Page 20 of The Beach Holiday

‘Okay, I’m going to head back to the beach for a while.’

We parted and I took a slow walk back to the beach. I felt I needed to keep looking out at the horizon, to get my bearings. This was where I was right now, on Totini, and I wanted to live in the moment as much as I could. I reminded myself to do this daily on the mainland, but it felt more important to do it here because of the beauty and serenity of the place.

After some meditation, I went back to the hut. I opened the door and found Clara hunched over with her back to me. She straightened as I entered the room, and I saw her slip something into her rucksack and then she turned to look at me. Her eyes looked bloodshot. Had she been crying?

‘Hey.’ I sat on my bed and crossed my legs.

She turned all the way around to face me. ‘How was the beach?’

‘Still there.’ I smiled. ‘I feel I need to keep looking at it like I can’t quite believe I’m here.’

‘I know.’

‘You were up early this morning.’

‘I like to run,’ she said quickly, ‘and walk, before it gets too hot. It’s the only way.’

I nodded. I hadn’t thought about exercise, but I knew I would need to keep my body moving; early mornings seemed the best time.

‘Maybe I’ll join you one morning.’

‘Maybe,’ Clara said, not sounding convinced. ‘I run fast. I like to do it alone.’ She looked at me. ‘But we can go together some mornings?’ She flashed me a grin and I didn’t feel as though she was trying to avoid being with me.

‘I’ve always been an early riser,’ I said. ‘But it was hard to get up this morning after the travelling, and I’m still not really adapted to the temperature even though I’ve lived in Fiji for a month.’

‘It’s easy to rise early in paradise,’ Clara said and we both realised how cheesy the line sounded. Clara laughed and I was pleased; we both had the same sense of humour.

‘Well, what shall we do today then? Sit, walk, sit some more?’ I laughed.

‘I know, it’ll take some getting used to, this slower way of life.’

‘I presume I’m expected to do chores?’ I had already imagined myself cooking on the open fire.

‘This week they will just let you bed in. Don’t worry, you’ll be busy enough soon.’

‘Yes,’ I said yawning at the mere mention of it. ‘I might take my book onto the back beach. Fancy joining me?’ I asked Clara as I slipped on a bikini.

‘I think I’ll try and grab that forty winks. You were right – I was up particularly early this morning.’

I picked up my book from next to my bed and walked to the door. Clara was looking at her rucksack. Whatever was causing her sadness today was in there.

I headed through the woods the way Precious had taken me back yesterday. It was about a good twenty minutes to get to the other side of the island through this stretch of wood and when I arrived, I was not disappointed. It was still as spectacular as it was when I saw it yesterday. The island then stretched out and formed into a larger sphere on either side of this spot where denser forest lay in between both sides. I was happy with this spot for now. There was plenty of time to explore the deeper sides of the island. I put my towel and book down and decided to get in the sea for a quick swim. Nature’s bath. It was lukewarm and I lay down on my back and let the water take my weight as I floated.

The ease of lying in water whilst it supported my whole body was exhilarating. The sky was cloudless. I turned over and swam out further, seeing shoals of fish beneath me. Then I took off following the shoreline and swam until I felt a pleasant ache in my arms and legs. It felt good to move my body. I stopped to tread water and looked left to where I could make out the speck that was my towel on the sand. Then I looked to my right and realised I had swum far enough to see the panes of wood through the foliage up on the hill. That was the hut that I had enquired about with Precious yesterday. That was where the woman Ula was.

I swam to the shore and stepped out, dripping onto the sand. The heat would dry me in minutes. I walked to the foot of the hill and tried to make out if there was some sort of path that ledup to the hut, but I couldn’t see one. The hut was barely visible even up close, as so many bushes encased it.

The words of Precious rang in my ears – Ula was looked after; it was her choice to live alone and so on – but curiosity had the better of me. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see her or just her dwellings. Either way, I had an urge to catch a glimpse of something. I got the impression I was supposed to leave her to her own devices but I was finding it difficult to accept that someone would and could live solitary here.

I pushed my way past a few shrubs and found that it opened onto a tiny pathway. A spot where it was apparent people had walked up and down a few times and so some of the brambles and shrubbery had cleared a space.

I felt a branch slice across my leg and winced at the pain. I would need to get back in the water to get some salt to it.

I found my way into the slight clearing. It was tight. It couldn’t be used very often. I wondered again why Ula was living here alone. Had she really made that choice herself?

I began up the incline, my heart pounding with the exertion; it was steep, and with every step my muscles throbbed and my mouth became drier, the sun burned my neck.

I reached a point where the hut revealed itself a little more. I could see how worn down it was, much more so than the huts back in the main camp.

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