When Gray left the peak he went south only as far as the tree line then turned west and headed toward the shelter, carefully memorizing his route. He came out on the beach slightly north of the shelter about 10 minutes after leaving the peak.
Shinobu must have seen him start down because the old man was standing at the edge of the sand when Gray turned to go to the shelter. “You are fast walker,” he said. “You were on the top not ten minutes ago.”
“Ah, you are observant, Shinobu. Did you see me well enough that we could communicate with arm signals?”
“Oh, yes. Even with my old eyes.”
“Good. Thank you.”
“When Paolo came back without you I wondered what might have happened.”
“Nothing untoward my friend. He is simply a hard one to figure out.”
Gray noticed Keegan had not gone with Anna and the others to the hut. When asked about that, Keegan said just walking along the beach looking for something shiny had put his head to hurting fierce.
Gray asked Shinobu, “How are Lleyton and Malik?”
“No change in Malik. I worry about young Lleyton. He has stopped asking me to help him piss and he is very hot.”
Gray said, “Both bad signs. Is he drinking water?”
“Nothing since early this morning. He has such a strong spirit but I fear it is not enough.”
“I fear that too. Shinobu, would you like to visit the other side of the island? Keegan and I could watch Lleyton and Malik.”
He turned down the offer and Gray did not want to insist because the old man seemed to find it difficult to say no to requests but Shinobu continued to ask questions about the other side of the island. Eventually Gray told him it was less than a thirty minute walk at a slow pace and he might help the others with the fishing and crab traps. That persuaded the old man, and Gray led him down the beach and got him started on the trail with a bottle of water.
When Gray returned to the shelter, he sat down beside Keegan and asked the young man how he was feeling.
“Fine now. But me aid’s not right.”
“Have you taken more ibuprofen?”
“Is there more?”
Gray nodded and got up to dig out the bottle of pain killer. “What brought you to Kuala Lumpur?”
“Training Malays en coraiocht.”
“Is that something to do with martial arts?”
“It is. Wrestlin’.”
“And Brisbane?”
“The same.”
Gray guessed the young man had relapsed from this morning or simply did not want to talk. He scooted over to check on Lleyton and Malik. Lleyton’s skin was hot and dry to the touch and he did not wake when Gray touched his forehead. Gray could hardly find a pulse in Malik but did eventually. He did not time it but Gray guessed the man’s heart rate was below 50. Grey believed the man’s brain had put him in a coma in response to the damage done to his body. How long the body could maintain itself in that slowed down state, Gray could not guess. He lay back to take a short nap, thinking he might try to dive to the wreck when he awoke.
The others had not returned when Gray woke from his nap. Keegan and Paolo were asleep so he did not bother them. He walked down to the beach and removed his clothes and shoes. He had noticed there was little change in the tide around this island but it did appear to be as low as it ever got right now. He leisurely swam out toward the forward section of the wreck and tread water over it while he repeatedly filled and emptied his lungs. When he felt ready he dove and thrust himself toward the opening. He grabbed a seat and worked toward the front. The light was much better than the last time he was down here. He made it to the galley and opened a cabinet, pulled out a case of water and pushed it toward the opening. He came up faster than the water, his lungs bursting for air. He pushed the case of water back to the beach and dragged it up from the water.
Gray stood looking out toward the wreck, breathing heavily and trying to recover. The time he could stay under water was so short it limited what he could accomplish. Part of the problem was the initial swimming surge required to overcome his buoyancy and reach the opening. That effort used much of his oxygen reserve. His skin was about dry and he started dressing.
A poor attempt at a wolf whistle caused him to turn around. Anna was running across the sand. She was wearing an olive colored painter’s cap he had not seen before and was carrying a small rectangular piece of something shiny in her hand but she first wrapped her arms around him. “I wish you had come with us,” she said.
“I missed you too,” he said and was surprised that it was the truth. “That hat looks cute on you.”
“Thank you,” she said, touching the bill of the cap. “Have you been diving? Your eyes are red.”
“I have. You didn’t find some diving goggles or a mask over there did you?”
“No, just this boring old thing,” she said and with obvious pride handed Gray a flat, three inch by five rectangle of metal.
The sheet of metal had one highly polished surface and a half inch diameter hole in the center with a kind of screen in the hole and then a smaller hole in the screen. On the back were instructions how to use the “Surviva-Mirror”.
He laughed. “What a find! What else did you guys come up with?”
“More crab and fish. We brought back the mines and that stuff. We brought back some more coconuts and more dried rice and beans and enough cooked rice for dinner.”
They gathered near the shelter and Gray updated them on the view from the peak and the usability of the cave. Lex had unsuccessfully tried to climb a coconut tree and had gotten his arms scraped up doing so and had taken a fall but did not incur any injury. He did not think he would try it again for awhile. Shinobu said Lex should not feel bad about failing. Those that climb coconut trees started learning as children.
Lex said Shinobu had shown him some other places to place crab traps when the catch diminished around the dock. He said Shinobu had carefully watched the few chickens and could point out where they were nesting. The old man seemed very pleased that he had been useful.
Gray suggested they set up a schedule for lookouts on the peak during daylight hours of about three hours apiece. He could rig up three of the mines a safe distance down the slope from the top. When a lookout spotted a ship within reasonable range, he or she could detonate the mines about five seconds apart, resulting in three loud explosions and with the steady breeze, three distinct clouds of smoke. If the ship was in a favorable direction, the lookout could then flash the ship with the mirror. The group sounded encouraged by the plan judging by the cheerful comments.
When Gray told Lex about his difficulty with retrieving items from the wreck, Lex said he had done some scuba diving and what Gray needed was a weight belt and a floating rig where he could rest rather than tread water. He could also store things he retrieved on the rig and avoid taking them back to shore each time.
“My man, my appreciation of you is growing,” Gray said. He had thought of using weights to help him sink without expending so much effort and he had considered tying together some of the floating seat cushions that littered the area to make a raft. He did not tell Lex that he had already thought of those things because he had grown to like the young man and knew he liked to be helpful.
Melanie, Lex and Anna wanted to eat dinner before dark so it was too late to go up to the peak. They postponed it until morning. That evening they had a hot meal of rice, fish and crab with fruit and candy for desert. Shinobu told them he expected he could find some edible greens and possibly some fruit or berries on the island. Things were looking better for the castaways except for the two badly injured men. Everyone was concerned about Lleyton’s turn to the worse. He was not speaking much and could not eat and only drank when coaxed. It especially frustrated Melanie that they could not get help for the young man.
The sky turned shades of gold and red as the sun set. No rain came that evening and the night sky glittered with an impossible number of stars. The group w
as not so totally exhausted this evening as last and they sat in the sand and talked, learning a bit about each other. Dayah wanted to know why each had been invited on the flight. Gray told how he had gotten on the flight through his friend, Alyson Marker, an LPGA star and Anna said she was also invited because she was a golfer. Keegan had won martial arts tournaments across South Asia and had held a world lightweight title in cage fighting. Melanie and Lex were staring in an adventure movie that had been filming in the Malaysian jungle. Shinobu said he suspected he was chosen because he had been the Japanese ambassador to Malaysia for five years before his recent retirement. When Gray asked him how he was so knowledgeable of building with the local materials, he said he had always lived in outlying areas when he was a diplomat and immersed himself in the local culture.
Looking at Paolo, Dayah said, “Now you not nice man but we want know why you here.”
The moon light was not enough to tell what expression was on Paolo’s face, only that it was not a smile because no teeth were showing. “Is that so?”
When he said no more, the young Malay said, “What, that you not nice or we want to know why you here?”
That brought a chuckle from some of those sitting in the sand. Paolo smiled then but his voice was cold. “If you wish. I won the formula one championship last year driving for Colotra Renault. The schedule was changed radically this year. Sepang, the race in Kuala Lumpur, is usually in March but it was in October this year. The race in Australia was moved from March to November and from Melbourne to Brisbane.”
“Thank you,” Dayah said. “That not so hard.”
Anna said, “Paolo, Molenaar is a Dutch name but Paolo is not. Will you tell us about that and where you are from?”
“For you Anna, yes. I was twelve when my mother, a Brazilian, married a Dutchman. We left the favela of Rio and moved to Utrecht. My mother registered me at school with the last name of my step father. Believe me when I tell you, there are no two cultures more different on earth than Brazilians and the Dutch. My hero was Aryton Senna and I consider myself a Brazilian.”
Without comment Paolo rose and headed for the shelter. When the others rose and headed the same direction, Anna asked Gray to take her up to the peak to look at the stars but he said it was too difficult in the dark. “How about a walk on the beach?” he offered.
In the dim light she took his hand and tugged him to his feet. Barefoot, they walked hand in hand down to the surf and turned south. The stars of the Milky Way were so thick in places they appeared as swirling milky cloud, making it easy to understand why it was named so. They walked slowly and did not speak until past the trail that went up to the saddle.
“I am not too young for you,” Anna stated.
Gray grinned. “On the cusp, though. I should not mention that the subject might be premature.”
“What is the expression, ah contraire?”
Gray paused before he replied. If she was alluding to what he thought she was, it meant she was an insightful and pragmatic young woman. “Are you saying we should determine if our ages are not too disparate before falling in love, unlike what Alyson and I did?”
“No, I wish I was so…”
“Insightful?”
“That is the word, yes, insightful. No, I was saying it is too late for me.”
Gray did not know how to reply to what she had admitted. His strong feelings for the young woman would make it so easy to tell her he was falling in love with her. When the silence had gone for too long she said, “I am six years older than Alyson.”
“Still, on the cusp. As I told Alyson, I will be a shriveled old man when she is still a beautiful woman. She wants to start having children in about seven years. That would put me at fifty three, close to sixty if we had two children. I would be more like a grandfather, two generations out of touch with them. And worse, maybe dead by their teens.”
Now Anna did not reply and they walked in silence. A brilliant shooting star flared across the sky and Gray stopped and asked, “Did you see that?”
When Anna did not speak he moved closer until they were face to face. He caught the glint of a tear streak on her cheek. “Oh, Anna,” he said and pulled her into an embrace.
“Oh, meine Liebe,” she cried.
“Yes, meine Liebe. I am sorry, Anna. This is breaking my heart too.”
“You should not be sorry. I have been the one coming on to you.”
“I could have pushed you away… but I found you too… you are too gorgeous but I have resisted attractive women before. You have so many qualities I like. But you have just been too endearing.”
She tightened her embrace and made a tiny moan.
Gray asked, “What is it about you golfers? Did you know my ex was an avid golfer?”
Anna giggled. “I did know that, Alyson again. And I know why you divorced. My ex was on the European tour and an unfaithful shit.”
“Oh, Anna, I am sorry. I wondered how such a fine and attractive woman could be single. I know what pain you went through.”
“I know. Oh, Gray, I should have talked to you first. I took the things Alyson told me and made too many assumptions.”
“What did she tell you?”
“She told me how you felt about the age difference. And that you wanted her to date other men, younger men. She said she told you she would.”
“Did she tell you she was going to do it?”
“She said her heart was not in it.”
“But she will?” Gray felt Anna tense up in his arms after his question. She took a while to reply.
“I cannot say. We have become very good friends since I started playing LPGA events a couple of years ago. She confided in me after introducing us at the Evian.”
Gray said, “Some of the U.S. ladies ribbed her about fraternizing with the enemy.”
“They had to have been joking. They knew she always played her heart out for the U.S. Look at the Solheim.”
“That is about the time I was coming to the realization that our affair had to end.”
“You do not want to let her go, yet you must push her away.”
“You understand it, Anna.”
“I understand and I care for you,” she whispered.
“And I you.”
“That must be enough for us then.”
They stood in the dark, entwined in the other’s arms, the surf barely a ripple and the breeze a soft caress. Without another word they walked back to the shelter with an arm around the other’s waist.
It was still dark when Lex shook Gray awake. “Gray, we need your light.”
The sound of urgent groans came from where Malik and Lleyton lay. Gray fumbled around and found his shoes and pulled the flashlight from one of them and handed it to Lex. Lex crawled over to where Melanie knelt over Lleyton.
When Gray squat on the other side of the young man, Melanie said, “He is delirious and burning up with fever. Somebody get me some water.”
Lleyton was panting and thrashing weakly and moaning. Melanie bathed the young man’s face and forehead with a wet rag and said soothing things to him but he never responded rationally. Finally he settled and his breathing slowed and became more regular.
Chapter VI Day Three, Day of Sorrow
Gray sat up and scratched his four day old beard wishing he could retrieve his carry on luggage containing his electric razor which had enough juice for a couple of shaves at least, and a battery powered charger for his phone. His favorite pocket knife and shorts were in his checked luggage somewhere in the belly of the aircraft. At least there were plenty of tooth brushes and paste from the gift baskets.
After breakfast and after Lleyton’s bandages were changed and Malik adjusted, Gray suggested everyone but Keegan climb to the peak with him. Keegan said his head felt much better and would like to give it a try. After a short discussion they agreed to leave the two severally injured men alone for the amount of time needed to climb the peak and take a look around. All eight started east up the slope, all but K
eegan and Dayah carrying a Claymore mine, and Gray and Lex also carrying spools of wire. It took about fifteen minutes to make the climb. Melanie, Lex, Paolo and Keegan stayed only a few minutes and then descended, Melanie saying they would stay at the shelter until someone else came down and then they were going to the other side of the island to check the traps and bathe.
Gray set up three of the Claymore mines about a hundred feet apart near the tree line facing east. Anna helped him run the three wires down to them from the peak. On the peak he hooked up the triggers, which he called clackers, and showed Anna, Dayah and Shinobu how to test them and how to fire them when needed. If they spotted a ship, the plan was to watch it long enough to determine if it might come closer. Gray believed they needed a ship to be well within a fifteen mile range before their signal could be effective although he would leave that judgment to the lookout on duty. Anna volunteered to go down the slope and into the jungle a ways so they could work out how to use the signal mirror. They each flashed the mirror at her a number of times and she held up fingers equal to the number of flashes. She came back up the slope and Gray took her place.
It appeared to Gray they could use the mirror to signal someone at the hut from early morning to mid afternoon. If they could find another reflective surface, signaling from the hut would be possible from late morning to late afternoon.
When the Claymore instructions and mirror testing were finished, Shinobu asked to take the first watch and Anna and Dayah left for the shelter so Lex, Melanie, Paolo and Keegan could leave for the other side. Shinobu had woven himself a kind of hat from long, flat blades of grass and had water and some crackers and said he would be fine. Gray sat with him awhile and the old man told him of some of the places he had lived in South Asia. Gray was about to start down when Shinobu pointed to the saddle.
PULAU MATI Page 9
