Island

He had actually said a silent prayer that the fruit would be edible. He tried to recall the natural island fruits a couple of his students had introduced him to on a few hikes he had taken into the rain forest mountains on Oahu. All he could remember were strawberry guava. Those were basically worthless. They needed something juicy. He couldn't remember any juicy wild fruit. Nan came back a few minutes later, holding the hem of her tee shirt, the fruits bunched against her abdomen.

She dropped to her knees and let the fruits roll onto the sand. He recalled he had grinned widely and felt a little relief wash over him. Nan asked if they could eat them. He looked at the yellow perfectly round and smooth billiard ball sized spheres. He had said yes, they could eat them, they were passion fruits. He told her and Ann to wash them in the surf, one at a time so they didn't lose any of them. The girls quickly took them down to the water. Liz said she had never been so thirsty. They came back with the nine fruits cradled in their tee shirts.

He asked for one and told Nan to cup her hands under his and catch any juice. He tried to use his thumbs to open it but couldn't. He bit into it. A stab of pain filled his head and he cringed for a few moments, then pulled the fruit from his mouth. He tasted citrus. He split the fruit in two with his thumbs and looked at the slimy orange colored nodules. He bought the smaller piece up to his mouth then licked and poured the contents into his mouth. He ran it around his mouth and felt himself salivate. He chewed and felt the crunch of the seeds between his teeth. It had made his head hurt worse. The fruit was delicious.

Ann asked what the little black things were. He told her they were the best part, grinned, then told her they were seeds and they should chew them. He told them to eat one each. The additional throbbing pain was still in his head from that initial bite. He told Ann to open up the one for Liz, then told Nan to take two, one for herself and one for Lisa and that he'd go over with her to see how she was doing.

He gave her the other half of the one he had opened and told her to eat half slowly. He told the other girls to eat slowly. Nan handed the remaining portion to him and he finished the rest of it.

When they got to Lisa, she had smiled at him and said, "Hi, long time no see."

He smiled at the old fashion greeting, and told her Nan had discovered a delicacy. Passion fruit. Lisa said she thought Nan had found a pool hall in the forest when she saw the fruit. He told Nan to open one for Lisa. He wasn't sure what Lisa should do or not do regarding her back and she had said it was painful moving her arms. He really didn't think her injury was extremely bad, but he realized again he didn't know one way or the other. Nan fed her the slimy fruit slowly so she wouldn't choke. Nan then ate one herself, savoring ever morsel.

He told Nan to get out of the sun, that he'd stay with Lisa. Nan went back to Ann and Liz but returned fifteen minutes later. She asked him if it would be okay to walk Liz over so they could all be closer together. He said if she wasn't nauseous, or really dizzy when she stood up they should come over but that she and Ann should hold her arms. He added that it was a good idea and then wondered why he hadn't thought of it himself.

He watched the girls slowly walk to the shade of the coconut palms behind him and Lisa. Nan came down to them and said Liz hadn't felt like puking. He said that was good. Lisa had then asked why he was so concerned about that. He told her he thought it was a sign of a really bad concussion. She looked scared for a moment, then pointed out he had been vomiting. He ignored the comment and said he thought Liz would be fine because she hadn't passed out since waking up after they had set her arm. He stared at Lisa and suddenly wondered why he had told Nan to open Liz's vest and feel around her back. It might have been a terribly stupid thing to do.

As dusk approached he started worrying about tides and high waves again. He asked Lisa if she thought she could stand the pain of being pulled by her life vest and slid on the sand to the palm trees. She immediately said she wanted to try it.

He called Ann and Nan over. Told them to take his shirt canopy down and clear the flotsam in a path from Lisa straight to the trees. He moved to Lisa's feet, held her ankles and told her he was going to move her legs back down but if it hurt at all she should tell him right away. She said okay. When he moved her petite feet only an inch, Lisa's body stiffened and trembled. He stopped. He asked Ann to flatten out his vest. He told her to slide it under Lisa's feet up to her butt when he raised her legs. He asked Lisa if she wanted to try that, so her feet could slide on the sand. She agreed. He told her to tell them to stop if it was painful.

He grasped her calves and raised her legs slightly. Lisa's body stiffened again but she didn't say anything. Ann quickly slid the vest into position. He lowered her feet to it. He asked Lisa how she was doing and she said fine. He hadn't thought he could pull her up the sand without falling down, passing out, or vomiting. He got too dizzy and nauseous bending forward.

He looked at Nan and Ann. Nan's body was nearly Lisa's twin. She was petite but had a feminine muscle definition. He told her to grip the shoulders of Lisa's vest and when they were ready she'd pull Lisa, sliding her on the sand. He told her to try to keep going until they reached the trees unless Lisa said to stop. She nodded at him. He had thought starting up would be the worst for Lisa.

He told Ann to hold and slide the vest with Lisa's feet at the same speed as Nan pulling. He said he'd crawl along and hold Lisa's knees together with his palm so she wouldn't tense any muscles and stay as relaxed as possible.

He asked if everyone was ready. They all said yes. He told Nan to pull steady, not jerk Lisa, and not go too fast or too slow. He said, "Ready... set... go." They started moving. Lisa obviously felt some pain but didn't say stop, although they did halt twice before getting to the palms. Nan apologized profusely for stopping each time. Lisa had told her she was doing great each time. Finally they were all together in one group under the shade of the palms.

It began getting dark and the temperature began dropping but it was very humid and still probably around 80F. As it grew darker he asked Nan if she could remember where the passion fruit tree had been. She said she wasn't sure but thought she could find it again. He told them to each eat another fruit. Nan picked up two. She bit into Lisa's and then her own. She took turns feeding Lisa and herself. Ann helped Liz eat hers. He had sat there listening to their slurping looking out to sea.

It was Lisa who noticed. She asked him why he wasn't eating his. Nan said something like, "Oh god, there wasn't enough." Lisa had insisted he take half of hers but he had said he wasn't thirsty. She had said, "Bullshit," and told Nan to give him half. He had taken one suck of the slimy fruit and then handed it back to Nan, telling Lisa that was all he wanted. He had then played the slimy nodules around in his mouth until they had disappeared.

After the fruit was finished, he said they might as well try to get as comfortable as possible for the night. He said he thought someone should always be awake to hold Lisa's knees together. He said he'd do it first until he was too sleepy, then he'd wake up Ann, and she would then wake up Nan when she got too sleepy, and Nan should wake him up when she got too sleepy. No one had expected Liz to help.

Nan then asked why they couldn't just roll up one of the life vests and stick that under Lisa's knees. He recalled he blinked and almost laughed at his own stupidity. He told Nan it was a much better idea. Nan rolled her vest up and put it under Lisa's knees.

He had asked Liz how bad she was feeling. She said her head was still pounding, and her arm hurt a lot. It was all black and blue. He could see they were all worried about it, he was too, but not as worried as he was about her concussion. He wasn't sure he or Liz should sleep at all but knew it was going to be impossible not to sleep. He had also been terribly worried about Lisa's back.

He looked at Lisa and asked her how she was doing. She said about the same. He wished he or Nan had thought of using the vest earlier. When everyone got comfortable. He moved down to Lisa's feet. The light was fading fast. He had seen her smile at him. He recalled the exact exchanged they had. He started to ask, "Are you getting too hot with..." The rest of the sentence was going to be, "...your vest on?"

She interrupted though, and said "With you next to me?" She had smiled at him.

He looked at the other girls but they were all talking softly. No one else had heard the exchange. He told Lisa to get to sleep. Her unexpected attempt at humor gave him hope everything was going to be all right somehow. He looked out at the ocean and decided it would be best if didn't sleep. It was obvious he had a very bad concussion.

CHAPTER 3

The following morning he had awaken with the backs of Lisa's fingers tapping his thigh, repeatedly telling him to wake up. His head had been throbbing but it no longer felt like his brain was hanging outside his skull. Lisa asked if he was awake. He said yes. He heard shouting down the beach but was too fuzzy headed to make it out.

Lisa told him Nan had spotted the raft. He slowly sat up and saw Ann quickly stand up. Nan was far down the beach running fast towards them. He had slowly risen to his feet still afraid he might pass out. He felt dizzy for a moment. His thinking was still fuzzy when Nan ran up breathless.

Between gasps for air she said the raft was in the water down at the far end of the beach about a hundred feet out, maybe farther. He told her to catch her breath then to take him to the spot. Nan pointed down the beach. Ann said she'd run down there and try to see it.

He had started off at a slow walk, telling Nan to follow after she caught her breath. She was next to him a few seconds later. Ann was already down the beach, jumping up and down while waving and pointing out to the water. He had looked but all he saw was the surf until he they got closer to Ann. He saw it. It looked mostly if not all deflated. They stood next to Ann.

She screamed, "See it?! See it?!

He told them to watch it and judge if it was coming closer to shore. They all tensed whenever a crashing wave would make it disappear but it always floated back up to the surface. Nan screamed that it was coming closer. It was but very slowly. After ten minutes of silent staring Nan said she'd swim out to it and bring it in. Ann said she'd go with. He told them to wait. The damn thing was still in heavy surf. It would be ridiculous to swim out there period, no matter how well they swam, let alone having to drag a mostly deflated ten foot circle of thick rubber. He knew it would be extremely heavy. It had taken a half hour for it to get out of the heavy surf, but it was definitely headed towards the beach. It's progress slowed when it got out of the secondary surf.

Ann said they should swim out to get it now. Nan agreed. He anticipated the shallower water contained that rock-like coral he had seen at beaches in Hawaii, or maybe it had been lava stones, whatever it had been, it wasn't smooth at all, but like some skid resistant, raspy surface that could grate skin off. He looked at the girls feet. They were both barefoot. He told them to get their sneakers on first.

They ran back to the other girls. They returned huffing breaths a couple minutes later. Nan was holding her shoes in her hand. Ann had hers on her feet. He saw Nan's didn't have laces. He sat down and started removing his. Ann said she was wearing Liz's sneakers. He gave his first lace to Nan. She sat down and started lacing her shoe. He handed her the second one, then stood to look at the raft again. It wasn't floating flat anymore. Only a part of it could be seen. He realized they knew nothing about the currents out there, and remembered a hotel beach in Honolulu, where in waist high water he had taken one step farther out and had nearly been knocked down by a fast current moving laterally to the beach. He had stumbled and taken one step back and the water had been still again.

He asked them how good of swimmers they really were. Ann reminded him that she had been on the high school swim team. He had blinked wondering how he could have forgotten that. He had even gone to quite a few meets. Nan said she had a Red Cross lifeguard certificate. He warned them that the currents could be very strong and if they had any fear or even the slightest notion they might get into trouble to just screw getting the raft and just get back to shore safely. The damn thing would probably float in by itself. They both nodded.

He had been nervous every second of the forty-five minutes it took the girls to pull the raft towards shore. He was terrified a handful of times when they had disappeared under larger cresting waves. He had cursed himself out loud for his lack of swimming skills whenever one or both girls would be out of sight for a few seconds.

Finally they touched their feet to the bottom, and started walking in the troughs of the incoming waves, dragging the rubber circle closer to shore. He took his laceless shoes off not wanting to lose them, and waded in when they reached chest deep water. The sock was stuck to his head wound and he had too much else on his mind to think about whether it would be good or bad to get it wet. The coral or lava rocks under his feet were exactly what he had guessed. Both the girls told him to go back, telling him the rocks were sharp. His head was throbbing badly again and he decided not to argue with them.

He backtracked to a sandy spot but didn't leave the water. He swayed almost losing his footing a couple times as foamy surges hit the beach then tried to pull him into the water as they receded. When the girls drew closer he waded farther out again. They protested again but not very much. He saw they were both exhausted.

With one hand he grabbed the raft between them, turned around, put his other hand behind himself and grabbed it again. He leaned forward making his head pound even more and started pulling the raft. He was sure he scraped raw the sole of his left foot a moment later. Finally the water disappeared from around his feet and he was standing on mooshy sand for a moment. The raft suddenly got very heavy and was tugged backwards. On either side of him he saw the girls pass him gasping their breaths. They both dropped face down on the beach, their backs rising with each pull of air.

He waited for the next wave and when the foam surrounded his legs he pulled with all his strength. He and the raft moved a few more feet onto the sand and he strained to keep it there when the wave washed back to the ocean. He waited for the next wave and pulled again moving another three feet. Nan got up on her hands and knees, then stood up. She stepped over to Ann's prone form and tapped her shoulder. Ann rose slowly. He pulled again with another wave but only moved the raft a foot. The girls waded into the foam and the three of them struggling eventually got it out of the water. They all stood still breathing heavily and looking at each other.

A smile had started to form on his mouth, when he looked from Ann to Nan a few times, before he said, "I knew I could do it all by myself."

Both girls had glared at him for a moment then had started giggling. The raft was upside down so they dragged it over right side up. The three of them knelt around the large zippered pocket containing the emergency supplies and gear.

They opened it. He had hoped there was a backup transmitter or radio. There wasn't. He tried the flashlight and it amazingly worked. They pulled out the water bottles. He told the girls to drink about ten ounces each, but to drink it very slowly. They opened a liter bottle and passed it back and forth taking three or four sips each pass. He opened up the medical kit. He was surprised it wasn't full of sea water, but it wasn't completely dry either. There were bandages, gauze, tape, Tylenol, Ibuprofen, anti-septic, sunscreen, a bottle of alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, and what he had been looking for -- the suturing kit. There were various other instruments and other small boxes. He figured the scissors would come in handy for a lot of things. He saw another godsend, a first aid book.

Nan passed him the water bottle and he took three sips. He then told the girls to start gathering as much as they could hold in their arms to take down the beach to the camp. Ann screamed when she had found a lighter. Nan picked up the flare gun, grinned and said maybe they could use it to start a fire.

He was glad her finger wasn't on the trigger even though he doubted it was loaded. He asked her for it. He opened it and was it was unloaded. He gave it back to her and told her not to shoot her foot off. They started gathering things in their arms. Nan abruptly set down what she had picked up and said it was stupid to carry it that way. She crossed her arms and quickly raised her soaked tee shirt over her head.

His jaw had probably dropped for a moment or two as, even with a head that felt like it was going to split in half, he stared at Nan's very nice, smallish, upturned breasts. Her nipples had been taut, standing up like two pink gumdrops. Ann giggled, and he probably retracted his jaw before he watched her doff her wet tee shirt. Her breasts were larger, at least B+ or C-, large, light pink aureoles on each breast. Her nipples were standing up too, longer and more cylindrical than Nan's. He watched both girls tie the neck opening closed on their shirts, then start filling the impromptu sacks with the emergency booty.

Nan had giggled again and without looking at him had said he had nice boobies too. He had been speechless. Maybe it was his spitting headache or the situation, but even though it was visually interesting, he didn't find the quick strip show at all erotic and knew the girls didn't either. They weren't male or female at that moment, just survivors. He said he wished he had his tee shirt on.

Back at the "camp" Liz and Lisa were already excited about the booty. He put the med kit and two liter water bottles down. He asked if anyone had peed since they had landed. The girls looked at each other displaying odd facial expressions, and then each said she hadn't.

He told Nan and Ann to finish off the bottle they had started while he opened a fresh one. He handed it to Liz and told her she could drink about ten ounces slowly and not to rush it, just take a few sips now so he could give a few sips to Lisa, then he'd give the bottle back to her for a few more sips.

Liz grabbed it and raised it nearly vertical as she tilted her head back and started chugging, like it was some beer drinking contest. He yelled at her to slow down, but she kept chugging. He got angry and reached for the bottle but she twisted to her side and kept gulping until nearly half the liter was gone. She then lowered it and pulled it away from her mouth. She handed it towards him as she was gasping for air. She said, "Sorry."

He angrily grabbed the bottle from her an instant before her eyes popped wide. She turned to the side and projectile vomited. He didn't watch her, just moved next to Lisa as Liz convulsed again expelling more. He asked Lisa if he could try to lift her head up a little so she could take sips from the bottle. He was glad she didn't wince when he cupped the back of her head and raised it. He fed her the water slowly. Taking breaks for her to swallow. Then more sipping. Tears welled in her eyes. He pulled the bottle back. She started crying.