Golden Roses

Molly Brown is stranded on a tropical island after a plane crash kills her father and his copilot on their way to visit her mother in Hawaii. Before long, she meets a group of indigenous people living there, and she is forced to begin a new life...

Each day I learned something new. I learned what spices went into that amazing gravy. I learned how to properly skin an animal. I learned how to preserve meat and vegetables. I was also learning the words and grammar of the language of these people. I began to understand some of what the people were saying. Their words went by fast, but if I listened carefully enough, I could catch ideas and concepts that people discussed. The grammar, fortunately, was a lot more simple than English, so I learned fast. It was wonderful to finally be able to communicate properly with my new family.

They had welcomed me in as a family member, that was for sure. But it was clear anyway that the entire village had a sense of community that I had never before experienced. Everyone was comfortable with anyone else. No one ever had to be shy. No one ever talked down to each other. If someone needed help, there was always someone else who was more than willing to offer assistance. People were also physical with one another. People gave kisses to each other all the time, whether they were male or female, young or old. Friends held hands. Everything was shared between everyone else. It seemed that no one had any real property. My companions shared their beads with me each and every day, along with their brushes and whatever else I happened to need.

I was beginning to love my new life. I was making friends. I was quickly welcomed into the village and everyone wanted to teach me what they knew. I found myself becoming less and less shy. I was opening up, becoming more outgoing, more willing to be myself.

The first time I got my period when I was with these people, for example, I was not afraid to tell my friends. Kelila quickly came up with the supplies I needed, and told me in simple terms how to take care of myself. In their culture, females were not supposed to associate directly with males while they were menstruating. As a result, I could not attend the major meals, and I had to eat afterwards. This was a bit lonely at first, but I soon got used to it. I was quickly accepting their culture and I truly enjoyed becoming part of it.

As time passed, I learned to follow the same routine as these girls, and I felt incredibly content with my new life. I did not miss my home in the United States.

In fact, one evening I was laying in bed, full from dinner and not feeling particularly restful. I thought back to my old life, a life in which I had constantly been shunned by my peers. Here, despite the fact that I was white and could not speak the language, I was welcomed in with wide open arms. This amazed me. Why did these people even care? It made my heart hurt to think of all the love that I had received from these people compared to the love that I had received from “my” people back at home. They were not my people. I was born into that culture, but I no longer longed to go back. I realized that even if I had had the opportunity to go back, I was not even sure if I would. Sure, I missed my mother. And I missed being able to have fluent conversations with people. But that was all that I longed for...and in time, I knew that the longing for my mother would pass, and that I would become fluent and able to communicate. There was no doubt in my mind that I was happier here in this place than I had ever been back in the United States.

. . .

I'm not sure how much time had passed since the plane crashed into the ocean. I wondered, sometimes, if perhaps my birthday was coming up, or even if it had gone. If I thought very hard, and if I tried to remember the number of periods I had gotten after the crash, I could come to a rough estimate of how long I had spent in this place. There had been four while I was alone in the wilderness. And here, it was part of the culture to keep track of how many I got. So far, I had gotten eleven. So that was probably at least fifteen months that had passed since the plane crash.

Eleven months during which I had been with these people.

By then, I could speak the language. My accent was poor, but I could understand almost everything that was being said to me. I could hold a conversation with my friends.

Kelila had quickly become my closest friend. She had taught me nearly everything that I knew at that point. Mari'Nyai had even become less hostile towards me.

When Kelila and I were not busy, we spent our time talking about boys.

“We will have to get married soon, you know,” she told me one evening as we bathed.

“Do you really think anyone will want to marry me?” I asked, incredulous.

She smiled at me as though I was being foolish. “Of course,” she said. “You are part of our family now. Someone will have to marry you. I think that I am intended to marry H'Idan,” she went on.

“You'll have to?”

Kelila nodded. “Judulnin tells us who is going to marry whom.” Judulnin was the village elder. During my time there, I had found that he was selected by the gods to lead the village when he was only twelve. He had ventured into the forest to kill an animal, but instead of finding a small animal like a rabbit, he had come across a jaguar. The jaguar pounced and attacked him, scratching and biting. Despite his age, however, Judulnin had been able to defeat the jaguar. He was too injured to go back home, though, and he had spent the night bleeding to death in the forest. After night fell, he had had a vision. The jaguar spirit, which was said to be the child of the Earth spirit, had come to him and told him to lead his people. He woke the next morning with no injuries whatsoever. He simply had a large scar where his wound had been. Ever since then, he had been revered in the village.

“Who else has already been decided?” I asked.

“Mari'Nyai was supposed to marry E'Huso,” said Kelila. She looked at me with a very serious expression, however, and went on, “But when Judulnin saw you carry E'Huso home, he knew that you had saved his life. And I have heard that Mari'Nyai and E'Huso were never thought to be a good match, and the gods had always been hesitant about allowing them to be married. That is why Mari'Nyai is seventeen and has still not been wed.”

“Can't he marry someone else?” I asked.

“No one else matches at all,” said Kelila. “Judulnin doesn't quite do the deciding. He asks the gods if his matches are right. If they are wrong, he must pick someone else. This is as far as I know, anyway. No one really knows for sure how Judulnin speaks with the gods. But,” she continued, her voice low, “I am hearing that you may be the one to marry E'Huso.”

I laughed. “That seems so silly,” I said, feeling quite awkward all of a sudden.

I had laughed because E'Huso, it seemed, was not quite my type.

I had not seen much of the boys our age, but when I did, I was certainly not fond of E'Huso. He had never thanked me for saving him, and he never even looked at me when we were together. He ignored me when I spoke to him, and he was quite a show off. He liked to show off his scar to the other girls, who would laugh and sigh blissfully. He certainly was attractive, and it was clear that all of the younger girls were quite fond of him. I had always wanted to speak with him, and I thought about him nearly every day, but he was not interested. For some reason, this often made me feel rather bad about myself. My companions, however, paid him little attention, which had caused me to do the same over the months. Except for Mari'Nyai, of course. It now made sense to me why Mari'Nyai was always hanging around him at mealtimes, and why she had been so cold towards me when I first arrived. She must have heard the rumors, also, that I was supposed to wed E'Huso.

“Well, when will Judulnin know for sure?” I asked as we sat down on the rocks at the edge of the pool.

“In about a month's time,” said Kelila. “He asks the gods during the cooler season. You've been with us for nearly a year, and you arrived only a week after last year's matching ceremony.”

This made sense to me; about five months after I had arrived, there had been a wedding. That had been an interesting experience. We had spent weeks preparing gifts and decorations...and at the very end, all of it was burnt down. This was supposedly to signify a passionate marriage, but it had seemed very silly to me at the time. Also, fire signified fertility. This was because every few years, the forest naturally had a fire—that was the fire that I had seen in my first few months there. After the natural forest fire, the land becomes much more fertile. Fire was central to their culture, and while it made sense that we had had to burn down all the decorations, it would certainly seem incredibly bizarre to an outsider's point of view.

“Well, I guess we'll find out then, won't we?” I asked with a smile. After a pause, I went on, “So, are you fond of H'Idan?”

Kelila giggled. “Very much so!” she cried.

I had seen H'Idan. He seemed like a much nicer boy than E'Huso, although I did not find him quite as attractive. He certainly was handsome...but for some reason. E'Huso had always been the cutest one, in my opinion. I smiled to myself for thinking such things. I did not even like the boy.

Although I was intrigued by the idea that I might have to marry him. It was a frightening idea that I may have to marry someone I barely knew. Back in the United States, people dated for years before they married. They got very close and developed a lasting friendship before making their lifetime bond. But here, you were matched with someone and thrown into a marriage. It did not seem like something that could possibly work out well.

Then again, I had never been in love. Perhaps love was quicker and more passionate than I thought. Perhaps it was possible to fall deeply in love for a lifetime after finding the right person. I just hoped that I would at least love my husband, whoever he turned out to be. He would also, I had figured out, have to be a good hunter. Women always wanted to be with the best hunters around here! I smiled at that. Back in the United States, girls wanted to be with the cutest boys, or the boys who played quarterback on football teams. Or with the rich boys with cars and nice clothes. But here, boys needed actual skill and prowess, and they needed to be humble. As far as I knew, E'Huso was a good hunter. But even if he was not, I doubted anyone would ridicule him for it. Everyone was good at something. E'Huso did not seem to be particularly humble about it...but I attributed that to the fact that he was still fairly young.

That night, as I lay in bed trying to sleep, I suddenly became very worried by the fact that I would probably be getting married within the next couple of years if I stayed here. I was aware of the fact that the village occasionally had foreign visitors from the “modern” world. This was how many of them knew English. And if the visitors came...would they take me back? Would I go back? They would probably make me. But if I was married.... I suddenly felt very trapped. If I stayed here, I would have to get married. But if people came, they would probably take me back. Maybe they would come back before I got married.

Why am I even worrying about this? I asked myself after nearly an hour of tossing and turning. The visitors were often frequent enough, and they would come here and take me back before the next couple of years. I did not see myself getting married before then. That was all up to Judulnin, though, I realized. He could choose to get me married this year if he wanted! That idea frightened me a little bit. I did not know any of the boys our age here! I knew some of the younger boys, as they were children and I spent a lot of my time helping to care for the children. But I did not know H'Idan, Kutuvin, G'Yaron.... The only boy I with whom I was somewhat vaguely familiar was E'Huso, but he seemed to believe that I no longer existed.

I sighed and turned over once again. I took a few deep breaths and tried to clear my head. Why was I so worried? People would come eventually, and I would not have to worry about this whole marriage thing....

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