Chapter 24

It was my second day in Haven, but it really felt like my first. I’d barely slept a wink the night before; I couldn’t wait to get started, and I was knocking on Sunny’s wooden hut as the sun broke over the horizon. I’d have been there earlier, but that seemed rude. Like me, she didn’t have a proper door, and I was worried I might knock over her woven mats if I tried to knock on them.

Instead, I decided to be direct. “Sunny?”

“Whosere?” came a slurred voice from inside. Sunny stumbled into view, her curly black hair pointing every which way. Yawning, she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. “Rose? What brings you here?”

“I feel so silly about what I said yesterday,” I said, twiddling my thumbs awkwardly. “You and Puja were right, Ozzie explained it all so well. I wanted to make up for last time.”

“Aren’t you sweet?” she said, yawning again. “You don’t have to be up quite this early, though. Were you always an early riser?”

“I sure was!”

“Remember, we don’t have electricity here,” she replied, wrestling with her hair. Letting out a grunt of frustration, she beckoned me inside. “Come on, I need to do something about this. It always frizzes out after it gets wet.”

“Sorry about that,” I said, remembering the drizzle I’d caused during the Welcoming the night before.

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” she replied. She sat down in front of a vanity with a cracked mirror, the only piece of furniture in the room besides a plain mattress just like mine.

“I guess not.” I realized that was another nice thing about my new life in Haven: nobody would know if I caused a little storm here or there. Grabbing a comb from the vanity, I went to work on her tangled hair. It was the least I could do for her.

By the time I’d gotten her hair back under control, sunlight streamed through the gaps in her door.

“Now it’s a reasonable hour,” said Sunny. “There might be a few other people awake. Come on, we’ll go meet up with everyone else to get breakfast going and see what needs doing for the day.”

I placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her in place. “Sunny, can I admit something?”

“What is it, Rose?” she asked, her voice full of concern.

I took a deep breath, getting ahold of my embarrassment. “I don’t remember anybody’s name except you and Puja. I… I didn’t think I was going to stay long enough for it to matter.”

Sunny burst out laughing. “You’re so sweet, you know that? There’s twenty women here! I’d be surprised if you could name them all. I’ll make sure to say their names a few times, okay?”

“You’re the best,” I said, beaming back at her.

For all of Sunny’s teasing, there were villagers milling around all over the place. A racket behind us got my attention.

The woman in the tattered baseball cap from the morning before was standing in front of my repurposed cargo container, banging a stick on the wall. “Hey, are you in there? Rose?”

“She’s with me, Ruth,” said Sunny, giving me a wink.

Ruth spun around, flashing a smile that was short a few key teeth. “Good, I was worried she’d sleep in on her first day.” She held up half of a steaming coconut shell. “I made you some of my grannie’s famous kalo.”

I gave the white chunks an experimental sniff. “What is this?”

“Taro with coconut milk and some sugar,” she said. “Get used to it; it’s the closest to dessert we can make on the regular.”

I was grateful she’d included a spoon this time. “Oh, this is so sweet!”

“I’ll teach you how to make it sometime,” she said. “We want to get your paired as soon as we can, after all.”

I cocked my head at her. “What does that have to do with getting paired?”

“The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” Ruth was a stooped old woman, so her ribbing hit closer to my hips. “There’s a few rules that carry over from the old world.”

“Ozzie is going to pick for you, though,” said Sunny, her brow furrowed with concern.

“Sure, but you know the unpaired menfolk are making requests. Let’s see what we’re working with here.” Ruth looped around me, letting out an appreciate whistle as she patted my hip. “By the sea! What were they feeding you back home to give you a butt like that?”

“I ran a lot,” I said, feeling an odd mix of embarrassed and prideful. Getting set up with one of those hunky fishermen sounded lovely, especially if Ozzie thought he was a good match. I’d never had anybody in my old life, so the sea knew I wasn’t the one to choose.

“You’re going to be popular. Not like our old maid here,” she said, jerking a thumb at Sunny.

Sunny’s face flushed. “Hey, Ozzie’s still choosing someone for me! My time’s going to come.”

Ruth chuckled. “Calm down, Sunny. I’m just having some fun. Speaking of fun, are you both ready to learn basket weaving today?”

“Sure,” I said. “Why not? I’m here to help out, after all. What are you going to use?”

Ruth pointed south. “There’s a mangrove swamp on the south side of the island. The reeds from there are amazing, once you dry them out.”

“You’ve really got it figured out here on Haven,” I said.

“Darn straight,” said Ruth. “C’mon, let’s go see what everyone else is up to.”

We must have taken longer than I’d thought, since everyone in Haven was sitting at the meeting circle. I quickly figured out who was paired together. It looked like a scene from old movies of the attentive housewife seeing off her husband before he went to the office, only instead of handing him his briefcase, it was his net or fishing spear. Ozzie sat back, observing it all.

“Is Ozzie not paired?” I asked.

“He’s the father of us all,” said Sunny, her voice full of admiration. “He says we’re already his children, so he stays unattached so he doesn’t play favorites.”

“That’s very noble of him,” I replied.

I could hear Puja nagging Kumar over all the rest of the crowd.

“And don’t let your hat blow away this time,” she said, handing him a newly woven straw hat. “I added a chin strap, so use it!”

“Momma, come on,” he whined. “You don’t have to worry about every little thing!”

“Easy for you to say,” she said as she handed him a modern-looking backpack. “I’m the one who keeps having to make you new hats! Promise you’ll look after this one.”

“Fine, I will,” he said. “Stop it, you’re embarrassing me in front of everyone.”

“I swear, we need to get you paired,” she said. “I’m getting too old for this; you can be someone else’s problem.” Her ear perked up as we neared. “Speaking of… what’ve you got there, girlie?”

“Oh, this? Some Kalo,” I said, looking at the half-eaten bowl.

Ruth bumped me from behind. “I got her up early this morning and taught her the recipe. Go on, it’s for you.”

“Huh? That isn’t what—” Ruth stepped on Sunny’s foot cutting her off.

“Y-yeah, that’s it,” I said, handing him the coconut shell.

He chowed down, letting out an appreciative grunt. “Wow, this is as good as Ruth’s!”

“She’s a quick learner,” said Ruth, winking at me.

Kumar gave me a once over. “Your name’s Rose, right?”

“That’s right,” I said, suddenly blushing.

“Fishermen, to your boats!” called out Ozzie.

“I need to get going,” said Kumar, “but thanks for the treat.”

“No worries,” I said, a little disappointed I hadn’t gotten to finish it myself.

It was a tearful goodbye as the men all left. Once the boats were out of sight, I hissed at Ruth, “What was that for? Now he’s going to expect me to know how to make Kalo!”

Ruth smirked. “They won’t be back for a few days. Seems to me like you can learn cooking and basket weaving at the same time, right?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I replied, feeling buoyed by a new sense of pride. It was so nice to have someone believe in me. Nobody ever had in the old life.

Even if a little voice in the back of my head insisted that something was horribly, awfully wrong.