NATIA & The Invisible Island of Sawaiki

Death

“A surgery?!” Natia felt like something was slowly tightening around her chest. She began to take deep breaths to ease it out.

“Masha? Are you alright?! Asked her father, worried.

She nodded to him. Her chest was still slightly heavy. But she was fine.

“This won’t do. We will go to the medicine room”. Andrey began to stand up but Natia caught his arm.

“I am fine. Just worried about you.”

Andrey sighed and sat down.

“This was why I didn't want to tell you at first. But, then I thought, that can’t do. You have to know what’s going on. Otherwise, if something happened to me, that would be a big shock to you.”

“So, that’s it? This is a 'good bye trip' or a 'preparation for my death trip'?! If it was as serious as to need a surgery, you should have get it done as soon as possible. You shouldn’t be like ‘let’s take a break and go on a trip, the surgery can wait’.” Natia couldn’t help to keep the anger and frustration out of her voice. “And if you were going to tell me, why did I have to force it out of you?”

“Mashenka, it’s not like that. It’s not a goodbye trip or anything like that. But, you have to admit, human bodies are fragile. There is no guarantee of who will make it tomorrow. I just... I just thought you should get to know your family before it was too late. I wanted to spend some time with you all before the surgery. And there were things I needed to get done too.” He paused and let out a breath. “And of-course I was going to tell you. All of you.”

“So, nobody knows?” Natia asked quietly. She had a forlorn expression on her face.

“No. I didn’t tell anybody. I think Valya, I mean Valentin, might know though. He has his connections. I planned to tell all three of you together.”

“Oh.”

“And don’t be like that. With your expression, I feel like I am definitely going to die.” He gave her a sideways grin.

Natia scoffed at her father’s poor attempt to lighten the mood.

“What kind of surgery?” She asked.

“Coronary artery bypass graft. To reduce the chances of having another heart attack. And it is a minimally invasive off-pump CABG. It has lower risk and faster recoveries.”

“Hmm.” Nadia nodded almost absent-mindedly.

“Cheer up. Will you? I don’t want to see you mourn my death early.”

“Stop saying that.” Natia almost shouted, irritated. But her father laughed out loud.

“It’s not funny.” She glared at him. Andrey stopped laughing.

“Ah! Come on. Let’s have some fun on this trip. I promise I won’t die that fast.”

Natia sighed. He might have just wanted to lift her spirits. But, the topic of death poked at the wounds that were still very raw. She had seen two of her loved ones die in the last two years. She wanted to shout at him that he couldn’t promise that. No one can. But, she was afraid to speak it out loud. Afraid that she would jinx it and something might actually happen if she said it out loud. She remembered her mother’s death. The day was still fresh in her memory.

It was last summer. Natia had taken a job at one of grandpa’s restaurants for the summer. Both her and grandpa were at the restaurant. Her mother was busy in her lab.

Hope had converted grandmother’s research area-c*m-workshop into her laboratory. It was a building in their compound itself. She had told them the previous day not to disturb her for two days. That she wanted to conduct some new experiments. She wouldn’t even come out for food sometimes, when she went in her ‘research mode’.

Natia hadn’t seen her mother that day. Hope had shouted at grandpa when he tried to sneak some breakfast into her lab. So, they went to work without saying goodbye. It was in the afternoon that grandpa got the call. That there was an explosion in one of the buildings in their compound. Nobody even knew there was a person inside until then. It took many hours for the firefighters to put out the fire, even though it was a small building.

Mother’s body was the strangest. It was like her insides were all dissolved and only the charred thick skin remained. They said some chemicals were involved and wanted to investigate. Her mother's body was taken and they didn't get it back for weeks. And the lab was sealed. But the post-mortem reports were inconclusive. Nothing came from the lab either.

She wanted to tell her father not to make promises on death. That death might take you away just to prove it to you that you are wrong. To prove it to you that it is inevitable and it can be unpredictable.

But, she couldn’t blame him for wanting to have a good time without worrying about death. If you start worrying about death, there is no ending to it. So, nobody can be blamed for wanting to celebrate the life they have. She promised herself she would enjoy this trip as much as she could. And will try her best to make it enjoyable for her father too.

Andrey escorted her to her cabin. It was on the seventh deck. He said both hers and Sofia’s cabins were on that level. There were other rooms on that level too. They must be unoccupied. There were a total of twenty guest cabins on the yacht. The others must be on some other level, she thought. Her cabin was a nice suite, though not as spacious as the penthouse suite. It has an ensuite bathroom, a walk-in closet, a sitting area and a verandah with lounge chairs and a table.

Her backpack was already in her room. She then remembered she hadn’t called grandfather to tell him she had safely arrived. She did that quickly. Then she looked at her watch. It was only five p.m. Papa didn’t say anything about any plans tonight. So, she could take a shower and explore the yacht a little. And maybe go and watch the sunset later. Thinking about sunsets, it’s five (DST) not five(HST) . She should change it to Hawaiian time first.

So, there is more time left. Maybe she could take a nap. ‘You slept throughout the whole flight. And now you want to sleep more! You are not in hibernation, Natee.’ She chided herself. Must be the jet lag. Taking comfort in that thought, she got on the bed. The mattress was soft and comfy. She let her eyelids close and drifted off to sleep.