Miragoane Beach and Stadium
At that, Kat announces it’s a perfect time to go to the local beach. They load up the Land Cruiser pickup with some bamboo mats, towels, and a cooler full of water jugs. Jocelyn quietly approaches Kat and whispers something to her. Kat replies, “Men, oui!” Jocelyn returns with a small boy who shyly climbs into the truck bed with Jocelyn. “Komo o ye?”, Kevin asks and the little guy gives him a small smile.
As they’re loading up, Kevin learns that everyone calls him Ti Mon and that he almost never speaks. No one’s sure what his real name is, where he lives, or if he has parents. Kat often finds him curled up in the back of the truck in the morning. She doesn’t make a big deal out of it, because she worries he’ll stop coming by the house and will end up in a more dangerous situation. The Haitians who live in the neighborhood don’t like Ti Mon and accuse him of stealing whenever something goes missing. Kat says it’s certainly possible that he steals to survive, but she says the neighbors have accused Ti Mon of stealing when he was with her all day.
The band of five arrive at the beach around noon and Kevin realizes that it’s for locals. Kat, Dirk, and Kevin are the only non-Haitians but no one seems hostile and after a few curious glances, everyone ignores them and goes about enjoying the sun. There are plenty of palm trees on the beach. They quickly find available lounge chairs, and assemble them around a fire pit. Many of the families have charcoal fires going and the smell of roasting meat and spices waft through the air.
There aren’t any lifeguards or public bathrooms though. Kevin is a bit nervous about how close they are to a river that’s emptying into the bay. The water is brown and he remarks about it to Kat. She just laughs and says, “Oh, I’m sure it’s just top soil sentiment, but maybe don’t open your mouth or eyes or ears in the water, just to be safe!”. Kevin decides that he’ll just enjoy the sand and sun today and settles in to read a book that Kat’s just finished. They talk about each chapter as Kevin finishes it. Dirk snores quietly with a half empty bottle of beer tucked between his feet. Jocelyn and Ti Mon are occupying themselves with some sort of game involving a stick, an old bicycle wheel, a ball of yarn, and lots of counting out loud.
By now, Kevin expects they’d be surrounded by Haitian kids and a few adults, begging for ti kob. But instead, they aren’t approached by anyone. No one is hostile or intentionally ignoring them. It just seems that since they’re on the local beach, no one is treating them like tourists. One man approaches with a bag made from an old fishing net. It’s filled with coconuts and he asks, “Ou vle dlo coconut?” Kat replies, “Oui moche.” After a brief negotiation, Kat hands the man a couple Haitian gourdes. He pulls a giant machete out of a sheath he’s carrying on one shoulder, chooses a coconut from the bag, and before Kevin knows what’s happened he’s cut the tip off of one end of the coconut. He hands the coconut to Kat and she puts it to her mouth and begins drinking the coconut juice directly from the opening he’s cut in one end. After a couple swallows, she hands to coconut to Kevin and tells the man, “Tre bon!” He smiles broadly, nodding his head, and looks to Kevin, who takes a long swallow and agrees, “Tre bon!”