After getting my parcel I walked around the clearing, joining the dots between the clusters of smokers, looking for my friends. Unusually, they were nowhere to be found, and nobody seemed to know where they were. Confused, I checked Keaty's tent and then the longhouse, where I found Unhygienix, Cassie and Ella playing blackjack, and further up, Jesse writing in his diary.

'Ah!' said Unhygienix when he saw me, and pointed to my food. 'What do you think?'

'Of the stew?'

'Yes. You notice the fruit? A good taste?'

'Sure. Sweet and savoury. Very Thai.'

Unhygienix beamed. 'You know what I did? I made some papaya juice and stewed it with the fish, but I only put in the flesh in the last

two minutes, or it falls apart in the heat. So this way you have the taste and the texture.'

'Ah.'

'And, Richard, we can have this again, because Jean will plant the seeds and we will grow papaya in the garden. I am very pleased with this dish.'

'You should be. It tastes really good. Well done.'

Unhygienix shook his head modestly. 'You should be thanking Bugs.'

'…Why's that?' I said suspiciously.

'He discovered these papayas in the jungle.'

I choked on a fish bone. 'Bugs did what?'

'In the jungle, he found a whole orchard of papayas and monkeys.'

'No he didn't!'

'Yes. Yesterday, he found this orchard.'

'I found the fucking orchard! I found it a couple of weeks ago!'

'…Really?'

'Was Bugs saying he found it?'

'…Uh…'

Cassie smiled. 'Yes he was.'

'That prick !' In my temper I squeezed the banana leaf and some of the stew spilled on to the ground.

'Careful,' said Ella.

I frowned, suddenly aware I was making quite a scene. 'Well, anyway… he's lying.'

'Don't worry,' Cassie chuckled, laying down a long run from a three to a black Jack. 'We don't doubt it.'

'…Good.'

They went back to their game and I continued up the longhouse towards Jesse.

'I heard,' he said drily, as I approached. 'Congratulations on finding the papayas.'

'Yes, well, it isn't a big thing. It just…'

'Got on your nerves,' he finished for me, and lowered his diary. 'Course it did. Understood. Are you looking for Keaty?'

'…Yeah.' I nodded morosely. As a consequence of the papayas my mood had gone bad. 'And the others. I can't find them. I think they've all gone off together somewhere.'

'Right. He left me a message to give you.'

'Oh,' I said, perking up a bit. 'Let's hear it.'

'It was a note. I put it on your bed.'

I thanked him and jogged the rest of the way up the longhouse, keen to find out what was going on.

The note was folded on my pillow, and beside it was a rolled joint. It read 'Smoke this quick! Phosphorescence! Keaty!'

I frowned. 'Hey, Jesse,' I called. 'What does the note mean?'

I waited while he finished writing, then he looked up. 'Dunno, mate. Didn't read it. What's it say?'

'Phosphorescence. And it's got a joint.'

'Ah.' Jesse waggled his pencil at me. 'Phosphorescence!'

'What is it?'

'You don't know?'

'…No.'

He smiled. 'Go down to the beach. You'll see. And make sure you smoke that joint on the way.'

Phosphorescence

I walked along the path to the beach as fast as I could, which wasn't that fast because I didn't want to bump into any tree-trunks or stub my foot on a root. At the same time I smoked the joint, practically hit and running it even though I was alone, because I felt like getting wasted and because Keaty had told me to smoke it quick.

Meanwhile I seethed about the papayas, and pretty soon I was very stoned and deeply involved in a fantasy about beating up Bugs. In its earliest form the fantasy started off as just me and him, but soon I decided I needed an audience to bear witness to his humiliation. I added Francoise, then Jed and Keaty, then Etienne and Greg, and eventually the whole camp.

It was a Sunday. It had to be a Sunday, because that was the only time you got the whole camp in one place. Most people were kicking a ball around, a few were swimming, and a few were playing Frisbee. I was standing with Francoise. We were sharing a joke when Bugs appeared from the tree-line with Sal, and three big papayas cradled in his arms. 'Got some more papayas,' he called. 'Enough for everyone.' 'Excuse me,' I said quietly to Francoise. 'Won't be a moment.' He caught my eye as I strode towards him and did a double-take, recognizing the purposeful nature of my step and the grim set of my mouth. First he looked alarmed, then arrogant. He was going to bluff it out, I realized.

'Yes,' he said loudly, holding up the fruit for all to see, and still watching me from the corner of his eye. 'Here are some more papayas that I found.'

I stopped a metre away from him. 'Papayas that you found, Bugs?'

'That's what I said.'

'Uh-huh. Then how about we take a walk down to the orchard… right now.'

His eyebrows flicked upwards.' …Now?'

'Now. And I'll show you the joint butt I left, when I found the orchard no less than two weeks ago !'

Everyone gasped, including Sal. A crowd had formed a circle around us and Francoise had come running over to stand by my side. 'Is this true?' she demanded angrily.

Bugs scoffed. 'Of course not! He's lying! I found the orchard!'

'So how about that walk?'

'I don't have to prove myself to you!'

'I think you do.'

'Up yours. I found the orchard. End of story.'

I smiled. 'You know what, Bugs…?' The silence was deathly, aside from the gentle lapping of the waves on the shore. 'You're kinda buggin' me!'

The crowd laughed and Bugs' face twisted with rage. 'Is that right?' he sneered. 'Well take this!' A papaya hurtled towards my head but I ducked and it flew past me into the crowd.

'Hey!' someone yelled. 'Watch it!'

Bugs swore and made as if he was about to throw another, but quick as a flash I grabbed the Frisbee from Cassie, who was standing beside me, and hurled it with lethal accuracy. The papaya exploded at the impact. The remaining chunks slithered from his hand and fell to the sand, harmless.

'Why you…' he started to say, but I was already on him. I faked with a left and floored him with a right. He dropped like a sack of potatoes.

Now he was scared. 'I'm thorry,' he yelped, holding a hand up to cup the blood splashing from his busted lips, 'lt'th true! I didn't find the papayath! Richard did!'

Slowly I bent down and picked the Frisbee up again, pausing to wipe away a few shreds of pulped papaya flesh. 'Too late for that, Bugs,' I muttered softly, almost kindly. 'Too late…'

He screamed but didn't move, paralysed with fear like a rabbit in headlights. The Frisbee shot down and connected squarely with the bridge of his nose, shattering the bone. Then he rolled on to his side and scrabbled weakly at the sand, trying to crawl away. I kicked him on the back of the head and gave him four hard punches in the kidney.

He whimpered. 'Pleathe,' he said. 'Don't.'

A bad choice of words. My temper rose. Looking around me I spotted a fishing spear.

'Rewind,' I said, taking the last drag from the joint. 'Can't do that.' I sucked until the tips of my fingers burned, then threw away the roach and rewound back to my first punch.

I faked with a left and floored him with a right. He dropped like a sack of potatoes.

'I'm thorry,' he yelped, 'lt'th true! I didn't find the papayath!'

'Say that again!' I shouted, looming over him with the Frisbee poised.

'I didn't find them! You did! I'm thorry!'

'Louder!'

'You found the papayath!'

I nodded curtly, and turned to Francoise. 'Just wanted to set the record straight.'

She glanced down at Bugs' twitching figure. 'Of course,' she said briefly.