Page 12 of The Summer Island Swap
No chance, I thought, and scratched my arm. Amy and I could explore in our own time tomorrow. I dragged my case along a bumpy dried mud path, past the palm trees and once again through forest. I struggled when we came to rough ground. Before I could protest, Jonas took my case and easily lifted it over a tree stump. He’d tied back his dreadlocks and wiped his perspiring brow with his arm. Soon we came into a clearing where the treetops parted. Rays of sunshine beamed down, like giant torches leading the way to…
… a cluster of shacks on stilts, made out of wood, with pointed triangular roofs.
They were small, with mosquito blinds for windows and a short ladder going up to the front door. Hammocks hung in between trees. Dotted about were benches carved out of thick trunks. Rick had fallen back from the rest and suddenly put out his arm in front of me. I stopped. He bent down and gently picked up a shiny striped brown millipede. I flinched and stepped back as it crawled across his hand. He encouraged the others to take photos. Amy explained how she’d read that they could emit a foul-smelling liquid if under threat. Rick nodded and carefully put the insect down, onto soil, out of the way of my feet.
‘Off you go, little chap,’ he said. Defiantly those many legs marched off.
I felt like joining them.
6
I gazed at my comrades – that’s what they felt like, in the face of the battle ahead of us to insist that this wasnotthe accommodation we’d booked. Despite being younger than everyone else, Helga seemed like a sturdy sort. Between us I was sure we could arrange a full refund or transfer to more suitable premises.
Yet why was everyone else smiling, including Amy?
‘This is hardly the British Virgin Island experience I signed up for,’ I said, brightly.
‘My fault,’ said Amy and looked around at the others. ‘I’d just told my sister we’d be camping – you know, in tents.’
Rick’s frown disappeared. ‘Ah. Agreed, and I feel for you – there’s nothing quite like the fresh smell of damp polyester in the morning. But you’ll get to camp on the beach when it’s your turn to go on the night-time turtle nest excursion. We run those daily in July and August and go out in small groups.’
What was he talking about?
Rick started allocating shacks. He directed the two couples over to one on the left and Jonas and Benedikt straight ahead.
‘Each shack has two bunks, so sleeps four. You two men will be joining a father and son from Scotland who’ve already been here for a week. They are helping to mend a rope bridge, at the moment, with one of our most enthusiastic volunteers, Carlotta, who comes from Italy. Everyone is always out at this hour, Monday to Friday, completing the day’s tasks. This is the third summer Seagrass Conservation has been running. It started off very small but now we have around fifty volunteers here at any one time, with people coming and going from May to October. Around ten are staying for the whole season and some of those have become task leaders, alongside our small team of permanent staff. There are two other clusters of shacks further along the beach.’
Huh?
‘They will all be back for dinner in an hour or so which gives you time to settle in and then we’ll take a tour before meeting them. We eat together in the canteen block, every night. That’s at the far end of the beach, next door to a games room. Malik’s the chef and a genius at making use of local ingredients for meals.’ He consulted his list. ‘Helga, Amy and Sarah, you’re here.’ He pointed to the shack nearest, on the right.
‘I don’t understand. Where’s our hotel?’ I said to Amy in a low voice.
She grinned. I didn’t grin back.
‘The Roman pillars and waterbeds, the Aqua Dancing… everything I saw on that website back in the spring…’
‘Sarah…’ Her cheeks pinked up. ‘I thought you agreed that this was a great idea?’
I shook my head vigorously.
‘But that pampered kind of break wouldn’t have felt like a break from the everyday. I didn’t want you to be in a work environment whilst you were supposed to be on holiday. So… as I told you, I… I swapped the holiday a couple of weeks ago.’
‘You aren’t serious?’
She stared.
My hand flew to my chest. ‘We’re actually sleepinghere?’
Slowly she nodded.
‘As part of a volunteering community, with no mod cons – no bath or air-conditioning…?’
‘Exciting, isn’t it?’ interrupted Helga who overheard. She picked up her rucksack and headed towards…ourshack?
Rick held up a hand. ‘Before you settle in… Jackie, could you introduce everyone to the toilet and washing facilities.’ He winked. ‘May as well get that over with and then we’ll explain everything else when we show you around later.’
I didn’t like his tone. What could be wrong with the bathroom facilities?
