Ernesto Ortiz was an adventurer who manned his own small schooner all by himself, having ingeniously designed it to be operated by one man.
   One day, Ernesto was driven by a storm to the island of Dtoma — which, of course, the local inhabitants called ‘Doma’. He rather enjoyed the pleasant atmosphere, and the hospitality of the European natives, and decided he must visit again. He wasn’t totally sure of the bearings, so when he went to visit a second time, he instead landed on Doma — which, of course, the local inhabitants called ‘Doma’.
   He was a bit disappointed that the locals didn’t remember him from his previous visit, but because they were so hospitable, he wasn’t put off a further visit.
   The third time he went, he couldn’t remember if it was two degrees to the North, or two degrees to the South that he should have turned once in sight of Lao-tuna, and so he again ended up in Dtoma, as at the first — which, of course, the locals called ‘Doma’. This time, they remembered him, so he was encouraged to pay further visits. He enjoyed the simplicity of the people, and they enjoyed the chance to hear from the outside world.
   Soon, Ernesto discovered that no matter if he turned two degrees to the North or two degrees to the South, he always seemed to end up at the same island. How could this be? he wondered. Given the distance between Lao-tuna and Doma, four degrees difference should have put him miles off course! Perhaps it was a current that always drove him back on course. Each time he went, he alternated his route from the one to the other so as to try to detect how the current flowed.
   Though he seemed — to himself — to be visiting ‘Doma’ island twice as frequently as he really thought proper, and thus rather expected the islanders to tire of him; they always seemed as glad to see him as though his visits were only occasional.
   The odd thing was, he could never remember anyone’s name. The lady whom he thought he surely remembered as Mabel, corrected him and said she was Muriel.
   ‘I once had a sister named Mabel,’ she said dreamily, ‘but she was drowned in the storm when we were very young.’
   Why his memory should never seem to work right in this, he couldn’t figure out. Then, their memory didn’t seem to be very good either. On each trip, he invariably had to repeat things he had said on the previous trip. Perhaps it was something strange about the place that affect the memory. He did vaguely remember hearing of some local superstitions concerning the islands in this area. Whatever the case, Ernesto could never get their names right — whether it was Muriel who lost her sister Mabel in the storm, or if it was Mabel who lost Muriel. Likewise — whether it was Randal who lost a brother, Renton, or vice versa. Whatever it was, maybe it was affecting him as well!
   Milly was a different case. Ernesto never had trouble remembering Milly’s name, nor those of her brother and sister-in-law, Bob and Tilly, nor that of her cousin, Todd. A couple of times, he got Milly mixed up with Tilly, but this time, he was told, ‘No, I’m Milly. That’s Tilly, my cousin.
   ‘Well, for cousins, you could pass for twins!’ Ernesto would say.
   Milly never mentioned that she herself actually did once have a twin sister named Tilly, as this would appear too unbelievable.
   The fact that he had no trouble remembering the names of members of the Rankle family after just a few visits, he attributed to his spending more time with them than with the others. The fatherliness and motherliness of the parents (whom he simply took to calling Maw and Paw, like the rest) probably had something to do with that. Also, he was fondly attracted to Milly. But even the Rankle family tended to be forgetful, and always had to be reminded of things on at least one following visit.
   As for the castaways, they thought Ernesto had a frightfully bad memory for remembering things he hadn’t done, but spoke of as though he had.
   ‘He must think so hard about things he’s going to say that he believes he actually said them,’ Todd would say.
   ‘Probably comes from too many long years out at sea in the hot sun,’ Paw would answer.
   ‘A very nice young man, otherwise,’ Maw would invariable comment. ‘I wonder when he’ll ask us for Milly’s hand, and settle down here with us?’
   One day, when the conversation had gone like this on Dtoma island, the Dtoma Todd answered the Dtoma Maw, ‘Well, you know, I wouldn’t be surprised if he thought he already had!’
   The Dtoma Todd couldn’t have been any more right. That very day, Ernesto arrived, and walked straight to the Rankle group of huts, and said, ‘What day should we have the wedding?’
   ‘What wedding?’ asked Paw.
   ‘Well, your daughter’s and my wedding,’ said Ernesto.
   ‘I think that my daughter would very much appreciate your proposing to her before you and I begin planning her wedding.’
   Ernesto wasn’t altogether surprised at this answer. Even though he had just proposed to her on the previous trip, he turned around, walked straight to her hut, knocked, and proposed to her again. Again, the answer was, ‘Yes.’
   They then proceeded to plan the wedding for the next time Ernesto would arrive. As Ernesto had copra plantations to see to, and travel was unpredictable, they knew they would have to just leave it at that. After further visiting with his fiancee, Ernesto again set off, knowing down deep inside that on his next arrival, instead of the actual wedding, he would just have to agree on the plans with his future father-in-law all over again. And sure enough!
   The actual wedding (the first time around) had to be rushed, as Ernesto had urgent business to attend to before he could consummate the marriage. That took two weeks. When he finally got back, just as he was afraid would happen, his time away had made them forget they had had a wedding! They had to have the ceremony all over again before he could even sleep with his wife!
   I think that had Ernesto been the type to face facts straight on, and not put things out of his mind that seemed too confusing or uncomfortable; he would have begun to suspect the truth at this point. Why! No matter how forgetful one can become, one never forgets one’s own wedding! But Ernesto wasn’t that type, so soon he forgot that he had had not one, but two weddings. However, his subconscious mind had probably picked up certain differences, and told him that when they acted this way, to remember this set of events, and when they acted that way, to always refer to that set of events.
   The following year, after the wedding(‘s), Johnny was born. As you probably guess, it was really more Johnnies than one.
   From conception to actual birth, as everyone knows, it takes nine months, give or take a few days. The Johnnies weren’t, of course, conceived on the same day, but with one, you must give a few days, and with the other you must take a few days. As it happened, they were born on the same day.
   Ernesto’s name for his son was ‘João’, being the Portuguese way of saying ‘John’. Everyone else simply called him Johnny.
   Johnny grew up on the island along with several children who had been born by this time, and a few more who were born later. He only saw his father occasionally, but, he had his grandpa and grandma, and all the others on the island were like family as well.
   Some of the children began to grow into clothes that some of the other islanders had worn when they first arrived. Sometimes they wore grass skirts; sometimes, clothes that Ernesto brought back to give away; and sometimes, they wore nothing at all.
   Ernesto often found sarongs and batik material, and occasionally European style clothes at various trading stations and colonial governor’s seats, which he always bought for the sake of his dear friends and his wife. Other things he often bought as well, like the goats.
   The first goat he brought them was a nanny goat so that the islanders could have milk to drink. On another visit, he brought a billy goat so that the nanny could have kids. But the islanders looked at the billy goat, and said, ‘What use is a male goat to us? It will only eat everything in sight!’
   After the usual arguing and going on and on, and throwing their hands into the air, Ernesto decided that from now on, he would only bring at least two of everything. This he did on the following trip bringing two more goats.
   This time, they said, ‘I hope one’s a billy goat so that it can breed with the nanny you brought us last time.’
   Ernesto just sighed and shrugged his shoulders.
   More goats came later, so that both islands did end up with approximately equal numbers — though one did end up with a couple more billy goats than was useful, and the other with one or two more nanny goats. But then, that’s not one of the first things one notices on arriving at a place.
   Johnny soon grew to the age where Ernesto began taking him along on some of his trips. He thought that getting him away from the island would cure him of a bad memory that seemed to have affected all the others.
   Johnny loved it at sea. He got to know all about the rigging and all the words for this and that, and he even got to steer the ship. His father taught him how to keep a straight course using the compass. He also learned which stars in the night sky indicated North and South, and which ones to look for in case those ones were clouded over.
   Johnny got to see places he never knew existed. When they came to an island with many wooden huts, some colonial buildings and a church, he asked, ‘Papa, is this London?’
   His papa informed him that it was only Tiguna. However, he was enamoured with life in such a fast bustling village on a trade route.
   He also learned from his papa about even more busy centres of trade and modern convenience, such as Melacca, Macao, Goa and Lisbon. His papa told him he might take him to see these far off places some day.
   Ernesto was pleased with the effect all this having on João. Why! He was remembering everything he told him!
   It just so happened that when it was time to take João back, he went the same way as he came, and so João ended up on his own island with his own mother and grandparents.
   However, the next time Ernesto went to visit, little João ran to him reminding him of his promise to take him along on a trip as though it had been, as yet, unfulfilled. Though Ernesto was greatly disappointed, he never the less took João along the second time. Again, João learned all about the ship, how to steer, how to recognise the stars, and was just as enamoured with the busy life of Tiguna as before, as though it were his very first time; and even forgetting that it wasn’t London! Seeing this happen away from the island, Ernesto was beginning to really wonder.
   When it was time to take João back, Ernesto didn’t have time to stay. He simply arrived at the port early one morning as it was just getting light, let João off at the pier, and was off again before anyone else saw him.

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