The Apprentices (36 page)

“Shh,”
her father said.

In the dark, looking across her father’s lap, Janie saw something in Benjamin’s eyes that wasn’t sadness or heartache. She thought it might replace the sadness, given time. They both sat back to watch the play. Demetrius was still being horrible to Helena, a tall, pretty blonde who loved him. Even with her father between them, Janie could feel Benjamin relax. She thought she could see inside his mind—not in the glassine-envelope way, but in the usual way of guessing someone’s thoughts. He had been afraid she was in love with Raffaello, but he was reassured now, because how could anyone be in love with a jerk like that?

Benjamin’s hand was on the armrest. Janie reached across her father, just for a second, took his hand, and squeezed.

Her father shot her a look.

But Benjamin squeezed back.

A
twin-propeller plane rumbled to a stop at the end of the island. The landing strip wasn’t paved, but it was kept clear and smooth by the islanders, in anticipation of the return of John Frum. The people gathered with weapons to receive the visitors from the sky, having suffered two rounds of bird people who’d caused nothing but trouble. The airplane had a design painted on the side, a golden creature like a winged crocodile curled into a circle, which seemed to bode ill.

Then the plane’s door opened, and Tessel and Efa bounded out, talking so fast they could barely be understood. They had been in an airplane! They had flown through the air! They had sailed a boat for the most
foolish
white people, who never knew where they were! They had been on an island with a swimming pool like a blue box in the earth and there was an enormous house there, with a tower of vines! There were so many stories, they might never run out.

But first there were the boxes to be unpacked, in the hold
of the airplane. Efa knew what everything was, and was ready to explain it all:

There were bandages and gauze, which must be left in the sterile packaging until there was a wound to wrap. And there were special pills: If a wound became infected, or a child became ill in her throat or her lungs, the pills would drive the infection out.

There were three fat pink pigs in a crate, with curly tails, who squealed furiously at their captivity and tumbled out into a pen.

There were two sealed ice chests full of ice and cold bottles of Coca-Cola, an especial gift for Toby Prophet and meant to be opened
only
for the feast to welcome Efa and Tessel home. Efa was very clear about the necessity of the welcoming feast.

There were fishhooks and fishing line and beautiful fishing poles. The hooks were fine and slender and sparkled silver in the light, except you couldn’t wear them as necklaces, because they had very sharp barbs at the end.

Efa already had a necklace: a gold elephant on a chain from the woman on the boat. She hoped one day to see a real elephant. Charlotte had said she thought she would. She said Efa might sail a boat someday to the places where elephants lived.

There was a gramophone and records, and Efa went through the stack: Fats Domino, and Big Mama Thornton, and Bill Haley and the Comets. These were for dancing, Efa said. Harry and Charlotte had picked them out.

There were also slates and chalk for drawing, and notebooks full of clean white paper, and Efa’s favorite gift:
beautiful soft pencils in all different colors, for making pictures on the white paper.

All tabu was cast off Efa in her role as the deliverer of cargo and the explainer of its uses. There was respectful silence as she took the colored pencils and drew a picture of the enormous white house covered in vines, and the lagoon with a tunnel that went to the sea, and the sparkling blue swimming pool. Not everyone believed it was a true drawing, although Tessel backed her up. Because why would anyone need a house so large? And why dig a pool so close to a lagoon? There was some discussion about whether the lagoon might have crocodiles.

Tessel was forgiven, too, although he could no longer be a kava-maker, polluted as he was by the outside world. A new boy had already taken over making the kava, and the new boy had shown both skill and obedience, so there was no great loss.