by Robert C Ray
Suddenly her eyes opened, and caught him staring at her. It was too late to turn away, and her smile froze him where he sat.
"Can you truly be real?" he asked as if he must be dreaming. Certainly, it was all too vivid to be a dream, and he did not even think his mind could have come up with such a perfect one, though it all seemed too good to be true
"I am as real as you are," she replied, as her smile grew even larger. "Why would I not be?"
Without warning, she stood like a naiad rising from her fountain, and he found himself unable to turn away. Her body was every bit as enchanting as her eyes and smile, and he struggled to fight back his instinctive urges.
Gracefully she stepped from the tub as though her actions were perfectly normal, and finally he found the strength to look away. He wondered why he would even do so, since she seemed to have no problem with him watching her, yet he still felt it necessary.
"We need to be going," she told him, and as he turned to acknowledge her, he found her wearing her furs once more. "Sunset is coming soon, and there is no better time to go netting."
"Netting?" he inquired as she stepped through the rear opening, but he would have to wait for her return to get his answer.
A short moment later, she walked back into the room carrying a net, and a green, woven basket, with a green, woven lid on it.
"Yes, netting," she finally replied. "What better way is there to catch a fish?"
He stood as she passed, and began to follow her out of the sanctuary. Surely, he could never get tired of walking behind her, though her direction brought forth another question.
"We're not going to the river?"
"What we will be catching," she briefly explained, "cannot be found in the river."
This answer suited him just fine as he simply figured that they were heading for the beach.
Stepping closer to her, he reached out, and placed his hand on the net.
"Please allow me to carry these," he said politely, and the smile she gave him was reward enough, as she handed him the items, and continued down the narrow path through the jungle.
"You are so kind," she told him without turning, and for a while, they walked in silence through the lively jungle.
Gradually, questions began to invade his mind once more. Finding himself in this situation was mysterious enough by itself, but not knowing who he even was, at the same time, left him quite confused.
Desperately he tried to remember anything about himself. He tried to concentrate on any possible skills that might seem familiar, hoping he might be able to figure out what his occupation had been. Nothing was quickly forthcoming.
Perhaps he was married, or had a girlfriend. As he tried to remember any such face, all he could imagine was the beautiful Asian woman that now walked before him, and for a moment, she distracted his line of thinking.
Shaking off her hypnotic effect, he tried to envision places or things that might seem familiar, and finally something popped into his head. It was a 2009 customized, silver Corvette Zr1 convertible, and the thought was a rather pleasant one. He was not sure if it was simply the car of his dreams, or if that was actually what he drove, but the thought pleased him nonetheless.
For a moment, he imagined driving along the coastline, as her hair blew in the wind on a warm summer’s day. Her outfit seemed to fit well in such a scenario as he admired it, what little there was.
Finally, they reached the opening, and as she stepped out onto the sand, with nothing but the ocean in front of her, he was taken aback. She was truly a sight to see, but he figured that she would make any environment seem to be a bit dreamy.
As if to play on his weaknesses she turned, and bounced with excitement.
"There is going to be a full moon tonight," she said with an innocent, yet playful nature, before turning to head back toward the water.
Reaching it, she stepped in, and turned to her left.
"It's only a short way from here," she told him as she began to gently splash her way up the coast, and he decided to follow in her footsteps. His feet were becoming a bit tender from going without shoes for so long, and the water was a welcomed relief.
Peacefully, the ocean breeze consumed him, and the sound of the waves beating upon the shore seemed to match the rhythm of the woman's stride. With every step, she seemed to push herself deeper inside of his heart, and it both frightened, and delighted him. How, he wondered, could someone have such an effect on him, having known her less than a full day?
"We are here," she said without turning as they approached a bay that was almost too small to even call a bay. "They like this place the best."
He was tempted to ask what "they" were, but figured he would be finding out soon enough. He was learning that questioning her usually left him empty handed, or more confused than he was before. More, it seemed, could be learned by simply observing, and he certainly had no trouble with that.
"You do the netting," she told him as she turned to reveal her captivating eyes, "and I will set up camp."
Reaching forth, she took the green basket from him, and saw that he was struggling to find the right words.
"You don't know how to net, do you?" she asked with an enticing smile that left him simply shaking his head.
"Ok," she continued as she set the basket down on the white sand, "I will show you."
Eagerly he handed her the net, and followed her as she turned, and went into the water a little deeper. Without breaking stride, she found the weighted ends, and cast one of them to the other side of the small bay.
"After you do that," she explained over her shoulder before continuing to move, "you walk around the edge of the water.â€
When she had gotten to the other side, she pulled in the net with nothing in it, and said, "There, that is how you do it."
"I think I can handle that," he replied as he began to walk across the small bay, only to find out that it was a bit deeper than he had first thought. Still, he acted as though he had not made such a blunder, and turned to walk along the shoreline.
"I am sure that you can," she stated as she met him half way, and tossed him the net. "Can you keep up with me though?"
What kind of question was this, he wondered, as she walked past him as though she had just buried him in the sand? He turned her way, but she did not offer any more.
"Ok," he thought aloud as he turned back to the water, "I think I can do this."
First, he tried throwing one weighted end with his right hand, as he held onto the other end with his left. It made it about two thirds of the way across, but as he followed the edge of the shore, he found that the net followed him, and he could not get to the other weight.
Not discouraged, he pulled it in, and tried again in the other direction, though found the same result.
"You are not going to do this to me," he spoke down to the net in his hands, before finding the stone weight, and drawing back on it to make about a three-foot distance between it and his hand.
Carefully he rocked it back and forth, until he felt that he had built up enough momentum. Then he began to twirl it, allowing for some slack when the momentum made it possible.
He let out a loud grunt at the same time that he released it, and was quite delighted that it had made it all the way across this time. Running to the other side, he pulling it in with nothing but a few seaweeds in it, but was not discouraged at all. He was just glad that he had finally been able to do it, so he cleaned it out, and quickly wound up for another toss.
"Very good," she complimented as she brought a bundle of wood from the jungle, and dropped it in the sand before walking over to him with a long stick, and the basket.
"The stick is for the fish," she told him as she stuck it in the ground, just outside of the water's edge. "Just thread them through the gills."
Then she set the basket down next to the stick.
"This is for everything else," she said before turning back to what she had been doing, "including the seaweeds."
For what must have been forty-five minutes, he repeated the process repeatedly, until he was satisfied. Three good-sized fish, two huge crabs, and a handful of seaweed should help him earn his keep.
"You did well," she said with a smile as she pulled the basket up under her arm, and began to walk back through the sand.
Pulling up the stick with the fish, he began to follow her to the jungle's edge, and saw that she had built a small fire. She certainly seemed quite adapted to this environment, which only increased his attraction to her.
Setting the basket back in the sand, she took the fish from him, and motioned for him to have a seat next to the fire.
"You worked very hard," she told him with an expression of gratitude. "Relax while I clean the fish."
Once again, she mesmerized him, as she began to walk back to the water. When she reached it, and leaned forward to clean them, she did nothing to break the spell that she had on him. The sun that was beginning to set in front of her, only further fueled the flames.
Soon she turned, and began to head back with the cleaned fish in one hand, and a crude looking knife in the other. How, he wondered, could any other woman possibly compete with that?
Reaching the small pile of branches that lay off to the side, she grabbed three of them, and skewered the fish. Only moments later, she shoved them into the sand, and began to slowly roast them over the fire.
"You are one talented lady," he told her with his most charming smile, and for a second he thought he caught her blushing, though she quickly turned, and stepped to the edge of the jungle.
"We all have talents," she explained as she lifted something from behind a large palm tree. "No one talent is more important than the others."
"Talents are like the plants, and animals," she continued as she sat next to him, and offered a coconut that had the top cut off. "If all of one kind were to vanish, the rest would be inadvertently affected."
"This might be true," he replied as he looked down at the milk within the coconut, before locking his eyes with hers, "but some seem to perform their talents with much more grace."
This time he was certain that she was blushing, as she dropped her gaze to the sand, and smiled ever so modestly. It delighted him to see that he had some effect on her, considering the effect that she had on him, and he now found himself a bit more comfortable, and confident.
Sipping from his drink, he found her surprising him once more, as it was clearly the taste of fine rum on his tongue, and it went quite well with the coconut milk.
"Ok," he finally broke down to say, "where do you get rum from?"
Looking up at him with that ever-present smile, she replied.
"You would be amazed at what you can find on this island."
Yeah, he should have left well enough alone. It was likely among the remnants of pirates from long ago, he thought, or at least that was the best explanation he could come up with. Nonetheless, it really completed the scene, as they sat there and watched the sun set beyond the vast, blue ocean.
Once night had arrived, and the tide had receded, she stood to her feet, and offered him a hand.
"There is one more thing we need to do," she told him while helping him to his feet, and then he curiously followed her to the sand that was still wet.
Searching around, she found a spot, and dropped to one knee.
"See this small hole?" she asked as she looked up at him, and he knelt beside her to examine it more closely. "See how a small bubble has formed in it?"
"I see it," he answered, and then watched as she began to dig at the sand with her bare hands, and moments later, she pulled out a solid object, and carried it to the water.
Rinsing it off, she smiled, and held it up for him to see, delighted by the small treasure she had unearthed. It was a clam, and a rather large one at that.
"These are what we need," she explained, and for a while, they gathered about a dozen of them, and then carried them back to the basket, before sitting back down in the sand
For a length of time, they sat there, and watched a full moon, and bright stars competing with the flames of the fire to provide them with light. For hours, he sat beside her, telling her of the things he could remember about the civilized world, while they picked at the fish with their fingers. Finally, the rum took its toll, and he could remember no more.
CHAPTER FIVE
Rage
Slowly he began to awaken from his sleep, and though he was slightly dizzy, he was surprised at how well he felt when considering how much he remembered drinking the night before. What he could not remember was how he got back to the large cushion in the sanctuary.
"Princess," he called out as he leaned up on both of his elbows to glance around the room, but found himself alone.
Standing to his feet, he used the wall for balance as he made his way to the front opening, yet there was no sign of her there, either.
Using his own balance this time, he walked to the opening in the back, and called out for her again.
"Princess?"
It would seem that she had wandered off somewhere, and he was not about to go looking for her. He had no desire to run into the strange savages again, and they were only a part of what frightened him out there. He may not have been able to remember who he was, but he could certainly remember the association between tropical jungles and snakes, large spiders, and all sorts of the like.
"Wow," he said to himself as he sat in a chair, and pondered the events of the last two days. He would have thought it all a dream, if not for how real everything was, unlike the dream he had just been having.
That is when it dawned on him. He had been dreaming about life before the island, but it all seemed so hazy. He struggled in silence, trying to remember the details, but was coming up empty. All he could recall was that it was some sort of hospital type setting, with people wandering about in white clothes, and surgical masks.
If he was a doctor this would seem to explain the memory of the Corvette, but there did not seem to be any memories of any doctor type skills. In fact, the thought of putting his hands inside of someone did not sound very appealing at all.
Perhaps it was a memory from being a patient, yet as he lifted his shirt to examine his own body, he found no telltale scars.
"Oh, well," he thought to himself, and decided to be content with the new knowledge, understanding that they were all pieces to a much bigger puzzle.
Standing, he decided to check the closest place he knew of where he might find her. This time he would try to descend to the river a little more gracefully.
Exiting through the rear, he approached the first obstacle. Sitting down on the balcony with his feet dangling down the square hole, he chose to ignore the cargo net as he leaned forward, and grabbed the other side. Sliding off the edge, he dropped safely to the ground, and was quite pleased with himself.
Glancing around, he saw that the stone cauldron had been cleaned, and the embers had long since gone cold. Beneath the balcony, all he saw was dirt, and a stack of wooden bowls and woven baskets of various shapes and sizes.
Slowly he began to slide down the steep slope, making sure to keep his feet and body sideways for better balance. He could not help but to keep an eye in the trees, but the playful monkey was not to be seen.
As he neared the bottom, he saw a figure moving through the foliage. It was her highness, and it would appear that she had just put on her clothing, after bathing in the river.
The way that she wrung out her hair before shaking it out was as enchanting as anything else she had done, and he wanted to just sit there and watch her. The way that she suddenly locked eyes with him, and smiled, however, removed that option.
"Were you watching long?" she asked with a sassy expression as he stepped out onto the riverbank.
He was about to tell her that he had just gotten there, bu
t she interrupted him before he ever had the chance.
"I do not mind if you watch me," she said as she passed him by, and began to head back up the hill.
This was good to know, he thought as he followed closely behind her, or he might be offending her right now.
"I am planning something special for dinner," she told him without turning, and he was amazed at how easily she made her way to the top. Surely, the dinner idea sparked his curiosity, but he was more concerned with trying to follow in her footsteps. Although it was easier this time around, it was still a bit of a challenge.
"It's no wonder you're in such good shape," he told her as he finally reached the top, and she thanked him with a smile, as she glanced down at him from the balcony.
After an unstable trip up the cargo net, he made his way inside, and sat down in the chair next to her.
"This will satisfy your hunger until then," she said while handing him a bowl of fruit and nuts, and quickly he determined that it was more than just exercise that gave her that figure.
"Thank you," he replied as he accepted it, and leaned back in his chair. It actually made for a rather pleasant breakfast, though he wondered if it was breakfast at all. One thing he did not like was not knowing what time it was.
Reaching into the bowl, he grabbed a small handful. Pea-sized, red berries, and smaller white ones rolled around with nuts that looked like tiny potatoes, and when he tossed them into his mouth, he found the taste delightful.
"You are a very interesting woman," he told her as she sat there staring off into empty space again, and she responded without changing her gaze.
"I always thought of myself as being quite simple."
"It might be your simplicity that I find so interesting," he said with a smile designed to express his sincerity.
This finally broke her concentration, and a smile appeared on her face as well.
"Maybe I find you to be quite interesting as well," she told him, having turned to entrap his eyes, and for a moment he admired such a flawless face.