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  Sand Castle

  Volume 9 of the Book Series

  Born in the Sea

  By Nick Niels Sanders

  Published by Exotica Indica

  Publication as of April 2021

  Sand

  September 30

  What had started as high overcast at sunset had condensed into rain by midnight. It had rained much of the night, tailing off to warm misty wetness by dawn. Only marginally cooler than sunlit air at this time of day, the moisture in the air was not a bit cooling, though it was wetting. The warm fog, the hot, wet air united a gray sea with a gray sky, largely obliterating the vertical browns and elevated greens of the palm trees, coating everything with moisture but treating nothing to the feeling of a drop of rain. Standing on wet gray sand beside the flat water of the lagoon in a small gray world, eleven of the thirteen castaways gathered after a sunrise that produced surprisingly little light, a generalized light grayness without a focal point of origin, making visible a small patch of the world that would otherwise have been shrouded in misty darkness.

  Valerie and Jeanne were not present, and no one wondered why. Ralph was there, looking tired; everyone understood that he had not slept a lot. Julia, Michelle and James also looked more tired than usual. A bedraggled group, their scant clothing dripping, hair lank, limp and wet around glistening faces, droplets forming on their skin and rolling down in gathering cascades, it was surprising that any of them could be happy.

  Roger started off with qi’gong exercises, then moved on to the form: “Starting position, arms at your sides. Exhale. Bounce the Ball. Strike palm. All in. All out. Grasp bird’s tail. Push. Single whip.” Roger looked around – no one was in the right place.

  “OK. I see that ‘single whip’ is being a problem for you, as one might expect, since it is the most complicated thing we have done so far. It is a good move for us to practice over and over, because we’ll be using it a number of times during the form.”

  They started at push and went through single whip five times. Everyone got it. They did the whole form through single whip again, stopping to hold position so Roger could check, then closing as Roger had taught them.

  Roger launched into a detailed description/demonstration of the transition from Single whip to Strike past ear, then led the group through it four times. Then they started all over again at the beginning. They were all amazed how much easier the first few moves seemed now that they had done them several times.

  Roger applauded. “A few quick stretches and off to breakfast.” He was as good as his word and soon everyone was walking toward the Kitchen Tent.

  Awakening after a night in which pain and moist compresses had alternated with fitful sleep, Jeanne was actually feeling better. She wanted to eat breakfast with everyone else, and to be part of community activities. Lying prone as Valerie again administered sea water compresses to her back, she made her request.

  “I’d like to go to breakfast and be with the others there.”

  “I don’t see why you couldn’t do that. They are all doing tai chi right now.”

  “Oh, I am sorry to be missing that, but I don’t think I would have made it through tai chi without this treatment. The cool sea water feels so good on my burns. I just wish it lasted longer. When do we get to put honey back on them? That lasted much longer.”

  “I will ask Dr. James. I can’t believe he thought of that.”

  “I think he’s brilliant.”

  “He may be the best doctor I’ve ever met.”

  They resumed their quiet communion for the duration of Jeanne’s treatment, then rose to walk to the Kitchen Tent. Arriving before the tai chi class was done, they sat down to wait the few moments before the others began to arrive, Jeanne silently very grateful that her burns stopped high enough on her buttocks to allow her to sit comfortably.

  Looking through the gloom toward Kitchen Tent, Maria saw two heads in the tent, instantly knowing that Jeanne would be sitting there, alone in her nakedness, next to Val, who would be dressed. She turned to Julia, who was walking beside her, with a request for support.

  “Jeanne is waiting in the Kitchen Tent for breakfast. I think we should be naked with her, to keep her company. Will you join me?”

  Julia had to think for a few moments before deciding not only that this was a reasonable request, but also that being in solidarity with the injured Jeanne was the right thing to do. Maria pausing briefly to disrobe, Julia joined her as they walked the rest of the way to the Kitchen Tent, carrying their wet clothes. As they arrived, Jeanne stood up to greet them, walking to Maria to give her a hug and a kiss on the cheek, murmuring “don’t hug me back, please.” She gave Julia a hug. Between Maria and Julia, Jeanne sat down to await a breakfast that turned out to be oatmeal, served with sugar and reconstituted powdered milk.

  Uniformly curious to look at Jeanne’s back in the daylight, most of the others walked by to get a look as the light slowly improved, but no one was more curious and concerned than James and Valerie. James stood, then sat, behind Jeanne for a long time, taking the time to look at each burn separately, joined by Valerie as soon as she finished her bowl of oatmeal. When James finished his examination, he and Valerie moved around to squat before Jeanne to talk to her.

  “You have 42 burn spots. The largest is just below your right shoulder blade, and is smaller than my thumb tip, but I’ll bet it hurts a whole lot. I think that is where the spark hit your nightgown. About half of the spots are already showing signs of healing. Many of them will not scar, and the ones that do will leave only small dot shaped scars.”

  “Thanks. What would you do if we were at your home town and you had all of your normal medical resources available?”

  “I would give you a cream to apply – or have someone else apply – twice a day. The cream contains an antibiotic and also helps to keep the burns moist so that they don’t scab. The problem with a scab is that infection forms under scabs and infection is the last thing you want in these burns, because it immediately makes them deeper, harder to heal, more painful and they leave a worse scar. And we would bandage you in dressings that would not stick to your burns. But we have neither that cream nor the non-stick dressings with us here.”

  “Are you confident we can avoid infection here even without the cream?”

  “We are going to do our darnedest. Usually, if we can keep you from scabbing, your own immune system will keep you from getting infected. The honey will also help, and we’ll keep it going at twice a day for the time being.”

  “I am willing to do what it takes, but I don’t want to miss out on any of the fun that I am feeling good enough to take part in. I know that, right now, if I go over half an hour or so without the compresses, I start to hurt worse again, so I won’t have much fun this morning – but who knows about tonight or tomorrow.”

  “You are being a very good patient. Keep it up.”

  Valerie also looked and nodded in agreement as James explained the course of treatment. James moved away and Valerie had to add her own commentary: “He is brilliant. Do as he says and I think you will be fine. What he says is right, and if he thinks we can do it, we will.”

  “Oh, Val. Thanks.” Jeanne was beginning to tear up. Distressed at seeing his wife dissolving into tears right after talking to Dr. James, Ralph moved to the location just vacated by James, expressing his concern.

  “Why are you crying? Are you in pain?”

  “Yes, I am in pain, but it isn’t bad. I am crying because we have found such good friends here. I don’t know how we got so lucky.” She put one arm around Maria’s waist and the other around Julia’s and smiled through her tears. “I’m going to be OK – everyone is going to see to it. And you are being so sweet. You nee
d to get some sleep.”

  Ralph had to agree, but was not sure he could sleep.

  Mark was clinking on a glass to get everyone’s attention. “We need to make some decisions about sand castle construction. First, in light of Jeanne’s injuries, do we wish to continue with the contest today?”

  “Oh, please do!” was Jeanne’s response. “I will be there. I may not be as effective a partner as I might otherwise be, but I really want to do this, and today will really be OK for me.”

  Mark looked for James. “Doc, any thoughts on that?”

  “None at all. If she says it’s what she wants to do, it’s what she will do.”

  “Then the contest will begin promptly at 3:00 this afternoon. Castle building will be limited to the two hours between 3:00 and 5:00. Between 5:00 and 5:30, Roger and I will do the judging, and winners will be announced at the start of tai chi. Is that clear?”

  It seemed to be clear.

  “To review, the teams will be: Team A: Maria, Jeanne, Marcella; Team B: Val, Shelly, Julia; Team C: James, Paul, Ralph; Team D: Ron, Jim. This is your final opportunity to suggest changes to that line-up.”

  There were no changes.

  “We will have more announcements about the detail rules at lunch time. Thanks.”

  As the group generally broke up, the fog began lifting. The water was visible from the Kitchen Tent, and palm trees were visible behind the Kitchen Tent to those at the edge of the water, cleaning plates and implements. Plates and implements cleaned, the group began to fragment in to numerous activities for the morning.

  Valerie did not move farther from Jeanne’s side during breakfast than was necessitated by having either Maria or Julia interposed – it being the general appearance of things that the three naked women were not to be separated. Valerie desperately wanted to ask, but forbore because it seemed impolitic to do so with the object of the inquiry sitting right there, a set of questions about why Maria and Julia thought it would be helpful to Jeanne for them to be naked by her side, and why they had chosen to act on that thought, once having had it, and to wonder to Jeanne herself why it was that she seemed to feel better with naked company. But she remained a silent observer of a phenomenon she did not understand in others, though she knew that altruistic impulse in herself only too well.

  As soon as Jeanne was through eating, Val conducted her back to the infirmary lean-to to soak her burns again, and to apply a layer of honey to the burns. Ralph followed along, not wanting to miss anything and wanting to support Jeanne as much as he could. Jeanne had been edgy at the end of breakfast, but rapidly relaxed under the cool compresses of sea water. Ralph was surprised to see her relax even more as Val applied the honey, as if it was a pain-relieving balm. Jeanne dozed quickly off to sleep after the honey application was complete.

  Val turned to Ralph, “Best you get some sleep too. You will be much better support for her if you are rested.”

  Ralph acknowledged in the wisdom of this advice, returned to the lean-to he and Jeanne had occupied jointly up to the previous evening, lay down and was instantly asleep.

  Val was also tired – it had been a long night for her too, though not as long and certainly not as emotionally trying as Ralph’s night had been. She kept close to Jeanne, keeping an eye out for Jeanne to wake up. To Val’s surprise, she did not waken for almost three hours.

  After breakfast, James decided to visit Roger and found his lean-to vacant. He looked around, scanning under the lifting and thinning layer of fog to see Roger’s head bobbing in the water near to the reef. Dropping his sulu over the corner of Roger’s lean-to, James ran to the water to swim out to Roger. Roger’s slow side-stroke was no speed competition to James’ ferocious Australian crawl – James overtook him as he began to climb carefully out onto the reef. They looked past the other edge to where the Fiji Queen must be lying at the bottom. The small waves breaking at their feet, keeping the water stirred, could not prevent a small oil slick not far away, out toward the open ocean.

  “So, this is where she is.”

  “Yes.”

  “I don’t see any sign of the ship.”

  “No, I imagine that the water must be very deep here. The ship was over fifty meters long and it seemed to be sinking still even after it was well below the surface. Paul and I tried to dive down to the bottom of the coral wall and could not make it in a free dive.”

  “I wonder if this is the greatness her father had in mind for her.”

  “Probably not. But I don’t think fathers really decide the fates of their daughters, do you?”

  “No, I guess I don’t either. She did her best to live up to what he had expected of her. He died many years ago, you know, and I don’t think she ever stopped grieving for him in some corner of her soul. I suppose that seems remarkable to me because I am not grieving for any of my family, but maybe I am the unusual one.”

  “I don’t know. I do know that there are both types of people in the world, and I don’t see anything wrong with being either way.”

  “No. You don’t seem to be much of a griever either. Take stock of where you are and figure out how to move forward.”

  “Yes, I think part of taking stock and moving forward is just to keep me moving and not dwelling on things I cannot change or fix.”

  “Well, I really wanted to come out here to visit her. I need to take stock and move forward too. I think this is where I can finally turn my back on that part of my life, end the chapter, move on to the next thing. I don’t have it figured out yet, but I don’t think it will be in Sydney and I don’t think it will be along the lines Jayne would have wanted, but I am sure it will be something that will make me happy.”

  “Good. That is very important.”

  “Yes. And I want to help others to be happy as well. I don’t think I’ve done badly in that way, but I want to do better. It is one thing to meet a need. It is another to inspire joy. I would like to inspire joy for a few people.”

  “What a wonderful ambition. I am pleased for you and for the world you will rejoin.”

  “You were very important to me in this. Your kindness and your caring. And Valerie and the other women too. And the way the rest of the group has welcomed me in like the prodigal son. I don’t think I have ever felt as respected, as honored, indeed as loved as I do right now. Thank you.”

  “I hardly know what to say. You are welcome. You deserved it.”

  “Well, I don’t so much know about that. Shall we swim back?”

  And they did. In a relatively short time, Roger’s swimming form and stamina had improved remarkably. He swam well, steadily if slowly, back to the beach, James following along just behind him.

  Reaching Roger’s lean-to, James donned his sulu and Roger lay down, saying he intended to take a nap. James walked back to the Kitchen Tent.

  On arriving back at the Kitchen Tent, James noticed that Maria and Julia had donned their clothing again following the disappearance of Jeanne; Mark and Paul were whittling to get threads for the fish net. Having gone to take a nap, Michelle was not present. Jim and Ron had volunteered to clean up the kitchen, freeing Julia and Marcella for other activities, and they had apparently been waiting for James to reappear.

  Maria: “Dear, you are going to lead us on an expedition to harvest more salad, aren’t you?”

  “Sure, who else wants to come?”

  The three women wanted to come. Paul also said that he would come; Jim and Ron were clearly otherwise occupied; Mark grumbled that he would stay and carve. Maria stopped to ask him to prepare her a half-frond for weaving, as long as possible, and he nodded that he would do so.

  So the five selected several containers and set off to harvest greenery. If anything, the plants were more lush and abundant than they had been the day before. Picking lettuce or spinach one leaf at a time always takes time, but with five working and an abundant supply, they rapidly collected enough leaves for the remaining two meals of the day.

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; As they started back, Maria said that she would linger to look some more at the flowers; Julia thought she would keep Maria company, so it was the two men and Marcella who made their way back to the Kitchen Tent with a supply of fresh vegetables. Then James and Paul returned with water jugs because the water needed to wash the leaves was going to be sufficient to run their supply low. Washing greens occupied the rest of their morning.

  While the five leaf harvesters were busy picking leaves, Roger took a basket and crossed the lava divide to get to the flowers. He easily identified two colors of the larger flowers (red and yellow) and two colors of the smaller flowers (white and pinkish) to pick. There were lots of them, so he filled his basket rapidly and easily and slipped away back to his lean-to while the others were still on the other side of the creek, hidden behind the bushes, picking leaves for salad.

  Roger felt a little guilty at having to be sneaky about it all, but thought it would be a wonderful surprise for everyone when he and Mark handed the crowns out as awards.