Cargo Letter Three
Dear Susan,
There is so much to tell and so little time. After hours of walking through the blistering forest, we passed through a
walled screen run through by a worn dirt road and into the town they had. When our vision cleared the foliage and the
wall, we saw a series of thatched houses, which look like giant baskets covered with bamboo matting. They led us
through a gathering of villagers, who stared without an excess of curiosity, and then returned to their work. We
pointed to our mouths, and they nodded and led us into a sort of meeting hall. I was starving. On the trip Josh even
mentioned the thought of racing back to the beach and rescuing the sacrificial pig carcasses from the sea. We were
still making up for our weeks of near-starvation.
We sat panting in the shade of this building until women entered carrying large baskets of food on their hips, as if the
baskets were their negligent children. Silently they spread large fronds in front of us and each one of them scooped
fish, yams, and eggs, from their baskets with their hands. We ate greedily and without abandon, not tasting the food
so much as swallowing it. Later they brought bread and more fish with rice. All this time the women stood silently by
us as we ate and patted our faces with wet fronds to clean us. Then we left and collapsed in the darkness. We slept
soundly, and without pause.
Love,
Charles
There is so much to tell and so little time. After hours of walking through the blistering forest, we passed through a
walled screen run through by a worn dirt road and into the town they had. When our vision cleared the foliage and the
wall, we saw a series of thatched houses, which look like giant baskets covered with bamboo matting. They led us
through a gathering of villagers, who stared without an excess of curiosity, and then returned to their work. We
pointed to our mouths, and they nodded and led us into a sort of meeting hall. I was starving. On the trip Josh even
mentioned the thought of racing back to the beach and rescuing the sacrificial pig carcasses from the sea. We were
still making up for our weeks of near-starvation.
We sat panting in the shade of this building until women entered carrying large baskets of food on their hips, as if the
baskets were their negligent children. Silently they spread large fronds in front of us and each one of them scooped
fish, yams, and eggs, from their baskets with their hands. We ate greedily and without abandon, not tasting the food
so much as swallowing it. Later they brought bread and more fish with rice. All this time the women stood silently by
us as we ate and patted our faces with wet fronds to clean us. Then we left and collapsed in the darkness. We slept
soundly, and without pause.
Love,
Charles
