“And what do you want from me?” My voice comes out even rougher than usual. It’s rough when I’m in the office, trying to talk to people, but it’s worse when I’m quiet for some time.
“I want you to tell me how to do it.” Her tightly pressedlips remind me of one of the outlets at the back of a computer.
“I just did.”
“No, you didn’t.” She blows the hair out of her face. “You just nodded your big head in the air.”
Inwardly smiling, I ask, “I can open it for you.” Then add thoughtfully, “If you want, of course.”
I don’t know why I can’t just tell her what to do, but somehow, I want her to depend on me for this since she pretends to be so independent otherwise.
“Yes!” she exclaims enthusiastically, and then she adds in a quieter voice, “Please.”
I take two coconuts from the sand and walk into the trees. She follows me.Unfortunately.I’d prefer to keep my little secret for now and hold this information over her head.
“Why are you going over here?” she asks from behind me. “Do you have tools hidden somewhere?”
I send her a murderous look. She should be scared by it like everybody else is. But she’s clearly not everybody else, because she quirks a brow with a silent question I don’t have an answer to. So I secure the first coconut between the roots with the pointy side up, grab a giant stone I found before, and start smashing it on the top to soften the husk. Once it’s thoroughly smashed, I take the coconut and start pulling the husk away.
“Seriously? You gotta do that?” She sits on her knees and watches my movements.
Every single one of them. I show her how to clean coconuts from the husk while she keeps glancing at her fingers which look too delicate to be able to pull a coconut apart. How to find the perfect spot on it to crack it open and smash it on the same rock I used before.
Hearing her swallow, I glance at her and notice her eyestrained not on the food in my hands but at something on my arms. Or is it shoulders?
I look at them, trying to figure out if there’s a huge black widow on them or something, but find nothing. When I look back at her, she’s flushed beneath mud-covered cheeks, and I fear she might have a fever.
Placing one cracked coconut at my feet, I pull the other one apart, trying to preserve as much water as I can. Offering both to her, I wait for her to take them. But she doesn’t. Instead, her big, blue eyes look up at me.
“Are you sure?”
And suddenly, I feel like the biggest ass in the universe. A very rare occurrence for me.
“Yes,” I reply gruffly. “Just take it. I’ll open another one.”
“Okay,” she says in a small voice and takes the halves from my hands. Lifting one of them to her lips, she starts drinking.
I should be cracking another nut, but I’m too busy gawking at her neck swallowing the water she’s drinking. I’ve clearly spent too much time in the sun since this behavior is unusual for me.
Her shoulders are covered in dry mud, there are splotches of the same substance on her face, and yet, I can’t stop staring.
When she’s done, she tries to scoop out the meat with her fingers. A useless task since her fingers are too delicate, so I take it from her and crack it into more pieces. Then I give it back to her, and she accepts it with an even quieter ‘thanks.’ I nod in return and give her another coconut to drink.
She takes it carefully and places it beside her feet. “I’ll save it for later. I don’t know how to open them.”
I sigh, cursing myself. “Just drink it.” My tone is anything but welcoming, but I can’t help it. “I’ll open more for you.”
“Thank you,” she says, drinking one half and saving the other one.
I nod and start walking back to the shelter I’ve made for her, but she calls out.
“Hey. Are you sure you don’t want this one?” She stretches her arm holding a coconut toward me. “You’re bigger. You probably need more energy.”
My eyes move from her hand to her face before I forcefully shake my head and go over to the waterfall. Taking a dip in the ocean sounds like a good idea, but there’s no fuckin’ way I’m going in there at night where weird creatures come out to play.
So I refresh myself in the water, drink as much as I can, and fill two halves of empty coconuts with water for later. By the time I’m back to my shelter, the little thing is sleeping in her newest creation. Her ass is sticking outside since the place is too small for anyone but a child to fit in.
I walk closer to the shore and sit on the sand. No one is around. No one.
