by S G Read
We walked back, cut through to the other side of the monolith and checked each beach as we came to it.
'What are we looking for?' Sarah asked when we left the second beach.
'Just seeing if anything washed up in the storm, apart from the driftwood.' I replied.
'What like another boat?' She asked.
'Anything like that or even just a suitcase.' I answered.
'With a radio in it?' Natasha said with a laugh.
'I’d accept that okay.' I replied and we walked on.
We saw nothing. Anything which might have washed up, did so on some other island.
'Oh well, there’s always the next big blow.' I sighed as we came though the back gate.
The smell of cooked pork made us quicken our pace.
Day 76 on the island.
I took out George’s stitches today and allowed her to walk about without exerting herself at all. She could fire the crossbow as long as someone else loaded it for her.
I spent the time with Tammy and Tabby repairing the tower, then we all leant a hand to pull it upright again. We modified the supports to try to make it storm proof. With it back up I had the unenvious task of lifting up the pipe with ice cold water pouring out of it and stuffing it inside the other pipe. We had the shower running to try to stop me getting wet but it did not help, I ended up soaked but at least the water was on again. Life returned to the normality we knew. We charged the battery and I had George, Charley and Natasha looking into making a shelter for the alternator.
A soon as they thought the water in the pipe might be hot there was a queue for the shower, including me! They flushed the toilet to clear it right out and everyone had a shower. We sat out in the luxury of the sunshine and ate our food. I let George eat what we were eating now. She had chosen the worst time to decide she had to go, the middle of the storm. Luckily we had the improvised bed pan handy and the soft toilet paper.
With a full stomach and feeling clean again I stood inside looking at how to make a fire place. The corner opposite the shower seemed the ideal place. All I had to do was to get the flue outside before it met the ceiling, after that it just needed to work. If it needed more chimney, it would get it, if it did not, it would go without!
I dug away the soil and laid flat stones there to be a firebase, then started on the sides. I thought that clay would still do the trick as it should set like rock when it got dry and hot. I selected my rocks for the sides very carefully from what was left of the rock fall. I built my wall with girls bringing me clay and straw mix as my cement until they were as high as I wanted them.
'How are you going to get a rock with a hole in it Walter?' George asked from right behind me. I had not heard her come up so she was obviously getting better at walking.
'I am not likely to find such a thing am I?' I answered.
'Probably not.' She said warily, expecting me to produce them out of nowhere.
'Quite so. I have these long thin rocks to go along the front and the back.' I pointed to the two I meant. 'Then I go from front to back to fill in the hole until it is the size I want it. At the same time I raise it up in the middle like a normal chimney.'
'Shall I make a clay pipe to take the smoke?' She asked.
'Yes. You are able to do that but get someone to bring the sand you want.' I answered. Even if the pipe she made was completely useless I could make a new one surreptitiously, so that I did not hurt her feelings.
She hurried outside to start, not running just hurrying. I smiled, I was glad she was getting better, soon she would be hunting and fishing again and it was little short of a miracle.
I put in my cross members and started with the rocks pointing forward. I put two pointing forwards then two shorter ones sideways to raise the hole in the middle. I covered it all liberally with clay and added more rocks to give it strength. When the pipe was ready I would do more. I had a second shower, a very hot shower which made me squirm a few times but I withstood the temptation to stop.
That evening we sat in the failing sunshine, reflecting on the past two days.
'When it rains here it sure does it well!' Natasha declared.
'And how.' Andrea agreed.
'At least you see it coming.' Charley declared.
'Yes that’s something to be grateful for.' George added.
'You’ve saved two of our lives now Walter.' Andrea said suddenly. 'Do you think you will save all of them before we leave here?'
'What do you think we would be like if he wasn’t here?' Charley said before I could answer. 'We would most likely all be dead by now! Especially us. "We are princesses we do not work"' She said, mocking what she had said on the first day. 'I am enjoying it on here and I will sorry to go back to my old life. I feel alive here!'
'Why go back to it then?' Natasha asked.
'How do you mean, stay here on our own?' Charley asked.
'No! Just put you foot down and tell your mother just where to go!' She declared. 'Your dad is the king right, so appeal to him or something!'
'I never thought of that!' She cried. 'What do you reckon George?'
'What would mother say if you called me George like that?' George replied.
'I don’t care. I will call you George even if I am chained in irons!'
'In that case I will call you Charley even if I am locked in irons! Are we rebelling then Charley?' George asked.
'I think we are.' Charley cried. 'About time too I hate being called Charlotte!'
'Try Delphine.' George retorted. 'I was always jealous because you were called Charlotte!'
'You can have my name anytime you want Delphine.' Charley replied.
'Okay Charlotte.' George replied. 'How do we go about rebelling then?'
'I don’t know.' Charley answered. 'Anyone else know?'
'I saw a film once. I think you just have to ride a motor bike or something?' Alex answered.
I burst out laughing; I could stand it no more. I was attacked by seven girls, George stood her ground and did not join in, which I was glad of.
Later as the sun slid out of sight, I was working on the next crossbow while the girls were having a shooting contest. Six were using crossbows and Andrea was using the bow. I was the umpire, when I needed to look I did. If the shot was close I had to walk down and call it as I saw it. The rules were simple. To get a bull’s eye you had to get it in without it touching the line of the inner or it was called an inner. The same followed all the way out to a near miss, hitting the target outside all the lines or touching the outside line. A near miss was better than a miss as they had to find the bolt if it was a miss. They made a sand scoreboard on the ground and marked their scores on it as they scored them. The first four were to have a shootout. I counted up the scores after the contest and totalled them up.
'Going through to the next round are George, Charley, Natasha and Andrea. Not bad for a girl with a bow. Just missing out are Sarah, Alex, Tammy and Tabby. Bad luck girls, there were some close calls there.'
'We’ll do better next time.' Alex replied.
'Is there going to be another contest then?' Tammy asked.
I looked round at the eight faces, it looked to me that it needed a yes vote.
'Does anyone like Mondays.' I looked round at the line of blank faces. 'In that case Monday will be contest day! The winner will hold the trophy for one week!'
'What trophy?' Tabby asked.
'A good question and I will answer it when I decide what it will be!' I answered and settled down into my seat. 'Let the contest continue and remember the safety rules!'
The contest went on forever. No one wanted to lose so they all strived to hit the bull. In the end I added a new bull in the middle of the old one.
'I will call this the gold. Touch the line and it is just a bull. From now on it is sudden death, four shoot the highest wins or the two highest shoot again etcetera, etcetera.'
Charley fired and hit the gold but when I walked up to the target it was touching the line. They wer
e all there and knew what I was going to say.
'Charley scores a bull!' I declared.
Natasha fired.
'Natasha also scores a bull.' I declared.
Andrea took her time and fired. It looked good. I walked up to it with those already there whispering that it was a gold. I took my time to look at it all round.
'Andrea scores a gold.' I declared.
She held her bow aloft. I had to admit she was a good shot.
We walked back. George walked up to the shooting area and fired before I had time to sit down. I stopped in the half sitting position and looked at the target; it looked just as good as Andreas. I walked up there, it was dead centre.
'George scores a gold.' I declared. 'We have two to shoot again as there can only be one!' I added melodramatically.
'Ham!' Charley cried.
'Sore loser.' I retorted.
I walked back but hovered to see who would shoot first. Tammy tossed the only coin we had and George elected to shoot again. I remained standing. She walked to the shooting area, turned to face the target and fired. I walked down to see it in almost the same place.
'George scores a gold.' I declared.
I walked back and waited for Andrea to line up her bow and fire. I walked down but Andrea overtook me.
'You win George!' She called. 'I cut the line that time but I’ll beat you next week!'
I returned to my seat without saying anything but to me it had looked like a gold.
'You are on cooking duty tomorrow George, while I find you a trophy fitting of your status.' I said as she walked away.
'What as a princess?' She asked.
'No, as a winner.' I answered.
Day 77 on the island.
I walked along the beach early looking for a large shell to be our trophy. I also sent three girls to check the other beaches for a trophy. We found a large conch and walked back with it. I waited for the others to return in case they had something better. I saw them coming with a pole between two of them and something on the pole. I assumed it was food but when they grew nearer I could see it was a reel of cable or something like it. I walked out to meet them and looked at their find. It was single wire with a green and yellow cover. What it did mean was that I could now run a wire from the house to the alternator but did I want to. The last thing I wanted to do was to blow all our bulbs and leave us without light. I could run the wire so that when the next storm was upon us we could have lights.
We presented the conch to George and she walked about holding it above her head like the world cup.
'You seem happy.' I said when she walked past.
'This is the first time I have won a trophy. Princesses don’t go in for this sort of thing, according to my mother!'
'Well they do now,' I replied, 'it might also get my head chopped off when we are rescued.'
'I hope not.' She replied sounding none to sure and walked away.
It was not very reassuring.
I measured the wire and cut it to length. I did the same again and ran the two wires down to the alternator with a rock holding the wires in place every metre. In the house I connected them to the battery and the bulbs. The lights came on and I walked down to connect the two wires to the alternator. I had a line of girls to tell me what was happening as I slid the alternator forward. With all the lights shining bright enough I left it running but we turned the lights off as it was a waste, no one was in there.
'Any news on the cover for the alternator?' I asked.
'We’re making it.' Natasha answered.
'Using bamboo technology.' Charley added.
'What else.' I answered and left them to it.
I settled down to work on a cross bow, the last crossbow. When this was finished and George was fully fit we would change our sign on the plateau and then fully explore the island.
'What day is it today?' Andrea asked.
'I have no idea.' I answered and counted of the days on my finger. We were still marking off each day so all I had to do was to count the marks. 'Today is the 77th day, which makes it a-' I divided by seven. '-A Sunday.'
'So tomorrow is Monday then?' Andrea declared.
'It is. I think I will have to tell George that tomorrow is Monday.'
'Can’t you move it?' Andrea asked.
'No I can’t George will understand. Send her over.'
George walked over.
'Yes Walter you wanted me?'
'Do you know what today is?' I asked.
'It’s Sunday isn’t it.' She answered. 'I can count if you can’t. It doesn’t matter how long you have the trophy as long as you win it in the first place. Besides I’ll get it back again tomorrow!'
It sounded like Charley talking but it solved the problem. Knowing it was Sunday changed the mood, although everyone kept on doing what they were doing everyone seemed happier. I resolved to know when it was Sunday from now on. We sat round the fire and ate our food, followed by fruit. Then as the day cooled we started charades round the fire, when it grew dark we stoked up the fire to get some flames for light and carried on well into the night. Each girl doing a harder charade than the last, until the titles were several words long. Then we went in, turned on the lights with the alternator still going and went upstairs to bed. I left the one bulb downstairs with the switch at the top of the ladder, in case someone needed the toilet in the night. George climbed up with me behind her without any trouble; she was definitely on the mend!
Day 78 on the island.
The girls were busy in the morning by the time I came down. They repaired the target from the last competition and made the rear target even closer to the front one. Where the shaft ended up was how we judged it as the point was always out of sight.
Once the food was in the embers cooking’ I was ready and I sat in my judge’s chair.
'From this week on, the winner sits out the following week and is the judge.' I announced. 'I may be a bad shot but I would like to enter the competition.'
'No problem, I’ll be the judge next week.' George answered.
'No I will be!' Andrea replied.
'No I will be!' Natasha cried.
It was repeated by all of them.
'Good let us begin.' I declared.
I watched and judged. George hitting the gold with her first shot did nothing to help the others. When she hit it with her second and third the others knew she was going to win again. They applauded her fourth gold and I gave her back the conch.
'Well done George.' I said as I gave it to her.
'I should practise this week if you want to stand a chance against them.' She replied. 'They are all good!'
'I don’t expect to win but it would be a good thing to know how to use what I make.' I answered.
'Even the bow?' She asked.
'Even the bow.' I answered.
'Andrea will win every time with the bow,' She replied, 'but I’m game. Shall we have a contest with just the bow?'
The girls looked at each other. They knew just how bad George was with the bow.
'We’re game.' Tammy answered, when she perceived that that was the general consensus but not on our Monday slot.'
'A special competition.' Charley added.
'Fine,' I replied, 'next Sunday we use the bow only and the following Sunday it’s a crossbow only competition.'
That seemed to satisfy everyone. We walked over and ate; it had not taken as long as the last competition. With the sun shining brightly we walked through the back gate and swam until the sun started to disappear. We did not look for the boar before we walked through as six out of the eight girls could kill him before he managed to get anywhere near us. He did not appear and for once we did not worry if he did. I did point out again his role in our life, he made little pigs and we ate them now and then. Without him we would have to wait until a younger boar matured enough to sire us some more piglets. To kill him had to be on a kill or be killed basis!
We played games inside after dark. If it was not eye s
py or charades, the girls made them up as we went on. That night I slept well, all my worries were being dispelled by the way the girls were adapting to life here.
Day 79 on the island.
It was fifteen days since the operation and I was letting George do more and more but she could not run yet.
'Can I go hunting?' She asked as I walked out in the morning.
'Run up to the cave and back.' I answered.
'You know I can’t!' She argued.
'Then the answer is no!'
'Why?'
'What happens if you run into the boar?'
She opened her mouth to reply but she knew what the answer was and knew it was the wrong answer.
'I’ll talk him out of charging.'
'Good try. When you can get out of his way you can hunt. Not before.'
'But I can’t run for a toffee anyway!' She argued.
'I know that but you can run as far as the nearest tree and at this time to climb it is probably more dangerous than him charging you!'
She knew I was right but longed to go hunting, now that she was good with a weapon.
'I’ll wear stilts.' She offered.
'You can wear what you like, the answer is still no!' I replied and walked past her.
'What can I do then?' She called after me.
'You were making a chimney pipe the other day, I haven’t seen it yet!'
'Oh that, it sort of has a hole in it.'
'Show me.'
She led me over to where the clay pipe lay.
'If you patch the hole with more clay, in fact you could put more clay all the way round in and put it back in the embers it should be okay.' I said hopefully.
