Me and Them

by S G Read

  'We must find a home for the tool box and any tools we aren’t taking and then we’ll go.' I added.

  The girls turned the toolbox up the right way and then they dragged it away to find a hiding place. Other girls carried the tools after them and when it was secreted, came back for more tools. As soon as it was hidden and closed we rolled up our sleeping rolls and started back for the first camp.

  Armed girls led the way, with the girls carrying the rolls in the middle, I followed with the other armed girls to protect the rear but we saw nothing dangerous. It was getting dark when we approached the shelter but the boar had been there as well. It had smashed the door in, rifled through everything and left a lot of calling cards inside.

  'Pooh, why did it have to do that?' George asked, waving a hand in front of her nose.

  'He is going to get an arrow next time I see him.' Andrea declared. 'No more little pigs or not!'

  With no light to clean with I allowed them to use the lighter to light a fire, so we had light. Then we cleaned as best we could and tried to cover the smell by filling the room with smoke. It worked a bit but when we lay down the smell was still there, the alternative was to sleep outside.

  Day 23 on the island.

  We were up early and soon on our way to cut bamboo. I looked at the bamboo stand with thoughts of making a roof out of it and saw there was still plenty, although we were making a good hole in it by now. I did dig up three small rooted shoots to plant nearer the new camp site for later but where I was going to plant them I had no idea.

  We trimmed the bamboo before we carried it back to the shelter. We also collected a lot of the strong root for tying things together. There was no food cooking and we had not yet gathered any fruit, so the hunters went out while I worked. Another group went out to get fruit and two stayed to try to clean up the shelter and make it smell nice with flowers.

  I cut two pieces of bamboo the same length and tied one them to each axle, passing as near the wheel as I could get it without the wheel catching on it. I did the same the other side of the axle with the other piece. I cut two more and tied them in between the first two making them all equally apart. Now I cut shorter lengths and tied them across the four lengths, using one piece of bamboo as a spacer to give me room to tie them on. Next I cut a length of precious rope to pull the trolley along with and tied it to either side of the front axle. I stood up and looked at my new trolley, a schoolboy would have been proud of it but I was a grown man! I just hoped it did the job! A tap on the shoulder took my attention and fruit was thrust into my hand, all ready to eat.

  'Thank you-' I looked to see who my benefactor was. '-George.'

  The girls were talking about going back to the other shelter as soon as possible but I had other ideas. I had been thinking about the new area and how to make it boar proof. I envisaged a wall across the narrowest part of the route into it after we had made our new shelter; it was either that or kill the boar!

  The wall could have a portcullis type of door but sliding down with wood either side of the walls to make the only way in to lift it! Mister pig as the girls called him was not into lifting, I'll be bound! We had to make this shelter boar proof and I had ideas on that. I passed my ideas onto the girls who listened quietly. There was no argument. They knew it would be better to have a safe house this end of the island. A hand slid up into the air.

  'Yes Tammy?' I invited her input.

  'I was thinking, not usually my strong point.' She added and drew a laugh. 'If we planted creepers round this place it would soon blend in and if the pirates did come here they may not find it!'

  I had pushed all thoughts of pirates to the back of my mind obviously, the girls had not. I walked to the edge of the flat area, looked and slowly circled the shelter.

  'I agree,' I said when I finished the circuit, 'the creepers should soon cover it and as you say it would just disappear. So we stay the night, make a door in the morning and plant some creepers before we go. It will mean the hunters or fruit gatherers will have to stop by and water the plants if it doesn’t rain.'

  Charley pointed to an approaching black cloud.

  'We could plant them soon and they might get watered in tonight.'

  I looked at the cloud, then how far the sun had travelled round the island.

  'Do you want to?' I asked. 'There is time before dark but I don’t know if there is time before it rains.'

  Charley stood up.

  'Come on Tammy, you choose the plants and we’ll dig them up.'

  Tammy stood up, followed by George, Natasha and Alex.

  'I’ll bring the bow.' Andrea declared and jumped to her feet.

  They left to fetch creepers and I was left with Sarah and Tabitha. I measured the doorway and looked at the bamboo we had left.

  -I could make the door tonight.- I thought.

  I did just that. Measuring, cutting, tying with the two girls helping where they could. We replaced the old door to make it wind proof and made it strong enough to stop the boar. When the girls came back it was in place and we were secure. The sun had helped dry out the inside and the smell was almost gone now. There was a race to plant the creepers when the girls brought them back before the heavens opened and it tipped down. We planted the last one and scurried inside out of the rain. There would be no more work done tonight as the rain lashed down just as it had when we first arrived on the island. The roof did not leak and I slept like a log!

  Day 24 on the island.

  I woke and looked around. I was alone. It was probably my best nights sleep since we landed on the island. I walk outside to find Tammy and Tabby tending the fire. They were also turning a spit with three birds on it; at least we had meat today. I washed and cleaned my teeth. The thought of using a toothbrush someone else's toothbrush was something I had never considered. Now anyone who wanted to clean their teeth used the only toothbrush. Hot water in a tin by the fire was the only way to clean it but it had to be good enough.

  I walked back to the shelter.

  'Where are the others?'

  'Taking the spare bamboo to the new place and cutting more and taking that as well.' Tammy replied. 'The bamboo was too long for the trolley.'

  It made sense. I checked the door to make sure that it did not need any final touches, then I looked at the newly planted creepers. They looked very bedraggled. I wrapped them round anything available so that they would grow up onto the shelter, then set about searching through the things which had come ashore with us. The dinghy was still on the beach where we landed and for safety that needed to come round to the beach nearest us and hidden, just in case we had unwanted callers.

  For them not to know we were there was better than knowing someone was there but not being able to find us. I thought about the bamboo we had cut and the obvious signs that someone had been there. That needed sorting out somehow! I was still sorting through the suitcases when six tired girls returned. They ate and went to bed, even thought the sun was still up. For my part I finished what I had started and put my gains into a bag to carry back to the other shelter. They were only little things, which the girls saw no use in but I could see them being useful.

  I sat and talked to Tammy and Tabitha until they went to bed, then I watched the moon drift across the sky for a little while before I crept inside and slid the door into place.

  Day 25 on the island.

  In the morning I woke and took the same two girls with me to the bamboo stand. We spent an hour making it look as though nothing had happened there. We knew it had; but hopefully, a stranger would not notice anything. While we were out, we collected fruit, then fought our way through to the coral enclosed lagoon where we had first landed, to catch bigger fish with my rod and line. Here the fish were taking the bait and I soon had enough for a meal for all of us. We carried our food back to the shelter and found that no one had moved yet, or so it seemed. I peeked inside and saw that George was missing. I assumed she was doing something private and set about chivvying the fire into lif
e by pushing the unburnt wood from round the outside into the middle. I soon had flames. Tammy put on the last of the wood and we went out to collect some more. As we walked away George returned.

  'Going anywhere good?' She called.

  'To get firewood.' Tammy answered.

  Georges' face fell a little then it brightened up again. 'Better than nothing.' She said and caught us up.

  The first return found Natasha poking the fire, the second found Charley and Alex doing the same. The third time we returned they were all there talking. I dumped my firewood

  'I have plans for the new camp site.' I said and picked up a stick. 'Where the track is narrowest I want to put in a wall with a door like this or like a portcullis.'

  'We have one of those at home.' George declared. 'It will stop Mr. Pig coming to visit but anyone walking that way will see it.'

  'We have to disguise it then.' I replied.

  'How do you disguise a portcullis?' George asked.

  'When the time comes I think we might have another competition.' I replied and saw her eyes light up.

  They were all looking forward to another competition; it gave me food for thought. What could we do for a competition in between then and now?

  'Ask me before you cut anymore bamboo, we have tried to disguise the area where the wood has been taken from, if you cut more it has to be disguised after you cut it.' I declared remembering that part of my speech. 'Now as we are building in the new camp area we will need the platform and the ladder there. So we will eat, then all go to the new camp site, we take everything except the bedrolls which stay here.'

  We started for the new camp site. Four girls dragged the trolley with the platform on it at the start, then I took over for a while, then we stopped to rest. We ate fruit and some more fish, making less to carry then walked on. We were a tired bunch when we reached the camp site. It seemed just as we had left it. The boat was still there, now full of water again. I looked at the sun.

  'There is just time to haul a few big rocks down and start levelling.' I

  announced and saw black looks.

  We levelled the area we were going to build on with the aid of a very small level tied to a longer bit of wood taken from the boat. Three of us scraped away the rocky soil to make the outline of the shelter we were going to build. It was going to be bigger than the other shelter, so that we had enough room.

  Two girls filled the two buckets we had gained from the boat with mud and straw as I showed them and we laid the first rock. It was two feet wide, three feet long and a foot high. We bedded it on the mud and straw mixture in the right hand corner as we looked with our back to the boat. It was the start of the right hand wall. The next one went next to it with mud and straw between them. By the time night fell, we had a line of stones along that wall and one round the corner at the back.

  We downed tools and relaxed. While I sorted out the bamboo I gathered up a lot of fallen bamboo leaves as bedding and tonight I hoped for a better nights sleep here. The girls watched me spread them where I slept with interest but no one went off to find fallen leaves. That night I slept well.

  Day 26 on the island.

  The morning found the girls all out looking for fallen leaves or anything else to make the place where they slept softer. I washed in the fast flowing stream and walked back to the camp.

  Once they made their sleeping area comfortable, we started work. We laid the first course in the wall along the back and turned the corner to take it toward to the front of the building. At the front the wall turned toward the other wall and we took it as far as the doorway. I hoped to fit the door from cabin on the boat as our door. We added the front wall on the other side until we had the first layer of the wall all round, then we ate and rested.

  When time was right we started on the next layer. Stones just as big lifted onto the first ones with mud and straw between them and the lower ones making sure they were a good fit. We did that layer easier than the last as I stopped the wall as soon as we rounded the corner at the front. I needed wood for the door frame and that would have dowels buried in the wall. Which meant the front wall had to wait until I had my door frame! We started on the third layer and finished it before dark. Now we had a wall which was three feet high all round with the exception of the front which only had the one level of stones as far as the doorway. We sat there looking at our handiwork until it grew too dark to see, then one by one we went to bed.

  Day 27 on the island.

  Morning came and we started again. Today would exhaust our food supply but I wanted to get on. We put in the fourth and fifth layers, still managing to get the bigger rocks up that high by using the platform but the sixth taxed us, well I say us but the final lift was mine and I was struggling. I could still see out but none of the girls could now and were quite happy to stop there but I did not want to be ducking while I was inside. I sat looking at the building with pride, it looked solid.

  'Do you know what tomorrow is?' I asked as the girls lay in a group next to me, exhausted.

  There was no answer at first; girls were counting on their fingers.

  'Sunday!' Natasha cried.

  'Spot on Tasha.' I replied. 'Tomorrow we collect fruit, hunt for food and generally do what we want to do!'

  A ragged cheer echoed round the area.

  Day 28 on the island.

  We armed ourselves with weapons and bags and walked out of the camp site together. The girls were after roast meat of some kind and we needed fruit in our store. I had my rod with me in case I managed some time fishing. To us it was Sunday and we did no work! A turkey sized bird was the roast, whether or not it was an endangered species we did not care, we ate it! My fish were put in the cold cave with the spare fruit and we lazed about for the rest of the day doing exactly nothing!

  Day 29 on the island.

  Today was our Monday and it felt like one. We had the final layer of stones to put on to the wall and we had enough large rocks. All we had to do was get them up there and I did not think I could lift the next ones up there, even with the girls' help. I stood looking at the building while the girls mixed up clay and straw. The ground we were taking the soil from now yielded clay and we were using it. I hit upon the idea of making a ramp to slide the rocks up and made the ramp out of bamboo while the girls watched.

  'That Bamboo is very useful isn’t it.' Charley commented as she watched.

  'It is.' I agreed. 'I hope this idea works.'

  'What is it for?' She asked.

  'Hopefully we put the rock on here.' I pointed to one end. 'With the other end up on the wall. Then slide it up and on to the wall.'

  'And then put it where we want it!' She squealed. 'Brilliant. I take it you didn’t want to lift them any more?'

  'Want does not come into it.' I pointed out. 'If I drop one on someone’s foot because I can’t manage it we have more trouble!'

  'That’s true, especially if it is your foot,' She replied, 'and we might be able to help you a bit more this way.'

  'You might.' I agreed doubtfully.

  I made my rock slide, leant it against one of the side walls with it overlapping the top and the girls wheeled the trolley to it. They manhandled, probably not the right word, the rock on to it and walked it up the slide while I watched. Another two girls thrust a thick bamboo below it as it started to get high enough for them to not want it to slip back. They moved it until it would not go any more, then turned to me.

  'We can’t move it any higher.' Charley said slightly miffed.

  I had a brain wave and lifted to low end upwards. George and Alex slid the platform under the slide while I held it.

  'Try it now.' I suggested and Charley and Natasha moved it up further.

  When they were struggling again I lifted it higher and stood there until the rock was sitting in place on the wall. The girls cheered.

  'Instead of using the platform we need props with grooves to hold the slide up.' I said a little puffed.

  We cut the props, two set
s, one set short one set longer and carried on building the wall. The girls rotated what they did so that the rock movers had a rest and one by one we laid more rocks until we were high enough so that I would not have to duck to walk about inside. We had lunch to celebrate and the hunters went out to hunt, I stood and looked at what we had managed to do. We had to find a way of putting a roof on it and bamboo would not span the space from wall to wall and stay there. I looked and thought, scratched my head and thought some more.

  'What’s up?' George asked.

  'Just wondering how to cover it and make it stay there.' I replied.

  'You don’t know how to cover it!' She cried. 'If you’d said something we could have made it smaller!'

  'It has to be this big.' I answered firmly.

  She stood and looked at the new house.

  'I suppose it does really.' She admitted.

  'We need proper trees to lay across it as a roof,' I explained, 'trees that will not bend.'

  She looked at it for a moment longer then added.

  'You’ll think of something.' before she walked away.

  I carried on looking then smiled; it is all so simple when you are young.

  I followed her.

  'We need trees to go across the walls so we are going out to find them.' I called after her.

  She turned.

  'We have only seen one tree and that is not very useful for what we want.' She replied.

  The girls gathered round.

  'Well we haven’t looked on that bit to the left of the horseshoe.' I replied.

  'Shall we go and have a look there then?' She asked.

  I wanted to go but I did not want to run into the boar without enough weapons available. 'We’ll wait for the hunters then go and look while the food is cooking.'