Chapter 62

"Why did your parents think Juan was a girl?""

"Where we grew up it was acknowledged when a guevedoche such as Jhoka became Joseph, it was almost a step up, but for a man to become feminine could not be accepted so Juan tried to hide the girlish figure. At home though, where we were seeing him every day, we could not help but notice his increasing femininity but what could we do? There were no boyfriends and no embarrassing behaviour but also there was no affordable medical help so we lived with it until the 'haemorrhage' at 19 years old."

By this time great Aunt Gabriela was in tears as though it had all been yesterday. While Litara and I were hugging her Aarón was on the phone to what turned out to be more relatives living nearby and with their arrival the mood soon lightened but unfortunately the language everyone used changed to Spanish. Bill and Litara managed reasonably well but I had only done French at school so all my effort went into just learning who was who which soon made me wonder, 'What nationality am I?'

Aunt Gabriela was a multiracial Dom'inican (a mix of Tanoi indian, Spanish and African but not pronounced Domin'ican which I'd learnt which means from the island of Domin'ica); Aarón said he was Spanish through a Catalan father and I'd thought of myself as Welsh/British despite my parents. I'd been looking on this finding relatives thing as something of a game but actually seeing these other relatives it hit me that my Mum and aunt Sophie must be Gabriela's and Aaron's closest blood relatives. Similarly back at the hotel, with Litara and I away, my Da's and Grandma Tina's closest blood relative present would be great uncle Taulapapa from Samoa - a man I'd never met before.

Last July, when I was taking my exams and wondering what to do next I'd assumed I knew everything I needed about nationality and race; about wealth and class and, like many people, about gender and sexuality. However with only 6 extra months experience in a larger world I learnt I knew nothing. Even Bill sitting in front of me was almost that ultimate of contradictions - a Scottish philanthropist!

Aarón drove us back by another route and I was surprised how developed this part of the island was which made the poorer homes all the more obvious.

"Do you think you would like living here Venus?" quizzed Aarón and I knew by his tone that a flippant reply would get slapped down.

"I know that for most of the world having the very rich and very poor next to each other is normal but even if I were rich it would make me very uncomfortable. If Aunt Gabriela's brother Juan were born today to a poor family would it be better than 50 years ago?"

"So how do you improve things for the poor?"asked Bill "or are they totally, as you put it yesterday, screwed?"

"Electricity. I've seen lots of cruising boats making their own electricity with solar panels and wind generators but I've there's nothing like that ashore here. A lot of the houses either don't have electricity or it looks as though they're stealing it by tapping into the power lines."

"Stealing is a cheap way of getting what you want and those panels and wind generators are expensive and rely on the sun and wind which isn't reliable."

"What happens if you have a national electricity network between towns then pay small suppliers to pump electricity into the network but pay them with free electricity up to the amount they put in… That way they could have better reliability and not have all the expense of storing energy. I don't know if what I'm suggesting is practical but it is possible because that is part of what Dad does with a boat's electrical system."

"If it works it would create local jobs maintaining the lines and generators that wouldn't quickly disappear." commented Aarón. "Of course there is the problem of initial finance."

Bill and Aarón then concentrated on ripping my suggestion apart and rebuilding it - a pastime that seems to give them enormous satisfaction

Solving the economic problems of a country is so much easier than selecting what to wear for a hen night but Litara had decided that we were going to sing a Samoan song for Grandma which was one of the first we had learnt and that would work best if we each wore a pareau. As they were cheap, fitted all sizes and she had brought them with her it confirmed my opinion that my big sister is an organisational genius - she had even arranged lei headdresses for both of us!

We joined Grandma, Mum, Sophie, Anna and cousin Elizabeth and headed down to to function room which had been reserved for the three combined hen gatherings arranged for that evening. A loud roar met us as we made our grand entrance which went way beyond anything our admittedly great beauty demanded. My first thought was it was because Grandma was at 75 an icon for all those who believe it is never too late but instead the hotel manager came in through a side door and crossed the room to place a huge garland around my neck. For some reason I was the heroine of the day although it took a while to understand why.

The thief that I had encountered that morning hadn't chosen my grandmother's room at random as when he was searched his pattern became clear for Grandma Tina was merely the last of the brides he robbed. It seems as an ex-employee he had keys, a knowledge of the room cleaning rota and an observation that among women, the one time of life they can be guaranteed to have the best family jewels on hand is for their wedding! There were 3 very happy brides plus very relieved hotel and wedding arranging companies who thought I was the best thing since 'best things' were invented and promised a free wedding and hotel accommodation when my turn came… They didn't mean to be cruel but that did hurt.

The evening can safely be described as being a success. Grandma was 75 and the other brides-to-be came with the sort of money that could afford an overseas wedding so the sort of loud behaviour I'd seen in Cardiff from hen nights wasn't to be expected but it came regardless and I'm not sure the male stripper and pole dancing competition were entirely appropriate even if Litara did win the pole dancing. Who'd've guessed?