Me and Them

by S G Read

  ME AND THEM by S.G.READ

  Chapter one

  Page 1.

  For me the day started like any other day. I crawled out of bed at a very ungodly hour. I shaved, not knowing that it was going to be my last shave for a long time. Then I grabbed the suitcase I had packed two days ago and caught a taxi to the station, rather than drive and park my car in the long term part of the car park. It turned out to be a wiser move than I thought it was.

  I arrived to go straight through into the departure lounge, just as I like it, especially as there were a number of young school girls there, doing what young schoolgirls do. I had a small bag with me as my suitcase was probably on its way to the wrong plane.

  Yes, it is true; I am one of those unfortunates that have arrived at one airport when my luggage arrived at another airport. So now I expect it to happen, even though it has not happened since. I certainly did not expect what actually happened!

  We boarded the plane and I took my seat only to find myself sitting next to one of the schoolgirls. I am not a complainer so I took it as being my lot to have her bouncing up and down in her seat and squealing all the way to our destination. Wrong again. She was quiet and sensible, we had long conversations on varying subjects until tiredness finally overwhelmed her and she fell asleep. Eventually, I did the same.

  A violent judder rudely interrupted our sleep, it ran right through the plane. She looked at me, a startled look on her face, which led me to say.

  'Just turbulence Andrea, I have never known turbulence to down an aeroplane before.' By saying that, I hoped to assure not just her but myself as well.

  The second judder, a much stronger judder shook the hand luggage loose from the compartment above us, it fell on us, and I knew no more.

  When I awoke I sensed that something was wrong. I had heavy luggage on me and pushed it off. Andrea was asleep but this was a different sleep, there was blood on her head.

  I suddenly realised that my feet were cold and looked down, they were immersed in water which appeared to be rising. Now alarmed, I looked round but we were the only ones in that part of the plane, which was rocking up and down in time with the huge waves outside! We were in the water! Now I was alarmed. I shook Andrea but she did not rouse.

  I scooped up water and threw it over her face but it did no good. I unfastened my seat belt and went in search of assistance but only to find that we were the only live people left on the plane. I found two dead ones but they were beyond anything.

  With one unconscious girl on my hands I needed an inflatable dinghy or something to keep her afloat on until I found one. A suitcase floated by and I grabbed it. With it came an idea! I found a luggage strap, and by now I was starting to hurry in case the plane sank with Andrea still strapped in her seat. I found more luggage floating and strapped it together, finding more straps when I needed them, not thinking how I would get them out of the plane and into the sea which was being thrown into turmoil by the raging storm outside. My last find was a coil of rope, which I added to the raft.

  Still not clear on how to get the floating luggage raft outside I carried Andrea over to it and strapped her on. The plane gave a big lurch and made a noise which sounded like a death knell. The back stayed put and the front dipped its nose into the water, opening up a gap and there was enough room for us to get out on our raft, not that Andrea knew anything about it.

  I heaved the raft through the hole and into the boiling sea outside. Once we were clear of the plane, I jumped into the water and towed the raft away from the ailing plane so that the plane did not suck us down with it when it finally went under.

  I was glad to climb back on to the makeshift raft when I had hauled it far enough away but I knew with the amount of swell caused by the storm, the raft might well break up, or the suitcases might waterlog. I checked on Andrea and saw a whistle hanging round her neck. Just the thing to get help with. I removed it and blew on it, hoping for a return whistle or shout. When I heard a return whistle, I felt a lot happier.

  With Andrea asleep and tied to the raft, I tied the rope round my waist to be able to pull the raft to the dinghy and swum away toward the whistle. It was a hard swim and I was surprised to find another young girl, wearing a life preserver and clinging to another floating suitcase. I took a short breather; long enough to tie the rope to the suitcase handle and then swam back. It was a pleasure to climb aboard the raft again and pull the newcomer over to it. She climbed on gratefully but there was no time for pleasantries. I tied her suitcase to the raft and blew the whistle again.

  When I had no longer had any puff left, the newcomer tried and in the end there was another answering whistle from the mountainous waves. Another swim with the rope and another young girl to add to my growing collection. With three girls on the raft and two more suitcases we were still afloat but it seemed it was just a matter of time before the worst happened. We took turns on the whistle until we had an answering whistle. Another swim with the rope attached to me, in hopes of finding a dinghy but only to find another young girl.

  This continued with my strength starting to ebb until there were seven young girls on my raft, the next whistle made me stop for a second. Did we want another girl on board, then I also thought, have I the right to leave her where she is, if it is yet another girl? She must feel utterly lost, on her own in this pounding ocean.

  I jumped overboard and swam away, aiming for the whistle for what I expected was a young girl clinging to some sort of flotsam. I was not mistaken and towed her over to the raft as I had done with the others but it was not until I helped her on to the raft that I saw what she was clinging to, a dinghy! All it needed was the cord pulling and we had a dinghy!

  I went to pull the cord as soon as the girl was on board but stopped. I suddenly had a mental picture of the dinghy being picked up by the strong wind and it disappearing over the horizon. Very funny when you watch it on telly but it would not be so funny now. I looked at the dinghy and worked out how to moor it to the makeshift raft. Once it was securely tied, I took hold of the cord.

  'Watch and learn.' I said to the girl I had just helped aboard and pulled the cord.

  They saw the dinghy writhe about as it blew itself up until it was ready to board. As soon as they realised what was happening, glum faces gained large smiles. I helped them aboard one by one until we carried the last one on board, the unconscious Andrea. I laid her where she would be safe and collapsed into the space left for me.

  'What’s wrong with her?' one girl asked.

  'She was hit by something heavy when the plane hit turbulence.' I answered.

  'Is she going to die?' The girl countered.

  'I hope not, not after all I have gone through to keep her alive!' I replied.

  'Why?' The girl asked.

  'As the oldest present and what is deemed to be a grown up, it is what I am supposed to do, look after you children.'

  'So you won’t let me die then?' She asked and all the others were immediately interested.

  'You won’t die if I can stop it that goes for you all. Now get some sleep, if you can.' I was exhausted; I leant back onto the material behind me and was soon asleep.

  I was woken by a noise I recognised. I sat forward to listen; there it was again, waves crashing on to rocks. Were we heading for the rocks? Were we going to land on a beach or were we just going to pass by? By now the girls were looking at me, wondering what was happening, they could hear the same noise. Except for Andrea who was still unconscious.

  'We are near land. If we can get ashore we will be safe and dry.' outside the wind and rain drove us even harder. 'Well safe and drier, anyway.'

  I made my way to the door and unzipped it, not a good idea as it was facing the weather which was blowing us along. I looked outside but could not see a
s it was dark; I could only hear the waves on the rocks off to our right. To pass by might mean death for Andrea, indeed death for us all! I tied the rope round my waist once more.

  'If I make it to the island I will start pulling you toward it, help by pulling on this end of the rope yourselves when I pull.' I shouted over the raging storm and took the chance to show them how to pull on the rope and showed the rope coiling up inside the dinghy by the light of a long lightning flash, then fairly unwillingly I started to swim!

  I did not think I had the strength left to swim far but I was soon battling the heavy waves, looking for the island the crashing waves were advertising. The rope slowed me down as it drifted with the wind but I fought on, until it suddenly stopped me in my tracks. I had reached the end of the rope! The girls on the other end started pulling, thinking I had reached the island and I was mortified to think that I might be pulled back to the dinghy as there was no way I could do the swim again.

  I fought the tugging by swimming backwards, kicking downwards to get more momentum. It was then I kicked something hard! Had I not been wearing my shoe it could well have broken a toe! I let myself sink and my feet felt a hard surface beneath me. Thinking I was actually on a shore I did not let myself go low enough into the water to find the land below but pulled on the rope to start dragging the dinghy toward the land and stepped back, only to sink under the waves.

  Again, the girls pulled me but this time they pulled me back to the hard surface. I stayed there this time, pulling on the rope and passing it behind me. It could only be a coral reef and I had no idea how far it was from the island but it was close enough for now! At least it was land of a sort!

  The pull was hard as I was fighting the wind, the current and however many girls were pulling on the dinghy! A flash of lightning outlined the dinghy for me and I could see where it was and where it was in conjunction to the land. I had been aware of its drift as I was now pulling in a totally different direction to that which I had started pulling. Now I could see just how far it had travelled. The dinghy was almost past the end of the island, if it was an island. I renewed my efforts, pulling harder to make it swing further inshore and on to the beach but my energy reserves were fast running out.

  Suddenly it stopped moving! I pulled extra hard and to try to loosen it from whatever was holding it and it moved. I took up the slack quickly, fearing the worst but I soon found the dinghy immoveable again. Now I had a choice, wait there until I could see what was happening or try to make it ashore while the dinghy was stationary.

  I chose the latter and started to swim, letting out slack on the rope only when I had to. I found the shore and stood up, grateful to be out of the water. In the next flash of lightning I saw the beach and the trees when the sand ended. I walked across the beach, using the lightning to show me a tree and tied the rope round the tree to anchor the dinghy but the dinghy was not on the shore!

  I followed the rope in the darkness until it came to the water again and used it to pull myself out to the dinghy to see what it was caught on. I thought it might be snagged on the same coral reef.

  When I reached the dinghy I made my way round it only to find that it was in free water. I came to the luggage tied to the front. It was the luggage, or some of it which was snagged on the coral. One by one I lifted the cases over the coral until the dinghy was free and started to drift again, blown by the wind. Now I drifted with it until we made the beach and I could stand up. With my remaining strength I hauled the dinghy ashore, then the luggage bit by bit until nothing was left in the water. Then, exhausted I climbed into the dinghy, out of the driving rain, causing complaint from whoever I stood on while I was doing it, and zipped up the door. Now I could sleep, and I needed it!

  Day 1 on the island, the first day.

  I opened my eyes. It was light and I was still perched on the pumped up mound of the dinghy to keep out of the water. I looked down and saw that there was no longer any water in the well of the dinghy; instead, Andrea was laying there on a blanket covered by another blanket. I immediately assumed that a rescue party had found us. I carefully stepped past the still unconscious Andrea to get out of the dinghy to meet them. The view outside was not what I expected!

  There was a sandy beach in front of me and the girls I had rescued the night before were on blankets in the sun in their underclothes!

  I looked left to the tree line to see their clothes hanging on the trees, drying. I stepped on to the sandy beach and walked directly to the trees.

  'Yours’ are the red blankets.' one girl said as I passed by and waved her arm in their direction.

  I had been allotted my own little area along the beach and walked to it. I also hung my clothes to dry and chose to sunbathe to warm up; I too was tired of being wet and cold! The sun beat down and warmed me. The girls did not move but in the end I needed to find a tree. I was hungry and thirsty as well.

  I walked out of sight and relieved myself, then checked my clothes. I was wearing my boxers and they were dry the rest of them were still wet but I still put my trousers on. I decided to explore a little just as I was as I was not cold and put my shoes on. The sight was comical so took them off again. If I had to cross rocks I would need them. I chose to carry them until I needed them! I walked along the beach and round the corner, out of sight of the girls and found myself looking at rocks. I put on my shoes and walked across them only to find the sea the other side. I walked up the rocks as far as the sand and landed on the other side of the rocks. Of came my shoes and I walked on. I found no water but I did come across a tree full of bananas. Only now did I see the error of my ways, nothing to carry them in!

  I selected sixteen bananas, making sure there were no hidden surprises behind them and carried them back with me. When the first girl saw what I was carrying, she walked over to my area. The others soon followed. I had mentally prepared a speech as I returned and before I let anyone have a banana, I delivered it.

  'You all know what a banana looks like but what you see here, wherever we are may not be edible. So check with me before you eat anything and don’t just grab at anything, we do not know what might be lurking behind a piece of fruit! Lastly, today I collected some fruit; from now on, until we are rescued, everyone will pull their weight. No work, no food! Do you all understand?'

  Some nodded but one girl, obviously a twin and her sister stood next to her, said. 'We are princesses! We do not work!'

  'Then you will get very thin and die!' I replied. 'No work, no food! It goes for everyone who is fit. Andrea, the girl in the dinghy, is unconscious and will either wake up or will die. If she wakes up she will be on light duties until she is fully fit. If she dies we bury her! It is as simple as that! I have no idea where we are or when we will get rescued, until then I am in charge and only because I am the oldest.

  'Is this an island?' A girl asked.

  'It could be an island, or we might have landed on a coast somewhere.' I answered honestly. 'At the moment I have no idea, not until I have explored.'

  'Let’s explore then, to find out.' She answered.

  'Come on let us all go and explore!' Another girl chorused.

  'And what happens to Andrea?' I asked loudly. 'You leave her here at the mercy of anything which might come out of the jungle!'

  The girls nearer to the trees moved away from the trees and I knew I had said the wrong thing.

  'I don’t expect anything to come out of the jungle but it might! Even a rat is dangerous to her at the moment and none of you are afraid of rats are you?' I added hopefully but they all nodded, except for the girl who had asked me if it was an island. 'At least we have one brave person, what’s your name?'

  'Natasha Ridgeway' she answered.

  'While we are at it we should all know who we are?' I answered. 'My name is Walter Adamson.'

  'I’m Tabitha Brown.' A well-tanned girl announced.

  'I’m Alexandra Wright but everyone calls me Alex.'

  'You can guess what they call me!' Tabitha replied. />
  'What do you want to be called?' I asked. 'At least here you can be called what you want to be called.'

  'I suppose I am used to being called Tabby now, besides it is better than browny!' Tabitha answered.

  'I’m Tamsin Allchurch, everyone calls me Tammy.' A tall girl declared.

  'I’m Sarah Lee.' Another girl added.

  This left the two who had told me that they were Princesses. I turned to them.

  'You might be princesses where you came from but here and now you are equal to everyone here, including Andrea.' I pointed to the dinghy with Andrea inside it. 'While she is still alive. We will need to call you something, if necessary it can be princess one and two.'

  'I am princess Delphine, Georgina, Conzuela-' the shorter of the princesses started.

  'Enough! We will call you George, unless you prefer another name.' I said, interrupting her.

  She did not reply.

  'I am Charlotte, Elizabeth so you might as well call me Charley.' The other princess added.

  'Okay, Charley it is. Now we need to work in threes; that way if there is a problem, one can stay with the other one and one can come for help.'

  I said firmly. 'Natasha, you stay here with Tabitha and get everything you can find which might be useful out of the suitcases. Do it up near the trees and find yourself a club or something, in case something does come out to see what is going on but remember, we need to eat. If you kill something, keep it in case it is eatable!'

  That drew some strange looks but I ignored them.

  'Alex, Sarah and Tammy. You go along the way I went and get some more bananas, while I, Charley and George go to see if there is any water about,' I ordered, 'and put something on in case you meet someone, they should be dry by now!'

  I waited for the princesses at the start of the jungle and then walked into the trees with them following. I took the easiest route as I had nothing to cut down the vegetation with. This meant detours which took time and energy. It also meant that I did not really know where we were. The ground was flat and the vegetation was dense where we were walking until we came to an area where the ground started to rise. We walked up the slope and ended on a small plateau. We could see the sea to our left but it was quite a distance, we could also see the sea to our right and that was not to far away. In front of us was higher ground, leading up to a peak. Behind us were only trees but we knew there was sea there also, which made me think we were on an island.