They probably can only imagine what it must be like to be untethered from society, living on these remote islands.
I hadn't even once thought of picking up my smartphone since I'd left the boat. Not that I could do much with it, hundreds of miles away from the nearest wi-fi signal. I glanced over at Teuila, who was rubbing my cargo shorts with a taro root amid a froth of white foam in the shallows near the beach. She looked up at me and smiled in my direction.
"Are you starting to feel better?" she called. "Don't stray too far from the beach. There are treacherous currents near the reef. The last thing we need is for you to drown after nursing you back to health."
"Not to worry," I shouted. "I'm just enjoying this little moment of bliss."
After five minutes or so, I began to walk out of the water in Teuila's direction. As I emerged from the surf, she eyed my body from top to bottom. She seemed particularly interested in my bare mound as her eyes danced over my pale white hips. As I approached her, she held open a painted native dress, and I stepped into it while she pulled it up over my breasts and fastened it with loose strings behind my shoulders.