The Island Read online

  “I’ll get out,” Wilma said. “I need to check on Tony anyway.” She slipped out the door.

  “You girls go in and I’ll wait,” Curtis said. “Come on, Gene. I’ll treat you to breakfast. How does a mango sound?”

  “Call me if Debbie needs me.” Gene followed Curtis.

  Amanda sat on the ground beside Debbie. “You look wonderful.”

  “I feel good. I’m proud of my son. Isn’t he beautiful?” She looked down at the infant. “His daddy would have been proud, too.”

  “He’s great,” Phyllis said taking a seat beside Amanda. She reached over and touched Bobby’s cheek with her finger. “Hi there, Bobby. I’m your Aunt Phyllis. Welcome to this world.”

  Debbie looked at Amanda. “Thanks for the jacket. Gene said it was the perfect thing to swaddle him in.”

  “You’re welcome.” Amanda was smiling at the baby.

  “Want to hold him?” Debbie asked.

  “Of course, I do.” Amanda took the infant in her arms and smiled. “I guess I’m your Nana, Bobby. That’s what my grandchildren call me. I’d like you to call me that, too.

  After a little while of cuddling and cooing over the baby, Amanda relinquished him to Phyllis. As Phyllis cooed and talked baby talk to the infant, Amanda turned to Debbie.

  “We were all pulling for you last night, honey. It hurt us to know you were suffering.”

  “It was pretty rough, but Gene was wonderful. He knew the right things to do and the right things to make me do. Of course, Wilma was a big help too.”

  Joanna stuck her head in the door. “Can I join in?”

  “Of course. I want everyone to see my son.”

  Joanna came into the shelter. “Oh, my goodness. He’s cute as he can be.”

  “Want to hold him?” Phyllis looked up at her.

  Her eyebrow went up. “I don’t think so. I might hurt him.”

  “Don’t be silly. He won’t break.”

  “Here, Joanna, take my seat.” Amanda stood. “Debbie, would you like something to eat?”

  “That’d be good. I am kind of hungry.”

  “I’ll go get you something.”

  As Phyllis laid the baby in Joanna’s lap and Amanda slipped out the door, she heard Joanna say, “Oh my goodness. I’ve never held a baby before. He sure is little.”

  Gene met her outside the lean-to. He had one of the small baskets she’d made full of a variety of fruits. “Thought our new mother might be hungry.”

  “She said she was and that was where I was headed. I’m sure she’ll be glad to get the food.” Amanda smiled at him and wandered to where Tony and Curtis were discussing something. As she passed she glanced at the place she and Steve had slept. He wasn’t there.

  Reaching the men, she said, “Well, guys we have a beautiful baby to care for. The mother looks up to the job too.”

  Before anyone could say anything Mr. X walked up. “Never heard of anything so foolish. Having a baby in this God forsaken place. The kid would have been better off if he’d never taken a breath.” With that he deposited an arm full of limbs beside Tony and walked off.

  “What was that all about?” Amanda asked.

  “Tony asked the guys to gather limbs all about the same size and he’s going to make a cradle for the baby. Mr. X went right to work gathering them and you see his reaction.” Curtis shook his head. “I wonder if we’ll ever understand that man.”

  Ray and Steve came out of the jungle close to them. Ray had another armload of sticks and Steve was carrying a vine rolled up like a wreath. They brought it over.

  Curtis told them about the idea of the men who wore long sleeves donating them for the baby’s care.

  “I’ll be glad to do that,” Steve said. “I roll the sleeves up anyway.” He fished in his pocket. “Here, Amanda. Why don’t you use my knife and cut out the sleeves?”

  She took the knife from him. “Maybe it would be easier if you guys took the shirts off. I don’t want to stab anyone.”

  “Good idea,” Curtis said. “I don’t really trust a woman with a knife in her hands.”

  They laughed as Curtis, Steve and Tony took off their shirts. Ray was wearing a tee-shirt.

  By the time Amanda had the sleeves cut away and the men had the beginnings of a cradle, Wilma had joined them. She took Tony’s shirt and held it for him to put his arms in.

  Curtis picked up his shirt and went to meet his wife, who was coming out of the shelter.

  Amanda turned with Steve’s shirt in her hand. She shook it out and held it for him to slip his arms in. As he turned she couldn’t help noticing, despite his age, his back still rippled with muscles. She wondered if he worked out or if it came from the work he did on the farm he told her he owned.

  By late afternoon the cradle was done. The women gathered soft leaves and new palms to line it. Only once did one of them let out a scream.

  It was Wilma.

  “What’s wrong,” Tony asked as he hobbled up to her on his make-shift crutch.

  “I didn’t mean to scream,” Wilma said. “It was just one of those damn spiders. This one was as big as a saucer.”

  Tony shook his head. "I guess we're going to have to get used to them."

  “Probably so,” Wilma said and turned to the women. “Come on girls. Let’s get this put together for a liner for the crib.”

  Debbie was thrilled when Gene walked with her to the group where they’d gathered for their evening meal of roasted bird. The trap Tony built worked and they had caught three birds by the end of the day. Steve dressed them and they put them on make-shift spits and cooked them over the open fire.

  Everyone was pleased with the change in diet. Debbie looked happy and rested. Bobby was asleep in the cradle beside her and Gene was the ever attentive doctor.

  Curtis brought up the idea of building shelters for each group. They all agreed it was a good idea. Well, Mr. X did say, “Don’t see the need of it. If it rains I can go in the jungle and put a palm branch over my head. It’d be the same difference.”

  As usual the group ignored his remark. By the time the sun started to drop they’d laid out the location for the next five huts. They decided to put them about eight feet apart on the edge of the jungle and make them all roughly the size they’d constructed for Debbie. By the time the sun had set they were well on their way to finishing the one on the left end. They drew straws for positions of their shelters and for the order in which they would be built. The first one would belong to Curtis and Phyllis.

  Amanda had drawn for position. She and Steve ended up between Mr. X and Ray and Joanna. Mr. X didn’t draw but he was given the last position left in the pot which was the end on the right. Steve drew for when their hut would be built. It was slated to be the last one. Though he hadn’t drawn for it either, Mr. X’s hut was the next one to be build.

  When it became too dark to finish the job for Curtis and Phyllis, Steve took Amanda’s hand. “Well, come on partner. Let’s go sleep in the area of our soon-to-be home.”

  Everyone laughed. “Good idea, Steve,” Ray said. “I think we should all do that. We might as well get used to where to go since all the huts will look alike. We don’t want anyone getting in the wrong house when night falls.”

  As they neared their sleeping spot, Steve stopped and peered into the woods.

  “Did you see something?”

  “It was probably just an animal, Amanda, but I saw something moving back as we approached this spot. Did you see anything?”

  “No, but of course, I wasn’t looking.” She moved closer to him. “I’m scared, Steve.”

  “Don’t be. I can’t help thinking that if anyone on this island meant to harm us, we would‘ve been attacked by now.”

  He nodded for her to sit down on the ground. He sat beside her then stretched out.

  She lay beside him. “Steve,” she whispered. “Can I sleep on your shoulder?”

  “Of course you can.”

  She knew she shouldn’t ask it and she didn
’t know why she did, but before she could stop herself she said, “Will you hold me? I feel so safe when you do.”

  He folded her in his arms. “That better?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good,” he said. He didn’t try to stop the twinges that invaded his body. And when she put her arm across his chest he sighed inside. He was only conscious of her nearness. There could have been a thousand pairs of eyes watching them, but he wasn’t thinking about them. He had Amanda in his arms and for the moment nothing else mattered.

  * * * *

  May 23—2:00 PM

  Wendover, GA

  After he finished lunch Steve saddled Phoenix, his sixteen-hand quarter horse. Though he’d only had the horse a couple of years before he’d left on the trip, the steed seemed to remember him. When Steve first bought Phoenix, several horse people suggested he train him for show. But Steve didn’t want to show the big red dun. He wanted to ride him and enjoy it, not be stressed at how well the animal would show in a ring. And that had been what had happened. The man and the horse had become best friends. They could often be seen riding the fences or simply galloping about the pastures and the trails Steve had carved out in the woods.

  Today he was going to ride to the other end of their farm. The end connected to the property that had been his home when he was a boy. The place he’d loved and never wanted to part with. He was grateful Dave had followed up his father’s desire to purchase the homestead.

  As he neared the house, his heart sank. It was in worse shape than he thought, barely visible behind the weeds and vines swallowing up the front yard. There were a couple of trees uprooted across the area where the driveway had once been. The sidewalk to the front porch had disappeared.

  Picking his way through the growth, he led Phoenix to the four front steps, which ran the length of the wide wrap-around porch. He dismounted, looped the reins around a shrub and stepped on the porch in two strides.

  After seeing the yard, he knew the inside would be worse, but he wanted to know if the place was salvageable or if he needed to raze the entire thing. There was a broken window beside the double front doors, but he used the key Dave had given him anyway.

  He was right. The inside was a disaster. The wood floors in the entry looked as if they’d never seen wax. He smiled a cynical smile as he remembered his mother yelling at Marie and him not to mar the floors. He shook his head. She’d be really upset if she could see the scuffs and marks on the floors now. He squatted down and ran his hand across the wood. At least they seemed to only be damaged on the surface. It could probably be sanded and re-waxed.

  He rose and moved to the winding stairway, which led to the second floor. There were some spindles missing on the scarred banister, but the stairs themselves seemed to be solid.

  Behind the stairs, the doors opened into the library. The cherry wood shelves were broken and thrown on the floor. He ran his hand over the sides of the built-in bookcases. They seemed to be sturdy and tight.

  Moving from the library into the billiard room, he found a pool table with its legs missing on one end and its slate cracked and scattered about the room. The bar at the end of the long room was surprisingly in good shape.

  Going back into the hall, he decided to check the master bedroom before facing the kitchen. The carpet was torn and nasty. It smelled too. He was sure a poorly kept animal had lived in this room. The windows on the back of the sitting area of the room were okay. They needed a good cleaning, but they seemed in fine shape otherwise.

  The adjoining bath was a mess. The commode was broken and laying on its side. The shower had tile missing and the footed bathtub had the porcelain chipped away and one claw foot almost torn off.

  Steve swallowed. He couldn’t help remembering how his mother had prided herself with this room. It had been his grandparents’ then his parents’. He’d one day hoped to use the room for him and his wife. The family illnesses made that impossible. When his mother had faced the long time care in the nursing home, the family money began to erode. His dad’s lengthy bout with cancer dissolved the rest of it. When the estate was settled, there was only enough to purchase a small section of the once lavish plantation from his sister. The rest went for college loans, other bills and unpaid debts his father had accumulated.

  When Steve moved out of the house, he’d vowed he’d make enough money to buy it back someday. Now that had come to pass, but was it too late to save the place?

  He looked around the huge bedroom and said, “Can it be redone? Do I have the strength to do it?”

  He walked to the window and looked at the grass almost covering his view. After staring at it for a few minutes he turned and looked at the bedroom. “If I’m able to pull it off, will Amanda live here with me?”

  It then hit him as hard as if he’d been mowed down by a bus. If Amanda didn’t want to live here it would mean nothing to him.

  Without her, I might as well have the house torn down and turn the place into another pasture. Without her...

  He shook his head.

  “No,” he said aloud. “I won’t think that way. I won’t be living here without her. We may not have a lot of years left, but the ones we do have will be lived together right here in this house. She’s going to love it. I know she will.”

  With determination, he toured the rest of the house, then got back on Phoenix and headed out to check the rest of the original estate property.

  Chapter 11

  Twenty-Six Months Earlier

  “Well, partner, what do you think?”

  Amanda stood back and admired the little lean-to. “It’s wonderful. Now we have a house like everyone else.”

  “Yes we do. No more sleeping in the open where the world can watch our every move.”

  Amanda frowned. “What do you mean by that?”

  “Not a thing, dear. Not a thing.”

  She shrugged. “I’m sweaty and tired. I’ve dragged all the palm branches I want to fool with for a while. I’ve also fought off all those spiders. Those things are awful. What I need is a good bath. I’m going to run out to the lagoon and take one.”

  “I thought you said the women went earlier to bathe.”

  “They did, but I was too busy getting branches for our house. I promise I won’t be gone long, but I can sleep better if I’m clean.”

  “You can’t go into the jungle alone, Amanda.”

  “We’ve been to the lagoon dozens of times and nothing has happened. It won’t happen now. Most everyone’s walked down the beach or gone into their hut so I don’t want to ask any of the women to go with me.”

  “Well, you’re not going alone. I’m going with you.”

  “Steve, you can’t go with me to take a bath.”

  “I don’t see why not. We eat together. We work together. We sleep together. We’ve even bathed in the ocean together. What’s wrong with bathing together at the lagoon?”

  “There’s a big difference. We do all those other things with our clothes on.”

  “Okay, if it makes you happy, we’ll keep our underwear on.”

  She finally relented and they headed into the jungle.

  Once they reached the lagoon, Steve said, “I like to bathe in the falls. How about you?”

  She nodded.

  They took off their shirts and their shorts – earlier they’d cut off the legs of their pants to give to Debbie for Bobby. Steve glanced at her blue lace bra and panties, but only raised his eyebrow without saying anything. He hoped the cold water would take care of everything else. He reached out, took her hand and led her across the rocks to the waterfall. The cool refreshing liquid felt good splashing on her tired body. She raised her arms and let it wash over her.

  Steve did the same thing and smiled at her. “Turn around,” he said.

  She did and he began to massage her shoulders. “How does that feel?”

  “Wonderful.” When she felt completely relaxed she said, “Now it’s your turn.”

  He let her knead his back and rub
his shoulders. “That does feel good.” When she stopped he said, “Now that we’ve worked out some kinks, let’s swim a bit to limber up more of our tired muscles.”

  “Okay.”

  They dived into the lagoon together. After a few minutes of swimming Steve moved to the shallow area. He stood. The water was across his chest.

  Amanda stood beside him. The water was to her shoulders. “Now what?” She looked at him.

  He pointed a finger at her. “Now I don’t want you to freak out, but I’m going to take off my briefs and wash them. I like to have clean underwear occasionally.”

  She started to say something, but it was too late. He’d already bent down and was stepping out of his under pants.

  He stood and began washing them. “You should wash yours too, Amanda. I promise not to peek.”

  “Yeah, right. A man saying he won’t look at a woman with no clothes on, even an old woman like me, is like giving a hungry baby a bottle and telling it not to suck.”

  He chuckled. “You sure have some colorful expressions.

  There was a long pause when neither spoke. Finally, she sighed. “Oh well, you win. I’ll wash mine too, I guess. Now you’re not going to look and you promise to stay away from me.”

  “Scout’s honor.” He laughed. “Besides, what could I see? The water has you covered.”

  She washed her underthings and wrung them out. “How are we going to get out of here and still remain decent?”

  “I’ll go first and put on my shorts. I promise I’ll turn my back so you can come out and put on your clothes.”

  “I guess that’ll work.”

  “Let me go lay our wet things on the rock while you stand here and figure out why it might not work.”

  Amanda handed him her clothes and turned her back to him in case he had to step out of the water to reach the rocks. She busied herself studying the beautiful red flowers on the other side of the lagoon. It was then she saw the eyes.

  They were peering intently at her. She stared back and for a few seconds their eyes were locked. She wanted to scream, but she was frozen. The green leaf of the red plant slowly covered the area where the eyes had been.