T Parker - The border Lords

Hood walked over to the workers and asked the Quakers if they knew Father Joe Leftwich and where he had gone. The younger ones looked to the oldest one and he set down his hammer and measured out his words. Yes and no, he said. Father Leftwich had been here and worked very hard with them; he had brought good books from Ireland, where he lived; then he had simply not appeared for work one day and that was that. He was gone. Such are the blessings of the Lord, he said, offered and withdrawn according to a plan we cannot know.

Hood nodded and returned to Eduardo, who was looking up at the volcano. Some of the higher clouds had cleared and now the great black cone rose majestically into a blue sky from a downy base. Smoke rose steadily.

"Ready for the wild things, Detective?"

They continued past the village and around the corn. The trail narrowed and climbed and Hood saw that the creeping vines were prolific here, winding up the trunks of the larger trees. They stopped and waited while a deadly fer-de-lance crossed the trail.

Pepino stood with his hair on end and screeched down at the serpent.

"Terciopelo," said Eduardo. "The velvet snake. Very deadly and aggressive. It's good that he can't hear Pepino but all snakes are deaf. Father Joe told me that snakes evolved not into lizards but from them. He thought it odd that a more recently evolved creature would not have legs or ears."

Hood watched the big spangled viper inch its way into the jungle. It looked deadly. He had read that there were nineteen species of venomous snakes in Costa Rica. The fer-de-lance killed more people than any of the others. They could get eight feet long. This one looked to be five feet. The moment its tail disappeared into the foliage Pepino stopped screeching and sat down again.

"Is that the wild thing that Father Joe was studying?"

"No. But soon."

The trail rose and the evening fell and Eduardo led him into a gorge. Its walls were red rock and gently sloping. They side-stepped down the viney flank and Hood steadied himself on the jungle branches until Eduardo told him the eyelash vipers hid in the bushes and their bites were unbearably painful though almost never fatal. They continued down to the bottom of the gorge and walked along a stream until they came to a small clearing ringed by banana and plantain and palms. Here it was nearly dark and Hood was glad he'd brought his penlight for the walk home.

Eduardo pointed up through the trees. At first Hood saw nothing but the vegetation and red rock of the gorge wall. Then he made out the ragged mouth of a cave. The opening was partially hidden by vines and the blackness of it was an invitation and a threat.

"Be careful for snakes and tarantulas," said Eduardo. With this, he slipped through a stand of palm trees and began climbing up the gorge face. Hood followed. The rock was studded with ledges and toeholds and not difficult to climb. Hood pulled himself over the top and stood up on the wide rock shelf. Eduardo pointed to the cave mouth that hung open before them.

"Father Joe asked me where to find the bats," said Eduardo. "We have many bats. Some boys from school showed me this place a long time ago. If we stand right here, they'll fly past us. Father Joe and I did this several times."

A few minutes later a small bat flitted from the cave mouth and came toward them. It flew just over their heads and Hood turned to watch it climb through the banana trees and disappear into the purple dusk.

"Bats," he said.

"Many hundreds," said Eduardo. "Look. More."

Another came climbing unsteadily, then two more; then Hood heard a strange burst of flesh and fur and high-pitched squeals and the sky turned black with them. It was a river of wings and small faces and it flowed over them, and Eduardo giggled softly and Hood could smell the guano and the meaty reek of their bodies and when he glanced at Pepino, the monkey had buried its face in the back of Eduardo's neck.

"Vampire bats," said Eduardo. "Father Joe wanted to see vampire bats. Not fruit bats. Not pygmy or long-eared bats. Only the vampire. They were named after the vampire myths of Europe, not the reverse. There are of course no vampires here in Costa Rica, or anywhere else. That is superstition. But these bats live on the blood of animals and sometimes people. This is science."

Hood watched the black onrush. He felt the air moved by their wings and one of them swooped low and grazed his face and Hood leaned away from it but into another that flapped past with a sharp chirp not six inches from his ear. Tiny eyes glimmered and flashed within the black, membranous flow.

Then the flow ended and a few stragglers bounced out into the air and Hood turned to watch the black bulk of them melt into the sky toward the farms and villages.

"They will feed tonight on the blood of living animals," said Eduardo. "Mostly cattle and horses. Their saliva contains an enzyme that makes their bite impossible to feel. This is how they fool the host. They scrape the flesh and lap the blood. They do not suck the blood. If I become a director, my first film will be a documentary on the vampire bat. It will deal with both superstition and science. These animals have faces that terrify people. They even frighten me. So, am I superstitious? I don't think so. They frighten Pepino. But how can a monkey be superstitious? Maybe it is scientific to be afraid of vampire bats. But then, how can a monkey be scientific?"

"Well, it's scientific to let the fer-de-lance cross the path without disturbing it."

"Yes! Proof of science. Father Joe would have liked you. He said science and superstition are different answers to the same questions."

"Have you been inside the cave?"

"Never. Father Joe told me about the Ebola virus and other fatal viruses. Probably ones that don't have a name yet. He said to never go inside the cave."

"What did Father Joe do here?"

"He observed. He wrote in a small notebook. He took photographs. He captured some bats with a butterfly net and we inspected them. One evening on the way home we found Itixa on the road and it was obvious that she had followed us. She was perspiring and stuck with leaves and twigs and trying to stay ahead of us. I believe she told my father what we did. And the next day he told me not to go anywhere with Father Joe. He said that Father Joe was not trustworthy and not what he pretended to be. That night our meal had very much garlic. And all meals after that until Father Joe went away."

Hood stepped to the opening and shined his penlight inside. The breath of the mouth was rank and cool and he could see the white mounds of guano on the floor and the malingering vampire bats still fastened upside down to the rock ceiling.

"Do you remember the Americans? Sean and Seliah Gravas?"

"She was beautiful like a goddess."

"They liked Father Joe."

"They ate and hiked and got drunk together."

"Did you talk to Sean and Seliah?"

"Mr. Gravas liked Pepino very much. He offered me twenty dollars for him but of course I refused. Mrs. Gravas was amused by Pepino's expressions and she told her husband that he needed a monkey of his own. Those two people had love. You could tell. When Mr. Gravas was drunk he became very emotional about his work. He never said what he was. What was he, Detective Hood?"

"A businessman. He buys and sells guns."

In the near darkness Hood could see Eduardo give him a long look. "That makes sense. Because he seemed convinced that he was not doing good in the world. Yes. That does make sense."

"Seliah told me that one morning at your resort, Sean woke up and felt good about his work. He had a new, positive attitude."

"I didn't know that."

"Seliah believes that Father Joe had somehow swayed Sean into this new way of thinking."