Surprise Stories Read online

  Val left early, saying she needed to relieve Shelly so that Shelly could have a swim. Jeanne told her to leave the snorkeling equipment with the other clothes and head straight back to the infirmary, where she arrived shortly after James had departed from Roger’s lean-to. Shelly immediately set out for Bathing Beach, as it was getting late and she really wanted to be in the water this evening.

  With all the women gone in the direction of Bathing Beach, Ralph, Jim, Ron and Mark decided to walk the other way, around the point of Camp Beach, and swim there. They had gone swimming and were back in Kitchen Tent, whittling away, by the time Jeanne, Marcella and Julia arrived back from snorkeling.

  Sunset

  James was in a pensive mood as he returned from his conversation with Roger Applebee. On the one hand, he did not want to see Roger obsessing about the women in the group; on the other, he was more than relieved to have Roger expressing any sense of beauty and appreciation that would indicate a reason for him to keep on living. He also realized that Roger needed to be re-integrated back into the social life of the community, and knew that his refusal to wear clothing would be an obstacle. Thinking about how to handle the situation, he dawdled along the shore between the divider to Bathing Beach and Kitchen Tent.

  Walking across the packed sand above the high tide line, Jeanne, Marcella and Julia passed him, carrying snorkeling gear for five, while James waded in shallow water, his head down in thought.

  Maria caught up to him before he got to the Kitchen Tent. “It’s time for us to head for our sunset rendezvous, my darling.”

  “Oh. Did you make arrangements for our privacy?”

  “I did. I talked with Ron and four of the women. Val commits to keep Michelle out of the way; Marcella does the same for Paul, and Ron speaks for Jim. I think we will not be followed.”

  She turned to lead him toward Bathing Beach, and he followed. They crossed the rock divider and left their clothing there – Maria had suggested that they swim around the corner to Third Beach. As they walked to the water, Michelle emerged, breathing hard after a vigorous swim. Given her normal self-consciousness, she was amazingly unaffected in her greeting.

  “Hi! You guys going for a swim?”

  “Yup. Maria thought it would be a good thing for me to swim, and the only way she could talk me into it was by keeping me company.”

  “That’s true. James has been taking too much time taking care of Roger. Just like you and Val, Shelly.”

  “How is the water?”

  “Oh, it’s great! I just swam out to the reef and back and I feel so much better! I need to be doing this every day. I missed yesterday, you know.”

  “Oh. Well, I agree about every day. I didn’t know that both you and Val had missed swimming yesterday. You should join the women in snorkeling in the afternoon. Jeanne and I are giving lessons. Val joined in today. Maybe you can come tomorrow.”

  “Oh! I would really like that!”

  “Good.”

  “Well you’d better get swimming or it will get dark on you.” Shelly glanced at the sun, which was almost at the horizon. “See you at supper.” She walked on up the beach.

  James and Maria walked on into the water. James looked over his shoulder to be sure Shelly had disappeared. She had. “That was a hoot.”

  “What?”

  “Shelly. She was so cool about us all being naked. I would never have suspected.”

  “I think you underrate Shelly. She is really pretty good at taking things as they come.”

  “Well, I was really surprised.”

  “I must say I was pleased.”

  They began by swimming out to the reef, aiming diagonally to the right, a shorter distance. Then they turned right to follow the reef to the far shore of Third Beach. Emerging from the water, they walked up the beach a few paces to find a place where they could still stand and look at the sun setting.

  James put his arm around Maria’s waist and pulled her tight to him as they stood side by side facing the sun, which was now just touching the horizon. Watching the sunset, both missed the green flash because they were otherwise occupied, making love.

  “My darling.”

  “Thank you. What a wonderful idea. You have some of the best ideas.”

  “I think the best idea right now is to swim back to Bathing Beach while we can still find our clothes or we won’t be allowed to eat supper.”

  “I think the moon will be pretty bright tonight after the rain.”

  They had no difficulty swimming out and back to Bathing Beach or finding their clothes and returning to the Kitchen Tent. The light of the moon was getting brighter each night as the moon waxed.

  Supper

  Marcella delayed supper until James and Maria returned. Then she put the steaks on the grill to cook. With the steaks, they had potatoes baked in aluminum foil, which Marcella saved so she could use it again. She had also warmed up peas and carrots from a bag that had thawed. For dessert, she served the remainder of the fruit salad, mixed with yogurt and honey.

  She reflected that they probably had honey and sugar enough to last them several months, and salt, pepper and spices adequate for a year, but they were nearing the end of the eggs, the yogurt was close to the end of the dairy supply, and within another day or two, nothing would be left of any of the perishable supplies. Steak and fruit salad with yogurt were a luxury soon to be gone.

  Marcella was probably the only one to be worrying. The others were chatting happily about the rain and the afternoon. As the meal got to the dessert, James indicated that he wanted everyone’s attention. Michelle and Roger were the only two not present at that moment.

  “I’ve had a couple of talks with Roger Applebee that were very encouraging in terms of his emergence from his grief over Jayne’s death. I think it’s time for him to move away from being an invalid to being a part of our community again.”

  There were murmurs of approval and consent from around the group.

  “There is one problem, however. Roger took off his pajamas to go swimming and decided not to put them back on again. He says that he has to let go of the pajamas to let go of Jayne. I’m not sure that this is really true, but he believes it, which gives it weight. In the meantime, he refuses to wear clothing because he is comfortable naked and he doesn’t want to wear clothing.”

  “Oh!” came the response from several of them.

  “In light of our clothing rules, he would be barred from participation in meals with the rest of us. Or, we could make an exception for him.”

  Val chimed in: “I think this is very important for him. I think we should make the exception and pay attention to what he needs.”

  “That seems reasonable to me,” Maria concurred.

  “I don’t know. It seems to me that rules are rules and ought to be followed,” was Paul’s contribution.

  Mark was unexpectedly dogmatic: “I don’t care who he is, I think we should stick by the rules we agreed to.”

  Julia was acquiescent to her husband: “I guess I do too.”

  Ralph: “We did make a rule so that we would set a standard. It doesn’t seem right to me that we should break or change the rule because someone wants to be different.”

  Jeanne: “I don’t feel strongly either way, but I guess maybe it would be OK to have the Kitchen Tent be the only place where clothing was required.”

  Jim: “I could live with that.”

  Ron: “So could I.”

  Julia, Mark, Paul and Ralph reluctantly agreed following some added discussion. James and Val agreed to discuss it with Roger in the morning.

  James: “Thank you all for your consideration and discussion. This is not necessarily an easy thing to figure out. I appreciate your help.”

  Jeanne: “Who’ll tell a story tonight?”

  Maria: “I will, if no one else has one they want to tell.”

  There were a few moments of silence, followed by a general encouragement to Maria to te
ll her story.

  Maria Tells Her Story

  Maria began her story.

  “Once upon a time there was an evil pirate called Black Eye – no one knew the name his parents had given him. He had long since left behind the land where he grew up. First, he had been a sailor on a ship, like many other sailors. But he had lusted for more power and more wealth. One day, when he was serving on a sloop, a small warship, he and several of his fellow sailors conspired to mutiny. Late in the night, they killed the captain and officers and took over the ship.

  “They sailed the ship along the coast, stopping in at small seaports. Sometimes, they would find more men to join them. Sometimes all they were after was the riches and gold of the people of the towns. Wherever they went, they robbed and killed the people living there, burning the homes and sinking the boats.

  “The navy of the country came to look for them, but they had sailed away to a hidden location. Here they built up a city of their own, spending their loot to hire workers. They were as ruthless with their workers as with anyone else. Black Eye had a castle built with secret rooms and secret passages, and no man who worked on the building of that castle ever lived to see another city.

  “The pirates began to run low on gold, so they set sail again, this time in a larger and better armed ship. They did not bother with attacking small towns; they attacked merchant ships in the open ocean, capturing or killing crews and taking the cargo for themselves. They took prisoners when they captured people for whom ransom would be paid, sometimes returning the prisoners when they received the ransom, sometimes killing them and returning only dead bodies.

  “But merchandise and gold are not the same. It is harder to traffic in cloth and wine than in gold. So they became merchants too, selling their stolen goods in the markets of large cities. Sometimes this was a good way to identify rich people who might be vulnerable to burglary. Black Eye and his men would sneak into the home of a rich merchant or a nobleman, ransack the home, taking all of the gold and silver, killing anyone who dared to be at home. On one such occasion, one of those at home was the beautiful Teresa Cortes, daughter of Count Cortes, who was away visiting a cousin. Black Eye kidnapped her, had her bound and gagged and carted her away, thinking he would ransom her. The pirates sailed back to their hidden home, where Black Eye chained the beautiful young woman in his dungeon and fed her bread and water.

  “He sent a ransom notice by a messenger to Count Cortes. Neither messenger nor reply ever appeared, but Black Eye did not worry.

  “What Black Eye did not know was that Teresa was secretly engaged to Jason Roberts, a young officer in the Royal Navy, who swore to liberate his fiancée and kill Black Eye. Posing as a renegade sailor, he managed to join Black Eye’s band. Roberts was daring and gallant, and was soon respected by many of the pirates for his courage. He even earned the notice and esteem of Black Eye.

  In the meantime, Black Eye, who wanted to seduce Teresa, was tiring of her resistance and of the fact that she was becoming gradually less and less beautiful, chained in his dungeon and fed such a meager diet. He resolved to visit her a last time to tell her that she would either yield to him or die.

  “Roberts followed Black Eye that night, finding his way down a twisting secret passage to the dungeon. He found Black Eye with his hands touching Teresa, who was squirming in an effort to get away from Black Eye’s hands, hands that were fondling her and tearing at her already-ragged clothing. Black Eye met his fate in that dungeon room that night. Roberts released Teresa from her shackles and they left Black Eye in a puddle of his own blood. There was still the issue of how Roberts and Teresa would get back out.

  “For two days, the couple was lost in the secret passages of the castle. They found water dripping down a wall and were able to find that wall again from time to time to slake their thirst, but they were very hungry. Then, finally, pushing on a wall, they discovered a hidden doorway back out into the house. Finally, out of the dark secret passages, Roberts knew his way. They went to Black Eye’s bedroom and dressed Teresa in man’s clothes. It was not a disguise that would work very well in the daytime, but if they could ride out of town on one of the back roads at night, it would probably be adequate. They took her tattered clothes with them so that finding the clothes would not provide someone a clue about what had happened.

  “In the kitchen, getting some food to eat and some food to take with them on their journey, they also paused to shove Teresa’s torn clothes into the fire in the stove. Here, Black Eye’s cook came upon them, drew his sword, and attacked Roberts. He had not seen Teresa because she had been behind a door when he walked into the kitchen. Grabbing a carving knife and dancing around behind the cook as he attacked, she stabbed him in the back, killing him instantly.

  “‘You would have made a good pirate yourself,’ commented Roberts as they finished eating and packed their food. They went to the stable, saddled horses, and started slowly out of town as the sun was setting. Teresa had never ridden a horse like a man before – she’d only ridden side-saddle – and she found it very strange and unsettling to ride with her legs astride the horse, but she had to ride like a man for the disguise to work. Her heart racing and pounding in her throat, she followed her fiancé up the road, out of the town. They passed sentries, but the sentries were only interested in people coming into town, not these two men leaving town.

  “It seemed to take hours to get anywhere, but it was good to be moving slowly in the darkness, carefully following the road. They rode like this for hours and hours, then stopped so that they could walk around a little and eat a little. Then they got back on the horses and rode on as the moon rose and they could finally see a bit more of what was around them. It was wild country with many rocks sticking up out of barren sandy soil. When they looked back, they could still see the ocean of the bay where Black Eye’s city was. They were still too close to stop for a long rest.

  “As they had known would happen, the cook’s body was discovered the next morning. Black Eye was nowhere to be found – it was not unusual for Black Eye to disappear for weeks on end – but the murdered cook spelled trouble. A search was instituted and two horses were missing from the stable. The sentries remembered the two men who had ridden out of town at dusk, and twenty mounted pirates set out in pursuit.

  “Roberts saw the cloud of dust on the road behind them. They had continued to move slowly, both for comfort and because rapid flight would be more suspicious than two men moving along slowly, but the cloud of dust suggested a large party chasing after them. Roberts led Teresa off of the path, up a dry wash around many boulders, and into a narrow ravine where there was a little grass for the horses to eat, and a place for Teresa to rest. He rolled out a blanket for her to lie on and she was asleep in a minute.

  “Roberts went to stand guard. As he had suspected, a large group of men galloped by later in the morning, little noting where the tracks of the horses in front of them left the road. The pirates continued on down the road and disappeared from sight. Roberts knew they had escaped for now, but the pirates would be back. Sooner or later, they’d find the faint path the two fugitives had left behind them. It was time to move on.

  “He woke Teresa, who’d slept for several hours and was feeling much better. They ate quickly, then started back up the dry wash, over a rocky hill face and over the top of the ridge and down the other side, into another wash. From here on, there was no road to follow. They were guided only by Roberts’ knowledge of the terrain and his ability to stay oriented in what seemed to Teresa to be endless repetitions of the same mountains of rock and sand. They watered the horses and filled their water bottles at a stream, then rode up the stream for some distance before turning again toward their destination. They came to the desert, and rode in the sand for hours starting just after moonrise, emerging just before dawn onto a plateau looking down onto the coastline and the sea.

  “Roberts looked around and led the way down off of the plateau into a narrow valley and a small
clump of trees where there was a little water and grass for the horses and a place for them to sleep. Late in the afternoon, they emerged, circling away from the ocean, across a ridgeline and down into a green valley where a small creek ran. They followed the creek downstream for a while, then turned up the next ridge and over it into the next valley, which held only a dry wash. It was well after sunset, with only the stars to guide them when they started up this next ridge, crossing over into the next valley; the moon was just rising as they crossed a small stream bordered by grass and trees.

  “Roberts called a rest. Teresa and the horses were tired. They ate and drank, humans and horses alike, then started down the stream, then up over the next ridge. They crested the ridge at dawn and looked down on the city of Count Cortes. There were fires burning at farms along the road leading back toward Black Eye’s city – Roberts and Teresa could see the columns of smoke rising into the air – but the city seemed calm and undisturbed. Then they saw the sight they feared most – a cloud of dust kicked up by many horses being ridden at high speed. They watched as the cloud of dust receded farther and farther away from the city in the direction of Black Eye’s city. They were still cautious, circling around the city to enter from the back side, passing undisturbed to Count Cortes’ home, where he welcomed his daughter with open arms and complete surprise.