Utila – Week 7, Day 4: Rubber Chicken Nightmare
UTILA
Week 7
Day 4: Rubber Chicken Nightmare
December 28, 2022
The storm kept raging without the slightest sign of stopping, so I wrote and wrote until I got so fed up I had no choice but to give in and return to the puzzle.
By sunset, the weather, somehow, impossibly, began to clear. For the first time in two days Amelia and I ventured out to Merlin’s Wok, where we devoured some delicious Asian food with Dr Marius. Needless to say, he quickly became one of our favourite people on the island and once Amelia had completely friend-zoned him, he had resigned himself to be something akin to her best friend. Meanwhile, he was the other half of the Dr Marius Squared Squad, meaning he already had a special place in my heart. In fact, we begged him to join us for our Nicaragua trip. With some convincing, I think he might just have folded.
The more our time in Utila neared its end, the more we were likely to beg everyone to join us on our trip. We’d be leaving our home, and, as we saw it, we wanted to bring our family along with us. This time round, our goodbye was right around the corner and we knew there wouldn’t be any more extensions. I was to stay on the island just for one week, and there I was – seven weeks later. Likewise, Amelia was meant to do her divemaster training programme and continue with her travels after a month or so. Now, for the first time, we knew we had to make our peace with our decision to move on.
The Rubber Chicken Wars
When we got back to Underwater Vision, we found Adah and Levi manically hunched over the puzzle. Levi seemed determined to finish it that very night, though with about 15% left it still promised hours of work.
As inconsequential as a puzzle might be in the grand scheme of things – and as much of a waste of time as it is – I’d already invested far too much of myself to walk away. I sat down beside them and started hunting for missing pieces. Every single piece that clicked into place was a cause for celebration – a tiny victory in and of itself. We broke often for much-needed cigarette and weed breaks, our nerves fraying dangerously. I swear I nearly had a nervous breakdown at one point… Okay, who am I kidding? At many points. And I wasn’t the only one. Seeing Adah losing her temper at the puzzle was a delightful throwback to her meltdown during our map-drawing workshop. Those damned rubber chickens!
It was around 1AM when we started counting the few puzzle pieces that remained. We started at fifty, and when we reached ten we paused for one last break. Disbelief set in. Stupefied, we stared at the table – just ten pieces left. Three days of blood, sweat, and tears (okay, maybe not blood, but definitely sweat and tears) nearing their culmination. We went back in, and to the triumphant sound of We Are the Champions by Queen, we slotted in the final nine pieces. For the very last one, Levi and I held it from either end and, with one smooth motion, pressed it into its final resting place. And just like that, it was whole. Hundreds of rubber chickens, finally united.
As satisfying as it was to have completed the insane 1000-piece puzzle, I realised that perhaps it wasn’t such a waste of time after all. In trying to fit all those pieces, we had spent hours chatting and getting to know each other. Maybe there are some redeeming factors to jigsaw puzzles, huh?
Stay wild,
Marius
Post-Scriptum
On a heavier note, Amelia finally managed to reach her mum – she had agreed to go back into rehab. The problem was that she got stuck on a waiting list that would take at least a month before she’d be accepted for a programme. In the meantime, she admitted to Amelia that she’d probably relapse again and again – the disappointment of her daughter and her own mother too crushing to face sober. I guess having insight is already a step in the right direction…