Surprise Stories Page 4

  “I think you both did very well under trying circumstances. Anyway, all of that is behind us now. I think it would be a good idea at least to snorkel over the area to survey it and see if we can identify anything we might try to salvage.”

  “Yes, James, I agree. How shall we organize the expedition?”

  “Well, certainly Ralph, Jeanne, Maria, you and me, as the most experienced snorkelers of the group, should go. I think we could do with two life rafts, and I would think Jim and Ron would be good, steady pilots for the life rafts.”

  “I agree.”

  Maria: “So do I. But I think not while it is raining. We will get the best visibility if the surface of the water is as calm as possible.”

  “Yes, my dear. Thank you for the caution. Let’s reassess the situation after the rain stops.”

  “Thank you, darling.”

  “Good plan, James. We’ll reconnect later, then.”

  Outside the Kitchen Tent, the warm rain continued to fall, squalls of heavy, cooler rain carried on a cool wind interrupting a generally calm light drizzle of pleasantly warm rain falling through warm still air. James walked to Roger’s lean-to in the infirmary area.

  “Here I am again.”

  “I’m glad you came.”

  “Do you want to talk?”

  “No, I want to go swimming.”

  “Really? It’s raining.”

  “Yes. I know it’s raining. I have been sitting out in it for some time. My pajamas are dripping wet and I’m not a bit cold. I’ve never seen anything like it. If I’m going to be wet, I might as well be in the ocean being wet as in the rain being wet.”

  “OK. Whenever you're ready.”

  “How 'bout now?” Roger arose from his box, stripped off his pajamas and walked to the water, James walking beside him, draping his wet Sulu over the edge of another lean-to as they passed it. Crossing the stretch of treeless sand from the lean-tos to the water, they walked out into the water, walking some distance to knee-deep water, then to waist deep in a matter of about ten steps.

  Roger began to swim, clumsily and rapidly running out of wind. He stopped to rest briefly, caught his breath, tried again. James stood by as life-guard and support and silent witness to Roger’s efforts. Roger splashed around some more, again becoming breathless after a few minutes of exertion. He rested again and tried a third time with much the same result.

  “That’s enough for now,” he indicated, after catching his breath the third time. “But I will want to swim again more later.”

  They walked back to the shore, across the sand and through the palms to Roger’s lean-to, James collecting his sulu along the way. Roger sat back down on his box to rest, still breathing heavily.

  “Thanks for coming by. Let’s swim again later today.”

  “OK. I am very pleased that you are getting some exercise. Please eat. You need food.”

  “Yes, I know.”

  “I will come back again later today.”

  “Thanks.”

  James wrapped himself back into his wet sulu as he walked back to the Kitchen Tent.

  Mid-Day

  James arrived back at the Kitchen Tent at the beginning of the “out of the sun” time, a time marked by little or no transition today because it was raining and no one wanted to be outside of the tent in any case.

  Mark, Ralph, Jim and Ron continued whittling on the palm fronds. Jeanne and Julia continued trying out various combinations to get basket weaving correct; by lunch time, Julia was actually on her way to a basket and Jeanne was copying her. Marcella spent much of the time before lunch figuring out what to serve and creating it.

  Maria, Paul and James held a conference out of earshot of the others.

  Paul: “I happened to think that there are ways to preserve meat that might serve to lengthen the usable life of the meat that is still good.”

  James: “What are you thinking of, Paul?”

  “Curing it in salt, or salt and smoke.”

  Maria: “Oh my, I don’t think we have enough salt here to do that.”

  James: “What about the ocean water? When you brine meat, you don’t just roll it in salt; you soak it in a dilute salt solution. I wonder if ocean water wouldn’t do the job very well.”

  “Oh! I’ll bet it would! I must talk to Marcella about this at once.” Maria rose and walked away to confer with Marcella. The conversation quickly became very animated on both sides. Maria walked out of Kitchen Tent carrying a large pot. James intercepted her at water’s edge to carry the full pot back to the kitchen. Marcella then enlisted Maria’s help as sous-chef while Marcella worked on brining the meat.

  Paul went to his lean-to to nap. James did likewise, mostly to get out of his wet sulu for a while.

  Maria continued to work as Marcella’s assistant for an hour or more until Marcella was through putting meat to brine and chased her away.

  She went to her computer to continue her accounts of the lives of the castaways, but found it had, finally, run out of battery power, and would not start. Ron seemed reluctant to part with much more of his drawing paper, but did so graciously, providing Maria also with one of his black pencils to write with. Maria spent the rest of the time until lunch writing.

  Ralph looked up from his whittling and spied Julia making progress toward a functional basket. He put down his whittling and went to talk with Julia and Jeanne.

  “Julia, you have rediscovered the pattern for a basket. Can you share? Can you teach it?”

  “Oh, Ralph, it is not yet perfect. See how it puckers here and over here? I think I have still a long ways to go before I should be teaching.”

  “Jeanne, what do you think? Is this something that you could copy to good purpose?”

  “Yes, my dear, I think I could. I agree with you that Julia has rediscovered the pattern. I am copying her right now, and I think I’ll have something resembling a basket myself in a bit.”

  “Good. As soon as you are sure, let me know. I think I have a plan for how to make gauntlets and anklets for climbing palm trees. I will need your weaving pattern to make it real.”

  “Oh, goodness! Of course! It won’t be long.”

  Ralph went back to his whittling. Jeanne was right. Just before lunch, she was at Ralph’s side, showing him a small basket that looked perfect to both of them. The call to lunch interrupted them, but they agreed to confer after lunch.

  Marcella served a grilled chicken breast hash – she had used grilled chicken breasts, chopped finely, with finely chopped potatoes, onions and garlic. After sautéing the onions and adding the potatoes to fry them, the chicken went in to warm it back up. Salt, pepper, and another inscrutable mixture of spices and herbs (coriander, cumin, cayenne and sage) produced a hash enjoyed by everyone. With it, she served boiled peas and fruit salad. The moment had come to serve the rest of the frozen fruit – the remainder would be served at supper. There were still some fresh tropical fruit in one of the coolers, where any temperature below external temperatures was extending their lifespan.

  Marcella evaded questions about what was in the hash by deflecting the questions back to the eaters, asking them to guess what was in it. Everyone rapidly agreed that the meat was diced grilled chicken breast. Sautéed onions and garlic were there. There were spices in the hash, but no one was able to identify them.

  Valerie took a plate of food to Roger, and found him sitting in the rain on his box in front of his lean-to.

  “Mr. Applebee, why are you sitting out in the rain? Where are your clothes?”

  “It’s not fair asking two questions in the same breath. I’m sitting in the rain because I’m enjoying sitting in the warm rain. My clothes are over there.”

  “Why did you take them off?”

  “Dr. James and I went swimming.”

  “Oh. I see.”

  “I hope we will go swimming again later today.”

  “Oh.”

  Valerie retreated to the “nurse
s’ tent” – an adjacent lean-to where she and Michelle took turns watching over Roger – while Michelle went to eat.

  After lunch, the rain seemed to be lightening up. The heavy rain that had prevailed for several hours now abated, shifting to a fine warm mist. The sky seemed lighter, as if the clouds were thinning and the sun making an effort to shine through.

  James had come to lunch wearing his dry sulu, hoping it would not also become soaked in a resurgence of the rain. He was pleased to see that the general spirits of the group were good. The whittlers were proud of the growing pile of palm fronds they had managed to shave down to usable form; Julia was more and more pleased with her basket, as she readjusted defects in it that bothered her but might not have been noticed by anyone else. Ralph and Jeanne were working on something together after lunch in a conspiratorial, newlywed sort of way, and Marcella was proud of the hash she had created. If everyone could come through a dreary morning of rain in such good spirits, it was a good sign.

  After she had finished lunch, Valerie came back to Roger Applebee’s lean-to to collect his plate to take it back to the kitchen.

  “Mr. Applebee, you still aren’t wearing any clothes.”

  “I’m still waiting to go swimming with Dr. Fredericks again this afternoon.”

  “But don’t you want to put your clothes back on?”

  “Well, no, not really. Please take them away. I don’t think I ever want to see them again.”

  “Not ever?”

  “No, they are the pajamas I wore when I was last with Jayne. I think I need to let go of them so I can let go of Jayne too. Please take them away and don’t bring them back. I’m so comfortable without clothes that I think I’ll stay this way until we are rescued.”

  Valerie picked up the discarded pajamas. They were dirty and smelly, though nothing she hadn’t seen much worse at DC General. Maybe Maria and Marcella could use the cloth. Maybe they could make Roger a sulu from some scraps that were still available.

  Later, Val took Roger’s pajamas to the water, washed them and hung them outside the nurses’ tent to dry. Michelle checked on Roger and noted with a little giggle that he was naked. Val realized that Michelle had not seen that Roger was naked before now, which meant that she had not checked on him since midmorning.

  “Yes, I know. He took off his pajamas to swim with Dr. Fredericks this morning and has not put them on again. He told me to take them away, that he never wanted to see them again. I washed them just now in case he changes his mind.”

  “Oh. I guess I just didn’t notice. Did he eat well?”

  “His plate was empty.”

  “Good.”

  Afternoon Activities

  The rain continued as a fine, steady mist for another half hour. Then the sun peeked through a gap in the clouds, brightening the world with shafts of light shining on the ocean out past the reef. The falling mist became intermittent as gaps in the clouds opened up, enlarged and multiplied, augmented by a breeze from the west. Actual sunshine fell on the island and on the Kitchen Tent. Paul stepped out and looked, shouting at the beauty of the rainbow he saw to the east. The rest joined him on the soggy sand, as the sun’s light and the intensity of the rainbow increased in tandem. A second rainbow appeared. The breeze freshened, flapping the canvas of the Kitchen Tent.

  The onlookers burst into activity, tying the tarp tighter on the Kitchen Tent, then moving rapidly through the rest of the camp to be sure everything would be secure in the wind. Ropes were tightened and anchors made more secure. It was, for the group working on it, the work of a few minutes even though there was a lot to be done and checked.

  When they met back on the beach, the sun was shining brightly, the clouds fading into nonexistence, the rainbow long gone and the brisk wind persistent. Everyone was smiling.

  After a good laugh, they went back to their various activities. James and Paul conferred, looking at the choppy water on the outer side of the reef, and decided that the snorkeling expedition had best wait until the next morning.

  Ralph and Jeanne went back to designing and creating palm tree climbing equipment.

  Mark, Jim and Ron went back to whittling palm frond stems. Julia returned to perfecting her basket. Maria and Marcella decided to go for a swim, and headed for Bathing Beach. Roger was at his lean-to, awaiting James’ return – James had been the one to come by to check to be sure his lean-to was secure.

  Michelle had slept through the change of weather, while Val sat guard over her. James had checked their lean-to as well.

  James left Paul to join the whittlers and went to check on their water supply. He scrambled over the barrier to Coral Beach, then along to the creek bed, which was now flowing water. He explored upstream to the spring, and found another place where there was probably a puddle of water under the piled rocks, with clear water flowing out into the creek.

  At the place they had cleared to get at the water, he found the basin now overflowing, feeding another stream that traveled down under the rocks toward Boulder Beach. The basin now probably held over twice as much water as it had the previous day. James was satisfied. If it continued to rain at least once a week, they would be OK for fresh water. Food was a different matter. He looked for evidence of sprouting plants on his way back, but didn’t see anything. This should be checked again in the morning.

  James went to visit Roger again.

  “I’m back.”

  “Thanks, doctor. Let’s swim again.”

  Draping his sulu over Roger’s lean-to, following Roger to and into the water, he stood again in waist-deep water as Roger swam briefly, rested to catch his breath, then repeated and repeated a third time. James was not impressed that this session was any different from the one in the morning, but noted that Roger seemed to be walking more quickly and holding himself more upright.

  They walked back to Roger’s lean-to. He sat on his box and James sat on the blanket inside of the lean-to.

  “Do you want to talk?”

  “I don’t know.” Roger looked out over the lagoon.

  Maria emerged, naked, from the water at Bathing Beach, followed closely by Marcella. Roger expressed his admiration. “Maria and Marcella are so beautiful. Maria is very striking, as you know. But when I first saw Marcella as the handmaiden to that witch of a woman, I thought she was very plain. Now I can see just how beautiful she is.”

  James was silent. He was not sure quite how to react to this commentary. He was just a bit concerned about Roger turning into a voyeur, but was otherwise happy to find him perceiving practically anything as being beautiful. Beautiful naked women were a better perception than blackness and despair.

  As Maria and Marcella walked to a location out of sight from Roger’s vantage, Jeanne and Julia walked the other way, equally naked, carrying snorkeling equipment, to the water to swim, followed in a few moments by Valerie, hurrying to catch up, her flippers and snorkel flapping at her side. In another moment, Maria and Marcella reappeared, now carrying snorkeling equipment, still naked.

  “Naked women are all beautiful, I think. I never saw my wife naked once in our 25 years of marriage. I think she thought nakedness was evil or something. I don’t think she ever saw me naked either. And here I sit, without a stitch of clothing, and there are naked women all around me. And they are all beautiful.”

  “This is a new perspective for you, then.”

  “Yes. I am seeing that human beings are beautiful. Thanks, Dr. James for helping me to see that. I have been sitting here for days watching and thinking that I must be wrong. But now I think I am right. I suddenly find myself in a very beautiful place, surrounded by beautiful people. I suspect the world is filled with beautiful people. Why didn’t I ever see that before?”

  James was amused that he, the physician, had not seen most of these women naked before, and Roger, the grieving widower, had been watching them for days. And that the perception of their beauty would be somehow a key to his emergence from his grief was
really extraordinary.

  They chatted a bit more after that, then James, agreeing to visit again in the morning, put on his sulu and started back toward the Kitchen Tent.

  When Roger and James had walked to the water for Roger’s swimming practice, Val had left the infirmary in the charge of Shelly, and had gone to the Kitchen Tent to see if there was going to be a snorkeling lesson today. Jeanne and Julia told her that Maria and Marcella had already gone swimming a bit ago. Val encouraged the other two to join her – they took snorkeling equipment for five and followed Maria and Marcella so they could have a lesson this afternoon.

  They caught Maria and Marcella just as they were starting to put their clothes back on after swimming. The two were rapidly convinced that a little more swimming couldn’t hurt, so they followed the other three back to the water. This time, they used the beach as the base of operations, snorkeling out from the beach into the lagoon. Maria was very aware that they should quit early so that she and James could watch the sunset together. Just the thought of that gave her little shudders.