The Royal Handmaid

by Gilbert, Morris

  “You’re a pretty silly fellow,” Rena said under her breath. “All you had to do was to turn loose of that bait, and you could go on about your business. Now you’ll wind up in a stew tonight.”

  The sound of her own voice disturbed Rena, and she shook her head as she plucked the stubborn crab loose and tossed him into the canvas bag by her side. She never used to speak aloud to herself and knew that this was just another result of the life she had been living for the past five months. She tossed the bait back into the pool, then leaned back and looked up at the sky. She had learned to judge the weather with a little help from Chip, who seemed to be a reliable weather prophet. She knew there would be rain later on, and this again caused her to think. Before they had landed on this island, Rena had hardly ever paused to even look up into the sky, but now she was a part of nature in a way she never had been before.

  Her thoughts were cut short when she heard a voice calling her name and looked up to see Chip walking toward her. He wore only a pair of shorts, as was his custom, on his lean, tan body. “Having any luck?” he called out cheerily as he approached.

  “Yes, I think I have about enough for supper. What have you been doing?”

  “Gathering some herbs,” Chip said. He opened the small canvas bag he was carrying to let Rena look inside.

  Rena plucked out a broad-leafed plant with orange in its center.

  “It’s good for killing pain.”

  “Really? What do you do with it—just chew on it?”

  “Chew on it or soak the leaves in water and let them boil. When I was a little boy I had a toothache, and my mother used to dope me up with this stuff.” He grinned at her. “I learned how to do it by watching my mom, and one time I decided to dope myself up. I made up a bunch of it, and my tooth was hurting real bad, so I drank it all.” He laughed, his white teeth flashing. “I nearly killed myself. I think it slows the heart down or something like that.”

  “That could come in handy.”

  Chip sat down beside her, and the two talked freely as the sun climbed higher into the sky. The Hawaii native had become a good friend to Rena, and she had been shocked to realize what a wealth of knowledge he possessed. Before being cut off from her own world, she had been quite a snob, though she had not been conscious of it. It would never have occurred to her then that someone as uneducated as this man could have far more knowledge than she had. She listened as he told about a plan he had devised to build a better shelter, and she realized that he was worth far more to the group than she herself was.

  The subject progressed to the meeting they’d had the night before. “That was a fine sermon you preached last night. I love good preaching like that.”

  “I wasn’t too happy with it,” Rena said. “How did you become a Christian?”

  “I was just a wild young fellow, seventeen, but I had been to a mission school, and I’d heard all about Jesus. Made no impression on me, though,” he said with a sigh. “I wasted a lot of years.”

  “But how were you converted?”

  “I got with a bunch of no-good friends, and we all wound up drunk and in jail. The jailer there was a Christian man. He could barely read, but he knew his Bible. I woke up with my head splitting and feeling miserable. It was a dirty and awful place, that jail. The jailer—his name was Lewis Simpson—he began to tell me how wonderful it was to be a Christian. I’d heard it all before, but somehow the Lord touched my heart there. I looked at my life and saw what a mess it was, and after Lewis shared the Gospel with me and asked if he could pray with me, I said he could. While he was praying, it was like the Lord himself spoke to me, and I began to cry. I called out and asked Him to save me.” Chip smiled, and she saw tears in his eyes. “Life’s been different since that day, Miss Rena.”

  “That’s a wonderful testimony, Chip.”

  “Well, I wish I could get all the other members of the crew to believe it, but some of them are pretty hard cases.”

  Chip rose and said, “I guess I’ll go try to find something nice to put in the stew for lunch. I just wanted to tell you that was a good sermon you preached. It helped me a lot.”

  After Chip left, Rena stayed for another half hour, caught a few more crabs, then decided to go back and help Oscar prepare lunch. She had become a fair cook under his training. As she started back for the camp, she made a little detour to go by the stream where they had put in some fish traps. She found Travis emptying one of them. “Anything big enough to eat?” she called out.

  “Most of them are pretty small,” he said. The fish traps were simple enough, put together with wire from the wreck. Chip had taught them how to make the traps, so they now had fish as a regular part of their diet.

  Travis replaced the bait in one of the traps and put it back into the water. When he reached the bank he glanced at her bag. “What have you got?”

  “Soft-shell crabs.”

  “I always enjoy those. I’ll walk back with you if you’re through.”

  “Yes, I want to help Oscar cook the meal.”

  The two walked alongside the stream, then veered off on the path they had made, which wound its way back to camp. They had not gone more than two hundred yards when suddenly Travis stepped to one side. He plucked something from a branch and extended his hand to Rena. “A flower for you.”

  Rena reached out and took the beautiful flower. It was an exquisite light lavender with a dark purple center. “It’s an orchid,” she said. She lifted it to her nose. “If we were home, this would probably cost a lot of money, and here they’re free.”

  Travis smiled. “The best things in life are free, I guess, as the old saying goes.”

  “I never really believed that before.”

  “Before we came here?”

  “Yes. I can look back now and see that I missed out on so many things.”

  “I guess most of us feel like that.” He watched her lips make a small change at the corners, and she lifted her shoulders in a little gesture that somehow seemed filled with grace. She wasn’t really smiling, but there was the hint of a smile at the corners of her mouth and in the tilt of her head.

  “Things have changed for us, haven’t they, Rena?”

  Looking up quickly, she tried to see if there was anything behind the casual words. “What do you mean by that?”

  “Well, I mean we’ve had to give up a lot of things we thought were important, and maybe we found a few things we never expected to. At least I have.”

  “I see what you mean,” she said thoughtfully.

  His voice changed abruptly. “Aren’t you ever going to forgive me, Rena?”

  She knew what he meant. Ever since he had kissed her, she had kept her distance from Travis. They had spoken politely, but she had never relaxed and let her defenses down. Now she suddenly realized she had been foolish. “It was my fault as much as yours, Travis. I’m sorry I’ve been such a sorehead.”

  “That’s good to hear.”

  An awkward moment quickly passed, and he laughed. “I never was much good at apologies, but I’m having to learn.”

  “I was never any good at it either,” she confessed. “Why is it so hard just to say those two words ‘I’m sorry’?”

  “I think it’s a matter of pride,” he said. “We don’t want to admit to being wrong, but I’ll say it now. I’m sorry if I offended you. It wasn’t intentional.”

  “You’re forgiven.” He stepped back onto the path. “You ready to go?”

  As the two made their way back to the camp, Rena reflected on their encounter. She had hardened herself against any overt move he might make, but now as he spoke quietly, she found herself thinking what a good man he was. Over the months she had watched him without comment as he constantly put himself out for others, and now she realized she had been foolish to judge him so harshly. She was glad that the wall between them was now down.

  ****

  The meal that night was especially good. The crabs were succulent; the white meat of the fresh fish peeled off in fla
ky layers. The breadfruit had been roasted in an oven that the men had built out of stone. All of it was excellent. Chip had shown them how to make a delicious coconut sauce, which he served over a pudding made of taro root, coconut, and honey.

  Everyone was tired, but there was a peace about the meal that Rena was happy to see. She took the time to scrutinize the group. She had a mind that organized things methodically. This sometimes went against the streak of deep romanticism in her that she tried to ignore. It was a strange mixture. Now the mathematical, orderly part of her mind observed the group, and she organized them, almost as if writing it down on a blackboard, into Men, Women, and Crew.

  The men all wore full beards now, having long ago agreed that there was no reason to bother trying to keep a razor sharp. Rena looked at Dalton, and a frown creased her brow. He was not the same man she had known back in San Francisco. The months on the island had not improved his character. He had grown quarrelsome and surly, and no matter how Rena tried, she could not get through to the man she had thought she had known. She felt herself frown as the question formed in her mind, Was I really in love with him—or am I now? He’s not the same as he was.

  Quickly she put this question behind her, for it was not something she cared to think about. She looked at Professor Dekker and felt a tinge of worry. Dekker had become withdrawn. He was not suited for a rough life. He had known only the ease of civilization in its highest form, and now he would speak only when spoken to. He missed his books, his libraries, his scholarly friends. Rena knew he was miserable.

  Karl Benson was speaking quietly with Jimmy Townsend. The two men were quite a contrast. Jimmy was a cheerful, smiling, good-natured man with very little self-confidence. He was, of course, worried sick about his wife, who was now approaching the time that the baby would have to be brought into the world. Rena could not hear their conversation, but she guessed that Jimmy was trying to pry some answers loose from Karl about the medical side of pregnancy and childbirth. Karl was listening, but there was something in his face that resisted Jimmy’s earnest pleas. He was a man of science like the professor, and he had never yet revealed himself fully to any of the group. Something set him off from the others—some sort of secret, Rena thought, but she did not know what it was.

  Rena’s mind went to the next category: Women. She looked at Abby, who was sitting next to Jimmy and eating slowly. She had changed greatly, of course, her body now swollen with the child that was soon to come. She was a pretty woman, but fear had drawn lines in her face that had not been there before. She was the most vulnerable of all the women, Rena thought.

  Meredith Wynne was speaking to Travis. The two of them spent a great deal of time together, and for an instant Rena felt a tug of jealousy. They look like man and wife sitting there smiling and talking.

  The thought disturbed her, but she didn’t know if anything would come of their relationship.

  Rena surveyed the other three women. Maggie Smith was no longer the overweight young woman who had staggered ashore. She was now very shapely, and there was a liveliness about her. A hard way to lose weight, Rena thought. She saw that Maggie’s eyes often went to Shep Riggs, and she wondered if there was an attraction there.

  Lanie MacKay was sitting close to Pete Alford. These two made quite an impressive pair, both of them being so tall. Lanie seemed to have found a peace with herself.

  Next Rena looked at the crew. Captain Barkley, as always, was a tower of strength. When he caught her gaze, he winked at her and grinned, his frosty blue eyes twinkling. He was a good man, and he had done a good job of keeping things together.

  Cerny Novak and Charlie Day, as usual, were sitting together. The big bulk of Novak seemed to dwarf Day, and the two of them whispered, having little to say to anyone else. Lars Olsen, Shep Riggs, and Oscar Blevins sat together, laughing as Blevins told them a story of his early days. Chip was also in this group, and he glanced around often as he watched the others carefully.

  After she finished eating, Rena got up and went over to sit beside Abigail. She touched the young woman’s arm and said, “How do you feel, Abby?”

  “Not very well.” Abby turned, her eyes filled with misery. When she could no longer fit into the dress she had come onto the island with, Maggie had offered to trade with her. Since Maggie had lost so much weight, her own dress made a suitable maternity outfit for Abby. But even that was getting tight now. “Even this dress doesn’t stretch around me anymore,” Abby said sadly.

  Rena looked down at the thin, worn dress, which could no longer be buttoned over Abby’s belly. Jimmy had fashioned an apron of sorts out of palm leaves to tie around her middle for the sake of modesty, but it wasn’t very comfortable. She shook her head. “I wish I could find something better to wear.”

  “We’re all in the same boat,” Lanie said as she joined them. She looked down at her own dress, washed thin by many washings and from being dried in the hot sun. “Maybe we could learn to weave clothes out of leaves or something,” she suggested. “Maybe we could make ourselves skirts out of those palm leaves like the hula dancers!”

  Suddenly Rena had an idea. “I know! Ladies, we’re all going to have new dresses.”

  Her voice carried enough so that everyone turned to look at her.

  “Are you going to go down to the store and buy them?” Dalton said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “If you do, buy me some more clothes too, would you? I could use ’em.”

  “Be quiet, Dalton. I’m not talking to you.” Then turning her back to Dalton, she spoke to the women. “I know what we can do. I don’t know why we didn’t think of it before.” As she began to explain, an excitement ran through the women. “Why, of course,” Meredith exclaimed. “We’ve got plenty of material!”

  “Material? What are you talking about?” Abby wailed. “We don’t have any material.”

  “Yes, we do. We’ve got plenty of canvas.”

  “You can’t make dresses out of sails,” Abby said with a sour expression on her face.

  “Some of the sails we kept are made from very thin canvas,” Meredith said.

  “But we don’t have any needles or thread,” Abby objected.

  “We’ve got plenty of twine, though,” Rena put in, “and Shep knows how to patch sails. So we’ll just make us some new outfits.”

  The women perked up at once, and Rena was glad to see it. “I guess you’ll be in charge, Meredith. You know how to sew, but I’ve never made anything in my life.”

  “All right,” Meredith said, excited. “Let’s start now.” Meredith was usually a calm woman, but there was a Welsh strain in her background and a passion that lay deep. She ran over to Shep Riggs. “Shep,” she said, “we’re going to make some new clothes out of that thin sail canvas. Will you help?”

  Shep just laughed, amused by it all. “Well, I never thought I’d be a ladies’ dressmaker, but I’ll do what I can.”

  ****

  The dressmaking proved to be an exciting affair, providing some diversion from their everyday activities. With Shep’s assistance, Meredith chose the lightest-weight sail, some of it very worn, but it would do for their purposes. “We’re going to make a maternity dress first, Shep.”

  Shep laughed. “All right. Let’s get at it.”

  The small group gathered around Abigail, who stood with her arms straight out while Meredith took her rough measurements. Shep was there with a pair of scissors, and soon he had cut out the pattern indicated by Meredith. He left and came back with an awl and some twine and showed them how to piece the various parts together.

  It was an amazingly short process, and when it was done, Meredith took Abigail off to her tent. When the two women returned, Abby was actually smiling. “It feels so good,” she said. “I can actually move around.”

  The dress was rough, but it was loose fitting, and Abigail found it a great relief over what she’d had before. She actually got interested in helping with the others, and for the next two days the women made dresses, all the while igno
ring the men.

  Finally all of the women had new attire.

  Meredith had made her own dress, and now she came to show it to Travis. She had nipped it in at the waist, and despite the stiff cloth, it still revealed her trim figure. She spun around, saying, “How do you like it?”

  “Fine. It was a great idea. I hope the canvas holds out.”

  “If we had sheep, we could gather wool and make a spinning wheel.”

  “Do you know how to spin wool?” Travis asked, surprised.

  “I used to help my grandmother back in Wales.”

  “Maybe we could use goat hair instead.”

  As the two stood there talking, Travis found himself liking this woman a great deal.

  “Next, you men are going to have some new shorts.”

  “It wouldn’t hurt,” Travis said, smiling.

  “C’mon. I’ll take your measurements. I’ve never made a pair of shorts before, but I believe I can do it.”

  Ten minutes later the two were laughing as Meredith measured Travis as best she could.

  The two were unaware that Rena was scrutinizing them as she boiled water over the fire. She was shocked when a voice beside her said, “They make a good-looking couple, don’t they?”

  She turned to see Captain Barkley standing beside her, a slight grin on his face. “She’s quite a woman, that Meredith,” the captain said.

  Rena could not answer for a moment. Finally she said, “Captain, what would happen if a man and a woman fell in love in this place?”

  “I expect they’d get married,” he said, looking at her curiously. A grin broke across his lips. “And live happily ever after, just like in the stories.”

  “But how could they get married?”

  “Easy enough. We have a whole island full of preachers here and one ship captain. Why? Are you and Dalton ready to get married?”

  “I wasn’t thinking of myself,” she said quickly. “But sooner or later it’s going to come up.”