We decided to take a break from water sports today and played tourist. We anchored at Saint Kitts, which was the first British colony in the Caribbean. For hundreds of years, sugar had been the primary industry of the island. In 2005, the government put a stop to the industry because it was no longer profitable. Their economy now depended on tourism.
They did have one unique way of making money: they offered citizenship. You simply had to pass a background check and invest at least $400,000 in an approved real estate development. If I ever decided to leave the US, this was an option.
Our first stop was one of the old plantations where they now made a decorative cloth called ‘batik.’ The fabric was washed, soaked, and beaten with a large mallet. Patterns were drawn with pencil and later redrawn using a mixture of wax and plant resins, which worked as a dye. Once it dried, they boiled the cloth to remove the wax, leaving the design. It had a tribal look to it, and they made everything from shirts to rugs. Between my mom and Ava, I suspect the two of them bought all the tablecloths they had.
They also had wood carvings and sculptures. An intricately hand-carved wall hanging caught my eye, so I bought it. I also found small hand-carved animals: dolphins, monkeys, dogs, and kittens. I knew some little ones who would like these, so I bought a variety.
For lunch, we stopped at a small place that was packed with locals. One of the natives suggested that we get goat water stew. It was made from goat, breadfruit, green pawpaw, and dumplings in a tomato base. He also had us get droppers. The closest thing I might compare them to was tamales. They were made from cornmeal, grated sweet potato, coconut, and some mystery ingredients, and then wrapped in banana leaves and boiled. I was proud of Cassidy because she was more willing to try new dishes than she had been.
The dads bailed on us because they heard of a golf course they wanted to try. The rest of us went on a nature tour that took us across the island. It was fascinating to see how flora and fauna changed from the beachfront to the valleys where the sugarcane was and up into the mountains where there was a rainforest.
When we got back, we pulled up anchor and sailed to our next stop, Montserrat, a forty-square-mile island that was home to five thousand people. The appeal was it had decent surfing. I convinced everyone to join me, and we were able to get a few runs in as the sun set.
◊◊◊ Friday April 1
For the past few days, we’d island-hopped and now found ourselves in Trinidad, off the coast of Venezuela. At breakfast, Mom and Dad took me aft, and we ate apart from the rest of the group.
“We received your mom’s test results. The biopsy showed cancer,” Dad said.
I got up and hugged Mom.
“Are you going to be okay?” I asked.
“We found it early, and the doctors think I’m okay. I just need to keep an eye on it and get checked to make sure there isn’t any more,” she assured me.
“There are a few other things we need to tell you,” Dad said.
My punishment for teasing Ava had been Dad taking away my tablet and smartphone. What surprised me was I hadn’t missed them.
“I talked to Tami yesterday. What are you going to do about Alan?” Mom asked.
“I plan to tell Lisa and encourage her to tell the school.”
Mom and Dad looked at each other, and that seemed to be along the lines of what they were thinking. Then Mom pulled out my tablet and handed it to me.
“Yesterday’s paper had an article about Brandon,” she said.
I found the link to the article and began to read.
