Me and Them

by S G Read

  When we reached the other side, we could see the rocks below us but there was a track, which led past them toward what we hoped, was the next bit of beach. We started down without hesitation but found no beach. The rocks were to our left, to our right was a track and in front where I thought the beach would be was a mass of jungle. We walked on, following the track worn by animals. I wondered if the pigs made it.

  We walked for ten minutes approximately and found ourselves looking down at another part of the island, the part hidden by the monolith. I called a halt. We had collected fruit as we found it but had no idea what was in front of us.

  'We have another half of the island to explore, if not more.' I announced. 'Are we ready for it or do we go back and prepare for it?'

  'There might be a settlement we don’t know about!' Andrea speculated.

  'There might, there might also be pirates there!' George added.

  'There aren’t any pirates any more- are there?' Andrea asked.

  They all looked at me.

  'There are some pirates about who are anything but nice and they would gladly want to meet you lot.' I warned. 'Me, I would just be in the way!'

  'What should we do?' Natasha asked.

  'Just don’t go running up to the first person you see without making sure he or she isn’t a bad guy!' I answered.

  'How do we know?' Charley asked.

  'Usually by their actions. For instance, if one of you goes out to meet them and the others watch what happens, then if they are bad guys you jump on them and save your friend.' I explained.

  Tammy laughed.

  'How can a woman be a bad guy?' She squealed.

  'You know what I mean, just don’t take any chances.' I answered while the rest joined in the laughter.

  When the laughter stopped we still had not moved further forward.

  'So what do we do?' I asked.

  'I think we should go back.' Charley replied. 'Next time we come we bring the tepee and have some sort of weapons. We find somewhere to set up camp and carefully explore to make sure we don’t get into trouble. I for one do not want to be caught by a pirate; I know what they need girls for!'

  'Let us vote on it.' I added. 'To go on?'

  No hands went up.

  'To return to camp.'

  All hands went up except mine.

  I looked up at the sky.

  'It will dark soon so we will go back to the beach and sleep there. We will return to the camp tomorrow.'

  There was no argument. We walked back to where the land rose up and walked up far enough to circumnavigate the rocks below, then walked down to the beach on the other side or the rocks.

  I was interested to see where the coast went and swam out a little way, looking to my right. The coast turned left on the other side of the rocks and there was a peninsula sticking out. The part of the peninsula nearest the island was quite thin and I could see the island behind it. It was possible to swim past these rocks and walk behind the thick jungle. I swam back refreshed and relaxed on the beach as the light began to fail. We could have walked on further but this was a good place to sleep.

  Day 12 on the island.

  Morning came and we were out of water. We ate fruit to quench our thirsts and then started back to the camp. As we travelled I looked at the trees, looking for ideas on making weapons. We found a few more hefty pieces of wood the girls could manage as cudgels and I saw one tree which resembled a hazel nut with whippy thinner growth shooting up from the root stock. I thought of spears or a bow and arrows, the usual castaway weapons I assumed but I did not try to cut any just noted where they were and walked on.

  The camp was a pleasing sight when we reached it but we tarried at the stream and drank, long and hard. Then the play started and we eventually walked back to the camp soaked but happy. The fire was out and cold but when I stirred it up there were a few red embers in amongst the black ones. We coaxed it back to life and we sat round it eating the rest of the fruit, either as it came off the tree or roasted.

  -We definitely need weapons- I thought, -and the sooner the better-

  We did nothing for the rest of the day, even though it was a work day, we were all tired. The girls invented games with whatever was at hand, the best of which proved the simplest. A stake driven in the ground and a straight stick to throw to get as near to it as you could. The girls devised a set of rules to make sure we could adjudge a winner.

  When the sun went down we all went to bed.

  Day 13 on the island.

  I woke early and thought of going off to find weapons on my own but knew it would be wrong. I waited patiently until two girls walked out of the shelter. I was lucky, it was Alex and Tabitha.

  'When you are ready we will go of and look for wood for weapons.' I said when they saw me.

  Their faces lit up as though I had invited them to the cinema. They washed quickly, in case someone else came out and wanted to come. Before we left I scratched a note in the soil. -GONE TO GET WEAPONS-

  We walked to the tree I looked at previously; I had the knife and the glasses. We pulled over three to use as bows, three to use as spears and while they were burning through I cut three thinner ones as arrows. They were burnt or cut to the length I wanted before we started back to the camp. We collected oranges on the way for something to eat.

  Our arrival caused a stir. Girls were watching on every side of the camp site to make sure they knew when we were coming back. They flocked to where we walked up the slope with our burdens and took them from us, for which we were grateful.

  In the camp the fire was burning well, the camp was tidy and all the fruit was placed neatly in a rough basket weaved from bamboo.

  'Who did that?' I asked.

  'Charley did.' George answered proudly.

  I thought back to the first day on the island, in their silk dresses, instead of the oversized shorts they wore now. Even their own father would not recognise them.

  'Well done Charley, we could improve on the shape and catch fish with that, or lobsters and crabs.'

  Her face lit up, even though I had said it badly.

  'I’m sorry, that came out wrong Charley, I did not mean it was a bad shape, I meant it needs to be a complete basket, one with a lid.' I added, wanting to explain.

  'I knew that,' Charley replied, 'that one would hardly catch a fish unless it was a completely stupid fish!'

  I smiled.

  'It will be trial and error I’m afraid and we will have to waste some of our fish as bait.'

  'How do you cook lobsters and crabs?' Natasha asked.

  'There I can help,' I answered, 'back home I was against eating lobsters on principal as they cook them live, here I will make sure they are dead before we cook them and I’ll show you how to do it.'

  George, Andrea and Sarah chose to go and catch fish and gather fruit. Charley wanted to weave another basket but there was not enough bamboo left to do it with and I was busy making weapons, which only left Tabitha and Alex, not enough for a wood gathering party, even if they wanted to go. I notched either end of my first bow, then chose a long piece of thin root, the thickest piece we had. This would be a real test for the root! I tied it to one end, made a loop the other end and bent the bow to slip it over the end and into the second notch. It did not break, even when I twanged it like a bow. My hopes rose, I trimmed and shaped an arrow before notching its end to fit the stretched root. I knew it would not fly straight without feathers attached but I tried it anyway, making sure the rest were well out of the way. It flew fast but aimlessly and landed flat on the ground.

  'Good.' I said proudly, in the face of looks of grave disappointment.

  'Is it supposed to go like that then?' Charley asked.

  'Without feathers and a weight at the end it will do.' I answered.

  Her face fell.

  'What’s up?' I asked worriedly.

  'We threw the feathers away this morning.' She answered, expecting the worst.

  'Well they did look untidy; may
be you could make a basket to keep our feathers in!' Alex answered.

  'Shall I?' She asked.

  'Not a bad idea.' I replied. 'We could do with a lot of baskets and other things. I know we will have a competition to see who can come up with the best- well the best whatever they make! As we have finished the shelter we will take next week off to get whatever you need into camp and make your- thing!'

  It was a talking point and the excitement grew. As soon as the hunters returned with the fish and fruit, three girls were on their way to collect more bamboo. Not sent but wanting to go on a day which was supposed to be a day of rest. Our second Saturday on the island. That made me think.

  'We should make a note of each day as it goes or we will lose track of what day it is!' I announced.

  'How do we do that?' Charley asked, always the spokesperson.

  'On a tree or a piece of bark? With the knife or with charcoal from the fire?' I answered. 'That can be another competition.'

  'But what can we win?' George asked.

  'Extra food.' Charley cried.

  'A day off!' Tammy added.

  'To choose what you will do for the week!' Natasha cried.

  'I know!' George said excitedly. 'We all put a prize ideas into a basket and whoever wins gets to chose one!'

  It seemed a good idea and they all wanted it so I agreed to the idea. With that settled I started on a spear, it was quicker than a bow and arrow to make, the only thing that took some time was hardening the tip in the embers. By now the group collecting the bamboo had returned and left immediately to collect the rest of the wood they had cut down. With the girls now making whatever they were going to make I stood up to test my spear. I made sure the girls were all behind me and stood ready to throw but unsure of what to aim at. A bird flew over slowly so I threw it at it. I was flabbergasted when it struck the bird and both fell to the ground. I turned for my praise but they were all engrossed and no one had seen me do it. I walked over, lifted the bird up with the spear which had gone right through it and carried it back for effect. Still no one was looking. I gave up and started to pluck the bird.

  The group returned with the bamboo and they settled down to making whatever they were going to. With the bird plucked and cleaned I suspended it over the fire to cook slowly, then started on the second spear. As I waited for the tip to harden I turned my thoughts to how I was going to stick the feathers to the arrow. I would need resin from a tree to stick it with. While the spear hardened I did the same to the arrow tip.

  The smell of the cooking bird made Charley look up.

  'Where did that come from?' She asked.

  'It fell out of the sky,' I replied sarcastically, 'it must have died of old age.'

  'It’ll be tough then.' Tammy said matter of factly and carried on with what she was doing.

  Charley thought about it then carried on with what she was making.

  'Wouldn’t we have heard it?' She said after a while but there was no time

  to answer as the heavens opened and rain poured down.

  I took the time to put the cover over the fire and the cooking bird before I hurried inside. Everyone found a gap and carried on with what they had been doing outside. Natasha had given up on a basket and was busily trying to make a bolas out of three coconuts. I watched her trying to make holes in the coconuts but said and did nothing, much against my nature. From time to time, I looked up at the roof but there was no water coming through, outside the rain still poured down and you could hear it running off the roof on to the floor. I realised that if it was coming from any other direction but straight down it would be coming through the walls. They were the next thing to seal.

  I braved the rain long enough to rescue the now cooked bird and drag the fish from the embers to cool, then hurried back into the dry. The girls looked up and I passed out pieces of roast bird until it was all gone, not much of a meal but a change. When the fish was cooled we ate that and when the light failed we slept.

  Day 15 on the island.

  With the morning came the testing of the designs. Some were designed to catch lobsters or crabs; they were baited and taken to the testing area, the bay inside the reef. Only time would tell if they were any good. Natasha’s bolas proved to be a complete non starter; try as she would it did not work. The baskets for keeping things in were marked for appearance and size. I entered my first spear and showed that it was no fluke spearing the bird by spearing a large fish for lunch.

  The girls ruled me out of the competition because I was older than they were and I was demoted to be the judge. All we could do now was to wait until the traps worked, or did not work. While we waited I speared another fish and took it back to where the three were cleaning the camp so they could cook them. I decided to let the traps wait until morning and then any of the traps which caught anything would be marked, those without would be rejected. We did not collect anything else and I chose to work on more arrows but I still had not thought out how to stick the feathers on them.

  'Is that the weight?' Charley asked as I balanced one across my finger.

  'Yes, it mustn’t be too heavy but it should make the tip heavy enough.' I answered.

  'How do you know when it is right?' She asked.

  'When it goes right.' I replied sagely. 'I still have to find a way to stick these feathers on though.'

  'What do they do?' She asked.

  'They make it go straight.' I replied. 'It should go straight, up in an arc then come down, when you shoot you aim to where it will be when it reaches it’s target.'

  She nodded and walked off, whether or not she understood I did not know. A few minutes later, she came back with a tube of super glue.

  'This was in one of the suitcases, I don’t know if it is any good!'

  I stuck the first half of a feather on and it stayed there, I did the same with two more, by now I was drawing a crowd.

  George gave me another feather.

  'You leave the bottom one without a feather or it would catch on the bow.' I explained and showed her what I meant by running the arrow over the bow.

  'Is it ready to fire now?' George asked.

  'Yes, pick a target but not a tree; I don’t want to damage the arrow.' I answered.

  At that moment a bird flew over. George pointed to it and I fired. The arrow just missed the bird, causing it to swerve it flight.

  'Wow you nearly got it!' Tammy cried and ran to retrieve my arrow.

  I smiled, not at what she said but at what they had missed the day before, something I would probably never manage again! I watched her search for the arrow and was pleased when she found it, then hurried back.

  'Thank you.' I said when she gave it to me. 'It is important that we retrieve all the arrows if we can but sometimes it will not be possible, so who ever is in the camp will be arrow makers. I will show them how to do it.'

  The girls in the camp served the fish and for once, there were no little bones, I for one decided that bigger fish were best. For once there were complaints that they had eaten too much, a step in the right direction. We were starting to find our feet, although, as much as I was beginning to like the girls, I would equally like to find a boat to take us home!

  The girls speculated who would catch what and who would win the prize until it was too dark to see, except by the light of the fire but no one moved, no one wanted to. They built the fire up so we could see better and the talking continued into the early hours of the morning, we knew that by the coming of the dawn. During the night we had talked about our lives at home and what we did in our spare time, so I found out about them all. When they found out that I was an author, they asked if I was going to write about this adventure. I had to admit I would be and then they wanted me to tell them a story from one of my books. It was during this story that the sun came up but no one moved. I told the story as best as I could from memory and it was only when I reached the end did the girls stand up and stretch.

  Day 16 on the island

  'Can we check
the traps now?' Charley asked.

  'We?' I questioned. 'Are you forgetting that you are confined to camp?'

  'Oh pooh, I forgot.' She exclaimed.

  'It will soon be over Charley.' George placated. 'Can we check the traps now?' She added, turning to look at me.

  'It is morning.' I pointed out. 'So why not!'

  Six of us walked to the cove, leaving the three girls to clean up the camp, much to their annoyance. We pulled in each basket, there were four in all. The first one had crabs in, big enough to eat.

  'Well done Alex.' I said and put it out of harms way.

  The second one was the same.

  'Well done Sarah but there may be suicidal crabs around here.' I put it with the first basket.

  The third and fourth were the same.

  'Well done Tabitha and we will have to show Charley what her’s was like so we will carry them back to the camp this time. Another time we will take out the crabs, put in more bait and put the traps back in the water.' I explained and picked up what I thought was the heaviest basket. 'Two to a basket and mind the claws.' I called back. 'The spare person brings my bow and spear.'

  We walked back to the camp and there I saw the error in the design of the baskets.

  'Take them out and we will start them cooking.' I ordered as the three camp workers looked on in awe at the catch.

  'Who wins?' Charley asked.

  I knew which one she would choose.

  'The first person to bring me all their crabs from their baskets wins.' I announced and sat down to watch. No one had made the basket open able, to get the crabs out. You had to reach in through the top hole to get them. Not easy when there are so many crabs waiting to nip your fingers!