Castaway

Anita kept her distance from me.

At sunrise, after Anita turned off the light, she came into the kitchen. I was up early, and I made some coffee. When she came in, I greeted her.

"Nice morning," I said, handing her a steaming cup.

"Yeah." She took a drink. I'd put some extra sugar and the last of the cream in it. "You finished the cream, didn't you?" she said.

"Yeah. That's the last of it."

"Well, the boat will be coming soon. Maybe five days, if this weather holds."

"The month went so fast," I said.

"You've kept yourself busy. I admire the way you've done it." Her hand slipped over mine. "Thank you, again. You've been a big help."

She got up and went to bed.

Muriel came out a few minutes later, all sleepy-eyed and scratching her head. She had only a robe on and in the morning light, I could see her lithe body silhouetted through the thin cloth.

"Anita loves the sunrise," she said.

"I know," I replied, smiling. "She says that the boat will be here in five days."

That night, I was dreaming about the ship again. We were sailing along in calm seas. I was in the wheelhouse, enjoying the cool night air, when an alarm bell went off. I looked around, and the ship evaporated from my dream. But the bell kept ringing. I woke up. It was the alarm for the light. I hopped out of bed, dressed, and ran down the stairs.

The light was out. Muriel was in the lighthouse, struggling to wind up the weights for the old clockwork mechanism that turned the lantern.

I ran in and said, "Which way?" She motioned, of course, clockwise.

"OK, I'll take care of this, you get upstairs and do what you have to do.

I heaved on the crank as hard as I could and the weight, just like the one on a grandfather clock, but bigger was hoisted up the inside of the lighthouse.

Muriel shouted down from above, "OK, that's enough."

I saw the flare of a match and the kerosene light spring to life. It was surprisingly bright.

In a moment, the lamp began to turn and light from a big kerosene lamp made it glow once again. Order, at least for the moment, had been restored.

Anita was lying by the engine, spent.

"I can't get it started. Damn. Shit." She looked really dejected.

"Can I try?" I asked.

"Suit yourself, it doesn't matter anyway. They're going to fire me."

I took her flashlight and inspected the engine, checked the oil, water, and then the fuel tank.

The fuel tank was half full. No problem. Then I checked the dipstick again and inspected it more closely. The bottom was wet, not with fuel, but water.

"You've got water in the fuel. Lots," I said quietly to Anita.

She just looked at me. She was beat. She must have been struggling with it all night.

"Come on, where do we drain it?"

"Underneath, she said.

I looked underneath and there was a drain, but it was badly rusted. It took us two hours to free it. We did it carefully, gingerly, as flakes of rust fell off it. But we managed to get it open enough for water to drain out. We drained out a lot of water.

Muriel was finally down from the light and Anita told her, "Log that we took twenty gallons of water from the tank."

"They'll fire us for sure if I do that," she replied. She sounded scared.

"I don't care," Anita snapped back. It's that bastard Jesse and his rotten old bunker barge. I've been complaining about it for a year. I'm hoping they'll fire the asshole this time. We've got a witness, which is you."

I knew him from my days on the Andromeda. He was a slimy son of a bitch and regularly tried to cheat us.

I drained some fuel into a glass jar and swirled it around. I gave Muriel the flashlight. "Put it on the jar," I said. "See the water? If you swirl it, you'll see it. Do that before you let him fill the tank."

Anita had finally pulled herself together.

"You can start the engine now," she told Muriel quietly.

It took a few tries, but coughed into life and after five minutes, it was running smooth.

"When does the fuel barge come?" I asked.

Muriel replied, "In the afternoon."

Anita said, "You can't be seen, especially by him."

"I'll stay inside and you do what I did with that jar."

Muriel went up and extinguished the kerosene lamp and put on the electric light. The light turned silently and its ethereal beam swung around.

The next afternoon, the fuel barge came.

I hid in the room, but I had a ringside seat. This was going to be interesting, I thought.

Anita looked tired, but she handled everything professionally. She took a sample and swirled it, then said loudly, "I can't take this. Look at all the water."

This had apparently never happened before. Jesse's eyes widened and when the surprise wore off, he came unglued. He started dancing around, cursing and shouting and threatening Anita with the wrench he as carrying until I heard a loud bang. A bullet hit a rock next to the man and whined off into the water.

"YOU MAKE A MOVE TOWARDS HER AND I'LL BLOW YOUR BRAINS OUT," shouted Muriel.

There was a loud click and the sound of the cartridge clattering around on the porch floor, then another very final sounding click as she closed the bolt on another round.

The man froze.

"Come on," he whined, "I didn't mean it."

"Go," said Anita.

He turned and left. I looked down and could see the muzzle of the rifle tracking him.

"You haven't heard the end of this," he yelled at them as he boarded the boat. He untied it from the dock and roared away, nearly swamping the dinghy.

As soon as he was out of sight, I went downstairs. Anita was in the kitchen capping the jar with the fuel in it.

"Evidence," she said. She started to shake.

I held her and she buried her face in my chest and started sobbing. I pulled her tight and rocked her gently. When she calmed down a little, Muriel and I walked her back to the porch and seated her in a chair.

Muriel went inside and returned a minute later, with a glass of a yellowish liquid.

Anita took a sip and then started coughing.

"Where did you get this? You know alcohol is forbidden."

Muriel smiled brightly, "It's in the medicine chest. It's for medicinal reasons. Like now."

Anita downed it neat, then flopped back in the chair. "Write me a draft of the log, will you. I want to make the entry right."

Muriel wrote something up, Anita checked it, and then said, "Put it in the log. Every last word, just like you wrote it. And put that jar in a safe place. I'm going to get some rest."

She was still asleep when Muriel started the generator and turned on the light at dusk.

We sat in the chairs on the porch and watched the light silently turn. It's one thing to be at sea, but it's another to see it right up close. It was hypnotic.

"I want to thank you for your help," she said. "All of it. I know Anita might be a little rough with you, but she's a good woman."

"So are you, Muriel. And a good shot."

She laughed, and then sighed. "You'd better get some rest."

"Good night, Muriel," I said, kissing her on the top of her head.

"Good night, Michael," she replied. She stood up and embraced me and put her head on my shoulder. My whole body sang from her touch. She let me go and I went to my room and was asleep in a minute.

It must have been just before dawn when I heard a knock on my door. The sky was lightening for another balmy tropical day.

"Just a moment," I said. I hopped into my shorts and pulled a shirt over my head, then opened the door.

It was Anita.

"Come down and watch the sun rise with me," she said. "It's going to be a beautiful day and no better way to start it is to greet the sun."

"OK," I said.

We stopped in the kitchen to get a cup of coffee.

I was right behind her when she turned around. She nearly bumped into me.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said. She put down her cup and took mine out of my hands. She reached up and put her arms around me. "Kiss me."

It didn't take a second request. I pulled her close and bent down for the sweetest kiss I had ever received. Oh, how she was soft and supple. Her lips were all over my mouth and her tongue probed my mouth. I returned the favor.

She broke, gasping. "Come, we'd better get outside. She took me to the pier. To the east, the sun was just about to peek over the horizon. The clouds above lit up in reds, gold, and purple. This is why I loved the tropics.

We held each other as it moved silently into the sky. A warm breeze ruffled her hair.

After it rose, Anita took me by the hand and said, "Come." She led me into the storage shed. The bed was made up.

"I haven't had a man in years," she said.

"No worry about that," I replied. I pulled my shirt off and then hers.

She had small round breasts the size of small oranges. They were topped by quarter-sized nipples, dark brown and now fully erect. I leaned over and gave one a suck. She sighed and pulled me to her chest.

She knelt and pulled my pants down. I was already hard. She kissed my cock, licked it and then took it in her mouth and sucked. After a minute, I groaned. "Onto the bed," I said thickly.

She lay back and pulled off her shorts. I knelt and kissed her on the stomach and then licked my way down through her black, silky fur to the slit.

Anita let out a strangled cry as my tongue found its way between her pink-red lips and encircled her little clit. It was as hard as an eraser. Then I pushed it into the opening of her vagina and licked slowly. After a few moments, she groaned and pushed me away. She whispered, "I want you inside me."

She raised her legs and I knelt on the mattress and entered her slowly, stopping just as I was at the gate. "Knock, knock, can I come in to play?"

She giggled and said, "Yes. Please do."

It took a few strokes to get all the way inside her. She was so tight. Her expression was pure delight as I finally pressed my groin against hers. We began to rock in unison. "Kiss me some more," she whispered. "Oh, oh, it feels so good."

I bent down to kiss her. She responded hungrily, biting my lip, sucking on my tongue. Her breath quickened.

"Oh, I'm so near," she gasped, "Harder."

I moved quicker and she wrapped her legs around my waist. I thrust into her harder, making a slapping noise and she responded by pulling me closer. Her pussy started to move, like some invisible hand. Her chest heaved and turned bright pink she came. "Ahh," she moaned, "I'm there now. Come for me, lover."

"Ah," I gasped. "I'm coming." It was like a flood pouring out of me. My groin pounded as I pumped myself into her. It felt like I'd pumped half my body into her. I collapsed on top of her. She held me tight and I finally, finally, finished.

I rolled off her and pulled her to me.

She played with my hair and said, "I'm sorry for the way I treated you. But when I saw you in that bed the first morning, I nearly melted. I knew I had to stay away from you. Then you were strong last night. I always knew you were strong. You saved us. I don't know what's going to happen when I take you back to Port Anne. You'll have to go up before the Magistrate."

"Relax," I said and kissed her on the forehead. "Everything will be all right."

"You'd better get up and go back inside before we get caught."

"Don't forget to turn off the light."

"Oh," she said. "I almost forgot."

We had a quiet breakfast. I think Muriel knew what we had done.

I spent the rest of the day tidying up. The old place looked good, I thought. There was lots of fresh paint, all the marks around the doors were gone, and the floors gleamed like they'd just been laid.

The evening before the boat came, we cleaned up in the lighthouse and made ready for the inevitable inspection.

Muriel said, "Time for a nice last dinner. We've got one can of that yummy beef left."

I made Shepherd's Pie for dinner. We washed it down with some fruit juice.

After dinner, Anita went upstairs to get ready for bed.

Muriel and I washed the dishes.

Then she said, "You made love to her the other morning, after the light went out, didn't you?"

I nodded, fearful that she'd be jealous.

"No. That's OK." She didn't say that with much conviction.

"I really mean it. Are you jealous?"

"A little," she smiled. "Was she good?"

"Not as good as you are with her."

She went bright red for a moment and I was sure that I had really stepped into it that time.

Then she broke out in a laugh, long, hard, and from the pit of her stomach. "How do you know?" she said when she finally regained control.

"I see you two together. It's all right. Please don't be angry."

"I'm not. I don't own her."

The next morning, I made myself as presentable as I could and I went to my strongbox and pulled out my papers. I also pulled out the money I kept with me. It was a lot, because it not too many places took checks.

The boat came into sight about an hour later. Twenty minutes and they would dock.

They waited by the pier, dressed in their uniforms. The crest on their jackets read "Royal St. Albans Lighthouse Service and had a picture of the lighthouse stitched in the fabric. I stood on the porch.

A man in a uniform jumped off the boat as soon as it docked. He looked familiar, but then again, it was a small island.

Anita approached him and shook his hand.

He glanced at me as Anita started talking to him. The wind carried away the words, but I could tell from her body language that she was nervous. Then Anita said something else and he really looked up at me.

He marched around them and went straight up the path. "Michael," he said grinning, "Heaven and Earth, I though you were dead."

"No. I left the Andromeda some time ago, Captain Reed."

Captain John Reed was the pilot, too, for Port Anne and guided us in whenever we called there on the Andromeda. St. Albans, being as small as it was, meant that government officials needed to wear several hats.

"I'm sorry you wrecked your boat."

"I'm glad I wrecked it here. They've taken good care of me."

"Just so," he said, eyeing me. "You know Anita is my grand niece."

"No, sir," I didn't. "But I do know she's a fine lighthouse keeper and runs a taught ship."

"Probably for the better," he replied. The he grinned again. "A month on an island with two beautiful women. It must have been hard."

"They put me to work, Captain," I replied. "I didn't have time for much else."

He looked around. "I see. Yes, fine job."

"Anita drove me like a slave," I laughed.

Anita and Muriel had caught up with us. Muriel said, "Would you like some lunch? We've got some bully beef stew with carrots and peas, courtesy of Michael."

We sat down for lunch. The boat captain joined us. He was a wizened old man. I'd seen him before in the pilot boat when I was on the Andromeda.

John Reed said a rather elaborate and length grace, giving thanks for my dodging the bullet on the ship and for my safe rescue in the storm, and for a whole host of other things. I think he finally put an end to it when the boat captain's stomach grumbled.

John enquired about my family. I told him my parents had died, and I was alone. When I told him I had my first officer's license, he perked up.

"That's good," he said.

The boat captain smiled and continued eating.

After lunch, Anita, Muriel and John went on an inspection tour. He inspected the house, which was spotless, the grounds, and the light. They took a long time looking at the engine and the fuel tank. By the way Anita was waving her hands, I knew she was telling him about the fuel.

I stayed inside, well out of the way and sat with the boat captain. He didn't say much for a while, then went to the window and peered out.

"You wouldn't be havin' a wee dram, would ye?" he asked in a thick Scottish accent.

"No, this is a lighthouse and alcohol is forbidden."

"Ballocks," he said. He went to the wall next to the cupboard and pushed on it. It sprang open to reveal a small recess, which contained a bottle. It was the same bottle that Muriel had the other night.

I looked at him and burst into laughter. He rinsed out our coffee cups and put a finger's worth in each. He handed me the cup and said, "Cheers, son."

It burned as it went down.

"How have you been, lad?" he asked.

"Fine." Now I recognized him. He was Reginald "Snuffy" Macadams, proprietor of a large restaurant and drinking establishment on the docks in Port Anne. I had been there many a time. "How's your bar doing?"

"It's become something of a burden. I'm getting on in age and am thinkin' about retirin'.

"Soon?"

"In a year or two."

If we have time when we're in Port Anne, I'll stop by."

The three of them returned, finished with the inspection.

"Muriel will be going with you. She's in some kind of trouble."

"I hope it's not because of me," I said.

She shook her head and replied, "Jesse."

Muriel had changed and was carrying a bag full of reports and logs. She didn't look very happy. She and John headed for the boat.

"It's time to say goodbye," Anita said. She gave me a kiss and a hug.

I met them on the pier with what little worldly belongings I had.

I boarded the boat and turned to wave as we pulled away. Anita was already gone.

On the way back, Captain Reed tapped me on the shoulder and motioned for me to go up on the bow.

It was a nice day, and the sun sparkled off the blue-green waters. Ahead of us, a couple of dolphins played, leaping out of the water.

He said, "I'm not sure how to ask this, but have you seen anything funny about Muriel and Anita?"

"No, why?"

"There's been talk."

"They both work hard and are good friends," I replied.

"How good?"

"Just friends, as far as I can see."

"You haven't seen anything untoward?"

"No, sir." I knew what he was asking.

"Are you sure?"

"I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary," I replied. I held his gaze as I said that.

"How about this business with Jesse Roberts?"

"I saw everything there."

"He claimed that Muriel shot at him and barely missed. He's showing off a wound on his leg."

"He wasn't hurt. He tripped on the dock when he left."

He blinked and said, "Just so. I supposed Snuffy told you you'll have to go up before the Magistrate."

"Yes."

"Do you have your papers?"

"I do. Passport, birth certificate, and license. I also have a visa."

He smiled. "Good."

At the dock in Port Anne, I was met by the Customs and Immigrations officer. I had dealt with him before, and we greeted each other warmly. I presented my papers and he examined them and found everything in order.

"It's not often a shipwreck survivor has a visa, too."

"I was on my way here," I replied. "It was a devil of a time getting the visa and also getting here."

He laughed.

"Anything to declare?"

"Just personal belongings and fifteen thousand dollars in cash."

He scowled when I saw that. Drugs were a problem on the island, and fifteen thousand dollars were therefore immediately suspicious.

"What are you planning to do with it?"

"I'm going to deposit it in the Royal Bank," I said. "I already haven an account there."

"Thank you, sir."

Two tall, very proper men were standing patiently nearby. They took Muriel in custody and walked off with her.

There was nothing I could do, so I headed for Snuffy's Island Bar and Grill.

He was behind the bar and waved as I walked in.

"They arrested Muriel," I said.

"That no-good son of a bitch Jesse is pressing charges against her. Assault. Attempted murder."

He poured me a glass of whisky and himself one, too.

"Who is the defense lawyer?" I asked.

"The man at the end of the bar."

He was a sharp looking young man, and so I walked down to have a word with him.

It ended up being dinner in a private room. He grilled me for about four hours, going over everything with a fine-toothed comb. If the court would allow, I would be put on the stand to testify.