The Island

by Agnes Alexander

  The screaming woman’s voice cut in again. “I won’t go on without my husband. I can’t.”

  “Madam, you’re going to have to cope like the rest of us,” The doctor said. “I know there’re probably others here who lost someone dear, but we can’t keep trying to change the inevitable. It looks like we may be the only ones to make it out. We have to work together and try to survive.”

  A burly man in his fifties said, “I’m not sure, but I think there’s a bad puncture wound in my side just above my belt. It’s bled a lot and it’s kind of numb.”

  The doctor moved to the man, pulled him up on his side and began looking him over. The woman beside the man took a shawl from around her shoulders and the doctor used it as a make-shift bandage. “I’m going to use your belt to secure this as tight as I can. We need to keep pressure on the wound and see if we can stop the bleeding.”

  The orange-headed woman interrupted again, crying out, “I don’t care what you do. If my husband is dead, I’m going to die with him.” She drifted further away from the group.

  “Please, lady—” The doctor started to say.

  “I mean it.” She jerked off the life jacket and pushed it away from her. Her head immediately went below the water.

  Three men swam to the spot where she went down, and shook their heads. She’d disappeared.

  The grey haired man snatched the lady’s discarded life jacket and swam back with the others. He came up to Amanda. “Here, put this on.” She hesitated. “I know it seems harsh, but it’s not doing her any good now and you need it.”

  Amanda slipped her arms into the jacket as he held it for her. When her shoulder bumped his hand, he winced.

  “Are you hurt?” she asked.

  “I twisted my wrist, but I’m okay.”

  The doctor heard him. “What did you do to your wrist?”

  “I sprained it a little. It’ll be fine.”

  The doctor took the man’s arm. “It’s not a sprain. Your wrist is broken.” He looked around. “Does anyone have anything we can use to secure it? A necktie maybe?”

  Amanda saw the dripping scarf around her neck. She took it off. “Will this help?”

  “Perfect,” the doctor said.

  The grey-haired man smiled at her. “Thank you.”

  “Look, everybody,” one of the men shouted. “I see land.”

  Their eyes followed his pointed finger. Some said they could also see an island and others remained silent, hoping he was right.

  “I’m not the best swimmer in the world,” he said, “and it’s a long way off, but if we work together, we might be able to make it.”

  “What do you suggest we do?” A woman asked.

  “Find a long piece of floating wreckage to use as a kickboard to propel us toward the land.”

  “How?”

  “We’ll line up on the board and work as a team. As I said, I’m not the best swimmer and I bet nobody here is an Olympic champion, but together we can give it the good old college try, as they say. We’ll take turns. Every other person in line will kick for a while and when they get tired the others will take over and let them rest. We’ll rotate until we reach the island.” He looked at the doctor. “Is there anyone who shouldn’t kick?”

  “The only ones in immediate trouble are the man with the side wound, the expectant mother and the man with the broken leg.”

  “I can kick with my good leg,” the man interjected.

  “Okay. We’ll put you beside a strong kicker.”

  “Shouldn’t we wait to see if anyone else is going to get out of the plane?” The pregnant girl asked.

  “Honey,” one of the women said. “It’s been a good twenty-five or thirty minutes since we crashed. If anyone else was getting out, they’d be here by now. Nobody can survive under water that long.”

  The young woman began to cry, but her tears rolled down her cheeks in silence.

  The doctor patted her on the shoulder and told her to hang in there and he’d be back to take care of her. He then went from one to the other and spoke with each individual. Amanda watched as he whispered something to the burly man with the side wound and the woman beside him. On the verge of tears herself, Amanda swallowed them back and decided there was nothing she could do except wait until someone made a decision about what their next step was.

  They found a twenty-four foot section of fuselage floating a short distance away. “We’ll use this as a kick-board,” the man who spotted the island said. He lined the survivors up and went down the row counting one-two, one-two only skipping the pregnant woman and the seriously wounded man. When he got to the end of the board he said, “Those with the number one will be the first team, those with two will be the second team.” He then swam to the right end of the board. “Now, all the number ones start kicking and we’ll see how fast we can progress toward the island. I’ll let you know when it’s time to switch kickers.”

  The small group of survivors followed his instructions. Lined up along the piece of wreckage with the early morning sun to their backs, they knew they were attempting an almost impossible task—a swim to a faraway island which might or might not be there.

  * * * *

  May 19 – 11:15 PM

  Athens, Georgia...

  Steve Brookshire was nervous as the plane touched ground. It wasn’t the flight. It was the fact he had no idea what to expect once he entered the airport. Who would meet him? He knew his son would be there and maybe his daughter-in-law and the grandchildren. But would Janet come? If she did, how would she react to him? Or he to her? Sure, they’d been married for more than thirty years when he’d made this trip, but he knew things had been bad between them for the last several of those years. He’d worried she was getting the mental disease which ran in her family. She’d shown changes before he left. Now he’d changed. The crash and the time on the island had seen to that.

  Could he come back as husband to a woman who’d been pulling away from him for years? A woman who ceased to exist to him? Did he want to try to rebuild a marriage that had been interrupted for this length of time? A marriage which hadn’t been strong in the first place. No, he told himself. Even if he hadn’t met Amanda, his life with Janet was over. Now that Amanda was in the picture, there was no room for any woman except her.

  There was no way he could ever forget the time he spent with Amanda on the island. At this moment he wished he could hold her one more time and discuss again their decision to do it this way. No, it wasn’t their decision. It was Amanda who insisted he take this step. He didn’t want to, but she convinced him it was the only way he could be sure things were over with Janet.

  His thoughts were interrupted when he walked into the concourse and a small voice cried out, “It’s Grandpa. Look, Mommy. It’s Grandpa Steve. He’s got a beard and a pony tail.”

  A wide grin broke out on Steve’s face as he set his basket down and held out his arms to the little boy. “Grandpa, Grandpa, I’m glad you’re back. I’m glad you’re not dead.” The little boy fell into his grandfather’s waiting arms.

  “I’m glad too, Johnny. It’s wonderful to see my big boy again.” He looked up and added, “And my beautiful granddaughters. You girls look so pretty and so grown up.”

  Candy and Robin threw their arms around Steve. “We love you, Grandpa. Welcome home,” they said almost in unison.

  “And you, Claudia. You look as pretty as the day my son married you.”

  “Steve, you’re just like your son, you’ve always been a charmer.” She swallowed tears and hugged her father-in-law.

  “Welcome back, Dad.” Dave embraced his father. Both men were fighting tears.

  “It’s good to be back, son. It’s wonderful to see all of you.”

  No one else appeared to greet him and he didn’t ask why. He wasn’t ready to know.

  “Grandpa we looked at your picture a lot. Daddy didn’t want us to forget you,” Candy was holding his arm.

  “I looked too,” Johnny said. “Didn’t I
, Mommy?”

  “Yes, honey, you did.”

  “That’s how I know you Grandpa. Daddy said you’d have a beard.”

  “Daddy was right, wasn’t he?” He grinned at Johnny. “I didn’t have any pictures, but I looked at all of you in my heart every day.”

  “And you were always in our thoughts and prayers, Dad.”

  They were in the car and headed toward the farm in Wendover when Claudia said, “We want you to spend the night with us, Steve. We have a lot to tell you.”

  “I figured you did. It’s obvious something’s going on.”

  “Why don’t we wait and go into it when we get to the house?” Dave suggested.

  “That’s fine with me.” Steve turned and began asking his grandchildren about what happened in their lives during his absence.

  Chapter 3

  Twenty-Seven Months Earlier...

  The survivors were making some progress. They could no longer see any debris or other signs of the wreckage. Neither could they see much of an island, though the direction they were headed was a bit darker than when they started. Amanda still wasn’t convinced there was an island, but she said nothing. She didn’t want to kill anyone’s hopes. The second group of kickers was doing a good job while the first group rested.

  Amanda found herself between the grey-haired man and a man who didn’t want to talk to anyone, but kept muttering about the futility of their situation. The last thing she’d heard him say as he furiously kicked the water was, “Might as well let the sharks get us. They probably will anyway.”

  She turned toward the grey-haired man and shook her head. He smiled back at her.

  “My name’s Amanda,” she said.

  “Steve.”

  “Thanks for getting the life jacket, Steve. I probably wouldn’t have been able to keep up with the group without it.”

  “No problem.” His eyes were kind.

  They said nothing for a while. Amanda knew she needed to take advantage of the rest period while the men on each side of her kicked.

  Steve broke the silence. “I hate to ask this, but did you lose anyone back there, Amanda?”

  “No and I’m thankful for that. I was traveling alone. How about you?”

  “I was alone, too.”

  She didn’t ask why, though she noticed the wedding band on his finger. Instead she said, “At least we don’t have to cope with that kind of loss.” She looked toward the pregnant girl who was two down from Steve. “I hope the young mother-to-be will be okay. I’m sure she wasn’t alone. Her grief’s heart-wrenching.”

  “I noticed that, too.” He took a breath. “The doctor’s swimming next to her so I know he’s keeping a close eye on her.”

  The man on the other side of Amanda muttered, “When in hell is it time to change kickers? I know we’ve been at it longer than the first group and I’m getting tired.”

  It wasn’t long until they did change kickers. In fact, they changed four more times before the dark spot on the horizon began to look as if actually might be an island.

  Amanda was kicking and getting tired. She took a deep breath.

  “You okay?” Steve asked.

  “I’ll be fine. I’m sure everyone else is as tired as I am.”

  Before Steve could answer a man shouted. “Shark! I see a shark!”

  “God no,” some woman screamed.

  “I knew they’d get us,” the man on Amanda’s right muttered.

  Amanda tensed and bit her lower lip. As she’d grown older she often wondered about death and what it would be like. She’d even thought of the many things that could take her from this world, but in her wildest visions she’d never dreamed of ending her life as shark food.

  * * * *

  May 19—11:30 PM

  Charlotte, North Carolina...

  “Did you find everything you needed, Mom?”

  “Yes, I did, honey. Thanks. I’ll be back in there in a minute. I’m just going to tie this long mop of hair back. I need to get it cut soon.”

  Diane continued to look at her mother and Amanda added, “Is something wrong?”

  “No. I just want to make sure this isn’t a dream. I want to let it sink in that I really have my mother back.” She sighed. “I missed you so much. There were so many things I wanted to talk to you about and so many things I wanted to ask you.”

  “Well, sweetheart, I’m back and you’re going to have all the time in the world to ask me all the questions you want.” She put her arm around her daughter. “Now that I’ve had a shower and I’m in this wonderful nightgown and robe you bought me, I’m ready to go see what it was Noah wanted to discuss with me.”

  “I told him it could wait until tomorrow. I know you need your rest.”

  “I’m fine. As a matter of fact, I probably couldn’t sleep. I’m still on island time. I’ll likely go to sleep in the wee morning hours and want to sleep all day.”

  Noah waited for them in the family room. He kept his seat on the sofa and motioned them to find seats. “We put the kids to bed, Amanda,” he said. “I thought it’d be better to talk to you alone.”

  “My goodness, Noah. This sounds serious.”

  “It is serious.” He took a deep breath. “As you might have guessed, if you’ve had time to think about it at all, things have changed.”

  She nodded and he went on. “When you were declared dead, we saw no alternative. We sold your house and your car.”

  “I understand why you’d do that.”

  “Diane was in such a devastated state, I felt I had to get her away for a while. We bought a place at Ocean Isle. We’ve been going there a lot. The kids really enjoy it.”

  Amanda nodded. “Diane always liked the beach.”

  He ignored her and went on, “The stocks and the bonds were transferred to Diane’s name.”

  “Of course, I’ll transfer them back to you, Mom.”

  Noah shot her a look and continued, “Of course we will. The ones left, anyway. We did spend some, but mostly they’re still in the bank. We were holding them for the kids’ education.”

  Again Amanda nodded.

  “I imagine the life insurance company will force us to pay back the policy.” He looked at Diane. “We may have to mortgage our house to do it.”

  “So if we have to mortgage it, we will,” Diane said. “It’s no big deal. We paid it off with the insurance money so there’ll be no problem getting a loan.”

  “I just hate to go back in debt.”

  Amanda wondered if Noah was hinting for her to use the stocks to pay the insurance company, but she didn’t say anything. All she wanted to do was get this talk over with and go crawl in bed and think. She’d deal with Noah later.

  She wondered if Steve had reached his home in Georgia. It crossed her mind he could not only be at home, but he could be in bed with Janet. Maybe he was making love to her.

  Maybe he’s touching her the way...

  She shook her head. She had to get these thoughts out of her mind.

  “Are you okay, Mom?” Diane looked concerned.

  “I’m fine.” She smiled and hoped it covered her sudden reverie into thoughts that were beginning to haunt her. “Go on, Noah.”

  “The next thing is where’re you going to live. You know you’re welcome to stay with us as long as you want to, even if we have to crowd up a little.”

  Before Diane could say anything, Amanda said, “Don’t worry, Noah. I’m going to go to visit Callie tomorrow or next day. I know she has a big house and she’s only a few minutes away. I’ll still be able to see you and Diane and the kids as often as I like.”

  He nodded. “That sounds like a good idea. She and Sam do have a big house and with no children, they have plenty of room for you. I know Callie will like having you there and of course you can visit here anytime you want to.”

  “Mom, it won’t be any trouble if you want to stay with us. I know the kids will be happy to have their Nana here. You’ve lost so much time with them.”

 
; Amanda reached out and touched Diane’s hand. “Thank you, darling, but it’d crowd you and I know that. Besides, after a few days with Callie, I may decide to get an apartment for myself. Then I’ll be able to have the kids with me sometimes.”

  “What about a job?” Noah asked.

  Amanda looked at him. “I plan to contact my magazine and see if they want some stories about the time we spent on the island.”

  “Will you get enough from it to live on?”

  She smiled at him. “Noah, I’ve lived for twenty-seven months with nothing, I think I can survive on what I’ll be getting.”

  “I don’t mean to be nosy, Amanda. I’m just trying to be practical and look after you the best as I know how.”

  “I know, Noah. I’m sorry. I guess I’m more tired than I thought.”

  Diane stood. “Come on, Mom. Let me put you to bed.” She turned to her husband. “We can talk about anything else later. I want Mom to get her rest.”

  Amanda saw Noah bite his lip, but he didn’t say anything more.

  A little later, Amanda was snuggled in the bed with the blanket up under her chin. The sheets smelled of fabric softener. She hadn’t smelled that aroma in a long time. It was pleasant. She wondered if Steve was sleeping in a bed with a nice smell. And was he alone or was he with Janet? She bit down on her lower lip. She had to quit thinking of him. They’d promised to give themselves a few months. He needed to see if his marriage had survived the ordeal and they both needed time to see if their feelings for each other were real or if they’d only been a convenience because they’d turned to each other on the island.

  In Amanda’s mind the answer was clear. She knew she belonged in his arms at night as they held each other through storms and dangers. She knew she needed his strength to face each day with its trials. It was Steve she wondered about. Would he resume the life he’d had before? Would he find Janet wasn’t as troubled as he thought? Would he find his love for her hadn’t really faded? Once he made love to Janet again would he forget Amanda existed?

  She shook her head. She had to quit thinking this way. Maybe, in spite of all the doubts she’d harbored all the years, Steve was the special man she’d convinced herself he was. Maybe he really meant it when he’d whispered to her he’d always love her. She knew without a doubt she’d always love him, even if there were things in her past she could never share with him.