Caryl Phillips - A Distant Shore

When Gabriel opens his eyes he can feel Bright pushing into his chest.

“Gabriel, breathe out. Breathe out!”

Gabriel can feel the water dribbling helplessly around his mouth, and he realises that there is no dignity to his present predicament.

“Gabriel, can you hear me?”

Gabriel tries to nod, but his head will not respond. He keeps his eyes firmly fixed on Bright, who again pushes on Gabriel’s chest. This time Gabriel coughs loudly, but no water comes up. Then Bright feels Gabriel’s leg, but the pain causes Gabriel to grimace. He looks down and sees that his right trouser leg is ripped so that the skin is exposed, but there is neither blood nor bruising.

With Bright’s help, Gabriel sits upright and he can now see that he is on a stony beach. Only a few yards to his left the deafening sea is pounding into the shore. Gabriel looks around himself and then fixes his gaze upon Bright.

“England?”

Bright laughs out loud. “If this is not England, then wherever it is, I am staying.” Bright reaches down a hand and pulls his friend to his feet.

Gabriel winces in pain, and is immediately aware that he cannot put much pressure on his right leg. He holds on to Bright’s arm, but the slippery stones beneath his feet make his movement painfully slow.

Together they walk up the short incline, with Gabriel leaning heavily against his friend’s portly body, and when they reach the deserted road they stop and stare at the lights of a distant harbour town. There, in the docks, Gabriel can see the ship that has brought them on this final leg of this journey, for its illuminated bulk dwarfs everything else. Bright points.

“We should walk towards the town.”

Gabriel says nothing, and he decides to conserve his energy. This first English night is causing him much pain, and he knows that to try to speak will prove too much for him, but he feels sure that Bright understands. And then suddenly, as they continue along the empty road, the thought strikes a guilty Gabriel.

“Bright, where is the other man?”

Bright continues to walk, assisting his friend as he does so.

“He fell into the sea a long time before we reached England. The water swallowed him.” Gabriel tries not to appear shocked, but Bright has not finished. “What could I do? Follow him into the mouth of the sea? The man has passed over and now he is at peace.” Suddenly Gabriel’s heart feels heavy, but he knows that it would be foolish for him to think any further on this subject, and so he resolves to forget the tall Chinese man with the red hat.

The two men continue to walk slowly, one supporting the other, both silently fearful of discovery, but it soon becomes clear to Gabriel that he cannot walk much longer. Gabriel feels guilty that he is holding back his friend, but just when he realises that he may have to insist that Bright leave him behind, they both see a small house to the side of the lonely road. Bright speaks first.

“Perhaps we should ask these people for help.”

Gabriel looks at the house, and notices that one of the upstairs windows is broken, and that the garden is badly overgrown with weeds. It occurs to him that this house is possibly abandoned.

Bright knocks at the door and waits, and then he turns the door handle, but the door is locked and it will not give way. Gabriel leans against the gatepost, and he can see Bright visibly gain some confidence now that he realises that nobody is in the house. His friend walks to the edge of the building and peers around the corner.

“You must wait here while I look.”

Bright disappears from view, and Gabriel looks back down the road in the direction that they have just travelled. Out at sea a ship that is decorated like a wedding cake slides slowly by, but this is all that Gabriel can see. And then the door in front of him begins to open slowly. As it does so the hinges make a loud, grating sound, as though they have been rusted shut for some time. Gabriel navigates the short path by himself, and an excited Bright reaches out a hand to help him over the threshold.

“Nobody lives here. There’s some old furniture and a bed, but nothing else.” Bright closes the door behind them and Gabriel’s eyes begin to adjust to the darkness. “I climbed in through a window, but it’s filthy back there.”

Gabriel topples into a seat. As he sits, a cloud of dust rises around him. He watches Bright, who stands by the window and peers outside and into the darkness. His friend’s mind appears to be racing, but Gabriel decides not to ask any questions for he imagines that when he is ready, Bright will choose to share his thoughts. And then, without saying a word, his friend turns and crosses the room and slumps into a chair that Gabriel can see is leaking stuffing from old wounds.

When Gabriel wakes up the sun is shining directly into his eyes and Bright is no longer in the chair. He tries to stand, but the pain shoots through his right leg and he falls back down. He looks around the room and can see now that the house looks as though nobody has lived in it for quite some time. Every object is coated in a thin layer of dust, and the air feels heavy and stale. Gabriel tries again to get to his feet, and this time he manages to do so. As he moves to the window, he is careful to put as little pressure as possible on his injured leg. He lifts his hands to shield his eyes from the sun, and then he sees Bright walking up the path towards him with a small bag in his hand. Bright is grinning all over his face and he waves to Gabriel and then opens the door with a flourish.

“How is your leg?”

Gabriel hobbles to meet his younger friend, who hands him a plastic bottle with water in it. Bright continues, leaving Gabriel little time to answer his question.

“The town is small but it seems friendly, and at the train station the trains go directly to London. I think it will be easy to get on board and ride for nothing.”

Gabriel takes a drink from the bottle and then holds it out, but Bright sits down and refuses to accept the bottle.

“Please, you must finish it yourself. I have already had my fill in the town.”

Gabriel immediately tips the bottle up to his mouth and drains it. He puts down the bottle and stares at Bright, who suddenly seems tired. Although Gabriel is extremely hungry, he does not want to mention this fact for fear that Bright might think him ungrateful. As though sensing Gabriel’s unease, Bright gets to his feet and moves to the window where he positions himself in such a manner that the afternoon light catches him full in the face.

“My God, I see somebody.” An alarmed Bright speaks without turning towards Gabriel. “She is coming in this direction.”

Gabriel stands, and suddenly the pain in his leg is no longer a problem as he crosses to the window and joins Bright. Gabriel can see that the girl is young, and that she is walking right up to the house. She pushes at the door, and as she walks in she stops and lets out a small scream.

“My friend has hurt his leg,” says Bright. “If this is your house, we are sorry, but we needed to stay somewhere for the night.”

The girl is small in height, but her body is large. She is dressed in a red jacket and she wears a matching skirt and black tights. Gabriel assumes this to be her school uniform, but beyond her initial shock the girl does not panic.

“Who are you?” she asks. Bright gestures nervously.

“This is Gabriel, who has hurt his leg, and I am Bright. But please, we are leaving now.” The girl comes into the house, but she does not close the door behind her.

“You don’t have to go anywhere. This isn’t my place. Nobody lives here any more. Well, at least not since the accident.” Bright seems puzzled now.

“The accident?”