A Coastwatcher's Duty

William told her all that and more. He found that talking with Eleanor was a very pleasant experience, so their conversations tended to ramble through many subjects. When Eleanor asked William why he wasn't married, he replied that he wanted to be able to provide for a wife better than he could as a mere supervisor.

Eleanor asked if he wasn't getting old enough that he should be thinking seriously about a wife. William replied that he was only thirty and thought he had several years left before he had to make that decision. Eleanor had frowned then and said women didn't have that option.

When William he didn't think she was old enough to be concerned about that yet, Eleanor sighed.

"You can say that because you aren't a woman. I want children, and if a woman waits until she's forty, she'll be old by the time her children grow up. I'll be twenty-seven in a month. I don't have as long as you think."

William did get a little news from Queensland when he made his daily report, and that news made him hopeful.

The Allies were slowly taking the islands back from the Japanese, but not as he'd thought they would. Instead of landing on each island, taking it and then moving on to the next, the Allies were "leapfrogging" over some of the islands, bypassing and isolating them from the Japanese bases to the north. By isolating those islands from re-supply by the Japanese, the Japanese soldiers on those islands were rendered effectively harmless. They'd eventually either surrender or stave to death.

He also learned that the force attacking the Japanese from the north was making headway. With the Japanese between the two Allied forces, they'd have no options but to surrender or die. On the sixth of October, William saw there was one other option. Just before dark, a small convoy sailed into the Slot toward the east side of Vella Lavella. He couldn't see where they went, but the next morning, the gunfire and explosions had stopped. Evidently, the Japanese had evacuated Vella Lavella.

William waited for a day, and when no more fighting broke out, he took Manuia and Tamati with him and started for what he believed would be the American line. He was walking north on the beach when a sentry challenged him. William held up his hands and kept walking.

"I'm William Marston, the coastwatcher for Vella Lavella and these are my two native boys, Manuia and Tamati. Might I speak with your commanding officer?"

When William arrived back on the mountain that night, Manuia and Tamati were each carrying a wood crate marked, "US Army Field Ration K". Each crate contained thirty-six individual boxes, and each box contained a breakfast, dinner, and supper meal. William carried a case of Coca-Cola. The colonel he'd spoken with gave it to him as thanks for all the information he'd been sending back to Queensland.

The colonel had shaken his hand and said, "Mr. Marston, the information you sent back to Queensland saved the lives of many of the men under my command. We'd celebrate this day with a glass of champagne, but that's in pretty short supply here in the Pacific. We do have lots of Coca-Cola though. Take a case back with you."

The K Rations were better than nothing, but not much. Eleanor did manage to make the chopped ham and eggs taste reasonably good, and she used the canned meat and cheese to mix with taro root to make a hash. The native boys loved the malted milk tablets, caramel candy, and chewing gum. Of it all, the best was the toilet paper in each small box. Eleanor had shrieked, "Thank The Lord", when she opened the first box and saw the thin pack of white tissue.

William stayed on the mountain for another three months. The US Marines were building an airbase on the southern end of Vella Lavella, and there was a risk the Japanese would try to delay construction by bombing it. As it turned out, the airfield was completed, and from it, the "Black Sheep Squadron" of the Marines took the fight to the Japanese airfields north of Vella Lavella instead of the other way around. Most mornings, William would look up at the sound of engines and see the distinctive bent wings of Corsairs winging their way north.

At the end of the three months, Queensland told William he should bring his radio and other equipment down off the mountain to Kumbolia. There, they'd be picked up and taken to Australia. William confirmed receiving the message, took the radio apart for the last time, and started the four Native boys down the mountain with it. While they were gone Eleanor and William began packing what was left of their supplies into the boxes that had held K Rations.

Eleanor closed the cover on the box she'd been packing and then turned to William.

"So, what are you going to do now?"

William shrugged.

"Wait until the war's over and then come back here to the copra plantation I suppose. What are you going to do...go back to the US?"

Eleanor shook her head.

"No, I'm not going back, at least not to stay. I'm afraid I've fallen in love with the islands and the people. I can't imagine living anywhere else now."

"Will you still be a missionary?"

Eleanor pursed her lips, then slowly shook her head.

"No, not as what most people think of as a missionary. I decided after Doctor Lewis was killed that I wasn't really a missionary. He stayed on Kulombangara to convert the natives. He was a doctor, but first and foremost, he was a minister. I stayed only to heal the native people. I'm just a nurse, a pretty good nurse if I say so, but I'm just a nurse. I think I want to find a hospital that needs a nurse and stay there. If I can find a man who can live with that...well, that would be nice too."

William chuckled.

"When all those soldiers see you dressed like you are, I think you're probably going to get a lot of offers."

"Yes, probably, since I'm half naked, but those aren't the offers I want. Besides, those guys are just interested in a little fun right now. They'll go back home and find a woman who's...well, I was a missionary, but I wasn't always pure and innocent. They'd want a girl who isn't...experienced. Isn't that what all men want in the woman they're going to marry? Isn't that what you want?"

William was a little stunned by what Eleanor had just said. He'd pretty much equated a female missionary with the Catholic nuns he knew had been on some of the islands. For that reason, he'd tried to ignore the way Eleanor made him feel. The other thing was that she wouldn't want just any guy like he was. She'd want a religious man, and he wasn't religious by any means. He'd had to watch his language once Eleanor joined his group, and there had been a couple of other women in his life.

"Well, I suppose some men want that, but there's an old saying in the islands -- 'Don't pick the taro flower. Dig the roots'. What that means is don't judge people by how they seem to be. I think that's the most important thing about a person -- how they are inside. It wouldn't really matter to me as long as she was faithful after we were married."

Eleanor smiled then.

"Mr. Marston, telling a woman like me things like you just said might cause her to set her sights on you. Maybe I already have."

William's mouth fell open.

"You'd like to...I mean, a nurse and a coastwatcher?"

"Plantation supervisor", she corrected. "And why not? I've seen the way you look at me. A woman knows, Mr. Marston. She knows when a man is interested in her. Do you think I'd have walked around with my legs and bosom showing all these weeks if I wasn't interested in you?

"You've been a gentleman since we met, and you've always had my safety in mind. I've known women who settled for lot less than a man like you."

William was at a loss for words. Yes, he had been interested in Eleanor, but had tried hard not to be. Now, she'd just told him she was interested in him. What did that mean?

"Eleanor, I admit that I like you. What I don't know is if it's because we've been together under some really bad circumstances or if it's something else."

Eleanor grinned.

"How long will your native boys be gone?"

"Probably about another three hours. That radio and battery pack are heavy so they won't be able to walk very fast."

Eleanor grinned again.

"If you come to my hut, we might be able to find out which it is."

Once inside, Eleanor looked at William, reached behind her back, and untied the strap of her top, but caught the top before it slipped from her breasts.

"Mr. Marston, as you've no doubt learned by now, I'm a woman who says what she thinks. Right now, I'm thinking I'm tired of being a missionary and I'm tired of hiding in the jungle and I want to be a woman again. I know of one thing that will fix all those things."

She let the top fall to her waist, revealing her breasts, the breasts William had thought about but never seen.

"Mr. Marston, if you don't want to, I'll understand, but I hope you do."

William didn't say anything because he couldn't. He thought he knew Eleanor by now, but she'd just changed everything. Here was a pretty woman offering herself to him because she wanted him. The other two women in his life had wanted him until they found out where he lived and what he did for a living. Eleanor knew what he was going to do after the war, and she still wanted him.

William walked a little closer and cupped Eleanor's right breast in his hand. Eleanor closed her eyes for a few seconds, then opened them and traced his chest with her fingertip.

"I expected more from a man brave enough to be a coastwatcher. You don't need to hold back. I'm not going to."

With that, Eleanor untied the belt of the dress and let it fall to the floor. William took off his shirt and then unbuckled his pants. When they fell to the floor, he realized he still had his boots on, so he sat on the bed, unlaced them, and pulled them off. He sat there for a few seconds because Eleanor's mound was at his eye level and he was looking directly at it. The hair there was the same as the hair on her legs, very pale in color, pale enough he could see the pouting lips that disappeared between her slender thighs.

He heard Eleanor chuckle then.

"Mr. Marston, I don't mind if you look at me, but we only have three hours."

As much as William wanted to stretch out their lovemaking, he couldn't because Eleanor wouldn't let him. When he stood up, she slowly stroked down his chest, then his belly, and finally circled his rigid cock with her small hand. As Eleanor began to stroke his length, William took her in his arms and kissed her.

What followed was two people trying to arouse each other to the exquisite end they both craved. No matter where William touched Eleanor, she moaned. When he slipped a finger between her thighs, Eleanor gasped and started to sag against him. She caught herself and then murmured, "We should probably lay down now before I fall down".

When they lay side by side on the narrow cot, Eleanor again began stroking William's cock. He kissed her again, then kissed down her neck and chest before closing his lips on her left nipple. Eleanor caught here breath, then murmured, "I like that a lot. Don't stop."

William did change nipples, and soon both of Eleanor's nipples were stiff and covered with tiny ridges on the sides. As he toyed with the thick, stiff nubs, Eleanor began to rock her hips slightly. William let his hand slip to her mound, then lower. Eleanor spread her thighs as wide as she could, and gasped when William slipped his middle finger between her soft lips. After a few strokes over her rippled inner lips, he moved that finger down until he felt the entrance to Eleanor's passage.

For a while, he stroked that finger in and out in short, slow movements until he felt Eleanor's hand on his back. When he slipped that finger in deeper and kept stroking, Eleanor started to breathe harder, and the hand on his back began to stroke him.

It wasn't long after that, that Eleanor began gently pulling on his cock with one hand and pulling on his back with the other. William raised up, and when Eleanor spread her thighs wide, knelt between them and held his weight with his arms. He pushed his cock forward until he felt soft, wet warmth. Then, he moved it up and down until his cock head slipped inside Eleanor. He stopped when he felt a little pressure.

Eleanor felt it too, and lifted her hips. Before William knew it, his cock was sliding inside Eleanor and she was doing her best to help. She met his forward stroke by lifting her body and pulling on his hips. By his second stroke, William's cock was fully bedded inside Eleanor and he was enjoying the little contractions he was feeling. Eleanor moaned when his belly touched her mound, and her body jerked slightly.

William continued to stroke his cock in and out of Eleanor's clasping passage and Eleanor continued to moan, pant, and thrust her body up into every stroke. William was approaching his end quickly and tried to slow down, but Eleanor kept moving her body at the same speed so he had little choice but to keep up with her. He was holding back as much as all the sensations would let him when Eleanor dug her nails into his back, heaved her body up, and cried out softly.

William lost control then and felt the surge racing up his shaft and into Eleanor. That first spurt seemed to intensify Eleanor's response. She arched her back and lifted her body with her legs a little more, and then cried out again. After William groaned and spurted two more times, Eleanor's thighs began to shake. A second later, another little cry slipped from her throat, her body began stroking her passage over his cock, and her thighs shook against his sides.

When Eleanor eased back down on the cot, she closed her thighs tight around William's waist.

"I'm not going to let you go yet. It's been a long time since I felt like this and I don't want it to end."

Once William could stop breathing hard, he looked down at Eleanor. She'd changed, though he wasn't sure if it was her that had changed or just how he saw her. Before, she'd been a pretty woman that he liked. Now, with her soft face smiling at him with parted lips, she was a beautiful woman and a woman he knew he could never give up.

Epilogue

On my desk at the Solomon Islands Ministry of Forestry and Research are two pictures, both faded by age and both of the same two people. The picture on my left is a picture of my grandfather and grandmother, William and Eleanor Marston. It was taken by a US Marine combat photographer on the day they walked down off Mount Tambisala. William is dressed in the khaki shirt and shorts and boots typical of the white residents of the Solomon Islands before and during World War II. Eleanor is dressed in the bark cloth and grass dress of a native woman. Both are smiling as are the four native boys standing behind them.

The original photo was published in the Australian and New Zealand newspapers with the caption, "A Coastwatcher's Duty Is Done", and related some of their story. Eleanor got the photographer's name that day, and after the war, asked him for a copy. He replied with two, one of which is the picture on my desk. The other is in a frame at the capital along with the pictures of the other men who stayed behind enemy lines on the Solomon Islands and gave warning to the Allies of impending Japanese attacks.

The second picture is of William and Eleanor with the family they began with their marriage. They are there, in their seventies, on chairs in the center. My father and mother, my aunt and her husband, and six grandchildren are there too. I was eighteen at the time, and I can remember her laughing and saying, "Mr. Marston, see what you caused?" I never heard Eleanor called my grandfather William. It was always Mr. Marston.

Most of this story I heard from William when he was still young enough to remember and I was old enough to have the sense to write it down. The part about their first union was related to me by my wife. Always the nurse, Eleanor thought it her duty to tell my then fiancé how she should help her husband understand what women want and how to treat her husband in order to keep him happy.

In the years after the war, William became the manager of the copra plantation on Vella Lavella, but resigned a year after reaching that position. After so many years of working with the natives in the jungle, life in an office wasn't his cup of tea. Eleanor told him he should change jobs and she'd follow him wherever he went. He ended up working for the new government inspecting copra production facilities in the Solomons. He had to travel from island to island, but I think he enjoyed that too.

Eleanor stayed on Vella Lavella in the small village near the copra plantation and founded a small clinic for the natives. She reestablished contact with the Methodist Church that had sponsored her as a missionary, and they began sending her medical supplies and medicine.

The clinic brought natives not just from Vella Lavella, but from the other nearby islands as they were resettled, and Eleanor trained native girls to be nurses in order to cope with the demand. Part of the reason for the number of patients was the word of mouth that "Nurse Elnor" could fix anything. The other reason was the clinic accepted any case regardless of the ability to pay for treatment. Often her payment was a chicken or a fish or a basket of taro roots, but she accepted them the same as cash.

They had two children, my father and my aunt. My father grew up in the copra trade, but decided to work in the financial end of the business. He married an Australian girl who worked in his office, and they had me and my two sisters.

I would suppose the old saw that traits skip a generation must be true, because I spent most of my time growing up roaming the fields and forests near my home. When I had to decide upon my future, I chose a college degree in Forestry. That was because I thought I was witnessing the deforestation of the islands to furnish timber that was shipped all over the world. I now inspect logging operations, including those on Vella Lavella. A logging operation in the Solomons must obtain a permit and prove they have not exceeded the terms of that permit when I do my inspection.

When I'm on Vella Lavella, I make sure to schedule one day for myself. On that day, I climb up the slope of Mount Tambisala to the site of William's coastwatcher hut. The hut rotted away many years ago, but the stream still flows down the side of the mountain, and the birds still sing in the trees. I can appreciate both the quiet seclusion of the site as well as the vista of sea and other islands it offered William. I can almost picture a fleet of large Japanese ships steaming down the Slot on their way to conquest of all of South East Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. In William's time, the birds flying overhead would have been Japanese Zeros and Mitsubishi bombers careening through the blue sky in dogfights with American Corsairs.

Always when I'm there, the original site is cleared of the jungle vegetation that will inevitably take over any clear spot in the jungle in a matter of weeks. The sons and daughters of natives who worked for William or were treated by Eleanor keep it that way. They drop a few hibiscus flowers on each grave before they leave.

That's where both William and Eleanor wanted to take their final rest, the place where they fell in love. Their caskets were carried up the steep trail by those same sons and daughters of people they'd known. Their small headstones are carved with the simple words they wanted to be remembered by. They just say, "William Marston, Coastwatcher, Husband, and Father", and "Eleanor Marston, Nurse, Wife, and Mother".