The cool night air and the warm body snuggled up against James set his mind to wondering. He kissed the back of Jill’s neck as she slept on her side and snuggled up close to her naked body. He felt closeness to this person beside him. He wondered what she was dreaming about and if she was happy with her life. She seemed comfortable with her lifestyle and she had a certain air about her that said she loved adventure and excitement. She drove a fancy car, had an expensive sailing ketch and a beautiful beach house. She seemed to have her life all together. He wondered whom she had loved before him; did he know any of her past lovers? He felt a sense of jealousy over knowing that another man had made love to her. He quickly pushed those feelings aside, knowing that all humans need companionship, someone to hold close and to share their life.
After an hour or so, Jill rolled over and snuggled up close. She whispered a few words. He was uncertain what she said, but the words sounded as if she had said, “James, I think I am falling in love with you.” He realized she was awake and pulled her closer to him. She snuggled up into his arms and fell back asleep.
When James woke again, it was daylight. Jill was lying on her back with the covers pulled down to her waist. The sun was shining and the air was warm and humid. Her body glistened in the sunlight; she had an even tan. She obviously sunbathed in the nude. Jill realized that James was awake and looking at her. She rolled over to face him and said, “Good morning sleepy head. I think you laid awake part of the night. I hope I did not keep you awake.” James smiled and said, “You did keep me awake. I seem to spend a lot of time thinking about you lately and lying here beside you last night gave me an opportunity to think about my life and where it is headed.” Jill giggled and said, “I hope I did not upset you over the adoption thing.” James smiled and said, “I am certain that was also on my mind. The thought of adopting a child to love and watch grow up is exciting to think about. The thought of doing so with you seems especially exciting.”
Jill kissed James on the forehead and said, “I need some clothes and some food. You should either put some clothes on or let me rub some suntan lotion on you. Your skin needs time to adjust to the sun out here on the water. The sun’s reflection off the water will burn your pale skin in just a few minutes time. You should put on some shorts. I don’t think you want to sunburn your man parts. ”
***
The girls were hungry when they woke up. They discussed their options and decided to try to find something to eat along the shoreline. The tide was out and the tidal pool they discovered might offer up some edible seafood, at least they hoped it would.
As they walked along the water’s edge, Connie yelled to the others and said, “We are in luck. I just stumbled upon four steaming hot porterhouse steaks smothered in onions and mushrooms.” Emily did not think Connie’s little joke was funny and threw a small stone at her. Connie giggled and returned her attention to finding some real food.
Within a few minutes, each girl had collected a contribution to her first meal on the island. Since all four girls had paid a great deal of money for this pseudo vacation, each had taken the time to research and plan for their time on this remote island. They each knew the names of the plants, animals, crustaceans, fish and other edible tidbits on the island. They now would have to eat their bounty raw if they were unable to make fire.
The girls discussed their options for making fire. They had found a red fishing net float on the beach that had three links of heavy log chain attached to a rubber ring that the manufacturer had built into the float for attachment purposes. Zinc or some other substance coated the chain links, but they soon discovered they could scrape the coating off on a rock. If the metal had enough carbon in it, they might be able to make a spark on a chunk of flint or chert. With all of the rocks along the beach, they decided to try to find a suitable stone and attempt to strike a spark.
As the girls walked the beach, they soon discovered seven possible stones. June smashed two of the rocks together until she had broken each stone. Then they moved out of the bright sunlight and tried striking the stones on the metal chain links. The first two stones they tried were much too soft. They would have to try the others. The fourth stone they tried to break was so hard they could not break it. The finally wedged the small rock between two larger ones and then threw a large heavy rock onto the top rock. The added weight of the top rock shattered the smaller stone producing three pieces. When they struck the rock edges on the steel chain links, they could easily see the sparks it produced. The girls high fived each other and carried their flint and chain links back to camp.
They had little difficulty finding tinder to catch a spark from the flint and steel. There were large spiders everywhere and their thick heavy webs were ideal tinder. When the girls tried to produce a tiny ember with one of the webs, it only took two strikes of the flint and steel to produce the tiny glowing ember. Problem was the delicate webs would quickly burn out. They would have to find plenty of very dry tinder if they were to be successful blowing a flame out of their tinder bundle.
Billy said, “While the two of you work to find fire making tinder and gather wood, June and I will head out and find something to make containers with so we can boil our seafood. Cooking them over the open fire may not kill the parasites and other nasties, so boiling is the safest cooking method. We may be able to find some bamboo that is large enough to do the job.”
Within the hour, Emily and Connie had found enough dry tinder and firewood to cook their meal. The quickly set to work making fire.
Billy and June walked along the edge of the beach looking for trash or something they could turn into a cooking container. They did not have to look long. They found a small plastic cooler that had washed up onto the beach. When they opened it, they realized there were fifteen aluminum beer bottles inside. The containers at one time contained Budweiser Light beer, but someone had emptied them and pressed the caps back on the tops. Only one bottle was full of water, the others were empty and still smelled of beer. June said, “We can boil water in some of the bottles just as they are and then cut the tops off of four of them so we each have a cooking container.” Billy laughed and said, “What are the chances of us finding this cooler out here on the remote island? I think we should thank James for writing this incredible find into our vacation adventures.” June raised her hands into the air and said, “Thank you James. You certainly know how to make a girls vacation enjoyable.” June stepped up close to Billy and said, “I am so happy I could just kiss you.” Billy took a step forward and pressed her lips to June’s, allowing her tongue to caress June’s lips. June moved her hand to Billy’s breast and said, “We should continue this later. Right now, we need water and food. Without some water, I will be too sick to make love to you.”
***
James and Jill prepared breakfast in the galley, out of the sun. They would be out in the sun most of the day, so Jill suggested that they stay in the shade as much as possible until they were ready to venture to the shore.
They planned to take the dinghy out to the small island to their north. Jill had explained that the island had no permanent population, but people often explored the island and enjoyed the warm sandy beaches. She giggled and said, “Those that do come here leave their clothing in a pile on the beach. The island is best explored in the nude.” James laughed and said, “I will be burned to a crisp by the time this weekend is over.” Jill walked up close to him and said, “I may not take you home. We have enough supplies to last for a few weeks. We could just sail the open seas for the remainder of our lifetime.” James stepped up and pulled Jill into his arms. She snuggled into his arms and said, “I am sorry for those words, but I feel so comfortable around you that my most inner feelings keep spewing forth.” James put his finger under her chin and raised her head up so he could kiss her. The kiss turned romantic instantly and James had to step back. He giggled and said, “Woman, if you are not careful. I will take you up on your suggestion. I could easily spend the rest of my days on th
is ketch with you and never return to California. Although, I suspect we would run out of money eventually.” Jill giggled and said, “I could sell the beach house and have enough money to last us for many years; just saying.” James laughed and then looked into Jill’s eyes. He finally asked, “So, if I was to ask you to marry me, right here, after only knowing you for a few months, what would your answer be?” Jill looked him in the eyes and said, “I have no way of knowing what my answer would be until the question is posed to me.” James thought a moment and then said, “Okay, let’s try it this way.” He kneeled down on one knee and asked, “Jill, would you marry me?”
***
As June and Billy walked towards the campsite, they could see a blue haze up ahead of them and then they smelled smoke. June laughed and said, “I think we are going to drink and eat well tonight. The girls have a fire started.”
When they walked into the campsite, they offered up their aluminum beer bottles. Emily said, “Connie and I will take these down to the stream and begin washing them out. We can then get some water on to boil and then get it cooled down. We are all in desperate need of hydration and quickly. June if you and Billy will cut the tops off four bottles we can begin boiling our seafood. Maybe you can cut the tops off with the sharp edges of those rocks we broke.”
The girls made easy work of cutting the tops off the aluminum bottles. They had found an old glass Pepsi Cola bottle that had washed up onto the beach. They broke the bottle and then used the sharp edges of the bottles bottom. Then they used stones to rub the cut edges of the aluminum bottles to remove any sharp edges that could cut them. As they walked back to camp with the new eating containers, June looked up to the sky and said, “Thank you again, James. Without the glass pop bottle we would have had a difficult time cutting the tops off the aluminum bottles. We tried sharp stones with little success. We are very thirsty and hungry. You did us proud writing our vacations.”
By the time June and Billy returned to the camp with the four aluminum eating containers, Emily and Connie had the other bottles in the fire. The girls carefully sorted their food cash and placed equal amounts of each item in the containers. Then they sat the food containers in the hot coals.
While June and Billy tended the fire and their meal, Emily and Connie returned to the ocean to look for fishing line and something to make fishing hooks from. They hoped to find some old fishing line that had washed ashore, but did not find any. What they did discover was a small pool of water that only refilled during high tide. The pool was now isolated from the ocean since the tide had went out hours ago. After a few minutes looking into the pool, they discovered half a dozen small fish. Emily fashioned a spear from a straight tree branch and put a notch in the end to resemble the barb on a fishing hook. Her first attempt at spearing a fish was hopeless; she always managed to strike over the top of the fish’s back. Connie explained to Emily how to aim slightly under the fish’s belly to compensate for the reflection of the water. After a couple more attempts, they had one of the fish on shore. The fish was about fourteen inches long and it would provide good protein for the girls evening meal. They considered killing another but decided they had enough food with the seafood they had already collected.
When the girls returned to camp, they discovered that the water had boiled and was cooling in the creek and the seafood was cooked and waiting to be eaten. When Emily held up the fish, there were smiles all around. Connie said, “I will put a flat rock in the hot coals. We can butterfly the fish and cook it on the rock. If you leave the skin on the fish, it will prevent the meat from drying out.” Connie wrapped the fish in a large palm leaf and then laid it down on the rock. Within five minutes, the wonderful smell of cooking fish permeated the campsite.
When the fish was cooked, the girls placed equal amounts of food into each aluminum container. They used small sticks as chopsticks to pick up their food. Along with the fresh water, the girls began to feel much better. They had all feared they would get sick from drinking the water out of the stream without boiling it, but they all seemed okay. They discussed their sleeping arrangements. Billy said, “I think we should spend an hour or so making the bed a little larger. We were all a little cramped in the small platform last night.” She giggled and said, “Although, I suspect some of us enjoyed the close contact more than others.” Emily could not contain herself and said, “I personally enjoyed our sleeping arrangement. I could do that every night.” Connie said, “If we got busy right now, we could quickly build a second sleeping platform. We could extend the roof with little difficulty. Then we could sleep with whomever we chose for the night.” Emily giggled and said, “That is my idea of a fun vacation. We could sleep with a different person each night.” June stood up and said, “I am jealous. I hoped to have you all to myself.” The girls all began to laugh and June soon sat back down. After a few more minutes, the girls finished their food and began the task of enlarging the sleeping hut.
As they worked to build the larger bed platform, they all discussed what took place last night. June explained that she was nervous sleeping outdoors with the sound of wolves and other predators roaming the forest while they tried to sleep. She looked into Emily’s eyes and said, “I needed your companionship last night and the easiest was to do that was to make love to you. I enjoyed last night. I hope I did not ruin our friendship over the encounter.” Emily stood up and walked over to where June was working. She stood in front of June for a moment and then put both of her hands on June’s face. She moved in and kissed June hard on the lips and let the kiss linger. When she moved back she said, “You did not damage our friendship; in fact the encounter bonded our need to work together as a team in order to enjoy this vacation we have spent so much money on. Relax June. We are, and will always be, friends.”
When the platform was wide enough, they quickly worked to get the roof resized to cover them in case it should rain during the night. They had to be creative to get the netting properly secured to keep the bugs out. Once they were certain they could stay dry, they worked to gather dry wood and tinder. They stored the tinder inside of some hollow bamboo stalks and sealed the ends with stones. Then they placed the fire making materials under the raised platform where it would stay dry even if it did rain. By the time they finished with their tasks it was almost dark.
The girls decided to refill the water containers that they had emptied and boil the water while they still had hot coals in the fire pit. If it did rain during the night and they could not get a fire started, they would at least have safe drinking water for tomorrow.
***
Jill stood in front of James and looked down at him. She was certain that she loved this man kneeling before her, but was she ready to be married. She put her hands on his shoulders and then said, “James. I have come to love you and you say you love me. Are you positive you are in love with me? I don’t want you to marry me for any other reason. If you have doubts about what you are proposing, you can stand up now and we will simply continue on where we left off. Are you certain?”
James did stand up, but instead of stepping away, he looked into Jill’s eyes and said, “I am absolutely certain. I have never felt this way about another person. The love I feel for you will carry us through the hard times and into our senior years. I am prepared to marry you whenever you are ready to make the commitment. Jill, will you marry me?”
Jill wrapped her arms around James neck and said, “I will marry you. I fell in love with you the first time I stepped into your office. I know that sounds dumb, but it is true. I never believed I would meet a man that so met every wish, every need, every want, I ever thought of. You are the man I want to share the rest of my life with: James, will you marry me?”
As they walked the beach of the deserted island, Jill laid a blanket down on the white sand just above where the waves were washing ashore. They sat down and discussed their plans for the wedding. Jill had told James that she only wanted a small wedding: nothing to spectacular, just their friends and fami
lies. James had agreed to her wishes and then they discussed where to have the wedding. Jill said they could have it at the beach house if he wished. Then she said, “I would love to entertain my family and yours and the six others we work with. The airport is only a half hours drive from my house and there are plenty of activities in the area to keep everyone busy and happy while they visit us. Would you object to those arrangements?” James hugged Jill and said, “The beach house it is. My sister will be beside herself here. She likes to snorkel and dive. The dive shop is only a couple miles from the beach house. I can pay for everyone’s plane tickets. I know my sister cannot afford the plane fare so I will pick up that cost. I can also pay for your family’s transportation as they require.” Jill giggled and said, “We will share the cost of all the transportation. Remember, we are about to be married. At some point in time, we will need to set up a household bank account where we can share the costs of living together. Your personal money and mine can stay separate until such time as we see fit to combine it and work out a will to protect each other and to provide for our families if the need should ever arise.”
Around noon, they decided they had a lot to do and needed to return to the beach house. They both needed cell service so they could call their families and try to work out a date for the wedding. By the time they climbed back onto the ketch and loaded up the dinghy, they were both starving. They decided their families could wait a few more hours to learn of the impending wedding. James pulled Jill into his arms and asked, “Would you mind if we spent one more night out here alone? This place, this ocean and the beautiful woman who is sharing my life with me has grabbed my heartstrings. Before we return to the hustle and bustle of work, city life and families, could we spend one more day alone together?” Jill snuggled into James arms and said, “I would like that. I will check the NOAA weather forecast to insure we have no pending weather advisories and then we can prepare some food. I am starving.”
Vacation Writer Page 6
