Chapter 7-And it Begins

The airport in St. Lucia was little more than a few runways and a small building. This time when Mitch threw open the doors dramatically, there was something to be dramatic about. The room was small and had plain, gray rock walls. Most of the people carried their belongings within boxes wrapped in tape and there was more than one beggar on each wall. One caught my eye. He was old and his skin was pulled so tightly against his bones that you could see the outline of his skull. He was dressed in tattered rags and the cracked bowl that he used to beg had only a few, meager coins within it. I turned my eyes from him but when I reached the spot that he was in, I placed a twenty-dollar US bill inside of the emptiness of his container. In American we don't encourage begging because many hobos only use it for booze. Something told me that this money wouldn't be used for that.

My friends gave me odd looks but not Joseph. The coldness he had been exhibiting since the beach seemed to melt away and he also put a ten-dollar bill inside of the bowl. I smiled at him and he returned it warmly. Then we walked side by side to Customs. They had one line for English speaking visitors and we quickly made our way to that one. Dealing with any Customs officials is always torture but it would be worse we couldn't understand each other.

"Next!" called the young woman at the counter. We handed her our bundle of passports and she looked over them quickly, stamping each. "So, Americans," she said, giving us all evaluating looks. "How long will you be staying in St. Lucia?"

"Well, we'll probably only be here one or two days," said Kat.

"But we'll be in the Grenadines for 3 weeks," added Mitch.

She glanced over at Mitch. "It does not matter to me whether you will be on these other islands, Mr…" she glanced at his passport. "Flagstaff. When you are on each island you are the responsibility of their Customs, not me."

Comprehension struck me. "You mean," I began. "That we have to check in to Customs at every island we visit?"

She nodded to me. "This is correct," she replied. "We are each independent and so each nation must acknowledge you."

"What if we're far from anywhere to check in?" I asked.

She leaned toward me and lowered her voice. "Well then," she said. "If you will never be in a place that your checking in will come up, you don't have to worry about it, now do you?" I nodded and she smiled. "You all look fairly harmless. Welcome to St. Lucia and take care of yourselves."

All of our luggage had been unloaded already, there couldn't have been too much of it, and was piled just beyond the official's booth. We each grabbed our packs.

"I'm glad to have this back," said Kat. "I didn't realize I'd be apart from all my stuff for so long." She gave her pack a pat then Mitch grabbed it and ran down the hallway. "Jerk!" Kat shouted at him and stomped down the hallway toward a line that had caused Mitch to stop by making him wait in it.

"I don't envy Mitch right about now," remarked Kyle. We all grinned and watched as Kat pounced on him and wrestled away her backpack. After she got it she slammed it against his side and then stood in line as though nothing had happened. I shouldered my pack and chuckled as I jogged down to join them.

The line was formed of people waiting before two sets of lights. A person would approach them and if the green light popped up, they could go, and if the red light popped up, they searched their bags. I could tell that it was entirely random because we watched as a scraggly looking man with shifty eyes approach, got a green light, and the officials beamed smiles and waved him through. They made sure to wish him a wonderful vacation and even put a little hat with a flower on it atop his head. He tore it off after a few steps but it was their gesture that counted. Then, after him, a sweet old woman got a red light. Her treatment was quite different. The guards put a hand on their weapons and gruffly told her go get over there, all the while gesturing at a table where a tourists clothing and cameras were spread out as an employee remarked on their colorful tastes in undergarments.

I could hear Kyle gulping beside me. "I really hope that I don't get a red," he said. "I'm not in the mood for their brand of tough loving."

I grinned at him and said, "Don't worry, I've been watching the lights and there seem to be a lot more greens than reds. While that doesn't reflect the safety of the island very well, I think we'll all get through." My premonition was correct and we all passed through on greens. We each received our floral decoration. The guys each received their flowered hats and garlands of flowers were hung around Kat's necks and mine. They insisted upon doing it for us, though we could have easily done it ourselves.

"We should get local money before we leave," said Kat after we had walked into the main room.

"What do they use here?" asked Mitch.

"They're known as VC's but I have no idea what the exchange rate is," I said. "I think that we can probably get one of the better exchange rates here, most other places are very optimistic about the value of their own currency but American officials pass through here a lot. If anyone but me brought credit cards, you should use them on anything fairly large because the credit card companies make sure they get the best exchange possible. I don't know that many places we go will accept them though." My friends nodded and we all went to the office to exchange our money.

When we were finished, we finally exited the airport. Once we had gotten outside, however, we had no idea where we wanted to go. A dozen different taxi drivers badgered us to use their cabs but we quickly started walking down the road instead.

"Lets just walk to down," said Kat with a laugh. "We'll see what happens along the way."

"I like that idea," said Kyle with a grin. So we kept on walking and waved away the many taxis and just normal people who offered us rides. More than once, one of us nearly caved at the sight of the attractive driver. Eventually it began to grow dark. We hadn't realized how much daylight we had left and how far the town was from the airport. The flow of traffic had steadily decreased, so no one offered rides now and none of us wanted to be the first to ask if we could hail someone to stop. The day had been long. Because of time differences and flight lengths, we had been in Puerto Rico during the mid-morning and ended up here in the evening. It wasn't very late but the sun sets earlier here than it does in Washington. We glanced around nervously. A lot of the land around us was used for farming so the fields stretched empty on all sides.

When another large, inviting looking car passed by us in silence I decided that enough was enough. "Okay, I know we wish we could be more rugged but I don't think that marching through the dark, on our first day, in the middle of nowhere is the best idea," I said with a bit of frustration.

"I'm going to have to agree with Mel," said Joseph, the night had cast darkness over his face, shrouding his features in eerie shadow.

Mitch nodded. "I had already decided that I was going to chase down the next car, if need be, and leave you out here to your adventuring," he said.

"Likewise," said Kat. "Though I'd use slightly different methods than Mitch," she said with a grin. We all sat down at the side of the road and let our tired feet rest. Mitch used his backpack as a pillow and stared up at the stars.

"They're so clear here," he remarked in a surprisingly mellow voice for him. "The only time I've ever seen them this clearly was when I went up to the mountains with my father when I was younger." We all watched him talk, except for Kyle who had turned to stare off into the fields. "I remember how massive they seemed to be, so expansive," he continued. "And there are so many of them, each with their own way of twinkling."

"A true artist's masterpiece," added Kat. She had taken out her sketchpad and I noticed that even though she could see it very well, she had sketched out the star filled skies.

"I remember that my father told me that each star-" Mitch began but was cut off by Kyle's voice interrupting.

"Look! A car!" he shouted. Sure enough, far down the road two headlights traveled toward us from the distance. I could understand that he had been excited but he didn't have to interrupt Mitch. I shot him a slight glare but no one, including him, noticed.

"I know," said Kat with a grin. "Let's go wherever the car is going."

"What if they're going home?" asked Kyle dubiously.

"All the better," said Kat mischievously.

We could see that it was a large van and it stopped at our shouting. It was a taxi but the man in the passenger's side was the one who addressed us. "What do you kids want?" he asked with an American accent.

"You're Americans?" asked Kat excitedly.

The man smiled. He was older, perhaps in his late 40's or very early 50's. His hair was a wispy gray and his smile was jolly. "Yep," he replied. "So are you guys I see. Now that our nationalities are settled, what is it you need?"

"Well," began Mitch. "We're sort of stuck out here in the dark and we really need a ride."

"Are you kids headed to Farlon?" he asked. I could remember hearing of anywhere on the island named that but Kat nodded quickly. "Ha! Got you!" he said. "There's no such place. Anyway, we're going to Marigot Bay. I take it that since you claim to be headed to a fake location, you aren't going anywhere specific?"

Kat had gone red but she nodded this time as well. "Yeah," she replied. "We didn't bother to make plans and got ourselves stuck out here because of it."

"Well, there's a nice hotel at the Bay. I'm sure that they have rooms that wouldn't be too much for your budgets-plus they're easy to share if my source is correct. We don't really have room for you guys but if you don't mind squeezing in you can come with us," the man rattled off. The taxi driver next to him was tapping his fingers on the steering wheel in impatience. "I think old Jimmy here is getting annoyed so you'd best make up your minds

quickly," he said.

We all made for the back door at once so I stopped to thank him. "Thank you, Mr.-?" I said.

"Call me John," he said, sticking his hand out the open window to shake. "And you're welcome Miss-?"

"Call me Mel," I said with a smile. "Thanks again."

"Anytime," he replied as I hopped in. I didn't go very far because I soon found out the man hadn't been kidding. In addition to my four friends, who had stuck themselves in anywhere they could, there were two middle-aged women and three teenagers in the van already. All five stared at us quizzically. Joseph was sitting next to the two women in the middle seat. Kat had surprised, but delighted, the two young guys by sitting next to them. Finally, Mitch and Kyle were in the very back next to the teenaged girl. She couldn't have been more than 1 or 2 years younger than we were and Mitch seemed to notice this from his spot in the middle. He had already struck up a conversation with her. There weren't any remaining seats so I climbed into the very back with the luggage. After we had started moving, the girl looked back at me.

"I do so hate to see people sitting on the ground while I'm in a seat. Would you like mine?" she asked me. She must have wanted to get away from Mitch. She had turned red the moment he bestowed his attention upon her and hadn't gone a shade lighter since. She was enjoying it but must have been the very shy type.

I decided she should stay where she was and have something to giggle about later when she wasn't so embarrassed. "That's okay," I said. "I'm so grateful for the ride that I couldn't possibly accept that."

She smiled. "I'm Lindsay, its nice to meet you..Mel was it?" she said.

I nodded and smiled. "Nice to meet you too and yes, its Mel, short for Melanie," I replied.

"I'm Mitch," he said beside her with a savvy grin.

I didn't think it was possible for her face to grow redder but it did. "Hi Mitch," she managed.

"I'm Kyle," Kyle said, leaning over Mitch.

She seemed to be distracted from her embarrassment as she glanced between the two of them. "Are you brothers?" she asked.

"No!" they both replied.

"Odd," she said. "You two look more alike than my brother and I do." She flipped the bleached hair of one of the young guys in front of her and he whacked her hand.

"Well, we're not," said Kyle firmly.

"Okay," she said with a shrug. "So what are you all doing for your vacation?"