Dancing Goddess

Tonie tries on some treasure

Chapter 3:  Dancing Goddess

“Now” the captain’s tone grew darker, “Who are THESE people?” He pointed at the passengers as he glared down at Tonie. With her chin raised she turned away, saying nothing, carrying the bloody dishes aft to the galley. “She acts just like her"“; Cap snapped the thought shut in his mind. Hai sat squatting by the cot, both hands on the blood stained rum bowl, sipping casually and picking metal shavings from his teeth (looking very much like the Malay pirates of yore who could overtake Dutch traders in the Malacca Strait with just boats and oars). “Who are you people and why are you on my plane?” He said with the inflated sense of importance of someone completely convinced that the world revolved around him.

  “We were running from the rebels, just like you”, Jose replied with forced bravado.

“Hahaha!  Got any money?” The way his expression changed between sentences sent a shiver down Jose’s spine. Hai had also turned to them with a look of agreement; he liked the Cap’s question. Hai took another sip as he eyed Jose.

  “No. We don’t” said the missionary man, half apologetically. “We’re missionaries. There’s no money in it”

  “Missionaries! Well, padre, this ship don’t run on faith! “-A line he’d adulterated from a country-western song.  Hai thought the comment was clever and let out a hearty laugh, spewing rum. Ansell could be heard giggling from the cockpit. The Mex even let out a mirthful gurgle, most likely a well-timed reflux of some kind. The timing amused Cap; he wondered briefly just how awake the Mex had been when he got his plate installed.

  “I’m afraid you’ve got your denominations confused”, the missionary man said jovially, “You don’t have to call me padr-“

“They’re gonna stay confused, Padre.” The Cap dismissed the subject with a wave of his hand. “You are NOT free to move about the cabin (Hai chuckled, wasting more rum), except to use the head. You’ll remain in your seats or you’ll swim”, another chuckle from Hai. They shared a smile and a glance.

  “Annnnd NOW!  The treasure!”

 “The TREASURE!” yelled Hai and Ansell in merry unison.

 Tonie came running forward as Hai and Cap strode up to the box, Hai’s rum bowl forgotten. The Cap had brought a hammer forward with the plate. They examined the box. It was indeed a treasure chest; with a rounded top and two hammer-riveted iron bands looping vertically around it. There was a lock on each band where the lid met the body of the box, rusty and caked with mud which was quickly drying.

  Hai said, “those locks alone would be worth a small fortu-“ his sentence was interrupted by Caps hammer making high energy contact with the left lock. It shattered. The right lock shared the same fate. He threw open the box.

 “Treasure!” Tonie echoed in hushed amazement.

“Aye, mate”, said the Cap softly, distracted, “treasure.”

  Treasure indeed.  Gold coins, pearl necklaces, bracelets and rubies; all perfectly preserved in the faithful chest. They all sat there, slack jawed. Ansell called from the cockpit, “What’s in it, tell me!” The autopilot was on but the rule was that someone manned the cockpit at all times.  Tonie was the first to move. She pushed and squeezed her way between the two star struck men and dug in. She raked her little fingers through the gold coins, she snatched up four pearl necklaces and half a dozen golden bracelets, throwing the pearls around her neck and slipping on the bracelets, letting them clink musically up her arms; as if they had life of their own and were happy to be free from the box. One was in the shape of a snake that slithered up her entire left forearm. The other five had landed on her right, glittering brightly against her brown skin, creating golden reflections on it.  She then scooped up some golden rings, cherry picking one for each finger she possessed. One was encrusted with the brightest rubies that Cap had ever seen.

  Tonie began to dance about the plane like an Egyptian goddess in miniature, her snake adorned hand bent outward at the wrist and fingers spread wide to prevent the bracelet from slipping off her arm, each digit sporting a glittering bauble. She then changed to her best impression a hula dance; all the while her head held high with a haughty look on her face. She waived her arms and slid her head side to side in an imitation of Kali, the Indian goddess, but unfortunately she had only two arms.  She wished she had more so she could pile on more of the treasure. The two girls in the seats looked on; arms folded, their faces were blank but their eyes were slowly narrowing into envious, catty slits. The younger one made as if to undo her buckle but her mother forbade it; even she was looking a bit envious; her expression a milder version of her daughters’.  There is no human female on the face of planet earth that is not attracted to the adornment of rich jewelry, and she even in her maturity, was certainly no exception.

  Tonie twirled about until she began to stagger slightly (extracting a catty chuckle from the onlookers), and then spied Ansell who was looking over his shoulder in greedy amazement. She danced up behind him, pirouetting in ballet fashion and slipped a pearl necklace over his head with a giggle then dropped a large ring off one of her fingers into Ansell’s upturned palm;  then she danced off to torment the girls some more. Ansell inspected the jewelry, and then flipped his pony tail to free it from the circle of the necklace.  With his curiosity partially satisfied, he returned to the business of the cockpit; slipping the oversized ring over one side of the open end of the control yoke, turning the rubies so he could see them better.  With his chest puffed out and wearing the pearls like a medal of honor, his eyes returned to scanning the expanse of blue sky seen from his cockpit windows, this bird always provided a great view from the front (with no flight plan on file anywhere, they had to keep strict visual awareness for others crossing their path), “just another day at the office, HAHAHA”, His baritone laugh was smooth and sweet. Tonie’s gift had lightened his mood somewhat; taking his mind off of his and Cap’s recent disagreement.

  “It might have been Cortez’s stash but… he seems to have included… some of Montezuma’s bling in there,” Cap said vaguely as he continued to be enchanted by the contents of the box. Apparently Hernan Cortez had made some stops among the small islands north of the Venezuelan coast; this was apparently part of his retirement fund that did not get recovered; until now, of course.  Cap had known exactly where to go and they’d just followed along; Ansell carrying one of the best metal detectors money could buy. Ansell had turned it on when they got to the target location but Cap had a sixth sense; he just started digging. Hai soon joined him. Ansell had come over to the fledgling hole with the detector after a few shovels full of sandy dirt had been removed. Sure enough, something was down there; Cap had started digging as if he himself had buried it…Both the shovels and metal detector now remain behind in the rebels’ jungle but this more than covered for their loss.

  Cap and Hai sat silently, their faces lit in golden reflections with gemstone colored flecks. Cap continued in a hypnotized tone, “We’ll have to be careful… letting this stuff… into the market too fast”, he shook his head, then with authority he said: “Remember everyone; this is not the loot. The money we get from it is. If we go pawning this junk around we’ll have every cutthroat in the Caribbean on our necks…”

 

Author's Note

Another installment in White Tiger. Feedback always welcome. Hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did.

Reviews

[DontBlink]

I did enjoy this chapter. I'm glad Tonie gets to be a child for a moment.

[Hack1000]

Thanks, Blink.