I FRAMED A FLASH OF CHARTREUSE in my binoculars. Followed the feathers through the blue for a few bright seconds. Then lost sight as wings blended into the feathery fronds of a palm, the flock in raucous chatter as it foraged fruit. When the parrots took flight minutes later, again my gaze alit on green wings; when the birds landed in the next leafy tangle, my gaze flitted away. It drifted farther, toward the horizon. From the ridge where the house was perched, I could see a length of the canal.
A ship’s prow emerged from the trees. The hulk of its
