The Takamaka Tree Read Online Free PDF

inspection. She flinched. “You see.”
    Sandy wished she had more on than her red bikini and one of Daniel’s shirts, for Leon was looking her over quite openly.
    “You Mr. Kane’s woman, yes?” he grinned, his big yellowed eyes all knowing despite the isolation of the island. She wondered where he and Bella came from—Mahé perhaps. Surely they did not live on La Petite all the time.
    “No, I am not Mr. Kane’s woman,” she said with some spirit.
    “Then you like me,” he said immediately.
    “I-I beg your pardon?” Sandy hoped she had misunderstood his meaning. But he was closing in on her. Muscles rippled under his skin. He smelt of salt and sweat and spices.
    “You very pretty girl,” he said, flashing his strong white teeth. “You have pretty hair. Like sunshine. I come and see you soon.”
    Sandy did not know what to say. She did not want to hurt the boy’s feelings, and yet she must be firm with him.
    “You must not come to my room again,” she said. “Perhaps I will see you here on the beach.”
    His face showed his disappointment, but not for long. He was obviously not too dismayed if she demanded some preliminaries to his courtship.
    “I will take you fishing,” he said. “I have a boat.”
    “You have a boat?” Her heart leaped, but she did not know why.
    “Yes, I have a boat,” he said almost casually. “It is mine. I will show it to you.”
    She heard music in her ears, which was strange, for she had never heard music on the island before. But she could definitely hear a high, pulsating sound pounding in and out of her mind. She could not believe it. For a moment, panic gripped her. Was this the beginning of some dreadful brain illness? Perhaps she was ill.
    A hand came down onto her shoulder, lightly, but she could feel the fingers gripping her through the thin stuff of the shirt. She knew it was Daniel standing behind her. Suddenly he was everything she knew, everything that was familiar.
    “This is my woman,” he told Leon in a normal, even voice, as if he were laying claim to a book or an axe. “She will tell you that she isn’t, but she is. She is mine, and mine only. Do you understand, Leon?”
    “I understand, Mr. Kane.”
    “Leon was going to take me fishing,” said Sandy, in a valiant attempt to retain some independence.
    “You can go fishing with Leon, but not until you have learned to swim. It would be too dangerous.”
    “I can swim,” she said.
    “Can you?” he asked quietly.
    “I could hear music,” she said with a note of desperation. She turned to him. Daniel would know. Daniel would say the right thing. “It was a real music.”
    “It was the sea,” he said. “Sometimes I can hear the sea singing. It’s the waves through the reefs and the wind in the palm trees. It was only the sea, Sandy.”
    “I thought it was my head. I thought I was ill, going mad.”
    “No, you’re not,” he said quite casually. “It was just the sea.”
    “I’m not, am I?” she repeated, still needing reassurance. “I’m not mad, am I, Daniel?”
    Leon had wandered away with their supper. He was not convinced by Daniel’s declaration. He began to whistle.
    “Don’t encourage Leon, or you will end up with a red-haired baby,” said Daniel abruptly.
    “I won’t,” Sandy stormed. “What a dreadful thing to say to me.”
    “There’s no need for such a show of outraged innocence,” said Daniel. “I was merely warning you that Leon thinks love-making as natural as eating and drinking. And to go fishing with him would be a natural preliminary to such a liaison.”
    “I don’t want to listen to another word,” said Sandy, leaving Daniel by himself on the sand.
    He watched her stomping back to the bungalow with some amusement. She was beginning to show sparks of fire. A totally docile character would bore him. But he hoped she would not sulk. They had another month to live on the island together.
    His work of plotting the arrival of migratory birds was progressing