Snorkeling
Page 4
The back of her nightgown was on fire.
Paul and James reacted immediately. Paul, who was on the opposite side of the circle and separated from Jeanne by many obstacles, got up and started to move toward Jeanne as if to do something about putting out the fire. James was much more direct: “Jeanne! Run as fast as you can to the water and jump in. Now!”
Jeanne ran. They could see the flames burning on the nylon nightgown as she ran. There was a splash. James and Paul were moving quickly after her, followed by Ralph. Everyone else was sitting in horrified paralysis.
They could hear splashing, then Jeanne crying. The cloud-obscured moonlight was sufficient to make out the white contrast of the splashing in the water, but not to be able to differentiate which figure was which; people started to walk back from the water’s edge and voices came nearer.
James, quickly realizing that the light was going to be totally inadequate for the care Jeanne would need: “Maria, please find us a flashlight.”
“Coming up.” She jumped up and went directly to the flashlight, carrying it to where James, Paul and Ralph were standing around Jeanne.
“Paul, would you keep the light pointed where I am working? Thank you. Maria, do you know what my first aid kit looks like? I brought it with me from our room on the Fiji Queen. Please bring it.”
Maria nodded. She knew exactly what James had asked her for, and where it was. The problem was a need for another flashlight for looking around in their lean-to. It only took her a couple minutes to spot one in a far corner of the Kitchen Tent and to set out for the lean-to.
Paul tried to aim the light steadily at the place where James was working on Jeanne’s back, pulling the nylon away from her skin and peeling the remains of the nightgown over her head. Between telling anyone who was listening how much it hurt, Jeanne looked at her nightgown, which now had a large hole in the back, with spots of melted nylon around the edges. Apparently, a spark had jumped from the fire and been hot enough to ignite the nylon, which didn’t take much heat. Nylon burns and melts at the same time.
“What does my back look like? It hurts like hell.” Jeanne had burns wherever the burning nylon had touched her skin. During the burning process the melting nylon had dripped molten, burning nylon drops onto her back.
James: “You have a number of small burns. I probably don’t have to tell you that they start near your shoulders and are sprinkled over your back down to your waist. No, I think there are places where burning nylon drops have landed on your buttocks too.” Maria had returned with the first aid kit and the flashlight. James had better lighting now and instruments to work with. In many of the burns there were still remnants of congealed nylon, which he was picking out with surgical tweezers and a small scissors.
“Yes, I can feel them. The upper ones feel just slightly better with the nightgown off. Can we get my panties off?”
“Yes.” James took the large pair of scissors offered by Maria and cut down both sides of the panties, then worked to separate the cloth and the congealed residue of the molten drops from Jeanne’s skin, working again now with the tweezers and the small scissors. The cloth stuck to the skin in several places, but as James worked, it dropped away.
“How many burns do I have?”
“Between twenty-five and fifty. Most of them are the size of a pencil eraser or smaller, but a few are bit larger. They are everywhere. They are all second degree burns, which is good in terms of how they will heal, but bad in terms of how much they hurt.”
“They are doing one heck of a good job of hurting.”
“I know. Cool water will help. Valerie, can you find some cloth to use as compresses? Ralph, can you fetch us a blanket for Jeanne to lie on?” James had never removed his eyes from Jeanne’s back nor stopped working to clean the plastic contamination out of her wounds. He worked methodically, making sure not to miss a single burn.
Valerie found some spare pieces of cloth, soaked them in ocean water and applied them to Jeanne’s back in the places where James had finished working. Marcella went to look for more cloth to make another outfit for Jeanne, who certainly would not want to wear the nightgown again, and who was still standing naked – except for her flower leis, which were undamaged by all of the ruckus – as Valerie applied compresses to her back.
Ralph was gone for a moment, returning with a blanket in his arms. Following instructions, he spread it out, Jeanne lay on it, and Val continued the compress administration.
“Oh, that does feel better. Thanks.”
“I think we will reactivate one of the infirmary tents so someone can stay up with you tonight applying the compresses. Val, can you make arrangements?”
Val: “Sure. I’ll take first shift, and teach Ralph what to do. He can have second shift, then I think he’ll want to sleep. Michelle and Julia can choose which shifts they take. By morning, some of the pain should be permanently gone, and we can figure out where to go from there.”
James: “I think you are right, but I don’t think Jeanne’ll want to wear clothing for a few days. If we were to let these burns scab over, they would tolerate clothing sooner, but it would take them longer to heal and they’d scar worse. I think we’ll need to continue washing her several times a day to keep the serum washed away so that she can re-epithelialize primarily. Marcella, do we have extra honey – maybe a liter or so?”
Val: “Right you are. Julia, Michelle, choose your shifts. I’m going to keep Jeanne right here for at least half an hour before we move her.”
Marcella silently slipped away into the kitchen area.
James: “Thank you. Jeanne, how are you doing?”
Jeanne: “Better, but not happy to hear I get to be naked for the next few days.”
At this point, Paul had to speak: “I want to apologize to everyone. I was pretty dogmatic in opposing nudity when we first talked about clothing. We’ve been living together for a few days now, and we really are pretty much naked together a lot regardless of the rules that we made. I recant my previous position. Roger refuses to wear clothes. Jeanne can't wear clothes. I suggest we declare the whole island clothing optional from here on in.”
Jeanne: “Oh, Paul, you didn’t have to say that just because of me.”
Paul: “I didn’t, Jeanne. My mind has slowly been changing, sort of like Roger’s did. I really think this is the best way, and your accident just pushed me to say something now rather than tomorrow or the next day.”
James: “Does anyone object?”
Michelle: “I’m not sure I understand everything Paul said, but if clothing optional means Roger can join us at supper even without any clothes on, and Jeanne should be comfortable not wearing any clothes, then I’m for it.” Val positively beamed with her pride in her friend. Somehow, she had always known there was this in Shelly, but it had never come out so clearly before. She was delighted in a Shelly whose mind and sympathies seemed to be working, as opposed to the one who played every situation to maintain as much stability, neutrality and safety as possible. Val had no idea what was going on or where it was coming from, but she was all for it.
Marcella returned after searching through the supplies for honey. She thought she remembered a large tin of honey and she was right. If she used honey in three meals a day it would take her a year to use up that much honey. “Doctor James, we have perhaps two liters of honey to spare.”
“Thank you.”
Maria: “Maybe the right thing to do is have it be a sisterhood thing, and all of us stay naked as long as Jeanne has to be naked.”
Jeanne: “Oh, please don’t do that on my account. It would be nice to have company sometimes so I don’t feel lonely being the only one – as I suppose Roger has been feeling. But I don’t want to start a revolution.”
Marcella reacted to this by removing her clothes and sitting down next to Jeanne on the blanket. “I am being here with you, naked. One cannot cook naked, as you certainly understand, but for now, I have no need for clo
thing, so I will be your amie – how do you say it? Ah, yes, your buddy.”
Paul, surprised by this development, averted his gaze from Marcella as she took off her clothes, but looked back now and realized that both the shock and the embarrassment were gone.
“Marcella, do you have a one liter or one quart jar with a lid?”
“Yes, Doctor James.”
“Please fill it with honey and bring it to Valerie. Valerie, when you are ready to take Jeanne to the infirmary, send Ralph to wake me first. I will come and apply honey to the burns.”
Valerie’s eyes got wider, but she was not about to question Dr. James.
Jeanne felt no such compulsion. “Surely, you are joking. It can’t be right to put honey on burns.”
James: “Actually, Jeanne, it is not the best treatment in the world, but it’s effective, it’s far better than nothing, and it’s the best treatment we have available right here right now. Honey prevents the growth of the kinds of bacteria that cause the worst burn infections, so it helps your immune system to protect you while your skin is healing. Val, you’ll send Ralph for me?”
Val: “Yes.”
James: “Then I’m going to get some sleep right now.” And he walked to off toward his lean-to. Marcella rose and went to pour honey. Maria went with her. Paul turned off his flashlight and looked around. Jim, Ron, Mark, Julia, Roger and Michelle had all disappeared. Ralph was hovering. Marcella and Maria were working. He turned toward his own lean-to and wandered away.
Ron and Jim had left the Kitchen Tent as soon as it was clear that Jeanne was going to be OK and was in good hands. Their presence was clearly not needed. They had heard Paul’s suggestion about making the whole island clothing-optional; neither of them had chosen to object.
“Jim, I hope you aren’t too upset about the rules changing to clothing optional.”
“Why should I be upset? I thought you would be upset by having naked people around and was really surprised how calmly you were able to work with five naked people when we were doing the underwater rescue mission.”
“I thought you were upset and have been opposing nudity because I was trying to be supportive of you.”
“But Ron, I thought you were upset and have been opposing nudity because I was trying to support you. Frankly, I could care less if the whole world were naked all the time.”
“And I would find people much more interesting to draw if they were all naked.”
“Aren’t we a couple of silly asses!”
“Yes, but I am touched that you were so concerned about my feelings.”
“Yes, and I am too. Thanks.”
Their conversation turned to other subjects – Ron indicating his appreciation of the music that Jim had been playing; Jim expressing his bemusement at the sand paintings Ron had been making. They shared a hug, and then a kiss, and then, discarding their sulus, they shared their love. Presently, it was time to sleep, and they did.
Acknowledgments
I want to acknowledge all people involved in this book series, without their permission and their support of whom this work could not be accomplished: Mr. Samuels, Mr. Del Mar, Captain Ashley, and the free spirit of Mr. Gallagher.
Distributed by Nick Niels Sanders with all rights and permissions required.
Table of Contents
Snorkeling
29
Snorkeling
Roger and James
Afternoon
Tai Chi
Julia’s Story
Acknowledgments