THE VILLAGE
a story by d.n. stuefloten

      I HAD THOUGHT I WAS ALONE; THE VILLAGE deserted. I had looked up and down the streets and peered into many of the small houses; I could see no one and there were no signs of recent habitation. But from the thatched hut as I stood there one foot on a rock, my hands in the air, the boy came, a small native dressed only in a pair of ragged shorts. He wheeled a red bicycle. He held it and clumsily mounted it. The streets here were made only of crushed rock and shells gathered from the beaches. Curbs were there outlining the street made of chunks of coral. The boy pedaled away down the street, the tires wobbling. The sky was a very light blue, cloudless, and down the street I could see the lagoon where the mild inoffensive waves lapped against the bright beach.
      A boy, I thought. Is he alone here? I walked on down the street.
     In a moment I heard the crunch of tires and, turning, saw the boy coming down the street after me. He was speeding very fast, leaning low over the handlebars, his black hair plastered flat on his head. His eyes were full of darkness.
     "Hey meester!" he yelled. "Look me!"
     The bike came speeding by.
     As he passed me I saw his front wheel wobble badly in the loose rock. Then, in a second, it was over: the front wheel turned sharply and the rear wheel came up, the boy gasping, going over the handlebars,  arms spread in front of him.  He was a brown shape suddenly hurtling through the air. I saw he was going to hit a rock on the side of the street. I watched him fly through the air straight toward the rock, which was white, as the bicycle skidded to a stop in a flourish of gravel. When the child hit the rock he gave out a kind of grunt, and crumpled. I saw a spot of blood on the rock. I saw, as the boy rolled to a stop, spots of blood on his face and chest. The black eyes were very still and there was a grin locked on his face.

     Slowly the people came from the hut. The old man put the boy's head on his lap. The old woman squatted down beside the boy and swayed to and fro, moaning. The young, fleshy women sat shyly beside her father and looked at me. Two small boys came from the hut and picked up the bicycle, inspecting it for dents.

     The boy's head lolled back and forth. Two mangy dogs sniffed at his feet.

     "My name is Johnston," I said.
     The father put his son's head on the gravel and stood to shake hands with me. I shook hands with the old woman who was moaning, and with the younger woman who took my hand gravely and shook it slowly. The two boys paid no attention to me. One was on the bike and trying to ride it.
     "I'm sorry about your son," I said.
     He smiled without any teeth. His mouth was empty darkness.

     The two dogs came to the fleshy woman and crouched on her lap. She smiled at them and rubbed their fur, and they nuzzled against her. She was wearing a man's shirt and they stuck their black noses into her shirt, at her breasts. She unbuttoned the shirt and opened it at one side, smiling and rubbing at the dogs. One of them started tugging at her teat. Her breasts were big but hanging loosely almost to her waist. The shirt was faded. As I watched, the other dog tried to push in, and the first dog growled, his muzzle at her breast, and squirmed a little. The woman was smiling wider now, and the second dog again tried to push in. She held one flap of the shirt over one breast so both dogs could not feed at once. They were both growling now, and squirming on her lap, and she rubbed them and tickled them so they would squirm some more. Her eyes were bright and shiny and she was giggling a little. The one dog was still tugging wetly at her, but then the other dog nipped him on the rump, and he let out a yelp and twisted around to snap at the offending dog. As they squirmed and rolled together, the woman laughed and cried and bounced up and down, holding the dogs so they wouldnt fall off her lap. There was the snap of teeth and the snarling growls and I could hear also, as if in the background, the slow moan of the old woman. At last the young woman pushed the dogs off her lap and stood up, still giggling, breathing heavily. She looked at me as she buttoned her shirt.

     The boy shuddered once and died. Red blood trickled from his mouth.

     The old woman stopped moaning and went into her hut.

     I took the young woman's hand and led her down the street. I cut her a coconut and she drank a little, the liquid sloshing on her shirt. She brushed at it and handed the coconut back to me, smiling, and I saw that two of her front teeth were missing and that the rest of her teeth were brown. Her face was broad and flat. She was fleshy around the waist, with broad hips, heavy legs. I touched her belly and it felt good, soft, as if I could feel the soft wet organs under her skin. She put my hand inside her shirt and I kneaded her breast gently.

     One boy came by on the bicycle. His eyes were flashing and he was low over the handlebars. The other boy came running after, but as he saw me, he stopped. He had a small chest and big eyes, and he looked hungry, a dusky color, his feet already broad and flat.
     "Got cigarette, Yankee?"
     "No," I said. I did not want him to smoke.
     "What you do here, Yankee?"
     "Nothing," I said. I looked at the woman. She was not smiling.
     The boy was grinning at me, as if in triumph.
     "You not belong here, Yankee."
     "Do you want me to leave?"
     His grin went wider.
     "You not leave, Yankee."
     He had a childish voice. He abruptly turned and left.
     "What did he mean?" I asked.
     "No savvy," she said.