Even though the salty seawater has slowed her decay, the dead woman has a rancid smell that makes the boatman sick in his empty stomach. It is not like the smell of hunted fish or the seawater. It has a bitter-sour smell like stale blood and rotten meat. The boatman helps the guard to climb out of the water. He holds his hand to the edge of the pier and looks more closely at the woman’s face. She seems young, maybe beautiful; it’s hard to say with her eyes closed, her nose swollen and her lips turned grey. He can’t imagine how she might have looked like before drowning. He can hardly hear the guards talking since his ears are filled with the salty moist breeze. But he gets the gist of their talk. The body is to be taken to Oxan and burned. They need more help to carry back this swollen and slippery body.

The boatman swims towards the outer ladder of his boat. He turns his head towards the harbour and sees the newly arrived guards. From their dismissing head movements, he can guess that none of them can identify the body. It isn’t his business anymore; he has cooperated enough and it is in the hands of the Oxan authorities now to investigate this death and decide what to do. He should return to his boat and get ready to step on the island. But something catches his attention. He floats on the water and stares at the woman. He swims towards the harbour again to take a closer look. Something dangles out between the woman’s legs, like a short, colourless, torn rope. He doesn’t recognise the umbilical cord and mistakes it for her guts. A moist breeze from the harbour fills his lungs with the putrid smell of the lifeless woman. He holds the chains with his hands and leans on them and throws up in the water.

Chapter 2

As Tirad feels the rapid movement of something cold and sluggish by his right foot, he stops his sentence and scowls, takes his eyes off his students that are staring at him and looks down. He lifts his right foot and steps back. A small water snake is sliding on the wooden teaching cabin between his feet. The children are silently staring at the snake and the dance-like movement of Tirad’s feet. He tries to avoid touching the snake’s skin with his ankle and loses his balance. Just before he falls down on his back, he slams his left foot against the floor and stands. His left foot has pummelled the snake. The sluggish feeling of the snake’s torn skin and the sound of its crushed cartilage starts a shiver from Tirad’s heel that moves upwards through his leg bones and spine, making him step back again with disgust and put his bloodstained foot on the floor. He looks at his undesired prey that lays motionless one-step away from him and pulls his head up to see the frightened look in the eyes of the five boys and girls that are sitting in front of him. He tries to keep his voice down and to sound calm, and stares at the anxious and guilty faces of the children. He knows it must have been one of them who had brought the snake in to the class. He takes a deep breath and tells them, “Class is dismissed… everyone out!” But he stands in the doorway blocking the way out. The boys squeeze themselves and pass through the distance between Tirad’s body and the open door. He strokes his full beard and watches the children that avoid his glance. The girls, unlike the boys, take careful and slow steps, controlling their haste to show that they have no rush getting out of the class and to declare their innocence in the matter. Tirad takes the last girl by her naked arm and stops her from leaving.