Canyon Road (12 page)

"Tina!"

"I... I asked Michael out."

Sage plopped down on the stairway, stunned. "You asked Michael out? And you're mortified? What
happened
?"

"He was so nice, so polite. Completely Mr. Manners. But he only went to lunch with me because he thought I had something to say about you and Anthony."

"Anthony and me – as a couple?"

"I don't know. I didn't spend a lot of time dwelling on the reasons I
didn't
ask him out. When he said he'd go to lunch with me I thought it was because he was interested. I'm a nit-wit."

"Stop, Tina. There could be so many reasons why he... I don't even know what he did. What did he do?"

"He was an angel."

"He's clearly a terrible person...."

"I'm just so embarrassed to have chased him. He said he didn't have time for romance in his life right now. He said his work comes first. He said he wouldn't be able to commit to a relationship. Practically word for word what you've said – the two of you are made for each other. Except you both think your time is too precious to share. When I think of all the people in the world dying for romance and the two of you are too 'busy' for love."

"I suppose neither he nor I have found the person we can fall in love with."

"Whatever. All I know is, I'll never be able to face that man again."

"Nonsense. He's not an ogre. I'm sue he's flattered. And I'm sure he likes you. Everybody likes you, Tina. He didn't fall in love with you. So what? It just makes you one more person closer to your perfect person. Can you paint?"

"Huh?"

"I'm painting a wall, but there's more paint on me, the floor, and now my cell phone than the wall."

"Yeah, okay, I'll come over and help you out of your mess."

"And I'll help you out of yours. Not that you're in a mess. I think we need to change the environment. Given that Millie has put my financial house in order and I have some mad money, I've been thinking about going away for a few days. But I can't decide where to go. Where would you like to go?"

"Am I going with you?"

I hope so. I don't want to go alone."

"
Oooooh
, goody! You already know my obsession."

"Steel drums."

"Yes."

"Reggae."

"Yes."

"Jamaica."

"Yes."

"You'll be swamped with men. This time next week you'll be saying, 'Michael who?' " Sage said.

"Are you really serious?"

"Completely serious. But please do come over and help me. Wear clothes you'd like to be a lovely shade of brown."

"I'm there. We can paint and plan."

"Besides," Sage added, "maybe after thinking about you for a while, Michael will change his mind."

"You always find the silver lining."

"If you look for the good, the good shows up."

....................................................................
* *
A week later Sage and Tina unwound from their flight, looking at the ocean, drinking sodas on the lanai of their two bedroom suite in Kingston. The enchanting tones of steel drums reverberated up to them from the street, an offering of peace and pleasure.

"Paradise!" Tina said.

"Paradise," Sage agreed lazily.

"Let's go out!" Tina jumped up and started rummaging through her luggage.

"Don't you want to relax for a while?"

"Nope! We're only here five days, I don't want to miss a minute!"

""You go ahead. I think I can afford to miss a few minutes. I came for the music, and the way it's floating up from the street is heaven." Sage yawned. "I really need to take a little nap."

"I'm don't want to go out alone," Tina whimpered.

'"Stay in the hotel. There's lots to do. Go down to the lounge. Give me a call in a couple hours, or come and get me."

Tina brightened. "Okie-dokie! See you later."

Sage stretched out on the bed, thinking about her determination that Tina see she was attractive to men. "If I have to push her out of the nest with both wings!" she said as she drifted off to sleep, her dreams woven with reggae. When she was awakened by the chirp of the telephone, she was dancing in her dreams with Michael, their bodies synchronized with the lilting syncopated beat.

She answered her phone.

"Wake up!" Tina's shouted over the reggae band. "These men are gorgeous and fantastic dancers. "

"What time is it?" Sage looked around for a clock, it was too dark to see her watch.

"You've been sleeping for four hours, girl! I just haven't been able to tear myself away. But now I've got more men than I can handle. I need you."

"I won my bet."

"What?" Tina shouted over the din.

"I won my bet!" Sage shouted back.

"Oh, yeah! Absolutely! I fe-e-el to-to-lee coul
,
m-a-a-n," Tina giggled. "Come on!"

"Okay. I'll be down in a bit."

Sage changed into a red silk pantsuit and headed for the music. She and Tina danced until the sun came up, then went back up to their rooms and slept like logs until late afternoon.

They ordered gigantic salads brought to their suite, then sat on the lanai enjoying the pristine view. Tina glowed. "Nothing like
men
to make a girl forget a man!" she said lustily.

"Umm." Sage felt disoriented and exhausted after hours of even more insistent dreaming about Michael. She couldn't remember the dreams, but she saw his face in her mind's eye, and felt his presence. This trip was supposed to take her away from these haunting thoughts, but distance had no influence on where the heart would go.

"Poor imitation of enthusiasm, Sage."

"Sorry. My mind is...."

"Somewhere else, I can see that. Where?"

"I'm thinking about what I'd like to do this afternoon. I think I'll rent a car and drive around the country. How does that sound to you?"

"Fine, as long as we're back by party-time tonight."

"Party time. Well, I guess we could take a scenic drive for a few hours. I'm not going to party all night tonight though, I want to go sight-seeing tomorrow, so don't be surprised when I disappear early tonight, and leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow."

Sage didn't mind at all the next day when Tina was no more able to go sight-seeing at eight a.m. after three hours sleep then she could get up and fly. Sage gathered her camera and note book, threw a dark scarf over her hair and put on large dark sunglasses, wanting to see rather than be seen.

Then she ran elatedly downstairs, jumped into her little rented car and took off for Ocho Rios. She'd gathered fliers at the hotel lobby, and now she couldn't wait to get to the Coyaba River Garden and Museum, only about an hour away.

Once there, she sat contentedly for an hour by the Mahoe Falls, the water tripping and dancing down the rock stairs of the falls. It cleared her head in a calming and spiritual way, after which she went through the Coyaba museum, and felt, finally, as though she'd arrived at this island paradise.

Then she got back in her little car and drove to Port Antonio, looking forward to going through the Nonsuch Caves, which, the literature said, "were a series of 14 chambers with bizarre rock formations, speleothems and Arawak Indian drawings, with a bat colony living in the 13 meter high, gothic-shaped ceiling of the Cathedral Chamber. The caves were discovered by a lost goat in 1957."

Sage wondered how the goat found its way back out and then how it told people about the caves.

Simply put, the Nonsuch Caves promised to be everything Sage loved to explore in one: caves, bats and ancient rock drawings. But she was disappointed when she arrived to discover that the caves were closed to the public. She had to console herself with meandering through the botanical garden above the caves, imagining what lay beneath as she wandered through a wonderland of exotic plants and gorgeous butterflies, dragonflies and birds.

Then she drove on around the eastern point of Jamaica, feeling that, whatever else she did while here, this day, she'd fulfilled her dreams – to be in nature, to feel the warmth of another place crawl to a lovely spot in her mind. It would remain there, always.

As she drove up to her Americanized hotel, discordant with the natural beauty, and the natural people she'd chatted with in her travels that day, she felt resistance. Dragging her feet, she went up to her room. Tina had left a note on her bed saying she'd gone to dinner with someone named Alfred. At that moment the phone rang.

"It's me," Tina called cheerfully. "When'd you get back?"

"This very minute," Sage sank into a chair.

"Well, get on over here. I'm at a place that you'll just love. Little outdoor restaurant by the ocean, local food like you can't believe, a steel drum band on loan from heaven... they're on a break, so I thought I'd call when I could hear you."

"Sounds great. Where are you?"

"I'm going to have Alfred send a cab for you. The driver will know where to come."

"Who's Alfred?" The band started up in the background, drowning out any ability to talk."I have to shower and change," Sage shouted. "How long did it take you to get there?"

"About twenty minutes."

"Okay. Tell the cab driver to get me in half-an-hour. I'll see you soon."

Her mood shifted to one of anticipation. She put on a white, full-skirted dress and brushed her loose-hanging hair. Then she ran down and got in the waiting cab. The driver took her through the darkening shadows among narrow streets.

After a while, however, she realized that they surely had been driving longer than twenty minutes. She looked at her watch. She'd give the driver another ten minutes before saying anything.

The ten minutes passed, and still they drove on, nothing like a restaurant in sight.

"Driver," Sage finally spoke up. He did not respond. "Driver, why aren't we there? We should be at the restaurant by now."

"Soon miss, we'll be there soon."

"I hope so." Sage sat back,tense, fear creeping up her esophagus.

The car wound about narrow streets so dark it was difficult for Sage to see where the street was. Then, suddenly, they stopped in front of a small dark cottage, the driver turned off the ignition.

"This is not a restaurant," Sage said to him.

He got out, came around the car, opened Sage's door.

"This is not a restaurant, and I'm not getting out."

"Please, please do get out miss."

"No. Take me back to the hotel."

A small light came on in the cottage, someone's head peeked through a window. Sage's heart began to race. What was she to do now?

"Please get out of the car, miss." The driver stood politely by the door. Sage thought about attempting to leap from the car, but where would she go?

"I
insist
that you to take me either back to the hotel, or to the restaurant. Maybe you're lost," Sage went on, "maybe you don't know where the restaurant is. That's okay. Just take me back to the hotel."

"I know where the restaurant is, my cousin is the cook there. Excellent cook. We be there soon, sooner if you please get out, I want you to meet someone."

Heart pounding, she slowly climbed out of the car. Perhaps there was someone here that she could appeal to. The driver touched her elbow and escorted her to the door of the cottage. He opened the door, but she flatly refused to go through it by anything less than brute force.

The face at the window came to the door. The driver and the young woman exchanged a few quiet words. Then, suddenly, the whole cottage was full of light, the doorway crowded with women. They came out to Sage and coaxed her inside, speaking in a beautiful liquid language that Sage felt as though she should be able to understand, but couldn't.

"My family, miss," the driver said over the din, grinning from ear to ear. "My four sisters, two cousins, and my mother. I wanted them to see your amazing hair."

The girls were all smiling at her, they lightly touched her sleeve, her arm, her cheek, her hair, giggling and huddling together.

One of the older ones came up to Sage. "My brother is fun, is he not? He works all day, all night for the money we live on, but takes the time to share his uptown life. The girls," she gestured to her little sisters and cousins, "love to see the expensive ladies... even from far away."

She turned to her brother. "Thank you brother, now take this nice lady to where she was going." She said something to the girls and they all stepped back. Her driver whisked her back into the taxi and pulled onto the road.

Sage, still in a whirlwind of surprise, felt tears in her eyes for the touching scene of this quiet man taking her to see his family, the only entertainment he could afford.

"You have a lovely, sweet family," she said to him.

"Thank you, miss. I know. Though I will be glad when they start to get married so that one day perhaps
I
can afford to get married, and have my own life."

He pulled up in front of another cottage, this one brightly lit, with colored lanterns hanging everywhere and steel drums pulsing in the night air.

"Here we are, miss." He opened her door. As she stepped out she saw Tina waving.

She gave the driver a sizable tip. "Tell your family that I think they are very beautiful. They're incredibly lucky to have you watch over them."

"Thank you, miss. Thank you very much."

She watched him drive away.

Tina ran up to her. "You're late! I just called the room. I thought maybe you decided to go to sleep. No answer – I was worried!"

"Well, I was too, for a while, but it came out okay," Sage answered.

"What do you mean?"

"I'll tell you about it later."

"Okay. Come, I want you to meet Alfred." Tina led her to a slightly balding, slightly rotund man. Not at all what Sag4 expected. Tina immediately cleared up the mystery. "Alfred's a talent scout. He's looking for the next Bob Marley. He knows the music better than most of the musicians themselves. We got to talking and – he's just so fun to hang out with."

Sage shook Alfred's hand, then Tina introduced her to about twenty other people she'd met that evening, including the members of the band. Sage had to admit one thing, Tina could remember people's names like no one she'd ever met. She had clearly become the darling of all the people she'd met.