Florida Keys' Watercolor Kapers by Bob Kranich

“Florida Keys’ Watercolor Kapers”

No Name Key, (Part 12, Excerpt 21)

In this part, Our three main characters, Manuel, Hector, and their new friend, Enrique, are traveling by foot through the Zapata Swamp. They are trying to find their way back to the beaches, but away from Castro’s troops. They are hoping for a rescue.

Hector said, “We’ve been going due west for about two hours.”

“How you know?” Enrique asked.

“I’ve got my reliable compass,” Hector said proudly.

“That’s the one the guy at No Name gave you!” Manuel exclaimed.

“That’s not all he gave me,” as Hector showed them a bottle of chlorine water purification tablets.

“Let’s rest and make machetes with our bayonets,” Hector said.

They cut stout sticks, trimmed them off smooth and bounded the bayonets to the sticks with some cord Hector produced as if by magic.

“We need some water and something to eat,” Manuel said.

“Don’t worry, this Zapata Swamp* is a grazer’s paradise. I see lots of food,” Hector exclaimed.

“How do you know all this? ”Enrique questioned

Hector proudly said, “Oh, I get around! Let’s stay here and leave first thing in the morning. We’ll set up places to sleep.” As for the water, he reached far up a vine and cut a notch. Then he cut it off near the ground and tested the drops coming out of it.

“It’s not milky, it’s ok,” he said. He put it into his canteen. “When it fills we’ll drop a couple of chlorine tablets into each canteen. You do the same to those vines,” he pointed, “Now for some food. I’m going to look around. If you hear a whistle like a bird, whistle back so I can find you.”

Endrique and Manuel cleared three small areas and cut some palm fronds to lie on.

Then they heard a “Wee...da, wee...da.”

They answered back, “Wee...da, wee...da.”

Hector came through the brush and into the camp area. It was getting dark, and they could barely see now.

“Look what I’ve got,” he said as he proudly showed them three eggs.

“Where did you get these?” they asked.

“I saw the bird’s nest empty with five eggs. You don’t take them all. Then she may lay more. We’ll check in the morning. Here,” he showed them his hat full of leaves, flowers and pods.

“The Acacia tree. All of this is edible. We can’t make a fire. I say poke a hole in the bird’s egg shell, slurp it out and chew this other stuff.”

Enrique said, “We had better bed down.”

The morning came with a bang, in fact with a bombardment.

“They must be hitting Giron, the Blue Beach,” Manuel said.

Hector said, “It’s barely light, but let’s pick it up. Make sure you make it look as natural as possible, so they can’t find our camp and our tracks. Here are two chlorine tablets for each canteen. Follow me, I’m going to check the bird’s nest again.”

“Sure enough!” Hector said. A female bird hastily flew out of the nest as he put his hand into it and came out with three eggs.

“Eat up, pick a few more of these leaves and flowers from this tree, and follow me!” Hector commanded.

“We’re going to go slightly south-southwest. We’ve got to swing around the Red Beach at Playa Larga.”

They traveled about four hours. Off in the distance they could hear the explosions and shooting. Then it stopped.

Hector said, “Hold up! It’s a clearing. No it’s a small road. In fact a small dirt road. Let’s see.” He looked at the part of the map the Major had given him. “I started to turn our route to the south-southwest about an hour ago, and according to this map and my compass this is the first road heading into the Zapata Peninsula.”

“We’ll cross it. One by one. I’ll go first, cover me!” Hector moved slowly across. Then he took a position and signaled. The other two came across one at a time.

“You can’t see very far either way,” Manuel noted.

“Just a minute before we go,” Hector exclaimed as he went over and pulled some plantains from a tree-like plant with large leaves. Then he pulled all of the rest off and threw them to the other two guys. “Here’s lunch,” he said.

“Good work, Hector,” Enrique complimented.

“Let’s get going,” Hector motioned ahead. “In a mile at our present course, we should hit a dirt trail. Then four miles farther we should come to the beach road.”

They took turns leading and clearing the way with their makeshift bayonet machetes.

Hector kept on track by constantly looking at his compass and saying, “left some,” “a little right,” or “straight,” as they slowly moved along.

Just as planned they came to the dirt trail. It was a wide trail, passable only by 4-wheel or on foot. Within a couple of hours they started coming to occasional brackish wet spots in the trail and then, sure enough, the beach road. It was a wide dirt road with a hint of crushed coral on it. They stopped and looked both ways.
“What’s that sound? Manuel asked.

“It’s a helicopter,” Enrique said, “Castro’s! I know it by the sound. Quick! Back in the brush. Spread out, and hide behind a tree.”

The helicopter was following the road, looking. They could hear the men in the helicopter hollering. As it went overhead they could see a machine gun hanging out the side.

From the Author:

My second full-length book , Florida Keys’ Watercolor Kapers is composed of 336 pages. There are 12 stories running from 6 pages to as many as 72 pages. It is fully illustrated with 88 watercolors and sketches. The watercolors I made roaming around Key West after I finished my 750 mile hike from Georgia to Key West. (See book or Don Browne’s SouthWest Florida Online News records, A Walk Across Florida.) As you read these stories you will experience Key West, the Keys, and the Caribbean. These stories span the time of the early 1800’s to 1969. bkranich.wixsite.com/bobkranich