“No. When I came here five years ago I couldn’t remember who I was or where I came from. I still don’t remember very much.” She had to bite down on her lip as she thought of her parents dying.
Mr. Delgado put a hand on her arm. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. Do you have any idea where we are?”
“Eternity.”
“You mean we’re dead?”
“No. This island is called Eternity. That’s what Reverend Crane named it.”
“Reverend? Is this some kind of religious commune?”
“I don’t think so. We just work together to keep the island running.”
“Uh-huh.” Mr. Delgado stared at her for a moment. “So this reverend is in charge here?”
“No, he died. Miss Brigham is in charge now. She lives outside town.”
“Then I guess I should go talk to her.” Mr. Delgado tried to get to his feet, but immediately let out a cry. He sagged back to the deck. “Actually, I think I’ll stay right here.”
“You’re hurt?”
“I think so. My left ankle hurts like a mother—” He stopped himself before he could say more. “Anyway, I don’t think I can walk on it.”
“Oh.” Samantha considered the situation. Some water from the Fountain of Youth would cure him in an instant. The problem was she didn’t have any on her. She could always run into town to fetch some, but that would mean leaving him here. By the time she made it to town and back, the boat might have broken loose from the rocks. Then Mr. Delgado might die. “I think we’d better get you down to the ground.”
“That’s a good idea, kid, but if I can’t walk I sure as hell can’t swim either.”
Samantha’s face turned warm again. She couldn’t swim either. “If we hang on to the nets, then we should be able to make it. I’ll help you.”
He stared at her for a moment and then nodded. “I guess it’s worth a shot.”
He put his arm around her shoulders so he could lean against her to stand up. He groaned a little from pain, but didn’t scream. They shuffled over to the edge of the boat, near the back, which was closest to the water. They squatted at the same time. So they were almost even with the railing.
Samantha swung herself over the side first. She fumbled around to find the netting and then climbed down. The water came up to her waist; she dug her shoes in to keep her footing. A wave slammed into her, but with one hand on the netting and her feet dug in, she kept her balance.
“Now your turn,” she said. “I’ll help you.”
“Yeah, great,” he grumbled. He used his hands to swing the left side of his body over, his injured leg sticking out. He shouted a curse word as he accidentally hit the side of the boat with the hurt foot. Samantha waited until she was certain no waves would come along for a minute and then let go of the net to grab him on either side of the waist.
It might have seemed like a good idea, but it didn’t work out very well. Mr. Delgado was too heavy for Samantha. The moment he let go of the side of the boat, they both tumbled backwards, into the water. Samantha screamed and then began thrashing around until she caught hold of the netting.
She blinked water from her eyes and then found Mr. Delgado slipping away from her. She hooked a foot around the netting to anchor herself while she struggled to catch him before the sea took him. He thrashed around with his hands as she had, fighting against the current.
For a moment she thought she would be too late, but then her hand caught his. She pulled with all her might, bringing him towards the shore. She managed to yank him close enough that he could catch the netting with his hand.
From there she dragged him ashore the way she had carried him through the boat. By the time they were safely up on the beach, they were both soaked with water and sweat. Samantha found a shady spot to set him down and then collapsed next to him. “We did it,” she said.
“You did good, kid,” he said. Then his eyes closed and he fell asleep.
Chapter 14: Campfire Tales
Again Samantha had to decide whether to leave Mr. Delgado to go for help or not. Now that they were off the boat he would be in less danger, unless one of Pryde’s beasts or some other animal showed up. Or if the sea picked up, a wave might take him away. Her mind concocted a dozen scenarios that ended with him dying.
The way to get him help and to ease her conscience would be to take him with her. He couldn’t possibly walk that far and she couldn’t drag him through the forest as on the boat. She thought about this for a little while, until she saw her salvation lying on the beach.
It was a piece of netting like what she had used to climb up the boat. This net was smaller, perhaps part of the larger one that had broken away. No matter where it had come from, it lay on the beach like so much seaweed. Samantha hurried over to the netting and then spread it out to get its full size. It would be more than enough to do the trick.
That trick would be to create a stretcher of sorts for Mr. Delgado. She would need more than the net to do it. She walked the beach until she found a piece of wood that had probably broken away from the side of the boat. The wood she could use to fashion a splint for his leg to keep it from moving around. To do that she needed something to tie it with. She glanced down at her shirt, which had more than enough fabric.
There was a problem: the fabric was too strong or her hands too weak to tear the shirt apart. After a few minutes of trying, she gave up. Maybe she just needed to rest for a few minutes.
First she carried the netting and board over to where Mr. Delgado lay. She lifted up his leg enough to slide the board beneath it. He groaned at this but didn’t move his leg away. As she settled his leg on the board, she noticed the holes in his denim shirt. The holes made it easy enough for her to tear off a couple of strips, which she used to tie his leg down. As for the netting, she would need his help to get him onto that.
In the meantime, she decided to collect some wood to build a fire. It would be getting dark in a few hours and unless he was awake by then, they would have to spend the night here. She didn’t like that idea, but reminded herself he wouldn’t die from a broken ankle, not as long as she were here to care for him.
Samantha climbed back up to the edge of the forest to look for some wood. It took a while to find enough that wasn’t soaked from the storm. The bigger problem would be starting the fire. She wished she’d kept the matches she’d found in Mr. Pryde’s hut. That would be a lot easier than trying to rub together sticks or bang stones together in the hope of creating a spark.
By the time she returned, she found Mr. Delgado sitting up. He had a white tube in his mouth, the end of it smoldering. A cigarette, she recalled. Her mind also recalled cigarettes were bad for you, often leading to cancer or other terrible diseases. Why would he want that?
“There you are,” he said. “I thought you’d gone and left me.”
“I wouldn’t do that,” she said. She gestured with the firewood. “I was going to make a fire.”
“That’s probably a good idea. Don’t want to go running around here at night.” He motioned to his left foot. “This looks like a pretty good splint. You in the Girl Scouts or something?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Oh, right, you have amnesia.”
“Amnesia?”
“That’s what they call it when you can’t remember anything. At least for little girls. For old folks like me they call it dementia.”
“You’re not old.”
“I’m a lot older than you, kid. What are you, fifteen?”
“Twelve. I think.”
“Really?” Like the boys on Eternity did, he stared at her chest. “I guess you’re not a late bloomer.”
She turned away so he wouldn’t see her facing turning red. She fumbled with the firewood to get it into a proper pile. Mr. Delgado must have sensed something wrong, as he said, “I didn’t mean anything by that, Samantha. Really it’s a blessing.”
“It doesn’t feel like it.”
&
nbsp; “It will when you get older.”
“You mean as old as you?”
He snorted at this. “Not that old. More like when you really are fifteen.”
“Oh.”
Once she finished arranging the wood, she went to find a few rocks to make a ring around the wood. Mr. Delgado still had his cigarette in his mouth when she came back, though it looked much smaller. He blew out a stream of smoke that prompted Samantha to cough.
“Sorry about this. Bad habit. Don’t ever take it up. For one thing it costs a fortune.”
“It does?”
“More every year. Damned politicians.”
“Politicians,” she echoed. The term seemed familiar to her. Politicians were people in charge, like Reverend Crane or Miss Brigham. She finished rolling the rocks in position and then looked for something to light the fire with. Her eyes fell upon Mr. Delgado’s cigarette. “How did you light that? Do you have a piece of flint?”
“Flint? No. I got something a lot better than that.” He reached into his shirt pocket—one she hadn’t searched—and pulled out a silver box stamped with an eagle. With his thumb he flipped over the top half of the box to reveal a small tube and a button. He pushed down on the button and then a flame came out of the tube like that of a candle. “It’s magic.”
“It’s a cigarette lighter,” she said. “A…Zippo.”
“Good guess. So your memory isn’t all gone, is it?”
She shook her head. “Sometimes I remember things if I see something or hear something.”
“But not your name?”
“No. I don’t know where I came from either.”
“That’s pretty rough.” He handed the lighter to her so she could start the fire. It took only a few seconds for the kindling to ignite. Samantha flipped the top back over the lighter. Then she handed the lighter back.
“Is that going to be close enough? I could move you—”
“This ought to be fine.”
Samantha settled herself across the fire from him. He tossed his cigarette to the ground and then took a package from his other shirt pocket. “Don’t know how these survived,” he said. “Lost damned near everything else.”
“Was there anyone else on your boat?”
“No, just me.”
“You were fishing by yourself? In a boat that size?”
“I used to have a crew. Four of them. Times are a little tough right now. Not as many fish as there used to be.”
“There aren’t?”
“Not in these waters. Too many people fishing them for too long. Can’t really make it out here anymore. I kept thinking of going down south. Maybe to Florida, or even Mexico. Take yuppies out to catch marlin or something.”
“What are yuppies?”
“Rich people.”
“Oh. So why didn’t you?”
“I didn’t want to leave, not until I knew what happened to Lucinda.”
“What happened to her?”
“I don’t really know. She vanished about five years ago. She’d been staying with her grandma on account of her parents being dead, but I’d come over and visit when I could. Even took her out on the Lady Jane a few times. She loved that.
“Then one morning her grandma called me. Lucinda was gone. Just up and disappeared in the night. No note or anything, which wasn’t like her at all. She was always the most responsible kid. Never even needed a curfew.”
Samantha’s body went cold as she listened to Mr. Delgado’s story. “How old was Lucinda when she disappeared?”
“About your age. She would have been thirteen in a couple of months. Her grandma already had the party planned out.”
Samantha put a hand to her head. The facts all fit. Lucinda had disappeared five years ago, the same time as Samantha. Her parents were dead. As for the age, the reverend had probably given her some fountain water to make her younger and thus easier to control and of course her second dousing of fountain water had made her even younger.
She reached into her shirt to pulled out the necklace. She held the pendant up to the fire. “Did Lucinda have one of these?”
“How did you know that?”
“I…I think I’m Lucinda. I think I’m your niece.”
“That’s impossible. Lucinda would be seventeen by now. You said you’re only twelve.”
“But I don’t really know that. It was just a guess.”
“You said you didn’t think your name was Lucinda.”
“But I don’t know that either. Everything else you said fits, though. Tell me just one thing: how did Lucinda’s parents die?”
“A drunk driver.”
“Were they coming back from Disneyland when it happened?”
The cigarette fell from his mouth. He made no move to try and retrieve it. “Holy…cow. You really are her.”
Samantha leaped to her feet. She ran around the fire pit so she could throw herself against Mr. Delgado—her Uncle Hector. She made sure not to step on his broken ankle as she hugged him. After a moment he hugged her back and then stroked her hair. “It’s going to be all right now, sweetheart,” he said and she believed him.
Chapter 15: Homeward Bound
Samantha didn’t sleep much that night. Every time she closed her eyes, she found herself trying to conjure up memories of her old life. She tried to see herself on Uncle Hector’s boat and living in a kindly old woman’s house. The memories refused to come, though. Perhaps in time they would.
She had to resist the temptation to pester him with questions all night. Uncle Hector was in obvious pain and he needed some rest. So while he slept, she paced the beach to look for anything else of use she might find. She didn’t turn up anything except a couple of dead fish. They looked fresh enough to eat, so Samantha carried them back to the fire. She found two sticks to use as spits and then began to cook them.
When Uncle Hector awoke in the morning, Samantha had the fish cooked and gutted as best as she could. Without a knife she couldn’t do much to clean them. Uncle Hector didn’t seem to mind. “You always were resourceful, Lucy.”
“Lucy?”
“Sorry, that’s what I used to call you. Short for Lucinda.”
“Oh, I see.” She smiled at him. “Lucy. I like it.”
“Samantha’s a pretty name too. If you’re not ready—”
“No, it’s all right. I need to get used to it.”
“I guess with what happened, you had to be resourceful. Your grandma was a nice woman—”
“Was?”
“She died two years ago. I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. Is there anyone else?”
“I think you have an aunt on your dad’s side in Alaska, but she isn’t around much. Alaska is pretty far away from Maine.”
“And that’s where I live? In Maine?”
“You did. You lived in Portland with your grandma. I still have the house. I didn’t want to let it go until I found you.”
“How big of a house is it?”
“It’s not too big. I mean it’s not the White House or anything.”
“The White House?”
“Where the president lives.”
“The president…he runs the country? The United States of America?”
“That’s right. You’re a quick learner.”
“Thanks.” She looked over her shoulder, thinking of her animals. “I don’t suppose there would be room for a couple of cows and sheep?”
“I don’t think the neighbors would like that.” A smile came to his face. “You have cows and sheep?”
“I delivered a calf and a litter of lambs.” She told Uncle Hector about having to turn the calf around so it could be delivered. Then she told him about the litter of lambs she had delivered when she was nine, though she omitted how little she was from the story. She didn’t want to tell him about the Fountain of Youth yet; he might think she was crazy. Once he saw it in action, then he would believe her.
He shook his head as she finished her story. “You’ve turned
into quite the farm girl. To think you used to scream your head off if one of the fish touched you.”
“Well, I didn’t really have much choice,” she said. “We all have to pitch in around here to survive.”
“You’re not going to have to worry about that much longer. If we can get the boat fixed, then we can get out of here and go back home. Maybe we can even find you a doctor to help you get your memory back.”
“Really? They can do that?”
“I’m not sure.” He took her hand. “Whatever happens, I’m still going to love you, just like I always have.”
“I love you too, Uncle Hector.”
He tousled her hair and then took one of the fish from by the fire. “We’d better eat up. We got a busy day ahead.”
***
Uncle Hector screamed a couple of times as Samantha helped him onto the net. Each time she apologized and each time he said not to mind. “It’s my own fault for getting caught in that storm. At least some good came out of it.”
She got him settled onto the net, the splint on his leg holding. It wouldn’t make for the best stretcher, but she didn’t see any alternatives at the moment. She gathered the net around him; he grabbed on to it to help secure it. “Here we go,” she said.
The biggest problem came in getting him up from the beach to the forest. The trail she had taken down was full of large rocks, much too large to try dragging him over. Instead they followed the beach for a while. Along the way they didn’t say much, her too tired and him probably in too much pain to speak.
By midday they reached where Pryde’s boat was, or where its remains were. The storm had overturned the boat and thrown it a good hundred yards. The boat had shattered against an outcropping of rocks; it would be impossible to piece it back together.
“What’s that?” Uncle Hector asked.
“A boat. I was going to leave on it before the storm hit.”
“You were?”
“I was going to look for my parents. I thought they were still alive.”
“Then you remembered they weren’t?”
Samantha ran her hands over the denim jacket. “I found these clothes and the necklace and a picture of them. Then I remembered.”
Children of Eternity Omnibus Page 23
