Footprints In The Sea - Chapters 5 And 6 free porn video

Footprints In The Sea - Chapters 5 & 6 By Frances Penwiddy Copyright © Frances Penwiddy 2015 Footprints in the sea is a work of fiction and any similarity to persons living or dead is coincidental. This novel is not considered suitable material for minors and is rated X Shipwrecked on an island in the South Pacific region known as the Wilderness and more than one thousand miles from the nearest known habited land and located between New Zealand and South America, Charlie Broughton explores what he thinks is a deserted ship to find that there is one other survivor, Will Devonshire. They work together to secure the ship and plan their rescue but things happen to Charlie, things that frighten him and he begins to question who he is... And then a third person appears on Pacific Wanderer I suggest you read Footprints In The Sea in chapter order so if you haven't read Chapters 1 and 2, please do so. 5 "What are we going to do tomorrow?" Will put his knife and fork down, "I would like to get to the top of the hill and have a look at the island. I'll probably be able to see most of it and it's more important now that we've found evidence that other people are or were here, there may be others." "Shall I come with you?" "Yes of course and if you don't want to climb to the top you can explore the area around the old house and see what else is there. There may be outhouses, sheds, agricultural equipment and tools, it depends how long they were living there and why they left." "I was thinking about the pigs. If they did keep pigs then it's possible they may have had chickens or even a cow as well. Would they have bred and left descendants?" "The chickens yes, assuming there was a cock and they were not killed and eaten by predators, a cow, again it's possible if they had a bull." "Okay, that's what I'll do, have a look around and see if I can find any evidence. It would solve our egg and milk problem and if the chickens have been really successful, then it will give us meat to eat. I stood up, "Leave the table, I'll clear it shortly but I have to go to the shop again, I need another pair of jeans and some tops, the stuff I wore this afternoon will need to be washed." "Right, I'll check the moorings on the boat, then I want to go round and switch of all the lights except the navigation lights. I'll adjust everything so that lights can be switched on locally in case we need to be up and about during the night. Then, if you don't mind, I'll move my stuff over to a cabin on your side so that we don't have to use a telephone or go wandering around the ship looking for each other and after that I'll see if I can find a couple of back-packs, more torches and one or two other things that will be useful." "What time will we go tomorrow?" "Mid-morning, there are one or two things I want to look at in the cargo hold first and I also want to try and find a couple of two-way radios, there's bound to be some, they often used them on deck when they were docking or loading cargo and if we are to separate tomorrow, we'll need them. "Why not use my old cabin, I'll move into the stateroom so my cabin will be empty. If you use one of the others, you'll have to move all the original passenger's things elsewhere. I left to go up to the shop, I had another problem, underwear. I had worn my boxers today under the jeans but the waist was high whereas the jeans were hipsters and my boxers showed two or three inches over the jeans. It looked scruffy and though nobody was going to see me except Will, I didn't like feeling scruffy and they were too thick and made the jeans feel tight, I needed a few pairs of hipster jockeys. There weren't any of course. Hipster clothing was designed for the younger physique whereas the ship tended to attract middle aged and above passengers, younger people preferred large cruise liners with discos, gyms and swimming pools. I put the underwear on hold and went to the women's section to look for more trousers and was walking past the underwear racks when I spotted the knickers. Women's underwear usually tended to be made out of lighter material but had the disadvantage of including lace, bows and generally frillier but I spotted some that were fairly plain with just a small amount of lace at the waist and legs. I stopped and thought about it, if Will found out I was wearing knickers under my trousers he might think...no, he WOULD think I was a weirdo, a transvestite or something like that and tend to shy away from me which, given our present circumstances, would make life difficult, even unpleasant. I know he had said he wouldn't care if I even wore a skirt if there were no trousers to fit, but frillies would stretch acceptance to its limits. I wish they had passed a maritime law making it obligatory for ships to carry clothes suitable for marooned passengers of all sizes but they hadn't so I was probably going to have to get used to the idea of going without or make my own from sheets or pillowcases, perhaps even the ships curtains, at least I could sew, another of Auntie Mo's survival and independence lessons and I could sew well enough to be able to make crude underwear. I was about to ignore underwear when a thought came into my head so I returned to the men's section and looked for swimwear, perhaps they had some suitable Speedos but I drew a blank, there wasn't a wide choice and what there was tended to be waist high or just too heavy a material. Sod it, I'd make my own, even darn the one's I had and make do. Then I spotted the ladies bikinis and right at the top of the rack was a white set and when I looked they were made from a stretchy material and the size was 'W' and that I deduced meant the same as the men's 'M' so I took them I could always use the top bit as a sling for when we went hunting and whilst I was at it, I took a packet of three of the plain knickers; in for penny, in for a pound I thought. And went into the outer clothing aisles and my luck held I found two more pairs of ladies Chinos, one pale blue, the other a soft yellow and the last pair I found were a pair of standard blue jeans and when I held them against myself to check the length I was reminded of the anatomical difference between the male and female; the zip on the fly only came down about three quarters of the way compared with men's jeans. A woman sits to pee and only needs to unzip far enough to loosen the top of the Jeans for her to slip them over her hips whereas a standing man needs to go further so he can get it out and doesn't have to undo the waist fastening. If I wanted to pee in these jeans I would have to undo the waist and lower them, I must remember that in case I ended up with my trousers round my ankles and Will spotted me and thought such behaviour odd. If I got the computers up and running I must enter that important fact on Wikipedia. Yesterday I had not noticed anything wrong with the lilac Chinos but when I checked the new pairs, the zip on them ended a couple of centimetres higher than the Chinos, just enough difference to make undoing the waist necessary. The things I was learning about survival whilst marooned was invaluable and chuckling to myself I went to the checkout and wrote my purchases down, scrubbed out panties and re- entered underwear, something else Will might think odd if he spotted the entry. Heaven help me when I had worn out all the plain ones and was reduced to thongs. When I got back I left my purchases on a dresser in my new cabin and went next door and spent thirty minutes moving house and sorting out the new home and then went to the kitchen to prepare dinner and the food for tomorrow's picnic. When I was finished, I visited the infirmary and searched the cupboards until I found the medical reference books and selected Symptoms and Treatments for Tropical and Sub-tropical Diseases. I opened it to check the date of publication, it was three years old, good enough for what I wanted and then looked for a medical dictionary and took the two and met Will on his way up from below, "Fancy meeting you here," I quipped. "Charlie, how nice to see you again and you haven't changed a bit." He looked at the cover of the top book, tropical diseases?" "I have to bone up on them as far as I can with my limited knowledge." "Yes I suppose I should as well." "Leave it to me for the moment. If I can sort out a shortlist and then check what drugs we have on board it will be quicker. Don't forget I have done first aid, it's not a lot of good when it comes to malaria, anthrax or swamp fever but it will help." "Right, then I'll leave it to you, Doc and reserve my energies for ships and their equipment and on that subject, there is a treasure trove in the hold. I've found two small diesel generators, one medium which will kick out enough power for a large four or five bedroom house with some to spare and a large one. There's also a whole load of solar panels and equipment so if we are stuck here, I'll be able to rig something up and probably work out a way to convert one of the generators to run off the waterfall. There's also a whole load of assorted paraffin lanterns just in case." "In case of what?" "I can't get one of the generators over to the island and make it work." "There wasn't an Argo solid fuel stove was there?" "Charlie, I'm offended, you have no faith in me." he grinned, "As it is there are two and a whole lot of tools, in fact the ship seems to be carrying quite a bit of stuff we'll find useful, not surprising really, some of the smaller inhabited islands need things like that. Do I have time to change cabins?" "How long do you need, my old one is empty and ready for you unless you snore, in which case I would prefer you stayed on the starboard side." "Nope, I grind my teeth sometimes but no snoring and I'll get things done in an hour." "Okay, I'll have dinner ready in an hour and a half." After dinner, we cleared the table and washed up, this time Will stayed and helped and then we sat in the lounge. Will poured drinks and we chatted, made plans and listened to music and two hours later before ten I began to feel tired and within ten minutes I was struggling to stay awake. "Come on, you can't keep your eyes open, it's time we went to bed," and that's what we did. We had been busy all day and certainly as far as I was concerned, work and sea air combined, I needed sleep. I ignored my earlier criticism of Will using the floor as a wardrobe and took my new clothes off the bed and left them in piles on the floor and then I undressed, climbed into a bed that I had forgotten to put sheets on and went to sleep. I awoke at six and completely out of character I went into the shower before I had coffee, I had shaved yesterday so I didn't need to shave this morning so I wrapped myself in my terry towel dressing gown and padded back into the bedroom and switched on the percolator and whilst that was getting ready, I towelled off and without even thinking about it I slipped on a pair of the cotton panties and the blue Chinos, I didn't bother with socks, they were a nuisance when fooling around on a sandy beach and I had a new pair of Nike's with blue facings that matched the Chinos. I finished with a long sleeved white T shirt, my arms had burned slightly yesterday, I hadn't topped up my sun-blocker and that was after lecturing Will to make sure he did so. Until I got into the habit, long sleeves were going to be the order of the day. I brushed my hair, fixed the pony tail and went to the galley to get breakfasts ready. I turned the radio on in the bar and tuned into a New Zealand station and they were playing retro music and I danced my way around frying pans, grills, coffee percolators, and was twisting as I poured cornflakes when a voice from the door said; "You can dance a bit then?" I nearly dropped the packet as I spun round, "How long have you been there?" "A minute or two, I came in half way through 'Peggy Sue'." God, what did he think of me, dressed in pastel blue jeans, matching Nike's and dancing like a tart in a trance! I slammed the cornflake packet on the table, "You should have said something." "Sorry, I wasn't spying, just admiring your dancing, you have a fluid body and dance well, naturally. Can you twist right down?" "Yes." "Go on, do it before the track ends." "No." I moved to the grill and turned the sausages, "The coffees ready, you can pour your own, how many eggs do you want with your breakfast? He chuckled, "One, thank you." The twist ended and 'Stupid Cupid' came on and I had to concentrate on making my feet walk normally and I heard him chuckle again as I walked back stiff legged from the fridge, poured milk onto my cornflakes and plonked the carton in front of his coffee. "Help yourself," and I went to the frying pan to get his egg going." "Can you jive?" I turned again, stuck my hands on my hips and my eyes were on fire, but the smile on his face cooled me down a bit, "As a matter of fact, yes and I can waltz, foxtrot quickstep and tango. I can samba, rumba, cha- cha and do the mambo and I can do both the male and female steps. Auntie Mo said I wasn't socialising with my own age group enough and she signed me up to dance classes and I ended up as an instructor." "Did you socialise?" "Some," I placed his plate in front of him, "But I was doing IT at tech college so there wasn't much opportunity and then when I started work a lot of it was evenings and often all night, companies don't like their machines being taken off-line during the working day." "Didn't you ever have a regular girl friend?" "A few dates with the same girl but nothing more than that, as I said, there wasn't much time for a decent social life." He changed the subject, "I'm going to check the circuits and equipment in the radio room after breakfast to ensure they're safe and then they will be okay for you to work on. Them I'm going to get equipment loaded for the island and may need your help." "Okay, the picnics ready to go, I did most of it yesterday, whistle when you're ready," and I grinned and started to clear the table. By the time I had washed up and added a few bits to the picnic box, he came in, "Radio room is okay now but don't start any big jobs because I will have everything ready for loading in about an hour." "I'll just pop up and see what is and what isn't working for now." "Right," he looked at me for a moment, "Did you get sunburn yesterday?" "Just a bit on my arms, that's why I'm wearing long sleeves. It's not serious." "It could be if you let it happen again, you nagged me yesterday about sun-blocker so I'm going to nag you because you need a different hat, the floppy hat you wore yesterday isn't wide enough so go into the shop and pick something with a wide brim. Your skin is a lot fairer than mine, Charlie so do it." I nodded sheepishly, "I forgot in all the excitement of landing on a desert island." He nodded and went to sort out the supplies for the island and I went straight to the shop to look for a hat and needless to say there was nothing suitable in the men's section. Men don't normally wear wide brimmed hats, well not as wide as the one I was going to need so I went into the ladies bit and sure enough there was a selection but they were decorated with ribbons and one even had flowers around the brim. I picked one with a very wide brim and pastel blue ribbon around the crown, stuck it on my head and started to leave. I stopped to think if there was anything else we would need and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror behind the cosmetics counter and did a double take and stared, not a narcissus stare, a shock stare. With the combination of pastel blue jeans a white top and a woman's wide brimmed hat, if I had a bust I would look like a woman and the places where I had caught the sun on my cheeks looked uncomfortably like I'd used a blusher. I turned sideways to check my silhouette and see if the jeans fitted around my hips and derri?re and smiled when I saw that the ribbon on the hat was almost a perfect match to the jeans and Nike's. Suddenly I realised what I was doing and icy fingers seemed to caress my spine and I hurried away from the mirror and back to the safety of my cabin and sat on the bed. What on earth was I doing, I was behaving just like a woman, admiring pretty hats and even allowing for my difficulty with sizes I seemed to be taking to wearing women's clothing too readily. I got up with the intention of taking the hat back and the phone rang. "It's Will..." "Thank heavens, I thought it might be that other person..." I stopped, I had meant it as a quip but there was another person on the ship, I had just seen her in the mirror. Will stopped chuckling, "Force of habit. Where are you?" "In my cabin all ready to go." "Can you come down to the doors we used yesterday to drop things down to the boat, I need to show you how to operate the loading gear." "Shall I bring the picnic box, I can put it on a waiter's trolley and wheel it to the lift?" "Good idea." It took me ten minutes to grab my shoulder bag and return to the galley and collect the picnic box and Will was waiting outside the lift. He showed me how to work the winch for loading and put the box and a large bag of tools onto the net and handed me a two-way radio. "It's switched on and when it buzzes just speak, the mike is voice activated," then he stood in the middle of the net, and took hold of the hawser, "Okay lower away." "You as well!" "Why not, the boat is directly underneath and it will save me having to use the landing steps." I shrugged, ran the gantry out and lowered the net until he waved and started unloading the net into the lifeboat. The radio buzzed and I put it to my ear. "Is that it everything?" "From there, yes." "Leave the hawser down we might need it later and I'll meet you on the starboard side about half way along by Number three hold, where the mast is." "I was still a bit preoccupied and didn't ask what mast so just said "Okay," and walked out onto the deck and looked forward and there half way down stood a mast and boom centred over number three hold. I made my way along and heard Will come round the stern and go alongside and start tying up. Whilst I waited I looked down into the hold and there was a pallet connected to a cable that ran up to the boom and back along it to the mast and then to a winch. I looked at the winch control box. There was a lever on one side and when I edged it forward, the cable slackened slightly so I stopped, that was obviously the up and down lever. I then put my hand on a thing like a computer joystick and eased it back and the angle of the boom changed, so now I knew how to control the boom. I went back to the bulwark to check on Will and he was slowly motoring down to me with the second lifeboat tied alongside the first. I saw him lift his walkie-talkie and mine buzzed, "Leading Deck Hand Charlie listening," I said. He looked up at me and smiled. "Right Leading Deck Hand go to the mast as soon as I'm level with you and I'll explain the crane controls." "Already sorted, Admiral, I tried them out whilst you were swanning about in the boats." He shook his head, "Right, when I'm level, will you be able to lift the pallet from the hold and swing it out to hang over the boats?" "Aye, aye, Admiral." When I had the pallet over the boats he manoeuvred a little until he had the empty boat underneath the pallet, "Okay lower away very slowly and listen out for me to say stop." I did and after a short while I noticed the boom lift slightly and stopped the winch. "Not yet, carry on a bit more," "I thought it had reached you I saw the boom lift as the weight came off it." "It has but I need some slack in the cable to unhook it." I lowered the cable another couple of meters and he called "Stop." and fifteen minutes later I had the boom back over the hatch and the hooks and chains lying on the deck of the hold. When I checked on Will he had untied the lifeboat and was about to leave, "What about me!" "I'm going round to the boarding stairs now to pick you up," so I grabbed my back pack and shoulder bag and flew back to the bridge and ran down the boarding steps just as he arrived and clambered on board. "What about the other boat?" "We'll pick that up now and then get over to the beach." "It may have drifted off." "No wind, no current and in a lagoon, it won't have gone far." We were lucky when we got to the beach, the tide had only just started to ebb and we were able to get up to the beach and reduce the time needed to carry the load up to the house or cave. "Jump over Charlie, and I'll slide the generator to the edge and follow you, the two of us should be able to carry it between us. We did but had to take it along the beach to where the small cliff gave way to the slope and then up to the house. "We should be able to haul the jerry cans of fuel and picnic box over the cliff with a rope now, so we'll get the picnic and then I'll take the empty boat and moor it close to the river so it doesn't go aground." "What about the cargo boat, are you going to let it get high and dry?" "Yes, if needs be. We can tow it off with the other boat if it isn't too far from the water, if not we can leave it until tomorrow and I can get it at high tide in the morning. In fact I might moor it in that position, we're much closer to the trees here so if the wind or sea did get up enough to affect the sea in the lagoon, the boat will be safe." After we left the picnic box under the cliffs, Will took the other boat and I started unloading the jerry cans of fuel for the generator and other equipment. I slipped and fell when I was carrying the third jerry can and got soaked so when I got back to the cliff, I took off the trainers and jeans and went back to the boat still wearing my top to protect me from the sun. Will returned when I was carrying the last bag of tools and waited at the water's edge. "You've gone transparent," he said grinning. "I fell in the water and took my shoes and jeans off to dry," and then I realised he was referring to my underwear, started to blush and held the bag I was carrying in front of me, the bloody panties were too thin and were hiding nothing! "It was all I could find that would fit under the jeans," I mumbled. "Is there much left on the boat?" "No that's everything, well everything you had on the pallet apart from our back packs and my shoulder bag." "There's a bag with spare batteries for the torches and radio sets and a long extension lead, I'll come and help." "No, you stay there, you're dry, I'll get the back packs first and then you can go up to the beach and get the tea going whilst I get the other stuff and we'll have something to eat." I started back to the boat and a thought occurred to me, "Will, how did you manage to stay dry after you moored the boat?" "Those rocks this side of the river run out to where it's deep enough to give water at low tide and I moored to them and scrambled back, it's easy enough." When we had finished our tea and sandwiches, Will took a radio battery out of his pack and gave it to me. "I doubt you'll need it, the one in there is fully charged but just in case. I'm going up to the cave and climb the hill from there. I'll call you when I think I'm about half way to see if we're still in range, okay?" "Fine, call from the top of the hill as well, I won't be exploring too far from here." I watched him until he disappeared into the trees and wondered what he must have really thought when he saw me in the wet panties. He had made light of it and gave the impression that he didn't consider my clothing or for that matter my behaviour at breakfast when he saw me dancing as unusual but was that what he really thought? He remained the same outwardly; friendly, humorous and unhesitating when we had to work together, there was no attempt to shy away from being close to me and never hesitated to offer a hand to assist me out of the boat and on occasions had touched me, placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder, things like that. I turned and stepped up to the floor of the old house to begin exploring; but what about me? Seeing the girl in the mirror; using female clothing if it was more convenient and not worrying about the fact that I was doing it, only about what other people might think. I pushed the thoughts aside, I had work to do and this was no time for introspection. I went to the chimney, the fireplace was open and intended to heat the entire house. I suspect that if we couldn't find the original ovens then it would be possible to adapt it to accommodate a modern Argo or support a grill. There were hooks protruding from the inside of the chimney and these would have been used for the cauldron and when I looked closely, there were holes either side of the fireplace, a row of three, I pondered these for a while and came to the conclusion that they must have been used for a spit. I stood, satisfied that both cooking and heating were up to survival standards and walked to the rear to check the plumbing. I found holes close to where the rear wall would have been and these were roughly the size that might have been used for a sink drain and water supply and further along in what I presume would have been a bedroom, another hole, a bath? I smiled to myself, an en- suite bathroom in a log cabin must have been something of a novelty as well as a luxury in the time that this place had been built but when I looked across the whole area, it had probably had only three rooms, a sitting room combined with a dining area, a kitchen and one bedroom with an en-suite but where had the toilet been? The hole for what I suspected had been a bath was too small for a water closet and there was nothing in the kitchen though I would have been surprised if there had been evidence of a WC in a kitchen, it must have been outside somewhere and I doubt it had been a water closet, Thomas Crapper's invention would hardly have travelled as far as a remote island in the South Pacific in those days. If we were to rebuild the house and live in it, then Will would have to add a second bedroom and an indoor loo. I returned to the front of the house still inspecting the rough wooden planks that had been used and there was evidence that there had been a front porch and the view was picture book. Whoever the tenants had been, must have spent most of the fine evenings sitting here watching the sunset and the waves breaking on the reef and I could easily picture myself doing exactly the same in a comfortable lounger or even a rocking chair with a glass of vintage wine in my hand. I jumped down onto what was once a lawn and walked a few paces and turned to look back to where the house had stood. There was level ground to either side, the section to the right after perhaps three metres began to rise toward the trees and the cave and to the left there was a clear section of about the same width and behind that, shrubbery but when I studied the shrubs I realised that they weren't random local plants, the row was too even and they were of about the same height but being middle to late spring, there were no flowers or fruit that might help me. I walked along this section and noticed that there seemed to be slightly rougher ground immediately next to the house and again in front of the shrubs, I was walking along a path between old forgotten flower beds. I went a little past the rear of the house and stopped to take a look, here again there was evidence that there had once been a lawn but it was only about ten metres and then there was the piles of stones where we had found the cooking pots and further along there was another pile of overgrown rough-hewn planks and beyond that rocky ground and then an area about five metres square that had a riot of mixed plants and small shrubs growing over it. It was different to the land around it which was much the same as the land to either side of the house and I spent a while wondering why and slowly walked towards it and then I put two and two together and realised it must be a midden or cesspit, well fertilized, hence the riot of wild plants and the hewn planks would have been the loo, now all I had to do was find the lavatory pan and if it had Shanks, Made in Stoke written on it I would scream. I walked around the midden, I didn't want to get half way across and have the surface collapse and vanish for ever into a mixture of household refuse and human waste products even if it had dried out by now. Beyond the midden it was obvious the ground had been worked. It was the full width of the house and side paths and around twenty five metres in length and in one section there were the remains of one or two canes or sticks standing and I remembered Auntie Mo's garden. She had kept the back section for growing vegetables and salads and used canes just like the ones I was looking at to support runner beans and peas, this was obviously an allotment and a very large one, more than enough for two people, I took out my notebook and drew a quick sketch to illustrate the position of the midden and then moved on past the allotment to the stand of trees that marked its southern boundary and as I grew closer I recognised olive trees and judging by the flowers on others, orange, lime and lemon. As I went through I stopped under one of the trees and watched two or three bees moving about so there were honey bee colonies around somewhere. I doubt they lived in hand built beehives, not after all these years but they had certainly built colonies somewhere. My radio buzzed, "Charlie's Fruit and Veg, may I take your order?" Will chuckled, "I wonder what you'll say when you run out of ideas, how's the signal." "Not as good as it was outside the house." "Where are you?" "Under some fruit and olive trees in what used to be an orchard I think." "Move away from the trees." I did so and spoke again, "How is it now?" "Much better. I'm halfway up, I'll push on a bit, I taking it you're making discoveries?" "Yes, I've found an archaeologists dream, a midden." "Don't fall in, I'll call again when I reach the top." "Will, did you take a notebook?" "Yes of course." "Can you make notes and try and draw a rough map when you are at the top." "Yes and if I see any edible plants, I'll jot them down or bring samples. I'm hoping to find hops." "We don't need them, there's years of beer and lager on the ship." "Well you started the long term planning." "I'm still doing it and have mapped out where to build a second bedroom and inside loo for the house." 6 On the return to the boat, we had little to carry; our back packs were empty and we left the radios behind with the intention of commandeering a second pair for use on the ship. I carried the picnic box up to the galley whilst Will tied the boat up for the night and checked the ships moorings were still secure and we sat in the saloon. "What do you fancy for dinner tonight?" "I'm not hungry at the moment that was quite a picnic you packed." "I enjoyed it, I'll do a supper, fish and chips or hot dogs later if you don't want a full meal." "Okay." I got up and switched on the music and picked some easy listening tracks and returned to my chair, I was back to thinking about this morning and clothes. I sat for a while half listening to the music and going back and forth in my thoughts until Will spoke; "You were very quiet coming back in the boat, and you seem a little worried about something now. It isn't about being rescued is it because if you want, I'll go over the ship in the morning, show you how basic things work and we can try and get her off the reef and go back to sea and look for help. It's not as impossible as it may seem because there is a system that allows the engines to be controlled from the bridge." I shook my head, "No, it's not that, I feel safe at the moment and when I get the radio or satellite link working we can send for help." "Something's worrying you, Charlie, what is it. Something I've said or done?" "No," I said quickly, "No, Will, you've been terrific and made me feel safe on the island and I've been enjoying myself, no, it's nothing you've done." "Charlie," he said quietly, "What is it." "Nothing, well nothing I feel I can talk about." "You have to talk about it, if not now then very soon. We are stuck here together and we don't really know for how long so we can't afford to have something going on that might cause friction." He was right but I just didn't know how to ask him, voice the doubts I had about myself. "Later then," he said after a couple of minutes of silence, "But tonight if you can, Charlie, I don't want to spend a sleepless night worrying about you worrying about something." He started to get up, "I'll go and get the cabling we'll need on the island so I can get the generator going and run lights up to the cave." "No don't go, not yet," I paused and he sat down waiting for me to continue. "Do you think I'm strange, that I act strangely, do odd things?" "Like what?" "The dancing this morning, the business with my underwear and wearing the women's jeans, cooking, nursing, and the untypical things I do." "Untypical of what, Charlie. Untypical of a hairy chested over muscled man, the things I might not do? Not having had a regular girl friend?" I couldn't look at him and just nodded and mumbled, "Yes, stuff like that," and then it came out, I couldn't stop it, "Do you think I'm gay?" He looked steadily at me, not hard, there was softness in his eyes. "I could answer that by asking you the same question. No, I don't think you're gay, you're a delicate man, a lot softer than most men allow themselves to admit to or demonstrate but I'm pretty sure you're not gay and if you are, I don't give a toss." I shook my head, "I'm not, well if I am I don't know about it but this morning when I was in the shop, I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror and for a second I thought it was somebody else, a woman and but for the fact that the reflection showed a flat chest, I would have believed there was a woman on board." "You're slim, have soft facial features and hair, are fair skinned and perhaps your waist is smaller by an inch or two for a man of your height which is on the shorter side of average and maybe your hips a little wider than average and it wouldn't be difficult at a quick glance to mistake you for a woman and if that's all that's worrying you stop it because there are men in very masculine occupations, married with loads of kids, men who are similar to you physically and don't perceive it as a problem." I smiled, "My problem Will is that I am not really worried about having to wear women's clothes, in fact if I were to be honest I prefer them, they are more comfortable and when I put the hat on, I liked the way it looked on me." "That doesn't necessarily mean you are gay in the strict sense of the word but it might be the symptom of something else." "Like what?" "Charlie I am not a psychiatrist but from what I know about it from television and newspapers and I don't mean the sensation sheets, I think you should consider the possibility you are transsexual but I stress, it is only a suggestion. You are Charlie, I like you, we gel and we don't argue about who does what, we pick the jobs we do best and get on with it. When we are rescued and return to the known world I will want us to keep in touch, stay friends, friends that meet and have a drink and reminisce about the good old days when we were marooned on an uncharted island and your sexuality isn't relevant unless we're here for six months in which case I might ask you to wear a grass skirt and do a bit of hula-hula dancing." He finished his drink and got up, "Do you want another?" "Yes please, shall we watch a film? If there's a copy of 'South Pacific' I'll put that on and bone up on hula-hula dancing." I had the breakfast ready when I heard Will go into the saloon and place something heavy on the floor and then dropped something on a table. I picked up his eggs and bacon and my cornflakes and carried them to our favourite dining table and saw him holding something against himself but he had his back to me and as I placed the plates down he turned. "It's a wet-suit," I exclaimed. "It is but the size is too large for you, the trousers are too long for me, if you wore them you'd slip down into one of the legs." "Let me see," and I took them from him and held them against myself. "They're perfect." "Perfect! The waist is halfway up your chest!" "That's the way they're supposed to be," I put them down and picked up the vest and struggled into it, "This too." I didn't put the jacket on, a look was good enough. "The trousers are supposed to fit half way up your chest?" "Yup and then when I wear the vest and jacket, I'll have three layers of neoprene protecting most of my chest and hips and they will keep me snug and warm." He shrugged and held up a pair of fluorescent pink fins, "What about these flippers, will they fit?" I tried one on, lifted my leg and shook my foot, "Made for me." "What about the colour?" I grinned, "That too, it will keep me visible and easy to find in the gloomy depths. The colour is more for visibility than fashion but they do match the jeans. Now eat your breakfast before it gets cold." He laughed, "If I see a pair with daisies painted on them, I'll get them for you," and as he sat down he pointed, "I know that's an air bottle but it's empty and not knowing the pressures I left it that way but there is a compressor in the engine room and that cardboard box contains some other stuff that was packed with the air bottle." I looked inside and it was a demand valve with a buddy breathing system, a contents gauge, depth gauge and two masks, one eyes and nose the other full face. "This is terrific, nearly everything I need." "There was an orange jacket down there as well but I wasn't sure if it was for diving and I was carrying enough anyway so I left it." "Did it have a small metal bottle attached to it?" "Yes and a couple of rubber tubes." "That's a buoyancy jacket, I'll pop down after breakfast and fetch it up." "There's a choice but all the same colour," he grinned "And it might clash with the fins. There are some more wet suits, a couple made from what looks like rubberised canvas and a few other bits and pieces." "Why would a small ship carry so much diving gear?" "It's not part of the ship's equipment, its cargo. Don't forget the ship plies the islands, that's what it was built for and island people would find a lot of use for diving equipment with the sea all around them." Changing the subject he went on, "We've been working pretty hard for three days, fancy something different today? I was thinking of taking the boat and motoring right round the island and explore the beaches and coves to look for signs of people being here. If the wind is right, we could put the mast up and do a bit of sailing as well." "I'd love to, I can do a bit of diving if we find a place where there might be crabs." As soon as breakfast was finished I rushed down to the forward hold and found the diving equipment straight away and took a second air bottle, a couple of snorkels and a pair of black fins just in case Will wanted a lesson. I browsed through the cartons and found a whole load of accessories and joy of joy, some air harpoon sets, so with luck it might be crayfish, crab and shark steaks for dinner. I went back to number three hold and claimed the trolley and when I got back I remembered weight belts and found some and a very, very heavy box of weights and when I had everything on the trolley, I pushed it back to the hull doors, a successful session of shop-lifting complete. Will was just coming down from the electrician's stores with rolls of cable and fittings, "Can we take all this stuff?" "We can but why do you want so much?" "I brought a spare set for you if we find safe water for beginners." He laughed, "You won't get me going under the sea, I'll start my lessons here in the lagoon." I didn't push him, a nervous swimmer trying to learn to use scuba equipment was no use but I would train him if we were here long enough. "Do I have time to charge the air bottles?" "How long?" "Fifteen or twenty minutes." "Okay but no longer or we will have to rush everything and spoil the day. I'll go up and get the picnic." We motored over to the other life boat and Will quickly transferred the rolls of electric cable and fittings to it and then, staying a few meters off the beach, we continued until it curved out to meet the other reef which had started to curve inwards at this point. I was standing on the seat looking down at the sea bed, "Will, the bottom falls away very rapidly here," I knelt and leaned over the side, "I can see the top of a kelp forest, no wait, that's out of view now, I think this is an underwater drop-off, a cliff." "The inside of the old volcano probably. When we investigate the section off the beach we've been using, it will probably do the same." We continued following the reef staying well clear and left the lagoon by the gap through which the ship must have entered and this close we realised how lucky we had been, had the Pacific Wanderer been seven or eight meters to either side of the course she had taken, we would have hit the outside of the reef and almost certainly have sunk. Providence had been with us that night. We turned right and headed towards the eastern end of the island and after about a quarter of a mile the mixture of small beaches and rocky spurs gave way to cliffs. At first they were only about twenty meters high but as we progressed they climbed until we judged them to be about forty five and here there was some evidence of sandstone over limestone in the strata. Will studied them through the glasses for a few minutes and then gave them to me, "Look at the strata stripes, this mountain is very old and has been fully submerged at least four or five times." "Is that good?" "I would think so because there are no signs of volcanic rock which means our volcano is small as volcanoes go and has been extinct for a few thousand years at least." "Do you want to land and have a closer look, there's a small cove over there?" "No, we'll continue for a while longer if that's okay, I would rather have a look at the other side of the island unless you want to go ashore?" "No, I'm okay, I'd prefer the other side as well, if there is a place where there's a ridge of sorts jutting out into the sea, that would be more interesting for diving because it wouldn't be influenced by the volcano and there might be coral reefs." "You do know that the sea may be very cold?" "It was warm in the lagoon." "Yes it's sheltered there but this is the open sea." I shrugged, "I've dived off Cornwall and Plymouth in early March and that's cold." "I think you may be in for a shock, test the temperature first. In the Channel, even after winter before the sun has had a chance to warm it up it's a lot warmer than here. In the Channel you have the benefit of the Gulf Stream, here if there are any predominant currents, they are likely to come from the Antarctic and it is just recovering from winter." "That's okay, I dived under ice once in a Norwegian fjord." "Did you catch anything?" he was grinning. "An iceberg, oh yes, and a cold." As we continued I started getting the diving equipment ready but when I leaned over the side of the boat to reach down and test the water temperature, Will yelled at me, "Get back inboard, Charlie, you'll go over the side." I did as he told me but protested, "I would have been okay." "I wasn't going to take that chance." He left the tiller and went to an under-seat locker and pulled out a couple of life-jackets, "Here put this on, we both should have done it before we set off." He was right, in fact we should put one on every time we got into the boat, even in the lagoon. "Okay now?" I asked once I had tied it up. "I suppose so but don't fall in it will be hard to find somebody to go in and rescue you because I'm not going in, it'll be too bloody cold for me." "Use the boat hook," and I leaned over making sure I hooked my feet under an oarsman's seat and kept a firm grip on the gunwale. My hand wasn't in the water long before I pulled it out, "You're right it's definitely too cold for a wet suit. If I do go in and the water is like this I'll have to wear one of the drysuits." We continued heading east and then the land began to slope down and became a promontory which ended in a rocky spur reaching out to the sea like a finger. "It's beginning to look a bit like Beachy Head and Lyme Bay," I said, "I feel quite at home." He nodded, "No lighthouse though and that spur looks like coral." "Coral! There'll be fish around here then, crab, crayfish and if there's a suitable sea bed, oysters, scallops, abalone, mackerel, sardines, skate, halibut, even rays and swordfish, they grill up nicely," I looked beyond the spur, "I wonder what it's like on the other side?" "We're about to find out," he replied beginning to turn the boat to round the end of the spur. "Charlie can you jump up onto the bow locker and watch close in and ahead and yell if you see rocks or coral," as he spoke he leaned forward and cut the engine speed to a crawl. We edged forward and I kept my eyes on the sea a few metres ahead of the bow, "Go left a bit, Will, there's reef just below the surface on the right." He did so and I watched, "There's rock or coral dead ahead but it looks too deep, wait a tick," and I lay down and peered over the bow, "Okay, it's at least two metres below us and then it drops off, I think we're clear now." I felt the boat turn again and we started back towards the south side of the island on the other side of the spur but I still kept my eyes to the front. I glanced up from the sea and looked ahead, "There's a small cove dead ahead with a sandy beach and the sea looks undisturbed as the waves wash up," I jumped down, "Let me have the high powered glasses." Will walked up the boat and handed them to me and waited whilst I climbed back onto the locker and studied the cove and the sea in front of it, "It looks clear of underwater rocks and there's plenty of rocks either side of the cove to moor the boat." "Let's go in and have a closer look," he walked back to the stern and steered slowly into the cove whilst I continued to watch the sea and then we touched the beach gently. Without thinking I grabbed the mooring rope and slid over the bow and into the water. Had I been ready it wouldn't have been so bad but I was expecting water at lagoon temperature, it wasn't, it was at North Sea in a bad mood temperature and I yelped and reflex action made me leap four bounds onto the warm sand of the beach. The water had been knee deep and I looked down expecting to see penguins sitting on my feet. "Are you okay," called a deeply concerned Will with a face splitting grin on the front of his head. "Suicidal and if you start laughing, I'm walking back to the ship and you can moor your own boat," and turned and stalked over to some rocks and tied the boat up. When I got back, Will jumped off the bow and waded onto the sand and he was wearing sea boots! "You might have told me you had those," I growled, stooping to pull cold soggy jeans away from my calves." "You never gave me the chance, you went straight over the moment the boat touched. Anyway, they're size ten." "I'd rather flop around inside a pair of sea boots than paddle in Antarctic water outside them." I pointed up the beach, "I think there's some sort of path off the beach where those rocks are." He used the glasses and then handed them to me, "You're right and it's not overgrown, let's take a look." There was nothing of note about the path. There were signs of animal droppings and Will and I thought they might be left by goats or sheep but what goats and sheep would want on a path that led to a beach was a mystery to us unless the animals were farmed and left by people on another island and the droppings were left when the animals were either driven down or up from the beach for sheering or culling. When the slope from the beach levelled off it exposed the land to be not dissimilar to that of one of the moors on Britain's mainland, Dartmoor I thought. There were outcrops of rocks, grass and an abundance of heather like plants and mixed shrubbery and would certainly suit goats. After a short exploration we returned to the boat and once launched I took the helm and Will sat the other side of the engine cover making notes and drawing crude maps. After half an hour, the cliffs we had been paralleling since leaving the cove gave way to a wide shallow bay and behind a sandy beach and line of palms there was a heavily wooded area and the land sloped rapidly up towards the top of the hill. "Are we going in?" Will looked up from his map, "I'm hungry, fancy having the picnic now?" "Yes, good idea." "Turn right and head for the middle of the beach." "Ten degrees of stab'd rudder come to course three five oh, aye-aye, Cap'n." Will chuckled, "You're really getting in to it." "I'm having fun, aren't you?" "Yes, it's our ancient British genes, we're a maritime nation, born to the sea and exploration." I turned and looked astern, "Will, how far do you think we are from the nearest land, somewhere where there are people, hospitals, airports, stuff like that?" "As far as I know from guessing the distance we headed south during the storm, I would think that New Zealand is probably two thousand miles to the west, South America about two and a half perhaps three thousand east and the nearest civilisation with a hospital and airport is most likely the Pitcairn Islands, about a thousand miles north-west." "A long way so unless the others are picked up and the captain of Pacific Wanderer knew our position when they abandoned us, we're going to be difficult to find?" "We probably have thousands of square miles of Pacific Ocean around us, Charlie. I could give you false hope but I think you'd prefer to know the truth." "Yes, definitely. At the moment I'm not scared but if we are going to be here for two or three months, we need to look at augmenting our food. I know there's tons of food on the Wanderer but we are going to need fresh food if we're to stay healthy." "We've discovered coconuts already and I'm pretty sure I saw date palms a bit inland as we came into this bay and the fact that this island has been occupied in the past does indicate that there is food here, it's really a question of our finding and recognising it." I nudged the lifeboats bow onto the sand at a point where an area had a number of slight depressions in it. Will jumped over and as I handed the picnic box down I nodded to the depressions, "Try not to walk in those depressions." Will glanced at them, "It's where a small stream is trickling down to the sea, that's all, there's no danger." "Yes there is, there may be cockles lying under the trickles and you'll crush them and I want to collect them." "Food gathering already?" "Yes and when we get back to the lagoon we must see if there are many there. It's easier to scoop them out of the sand when the tide goes out than it is to dive for them and they tend to gather at places where warm fresh water trickles across a beach." "What about lobsters?" he asked with a grin, "I love lobster." "No lobsters but there may be crayfish we'll definitely have to dive for them but there are some likely looking places at Goat's Cove and back home in the lagoon." He gave me a careful look, nodded to himself rather than me and said, "Goat's Cove?" "We'll have to give these places names so that we'll each know what the other is talking about when we discuss them." "You've made up your mind we'll be here long enough for that and you referred to the lagoon as home?" I looked up from where I was gathering our backpacks and binoculars, "I like it here, Will, if we need to stay for a long while, I won't mind." He nodded again but didn't respond, "Stay there, I'll dump these on dry sand and comeback for the mooring rope." He waded out of the water and a short distance up the sand, dropped the load and came back. I was standing with the mooring rope ready but he held out his arms, "Climb aboard, I'll carry you so you can stay dry." "In your arms?" "You can sit on my head if you prefer." I sat on the edge of the gunwale and he eased one hand under my thighs the other around my shoulder blades and lifted me as if I were no more weight than the picnic box and turned, "Are you diving for crayfish?" "From here," I looked down, "The water isn't deep enough." He laughed and saying no more carried me through the water and didn't put me down until we were on dry land next to the picnic. He still remained silent, took the mooring rope of me and began to trudge up the beach to a convenient palm and I stood and watched him. I hadn't tried to climb on his back or objected when he lifted and held me close to his chest and the confusion inside me started again - I hadn't protested, not said a word and acted as if his carrying me as he would carry a girl was normal, no more than normal it was the expected way for him to carry me. I had felt no erotic thrill, no sexual arousal being in his arms, just secure and comfortable. He came back, picked up the picnic box and nodded to the tree line, "Where do you want to picnic?" Deferring to me again as he would a girl and the confusion increased and if he had held out a hand and taken mine to help me up the beach, I would have let him. I was frightened to speak in case my voice trembled but I spotted the perfect spot, "Over there between those two coconut palms, the ones leaning over the beach," I pointed, "Not under the trees in case a coconut falls and brains one of us, somewhere between them." "Right," he grabbed his backpack and the picnic box and went up the beach and I suddenly felt lonely, followed his example and shouldered my backpack, grabbed my bag and the water container and almost ran after him. I caught him up as he placed the box on the ground, "This okay?" I looked up into the palms, "Yes we're clear of the coconuts." "I'll go and fetch one and then walk inland a short distance and see if I can find any fruit." "Fresh fruit in the spring?" I asked. "The climate here is warm Mediterranean, there might be something even this early. Want any ice cream if I find a corner shop?" I jumped up from where I had been laying the ground sheet and table cloth. "Salad cream, pepper sauce for the roast fillet of steak sandwiches. Do you want tea, beer or wine?" "Beer, please. I'll be off, thirty minutes okay?" "Fine I'll have it ready by then." He nodded, "Scream if you need me," and he walked to the top of the grassy patch and vanished into a gap in the undergrowth. The wine and beer were still on the boat so I was going to get wet again. No I wasn't, I glanced behind me but there was no sign of Will so I took off my shoes and jeans and went back to the boat. I collected the string bag containing the drinks which I had hung over the side of the boat and started back; 'Scream if you need me', not shout but 'scream'. There was no doubt in my mind, Will was treating me as a woman but I didn't know whether he was doing it consciously or not. Dam! I got back to the picnic site and dressed, there was no point in brooding, I would have to speak to him, he was right if there was an atmosphere between us it was going to make life difficult. Tonight, when were back on the Wanderer, yes tonight I would bring the subject up, carefully and I must do it quietly after I've had a chance to think about what to say. I was sure now, I was beginning to understand things, questions I had never consciously asked myself where being answered, I was beginning to realise just who Charlie Broughton was and I was frightened, really frightened but I was determined to conquer the fear. This was not something that had just happened, it had been there all the time but perhaps it was the shipwreck, perhaps finding myself in such unusual circumstances or perhaps, despite being frightened I had subconsciously come to the decision that here, here on this lonely island, away from civilisation with only a nice man who wouldn't harm me, here and now was the time and place to face reality. The worse that could happen is that I should have to move off the boat and fend for myself, Will I was convinced wouldn't become violent unless avoiding contact with me, ignoring the fact that I existed was an act of violence. In Chapter 7. Charlie introduces Will to the girl who has been hiding on Pacific Wanderer. If you've read this far you must be enjoying the story so let me know. For those of you who have been kind enough to review 'First Dates Are Kissing Dates', I will go back to it but for the moment I have to concentrate on completing 'Footprints In The Sea' which I think will take another month and probably end at between 180 and 200,000 words and around 40 chapters.