Jade Read Free Page A

school dorm, a prison, or a military base-something practical for the collective life. It’s not sophisticated or pretty but it’s a sturdy structure designed for sheltering a group. 
    I feel relief just looking at it: there will be indoor plumbing! See how easy I am? Give me access to real toilets, and I’m a happy camper.
    “This was a seminary,” says Agatha. “Downstairs we have the lab, the kitchen, and the common area. The living quarters are on the second floor. It’s rudimentary. There are small monk cells, four toilets, and two very tiny showers. I guess they were not big on hygiene at the time of construction. The locals who run the place have created outdoor showers, which are lovely to use if you’re not too prudish.”
    “What do you do when you want privacy?” I ask. 
    “Well you walk on the Nam Khan banks. Between the camp and the waterfall where we’ll be going, there are a couple of cozy coves where you can go wash,” answers James.
    He takes my suitcase to the second floor, and they show me my room. 
    “Room” may be too fancy a word for this space. Agatha’s right, it’s actually more like a cell. It’s the ideal torture chamber for anyone who suffers from claustrophobia. 
    The door bangs open on the foot of a narrow bunk bed, which is a metal cot with the thinnest bedding I’ve ever seen. The cot covers most of the surface of the cell. I walk sideways past it to drop my bag on a minuscule table with a stool underneath. Right next to the table is the back wall with an opening covered by a mosquito net. On the wall opposite the bed - the one I wiped clean with my butt when I walked in - there are three pegs with hangers abandoned by the prior visitors. 
    Agatha and James retreat to their own cells to put their bathing suits on, and close the door behind them. I put my suitcase on the cot, and go looking for my bathing suit, the sarong that Agatha sent me for Christmas, and a towel. 
    The search is quick as half of my suitcase is filled with medical supplies. Before I left, I raided the sample room of the lab that I was working for. The reps gave me their blessings to do so, of course. They said that whatever I took was fine with them, so I went a bit crazy. I have disinfectants, antibiotics, steroids, painkillers, gloves, compresses, surgical tape, and sewing kits. I figured it would always be welcomed by a dispensary or some clinic.
    I lock the suitcase, and slide it under the bed for now, so I can sit on something while I change. I hum to myself and smile when I realize what tune is playing in my head; it’s Baloo’s Bare Necessities. 
    Funny how one’s mind works.
    When I exit my luxury suite, James is already in the hallway. Two seconds later Agatha comes out, and she’s wearing the same sarong as me. While it slightly overlaps  around me, it wraps her up completely with an extra fold. How can someone who eats that much stay so petite? If she wasn’t my best friend, I would hate her all the time just for that.
    We walk to waterfall down the river, and it takes my breath away. Water cascades from a small hill into a pond that constitutes the bed of the river. James sits on a tree trunk. He’s walked barefoot here, and has something stuck in his heel. Agatha and I hang our towels and sarongs onto a tree branch and dive in. The water is so fresh that it’s an absolute delight. 
    “Oh, this is perfect,” I say, swimming to the other side of the pond. “Just what I needed after being locked in planes for a full day.”
    “Does it feel good?” Agatha asks.
    I know she’s baiting me, but I’m so happy to be in her little corner of paradise that I play along, and answer.
    “Yeah, sure, it’s great.” I wait for a second, and think she’s going to spare me one of her favorite line, but no, she can’t resist.
    “It’s not better than sex,” she says, and dives under the water in fear of retaliation. It’s cute that, after all those years, she still acts as if I