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I have often wondered about the proposition that for each of

us there is one great love in our lives, and one only. Even if that
is not true and experience tells most of us it is not there are
those, in legend at least, who believe there is only one person in
this world whom they will ever love with all their heart. Tristan
persisted in his love of Isolde in spite of everything; Orpheus
would not have risked the Underworld, one imagines, for anyone
but Eurydice. Such stories are touching, but the cynic might be
forgiven for saying: yes, but what if the person you love does not
reciprocate? What if Isolde had found somebody she preferred to
Tristan, or Eurydice had been indierent to Orpheus?
Te wise thing to do in cases of unreturned aection is to look
elsewhere you cannot force another to love you and to choose
somebody else. In matters of the heart, though, as in all human
aairs, few of us behave in a sensible way. We can do without
love, of course, and claim it does not really play a major part in
our lives. We may do that, but we still hope. Indierent to all
the evidence, hope has a way of surviving every discouragement,
every setback or reversal; hope sustains us, enables us to believe
we will nd the person we have wanted all along.
Sometimes, of course, that is exactly what happens.
Tis story started when the two people involved were
children. It began on a small island in the Caribbean, continued
in Scotland, and in Australia, and came to a head in Singapore.
It took place over sixteen years, beginning as one of those intense
friendships of childhood and becoming, in time, something
quite dierent. Tis is the story of that passion. It is a love story,
and like most love stories it involves more than just two people,
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for every love has within it the echoes of other loves. Our story
is often our parents story, told again, and with less variation
than we might like to think. Te mistakes, as often as not, are
exactly the same mistakes our parents made, as human mistakes
so regularly are.
Te Caribbean island in question is an unusual place. Grand
Cayman is still a British territory, by choice of its people rather
than by imposition, one of the odd corners that survive from
the monstrous shadow that Victoria cast over more than half the
world. Today it is very much in the sphere of American inuence
Florida is only a few hundred miles away, and the cruise ships
that drop anchor o George Town usually y the ag of the
United States, or are American ships under some other ag of
convenience. But the sort of money that the Cayman Islands
attract comes from nowhere; has no nationality, no characteristic
smell.
Grand Cayman is not much to look at, either on the map,
where it is a pin-prick in the expanse of blue to the south of
Cuba and the west of Jamaica, or in reality, where it is a coral-
reefed island barely twenty miles long and a couple of miles in
width. With smallness come some advantages, amongst them
a degree of immunity to the hurricanes that roar through the
Caribbean each year. Jamaica is a large and tempting target for
these winds, and is hit quite regularly. Tere is no justice in the
storms that atten the houses of the poor in places like Kingston
or Port Antonio, wood and tin constructions so much more
vulnerable than the bricks and mortar of the better-o. Grand
Cayman, being relatively minuscule, is usually missed, although
every few decades the trajectory of a hurricane takes it straight
across the island. Because there are no natural salients, much of
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Th e Fo r e v e r Gi r l

the land is inundated by the resultant storm surge. People may

lose their every possession to the wind cars, fences, furniture
and fridges, animals too, can all be swept out to sea and never
seen again; boats end up in trees; palm trees bend double and are
broken with as much ease as one might snap a pencil or the stem
of a garden plant.
Grand Cayman is not fertile. Te soil, white and sandy, is not
much use for growing crops, and indeed the land, if left to its own
devices, would quickly revert to mangrove swamp. Yet people
have occupied the island for several centuries, and scratched a
living there. Te original inhabitants were turtle-hunters. Tey
were later joined by various pirates and wanderers for whom a
life far away from the prying eye of o cialdom was attractive.
Tere were shermen, too, as this was long before over-shing
was an issue, and the reef brought abundant marine life.
Ten, in the second half of the twentieth century, it occurred
to a small group of people that Grand Cayman could become
an o-shore nancial centre. As a British territory it was stable,
relatively incorrupt (by the standards of Central America and
the shakier parts of the Caribbean), and its banks would enjoy
the tutelage of the City of London. Unlike some other states
that might have nursed similar ambitions, Grand Cayman was
an entirely safe place to store money.
Sort out the mosquitoes, they said. Build a longer runway.
Te money will ow in. Youll see. Cayman will take o.
Cayman, rather than the Cayman Islands, is what people who
live there call the place an aectionate shortening, with the
emphasis on the man rather than the cay.
Banks and investors agreed, and George Town became the home
of a large expatriate community, a few who came as tax exiles,
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but most of them hard-working and conscientious accountants
or trust managers. Te locals watched with mixed feelings. Tey
were reluctant to give up their quiet and rather sleepy way of
life but found it di cult to resist the prosperity the new arrivals
brought. And they liked, too, the high prices they could get for
their previously worthless acres. A tiny white-board home by the
sea, nothing special, could now be sold for a price that could keep
one in comfort for the rest of ones life. For most, the temptation
was just too great; an easy life was now within grasp for many
Caymanians, as Jamaicans could be brought in to do the manual
labour, to serve in the restaurants frequented by the visitors from
the cruise ships, to look after the bankers children. A privileged
few were given status, as they called it, and were allowed to live
permanently on the islands, these being the ones who were really
needed, or, in some cases, who knew the right people the people
who could ease the passage of their residence petitions. Others had
to return to the places from which they came, which were usually
poorer, more dangerous, and more tormented by mosquitoes.
Most children do not choose their own name, but she did. She was
born Sally, and was called that as a baby, but at about the age of four,
having heard the name in a story, she chose to be called Clover. At
rst her parents treated this indulgently, believing that after a day or
two of being Clover she would revert to being Sally. Children got
strange notions into their heads; her mother had read somewhere
of a child who had decided for almost a complete week that he was
a dog and had insisted on being fed from a bowl on the oor. But
Clover refused to go back to being Sally, and the name stuck.
Clovers father, David, was an accountant who had been born
and brought up in Scotland. After university he had started his
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professional training in London, in the o ces of one of the large
international accountancy rms. He was particularly able he
saw gures as if they were a landscape, instinctively understanding
their topography and this led to his being marked out as a high
ier. In his rst year after qualication, he was oered a spell of
six months in the rms o ce in New York, an opportunity he
seized enthusiastically. He joined a squash club and it was there,
in the course of a mixed tournament, that he met the woman he
was to marry.
Tis woman was called Amanda. Her parents were both psychi-
atrists, who ran a joint practice on the Upper East Side. Amanda
invited David back to her parents apartment after she had been
seeing him for a month. Tey liked him, but she could tell that
they were anxious about her seeing somebody who might take her
away from New York. She was an only child, and she was the centre
of their world. Tis young man, this accountant, was likely to be
sent back to London, would want to take Amanda with him, and
they would be left in New York. Tey put a brave face on it and
said nothing about their fears; shortly before Davids six months
were up, though, Amanda told her parents that they wanted to be-
come engaged. Her mother wept at the news, although in private.
Te internal machinations of the accounting rm came to the
rescue. Rather than returning to London, David was to be sent
to Grand Cayman, where the rm was expanding its o ce. Tis
was only three hours ight from New York through Miami
and would therefore be less of a separation. Amandas parents
were mollied.
Tey left New York and settled into a temporary apartment in
George Town, arranged for them by the rm. A few months later
they found a new house near an inlet called Smiths Cove, not
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much more than a mile from town. Tey moved in a week or two
before their wedding, which took place in a small church round
the corner. Tey chose this church because it was the closest one
to them. It was largely frequented by Jamaicans, who provided
an ebullient choir for the occasion, greatly impressing the friends
who had travelled down from New York for the ceremony.
Fourteen months later, Clover was born. Amanda sent a
photograph to her mother in New York: Heres your lovely
grandchild. Look at her eyes. Just look at them. Shes so beautiful
already! At two days!
Fond parents, said Amandas father.
His wife studied the photograph. No, she said. Shes right.
Five days ago, he mused. Born on a Tursday.
Has far to go
He frowned. Far to go?
She explained. Te song. You remember it Wednesdays
child is full of woe; Tursdays child has far to go
Tat doesnt mean anything much.
She shrugged; she had always felt that her husband lacked
imagination; so many men did, she thought. Perhaps that shell
have to travel far to get what she wants. Travel far or wait a long
time, maybe.
He laughed at the idea of paying any attention to such
things. Youll be talking about her star sign next. Superstitious
behaviour. I have to deal with that all the time with my patients.
I dont take it seriously, she said. Youre too literal. Tese
things are fun thats all.
He smiled at her. Sometimes.
Sometimes what?
Sometimes fun. Sometimes not.
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Te new parents employed a Jamaican nurse for their child. Tere
was plenty of money for something like this there is no income
tax on Grand Cayman and the salaries are generous. David was
already having the prospect of a partnership within three or four
years dangled in front of him, something that would have taken
at least a decade elsewhere. On the island there was nothing
much to spend money on, and employing domestic sta at least
mopped up some of the cash. In fact, they were both slightly
embarrassed by the amount of money they had. As a Scot, David
was frugal in his instincts and disliked the aunting of wealth;
Amanda shared this. She had come from a milieu where displays
of wealth were not unusual, but she had never felt comfortable
about that. It struck her that by employing this Jamaican woman
they would be recycling money that would otherwise simply sit
in an account somewhere.
More seasoned residents of the island laughed at this. Of
course you have sta why not? Half the year its too hot to do
anything yourself, anyway. Dont think twice about it.
Teir advertisement in the Cayman Compass drew two replies.
One was from a Honduran woman who scowled through the
interview, which did not last long.
Resentment, conded David. Tats the way it goes.
What are we in her eyes? Rich. Privileged. Maybe we wont nd
anybody
Can we blame her?
David shrugged. Probably not. But can you have somebody
who hates you in the house?
Te following day they interviewed a Jamaican woman called
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Margaret. She asked a few questions about the job and then
looked about the room. I dont see no baby, she said. I want
to see the baby.
Tey took her into the room where Clover was lying asleep
in her cot. Te air conditioner was whirring, but there was that
characteristic smell of a nursery that drowsy, milky smell of an
infant.
Lord, just look at her! said Margaret. Te little angel.
She stepped forward and bent over the cot. Te child, now
aware of her presence, struggled up through layers of sleep to
open her eyes.
Little darling! exclaimed Margaret, reaching forward to pick
her up.
Shes still sleepy, said Amanda. Maybe
But Margaret had her in her arms now and was planting kisses
on her brow. David glanced at Amanda, who smiled weakly.
He turned to Margaret. When can you start?
Right now, she said. I start right now.
Tey had not asked Margaret anything about her circumstances
at the interview such as it was and it was only a few days later
that she told them about herself.
I was born in Port Antonio, she said. My mother worked
in a hotel, and she worked hard, hard; always working, I tell
you. Always. Tere were four of us me, my brother and two
sisters. My brothers legs didnt work too well and he started to
get mixed up with people who dealt in drugs and he went the
way they all go. My older sister was twenty then. She worked
in an o ce in town a good job, and she did it well because
she had learned shorthand and everything and never forgot
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anything. Ten one day she just didnt come home. No letter,
no message, no nothing, and we sat there and wondered what to
think. Nobody saw her, nobody heard from her just nothing.
Ten they found her three days later. She was run over, thrown
o the road into the bush, I tell you, and the person who did it
just drive o just drive o like that and say nothing. How
can a person do something like that to another person run over
them like they were a dog or something? I think of her every
day, I cant help it every day and wonder why the Lord let that
happen. I know he has his reasons, but sometimes its hard for us
to work out what they are.
Ten somebody said to me that I could come to Cayman
with her. Tis woman she was a sort of aunt to me, and she
arranged it with some people at the church, she did. I came over
and met my husband, whos Caymanian, one hundred per cent.
He is a very good man who xes government fridges. He says
that I dont have to work, but I say that I dont want to sit in the
house all day and wait for him to come back from xing fridges.
So thats why Ive taken this job, you see. Tats why.
Amanda listened to this and thought about how suering
could be compressed into a few simple words: Ten one day she
just didnt come home ... But so could happiness: a good man who
fxes fridges
Tere was a second child, Billy, who arrived after a complicated
pregnancy. Amanda went to Miami on the last day the airline
would let her y, and then stayed until they induced labour.
Margaret came with David and Clover to pick her up at the
airport. She covered the new infant with kisses, just as she had
done with Clover.
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Hes going to be very strong, she said. You can tell it straight
away with a boy child, you know. You look at him and you say:
this one is going to be very strong and handsome.
Amanda laughed. Surely you cant. Not yet. You can hope for
that, but you cant tell.
Margaret shook her head. But I can. I can always tell.
She was full of such information. She could predict when a
storm was coming. You watch the birds, you see. Te birds
they know because they feel it in their feathers. So you watch
them they tell you when a storm is on the way. Every time.
And she could tell whether a sh was infected with ciguatera
by a simple test she had learned from Jamaicans who claimed
it never let them down. You have to watch those reef sh, she
explained. If they have the illness and you eat them then you get
really sick. But you know who can tell whether the sh is sick?
Ants. You put the sh down on the ground and you watch the
ants. If the sh is clean, theyre all over it if its got ciguatera,
then they walk all the way round that sh, just like this, on their
toes they wont touch it, those ants: they know. Teyve got
sensitive noses. You try it. Youll see.
Amanda said to David: It could have been very dierent for
Margaret.
What could?
Life. Everything. If she had had the chance of an education.
He was silent. Its not too late. She could go to night school.
Tere are courses.
Amanda thought this was unlikely. She works here all day.
And then theres Eddie to look after, and those dogs they have.
Its her life. Tats what she wants.
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She did not think so. Do you think people actually want
their lives? Or do you think they just accept them? Tey take the
life theyre given, I think. Or most of them do.
He had been looking at a sheaf of papers gures, of course
and he put them aside. We are getting philosophical, arent we?
Tey were sitting outside, by the pool. Te water reected the
sky, a shimmer of light blue. She said: Well, these things are
important. Otherwise
Yes?
Otherwise we go through life not really knowing what we
want, or what we mean. Tats not enough.
No?
She realised that she had never talked to him about these
things, and now that they were doing so, she suddenly saw that he
had nothing to say about such questions. It was an extraordinary
moment, and one that later she would identify as the precise
point at which she fell out of love with him.
He picked up his papers. A paper clip that had been keeping
them together had slipped out of position, and now he
manoeuvred it back. Margaret? he said.
What about her?
Will she have children of her own?
She did not answer him at rst, and he shot her an interested
glance.
No? he said. Has she spoken to you?
She had, having done so one afternoon, but only after
extracting a promise that she would tell nobody. Tere had been
shame, and tears. Two ectopic pregnancies had put paid to her
hopes of a family. One of them had almost killed her, such had
been the loss of blood. Te other had been detected earlier and
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had been quietly dealt with.
He pressed her to answer. Well?
Yes. I said I wouldnt discuss it.
Even with me?
She looked at him. Te thought of what she had just felt the
sudden and unexpected insight that had come to her appalled
her. It was just as a loss of faith must be for a priest; that moment
when he realises that he no longer believes in God and that
everything he has done up to that point his whole life, really
has been based on something that is not there; the loss, the
waste of time, the self-denial, now all for nothing. Was this what
happened in a marriage? She had been fond of him she had
imagined that she had loved him but now, quite suddenly and
without any provoking incident, it was as if he were a stranger to
her a familiar stranger, yes, but a stranger nonetheless.
She closed her eyes. She had suddenly seen him as an outsider
might see him as a tall, well-built man who was used to
having everything his way, because people who looked like him
often had that experience. But he might also be seen as a rather
unexciting man, a man of habit, interested in gures and money
and not much else. She felt dizzy at the thought of of what?
Years of emptiness ahead? Clover was eight now, and Billy was
four. Fifteen years?
She answered his question. I promised her I wouldnt
mention it to anyone, but I assume that she didnt intend you
not to know.
He agreed. People think that spouses know everything. And
they usually do, dont they? People dont keep things from their
spouse.
She thought there might have been a note of criticism in what
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he said, even of reproach, but he was smiling at her. And she was
asking herself at that moment whether she would ever sleep with
another man, while staying with David. If she would, then who
would it be?
No, she said. I mean yes. I mean they dont. She probably
thinks you know.
He tucked the papers into a folder. Poor woman. She loves
kids so much and she cant Unfair, isnt it?
Tere was an old sea-grape tree beside the pool and a breeze,
cool from the sea, was making the leaves move; just a little. She
noticed the shadow of the leaves on the ground shifting, and
then returning to where it was before. George Collins. If anyone,
it would be with him.
She felt a surge of self-disgust, and found herself blushing. She
turned away lest he should notice, but he was getting up from
his reclining chair and had begun to walk over towards the pool.
Im going to have a dip, he said. Its getting uncomfortable.
I hate this heat.
He took o his shirt; he was already wearing swimming trunks.
He slipped out of his sandals and plunged into the pool. Te
splash of the water was as in that Hockney painting, she thought;
as white against the blue, as surprised and as sudden as that.
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The Forever Girl

BY ALEXANDER MCCALL SMI TH

Amanda and her husband, David, feel fortunate to be raising their son
and daughter in the close-knit community of ex-pats on Grand Cay-
man Island, an idyllic place for children to grow up. Their firstborn,
Sally, has always listened to her heart, deciding at age four that she
would rather be called Clover and then, a few years later, falling in love
with her best friend, James.

But the comforting embrace of island life can become claustrophobic
for adults, especially when they are faced with difficult situations. At
the same time that Clover falls in love with James, Amanda realizes
that she has fallen out of love with David . . . and that she is interested
in someone else. While Amanda tries to navigate the new path her
heart is leading her down, Clover finds, much to her dismay, that
James seems to be growing away from her. And when they leave the
island for boarding schoolJames to England and Clover to Scot-
landshe feels she may have lost him for good. As Clover moves on to
university, seldom seeing James but always carrying him in her heart,
she finds herself torn between a desire to go forward with her life and
the old feelings that she just cant shed.

Through the lives of Clover and James, and Amanda and David,
acclaimed storyteller Alexander McCall Smith tells a tale full of love
and heartbreak, humor and melancholy, that beautifully demonstrates
the myriad ways in which love shapes our lives.

Hardcover: Amazon | Indigo

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