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she said, I ve never been here. And after the hurricane, I just didn t have
the taste for making the trip.
Dadda told me that a lot of Cayabans stopped coming out to the islands after
that hurricane.
Good thing, too, Samuel said. Gave the seal population time to get their
numbers up.
Now you sound like Hector, I told him.
And who s Hector? Evelyn had a sly, knowing kind of tone to her voice.
Strange man from the university.
A handsome strange man? she asked playfully.
If you like that type. I did, but I wasn t going to tell her that. No, he s
a biologist. Marine biologist.
He s studying the seals. Lives in a little launch on the water all day and
night, watching them through a
scope and making notes.
That sounds romantic, said Evelyn.
Seals are all he can talk about.
Oh. She looked back out the window again. Shame on me, bad-mouthing poor
Hector. But I didn t
want Evelyn getting
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too nosy.
Why he studying the seals? Samuel asked over his shoulder.
You asking me? We don t talk much about that.
Evelyn couldn t resist. What you talk about, then?
Stuffy in here. I needed some fresh Dolorosse air on my face. Samuel, how you
roll down the windows
in this fancy car of yours?
The little green arrows in the door, he told me. Up is up and down is
down.
And never the twain shall meet?
Evelyn giggled at me. I pushed the down button, inhaled the cool, salty
breeze. You would think
someone with enough money to run a car like this could keep the air
conditioning going.
Ant crawling up my bare arm, I could feel it. I slapped it off, only to feel
another one on the outside of my
right thigh. Inside my panty hose? I rubbed my hand over the spot to squash
it. But then there were
more, crawling up my shins, down inside my blouse, the back of my neck; more
than I could sweep off
with my hands. Shit!
Evelyn looked over her shoulder. What happen?
By now I was doing a strange dance, trying to rub the ants off me from
everywhere I felt them crawling.
I think you have ants in your car, Samuel.
What? Evelyn, you left a raisin bun in the glove compartment again?
No. That was only the one time.
The tickling was driving me mad. Stop the car, please. I need to get out and
brush them off.
Samuel pulled the car over and stopped. I hopped out. But all I rubbed my
skin, slapped at the tickling
places, the sensation wouldn t stop. Jesus!
Evelyn opened her door. Can you see them?
The ants? In this dark? No.
Now Samuel was leaning over into the back seat, searching for ants by the
light of his cell phone. I don t
see anything here, he said.
The little feet had stopped crawling all over me. I waited a second, then
said, It s all right, Samuel. I
think I got them all. He and I checked the back seat before I got back in,
but not a thing we could find.
Let s just go, I said to him.
He got back in the driver s side. I m so sorry, Calamity.
But you don t have to apologise. There s nothing in the car. I wonder where
they came from?
Maybe you picked them up from the waterbus? Evelyn asked me.
Maybe. I slipped my shoes off. After all day in the sweaty panty hose, my
feet were itching.
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Make a right here, Samuel.
Now my hands were itching, too. I scraped at one hand with the nails of the
other, switched. Christ on a
crutch don t tell me I was allergic to ants now. Just follow this bend around
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to the right, I told
Samuel.
My heart was pounding, my body feeling trembly inside. Evelyn?
Ah?
You carry anything like Benadryl on you?
No. Why?
Nothing much. The ant bites just making me a little itchy. A left, Samuel.
The itching promptly got so
bad I had to fight not to claw at my hands and feet. A right here, Samuel.
Thank heaven, the itching was easing up. It was almost gone now. Looked like
I d be all right.
The air in the car was thick and close. Heat blossomed in my chest and swept
upwards to my head.
Sweat broke out on my face. I panted for air, trying to do it quietly so
Evelyn and Samuel wouldn t hear.
I leaned over and turned down the other window. Evelyn glanced briefly back at
me. Samuel, she said,
turn off the air conditioning. I think Calamity prefers the night air.
The air had been on all this time? You sure the air conditioning is working?
I asked them. Make
another right, Samuel. I fanned my face with my hands, parted my knees to let
some air get to my thighs.
Woi, I said. Hot night, you don t find?
Oh! said Evelyn. How about we keep the air on and the windows open?
Believe me, I know how the
Change of Life can be.
The Change. Knowledge landed on me like a sack of bricks. Shit. You re
right.
Pardon? said Samuel.
Bare Bear; Dumpy; the almond tree; every time something had shown up, I d been
perishing for heat and
scratching those two fingers.
Calamity?
It s menopause. That s what s doing it.
Well, don t be ashamed, my love. It s nothing Samuel hasn t heard from me,
plenty times.
Samuel, I said, it s the next left. What had manifested now? And where?
Must have been something
big, to be putting me through all this.
We passed Mrs. Chin s place, and Mr. Robinson s little store where he sold
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