Today, I’m not going to worry about it. I’m going to pretend I’m on the island all by myself. I’m going to the other side where no one ever goes and set up camp. I’ve been meaning to make a sleeping mat from the palm fronds like I’m really stranded on a deserted island. Maybe I’ll make a grass skirt, too! LOL. Kidding! I am going to try making one of those fish baskets Grandpa showed me how to make forever ago. Then, I can fish without actually standing there and holding the pole for hours.
No matter what, I’m going to find anything I can to avoid having to be in this house with all these people. I wish I had my own island. Bye, for now.
10
Regan woke early, as was her usual habit, and headed into the kitchen. It was quiet in the house, telling her that everyone was likely still in bed. No surprise there—everyone had been mentally exhausted the night before, the revelation about the boat having put a damper on spirits. It seemed hard to imagine that the relative peace and harmony they’d found on the island was at risk. Wolf was taking it especially hard. He’d been so convinced that the violence and desperation unfolding in the city wouldn’t bleed into the small towns for at least several months more. Clearly, things were changing faster than expected.
Rather than wait around for the others to get moving, she decided to get a jump on her morning chores and headed outside, inhaling the fresh scent of the morning even as she walked out the door. There was a slight breeze rattling the palm fronds. Strangely, she only really noticed the sound first thing in the morning—it was new enough to catch her attention as days began, but natural enough that it faded into the background quickly. Throughout the day, with all the coming and going, it became white noise that barely registered on her radar. One more sign that she was beginning to call this little island a sort of home, maybe.
The greenhouse’s door opened into what she’d come to consider her own territory, but instead of it being abandoned, she found that she wasn’t the first one up after all. Instead, Wolf’s familiar figure was bent over one of the tanks, examining the fish.
“Hey,” Regan greeted him. “Are you checking up on me?” she teased.
He shook his head in reply, and gave her a quick kiss hello before answering. “I wanted to check to see how it was going. I’m sorry I didn’t explain the filter to you. That was entirely my fault. I assumed you knew and didn’t even think to mention it.”
She shrugged. “You were having a bad day. It’s okay, and none of the fish died. I probably should have known, but I assumed we’d gone over all the details. You know what they say about assuming,” she added half-jokingly.
“You’re doing a great job. I’m proud of you,” he said, wrapping his arms around her waist.
“Thank you. I was taught by the best. What are your plans for the day?”
He shrugged. “I need to check the foundation of the house. My dad told me he fixed a crack while we were on our way back from the swamp. I want to make sure it’s holding. We need to return Heather’s canoe also. You?”
She smiled. “I’m going to talk to the fish for a bit and harvest some of the beans before planting new stuff.”
He gave her a quick kiss. “I’ll let you get busy.”
He walked out the door at the same time that Tabitha came meandering inside.
“It’s hot in here,” she commented.
Regan nodded as she began picking beans. “It always is.”
“Do you think things will ever be normal?” Tabitha asked out of the blue.
“Normal?” Regan echoed.
“Yes, like, we each have our own houses, families, and jobs. Will we have electricity and normalcy again? Is that ever going to be in our future?”
Regan laughed. “You are asking the wrong person. I can’t think past tomorrow, let alone that far down the road.”
“You and Wolf don’t talk about your future?”
Regan’s eyes widened as she looked up at her friend to see if she was joking. “No!”
Tabitha seemed surprised, though Regan couldn’t imagine why. “I thought you two were a thing?” she asked.
Regan raised an eyebrow and went back to the beans. “We are, kind of. But, I mean, we’ve known each other a little over a month. I’m not ready to talk about the future. I like to take things one day at a time. Even if the world were normal right now, we’d still be in the bare beginnings of a relationship—nowhere near talking-about-the-future territory.”
Tabitha came closer and leaned against one of the tanks, watching Regan work. “I like knowing what to expect. I want to make plans and set goals. Geno and I used to lay in bed and talk about what kind of house we were going to have and how it would be decorated.”
Regan smiled. “I think you can still have those kinds of goals. If it makes you happy, then I say dream on.”
Tabitha let out a long sigh. “It isn’t only the house we used to talk about.”
“What’s with you? You look sad,” Regan said, standing up and re-focusing her attention on her friend.
Tabitha’s normally smiling face looked pensive, and her eyes had dark circles under them. Now that Regan really paid attention to her, in fact, it became clear that she looked tense in general.
“Can we go outside? It’s too stuffy in here for me,” Tabitha said, waving a hand in front of her face.
“Sure.”
The two women walked outside and headed toward the picnic table positioned in the shade of a huge cypress.
“What’s going on?” Regan asked, knowing there was something Tabitha needed to get off her chest. Regan wasn’t great with the best friend relationship thing, but she could be a good listener, and she’d gotten to know Tabitha well enough to understand when something was truly eating at her.
Tabitha sank down at the table and let her chin rest on her hands, looking for all the world like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. “I always thought I wanted to have kids, Regan. I mean, that was always the plan when we talked about our future. Geno and I were going to get a house; he’d set up shop and I would work part-time as a paramedic. We’d decided we were going to have two kids, one boy and one girl, though I was starting to lean toward two boys,” she said, a wistful tone in her voice.
Regan giggled. “I don’t know if it quite works like that, but it’s a nice plan for dreaming about.”
“That’s my point. Was it all a dream? Can I ever have that?” Tabitha asked, catching her eyes. “What kind of future can we have now? Are we always going to have to live like this?”
Regan shrugged, suddenly uncomfortable—she’d been trying not to think about the long-term future and what it might look like, but the seriousness in her friend’s eyes made it clear that Tabitha had been doing the opposite. “I don’t know,” she answered after a moment of thought. “I don’t know that anybody knows anything. I have to think that one day we’ll have normal lives, though. They might be a little different than our old lives, but we’ll have something that’s normal for us, at some point, whatever that looks like. The human race will go on.”
Tabitha shook her head, her dark brown hair falling around her shoulders with the movement. “No, I know that, but… I mean, someday isn’t good enough when it comes to normal living. I can’t possibly get pregnant and have a baby now, the way things are. It would be irresponsible to bring a child into this world. It isn’t safe. I mean, look what happened yesterday. Someone stole a boat in the blink of an eye. I don’t want to think about trying to protect a baby when we’re struggling to stay alive.”
“A boat is not the same as a baby,” Regan pointed out, trying to lighten the mood. “And, we’re not exactly struggling.”
“You know what I mean. It’s dangerous out there. I don’t want to live here forever. And I don’t know if anywhere is safe to live,” she groaned. “I wanted a house in the suburbs with police on patrol.”
Regan reached across the picnic table and clasped Tabitha’s hands. “Relax. You don’t need to worry about any of this right now.
”
Tabitha gave Regan a look. “Don’t I?”
Regan smiled, and hoped it managed to come across as reassuring. She understood where Tabitha was in her life, even if it didn’t match where Regan herself was, but they couldn’t do anything but go forward with what they had—Tabitha had to accept that, as the rest of them did. Tabitha and Geno were a young, healthy couple. It was natural for them to act like a married couple in all ways. Preventing a pregnancy would be difficult without access to birth control, and so they had to think about it, but they could only do so much. Regan knew they had some condoms right now, which they’d picked up while scrounging, and she knew also that Wolf had a few boxes stored away that he’d shared with Geno upon request, but those would run out soon enough.
“I think you have to do your best, and if it happens, it happens. We’ll figure it out. You know everyone here will support you.”
Tabitha’s eyes darkened, but she nodded her head. “It isn’t right that you would have to. If I get pregnant, it’s mine and Geno’s responsibility.”
“True, but we’re all in this together. It could be fun having a baby around. It would add some excitement to the place.”
“And a lot of stress.”
Regan simply shrugged. “Stress is inevitable. If you don’t want to risk getting pregnant, talk to Geno. Make him understand your concerns. I’m sure he will be, uh, disappointed if you guys were planning on it, but he will survive,” she offered.
Tabitha smiled, seeming to relax a little. “Thank you for talking to me, and for saying that. I feel a lot better. I know this is an awkward conversation, and definitely not your thing.”
“Like Geno, I will survive. Thank you for trusting me enough to talk to me,” Regan added, reaching out and grasping her friend’s hand.
They sat in the silent shade of the tree for a few minutes more, both lost in their own thoughts.
Then, Tabitha stood up from the picnic table. “I’m going to plant those seeds. They better be worth it, too, considering the cost of the boat we lost,” she muttered.
Regan watched her walk back toward the garden area. That had been a heavy conversation. She had played it off as it being no big deal, but it had shed some light on a very serious issue. Relationships in this new world—hers and Wolf’s included—could have some serious consequences beyond family squabbles, and she’d given herself the luxury of avoiding thoughts of what that might mean until now. And, what made it worse was that she wasn’t sure how she felt about any of it, and would have preferred to put off any such considerations indefinitely.
It was too much for Regan to consider now, and she felt the almost immediate itch to get away. Rather than venture back into aquaponics territory, she headed for the beach, needing some time away from everyone and their intense conversations.
She avoided going toward the west side of the island with the dock, instead heading south to where she knew there would be plenty of space to be alone. She kicked off the heavy boots she had been wearing and left them on a tree stump before walking across the warm white sand. It felt good to have the sand between her toes and the sun on her face, even if it was a little on the hot side.
Standing at the oceanside, she closed her eyes and spread her arms wide, soaking it all in, letting herself imagine she was on a sandy Florida beach on a nice vacation with cocktails at the ready.
“What are you doing?” Lily’s voice cut through her fantasy.
Regan’s head popped forward and her eyes opened to see Lily standing on the beach, holding a backpack in one hand and a pup tent in the other.
“I was going for a walk.”
“With your eyes closed?”
Regan laughed. “I wasn’t walking yet. What about you? What are you doing out here?”
Lily shrugged. “Looking for a new place to camp.”
“This is a nice section of beach, but why are you camping, Lily?” Regan asked, tired of avoiding the obvious problem.
“I like it. The house is full. Out here, I get my privacy.”
“You have your own room at the house,” Regan pointed out.
Lily glared at her. “You mean the room you sometimes sleep in?”
“I can sleep on the couch. I thought you didn’t mind.”
Lily didn’t respond. Instead, she dropped her gear on a pile of wild flowers mingled between the tall reeds and walked toward a palm tree.
“Lily, I’d like to talk to you about what happened and why you’re angry with me. Will you please talk to me?” Regan asked, following her toward the tree.
Lily turned around and sneered, “There’s nothing to talk about.”
With that, she reached out and jumped onto the trunk of the tree, making her way up to pluck some coconuts. The tree was one of those that hung practically horizontal toward the top, its base coming out from a slanted space of ground and curling over. Where Lily was, she was hanging upside down to reach the coconuts, and the tree wasn’t a thick one.
“Lily, be careful. That tree doesn’t look sturdy.”
“I’ve been doing this a lot longer than you. I know when a palm is safe for climbing.”
Regan grimaced, watching the girl reach out to a cluster of the coconuts—her hold on the tree looked more and more precarious. “Lily, I’m serious, be careful!”
Lily laughed. “Relax, Regan. I think you need to trust me. I do this all the time. You’ve done it like five times and somehow my dad thinks you’re an expert,” she hollered down, reaching for another hanging fruit and pulling at it before tossing it downward to the ground. “See!”
Regan ignored the insult. She’d known Lily would get upset about her giving the demonstration. With everything that had happened since that day, she wished like hell she would have never agreed to do the stupid thing. Wolf should have picked Lily to do it, and maybe none of this anger and hostility would be present.
“Lily!” Regan yelled, watching the girl defiantly hang from the trunk and bounce against it to knock more fruit about.
If Lily fell, it wasn’t like she could call nine-one-one or rush her to the hospital. And Wolf would never forgive Regan if she let something happen to his daughter.
“I told you! It’s fine!” Lily shouted before reaching her free hand back to the trunk and shimmying back down toward the ground. “I think you need to learn who knows what around here. I know a lot more than you about climbing trees, running a boat, and just about everything else.”
Regan stared at the blonde girl who was grinning and glaring at the same time. She had made it down the tree alive and unharmed. That would have to be satisfaction enough for Regan. She wasn’t going to get into a battle of wills with a tween girl who was carrying around a chip the size of Texas on her shoulder.
“You’re right. You do know a lot about living out here and I am glad you do. Consider yourself very fortunate to have had a father who taught you so much about living off the land and being self-sufficient. Enjoy your campsite, Lily,” Regan said before walking back to where her boots were sitting on the beach.
She flopped down on the sand and quickly pulled them back on. Her quiet, relaxing walk along the beach had been ruined. It was another item on her growing list of reasons why she didn’t like the island. It was just too small for this many attitudes.
Wolf should have picked a bigger island. Heck, maybe they each needed their own island. In fact, this morning’s bout with Lily settled it. Regan was going to check out some of those other nearby islands. Wolf had said she could probably swim over at low tide, so that’s exactly what she’d do. The low tide wasn’t a huge help, of course, but a few feet could make all the difference. Maybe, just maybe, she could build a hut and live the rest of her days alone on a truly deserted island.
11
A day at the beach seemed like exactly what the group needed. They’d been working too hard and stressing over details constantly. Not to mention the fact that the tension between them was making it difficult to get anything done smoothly. Now t
hat they were getting another clear day in between storms, this was another one of Tabitha’s ideas to help settle everyone down and allow them to become a more cohesive group.
“This is so nice,” Tabitha said with a satisfied sigh.
“It is,” Regan agreed.
“I wish there was someone to bring me a margarita. That would really complete the fantasy.”
Regan giggled, in complete agreement with the sentiment. It was a rare occasion that there weren’t any chores that absolutely had to be done, giving everyone the chance to relax and enjoy the lovely beach on a hot day. Regan leaned back on her elbows, her body laid out on a beach towel as she watched Fred, Wolf, and Lily climb aboard the sailboat.
“I can do it by myself, Dad,” Lily stated for the third time since the group had made their way to the dock.
“I’m sure you can, and I plan on letting you do it on your own. I’m just going along for the ride,” Wolf replied in his usual calm voice.
“I’ll be there,” Fred pointed out.
“And you’ve never been on a sailboat,” Wolf retorted.
“It can’t be that hard,” Fred said matter-of-factly.
Regan looked at Tabitha, both of them smiling over what they’d heard and the fact that Fred would soon see just how difficult sailing could be. Fred figured he could read a book about anything and then put what he’d learned into action perfectly. Regan looked forward to him figuring out that it wasn’t as easy as it looked in the books. She watched the three of them settle in to sail away from the dock.
“This is what life is supposed to be like when you live on an island,” Tabitha said from Regan’s left.
Regan turned to look at Tabitha, who was wearing a pair of shorts and a bikini top, lying on a towel, her eyes shielded by sunglasses as she soaked up the sun. Her skin already had a perfect olive tone, but she’d insisted she wanted to feel the sun on her skin. Regan could only compare her own complexion to that of Casper and had kept her tank top on, but she had donned a pair of cut-off jean shorts for their relaxing day at the beach. And she had slathered on some of the coconut oil sunscreen Tabitha had made to protect them from the sun. She wasn’t remotely interested in dealing with a sunburn. Wolf had also lectured all of them about sunburn increasing their risk of dehydration.
Survivalist Reality Show: The Complete Series Page 37
