Chapter 22
Will, Moto and the General set out, descending the hill
into the sprawling port town beneath. It was early morning, but already the
streets were full of people and goods. Carts pulled by people and carts pulled
by people jostled for space on the narrow streets with throngs of people going
to work, going to market.
“Where do we start?” Moto asked as they stood on a
sidewalk on the main street in the town.
“Food, I think.” Will said. “Food, and urm, weapons
perhaps.”
“Good lord man! Weapons? Who do you think we shall encounter?”
The general harrumphed. Will said nothing but pointed to his face. “Oh, yes,
quite right then.But let’s be sensible.”
“Certainly, nothing too big or clumsy. Small, accurate,
preferably American made, or French perhaps.”
“Just food and guns then?” Moto asked. “I think we would
need fuel too, if we have a couple of days ahead of us?”
“Yes, good point. Anything else for the balloon Moto?”
The General asked.
“No Sir, I suspect Port Au Prince would have anything fi
we needed it.”
“Yes, assuming they are not overthrowing their
government” Will said, absentmindedly as he proceeded to cross the busy street.
Meanwhile Liza and Mary were walking up the broad hill. The
sun was bright and sky cloudless. Liza scanned it.
“No balloons. I would have thought out here people would
be using them more.”
“Perhaps they are too expensive, or risky. I would
imagine the winds would pick up here often.” Mary said, her eyes on the ground.
“Ohhh! Look!” She stopped and pointed to a short plant less than a foot tall,
with broad circular waxy green leaves and yellow flowers. “Tolpis azorica!
They’re in the dandelion family you know?”
“Really, I’ve never seen a dandelion that tall, or big…”
“Well, they’re in the family… distant cousin, if you
will. I wonder if they’re edible, have to check. I bet I could take a part and…
oh! Listen to me Liza, going on about this plant, as if it mattered one bit.”
Liza laughed and knelt down to look at the plant. “You
know Mary, I admire you.”
“Really? Why?”
“That you can focus so intently on this plant, and you
can recognize the plant, and recognize that it is important to well, recognize
it! I wish I could…”
“You can Liza, really. I know you have the mind for it!”
“Yes, perhaps, but not the temperament. I am always
scanning the horizon I fear, always thinking about what is next rather than
focusing on what is here.”
“Liza, my dear, I think there is room for both of us,
you know? Together we can see both ahead and underneath.”
“That makes us a strange beast!”
“No doubt! Oh, look, those bushes!” Mary scrambled up a
short outcropping fo rock to waist tall evergreen bushed loaded with small
fleshy deep blue fruits.
“Picconia azorica! They’re only here, on these islands.
You can eat the fruit too, here, let’s try some.”
“Are you sure?”
“Pretty sure…” Mary smiled and popped one of the small
fruits in her mouth. Almost immediately she spat it out with a sour look on her
face.
“Are you alright?!” Liza asked.
“Oh, yes, sorry, they are not rip I think!”
Back in town Will had quickly found a place to supply
them with food. Moto had engaged one of the local youths and his small cart to
help them transport the canned goods and packets of dried fruit. “Nothing we
have to cook!” Will pointed out. Finding weapons took a bit longer, and quite a
bit more tact. Several discreet asks in various shops met with blank stares or,
in at least one, angry refusals to even consider that guns could be bought.
They were about to give up when the General noticed a
small shop off the main road.
“Tea General? We’re on a tight schedule, I am sure the
tea we have already is good enough, if not top shelf-“
“Don’t be impertinent young man!” The General said with
a broad grin. “Any tea shop that advertises its name as a tea shopppe in the Portuguese Azores must be run by an Englishman.”
Englishwoman
it turned out. The three of them crammed into the small narrow shop that had
the heavy smell of cured tea leaves in it.
“Help you gentlemen?”
“Uh yes-“ Will began but the General cut him off.
“Yes young lady” The general said with a gleam in his
eye, the stout woman behind the counter had not been young for several decades
in Will’s estimation. “We have just
arrived here and are leaving again shortly, by balloon you know, and we uh,
require the acquisition of at least one, uh, defensive item, if you will.”
The flirty smile on the woman’s face dropped. “Why you
asking me then? Think I’ve got a revolver in the Earl Grey?”
“No, no” The general laughed. Will looked nervously at
Moto, who stared impassively out the window. “Not you. No, of course not, I
recognize an upstanding outfit when I see it. No, I was hoping you might know
of someone else.”
The woman blinked several times.
“This a joke then?” She said, he voice low and even.
“I can assure you that in no way is this a joke Madam.”
A long silent minute passed.
“Pig and Mead Inn, one street over. Ask for the owner,
tell him Lilly said he owes her a tenner.” She said finally.
“Thank you madam” the general said and tipped his hat.
“Right, then, how much will you need?” She said briskly.
“How… much?” the General asked.
“Yes, how much tea. This is a tea shop!”
After buying some tea, too much in Will’s estimation,
the three made their way one street over to the Inn, a small and cramped
building.
“For such large islands everything here is rather small.”
Will complained as they made their way into the wooden doorway one at a time.”
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