Curucucú - Hellgate Press

ONE
A Chance Anecdote
I am a part of all that I have met
yet all experience is an arch
wherethro’ gleams that untravell’d world
whose margins fade for ever and for ever when I move
— alfred lord tennyson
Howler monkeys perched in a wild fig tree glared at our approaching jeep
and roared in disapproval as it clattered over a protruding root growing
across the forest roadway. a flock of macaws screeched indignantly and took
to flight. only a pair of blue morpho butterflies wafting peacefully through
the shaded undergrowth seemed unperturbed by our intrusion. ranch work
had kept us occupied longer than we’d expected that afternoon in november
1957 and my host, roland, was hurrying to show me a five hundred acre
homestead before the sun set.
“the boundary starts just over there,” he shouted above the din. It’s a bargain.
the owner’s only asking the equivalent of five hundred pounds.
We passed under a feathery leafed archway of branches sprouted from
rooted fence posts* lining both sides of the entrance track and came to a clearing
where two wattle-walled, palm-thatched cottages stood amongst scattered
fruit trees and clumps of wild flowers.
roland’s “halloo” was met with silence.
“looks like no one’s here,” he said, “but I’m sure it’s o.K. with the owner
for you to look around.”
*Gliricidia sepum, a copiously forked tree of the leguminosea found throughout the tropics.
Branches cut for posts take root and form a living fence.