"ISLAND DREAM"

Hassie Mildred Gaugau

Chapter 4

  "DRAMAMINE, QUICK!"

 

(This isn't the ANTONIO but is the closest that I could find that looks like it, only the Antonio wasn't anywhere near this nice.)

There were numerous flights everyday between the two Samoa's.  But nnnnooo!  We had to go by boat.  We'd sent a telegram to Fia's parents, informing them of our arrival in Western Samoa at eight PM.  That would be seven hours travel time.  The flight would have taken only thirty minutes.  But, this was an adventure, I reminded myself.

We brought snacks and soft drinks, since there would be nothing available on board the tiny "tub."  I still doubted my sanity but took a Dramamine and prepared myself for the challenge.

On board, there were no chairs or benches, no place to sit except on the slanted deck.  The Samoan fellow passengers were great!  When they saw that we had no blankets or pillows they shared.  As our trip began, I was filled with excitement.  The view was breathtaking.  An extinct volcanic crater had created one of the most perfect harbors in the entire South Pacific.  We passed sleek modern fishing boats, yachts, and small dug out canoes.

"This is great!" I told Fia.  "It's absolutely beautiful.  Thank you for insisting that we travel this way."

"How do you feel?" she asked.

"My Dramamine must be working, because I feel fantastic!  I just can't believe that this is happening to me."

BUT!  I hadn't realized that we were not yet out into the open ocean.  An hour later as we pushed out of the protected harbor, into the "real" sea, I realized that I had been happy a little too soon.  The waves dashed us backward, then shoved the tiny craft forward.  We rolled, dipped and pitched down through the trough and plowed up the next wave.  MORE DRAMAMINE QUICK!!!  All I could do was lie as flat as possible on the deck and pray that the seven hour trip would be over before I died!

The Samoans laughed, played cards, and ate the snacks that I had bought.  I couldn't even watch them eat.  When I did raise my head to see where we were, there was nothing but water.  Water on all sides and as we plunged into the waves, water over us.  

But when Nature called, I had no choice, I had to get up.  I stumbled to the back of the boat (whatever you call the back, at this point who cared.)  As careful as possible I tried not to trip or stumble over the other prostrate passengers.  The "restroom, one only" was nothing more than an outhouse with two holes cut into a crude bench.  These holes opened directly over the ocean.  The door swung back and forth.  I couldn't get it latched and really didn't care.  I sat on the bench while the door concealed and exposed me and had my butt washed clean at the same time.

As the waves tossed our tiny craft like a piece of driftwood, I literally crawled back to my allotted spot and collapsed onto my borrowed blanket and pillow.  After almost six hours of misery, darkness had fallen.  Surely we were close to our destination, after all, seven hours was supposed to be the travel time.  From another pill and the fact that our trip was almost over, I finally fell asleep.

I was awakened by overwhelming silence!  There was no pounding, throbbing, or any engine noise at all.  It was quiet.  "Too Quiet" as an old movie dialog would say.  The engine had stopped.

"Fia, what's happening?"

"They're working on the motor," she answered.  "It just stopped awhile ago." 

Panic began to chew at my feet and work upward.  Now you've done it!  No one knows that you are on this dilapidated piece of litter called a boat.  You'll just vanish from the face of the earth.  Your girls will never know what happened to their wayward mother.

Just before hysteria took over, I saw lights blinking in the distance.  "Fia, that's Western Samoa, isn't it?  We're almost there aren't we?"

"Yes, but we still have a long way before we reach Apia.  That's just the east end of Upolu."

But it was land, maybe we could swim.  SWIM?  Who was I trying to kid?  I was no swimmer, even if there was only fifty yards, I couldn't make it.

Clatter, clatter, bang thump, roar, the engine fired to life among load cheers from everyone.   Then a moan, just as loud, as the encouraging sound died.  Two or three more attempts and finally it held.  We started to move again.  This happened several times as the old diesel, tired out from the battle of the waves, stopped and started.  All the Dramamine that I had taken took a toll and brought me to a point of not caring.

I had dreamed of the South Pacific for years.  Dreamed of being Nellie Forbush.  Well, now I was here, and maybe I'd be here forever, never to be heard of again.  With the engines dead, there was no longer even the light from the engine room.  I couldn't see my watch to know how long we'd been floating aimlessly, in the dark.  The only positive note was that the ocean seemed to have calmed.

The smell of diesel was so strong that I wondered how flammable it was when several people lit their cigarettes.  But then there was a strong roar and the old engine bellowed to life.  This time we actually moved.  Our pace was fast enough that I could see some of the twinkling lights were actually left behind.  Soon people started to stir.  They checked boxes, suitcases, packages, and children.

"What's happening now?" I asked.

"We're almost there." Fia said as she too prepared to dock.  I shared her excitement.  After almost two years away she would see her parents soon.  I watched as she strained to see them.  But there was no one there, not even dock workers.  When the tug nudged us up alongside the pier, the only life we saw was the customs officials who stood slowly, stretched, and yawned.  We were three and one half hours late.  Ten and one half hours to travel eighty miles.

These customs officials were as through as the ones in Pago Pago.  They looked through everything that Fia and the other travelers had and just stared at me as if I were crazy, which, in a way, I agreed.  She didn't seem to be concerned that her parents weren't there, she just asked around, then announced that we would spend the night with another of her "friends."  He had left his pick up at the wharf while doing business in American Samoa.  We loaded Fia's boxes, cases, and bundles into the back and then climbed in with them.

"Tired, hungry, sleepy, and away from home, and nobody cares for me."  My grandmother had chanted that "sayin'" to tease us kids when we became cranky.  Now that's exactly how I felt, not necessarily cranky, but certainly tired, hungry, sleepy, and defiantly away from home with the feeling that certainly nobody cared for me.   But I tried to be excited.  Tried to welcome the new experience.  We passed the guard gate where there was no guard.  The little pick up continued along the deserted street that hugged the harbor.  A golden glow from the street lights lent a haunting effect to the mist that hung over the docks and the entire city.  We circled around a clock tower just as it struck the hour.  MIDNIGHT!  Not only had our trip taken forever, but the customs officials had delayed us for another two hours.

"We're here!" Fia announced as we stopped in front of a little store, all closed and dark.  "We'll unload, you go on in, just walk across those planks to that house back there."

Oh boy!  Things had gone from bad to worse, and now beyond worse.  The "house" looked as if it had been made from old refrigerator crates.  I walked across the wobbly planks and up some make shift steps into the opening that served as a door.  

Everything was spotless!

The floor had been scrubbed so much that it was faded and worn smooth.  Bright pieces of material were draped across boxes and trunks.  There were no partitions, just one big room.  An arthritic, gnarled, old woman awakened from her sleep, cheerfully stirred around and made tea for us.  Fia's friend had brought bags of cookies from Pago Pago.  Since visitors were in her home, the old lady now prepared a treat, no matter if it was, by now, one o'clock in the morning.

An equally gnarled old man who had been asleep in one corner, on the floor, his head resting on a wooden "pillow" awoke and now joined the festivities.

"They are very honored to have you in their home," Fia translated.  "He is eighty two years old and wants to know if you are married."

The old fellow gave me a snaggle toothed smile as he sat cross-legged on a mat, spread on the floor.  Since there were no chairs I too sat on the mat, but with great difficulty.  How in the world did he do it?  Eighty two and still able to twist his legs under himself.   Of course maybe he had sat that way for so long he might not be able to sit any other way.

He and I were served first.  Tea and Pago cookies.  The old lady, Fia, her friend, and a grandson of the couple waited and watched to see that we wanted for nothing.

"Fia, I can't eat all these cookies."

"That's okay," she said, you're not expected to, just leave what you don't want and we'll finish them."

"Thank you so much for the lovely tea and cookies, I appreciate it so much, but I'm very tired."

Fia translated while she took my plate and finished the cookies.  The old lady scurried around getting a mosquito net, pillow slip, and fine woven mats out of some of the boxes.  She spread the mats over the scrubbed floor.  The net was hung from the rafters and a starched and ironed pillow case was slipped over the pillow.  My "bed" was ready.

"Ah, Fia, I need to go the the bathroom."

She turned to the grandson and spoke, everyone smiled and he stopped eating the leftover cookies, stood, and walked over to a table.  He returned with a flashlight.

"Go with him," she directed.

We went outside through another opening, in the back of the house.  A similar walkway led to a typical outhouse.  Would I ever us a real "bathroom" again?  The young man shined the light all around inside, then, handed the light to me.  He discreetly walked back toward the house, but stayed where I could see him.  After brushing a spider from the seat I looked around for paper, there was none.  Drip dry again, just like the boat, thank goodness I had a roll of paper in my suitcase for the next morning.  (Carol had warned me to be prepared for anything.)

Back inside I crawled under the net, feeling very much like a kid in a playhouse.  The old man was already back asleep, on his wooden pillow.  How could anyone sleep like that?  How could I sleep like that?  But the one bare light bulb was turned out and immediately I went to sleep in "paradise."

Roosters crowed, cocoa boiled, and radios announced, "this is 2AP, Apia, Western Samoa, and I awoke.  I fought my way out from under the netting, fully dressed, having slept that way for two days and two nights, in the same clothes.  YUCK!  And once again I had to make a trip outside, but THIS TIME, I was prepared.  I had TOILET PAPER!

When I returned, everyone seemed busy, including Fia.  Soon the boy came in, from somewhere, with several loaves of unsliced bread and a pound block of real New Zealand butter.  The old woman took a toaster from a shelf, plugged it into the socket, where the light bulb had been, then sat in the middle of the floor.  She sliced the bread and placed two pieces at a time into the toaster.  When those popped up, she handed them to Fia, who put a mound of butter on each piece, and spread it liberally.  Once again, the old man and I were served first.  This time I wasn't so concerned when the plate looked ready to serve the entire family, I knew that I didn't have to eat it all.  My cocoa, was served in one of two "fancy" cups.  The other fancy cup held extra sugar which was also set before me, in case I needed it.  Once again, the old man, through Fia, had a conversation with me.

"He want's to know why a young American lady, like you, is in Samoa, alone?  He says that you should find a nice Samoan man, marry him, and stay in Samoa."

"Tell him that I'd love to, if I can find a man as handsome as he is."

Everyone laughed and I felt that I had said the right thing.  While we continued to talk, I saw that his feet were bound in some sort of rags.  Whether for warmth or just as a covering, I never found out.

After Fia had eaten and helped clear away the dishes, I wasn't allowed to help, she wanted to walk into town and find her parents.  I had changed clothes, behind a sheet, stretched across the room and slipped into some new flop flop sandals.

"This is Thursday, so all the outlying villagers will bring their produce to the market.  My parents are sure to be there."

We walked and walked.  The market, downtown, everywhere, but no parents.  It was hot!  It was humid!  It was dusty!  My body was sweaty, my feet were swollen and blistered from the new flop flops and my nerves were stretched to the breaking point.  Where, in blue blazes, where they?

AT LAST!  At last, she saw her mother, sitting at a picnic table.  A tearful reunion and much happiness was shared before Fia remembered to make introductions.

"They never received our telegram," she explained.  "We'll leave for our village as soon as my father gets here."

Tears.  Involuntary tears began to sting my eyes.  "Fia, I can't go.  There's no way that I can sleep on the floor another night, listen to people speak a language that I don't understand.  I can't go another day without a bath and clean underwear.  I don't want to fight spiders, just to go the the toilet."

I felt terrible about my outburst, but I seemed to have no control over my actions.  I was fed up with being an adventurer.  I just wanted to go back to being a "plain-ol'-camera- around-the-neck-tourist!"

"I'm going to a hotel," I said.

"Please come with us," Fia begged.  "I'm sure you'll enjoy our village."

The tears came faster and I guess they convinced her that I was serious because we loaded into another pick-up and returned to the house to pick up our belongings.

"Mildred, it would be nice for you to leave some money for the family," Fia suggested.  "They were glad to have you, but they're very poor."

I had thought of that, but was afraid that they might be offended by such an offer.

Fia suggested twenty American dollars, which I left with a very happy family.

The only hotel that I had heard of was Aggie Grey's.  I asked to be dropped off there.  I also thought about giving her money, but then remembered, I had already paid for all of our expenses, plus buying some things for her since our arrival so I thanked her for an adventure of a lifetime and they drove away.  I then, turned and walked into the cool shaded hotel and signed the register.