by R.H. Proenza
Chapter 4
It was with great difficulty that I dragged the heavy chest away from the shoreline. My sadness for the captain still lingered. Trying not to damage the front of the chest I hammered carefully with rock and stick at the padlock until it gave. It felt like an invasion of the captain's privacy. Knowing him as I had he would have been the first to offer it to me under these circumstances.
It occurred to me that Melissa should share in this unexpected find. I trotted to her door and called out. Not finding anyone within I went down the path we had traveled the day before. She was nowhere to be found. As I ventured to the stream I caught site of the girl between branches. She was bathing in the pool -- her 'special place'. All her garments were draped on a bush next to the edge. I froze as her startling beauty took my breath away. She was absolutely perfect and flawless. Truly what I beheld was an exquisite goddess. But I was compelled to turn my head.
She was completely oblivious to her surroundings and had not seen my accidental encounter of her. I walked back to the beach, yielding to her privacy. After all, it was I who had invaded her island. I was the trespasser. Making my way back to the trunk I tried desperately to put her out of my mind as I dealt with the new found booty on the beach.
The trunk lid was closed snuggly, affording it a water-tight seal but finally gave way. I lifted a blanket that was covering what was inside. I felt the contents had to have been what the captain considered to be his most prized possessions. I knew there would be some of it valuable, some useful, some nostalgic, but all of it welcomed on a deserted island.
I found a teak wood box contained two dueling pistols. Next to it was a pouch of lead balls and a larger one of black powder. There was perfumed correspondence from his wife, bound together with decorative twine. Fine clothes were present, both for a man and woman. Several books, a hefty knife, hatchet, small saw, and hammer were also there. In a pouch were a wedge of flint and piece of iron with which to start a fire -- a genuine treasure.
In one corner I found a small expensive looking box covered with a smooth velvety cloth. The contents gave me a start. It was a gold necklace with a heart-shaped pendant attached. The heart was outlined by small diamonds, with a large one suspended within its center. A reflected beam of sunlight from the center of the diamond momentarily dazed one of my eyes. The necklace of a queen! A gift for the captain’s wife perhaps? It was beautiful.
Just then I heard the girl's voice approaching from a distance and instinctively hid the box in a bush beside me. "Good morning, Rik. What's that?"
"Come and see Lissa. Hurry." She ran over, eyes wide with astonishment. "A chest! Rik, a treasure chest?" she squealed. It was the most excited I had seen her yet.
"Well, in a manner of speaking it’s a treasure chest. There are a lot of useful items in here, and some are indeed treasures. I looked for you a while back but, uh, I didn't find you," he lied. "I wanted you to share in my discovery."
"I was out walking, just getting refreshed. I didn't hear you earlier. But just look at all this! Who do you suppose it this belonged to?"
"Lissa, this came off the ship I was sailing. It belonged to my captain."
"Oooh. The captain... I’m sorry Rik."
"That's all right. We are the only ones who could use this now. I know he would agree.
"Goodness, what a treasure chest it is! The blanket is charming. And the clothes; look at this blouse. LOOK AT THIS BLOUSE. It's gorgeous!" Her excitement was bubbling over. "And just look at this... three bars of soap... real perfumed SOAP. THREE BARS! Rik, this is like finding gold and jewels... just look at all this..."
"I'm glad you are enjoying the discovery. Take whatever you want, Lissa."
"You mean that?" she giggled.
"It's yours with my compliments; also this correspondence is from the captain's wife. Perhaps they are love letters and you might enjoy reading them.”
"Love letters?" She hurriedly took them from my grasp and smelled their fragrance with am embarrassed glance at me. Before long we had taken what we needed from the chest. Lissa took all that was 'charming', and I, for the time being, the man’s clothes, the guns, and tools. I made sure to drag the half empty chest farther up to dry land.
The remainder of the day I spent building my shelter using my newly found tools. I brought back all the saplings I had cut and stacked them in accessible piles. Lissa came by and helped in its construction. She held poles in place, tied saplings together with lashings, and suggested ideas. As time went on we bantered back and forth and learned more about each other. She seemed to enjoy working with me, as I did with her. At dusk, we both agreed we needed sunlight to continue work. We would finish the task the following day.
“Lissa, I think I’m going for a quick swim in the ocean and call it a night.”
“That sounds refreshing. May I join you?”
“The sea is big enough for both of us… I’ll race you to the surf!” She brightened up and lit off in a mad dash. She entered the water with a smooth dive leaving me to splash in. After much playful water spraying and laughter, we decided to go back. I took her hand to help her out of the surface and she became quiet but didn’t let go. She kept looking at our intertwined fingers and seemed to be enjoying the contact. We walked like this until we got to her hut in silence.
“Rik, I, uh, will see you in the morning then,” and slowly let go of my hand.
“Yes, I’ll, uh, be right here. Sleep well, Lissa.”
The rest of the night was restless for me. The touch of her hand had created a great turmoil within me I had not felt before. How could I tell her how I had begun to feel about her? Was it too soon? Would that push her away from me -- after all she lacked experience being with men? I pondered that until sleep took over.
After sharing a breakfast of fruit and nuts we both got to work on our task. We finished using all the saplings I had cut the day before. Lissa showed me how to use banana leaves to cover the walls. By late afternoon we had finished erecting the basic structure, save for perhaps a storage area, and the like. I examined the hut and found it adequate under the circumstances. I decided I had worked long enough and needed a bath. Saltwater wouldn’t do.
“Lissa, I think I’m going for a walk just to clear my head.”
“Your head? Is something bothering you?”
“Uh, no,” I lied. “Just to entertain myself. I’ll be back very soon.” I headed for the running stream.
The pool felt wonderful. I couldn't believe how refreshing the waterfall shower was. I saw why Lissa liked it so. After a short while, I got out and put on clothes again lest the girl come walking by in much the same manner as I had. Feeling renewed and refreshed I ventured back to our camp. As dusk approached I found myself walking under an incredible red-orange sky. The old sailor’s rhyme suddenly came to mind: “Red skies in the morning – sailors heed warning; Red skies at night, sailor’s delight.” I smiled at my silliness and changed into a clean shirt and trousers from the chest. I felt like a new man.
I turned to the sound of rustling palm leaves and saw only the girl's eyes peering from just inside her door. Her eyes looked me over with unexpected admiration at my new clothes. After some apparent and unexplainable hesitation, she emerged and waited for a reaction from me. What I saw was a complete surprise to me. Lissa was wearing the delicate white lacy blouse -- the one from the chest -- and a full skirt that swirled around her legs. Her hair was let down with a ribbon tied around the back. It cascaded down onto a bare shoulder, and she wore lipstick!
I gasped. "Why Lissa, you look even more beautiful, if that's possible. I can't believe my eyes!" She was glowing as she spun in a circle, arms stretched out. Her blushing added the final touch of color to her cheeks. She floated toward me and I could see the sparkle in those big blue-gray eyes.
Then a brilliant idea occurred to me. "Say, wait a m
inute. There is something missing from you."
"Something missing?” she almost whined. “What do you mean missing... this is all I found in that trunk. I even crushed some red berries to add color to my lips. For being stranded on an island, Rik, there is NOTHING missing!" she said in mock anger playfully wagging a finger at my face.
I rubbed my chin and acted like I was ignoring her. "Yes, something is definitely missing. Ah-ha! I know what's missing. I have just what you need over here."
“But I don’t need ANYTHING, I’ll have you know!”
With a smirk on my face, I went to the bush and dug out the fancy little box I had hidden earlier. I turned to stand in front of her. "Lissa, I want you to have this. A gift from me, and it is perfect for you." She looked perplexed because I was sounding so serious, but took the little box from my hand just the same.
"What is this?" was her feeble query. She felt at the soft covering before opening it. At first, I could not understand her expression for it was a mixture of shock, joy, sadness, and elation. Her eyes moistened as she gazed wide-eyed at the exquisite pendant, then held the box against herself. "For ME," she squealed. "It's... it's GORGEOUS," she said breathlessly. "It reminds of my mother's, a little, but even more beautiful. Rik, are you sure you want to give this to me? Surely this should be given to some royalty, like a princess…”
“Exactly my thoughts – for a princess!” She looked up at him trying to blink her tears away.
My reply was to take it out of its box and fasten it around her delicate throat. “Yes. It is absolutely perfect there,” I commented. “See? It looks like it belongs right there – at the neck of a princess.” All she could do was to grasp it and look at me while tears ran down her lovely cheeks. She moved forward and placed her lips on mine. I could taste the saltiness of her tears and feel her heart pounding – or was that mine?
What started out to be a kiss of gratitude seemed to lengthen into something more. Both our arms embraced each other tightly. Our kiss was suddenly full of hunger and longing and fulfillment. Our bodies pressed together. Time seemed to stop for us. Except for the pounding of our hearts all sound had vanished. Then all at once she saw herself in the emotion of the moment and pulled away, breathlessly. “Oh… oh, dear me, oh, I’m so sorry, I just… I don’t know what happened… I mean I… oh dear me… I was just…”
She silenced when I cupped her lovely face in my hands and placed my lips on hers again, gently, deliberately, for a long time. Her body trembled with joy as she returned the kiss.
“Lissa, I have been wanting that kiss from you for some time now. You melted my heart from the moment I saw you.”
Many minutes passed while she looked speechless into his eyes. And now, as if accepting her feelings for the first time, she exploded with glee. She began covering my entire face with small quick kisses despite my chuckles.
“Rik, oh Rik! I love you. I love you! I have loved you since that day we walked in the jungle but I wouldn’t admit it – I just didn’t realize it and I still don’t understand it and I’m just fluttering inside…” she rattled on.
“My little goddess -- in fact you ARE the one I have been looking for all my life! You saved me from an early grave, then you took my heart away. I love you!”
“Rik, darling – oh, I like that – ‘darling’!” We could hardly stop hugging, and then finally pulled away. “Ha ha… now I think I have the nerve to tell my, uh, confession… or maybe not.”
“Sweetness, you don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to. It isn’t necessary that I know all your secrets.”
“Tee hee… actually, it’s about you.”
“Me?” I squawked in complaint.
“You see, while you were unconscious I had to be a nurse, and um, I had to, um, bathe you. You needed it. You stirred during the bath and I was terrified you would wake up. I would have been mortified!” We both laughed raucously as we soared anew at having disclosed our feelings for one another. Once again we shared deep passionate kisses and embraces.
“Well, actually, Lissa, I have a confession of my own to tell you.”
“You do?” she said with raised eyebrows.
I also told her my tale of having accidentally walked up on her while bathing. Pushing aside her embarrassment once again our laughter filled the air around us. We could hardly stop kissing and caressing each other.
The next two days we spent talking without stopping, taking long walks and getting to know all about each other between kisses. We became completely involved in each other. At times we ran up and down at the shoreline, frolicking in the surf like children. I don’t remember ever being so happy. During quiet moments I asked her to tell me what her father taught her about survival. It had served her well for all those months alone. I, in turn, told her all I knew including a number of useful sailors’ knots. Together we devised new and clever fish, lobster, and crab traps from our combined knowledge.
One evening when the sand and surf was bathed by the brilliance of an almost full moon we both turned to look at each other. Something had changed. She looked at me with eyes wide, breathing quicker than was usual for her. She had already caught me many times staring at her with longing eyes. Our intense unspoken messages were unmistakable. We were hopelessly in love. It seemed our unplanned courtship was over as we reached for each other.
I knew that somehow we had to devise a way of performing a marriage ceremony because I had found my bride, and apparently she agreed!
It was completely impossible for us to have realized what was about happen next, for danger lay some fifty feet away, hidden by the approaching night. Our doom was waiting for the right moment. How could I have known that THEY were there, waiting to take my beloved Lissa away – forever!! How could I have possibly known…?
