by S G Read
George spoke to Charley, obviously in their native tongue as I did not understand a word. Charley took my arm and pointed. I looked where she pointed and saw a fruit tree, laden with ripe fruit. They looked like oranges and looked very appetising to someone who was hot and thirsty. We walked down the slope to where the tree was. They were oranges and they were in various stages of ripeness.
'I think we have earned a rest.' I said, pulling oranges off the tree, one for each of us.
Again their upbringing stopped them eating, this time it was their long nails which were no good for pealing oranges. I pealed the oranges for them so they could eat them. I did not say anything as I knew that after a few weeks on the island their nails would soon conform to those on normal working hands. We needed the refreshing juice and I knew the others would need some soon. I also knew I had made the same mistake again, by not bringing something to carry the oranges in. Charley saw me looking about and looked at her sister. Both had tee shirts on. She took hers off and gave it to me.
'If you tie up one end you can carry oranges in it.' She explained.
I looked at the tee shirt.
'If I had some way to do it I would.' I replied.
I tried to imagine oranges in it as it was with the tee shirt on its' side.
'We could put some in and carry it like this.' I said, showing them what I meant.
We tried it and with me holding it we managed to get eight oranges in it and I was still be able to carry it without them falling out. Charley spoke to
George in their native tongue and an argument ensued. I waited patiently. At the end of the argument George took of her tee shirt and I understood what the argument was about. Charley had on a borrowed tee shirt, while George had her own on.
We started back with two loads of oranges, sixteen in all but it remained to be seen if we still had that many by the time we arrived at the camp. The two girls struggled with the other tee shirt between them and apart from stopping now and then to pick up fallen fruit we made it back to the beach in one piece. The only problem was we were alone!
I looked about but there were no footprints and no sign of anyone. To our right was a stand of bamboo which would be useful, but for now we needed to find the others. We walked back into the trees and tried further round the island until we heard the girls laughing. We walked out and they ran over to us. Banana skins were strewn everywhere!
I took out an orange and gave one to the first girl to reach me.
'Wow! An orange.' She squealed.
'What are all the banana skins about?' I asked.
'We had a banana skin fight!' She answered, it was Natasha.
The others took an orange each and the juice quenched their thirst a little, a second orange helped.
'We saw these and thought you might like one.' Charley said as she handed out oranges until they were all gone. 'Shall we go back and get some more, we’ll take a bag this time?' She asked turning to me.
'No. Alex, Sarah and Tammy are on fruit duty, we’ll show them where the oranges are and go on looking for water.' I replied.
'What about this water?' Natasha asked, pointing to a blanket with rations on it.
'Where did they come from?' I asked naively.
She pointed to the dinghy.
'It came from in there, when do we turn on the radio thing?' She added, pointing to the beacon.
This time I smiled.
'Right now, the sooner we can go home the better.'
I walked over to the dinghy to read the instructions. The mood changed, we would soon be on our way home! I followed the instructions and waited but nothing happened. I tried and tried again with the same result, in the end I left it on as though it was working but the signal light to tell you it was working had failed. If help came it was working, if it did not we needed to get help another way. The mood changed again!
'Right, we will have a drink each and then go off to get more oranges and find water. All those who are coming; come with me, the others stay and clean up.' I felt a little deflated after the beacon appeared not to work.
We walked into the trees in a line. We kept going until we came to the slope and walked up to the flat area at the top.
'Charley you show them the orange trees while we wait here, then we will go on to find out if there is any water nearby.' I ordered.
Charley did as she was told, George looked upset to be left all alone with me but I said nothing as I knew Charley would not be long. When she returned she had an orange for all of us, for later. We walked on. Across the flat area which I saw as a good place for our shelter if we built one. But we still had to find water. On the far side I heard a familiar sound, trickling water. The girls heard it as well.
'Walk slowly!' I ordered, fearing they might run ahead and hurt themselves.
We walked on and where the slope started on the other side a stream trickled down the hill from a small waterfall above.
'Remember not to stir up the water too much; the others will need a drink!' I warned and they took that as permission to have a drink. I joined them.
We could at least refill the water bottle from the dinghy now. After a long drink, followed by another I stood up and looked around.
'Right, we will move our camp to here. So we will have to bring everything, including Andrea but not the dinghy here. We will have to make some sort of shelter here for tonight, then tomorrow we raid the bamboo stand for wood for a proper shelter!'
We walked back with a spring in our step, to find the others eating oranges, the banana skins were gone and the sand looked like it had been combed. I smiled in appreciation.
'Very good. You can drink as much of this water as you want but be fair at the same time.' I said and picked up the water bottle. I tipped water onto Andreas’ lips and rubbed the water to moisten her lips before I let the others drink, then I did the same with a segment of orange. She spluttered and opened her eyes.
'What are you trying to do?' She asked wiping her mouth.
'Just waking you up Andrea.' I replied.
Natasha brought the water over to her and let her drink. I was happier now that she was awake.
'My head hurts!' She said as Natasha relieved her of the water bottle after she had drunk a mouthful.
'I’m not surprised,' I answered, 'what was in that bag of yours?'
'Cans of drink in case I was thirsty,' Andrea answered, 'where are they?'
I pointed to the sea in front of her.
'At the bottom of the sea, with everything else you were taking with you.'
'Oh!' She replied. 'My head still hurts.'
'Can you stand we are moving to a camp site nearer water.' I asked.
'What is wrong with that?' She asked pointing to the sea.
'We can’t drink it that is what’s wrong with it!' Natasha answered.
'Oh, okay.' Andrea replied and stood up. She wavered for a moment, then walked toward the sea. By now the sun was hot and her clothes were dry. She walked into the water, swam a few strokes then walked back out. 'That’s better. Let’s go.'
We took what we could the first time and followed the tortuous route to the slope, there we rested. Then we dumped the things we had carried at the bottom of the slope and walked back for some more. While we were back on the beach I looked at the top of the dinghy to see if it came off easily but I could no see an easy way to do it, so I left it alone. We made several journeys to the beach and piled everything at the bottom of the slope ready to carry up.
I walked up the slope, with Charley and George following as they were in my group for today, and selected a campsite. Then bit by bit, we carried it all up to the new campsite. We managed to find several broken branches which we were able to get up to the camp site and made a make shift tepee with blankets tied round it with anything we found to use as string. With the tepee finished we walked to the stream to drink and fill the water bottle, it would prove useful for the ones who went exploring or hunting for food later on.
As dusk
fell we lay around the tepee and one by one went inside to sleep, it was still a tight fit to sleep us all in the tepee but it had been a long day!
Day 2 on the island.
With the morning came the rain. Had we not found the water, we would have been grateful for it. As it was, there was a lot of complaint about the cramped conditions and the fact that they had to get wet when they needed to go out. For once I said nothing as I thought the same but it was better than sleeping in the dinghy!
When the rain finally stopped I stepped outside. It was soon hot and sticky again.
'If you want better sleeping accommodation you will have to work for it.' I said when they assembled in front of me. 'We know where the water is and the girls who collected the fruit yesterday know where the fruit is, so they can do it again today, the others will all help me collect bamboo. There is no reason for anyone to stay in the camp today but we must check before we go in the tepee, to make sure we haven’t got any unwanted guests.'
'Why do we want bamboo?' Andrea asked.
'To make a hut.' I explained.
'But it won’t be very strong, will it?' She continued.
'Answer it yourself after I- no, after we have built it!' I replied.
It was going to be a daunting task as we had nothing to cut the bamboo with. I did find a pair of spectacles on the blanket after the girls had foraged and I hoped burn the trunks through.
We walked off into the trees, in the same direction we took when we had found the wrong beach, now it was the right beach; it was where the bamboo was.
We took the rope and anything else we could pull bamboo over with. Charley proved to be the best climber, despite her complaints when she broke a nail and we soon had several tall thick bamboo pulled to ground level but they were far from free to take away.
'What now?' Charley asked, examining her nails.
'Now we burn through the stems low down with these.' I held out the spectacles.
'That will take ages.' George pouted.
'Maybe we could speed things up.' I replied and found a patch of sun light. I made a pile of dry leaves, which were surprisingly easy to find considering the rain we had just endured and played the beam from the glasses on them. Soon I had smoke, then flames, with a little coaxing. Once the fire was burning well, I stepped back. 'Now we build a fire round the stem we want burnt but we must remember not the let it go wild or we might end up back at sea because the island is alight!'
One by one the stems gave up the fight and when they did willing hands dragged them free and they were carted off to the camp site. The effort took all day but when I returned to the camp there was fruit waiting, oranges and bananas. There was still enough light to light a fire near the tepee and I roasted a banana, I did not get to eat it as the girls all wondered what it would taste like. In the end they were all roasting bananas, it made a change. The one orange they roasted was never eaten!
As darkness fell, we squeezed into the tepee to sleep and with the noises inside; I thought it would be better to crack on with the second shelter than think of ways to call for help.
Day 3 on the island.
I awoke after an indifferent night's sleep and picked my way outside, trying not to step on anybody. The bamboo poles, still with their foliage on them reminded me of the plan. With no way of getting the foliage off, apart from one little pen knife, I decided to leave the foliage on and work with it. First we needed a plan of the new dwelling. I found charcoal on the fire and used it to draw on a nearby rock. By the time the girls started to stir, I had finished the plan and I was asleep again, outside.
They looked at the plan while I slept and after walking down to the water to wash and let go of bodily fluids, they followed the plans. The marks on the ground told them where to dig and when I awoke they had dug four holes. They were not deep enough yet but it did show that they were willing.
'Looking good girls.' I pulled a length of wood from the fire, it had one blackened end, 'The black ends are hardest.'
The digging resumed. We loosened the soil and willing hands pulled it out of the hole. They knew what the plan was and it was something to do. On the flat plateau, the soil was still dry and I used that to help firm the bamboo poles when we lowered them into the holes.
We tipped the loose soil into the hole round the bamboo to stop it from moving and tamped in down. When we had four bamboo poles standing up fairly straight I walked over to the fruit supplies and realised that no one was gathering fruit.
'If we all work here, we will have nothing to eat all day.' I explained.
'Can we go this time?' Charley asked. 'It is better than keep breaking my nails.'
I smiled. The way she climbed trees, she would do okay.
'Be my guest but it is a three girl operation remember.'
'Who will go with us?' Charley asked. The ‘us’ being Charley and her sister.
At first there was complete silence, then Natasha answered.
'I’ll go with you Charley.'
By saying that she made sure that George knew it was not for her, no one seemed to like George.
'Just fruit?' Charley asked.
'We’ll eat a pig if you can bring it back.' I answered and a sudden thought hit me. 'You are allowed meat are you?'
Charley smiled.
'Yes and we love pork! Come on George, come on Tasha. Let’s see what we can find to eat!'
They wandered off and we took a break to eat the last of the fruit and drink lots of water, now it was a hot day! After the break three of us went in search of smaller bamboo to make the wall with while the other three dug more holes.
'What do we want now?' Andrea asked.
'Thinner bamboo to weave through the poles in the ground. One, one way, the next the other way and so on.'
'What like a wicker work basket?' She asked.
'A bit like that but they have to be long enough to reach all the way along the wall.'
'What if they are too long?' Tammy asked, today she was the other girl in my party.
'That doesn’t matter; they will just stick out one end.' I replied, selecting bamboo.
'We could burn them off.' Andrea replied.
'There is no need,' I repeated, 'if you wait until we have the first wall up and you think you can improve it let me know.' I was beginning to regret her waking up.
This time the penknife coped and we cut down a lot of thin bamboo. We struggled back to camp with it and inspected the latest holes.
The girls digging them knew they needed to be deeper and made sure we knew that they knew. I showed them how to intertwine the thinner bamboo, in and out of the big bamboo already sticking out of the ground; first one way with the thinner end overlapping either end to be cut off later if we thought it was worthwhile. This made a low wall with two edges which in the end would be square with the last bamboo on that particular end. When we ran out of bamboo the wall was about four feet high, with the poles sticking out of it like mini skyscrapers. I looked where the sun was and sat down.
'No more work today.' I said and the girls digging dropped what they were using and cheered. 'I hope Charley gets here soon with some food.'
'Shall we light the fire before we lose the sun?' Alexandra asked, trying to get the dirt from under what was left of her fingernails.
'Yes. A hot banana is a change from a cold one,' I answered, 'but you can hold the hot orange.' I added.
They all agreed and while I sat looking they lit the fire and gathered wood. It appeared that this idea was starting to work!
We sat and waited with the fire getting bigger and bigger as the girls put on more wood.
'Where are they?' Tammy asked.
'Your guess is as good as mine,' I answered, 'they know where the bananas are.'
'Shall we go and get some or see where they are?' Alexandra asked, including Tammy and Andrea into her idea, by gesture.
'It will be dark by the time you start back so it looks like we have to go hungry.' I answered a little sadly.
A cracking twig in the gloom heralded the return of our fruit gatherers but they did not have any fruit, they carried some birds by the feet. They had already plucked the birds and they were ready for cooking.
'We brought some meat, instead of fruit.' Charley declared victoriously.
'Did you ask if there are any vegans here?' I asked in reply.
'No! Well are there?'
'I don’t know either but if there are they will go hungry because there is no fruit for them!' I replied.
'But I thought-!'
'I know you did and it was a good thought but we have to cater for everyone.' I said interrupting. 'How did you get them?'
Charley smiled.
'We used a suitcase as a trap, with a rope on a stick to drop the lid on the birds when they went for the food we put in there!'
'Don’t tell me, the bananas!' I guessed.
Charley nodded.
'There are a few left, although some are squashed.'
That night we ate meat, later than intended but it was meat. If there were any vegans, or even vegetarians, they did not announce it. They ate meat as well!
Day 4 on the island.
The lack of sunlight coming through into the tepee made us rise later than I wanted but as soon as everybody was ready, I sent the fruit team out to get some breakfast while the rest of us collected more bamboo. When we struggled back with the bamboo the fruit gatherers had left us fruit to eat but there was no sign of them. We ate and then went to work on finishing the first wall but as the wall grew the girls could not reach high enough. I thought about it and left three to start on the next wall, the back one, while I took my team down to collect bigger bamboo to make some sort of ladder. I had no idea how yet, first I would get the bamboo and then I would work out how to do it!
