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“That’s what they all say.”
“Sometimes dey actually fall.”
True.
“Alan Mac was in de Queen’s Own Highlanders,” Jamaica continued. “Military regiment. Dey have a tattoo. I don’t know of what.”
“And you?” Kris asked. “Were you in the Jamaican branch of the snake charmer’s brigade?”
“No,” she said.
“That is a snake?”
Jamaica lifted her skirt a bit to reveal a diamond-shaped head and long, curving neck trailing upward.
“You don’t get comments on it around here?” Kris asked.
Jamaica let go the yellow material. The snake tattoo disappeared from view. “Why would I?”
“Didn’t Saint Somebody drive the snakes out of Scotland?” Although if that was true, why had Jamaica practically jumped onto a chair to avoid the one she thought Kris had been pointing at?
“Dat was Ireland and Saint Patrick. Scotland has snakes. Just not very many.”
“And Jamaica?”
“Not a lot. Most islands have none.”
“Isn’t Ireland an island?” At Jamaica’s lifted brows, Kris continued. “How did Saint Pat drive out snakes that weren’t there?”
Jamaica’s lips curved. “De snakes were a metaphor for evil.”
“Ah,” Kris said. “So he drove evil out of Ireland, and distributed happiness and Catholicism to all.”
“Dat would be right.” Jamaica shuddered. “I hate snakes.”
“Then why do you have one tattooed on your ankle?”
“I don’t.”
“But—”
“It isn’t a snake.”
“But you said…” Kris paused. Actually Jamaica hadn’t said it was a snake. She’d merely drawn up her skirt and shown Kris the tattoo when she’d asked. “What is it?”
Jamaica’s gaze went distant. “You’re de first person to see dat in—” She shook her head, and her dreads flew. “I don’t know how long. De tattoo is…” She took a deep breath. “Embarrassing.”
“It’s not the prettiest one I’ve ever seen, but it’s not that bad,” Kris offered.
“I’m not embarrassed by de tattoo itself but by what it represents.”
“Which is?”
“Evil.”
“An evil snake,” Kris said.
“Not truly a snake. The image symbolizes Obi, a West African god.”
