The Beach

Richard finds Daffy distracting as he awaits the visitors’ arrival. Daffy fumbles with his gun and is overly loud, and soon Richard decides it is best if Daffy throws his gun away, “seeing as it couldn’t kill anything real” (350). He asks Daffy to wait behind while he goes ahead to meet the rafters. Richard spots Sammy and Zeph along with some other people on the beach, and he realizes it is his fault they are there. He notices there is a man and woman with them, along with one other woman who pops out of the trees shortly after. As they start making their way into the jungle, Richard notices they appear careless and loud, and he hopes they will be caught by the drug farmers. They reach the fields and have no idea where they are.

Sammy starts yelling, tearing plants, and throwing them around. Soon the others join in, and then the guards approach, rifles in hand. Richard watches in bewilderment as Zeph walks up to the guards, still entirely unaware of the danger, and is immediately beat in the face with a rifle. Both the guards and the rafters seem equally confused, and then the guards begin beating all the visitors. Soon, a lead guard arrives who can speak English and asks who they are. Sammy tries to apologize and explains that he was given a map and is looking for his friend. The guard seems curious about the map and decides to take Sammy and the others with him. One by one they are dragged off into the jungle as Richard stands by.

Richard starts heading back to camp, angry with Daffy for continuing to distract him and putting his life in danger. Daffy tries to convince Richard to help Sammy and Zeph, but they just end up arguing about it until Richard hears the snapping of branches. Then, a loud gunshot indicates that his friends have been shot. Richard suddenly has the urge to vomit but resists, and Daffy disappears from the scene.

Walking back to camp, Richard feels overwhelmed, his mind spinning and his stomach still heaving. He cannot believe how much the deaths have shocked him, and he tries to remind himself that at least the problem has ceased (forgetting that they mentioned the map to the guard). When Richard sees Sal, he explains that he saw them being dragged off and then heard the shots. Sal wants Richard to continue to keep it a secret if he can but notes that he will be confiding in Jed.

Richard takes some time to himself to calm down and still his mind. He tries to distract himself with the scenery, but a dive in the water is what works, as he finds it “calming, blinding, deafening; a perfect escape” (364). He does not stay calm for long, as he finds his way to Karl and begins threatening him to “get sane” again. Karl lashes out at Richard, hurting his leg, and then Richard jumps on him and begins suffocating him. Richard admits his memory of this event is patchy, as he barely recognizes himself in this moment. The next thing he remembers is Karl running down the beach, as fast as he can, away from Richard.

Karl runs past the camp and Richard chases after him, but eventually loses him as he disappears into the jungle. Richard screams for someone to catch him, and everyone seems confused. Richard lies and says Karl attacked him, but Etienne argues that isn’t possible as he was with Karl that morning. Sal claims that Karl lunged at her as well and has become dangerous: Richard is certain she is lying. Etienne continues to plead that Karl simply needs help and is improving, and Françoise leaves in silence and frustration, Etienne chasing after her.

Richard goes in to check on Jed and Christo and finds the situation worse than ever. Jed seems to be slowly dying himself; taking care of someone so close to death has taken its toll on his health. Richard suggests that Jed should go outside for a while. Jed refuses, saying he no longer cares about the beach since nobody cares about him. He is in the tent with Christo all day and night, and Richard is the only one who visits. Jed laments that he hoped with Daffy’s departure, the beach would improve, but Daffy came back in the form of Richard. Jed admits that, when he looks at Richard, all he sees is Daffy.

That night, Richard falls asleep easily and dreams about Daffy once again. Daffy tells him about when the beach was first discovered, and the sense of hope in the atmosphere at the time. He remarks that people spend their lives waiting for death. He watches Daffy carve the inscription into the tree, and Daffy talks about how places like the beach are impossible to protect, no matter how hard people try. When Jed arrived, it was the beginning of the end, and no one thing or person is responsible for the beach’s destruction. Suddenly, Richard realizes that Daffy has been playing him for a fool the entire time. The beach was never meant to survive, and all the dark, terrible, selfish things that Richard did to try to preserve it were in vain. Richard “wanted Vietnam” (378) and got Vietnam, and it was only because it was meant to be destroyed that it could ever exist at all.

Sal is happy as she passes out orders to get ready for the Tet festival. Special foods will be prepared, and everyone has a job to do. Richard watches Sal and wonders if she will be as alarmed as he was to find out that all their efforts to protect the beach will ultimately be useless. Richard rests after the harrowing experiences he had and wonders when his end will come. He stays in the longhouse if he can avoid being disturbed, but soon Sal comes in to talk to him. She wants him on fishing duty today, and when Richard asks about Jed and Christo, Sal tries to steer Richard away from going to see them. She wants Christo’s death to be kept secret if it happens during Tet; she blames Richard for Karl’s behavior and wants him to kill Karl to get rid of the problem. Sal is most concerned about preserving the beach and making Tet a night to remember. Richard pleads with her for another solution, but Sal assures him he will soon forget all of this ever happened and everything will be fine.

Richard goes to look for Karl, knowing he won’t kill him, but trying to convince Sal otherwise. He goes to the caves and finds the boat gone, assuming Karl must have already taken it to Koh Pha Ngan long before. While in the caves, stunned by everything, he is met by Etienne, who wants to resolve the conflict between them. Etienne tries to apologize for his reaction to Richard kissing Françoise, but Richard angrily insists he doesn’t care about any of that anymore. Etienne says he wants to tell Richard more about what is going on, and worries that Sal dislikes him, but that everybody knows Richard does favors for Sal. Etienne already figured out that Richard was searching for Karl on an order to kill him and asks Richard point blank if Karl is dead. Richard thinks it is possible Sal will want Etienne dead, and reflects how easily everyone else, like Karl, Sten, Christo, and the rafters, were so easily forgotten for the sake of the beach. Richard then asks Etienne if he would like to leave the beach forever, and Etienne stares at him, not knowing what to say.

Richard hopes to get out without any issues but knows it will not be that easy. Unconcerned by the practicalities, Richard knows they all have skills in foraging and catching fish now. He watches as Etienne talks to Françoise about leaving, and Françoise agrees to do so. Françoise asks Richard what his reason for leaving is, but he refuses to be honest with her other than to say that life on the beach “will only get worse” (393). Before leaving, Richard insists on seeing if Jed or Keaty wants to come, as they have become his best friends on the island.

Richard shows Keaty where the boat used to be, and conveniently, Keaty happened to be the one to tie it up and now thinks himself responsible for its loss. Without needing to ask Keaty or suggest it, Keaty starts to panic and eventually concludes that he will have to leave the island somehow to escape Sal’s wrath. Richard hints that he might know a way to escape.

Richard and Keaty walk back to camp so Richard can find Jed, and Keaty acts overly conspicuous, nervous to be caught. Richard tells him to go play his Game Boy and act as normal as possible. Richard goes looking for Sal to make sure she isn’t with Jed, but she turns up behind him and surprises him. Sal wants to know if Richard is feeling better, and Richard assures her Karl is gone, to which she replies, “Who?” (398). Another convenient occurrence leads most of the people to the beach, and Keaty and Richard are alone in the kitchen. They put as much marijuana in the stew as they can manage without it being obvious and hope to put the camp into a daze while they escape.

Richard makes it to the tent and finds Jed there, silently watching Christo slowly breathe. Richard hopes that Christo will die to release Jed, but Jed is completely devoted to ensuring Christo is comfortable. Richard notices that Karl’s bag from the tent is gone, and hopes Karl had a chance to say goodbye to Christo before leaving. Richard watches Christo, hypnotized and thinking about the way he seems like a machine slowly breaking down. Richard tells Jed they need to talk, and Jed already knows Richard is going to say he is leaving. Jed is also aware that Karl reaching the mainland could mean the Swedish police arriving, and that after taking the raft that Zeph and Sammy arrived on, there will be no other way to leave the island. Jed is determined to stay with Christo until he dies and says he will only join Richard if Christo dies before they leave. Richard suggests covering Christo’s mouth to help him die, but this only angers Jed, and Richard decides he will just have to come back later. Richard sees Keaty rushing down to the beach with the collected cannabis in his arms, and soon everyone comes to the clearing to start the festival.

To get drunk, Bugs ferments coconut milk and passes it around. Richard and the others purposely miss their mouths as much as possible, trying not to let it affect them. Bugs kicks his coconut when he’s finished, obviously painful, but the others join in and do the same. Richard refuses, but Keaty is still nervous about appearing strange and kicks his coconut. Everyone conveniently starts getting drunk and quite distracted, and then Richard is confronted by Françoise, who accuses him of no longer loving her or paying any attention to her. Richard notices she is much more drunk than she should be considering their plan, and she informs him that Etienne is, too. Richard decides to put his fingers down her throat and cause her to throw up, for which she slaps him, but soon sobers up. He goes to find Etienne to offer him the same treatment.

Everyone sits in a circle to eat the stew, and soon they are all high and acting strange. Richard eventually manages to slip away to check on Jed and finds him asleep in the tent. He uses the opportunity to suffocate Christo, noting how “it really was that simple” (411). He leaves the tent so Jed can wake to discover Christo dead.

People start dancing and Richard watches them from a distance, fondly reminded of the atmosphere the beach used to have. Gregorio notices Richard and explains that Tet is the one night of the year that Sal lets loose and allows herself to drink and smoke. One of the men is burning candle wax down his arm, watching in awe, and another keeps saying he is hallucinating. The atmosphere quickly turns unsettling and perturbing, and Richard and Etienne decide they need to leave soon.

Richard sees Daffy appear and sit down between Sal and Bugs, and he has a feeling something is terribly wrong. He gets up to approach Daffy and Keaty grabs him by the leg, demanding to know what’s going on. Richard says he needs to check on something, getting Keaty off and walking away. He goes up to Sal, Bugs, and Daffy, and Sal talks about how happy she is that they overcame everything and protected their beach culture. Richard humors her, but soon walks away into the longhouse with Daffy following behind. Richard demands to know why Daffy is there, and if he is going to try to prevent them from escaping, but Daffy just repeats the phrase, “The horror!” (416) and then disappears out the door. Richard goes back to the beach and tells Etienne and the others that they must leave immediately. As he is doing so, Bugs gets up.

Bugs hears a noise and thinks it was someone breaking branches in the jungle. Suddenly, everyone starts hearing the same noise, and wonders who or what it could be. Several figures appear out of the trees as Sal tells everyone to run, but it is too late. They are holding guns.

One of the drug guards points at Richard, and he is dragged off to be shot first. He is disappointed that he is going to miss all the action and asks to choose who shoots him. He picks the man he observed in the trees on his first lookout alone. He taunts them, saying he already knows the man has no teeth. They laugh at Richard, calling him the “funny boy in trees, every day” (421). Apparently, they had known he was coming to steal marijuana all along, and saw him as harmless at the time. The lead guard starts yelling at everyone that he will not be killing anyone today; it is instead a warning to stop creating maps and inviting new people to the island. He throws the map down to the ground and shoots at it. The guard says he likes the people there but will not accept any more people arriving. He beats Richard several times, and then the drug guards go back to their side of the island as Richard wonders why he was singled out.

Richard is half-conscious and seeing double, wondering why nobody is coming to help him. He asks Keaty to come to him, and he does, but hesitantly. After Richard is lifted away by Keaty and Françoise, he sees why everyone is so shocked; the bodies of the rafters have been left on the beach as a warning. They are covered in bullet holes and missing parts. Sal goes over and cheerfully comments that they need to be cleaned up, but when she tries to lift a body, she slips and lands on Sammy, who is missing his jaw. Sal screams, and in a moment of seemingly altered consciousness, Bugs goes over to Sammy and begins hacking him up. He eventually severs Sammy’s head and starts swinging it around. Soon, most of the people of the beach have joined in and begun hacking and dissecting the bodies. Richard finds himself frozen to the spot, unable to do anything but watch in horror.

Sal finds a piece of paper on the ground near the bodies, and it is the note Richard left for Sammy and Zeph with his name on it. When everyone realizes that he was the one who invited the visitors, they turn on him instantly and begin stabbing him repeatedly. Richard is surrounded and feels nothing but pain, and in screaming out for someone to help him, finds that nobody will.

Richard sees Daffy in the crowd for a moment, who tells him it shouldn’t end this way. Richard suddenly notices that Jed, Etienne, Françoise, and Keaty have returned with spears and begun stabbing at the attackers to defend Richard. One of them stabs Bugs, and another stabs Sal directly in the stomach. Jed picks up Richard and yells at everyone to keep back, and Richard is amazed to see them succumb to their exhaustion and relent.

The group escapes on the raft. Eventually, a fishing boat spots them and tows them to Koh Samui, and Richard and Keaty sell their watches while Etienne steals a wallet to get the money to get back to the mainland. They bus back to Bangkok, talking all the while, and take turns calling home when they arrive there. Richard remembers how everyone was in tears after speaking to their family, as if it was the relief, they never knew they needed. Richard’s wounds are superficial enough that he starts to heal quickly.

Richard writes his story a year and some after his trip to Thailand. He has not seen Françoise and Etienne since, but is confident he will, as “the world is a small place, and Europe is even smaller” (435). He still sees Keaty and Jed often, and they too have become close friends. They even work in the same building. He sees one of the islanders, Cassie, on the news for smuggling heroin, and it confirms that some of them must have escaped. Richard hopes that Sal and Bugs are dead and ends his story by reporting that although he still has nightmares, Daffy never visits them; Richard carries the scars of his time at the beach.