TALES OF THE CARIBBEAN

Dave (Everybody called him Shark Boy) ran all the way from the excavation pit back to the Monk’s cabin and was relieved to see him scraping sea salt from his evaporator racks. The Monk, at first, feared there might have been an accident at the excavation, but after Dave breathlessly explained to him Delaney’s situation, he was at once relieved and concerned. Dave quickly rattled off the things Jesse wanted and they soon had them loaded on the two-wheeled cart. Dave pulled the handcart back up the hill to the cliff while the Monk shuffled along behind him. Dark clouds assembled above them like an army preparing an attack. Jesse was relieved to see the cart coming and he hoped they could get Delaney back to the shack before the storm hit.

When the first wind gust slammed into the face of the cliff it sent a tall dust plume about forty feet in the air above their excavation hole. It looked like a giant Jinn and the Monk bravely stood between it, Delaney, the cart and the others furiously fingering his beads with one hand and holding his cross high with the other. No sooner had the first plume dissipated than a second blast of wind sent another dust plume even higher. When he saw the second plume he was more convinced than ever that several evil jinn was after them–he walked backwards down the path with his cross held high to protect the caravan as they descended from the cliff. They succeeded in reaching the cabin before the storm hit and they carried Delaney inside before sheets of rain pounded the roof and stonewalled cabin. Jesse put on a fresh t-shirt from his backpack and scrubbed up with soap and water before Delaney let out a scream and pushed. Thankfully the baby’s head came out first and Jesse supported it with his hands, but its neck was totally limp and it wasn’t breathing. Minutes seemed like hours but the baby still wasn’t breathing—Jesse began to sweat profusely. He snapped at the monk, “Pray, you bastard, pray!”

The monk prayed in Latin while the other girls said prayers in German and Dave nervously paced back and forth on the far side of the room. The lights blinked and went off after one of the powerful wind gusts sent the line pole between them and the generator crashing to the ground. Jesse barked, “Get me some light over here!”

The girls scrambled and passed around the Monk’s ceremonial candles and lit them one-by-one. The candles illuminated their faces and Dave noticed that Jesse’s lips were moving but no words could be heard—he was praying too. Jesse was at a loss for words and nobody wanted to be the first to say this baby appeared to be a stillborn, but they were thinking it. Jesse yelled at Delaney, “Push, dam it-all, push for all you’re worth.” Delaney gave another big push and the baby’s chest, at last, slid from the birth canal and the baby’s first audible sound was a muffled cry as she took her first breath–she was simply not able to breath until her chest had cleared the birth canal. Jesse breathed a great sigh of relief as he held the baby’s back with one hand and supported its head with the other and gently pulled it free from its mother’s womb. With the umbilical cord still attached to the baby he gently laid her on her mother’s tummy. Jesse asked for a shoestring, but none could be found. All present were either barefoot or wore sandals, but Dave found some monofilament fishing line. The baby started to choke on the birth fluid and Jesse was without any suction device so he took a big swig of wine and used his mouth for a suction device-that fixed the choking problem but Dave turned green and had to look the other way until that task was finished. Jesse spit the birth fluid into a waste bucket and took another big swig of wine and waited for the placenta to be delivered. In the meantime he tied off the umbilical cord with the fish line in two different places about four inches apart while Dave sterilize his knife blade and made the cut between the two overhand knots. It usually takes about ten minutes to deliver the placenta and if this vital step is not done–infection will set in. Jesse took another big pull on the wine bottle until it was empty. The monk went after more wine and when the placenta delivered Jesse’s job was finished—very well done. The mother and child bonded in the candlelight, and a spiritual calm prevailed–it was a magic moment.

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A knock came at the door and when they opened it Delilah was standing there drenched to the bone. After Dave had rejected her advances the night before she had stayed in the curing caves until the crashing waves threatened her safety and she decided to make a dash for the cabin—they welcomed her with open arms and gave her a towel and some dry clothes. The uninhibited Delilah undressed in front of them and dried herself with the towel. The sight of her raven-colored hair and white body was enough to make a young man weak and an old man faint. After she finished putting on the dry clothes she looked at Delaney and her new baby and said something to Delaney in German. The Monk asked Delaney, “What did she say?”

Delaney smiled and replied, she said, “Name your baby Irene, and so, I shall,”
The next day, when the sun came out again Dave and Jesse walked back up the path toward their excavation.

Dave said, “You told me that you didn’t believe in God.” “You said God was a figment of weak people’s minds—and that He was invented in the mind of man, not the other way around, but I saw you praying yesterday when you thought Delaney’s baby was going to be still born?”

“Well,” said Jesse, “I thought I should cover every base, just in case I was wrong.”

“It must have worked,” exclaimed Dave, “because no sooner did your lips stop moving than that baby’s chest popped out of the womb and she started breathing.”

After thinking a while, Jesse said, “Maybe it was a coincidence, or maybe it was like the atheist who at the end of his life got caught reading a Bible.” His friend asked, “What are you doing reading that Bible, you’re an atheist?”

The atheist replied, “I’m looking for loop holes…”

When they arrived at the dig there was a mysterious glow above the excavation hole. The wind gusts and rain had exposed more than just coins, there were gold chains galore, crucifixes, gold cups, and jewel-encrusted boxes, earrings and an assortment of other treasure that was not expected. And, not to mention two partially exposed skeletons with a hole in their skull. Some pirates believed it was good luck to bury a man with their treasure and so it appears this crew must have wanted to double their luck. Jesse was shocked into silence and sat silently next to the hole, but Dave immediately called his aunt in Chicago, his dad’s friends in Florida, Fort Wayne, Main, Colorado, California and excitedly told them to have his Dad call home A.S.A.P. and to tell ’em, said Dave, “The eagle has landed.” To be continued…