Forever and a Day

by Alexis Konsantino

  “Oh… well, ok?” She replied as she bit her lower lip at him.

  “Hey, it’ll be fine. There is enough food and water for days. Trust me, I won’t do anything stupid and risk your safety. I have to find us somewhere else to camp soon. It’s going to get hotter and well… it has been two weeks.”

  “I know, are you sure you are not too tired?” She asked.

  “A little, but I’m good. I’m just going to find a route over there, I will probably have to do some swimming so I’m packing light. Now, please listen carefully, ok?”

  She nodded at him and watched as he sat down with a serious look on his handsome face.

  “If I am not back by sundown, I want you to look towards the island and watch for flares. If you see one then I’m staying the night. If you see two, it means I am in trouble but ok.”

  Halo interrupted, “What if I don’t see any?”

  Xander looked at her for a long moment, “Then stay put and do whatever it takes to survive. DO NOT come and look for me. The garden…”

  “Excuse me?” Halo said in as loud a voice as she could muster.

  “Uh, what?” Xander replied.

  “Don’t come looking for you? You think I’m going to just sit here and let you die out there alone? The hell with that!”

  “Halo! You won’t make it over there!”

  “Xander, you think I want to stay here without you? No way.”

  “Halo…” Xander came up close to her and extended his hand out and cupped her cheek softly in his hand, “Halo, listen. You are in no condition to try to make it there. You can hardly make it to the loo. If I didn’t feel it was important, I wouldn’t go. You are important to me, if I think something is dangerous, I’ll come back right away.” He felt her press her cheek into his hand and she closed her eyes and nodded.

  “Halo, I need to know that you will stay here in safety.”

  She opened her big blue eyes at him and saw the worry in his, “Ok, I guess.” She lied then held her hand up to her heart and with her voice full of emotion she continued, “I don’t know what I would do without you, Xander…”

  He smiled as he pulled his hand away, “You were fine before you met me, you’ll be just fine now. The fish traps are marked in the water, the garden and fruit will keep you going for months.”

  With a falling tear she lunged forward, grabbed him and pulled him to her, she rested her head under his chin and could hear his heart thumping wildly in his chest, “Please come back to me!” She sniffed and looked up at him, “I don’t think I was ever ok…” Until now, she thought. She felt his arms come around her and rock her for just a moment.

  “I will, Halo. It’s just a quick jaunt next door!” Xander knew he would walk through hell and back and die a thousand deaths for her. “Ok, if you get into trouble I’m leaving you the gun and half of the flares. Just point up and pull for the flares.” She nodded to him.

  “I’m sorry I raised my voice to you.” She replied as she wiped her nose.

  “It’s fine, I’m used to it.” He said chuckling.

  Halo moved her head back and gave him a serious look, thinking that his wife must yell at him. She did not want to be that way towards him, “Oh?”

  “No worries, Greeks have a tendency to talk with their hands and be very loud.” He joked.

  Halo did not believe him, “Xander, be careful and hurry home, please?” She expressed and released him and wiped her eyes. “Sorry I’m being emotional…”

  “It’s fine, ok I need to get moving. Feel free to use any of my electronics. I will see you soon…” She caught him off guard as she quickly leaned up and softly kissed his cheek. His breath caught and his heart felt like it stopped cold in his chest then suddenly his butterflies took off in his belly with a frenzy. He watched her hand come up and caress his cheek tenderly. Without thinking, he moved her hand to his lips and kissed the palm of her hand, pausing his lips against her soft skin for a long moment. When he realized what he was doing, he cleared his throat and quickly stood up, unable to utter a word he gave her a wave as she smiled up to him.

  “Hurry home.” She said and sat back and watched him leave the tent.

  He grabbed his gear and stumbled over the fire pit and ungainly righted himself and quickly continued on. When he was clear of the camp, he leaned against a palm tree and touched his cheek where her lips had kissed him. It felt like his heart went from a dead stop to a hundred miles an hour as he remembered the feeling that took over his mind and body. Never had he felt like this, with anyone. She definitely was a force to be reckoned with… his heart was nearly defenseless against her.

  Xander righted himself from against the tree and stumbled forward with butterflies swimming happily in his belly. Soon he found himself at the beach facing a sandbar that lead northward to another small tree filled island. Beyond that, he saw another sandbar and another island, that one looked bare, beyond that were three more islands.

  With a nod to himself, he began walking into the water towards the sand bar fifty yards away.

  By the time he reached the largest and northern most island he was nearly exhausted. His last push there involved swimming at least three hundred yards praying all along that no sharks or jellyfish were present. Panting hard on the warm sand, he willed himself to catch his breath. He looked back towards Halo’s Island, it looked small and lush from here. His thoughts went to her and worried if she was ok. He pushed himself upright, turned to the tree line and immediately saw what looked like an opening, much like the one on Halo’s Island.

  Leaning warily on his walking stick, he began heading towards the opening, scanning the trees up ahead. Something struck him as odd as he came closer… there was no vegetation on the ground. No grasses, no plants and the trees looked bare at least five feet up their trunks.

  Goats, Xander thought. They were voracious eaters and could easily strip an island clean, and goats meant food and maybe milk.

  He slowed his pace and headed up the pathway. Sure enough he could see the gnaw marks on the trees. He remembered the continuously pissed off, male horned goat of his youth while visiting his grandparents in Greece and kept his senses alert.

  He saw movement up head among the coconut trees and held his stick at the ready. He crept forward and sure enough he heard a ‘bah’ then he saw the animal: it was a small shaggy brown and white goat. He saw the goat swing its triangular shaped head towards him from behind a tree. They stared at each other for a moment before it trotted away.

  He kept moving up the incline of the trail when something off to the side caught his eye. He turned towards it and saw a long dark log adjacent to the sandy path. It was in fact an outrigger, turned upside down on wooden stands.

  “Wow!” Xander exclaimed as he examined the roughly made ancient outrigger canoe with its attached pontoon. It looked like it had not been used for some time. Upon further examination, it appeared to be intact. He saw that he could easily carry or push it down the path to the sand and into the nearby lagoon. Peering under the outrigger, he saw two paddles underneath it. He nearly let out a whoop, no swimming or a long trek back he thought excitedly. Well, as long as it floats…

  He turned his attention back to the path and considered what may be waiting up at the top of the incline. Moving carefully he crested the incline and saw, a large opening that led to large rocky hill. Scanning the area, he dropped to a crouch. A rough handmade wooden water tower lay off to the left of the hill, adjacent to that was a small wooden hut complete with a door and palm fronds for its roof. The buildings lay two hundred yards ahead. He scanned the area around him and he caught sight of a large brown horned goat staring at him from under the water tower. He checked the area all around him then slowly stood up.

  He was cautious as he approached the hut. When he was close enough he called out, “Hello! Anyone here?” He was greeted by bah-ing as more goats gathered by the large male goat, their tails wagging excitedly as they watched him.

  He noticed they were
crowding around a water trough, and by the looks, it was empty. He saw a black plastic waterspout pointing down from the tower, up higher was another. He could see that the tower was about six feet in diameter. It stood about six feet off the ground on thick bundles of bamboo pilings.

  More goats joined the big brown one; all were eagerly wagging their tails at him. With his stick out in front he slowly approached the water trough and peered in, it was dry as a bone. He ignored the closed door to the hut and moved to the trough, the goats backed away as he examined the spouts. The lower one had a valve and the top one looked like an overflow pipe where extra water would fall directly into the trough.

  As Xander reached for the red capped plastic handle the goats began bah-ing loudly, in apparent approval. Using both hands, he got the handle turned and water began falling from the spout. Opening it further, a rush of water began filling the tough. Goats of all sizes and shapes pushed towards the trough and began drinking as their stubby tails wagged happily. He felt the jostling of happy goats against his legs. Keeping his eye on the big horned male, he let the trough fill halfway before he shut it off. Backing away the goats quickly filled the void he vacated.

  Counting the goats, he found that there were fifteen of them, and one very pregnant white goat. With the animals happily drinking away, he walked over to the closed wooden plank door. He knocked on it hard and called out. There was no answer, he moved to the side of the door so he would not be an easy target in the doorway, lifted the latch and slowly pushed the door open. A musty, old odor wafted out into the warm afternoon air.

  Xander recognized the smell and stepped back quickly. The stench came creeping up his nose and into his mind... old death. He peered in but could not see much in the darkness, besides a bamboo floor at the doorway. He could tell the hut was built very well, as there were no streams of light filling the interior from cracks or crevices from the outside.

  Backing away, he began walking around the outside of hut looking a window. The first thing he noticed was that the hut was built up against and possibly into the rocky hill above. He found a shuttered window, set his walking stick down and gave the shutters a push with his hand. They did not budge. He pushed it harder with both hands and with a loud crash, the shutters broke open and he nearly fell into the open window frame.

  He leaned his head in and peered down, then quickly jumped up with a gasp and banged his head on the window frame. He cursed and rubbed his head while he backed away. Coming back around to the door, he stepped in. There, under the window was a cot and a desiccated body. From the meager light coming from the small window, he could see the white of the skull with bits of gray hair still attached. A thick woolen like blanket covered most of the body.

  He looked around and in the corner, he saw someone kneeling down in the darkness. His hackles rose as prickles ran down his neck and back. With a steely voice, he called out to the person, “Hello?” They did not move and he silently pulled out his knife and opened it smoothly and quietly.

  “Hey! You in the corner, we washed ashore here. Are you ok?” Xander moved back to see if he could get a better view and wondered if the person in the corner was dead too. With his hair standing on end, he stepped further into the hut.

  “Do you need help?” He called out as he came closer to the person kneeling in the dark corner.

  With his knife at his side he inched closer, suddenly he felt someone behind him and he spun around and was suddenly knocked flat on his ass by a punch to his gut. He scrambled back to gain some distance before he launched his attack and slammed into the person in the corner with a crash. A bah erupted in front of him and he saw a black horned goat staring at him. “GET OUT!” He screamed and charged it. The goat took off out of the door bah-ing all the way.

  Xander spun back around and stepped towards the dark corner, he began laughing and put his knife away. “I about pissed myself!” He laughed aloud as he patted the ‘person’ in the corner. It was an old fashioned, black potbellied stove. Xander needed more light to check out the contents of the hut, he stepped outside still laughing at himself.

  He loosened a board on the hut’s wall and gave it a pull; it came away in his hands flooding the hut with more light. Going back in, he went up to the skeleton on the cot. With its jaw gaping open, he saw a full set of teeth. The eye sockets were empty and no skin was visible, just some white hair. He could see that the person who died had been there for quite some time.

  Xander crossed himself in the Greek Orthodox style and said a silent prayer. He would give the person here a decent burial as soon as he could. Turning away, he saw a small table and chair made of bamboo. On top of the table was a hurricane lantern. Xander went over to it and checked it for oil. He lowered the wick down then back up, he took off the glass cover and using the safety matches from the raft, he lit the lantern. Light flooded the back of the room and he saw a curtain covering an alcove of sorts built into the rock. He checked the stove first. On the floor underneath was his first find: a black cast iron frying pan.

  Xander’s smile lighted up his face as he picked it up. Feeling its heft in his hand, he set it down on the table and examined the stove. Inside it he found dried rotting wood. He turned his attention to the dusty six foot long curtain. Holding the up the lamp, he moved the curtain aside and was greeted by several large old boxes, glass jars and more.

  He started with the top shelf, pulling the first box down: he found it held some hemp rope, some folded canvas and some metal rings. The next one held old clothing. He spent at least a half an hour going through all the items and came away with some very useful tools.

  He found out that the dead man’s name was Samson Pelekue. Looking through his personal effects, he found that he had been here for quite some time and was from Samoa and was born July 6, 1939. When he died, he had no idea. Apparently, he lived an extremely simple life here. No radio, no books, nothing except an old black and white picture of very pretty Samoan woman. On the back, it was dated August 19, 1963 with the name Louise and the year of her death: 2003. His wife, Xander imagined.

  Xander promised he would be back and bury Mr. Pelekue properly. He looked over all the useful finds from Mr. Pelekue and wondered what he should bring back first. He picked up a small hatchet that had seen better days, “This for sure.” He said aloud. There was a plastic five gallon water dispenser bottle that he wanted to take. The rusty kitchen knife for sure. The wood bowls and plates can wait. He hefted the black frying pan up and decided this was necessary if the outrigger floats. Then there was the rope and canvas as well as the hurricane lamp.

  With a sigh, he decided on the frying pan, the water bottle, rope and the kitchen knife. There was more, but that could wait. He gathered the items and set them outside the door. Picking up the hatchet he longed to look for some garden implements, surely the old man did not rely on sticks and his hands as Xander had done.

  He checked around for the offending black goat and was nowhere to be seen. He rubbed his belly as it was still sore from the head butt. He went back behind the water tower and looked up the rocky face of the wall. It looked like a channel was dug out and something was missing that directed water into the water tower.

  Looking around, he saw off to the side of the rock wall was a bamboo overhang, walking over to it he saw what he had hoped to find: a very old shovel and a spade as well as a broken machete. Along with the tools, he found scores of thick and dried bamboo poles. Looking through the implements he found some random pieces of metal of various sizes and at the very back of the junk heap, lying against the rock wall was an old broken bayonet. He pulled it out and examined it in the light. He saw the Japanese lettering and noticed the wood handle was rotting. He had an idea and placed back until later.

  He looked around and saw a pathway heading northwest. Down the path was the brown horned goat watching him. When he saw Xander looking at him he began wagging his tail, turned and trotted down the path out of sight.

  He grabbed the shovel and with t
he hatchet in his hand he followed where the brown goat went off to. On the pathway, again there was no vegetation on the ground level. He wondered what was keeping these goats alive. As he rounded the corner of the goat path, he saw what it was. Bamboo, a thick forest of it.

  He noticed first thing that the bamboo adjacent to the path were all thick in diameter, the inner ones were younger and newer until they eventually butted up against the twenty-foot rock wall. Xander saw the brown goat standing by a copse of thick bamboo. Moving towards the goat, he saw what the dilemma was: all the green leaves were inside or up too high, where the goats could not reach. They had been surviving on the new shoots that would pop up. Apparently, the bamboo was the super-fast growing variety.

  “Smart man, that Mr. Pelekue…” He muttered. He set the shovel down and the goat seemed to know what he was going to do as it backed away and watched him. Xander hefted the hatchet and swung it down at an angle at the base of the first thick stalk of tall bamboo. In two strikes, he had it down. Pulling it away, he tossed it towards the goat who quickly began eating the green leaves that were once too high for him to reach.