Any Port in a Storm: Chapter 11

Tony's Story

I am brought to the hut we originally saw Mara look out from.  Inside it is a square room with sparse simple but well made furnishings.  Woven and seashell art adorned the wooden walls.  It was tidy and really a fine room, though it looked like something from medieval times.

I am helped to the hard bed.  The mattress was nothing but a square of canvas, obviously scavenged from a sail, over a thin layer of straw.  I lean back against the headboard and wave my two overly helpful hosts away.

“Leave me alone.”  I grunt.  I close my eyes and take a deep breath.  God did it feel good to get off of my leg.

I feel a gentle hand stroke my head.

“I said to...!”  My eyes flare open and I am ready to belt whoever it was touching me...until I see Mara's ethereal beauty two feet away from me.  In an instant I am disarmed of my anger.  She was even more lovely up close!

“Your hair...it's so beautiful.  So light.  Your eyes are so beautiful, like the lake.” She whispers.  She then strokes my face with her soft slender fingers.  A stroke so light as to be almost not there at all.  Her near blind pale blue eyes, having me so close, could make out details at last.  She looks me in the eyes...my heart pauses mid-beat.  She says with a fragile smile.  “I love you Tony.”

There is a still moment of silence before the words break me from Mara's spell.  “Excuse me?”  I stiffen and pull away.  “What the hell!?”

Mara nervously looks to Kea and back again.  “That's the right words, isn't it?  I love you?”

“No!”  I shake my head.  “No.  That is not what you say to someone you just met!  What is wrong with you people!?”

Mara's pretty face flinches.  “Sorry.  Sorry.  Ummm...ummm...”  She looks to her sister for help but Makea just shrugs.  Mara stammers.  “Love our neighbors as our selves...love your enemy...um...sorry.  I don't...I don't know...” She was at a loss.

My nerves settle as I realize it was a simple language error.  I rest my hand on her willow slender shoulder, her skin was warm beneath my dry palm.  “Calm down Mara.  It's just...that's not what you say to someone, not unless they are very special to you.  A family member or a spouse, that sort of thing.  You don't say it to strangers.  You don't usually say they are beautiful right off the bat either.”

“Oh.”  Marama says.  “I didn't know.”

“How could you?”

She giggles and blushes and I suddenly find I have a smile on my face.  I simply could not stay angry around this girl!  My smile is mirrored back to me by both sisters.  I can see that these two innocent souls were not to blame for their father's behavior.  I let out a sigh.

I look up at bulky Kea.   “Nice to meet you Kea.”  I hold out my hand.  She looks at it then reaches out to hold it with the wrong hand.  I chuckle and shake my head.  “Other hand.”  She switches and I teach her how to shake hands.  I look to Mara and do the same.  “Nice to meet you Mara.”  She takes my hand and we shake.  “And that is how you greet a stranger.”

“Now we're not strangers?”  Mara asks.

“Er...less so.”

Kea thumps her chest.  “Not stranger!”

I laugh.  “Sure.  We're friends now.”  They laugh and smile.  These poor souls, I must be the most interesting thing ever to happen to them.

“How old are you two?”

“Kea's 23 years, I'm 19.”

“19 and 23.”  I say with pity in my heart.  Each of them were at the beginning of their adulthood.  What kind of future could they have here?  “You've lived on this island your whole lives?”

Mara nods.  “Father was wrecked here a long long time ago.  Mother was already here.  We were born here.  We cannot leave.  I dream sometimes...about what it's like...”  She sighs.  “Kea and I talk about it but...we cannot leave here.”  She leans in.  “I have so many questions.”

I sit up higher against the headboard.  “Well my dear, I have many answers.”  I pat the other side of the bed to invite Makea to come around and take a seat.  She hurries to do so.  Looking back and forth between them I ask.  “So, what do you want to know?  Ask me anything you want.”

Kea and Mara look at each other like it was Christmas morning.

Ash's Story

My hand held in Miru's I am lead to a hut at the back of the encampment.  The interior was nothing like what I'd expected.  This was no crude grass hut, it was a well build dwelling.  The furnishings were a mixture of hand built and scavenged.  There were two old matching deck chairs in the corner of the room and most of a pane of a scratched mirror hanging on the wall.  There were bits of pieces of ships hung on the walls like artwork.  A round porthole frame with the glass busted out, a section of brass railing, and other such knickknacks.  The only light came in from open windows at the front and back.

Miru leads me to one of the chairs and I take a seat.  She sits in the other one.  Huali sits on the floor with her back against Miru's solid looking bed.  Kicking her long muscular legs out in front of her I can almost see right up her skirt.  Despite myself I do catch a glimpse of something in the shadow under there.  The hilt of a knife hidden along her inner thigh perhaps?  Wouldn't surprise me if it was.

“We'll get a mat laid down for you before dark.  Well...this is quite a day for us.”  Miru says.  “We had a body wash up once, but never living people.  This is...incredible.”

I smile and do my best to stay polite despite my nervousness.  “It's been quite a time for us too Miru.  I'm just happy to be alive.”  I position my beach towel toga to cover myself as best I could.  “Miru.  Um, I don't mean to be judgmental but...why did your father pull a gun on my husband?  We are no threat to him or you.”

“Establishing dominance.  Father rules here.  He told us outsiders would try to take this place from us, but this is our home.”  Huali says bluntly from across the room.  “Your husband, Tony Butler, he looked ready to fight.  Is your husband a fighter?”

This woman scared the hell out of me.  I do my best to stay calm.  “Er, I mean, he has fought.  Just rough stuff at parties or the bar ya know?”  As soon as I say I realize these two wouldn't have a clue.  “He is protective of me.  If other men get too friendly...”

Huali sits up, suddenly taking a great interest.  “Tony has fought...for you?  He has battled other men for you?”

“Um...geez, kind of.  He's got a temper on him you see and...”

I see a new respect in the big woman's eyes.  “I misjudged this Tony Butler.  He is a warrior!”  Her face brightens into a huge grin.

“No, no, no!”  I wave my hands.  “I gave you the wrong impression.  He's an attorney.”

“Attorney?”  Huali says, obviously not grasping this new word.  She looks down at her club and then up to me.  “May I battle for you Ashley?”

I had no idea how to respond to that.

“Enough!”  Miru snaps.  What follows is the pair of them arguing in their other language.

I hold up my hands.  “Please, please, don't argue.  We won't be any trouble, you'll see.”  They continue to bicker.  The noise and chaos is just too much for me right now.  I bury my face in my hands.  “Stop this!”  Try as I might I cannot hold back the tears.

There is silence for a time as I weep.  I then feel a gentle supportive hand on my shoulder.  “Shhhh.”

I look up and am stunned to see it was Huali at my side, kneeling down so she was face to face with me.  Her beautiful hazel eyes stare into mine with a surprising kindness.  “You have nothing to fear.  You are safe here Ashley.  You are loved.”

“Loved?”

Huali nods.  Miru watched us quietly with calm dark eyes.

“Um...thank you.”  I wipe the tears from my eyes.  “Sorry...sorry...we've been through so much...you can't understand.”  I look off through the window in the direction Tony had been taken.  I sniffle and rub my eyes.  “I might be safe but...Tony.  He's...he has a temper.  I'm worried about him and your father...and he's hurt...”

“Dry your tears.  He is with Marama.”  Miru says, her words comforting but her tone cold.  “Our brother is our best healer.  Tony is in good hands.”

I nod and swallow hard.  Huali's firm grip helped me center down.  “That's good.  That's good.  Sorry, I just...”  I then look up.  “Miru, what do you mean...brother?”