Horizons

by Catherine Hart

“Could we melt the metal?” Gavin proposed. “Or weaken it with heat, so Alita could pry the links apart?”

  Zach shook his head. “You’d need a blow torch to get it hot enough, and I wouldn’t recommend that even if we had one handy. With our luck, all we’d achieve would be to set ourselves on fire.”

  “I suppose it wouldn’t work to try to grease your hands with coconut oil and pull them free,” Blair submitted doubtfully.

  Kelly tugged at her arm. “That gives me an idea. Help me over there.”

  “Good grief, girl! Just lie still and tell us what to do,” Alita said.

  “No. Not unless you know how to pop a bone out of joint and put it back in again,” Kelly argued with more force than she’d exhibited in two days. “Now get over here and help me. I don’t care if you have to drag me, blanket and all.”

  “Just whose bones are you talking about?” Gavin inquired worriedly.

  “And which ones?” Zach wanted to know. “And why?”

  Kelly didn’t bother explaining just yet. She was too busy trying to contain the moans rising to her throat as her two friends towed her toward the men. As of waking that morning, after a terrible night during which she’d almost wished she would die, she was feeling remarkably better. However, though the nausea and the muscle spasms had subsided to a tolerable level, her head still ached horribly and the most agonizing pangs would shoot up her leg unless she kept it absolutely immobile. Just now, she was in god-awful pain.

  Even after they stopped moving, Kelly needed several minutes to recuperate. Finally the misery abated, allowing her to speak. “Houdini used to deliberately dislocate his own shoulder in order to maneuver out of a straight jacket. Therefore, it stands to reason that if we were to do the same with your thumb, it is quite possible that you could slip your hand out of the handcuff. As soon as it’s free, I’d pop the bone back.”

  “Oh, Jesus! It makes me sick just thinking of it!” Gavin groaned. “Isn’t it bad enough I’ve got one hand broken up, without you wanting to ruin the only good one I’ve got left?”

  “That’s why I think it’s best that Zach volunteer,” Kelly informed them both. “Besides, he’s right-handed, and his left one is cuffed.”

  Zach frowned down at her. “Honey, I know you’re trying to help, but this sounds painful as all hell.”

  “So is getting shot,” she pointed out succinctly.

  “Right. Okay.” Zach nodded. “So, are you sure you can do this?”

  “Yes. I can even manipulate a couple of pressure points first, to numb the joint. That way, you’ll hardly feel a thing, and it should only ache a bit for a short while afterward.”

  “Should, could, would,” he intoned dubiously. “Famous last words.”

  “The only thing I’m concerned about is the size of your hands, and whether this will allow you enough leeway to pull your hand loose,” Kelly went on to say. “The thumb I can work with. The rest is up to you.”

  “I say we go for it,” Gavin said.

  “Sure, now that your hand isn’t the one in question,” Zach noted wryly.

  “Look. Guys.” Alita called for their attention. “We either do this or we don’t. We haven’t a lot of time to decide.”

  “And fewer options,” Blair stressed.

  Zach held his hand out as far as he could reach toward Kelly. “All right. Do it.”

  Blair plopped Sydney into Gavin’s lap, so she wouldn’t get into mischief while the adults were busy. Then she aided in steadying Zach’s hand, while Alita helped prop Kelly into a better position.

  As she had told him, Kelly first kneaded the applicable pressure points. When the lower half of Zach’s hand had gone numb, she swiftly twisted the ball of his thumb out of its joint. She and Alita, working together, compressed his remaining fingers as tightly as possible and pulled in one direction—while Zach and Gavin tugged the metal cuff in the other. It was a tight squeeze, and for a minute it looked as if their efforts were in vain. Then, though the skin was scraped from his knuckles in the process, his hand broke free. Quickly, before the feeling could come back, Kelly popped his thumb back into place.

  Exhausted, but triumphant, Kelly fell back on her blanket. Zach, after planting a fleeting kiss on her brow, scrambled to his feet. Gavin dumped Sydney off of his lap, pulled the handcuffs from under the root, and did likewise. “Maybe I should let Kelly get my hand out, too,” he debated, eyeing the cuffs dangling from his right wrist. “These things could be a problem, just hanging like this.”

  The numbness wore off suddenly, and feeling rushed back into Zach’s hand with a vengeance. “Oh, crap! Oh, nuts!” Zach grabbed his wrist, doubling over. “Kelly! I thought you said this was only going to ache a little!”

  “That’s just the blood coming back. It’s only temporary. Flex your fingers,” she ordered. “Like you would for a cramp. Work it out. Shake it. Get the blood flowing properly again.”

  Gavin backed off. “I’ve changed my mind. I’ll keep the cuffs until we can get the key away from Earl.”

  “Chicken!” Alita taunted. She rolled her eyes. “Why are men such big babies?”

  “If they had to have babies, the way we do, they’d know what pain really was,” Blair agreed. “And there would be only one child per family, no matter what the Pope decreed.”

  The pain had subsided by now, and Zach was looking somewhat abashed.

  “Think you’ll live after all?” Kelly teased.

  “I might.”

  “Me, too,” she told him, mustering a smile.

  “And if we all want to stay that way,” Gavin announced, grimly bringing their primary problem to the fore, “we’d better come up with a foolproof plan to deal with Earl. Real fast.”

  Earl couldn’t have announced his imminent arrival more clearly if he’d been wearing a cow bell. The man was whistling, apparently feeling quite pleased with himself. The minute the others heard him, they went into action. Gavin and Zach resumed their positions, as if still chained to the root. Kelly, with the sword again concealed beneath her blanket, was lying in the same spot she’d been before, a few yards from the fire. Alita and Blair stood on either side of her, facing one another across Kelly’s prone body.

  Earl had yet to enter the camp when Blair and Alita began screaming at each other.

  “You might be a famous singer, but you’re no better than a slut! A rich bitch!” Blair shouted.

  “You are just jealous that I have a big strong man wanting me, and you have no one!” Alita countered loudly.

  “I could have him if I wanted him!”

  “Ha! I’ve seen pigs less homely than you! And in a few months, you will be as fat as one!”

  “And what would you be without your big boobs and your big hair?” Blair retorted angrily. “I’ve a good notion to snatch you bald! Let’s see how sexy you look then!”

  Earl had just stepped into the clearing when Blair launched herself at Alita, grabbing a huge handful of the singer’s hair. On an enraged screech, Alita countered by clutching the front of Blair’s T-shirt, holding onto her as she slapped Blair’s cheek. The brawl, with both women yelling and kicking and scratching and pulling hair, was taking place directly above Kelly—who was helpless to move out of the way. The best she could do was to shield her face, hope neither of them happened to kick her by mistake, and plead with them to stop. Poor Sydney ran to hide behind Zach and Gavin.

  Earl stood stock-still for a moment, staring in dumbfounded awe at the female cat fight erupting before his eyes. Then, as if suddenly recalling that he was the only male free to physically intervene, he dropped the brace of pigeons he was carrying, and stomped into the fray. “Hey, you dizzy broads! Knock it off! You’re scarin’ the kid!” He had one paw wrapped around Blair’s forearm, and the other gripped around the back of Alita’s neck, trying to pry the battling women apart, when Kelly made her move. Drawing the sword, she slid it alongside Earl’s leg, until the point rested at his groin.

  Watchful and waiting, though they ce
rtainly hadn’t appeared to be, Alita and Blair abruptly ceased their scuffling. In the sudden hush, Kelly’s warning rang clear. “I wouldn’t make any hasty moves, if I were you, Earl. Unless you want to sing soprano from here on out.”

  Before he could even think to react, or try to disarm her, Zach and Gavin were there. Zach yanked the pistol from Earl's waistband. Gavin relieved Kelly of the sword.

  “Let loose of the ladies,” Zach commanded.

  Blair immediately went to reassure Sydney that all was well. While Zach held Earl’s arms wedged behind his back, rendering him defenseless, Alita quickly and efficiently frisked him. She came away with the two knives he’d taken from the other men the previous day, the handcuff key, Earl’s handmade slingshot, a wallet, a butane lighter, and a handful of extra bullets. When his pockets hung empty, and she was sure he had no other weapons hidden on his person, she used the key to free Gavin of the cuffs, and handed them out to Zach.

  “Do you want the honors, or should I do it?”

  “I’d better,” Zach said. “Keep him covered, Gav.” Between them, they hauled the big man to the sturdiest support post and anchored him to it, with his hands bound behind him.

  “This time, you can stay tied to the damned tree until you grow moss,” Zach informed him tightly. “And I don’t think you’ll be getting much sympathy from the women, either. You conned us once, thanks to Kelly’s soft heart. It won’t happen again.”

  “You’ll have to let me loose to go to the bathroom, and to eat,” Earl snarled defiantly, his face twisted into a scowl.

  “I don’t have to do anything but die and pay taxes,” Zach stated flatly. “I just might figure it’s safer to let you starve and wallow in your own filth. You see, Earl, you made a tremendous blunder when you sabotaged our rescue efforts, especially when it endangered Kelly’s life. And threatening us with this gun wasn’t a really wise move on your part, either.”

  “Hell’s bells, man! The damned gun don’t even work!” Earl shouted. “And Kelly sure wasn’t going to croak off from no bite from a danged jellyfish! Not that it wouldn’t have served her right, cheatin’ on her hubby the way she is with you. I kind of liked her ’til then. ’Til she proved she weren’t no better than Mary Beth.”

  Gavin couldn’t grab Zach’s arm in time to prevent him from plowing his fist into Earl’s jaw. Earl’s head hit the tree trunk with a force that sent figs falling from the branches like rain. He slumped, unconscious, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.

  “I hope he bit his foul tongue in half!” Zach declared, shaking off Gavin’s restraining hand and backing away from the temptation to hit Earl again.

  “Is he right?” Kelly called from her blanket. “About the gun, I mean? Has he been holding us at bay with a weapon that won’t even shoot?”

  “We’ll find out right now,” Zach decided. “Blair, you hold onto Sydney in case this thing does go off with a bang. I don’t want her to be frightened.” With that, Zach marched out of the clearing and headed for the beach, with Gavin and Alita close behind.

  Kelly strained her ears, as did Blair, but try as they might they heard nothing that sounded like a gunshot. Silence reigned, stretching into long minutes. Finally, when they thought they couldn’t bear the suspense much longer, the others trooped back into view.

  “The lousy bastard was right,” Zach grumbled. “The years and the high humidity have rusted the barrel, bound up the firing mechanism, and basically turned the ammunition into hunks of worthless powder and metal. In its present condition, the pistol probably doesn’t even have any antique value, except maybe as a war memento.”

  “Well, that’s a relief!” Blair sighed. “What with bats and bunji pits and snares, at least we won’t have to worry about Sydney getting hold of a loaded gun. It’s hard enough to keep her out of mischief as it is.”

  “We might have used it to signal help, though,” Gavin said. “A gunshot can be heard for miles.”

  “No use crying over spilled beer,” Alita misquoted. “The good thing is, none of us are going to get shot and Earl is now the one in handcuffs again.”

  “And you don’t have to make the ultimate sacrifice to save us,” Kelly reminded her. “None of us would have wanted you to resort to that.”

  “Gracias a Dios!” Alita cast a glare in Earl’s direction. “If that miserable excuse for a man wants to get laid, he can crawl up a bird’s butt and make like an egg!”

  “Speaking of birds,” Blair put in. “I believe there are a couple of pigeons awaiting their turn on a spit.”

  “Well then, what are we all standing around for?” Zach clapped his hands, as if calling them to order. “I, for one, can’t wait to sink my teeth into a plump, succulent breast.”

  In chorus with Gavin’s choked guffaw, and despite Kelly’s bright blush, Alita rolled her eyes dramatically. “Aye, chihuahua! Watch out for this guy, Kelly. He is one rowdy puppy!”

  Chapter 18

  Murphy’s Law was in full play. With Earl unable to sabotage their efforts, the planes now ceased to fly over the island. A week went by without sighting or hearing any sign of a rescue attempt.

  “This is asinine,” Kelly said. “Why would they stop looking for us?”

  “And why, even if they didn’t see any evidence of us, didn’t they at least spot the wreckage?” Blair queried despondently.

  “I’ve been wondering the same thing,” Zach admitted. “I think I’ll take a hike up the mountain tomorrow and have another look around.”

  Unencumbered, and fully recovered from his initial injuries, Zach made it up and down again in good time. He arrived in camp a full hour before dark. “Bad news, folks. I climbed as far as that knoll where we stopped the first day, and from what I could see, it’s doubtful that anyone flying over would recognize the charred remains as that of a 747. The blackened debris blends in too well with the lava rock.”

  “What about the part that didn’t burn?” Gavin asked. “The tail section was fairly intact.”

  Zach shook his head. “Some of the trees supporting it have since given way. The tail section has slipped further into the foliage, and my guess is that some fronds and branches which were previously bent have sprung back up around it. You can barely see a trace of it through the brush. In fact, it’s so well camouflaged that if I hadn’t known exactly where to look I might not have found it.”

  “And the cockpit?” Kelly inquired.

  “Too mangled to distinguish it from much else. Even if a piece of metal would reflect sunlight, a pilot might assume it was simply glare off a pond or a patch of snow.”

  “Snow?” Alita echoed. “Here?”

  Blair nodded. “It sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? But I’ve read that there are many places in the tropics that have snow-capped peaks even in the summer. It has to do with the elevation. It can be hot on the coast, and freezing on the mountain tops.”

  “So, what you are saying, Zach, is that unless they see us or our signal fire, we’re fairly well S.O.L.,” Gavin concluded.

  Zach sighed. “That’s about the size of it.”

  “And since they’ve stopped coming around, we can assume they’ve already searched this area and decided to look elsewhere?” Kelly proposed.

  “For the time being, perhaps,” Zach agreed.

  “Then it’s a darn good thing I’ve got that raft nearly finished,” Gavin declared with resolve. “Another week or so, and I should be able to set sail.”

  Zach frowned. “I still think it’s an immense risk to take. That’s an awfully tiny raft, and a tremendously big ocean.”

  Gavin shrugged. “So, what other choice do we have, other than sitting here watching our toenails grow? If they can’t find us, we’ll just have to find them.”

  “Or die trying?” Kelly voiced the awful thought for all of them.

  Life went on, with the castaways trying to make the best of it. They also sought to keep busy, in an attempt to keep themselves from dwelling on the passing of each successive day w
ithout rescue. Zach helped Gavin with the raft. Blair set herself to the task of learning to leaf-weave hats and baskets. Alita practiced her singing, strung leis, and helped watch over Sydney. Kelly created several hanging lamps by making macrame hangers in which were suspended coconut shells filled with coconut oil. The oil, pressed from the nutmeat, burned very well as a substitute for candles or lamp oil. The makeshift pots, hung at intervals beneath the banyan tree, served to ward off the pesky bats at night— which made them all sleep a little easier, whether the men admitted it or not.

  On subsequent forays of the island, they uncovered two more bunji pits, which the fellows filled in, and half a dozen snares, which they dismantled without mishap. Some new discoveries were infinitely more appreciated, among them a mango tree, a guava shrub, and a small papaya tree. Sydney was the one to find the first gull nest, and the trio of edible eggs it held. From then on, they scoured the beach for more. They also experimented with various ways of preparing their food, as another means of providing themselves more variety.

  Sydney soon found herself with a few primitive toys. A doll, made of macrame pandanus leaves. A crude ball, similarly fashioned. A miniature raft for floating in the pond at bath time. Kelly even devised a ball-in-the-cup game for her, by employing a mango stone, half of an undersized coconut shell, and her ever-handy dental floss. Even the adults, in need of some form of recreation of their own, enjoyed an occasional game of papaya football. The trick was to use an unripe papaya, or risk getting spattered with the juicy fruit.

  As beautiful as the island was, with its dazzling display of exotic birds and blossoms, its flower-fragrant breezes and pristine beaches, the lack of modern amenities made it difficult to truly appreciate it as a tropical paradise. It became routine for them to list those things in the real world which they missed the most.

  “I would kill for a butterscotch milkshake,” Blair said. “With Bobby I craved sauerkraut, of all things. When I was expecting Nancy, I wanted green peppers, despite the indigestion they caused me. This time, milkshakes. Go figure.”