Brian Ch. 06

Roger laid there moaning as everyone on the boat went crazy yelling at him. Brian quickly got control of his anger and told the girls to go below and find him another flare. They emerged a few seconds later to tell him there were no more flares to be found.

Now they were totally screwed. Roger dejectedly went below and again sat down and tried to become a non person again. The girls had remained on deck to talk with their dad and then came back down below to get out of the weather. Brian decided to stay on deck a while longer to see if he could spot any other vessels in the area. When it became too dark he finally went down below to check on the kids. When he got down below he found an eerie silence. Beth was on one side of the tiny cabin alternating her glare of anger at Roger and he her loving stare at Brooke. Brooke was sitting next to Roger with his arm around her. She looked up at her dad as he stepped into the room and Brian could tell she was uncomfortable with Roger's presence. Brian could tell that she needed a hug especially when he sat next to Beth and she snuggled into his arms.

Brian was brought back to the present when he suddenly realized that he no longer felt and heard the dull humming of the engine. Also the boat was no longer rocking and sunlight could be seen through the side window. He suddenly knew something was not right but somehow it felt wonderful. He looked down and saw that both girls were still in his arms, snuggling tight against him. Both of the girls' hands were resting on his thigh but both of them had slid them under the material and were resting inside. He could feel the girls' soft hands as they rested on his thigh and one was actually resting on his cock. He knew he had to get out of this situation before he got a major hard on with one of his girls' hand wrapped around it.

"Kids, wake up, we slept through the night and the storm is over," he said lifting his arms form around his sleeping daughters making them adjust their position. Their hands came out of his shorts and began to sleepily waking up. No thoughts or words were spoken by either of them as they stretched and looked around.

Brooke was the first to speak when she realized where she was. "Daddy, are we okay?"

"I don't know yet, honey. The storm has passed we are still afloat. However, the engines are no longer running and I am not sure why. I am going to go on deck and get a SITREP, or situation report, on our current situation. Why don't you check on Roger? Beth, you look around and she if we have anything to eat here. Then both of you join me on deck and we will figure out our situation," Brian said. He easily slipped back into his military role and took charge of the situation.

The family swung into action. Brooke moved forward and opened the door to check on Roger. Beth got up and went to open the cabinets and lockers inside to check for any food items and their fresh water supply. Brian opened the door and went up on deck to check the GPS system and why the engine wasn't running. Soon all four were on the deck to get the news.

Roger was feeling better after he had slept the night. Brian could tell that he was slightly dehydrated from his seasickness. Brooke and Beth were ok, a little shaken from their experience with the storm. Brian gave them the news. "Ok, good news and bad news. Let's do the bad news first. The reason the engines aren't running is because we are out of fuel. So we are just floating. Next bit of bad news is we are adrift. The sea anchor worked however, sometime during the night the storm must have ripped it up. I pulled in the rope that attached to it and found the rope had frayed and we lost it. Now the good news, I know where we are, the GPS is working. We must have hit a current because we are about 100 miles from where we started. We have been blown off course. Hopefully by now your mom and brother have notified the authorities and they are searching for us. However we're off by 100 miles and not sure that they will be looking in the correct area. Beth, what is the food situation?" he asked after his lengthy SITREP.

"Daddy, I found that we only have some granola bars and some hard candy that we brought with us. There wasn't anything below for food. Guess they didn't plan on someone actually living on this tub." She looked at her dad with a concern knowing that they didn't have much food with them. "I did check the fresh water tanks and they are still half full. That is some good news."

"Daddy, Roger is okay, just a little dehydrated after his throwing up. I will get some water in him and he should be okay," Brooke told her dad.

Brian looked at he girls and tried to bring some humor to the situation. "Thanks kids. Okay, now for some good news. I just saved a ton of money by switching my car insurance to Gieco," he said with a straight face but breaking into a smile.

"DAD!" both girls laughed at their dad's reference to a current television commercial playing at home. Roger lightly laughed but didn't join in the family banter; he knew he was still a non-person.

"Okay, bad joke at the moment. However, the real good news is that if you look over your shoulders you will see an island. We should be able to get ashore and hopefully find fresh water and fruit and suck. I know how to survive. It isn't going to be easy but we won't die." He pointed at the island about a half mile ahead.

All three kids turned and let out a yell. Beth and Brooke hugged each other and then ran to their dad and hugged him. Beth stayed in her dad's arms and kissed him on the cheek and then quickly kissed him on the lips. Brooke followed suit and kissed her dad on the lips, not to be out done by her younger sister. Brooke slipped out of her dad's arms and went to Roger standing staring at the island. She slipped her arms around his waist and kissed him on the cheek. Happiness was everywhere at their sudden turn of events.

Brian broke the revelry and got everyone to work. "Okay, we have a lot to do to get ready for getting us to the island. Girls, go into the cabin and get all the sheets from below and bring them to me. Roger, go get as much rope as you can. We have got to move quickly before the current carries us past the island. We can steer the boat but we have got to fashion a makeshift sail to power us."

Moments later everyone was fully engaged in getting the board prepared. Roger found three long lengths of rope and was coiling them on the front of the boat. He managed to find a shorter length and was told to cut it into smaller lengths about 3 feet long. The girls brought three sheets up on deck and were told to tie two of them together and then tie the third one in the middle of those two. Once they did that, they brought the sheet forward where Brian started tying one corner to a stanchion with a piece of the cut rope from Roger.

"Dad, what are you doing?" Beth asked as Brian finished tying the other corner to the opposite stanchion.

"Baby, I am going to make us a spinnaker sail. What we will do is take some of the other pieces of rope and tie them to the corners. These corners here will anchor the sail to the boat and once everything is tied and ready, we will lift the sail in the air and the wind should catch it. It should act as a sail like on a sailboat and move us close to the island. I saw a lagoon like area in front of us with the binos. Once we get in close I will swim into shore and try to get the boat closer to shore." As he spoke he was finishing off tying the last to pieces of rope to the corners of their makeshift sail.

Once everything was tied off Brian told the girls to move to the back of the boat. He told Brooke to take the wheel and line up the boat toward the island. Brian asked Roger to move to the other side of the boat and when told, throw the sail in the air and hopefully it would open and catch the wind. Roger was ecstatic with the opportunity to help with the situation. He was doing everything he could to try to get back into everyone's good graces.

When everyone was set, Brian told Roger to throw the open sail into the air. The white material lifted and then with a loud pop, it inflated. Immediately the book jerked and began to move. Brian and Roger had to scramble to keep from being thrown overboard as the boat began to move toward the island. Both Beth and Brooke looked at their father with immense love and a newfound respect. They knew as long as their dad was with them they had a chance to survive. Even Roger looked at Brian with a new sense of respect as the boat edged its way closer to the shore.

After about an hour the boat was being tossed in the surf as the boat got closer to the island. After the sail had caught Brian took over the wheel and maneuvered the boat toward the island. Soon the boat had cleared the surf and was gently rocking in the smaller waves as he prepared for the next part of the trip of getting the boat to shore. He knew this was going to be harder. He gave the wheel to Beth and told her to keep the boat pointed at the shore. He told Brooke to move forward and help to guide Beth in close. Brian turned to Roger and told him to grab the other rope and get ready to get wet. Roger looked at him with a clear feeling that he didn't understand what they were going to do.

"Once we get in closer to the shore, we are going to tie off these ropes to the front of the boat. Then we are going to swim to shore and tie off the boat. Once we know it is not going to go anywhere, we will pull the boat in." Turning to Brooke and Beth, "Brooke once we get closer, you take the wheel from Beth to steer us in closer. Beth, you make sure you have your life jacket on and swim to shore to help us start to pull the boat in. You are the stronger between you and Brooke. Brooke when I tell you to, you swim and join us on shore to pull the last of the way. Roger and I will get it started but I will need the sail to help and steer. Brooke you will have to collapse the sail when Beth starts toward us and then try to keep it straight. Hopefully we will have enough forward momentum to keep the boat moving so we don't have to pull so much."

An hour later, the party of four was on the shore sweating and trying to get their sore muscles to stop aching. The boat was tied off and secure on the shore. It ended up taking all four of them to get the boat close to shore. Brian was the first to start moving after a brief rest to get the boat secure to make sure it wouldn't drift off when the high tide came, whenever that was.

Brian moved into the jungle and began to search for edible fruits. He came on a breadfruit tree and several banana and coconut trees. After breaking some loose, he returned to the kids still resting on the beach.

"It is not bacon and eggs but it is enough to keep us alive. As time goes on and we find out how long we are going to be here, we will have some fish and other things for dinner," he stated as he sat the food in front of the kids. They all scrambled for the food and started to tear open the bananas and bread fruit. Brian went onto the boat and returned with a jug of water and a large machete to cut open the coconuts.

After everyone had had their fill, Brian got up and started making plans for their immediate future. "Okay, gang, here is the deal. We don't know how long we are going to be here. No radio, no fuel to run it if it did work, and no boat to speak of. Our immediate concern is fresh water. I know how to get water by creating a solar still but it is not going to be able to sustain us for a long period of time. What we need to do is get everything that is usable off the boat and bring it ashore. We will need to set up a camp and shelter for us. I don't want to use the boat due to the way the tides work. We could be on the boat and if a storm were to come up we could get stranded on the boat with no water and no food.

"These islands are usually full of caves so shelter shouldn't be problem to find. If not then we will build a shelter out of palm fronds. I know you are looking at me like I am on crack, but I have done this before. Trust me; we are going to be okay. Now I am going to give you some things to do and then we will get this party started." Brian was looking at the group for questions.

"Alright, Roger, start gathering some wood and dried grass. We will need a signal fire. Girls, you will help me to start unloading the boat of anything and everything that we could, might, or will use. Everything comes out. And I mean everything." After Brian finished speaking everyone began to move on their respective assignments.

Within an hour the stranded party had a fire going sending smoke into the air. They had taken everything they could off the boat and moved into in the tree line. Once everything was there, Brian called the group together. "Okay, let's make sure the boat is secure and then go explore our new home." Brian looked back at his daughters as they moved into the jungle fringe and started signing the theme song to 'Gilligan's Island'. He couldn't help but laugh also at their predicament but he also was concerned at what other things could go wrong. The word pirates coming banging around his head after talking with the official. He knew that food and fresh water were a priority but also defense was another main concern of his.