Coconut Milk

The Bat

68 The Bat Once upon a time in old Pulotu there were two fa‘afafine named Muli and Pipi Pipi was pretty but Muli knew how to talk Every night they walked the beaches looking for sailors In those days everyone in Pulotu was a sailor When they found one, they had their way with him because they never did each other one of those things Afterwards as the islands used to be dens of cannibalism one of them hit the nodding sailor with a rock and they devoured him They did this until there were no more young men left on their little island In fact by this time Pipi had really learned everything she would from Muli and Muli was starting to desire Pipi so they did each other but afterwards Pipi killed Muli and devoured her as people who come to one for advice will This act made the gods very angry at Pipi so for punishment they turned her into a bat For years Pipi flew up and down the beach at night on little leather wings There were no young men until finally the Americans landed 69 Pipi’s first white man but she knew a sailor when she saw one Pipi sunk her teeth into the sailor’s fat neck and the sailor fainted Then Pipi drank until she got plump and passed out When she woke up she was in a basket aboard a ship and ended up at University of Minnesota Medical School where she was given a nice warm cage by a local foundation One day I’m not sure how but I’ll let you know she escaped It was the especially cold winter of ’94 eighteen-ninety-four Pipi flew above the buildings and south over the pale northern Mississippi River landscape It was snowing and everything was white Suddenly far below she saw something in black leather Flying down she discovered a boot that some young man had left there the previous summer along with his glasses and a pair of shorts he lost along the river bank walking to the corner store late one night fetching a bottle of milk for the wife and five kids By now Pipi’s wings had frozen and she was stuck She was in love with the black leather boot although it didn’t speak and she couldn’t eat it She didn’t think she could eat it and love it The snow kept falling until it covered them both like a blanket The end ...