The Dream

Melina watched as the snorkeler swam nearer and nearer to her island. His boat was anchored a fifty yards behind him. The island set just outside the inner edge of Hawk's Channel south of the line of Florida Keys. She was sunning on the sun deck on the very top of her unusual home. Her skin was already covered with a flawless light tan showing no marks of any kind. Her long blonde hair was sun bleached with white streaks. Other than her eyelashes and eyebrows she had no other hair on her slim sleek body. When she saw the swimmer tilt his head forward, looking at something on the bottom, she jumped up and ran away from him and entered a door in a small structure above the deck.

She descended a spiral stair into a large room and walked to the seaward side of the house. Looking through the huge one-way glass windows she observed as he swam closer to her domain. His head lifted and he looked at the strange house. It looked as if a spaceship, a flying saucer, had landed on the small island. Part of it projected half way out over the water on one side. A large tube dropped from the bottom of the craft and descended below the surface of the ocean.

The snorkeler noticed that the water was getting deeper as he neared the island. The water was now thirty feet deep. It had only been ten feet deep at the boat. He could now see that there was an underwater room below the house. There was a small coral reef close to the room, part of the reef almost touching one of the large windows. There were fan corals, brain corals, stag and elk horn corals, sea fans, plate corals, clumps of fire coral, and other corals growing on the edge of a dead coral wall over a cave beneath the coral. He lifted his head and looked around above the water. He looked back to his boat, it was almost 70 yards away. He saw a large sign on a piling sticking above the water off to the side of the way he had come. He kicked over to where he could see the front of the sign. It read,

*BEWARE-WARNING*

You are entering an experimental shark feeding station.

There are several feedings during the day and night.

The sharks are conditioned to come to the sound of a signal in the water.

The sharks are in a feeding frenzy when they arrive in this area.

*WARNING*

!!!BEWARE!!!

The diver looked around quickly; he looked at his boat, then looked at the island. He started swimming toward the island. Melina smiled as he swam strongly. He was good, he was a very good swimmer, his kick with his fins moved him through the water at a very fast pace. He had twenty yards to go. Her finger hovered over the signal button. She knew that it was almost an hour before the next feeding and that most of the sharks were just now slowly moving toward the island from far away. She smiled and shook her head. She dropped her hand to her lap.

She quietly said, "Here, Dwight!" She felt his weight against her shoulder and lifted her hand to pet the massive head. She pointed to the swimmer. She said, "Hold!" The huge half Rotty and half Pit turned and ran off. She watched as the big brindle colored dog appeared near the top of the ladder from the water to the top of the rock. The dog dropped on his belly in the shade of a small stunted palm near the ladder. She picked up her little white bikini and slipped it on then covered it with a white lace cover-up.

Melina stood and walked to where she could follow the swimmer as he neared the ladder. He grabbed the ladder and twisted to look behind him. He reached down and removed his flippers, then pushed the mask and snorkel up off his face and started up the ladder.

Melina sucked in her breath. He was gorgeous, tall, handsome and with a tan, well muscled body, a body to die for. He wore a well filled tight little black Speedo suit. He paused at the top of the ladder and looked around. He put his things down beside the ladder, and took a hesitant step forward. His head snapped around and looked at the snarling mouth of Dwight. Water sprayed from his light brown hair as he quickly turned. He froze. Melina pressed the microphone button and said, "Please remain calm and still, Sir. The dog will not harm you if you obey my instructions. Now, please, follow the dog. Here Dwight. Slow, Dwight." The man followed the dog.

She swiveled her chair to watch them enter the large room. He followed Dwight to stand before her. She smiled and said, "Good afternoon Captain Samuel B. Adamson, United States Marine Corps. You are welcome here because of your service to our country. Sit down please, could I offer you something to drink? I have ice water, lemonade, or beer."

He stared at her for a moment then grinned, "Thank you for your hospitality, Ma'am, lemonade sounds very refreshing, please." She stood and walked to a refrigerator behind a bar on the back side of the room. There was no way he could take his eyes from her beautiful form. He was totally captivated. She wore a thin white lace cover up over a tiny white bikini. He felt a stirring in his loins he had not felt in months. She returned carrying a small tray with two glasses. She gracefully placed one drink before him and sat in her chair facing him. She smiled, "Captain Adamson, I am Melina Lee. This is my home. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"

"Ma'am my visit to your home is due to sheer stupidity on my part. I am on leave from the Marine Corps. I lived in Miami a few years ago and my hobby then was searching for old ship wrecks. I still had some of my old wreck charts and I thought I would relax by doing a little wreck hunting. I never touch anything on a wreck. If I find something significant I take pictures.

"Anyway I was drifting with the tide hanging on the boat's anchor line so if I saw something I could just drop the anchor and investigate. I am afraid I wandered too far from my boat following what I thought was a trail of ballast stones (Ballast stones were stones used in the bottom of old sailing vessels to counterbalance the force of the wind on the sails trying to tip the ship over.). Please forgive me for disturbing your afternoon."

"You are forgiven Captain, and you are correct about the ballast stones, the wreck lies scattered from this little island on the same line for another quarter of a mile. There is no more than a pile of ballast stones and a few scattered bits of wooden timbers now. She was a Chesapeake Bay Scow carrying a cargo of ballast stones to Key West in 1794. She grounded on the shallow coral reef near where your boat is anchored. The wind or tide moved her this way spilling the ballast stones through a hole in her hull as she went until she filled with water and sunk."

She felt her heart jump at the beautiful smile that spread across his face, a handsome and strong face that spoke of honesty and honor. The bright sky blue eyes contained no guile or deceit. He said, "Oh! MY GOD! You found out all that? WONDERFUL! That is simply amazing, tell me how you did it."

"It is not too difficult if you are very, very lucky. I found a description of the wreck in Spanish documents on the internet. People forget that Spain owned Florida up until about 1822. The old Spanish were wonderful record keepers in those days. Many of the records are now available on the net. The ballast stone was for use on Spanish vessels so they had to account for it. They salvaged some of it from time to time. The scow was strictly an unarmed heavy duty barge with sails."

Sam smiled and shook his head, "Miss Lee, you can't believe how much you have thrilled me with this. This was my dream and you did it!. For six years I hunted wrecks, and I found many of them. I was only able to identify those that had been found before and identified. Will it be possible for me to look at the actual wreck in the next day or two?"

"Please call me Mel, or Melina. Yes I can show you the wreck later. We need to get you to your boat in a little while. I have a team of people from the University of Miami Shark Studies Team who will be here soon to observe the shark behavior. They can run you to your boat. How long are you going to be here on leave Sam?"

"I have two more weeks left, I have no family anymore so I am just drifting around."

She saw a tear run down a cheek. "What happened?" She asked.

"My Mom and Dad were killed last year in a car wreck. They were all I had. I was divorced about two years ago. How do you know my name?"

She saw he was unconsciously petting Dwight and rubbing his ears. She giggled, "Some fierce guard dog he is. He will have you rubbing his belly next. I have a powerful telescope and read the ID numbers on the bow of your boat. I have a friend who looked them up for me."

Sam pushed Dwight on to his back and gently scratched up and down the pink belly. He laughed at her. "He looks like a pussycat now, but if I made a move towards you he would be on me like a tiger."

"Do you want to try?"

"No Ma'am. I like all my parts as they are currently arranged. There have been several attempts made to rearrange them but I have mostly prevailed."

She grinned at him, "I like the way they are now, don't let anyone change a thing."

A voice from behind them said, "Hey, who is going to change what?"

Melina giggled, "Hi Jack, the Taliban have been attempting to rearrange the way Captain Adamson here is currently assembled."

A large handsome man said, "Yeah I can see from your back that they don't like you too much."

Melina said, "What? Turn around Sam." Sam slowly turned around and Mel sobbed, "OH! Jesus! Are all those recent wounds?"

Sam said, "Yeah! Most of them, I don't like to show them though. A military man doesn't brag about wounds in his back. They aren't supposed to be there if you are facing the enemy you know."

A girl who was with Jack and several other people said, "Damn, you are getting way too much sun on these scars. Some of them are getting cooked, some look like rare steak now. Wait, turn around." Sam turned and saw Melina with tears coursing down her cheeks. Then the girl said, "Look, see these little pink spots on the front of him, on his chest, shoulders, and thighs?"

Melina said, "Yes, what are they, Gail?"

"The girl said, "They are entry wounds, the ones in back are the exit wounds. These white spots are older wounds. Jack, bring me my black bag. I am going to put some Aloe on his back, or would you like to do it Melina, while I store away my gear.

Melina ended up gently rubbing the Aloe Vera juice over Sam's back. More people carried camera gear down to the underwater room. Sam watched Mel intently as she put some Aloe on his shoulders, face and upper chest too. She was trembling as she applied the salve with tears welling up in her eyes. Everyone was busy and Melina softly said, "I think you need to get Jack to run you over to get your boat. Do you have any clothes in the boat?"

"Yes, I have some shorts, tees and a pair of jeans, oh wait, I have a duffle bag in the boat with a lot of stuff in it. I thought I might not make it back to my truck tonight and that I might want to eat in a restaurant tonight and need more than my Speedo."

"I love your little Speedo, but I think you should get your boat and stay with us tonight. Jack, you guys go now, the feeding signal is in twenty two minutes."

Sam followed Jack out behind the house to some boat slips. They boarded a 30 foot cruiser and were back with both boats in 15 minutes."

When they walked back towards the house Jack stopped and looked at Sam, "Sam you are a lucky guy, I have known Melina for five years, I am married to Gail and we both love Mel. You are the first guy she has ever shown any real interest in at all other than just lust. Don't hurt her or any of us WILL rearrange the way you are assembled. OK?"

"There is no way I will ever hurt her, I admire her a lot as a woman, as a person, and I hope as a friend."

"Great, she has had a sheltered life so, treat her with care."

"Hey, I am very impressed with everything about the woman, she is beautiful, intelligent and pleasant. I would love to get to know her better."

"Sam, I know her very well, I will almost guarantee you will get to know her much better, very soon."

There was no one in the large room when they returned. Jack led Sam down a circular stairway to the underwater room. Sam was stunned by the beauty before him. The coral reef was within touching range. He watched fascinated as fish of all sizes swam undisturbed by the people so near them. The water was as clear as gin. Sam realized that this was one-way glass too.

He watched as a huge green moray eel inched out of a hole in the reef. The six foot long eel swam from the hole and moved down the reef and entered another hole closer to the window. It's head poked back out of the hole. Sam smiled as several tiny fish surrounded the moray. They were a fish called a Neon Goby; they were a thin little fish, dark blue with a broad iridescent blue stripe down the side. It looked like a neon light. Three of the little fish entered the mouth of the monster eel and pecked about inside the mouth and between the needle-like teeth. Others pecked along the sides and everywhere on the eel. This was a cleaning station. The gobies were eating small parasites off of the eel. After a bit the eel moved back to its original hole. A large snapper took the eel's place at the cleaning station. The gobies went back to work pecking at the parasites in the mouth and gills of the big predator.

Many other fish of all sizes and shapes swam in and out of the large coral formation and prowled through the area beside the reef strewn with sea fans, gorgonians, sponges, and smaller corals. Some of the prettiest fish were juveniles of many of inshore and reef fish. There were the small Angel Fish, French and Black in pure black with bright yellow markings, the Blue and Queen Angels were in blue, white, and yellow stripes with the Queen having a dark blue crown surrounded in white and with a inner circle of white spots in a perfect crown on the forehead. There were many others varieties of fish who had homesteaded small clumps of coral and fought off any intruders.

Sam was entranced and jumped when a gentle warm hand was placed on his shoulder. He looked up to see Melina smiling at him, she slipped into the lounge chair beside him. "I often sit here for hours watching. You love it too don't you?"

"Yes Ma'am, I have seen much of it before, but never where I was so comfortable, and was not interacting to some extent with the fish."

She smiled, "I know, if we were in the water we could never get this close to the action, that snapper would never let us get this close." She glanced at him, he was staring at her. She laughed, "Do I have something on my face?"

"Yes, pure unadulterated beauty. More beauty than I have ever seen before. I would rather look at you than at the fish." Sam blinked, "Wow! I don't know where that came from. I never talk like that, please forgive me."

Melina smiled softly, "You are forgiven, I think you really meant that."

"Yes, you are truly beautiful."

She giggled, "Sam, you can say that to me anytime you want to. Any girl loves to hear that from a guy she likes."

Sam grinned from ear to ear, sending a shiver through Melina's body. "You like ME?"

"Yes Sam, I like you very much, I think you are beautiful too, inside and out."

Sam looked into her eyes, and then slowly brought his lips to hers. It was a sweet gentle kiss. She felt the moisture grow between her legs. Wow! No man had ever aroused her like this man did. This was totally different, she felt something new to her. She wanted this man's babies, the whole deal, marriage, a house with a white picket fence, slipped into her mind and wouldn't go away. It was way more than the lust she usually felt for a good looking guy. This was at a more primal level, a much deeper emotion than she had ever known before. Tears ran down her cheeks, it was a dream that would never come true.

"Did I hurt you?"

Melina started, "What? No Honey, you didn't hurt me. I was having a wonderful dream, a dream that will never happen."

"Do you want the dream with all your heart?"

"Yes, with all my heart, but it can never be."

"If you want it bad enough you can have it, Pray for it girl, I will pray too, and if you let me, I will help you make it happen. I promise." He was looking into her eyes, and in that second she saw the truth in those deep blue eyes. They didn't waver or blink, there was not a shred of doubt in those clear eyes. He would try to bring her her dream, no matter what the cost.

She placed a small hand on either side of his face and kissed him with her deep emotion. It was a long kiss. Everyone in the underwater room watched silently as their arms slipped around each other. Sam pulled back a little, "I lov-" and her lips met his again. She finally pulled back and searched his eyes, she spoke softly, "Sam, I believe those words you were about to say, I feel the same way about you, but we need to be together some before I tell you my dream."

A loud series of low pitched booms echoed through the room. Sam looked around, startled. Melina placed her hand on his arm. "It is OK. That is the shark feeding signal. Do you see the bottom of large red rectangular float anchored out front?"

Sam nodded, and Melina said, "That is the automatic feeder, it will drop raw hunks of meat and fish in the water every few minutes. The resident sharks that live within ten miles of here are already headed this way. They know when the next feeding time is due. Look! There comes a 'Bull Shark' now. He's not very big. Look at the 'Hammerhead' behind him though, now that is a serious shark. It has to be a fifteen footer."

Sam saw a really large shark in the distance slowly cruise by while the big hammerhead flashed through the area, twisting and turning.

Melina pointed out how the pectoral fins of the hammerhead were pointing almost straight down now, as opposed to the normal horizontal position. Melina said, "See how he uses those pectorals to turn sharper, he is ready to feed. Look! There is the first food drop."

They watched as more and more sharks showed up and joined the feeding. The large shark that had been in the distance slashed though the circling sharks and struck a feeding four foot sand tiger shark. Holding the smaller shark in its mouth it shook its whole body violently tearing the smaller shark in half. Other sharks fought over the remains. There were now thirty or forty sharks of all sizes swirling in front of the window. Sam watched spellbound. He felt Melina snuggle close to his arm as she stared at the sharks. He slipped his arm around her shoulders. After about half an hour the action slowed, no more meat fell from the buoy.

Sam looked at Melina and grinned, "Wow, that was amazing, I have never seen anything like that before." He looked around at the cameras, both large and small that had recorded the scene. Melina took his hand and led him to the circular stairs.

At the top she again took his hand and led him to a room on the other side of the house. It was a lovely bedroom. The large windows looked out towards the line of Keys in the distance. She shut the door and he heard the lock click. She turned to him and pulled the string tie that held together the white lace cover-up she wore. She let it drop off her shoulders to the floor. She took several steps closer to Sam. He looked her up and down, his smile growing every second. It was his really first good look at her body. He was frozen in place. She reached behind her neck and pulled on the bow holding the top, then the bow around her chest. The two little triangles of cloth fell to the floor. Her breasts were large and full on her slim body with little or no sag. They were a full C cup. Her hands lifted them and the rubbed beneath them where the band had indented her skin. Melina's hands slipped down her sides to the bows at each hip. She watched his eyes as she pulled each bow loose. Sam's eyes surprised her. He wasn't looking at her body, he was looking into her eyes and smiling with his thumbs inside the waist band of the tight black Speedos.