When the Singing Stops (31 page)

‘You are involved with these issues in Australia?' asked Xavier.

Madi was silent for a moment. ‘To be honest, no. Since being here and exposed to well, different people, culture . . . I suppose it's opened my eyes.'

‘And your mind,' said Xavier softly.

After the singing, the dancing and drinking, the village settled for the night. Two women came to Madi and showed her a hut with several hammocks strung in it, indicating she would share this space. Madi noticed they gave her the biggest and newest of the hammocks and was touched at their warmth and hospitality at being treated as an honoured guest. A girl suckling a baby in the shadowy corner of the dirt floor gave her a smile and pointed to the tiny string baby hammock. The interior of the dark hut was messy, food preparations were scattered about with the paraphernalia of community living. Madi was given a soft woven cover to wrap around herself in the hammock. It was another revealing and stimulating experience, to be so much part of the ordinary life of these people, so different from her own. But she felt totally at ease and comfortable. In the dark she heard soft voices, murmurs or the occasional cry of the baby. Then they all seemed to fall asleep together, as if a gentle coverlet had been dropped over the village.

M
adi sat outside a hut with a half-formed clay pot between her knees. Rolls of cylindrical lengths of clay she'd made earlier were piled beside her. Dia, Madi's teacher, sat opposite her watching Madi's slow progress with the ‘buck pot'. Dia was slightly built but her arms and hands were strong. Madi thought she had a beautiful face with its wide jaw, high cheekbones, flared nostrils and curved lips. Her young baby was slung across her chest in a soft sling tied around her neck. Babies were carried close to the mother all the time, reaching for a breast as they wanted. As they got older the sling was sometimes worn across the forehead with the toddler sitting in it leaning against the mother's back. In halting English, Dia explained
the baby stayed close to the mother or father till they were about two or three then joined the rest of the family group as a new sibling took its place. She was younger than Madi and, giggling, she'd pointed out her husband Uman, who was too shy to join them.

Concentrating, Madi blended the last clay coil on top, using a piece of calabash shell to smooth the edge. It was a wide round bowl, a pleasing shape if not exactly as perfect as it might be on a potter's wheel. Dia explained they made all the pottery by hand and, using a well-worn pebble, she polished the outside and said the pot would be left in the sun to dry then decorated and baked over a fire. The bowl would be used for cooking and storing food. Dia handed Madi a sharp stick and asked her to write her name on the bowl.

Madi was pleased with her efforts and wished she could take it with her.

‘So what do you think?' demanded Madi as Lester eyed her bowl.

‘It be good. Man yo is sure goin' native,' he chuckled.

Madi patted Lester's arm. They rarely exchanged any physical contact, though Madi had noticed how affectionate the Guyanese were with each other. While not subservient, Lester had kept a respectful distance between them. But he smiled warmly at Madi's touch. ‘Lester, I can't thank you enough for making this possible. I've loved every minute.'

‘Even de scorpion?'

‘It was just a scratch and you know what
really
fixed me?' she said. As he shook his head, Madi took her frog from her pocket and rubbed it along her leg. ‘This did the trick.'

Pieter called out to them as he strode past the hut where Lester and Madi were sitting.

‘I'm going for a walk, want to come, Madison?'

‘You bet! Lester, you coming?'

‘No, I pack up de tings, we go back to camp later, okay?'

‘Sure, back to work!'

Madi followed Pieter into the jungle around the settlement. He walked briskly. Madi, with Matthew's hat scrunched over her long braids, hastened to keep up with Pieter's large strides.

‘How do you normally travel “in the field”?' asked Madi.

‘Walk, canoe, drive if I can, carry everything I need. I camp, hunt—not that I'm very good. I carry specimens, my plant box and notebook. Sometimes it's difficult to reach plants in the tops of trees or inaccessible places, but I generally find a couple of Amerindian teenagers to act as helpers.'

Pieter, affable, affectionate, a man who tramped bear-like through the jungle yet had eyes to spot a tiny hidden bud and feet that stepped over small shoots and delicate plants,
paused. He drew his knife from his belt and made a slanted slash in the tree and watched the white balata bleed into a small cup he held against the trunk. ‘Wild rubber. The local people use it.'

‘Pieter, what do you really think . . . I mean about the rainforests . . . everywhere. Do you really believe they hold answers? Like you said, so many of our drugs come from these plants.' Madi stared up at the tops of the trees and the shadowy greenness surrounding them.

Pieter glanced around the forest, the small plants, the furry leaves, clinging vines, lichens and moss and flowers that sprouted from tree trunks. ‘Yes, I do believe the answers are here. But not just in the rainforest. I believe nature, and that means insects and animals as well as plants, holds the key to our health and future.'

Madi was beginning to view the environment through new eyes, seeing a pharmacopoeia of possible cures. ‘No wonder the big pharmaceutical companies want access.'

Pieter gave a slight smile. ‘So many factors come into it. Like how do they do the research, are the specimens fresh, what are the screening procedures? The answers are here . . . But the process needs to involve the people who own, nurture and understand their place in this world.'

Madi stared at the ethnobotanist.

‘Pieter, isn't that what we all want? To find our place in this world?' Madi was silent for a
moment then added softly, ‘I wish I could do something to help. I feel that my life has been so aimless and . . . shallow. Since coming here it's like my eyes have been opened'.

‘You've grown up, you mean,' he answered gently. ‘Tell me about yourself, Madison.'

‘I grew up with a loving family. I had a safe and fun life and married young.'

‘You made a bad choice, eh?'

‘As it turned out. I did think I loved him. But looking back now, it seems like every time I wanted to unfold my wings as it were, he held me back. I never grew or learned or experimented or flowered, I suppose.'

‘You were the one that allowed that to happen.' Pieter chided with a smile to soften his words.

‘You're right. And it's made me hesitant about future relationships. I wish I'd taken control of my life earlier.'

‘You can only do that when you're ready. It must have been a big step to come to Guyana, and while you came to the safety net of your brother, you have now stepped outside that. And you must follow this path that has opened up to you.'

His words hit home with Madi. She saw she had turned towards a new path, but whether she should plunge down it, not knowing where it might lead, was another matter. She pushed the thought to one side.

‘What about you, Pieter. Are you married?'

‘I have a lovely lady, she's fair and pretty, like you. And fortunately for me, she shares this passion of mine.' Pieter leaned towards Madi. ‘It is important that the person you love shares the same interests. I bet you and that husband of yours didn't have something special in common, eh?'

‘No. Nothing. Just two lives that overlapped domestically in the end.' The realisation troubled Madi. Thoughts of Connor flashed into her head. What did they have in common? At the moment only Guyana.

Two hours later they returned to the settlement. Lester and Xavier hailed her. ‘So has our jungle gatherer persuaded you to save the rainforest?' laughed Xavier. Despite his flippant tone Madi knew the question was a serious one.

‘I've always been a bit of a greenie. I just never knew about the broader issues. I've certainly learned a lot, from all of you.'

‘So now yo have to tell de bruddah and de boyfriend 'bout all of dis, eh?' said Lester.

‘They're going to tell me I've become a tree hugger,' laughed Madi. Still, she intended to talk to them and try to share what she'd learned.

She turned to Xavier. ‘Seriously, I think you should meet Connor. I'll suggest it so you can put the case for funding assistance. And why can't we approach the foreign mining companies
to make donations to plant research as a way of making some restitution to the people for what they're taking out of the country, apart from paying government royalties? It would be a good public relations gesture.' Glancing at their dubious looks she added, ‘Hey, I'm a marketing whiz, you know'.

Pieter nodded. ‘I can see that. Actually I'm already getting some funding from a local outfit. A machinery spare parts company funnily enough. It's run by a Colombian, Antonio Destra. Do you know him? He's indicated there could be more investment down the track.'

‘I've met Antonio,' said Madi evasively. ‘He's a businessman. I can't help wondering what he would expect from such an investment.'

‘He made a completely unsolicited offer. Maybe there are more companies willing to be so generous,' mused Pieter.

‘I'll set up a meeting with Connor,' she said firmly. Then giving Lester, Xavier and Pieter a big smile, added, ‘Anyway, count me in. I'm with you guys!'

Lester nodded sagely, quite believing her. ‘Well now yo spent time with de village, we go back to work, eh?'

Two days later, Madi was settled back into her routine at Lester's camp. They worked independently, sometimes not speaking for hours, then as one would make a small find, they'd stop,
examine it and discuss it in detail, then return to their panning, sluicing and digging. The sounds of the forest were familiar to Madi now. She knew when certain birds would appear, had seen a small agouti, rather like a large Australian bandicoot, and seen Lester stung by an electric eel when reaching into a crevice between rocks in the creek to test for gravel. It was a mild shock which soon wore off but Madi paid more attention to where she moved about the deeper patches of the tributary.

At sunset she cooled off in the natural pool they used as a waterhole before putting on a clean shirt of Matthew's which covered her arms because in the evening all manner of insects came to bite and cause itchy rashes.

One morning while she was bathing in the waterhole she heard a motorboat come up their creek from the main river. Curious, she dressed, tied back her wet hair and walked back to the camp. Lester was down at the landing talking to two men. As they headed up the track, Madi shouted with delight when she realised it was Connor, with Sammy the storeman.

Madi called out and seeing her, he rushed to sweep her up, swinging her in the air.

‘How did you find us? You didn't say you were going to come up!'

‘I've missed you.' He kissed her. ‘If Lester hadn't left contact details about the store, I
wouldn't have got here. Thanks to Sammy, here I am.'

‘Dis be great. Come, come to de camp,' said Lester.

While Lester brewed coffee and talked to Sammy, Madi showed Connor the camp. ‘Well, it's certainly rustic,' he said.

She demonstrated her panning technique and explained the procedure of digging up the gravel, washing it through the torn box then through the pans.

‘And do you do this all day?' he asked. ‘It's hard work.' He tried not to sound as surprised as he felt. He listened to the enthusiasm in Madi's voice and her excitement as she produced their finds to date. Connor stared at the tiny glittering stones. ‘I guess it must be a thrill to find one . . . even a tiny one.'

‘You want to try panning? We've got spare battels,' she said.

‘Yeah, well, I guess so. As I'm here.' Madi gave him a penetrating look. ‘Just why did you come, Connor? I can't believe you made this trek, took off from work and all, just because you missed me!'

Connor staggered, clutching his heart. ‘Oh, you wound me, madam! Of course I missed you. In fact it shocked me a bit that I did miss you so much.' He gave an embarrassed grin.

‘You haven't come on some mission from Matt to drag me back to civilisation?' she said suspiciously.

‘You don't want to come back yet? It's been nearly two weeks, Madi.'

‘No, I don't, Connor. It's not just the experience of being here, which is wonderful, or the fun of slogging away to find a stone or two—and I pull my weight,' she added. ‘But I'm learning so much. I've just spent two days in an Amerindian village . . . it was fantastic, even if it was because I was stung by a scorpion . . .'

‘What! Are you all right?'

‘Of course . . . but listen, Connor . . . I met Pieter again. Remember he was at the falls. I want you to talk to him.'

‘What about?' asked Connor who didn't particularly want to troop around meeting some fellow Madi had befriended in the jungle. He was weary after the trip upriver or more specially the night spent at Sammy's shop and the amount of rum they'd consumed.

‘Pieter's an ethnobotanist . . .'

‘The Dutchman, the plant gentleman. I know him,' said Sammy who knew all the business of the river and around the settlements.

‘He's looking at investment into the uses of forest plants for medicines and indeed the whole future of where the Amerindians are going with development of rainforest products.'

‘Sounds interesting,' said Connor, sounding not the least bit interested.

Madi realised this was not the time to get Connor on side. ‘When we go back to Georgetown we'll have to look up Pieter and Xavier.'

A flicker of interest showed on Connor's face for a moment. ‘He's in cahoots with the Amerindian leader? I suppose that makes sense.'

They finished morning tea and Sammy headed back down the river. Connor rubbed his head. ‘Gawd, that man can drink and talk and eat. So, what's the plan? Let's go for a swim so I can clear my head.'

Connor followed Madi to her tent. ‘I must say, Madi, you seem to have been leading a pretty social life up here.'