An Island Between Us

by K'Anne Meinel

  “I see you got a canoe,” she stated as she helped untie it and bring it on shore.

  “It was a good deal, and I thought we could use it,” Marion explained, feeling guilty for spending money they hadn’t discussed. Then, she told Barbara about the Woody and rowboats the man had for sale.

  “We will have to go over in the next couple days then,” Barbara agreed as she helped to bring the supplies off the boat and up to the cabin.

  The children were full of news, and the adults listened indulgently as they put away their supplies and got dinner on the table. They shared in the chores and shared smiles between them. This was the time of day they both enjoyed their combined families. Learning of the boat suddenly had Barbara willing to put off the sheep shearing and further building on the cabins. She felt they couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

  “Well, you can go back to school tomorrow. Would you like that? Two days in a row?” Barbara asked the children, pleased when they were so enthusiastic about the idea. She didn’t remember them enjoying school this much back in Massachusetts. She shared a secret smile with Marion, both were pleased with the children.

  “So, we are going early in the morning?” Marion confirmed once everything had been cleaned up and the children were getting ready for bed.

  “I don’t see why not. We could shear the sheep tomorrow, but if that guy is as nervous about the boats as you say, I think we should check it out right away. It’s not every day we come across a good deal, and I think we can extend our loan a little for something that will help our business,” she answered, her hands gesturing outside the cabin towards their island.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  The ride over in their boat wasn’t smooth. In fact, Barbara fought the wheel, taking it away from the much smaller Marion as they rode across. They were all a little seasick as they gratefully arrived at the harbor, skirted the much larger ferry, and parked at their dock.

  “That wasn’t fun,” Marion murmured, wiping at her lips with a hankie and seriously thinking about throwing up.

  “Let’s hope the weather doesn’t get worse,” Barbara murmured back, adjusting her jacket and watching the children shake off any vestiges of illness in their excitement over seeing other children their age at the school. They had already made friends and were looking forward to the day.

  Marion made the phone call to the man with the boat, and then they dropped the children at school. The teacher was surprised to see them two days in a row but welcomed them as she smiled at the two women, who looked anxious as they let them go. Waving, they left the children before heading towards the hills, Marion remembering the way from her trip the previous day.

  “This is the road?” Barbara asked, grasping at the door to hold on as they bumped over the ruts in the road.

  “It seems worse today,” Marion admitted, hoping she hadn’t taken the wrong track; that would be embarrassing. Soon enough, they came out where the cabins were situated. Marion was relieved. She saw the man wasn’t there, but one of his neighbors looked curiously at the two women waiting in their truck before returning to raking leaves away from the edges of his cabin. Soon enough, the sedan pulled up beside them, and Marion got out to introduce Barbara.

  “No children?” he asked, surprised and pleased, taking in their trousers and jackets with a slight lift of his eyebrows.

  “Nope, not today. Can we drive the Woody in the lake?” Marion asked, exchanging a warning look with Barbara, who she had told about his obvious dislike of the children.

  Barbara and Marion each drove the Woody in a large circle around the lake, the man sitting back and enjoying the ride. It drove well, and they were pleased with it. It wasn’t as deep or as strong as their own Runabout, but they liked it.

  “How will we get it to the pier?” Barbara asked as Marion wrote him a check for the balance of the price of the Woody plus two of the rowboats, which they were now manhandling to the back of the truck.

  “My neighbor has a trailer,” he nodded towards the man they had seen cleaning around the next-door cabin. “I’ll ask him to tow it for you.”

  “That would be so kind of you,” Barbara answered, sounding sincere. She really didn’t like the man since Marion had told her about him not liking their children. Still, he didn’t have to like the children to sell them the boat.

  There wasn’t room in the back of the truck for both rowboats, so they decided to put the second one in the Woody, putting down a couple blankets to protect the finish from wood rubbing against wood. Marion drove the Woody onto the trailer before the men strapped it down, and between Barbara and the men they got the second rowboat in the bed of the boat, strapping it down against any wind. The man threw the tarp for the Woody in the bed, implying it was a bonus. Marion and Barbara smiled as they slowly followed in their own truck as the neighbor towed their new boat, the sedan following behind them.

  “Maybe the rowboat will blow out and hit his car,” Barbara murmured, and they burst out laughing at the idea. Still, they had gotten a good deal, and while it was a major purchase for them, they were pleased. As the neighbor backed the boat down the boat launch, Marion was in the driver’s seat. They unhooked it, and Barbara and the men took the rowboat out, hooking it to the back of the Woody to be towed. They waved as the two men left.

  “Well, we got another boat,” Marion said unnecessarily as they tied it off on their white pier.

  “Want to help me get the other rowboat?” Barbara smiled as she held out her hand for Marion to get out of the new boat. It looked smart bobbing in the water on the other side of the pier across from the Runabout.

  Between them they awkwardly manhandled the second rowboat and got it in the water to be towed behind the Runabout.

  “I hope the water doesn’t swamp these,” Barbara fretted, looking at the two rowboats. They would be fun in their cove for vacationers and their family. She anticipated fishing from them and wondered about making anchors for them by pouring concrete in a can.

  “We’ll just have to take it slow,” Marion answered, hoping she wasn’t tempting the fates by saying the word swamped aloud.

  “If I didn’t think it would be a waste of gas, I’d say let’s go back to the island and get those sheep sheared and come back for the children later.”

  “There is so much work to get done and not enough time,” Marion agreed, equally anxious about getting their Woody home and into their cove. “Maybe we should take them out of school early?”

  The weather was acting up, and remembering how choppy it had been that morning, they agreed to take the children out at lunch time, having forgotten to even pack a lunch for the children. The kids weren’t happy to leave their new friends but were excited when they saw the new boat. They all wanted to ride in it, and Marion insisted Barbara drive it and she would drive the more familiar Runabout.

  “Maybe the children should ride with you?” Barbara worried, looking up at the clouds rolling in.

  “Aww, Mom,” the children cried to their respective mothers. They wanted to ride in the new boat. It was super keen with its newer and fancier woodwork and upholstery, and the mothers gave in, understanding their children’s desire to ride in the new boat. Barbara gassed it up, paid for her purchase, and followed Marion out of the bay. Both were towing their new rowboats and going slower than they normally did, so they wouldn’t swamp the towed boats. Once out of the protection of the breakwater, it was apparent by the tug of the ocean that a storm was brewing. The ride across to the first islands wasn’t too bad, but once they were beyond the last and headed for Whimsical, they could feel the steady pull of the vast ocean. It was trying to draw them south and both boats fought it.

  Barbara, trying to concentrate and unfamiliar with the Woody, glanced up to see Marion looking white-lipped and fighting the constant battering of larger than normal waves. She tried to put it out of her mind as she fought her own wheel and yelled to the children to hang on as bigger waves struck their boats. She saw the rowboat bucking and bo
uncing behind the Runabout and glanced back to see her own riding lower than she would have liked. She hoped it wouldn’t sink and drag behind them. She was more than relieved to see their island and head through the familiar entranceway to their cove, but she wasn’t thrilled to see another boat docked there. It was the same boat from the other day, and the woman was standing on the pier and tapping her foot.

  “Uh oh,” she murmured, wondering how long they had been there, if they had gone up to the cabin, and if Marion was in deeper trouble.

  “I’ll take care of the boats,” Barbara offered generously after both women tied up at the dock. She was trying to say more with her eyes but could see Marion wasn’t happy to see Mrs. Mason standing there.

  Marion pretended to be pleased to see the woman, and both Barbara and Marion could see Mrs. Mason was assessing the dungarees Marion wore. Lifting her chin slightly, Marion escorted the woman away from the dock while Barbara, in her own trousers, began to put the cover on first the Woody and then the Runabout, making sure both were tied tightly to their pier as the man in the other boat looked on curiously, smoking a cigarette and watching her work. Barbara towed both rowboats to shore and pulled them far enough up the beach that they wouldn’t float away, dumping the water out and leaving them upside down. She put their oars under the overhang next to the canoe. Meanwhile, she wondered what was going on up at the cabin with Mrs. Mason.

  Marion knew very well the woman didn’t approve of her unwomanly attire, and she decided she wasn’t going to care. Mrs. Mason couldn’t possibly have gotten the warning letter from her attorney yet; he had only mailed it the previous day! She decided she’d cooperate. They’d already antagonized her enough, and she was certain that was a strike against her. She was gracious and kind to the woman, who didn’t seem to respond to it. She followed Marion up the path, and the blonde was grateful they had boxed in the steps that led up to the meadow where their cabin stood, looking sturdy and homey to her. She wondered how it appeared to a stranger coming across it for the first time. The children began to run across to the chickens and the dogs at the far end of the meadow with the sheep. They would have approached the stranger, but Marion held up her hand, signaling them to stay, and for once, the maturing pup obeyed.

  “Children, come inside. Richard, you can go,” Marion told them. He looked on curiously but continued towards the chicken pen to check on their poultry.

  “This is your home?” the woman asked, sounding surprised by the cabin.

  “Yes, Mom and Barbara built it,” Brian said proudly.

  “I have my own room,” Brenda bragged.

  “You do?” the woman asked, sounding surprised as the cabin didn’t look that large.

  “Why don’t you show Mrs. Mason?” Marion asked the children, knowing that their honest excitement and pride over the cabin would go over better than anything she said. After all, she and Barbara had both made a bad first impression.

  Brenda held the front door for the woman. “Mom makes us leave our shoes here because of the mud,” the little girl explained, and before Marion could excuse the woman from this rule, Mrs. Mason slipped off her muddy shoes. Following the children’s lead, she left them in the screened-in porch, looking around avidly as she held her notebook to her chest. Marion watched as she looked around in surprise at their small and homey living room with the attached kitchen, examining everything.

  “Richard and I share a room,” Brian told her, leading her to the bedrooms and opening the door.

  Marion was relieved she had made them pick up their rooms and make the beds.

  Mrs. Mason looked in at the bunk beds, the small desk, a dresser, and the window separating the furniture in the insignificant room. It was nothing special, but it was obvious the boy was proud of it as he told her how they had brought up the logs themselves using tackle. He was ready to explain how tackle worked if the woman was interested.

  “Barbara can really chop a tree,” he told her proudly. “We used this device to split the logs and make our own floor!”

  She looked down, surprised to realize that the two women had really built the cabin themselves. The floor was even, smooth, and shined up nicely. There was even a braided rug in the center.

  “I helped sand the wood,” Brenda put in. “Come see my room!” She showed Mrs. Mason the closet-sized space that was her bedroom. Her bed was bigger than the boys’, taking up more room, but she also had a window and small desk, and under the bed were drawers that held her clothing.

  “Do you have any dolls?” the woman asked.

  “Oh, yes. They’re in that drawer there,” Brenda said confidently, showing her the drawers under her bed.

  Mrs. Mason looked at the bathroom that separated the children’s rooms from the master bedroom. That room was a little larger and contained two beds for the women. “You share the bedroom with Mrs....”

  “Jenkins,” Marion supplied as she nodded. “Yes, we couldn’t build an additional bedroom. It was a lot of work to get this cabin built, and we had to get started on the guest cabins.”

  “Those aren’t as big or as warm,” Brenda told her authoritatively.

  “They aren’t?”

  “Nuh uh,” the little girl shook her head, pleased that she had the woman’s attention. “They don’t need to be since our guests will only be here over the summer months,” the little girl repeated her mother’s words verbatim, having heard about this as the two adults discussed renting the cabins out.

  Mrs. Mason followed them back to the living room, writing notes about what she had seen. “And how do your children manage their schooling?”

  “Oh, we went to school today!” Brenda put in.

  “And yesterday,” Brian added.

  Marion watched as the children answered her questions. Mrs. Mason sat herself comfortably on the couch, not waiting to be asked. “Would you like a cup of coffee or tea?” she asked, giving herself something to do.

  “Tea, please,” the woman said as she continued to talk to the children.

  “We don’t go across to school too often, but it’s fun to get to know the kids,” Brian was telling her.

  “And what do you do when you can’t go to school?”

  “We read here in the cabin, and Mom and Barbara have us tell the lessons.”

  “I got a perfect score on my test,” Brenda put in eagerly.

  “Brenda, don’t brag,” Marion admonished from the kitchen, wondering if the woman was going to think she put them up to it.

  “I have your test scores here. You are doing very well,” Mrs. Mason told the little girl. “Do you do a lot of homework?”

  “Oh, no. I like doing my work, but it’s too easy, and Brian and Richard help me.”

  “She’s always reading our work,” Brian answered, sounding a little aggravated as only a big brother can.

  “Does your mommy make you do your brother’s work?” Mrs. Mason asked the little girl, confused.

  “Oh, no. It’s just fun because then I can try to keep up with Brian and Richard,” she answered ingeniously.

  “She’s always trying to do our work, but Richard is miles ahead of us,” Brian added.

  Marion hid her smiles. She knew what the woman was trying to do, and the children were answering honestly. She thought of adding something to the tea but refrained as she steeped it and brought it on a serving tray.

  “My, doesn’t that look nice,” Mrs. Mason said when she saw it.

  “I don’t like tea, Mommy,” Brenda put in when Marion put a cup in front of both her and Brian.

  “That’s why it’s hot chocolate,” Marion said with a smile, picking up her own hot chocolate to take a sip.

  “Mmmm, you made it with milk,” the little girl added as she took her first sip.

  “You have a cow?” Mrs. Mason asked, ready to write a note.

  “No, but we have considered getting a goat.”

  “Goats are destructive,” Brian put in.

  “They are?” Mrs. Mason asked, surprised
that the boy knew this.

  “Aunt Barbara says they are,” he added, suddenly unsure.

  “They eat anything and everything. We have plenty of animals now with the sheep,” Marion put in, adding to the conversation.

  “Do you do other things besides study?” Mrs. Mason asked the children, suddenly wondering at their high scores.

  “We helped build the cabins, and we carried stones and wood,” Brenda put in.

  “I’m sure there was a lot of work to build this,” her eyes were roaming around the well-built cabin.

  “It was messy,” the little girl added.

  “Messy?”

  She nodded as though she were imparting a great secret. The woman leaned in as she added, “We put mud between the stones and logs.”

  Marion started to laugh. The mixture of cement, sand, and dirt indeed was called mudding. She saw Mrs. Mason looking at the attractive white layers between the logs with skepticism. The interview continued for a while.

  “Kick you out, Sport?” Barbara asked as she came up to the meadow and saw Richard playing with Feathers. Strangely, she was not with the pup, Barkley, who was intently watching the sheep grazing at the end of the clearing.

  “Yeah, that lady is weird, isn’t she?”

  “Mrs. Mason?”

  He nodded, kicking up his heels and petting Feathers before throwing a stick for her to fetch.

  “Well, she has a job to do,” she explained delicately, knowing whatever she said to him would probably be repeated to Brian and Brenda.

  “Why is she here?”

  “She’s making sure Marion’s children have a good living environment,” she unconsciously parroted what she’d been told.

  “What’s that mean?” the little boy asked, curious.

  “She wants to make sure Marion is providing them with plenty to eat and a clean, safe place to sleep,” she explained.

  “Why? And doesn’t she want to know if I have that too?”