Chapter 5 of Roi-Namur the Novel
Yokwe Jara,
It is time to add another installment of my novel. For those of you new to my site, I’m writing a novel and adding a chapter on the first of every month. This is your chance to see a novel in process. Thanks for coming to my site and I hope you enjoy it. Next month’s chapter features a visit to shark infested Speedball so please check back on July 1st.
Chapter 5
They call it the cocoanut telegraph. It is how word spreads on the islands and it spreads uncannily fast even without the aid of the internet. When I walked into the cafeteria for lunch the day they found Duane you could sense something was wrong. Folks were gathered in groups on tables talking quietly among themselves. The normally friendly workers behind the counter had little to say other than to ask if I wanted a burger or a hot dog. They didn’t ask the usual annoying question of if I wanted cheese despite knowing that everytime for the last several weeks I had ordered it without cheese. It confirmed my suspicion that they had been playing with me all along but today were too distracted to comment. Reggie wasn’t around so I sat with Phil and Karen. Phil was one of the radar technicians and his wife Karen was a mission coordinator. They were an interesting couple. Phil looked every bit the refuge from the 60s though I knew he could not have been that old. In his spare time he taught a yoga class and was also one of the dive instructors. Karen was an ex marine. She didn’t have Phil’s easy going way but was a dependable friend when you needed one. She wore her black hair short and favored polo shirts and kacki shorts. Virtually no one wore long pants on the island unless they needed to because of safety concerns in their work.