Kissing Frogs - A Tropical Fairytale

Non-Date # 2

My arm is jerked out of its socket as Travis yanks me onto the curb. The bus carrying the seniors from yesterday's mud baths whizzes by, missing me by inches. The driver honks again and I make out a few canes shaken from behind tinted windows.

My heart's pounding. That was close.

"Are you okay?" he asks, looking worried.

"Fine. Just glad I'm wearing clean underwear today," I joke weakly as I sit on the curb. Then realize what I've said. "Not that that's something I don't do every day. Wearing clean underwear, I mean."

Oh God, shut up, Jess.

Travis gives me a funny look. "You sure you're okay?"

"It's just something my mom always said to me when I was little." I'm mortified. "Always wear clean underwear in case you get hit by a bus."

"That's what she was worried about?" he asks. "That if you were in some horrific accident you'd be wearing clean underwear?"

"That's my mother." I attempt a half-smile, noticing the bags in his hands. "You didn't have any problems buying the wine?"

"They didn't even blink an eye." He smiles and there's that flutter again. I ignore it, blaming it on the near death experience.

"I wonder what the legal drinking age is here."

"Eighteen, but I don't think it's enforced," he says, "especially for tourists."

"So all we need is the shrimp? Where are we going to get them?" I ask.

He grins and my heart does an involuntary flip-flop. This is getting seriously annoying — I do not like Travis. I will not like Travis.

"The fish market. You ready for our second non-date?"

***

The fish market isn't really so much a market as it is a lady with a calculator sitting on a smelly dock while beat-up boats tow in their wares of the day. An enormous tractor-like machine tugs the boats up the sandy beach while giant flocks of screeching birds chase the ships, torpedoing them like fish-seeking missiles. I duck as one almost scalps me.

"You sure know how to impress a girl," I say, pinching my nose with my fingers. Ky and Alyssa would be hysterical.

We walk over to a man standing by a net, just releasing his catch. Different types of fish are being separated. A baby hammerhead shark spills out and onto the ground and I jump back.

Travis moves forward to get a closer look. "It's dead."

"Poor thing." I take a step forward. It's so tiny. Its little hammerhead flops pitifully over to one side. Travis squats down and touches the baby shark. It's no bigger than the length of his forearm.

He looks around at the villagers buying fish. Two men on our right bid on the shark. "At least it won't go to waste." He gestures to the scene around us. "This is nothing. Huge commercial fishing boats rake in millions of sharks and other species every month."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

Through no fault of his own, Travis sometimes leaves me with the vague impression I'm completely clueless.

"They catch them by accident. Billions of fish, seabirds, mammals and turtles are caught in nets or whatever and just thrown away if they're not exactly what the fishermen want." He looks up at me from his position on the ground. "It's pushing many species to the brink of extinction."

An unexpected wave of despair washes over me and I turn and walk away, thinking of the fish, the turtles, the frogs. Travis follows me.

"What's wrong?" he asks.

I face him. "How can you stand it?" I ask, tears in my eyes, my voice rising. "Everything on the brink of extinction, our environment disintegrating. Don't you get sick of hearing about this all the time?"

"What should I do instead? Go to the mall? Ignore it all and watch some ridiculous reality show?" His tone is unexpectedly biting.

I'm taken aback. "If you're saying I don't care—"

"I'm saying it's easy to be apathetic, Jess."

"I'm sorry we can't all be saints like you," I retort. "Walking around like you're better than everyone."

"I am better than the people you hang out with. We all are," he says, referring to the members of the conservation club.

"Oh, yes, Chrissy and your little girlfriend Kiki have been so kind and welcoming," I shoot back.

"She's not my girlfriend. And they do a lot of good work."

A flash of unexpected jealousy at his defence of them has my blood fizzing.

"You're a hypocrite!" I put my hands on my hips. "If you care so much about the planet, why aren't you a vegetarian?"

"I am!" he yells in frustration. "And if you paid any attention to anything but yourself, you'd know that."

"Last time I checked, fish were still animals," I say. The villagers are staring.

He takes a calming breath. "You're right."

"Excuse me?" His admission pops the bubble of my own anger.

"I try and make sure my fish is from sustainable sources, but you're right. I never said I was perfect."

We're silent for a minute, the storm passing as quickly as it'd sprung up. Travis looks at me.

"It makes me angry too, Jess," he says, putting a hand on my shoulder. "I didn't mean to call you apathetic."

"It's okay," I say, my voice almost inaudible. "You're right."

"Look, you're not a bad person because you have fish or meat now and then," he says.

"Really? Because I kinda feel like one."

"All I'm saying is you could be a little more informed about what you eat, that's all."

"So what, it's just pesto risotto tonight?"

He shrugs. "Up to you. It'll be amazing either way." His eyes have lightened to a translucent emerald.

"We've eaten a lot of seafood since we got here." I look around and my eyes fall on the corpse of the baby hammerhead. "Let's take a night off."

Travis looks at me, surprised. An approving smile spreads across his face, warming me like the sun. "Whatever you say, Princess."

We turn away from the fish market and walk toward the highway to catch a bus back to the villa. I can't stop thinking about the little shark. About all the animals I've seen so far. Lola's words come back to me. We are not the only ones entitled to survival here.

"I'm going to try it." I look to see his reaction.

"What?"

"The whole vegetarian thing."

He raises an eyebrow. "Just like that?"

"Just like that." I mentally say good-bye to all the delicious animals I'll never eat again.

"You don't need to go that drastic. If everyone just cut back on how much meat they ate it'd make a huge difference." He puts a hand on my shoulder.

"We'll see how it goes." I look at his hand, my mouth dry, then into his eyes. "And by the way, I hate reality shows."

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