~ Together Alone ~
by A. Tietz (Birdee)

Copyright:	The characters are mine though they may resemble other fictional characters physically. The story is mine and I hold the copyright to it.
Female relationship:	This story depicts a love/sexual relationship between two females. If this is a prohibited form of literature in your life please do not continue.
Authors note:	This is a true love story with some adventure thrown in. There are scenes of passion, but they are not explicit. I do plan on making this a 3 book series. I know what the second book will be and I am writing it. But this first book took two years to write because I have many life obligations. Therefore, I have written this book to conclude in a manner the reader can be satisfied with even if the second book takes another two years. Also, I apologize for not having time to work on the edits I received, just not enough time.
Synopsis:	A yacht hits a hurricane and people become stranded including two little girls. This story follows their life and survival separated from civilization and the relationship that develops between the girls as a result.

Comments, Feedback: Please feed the bard: roamer64@hotmail.com

Copyrighted 2007 by A. Tietz (Birdee)

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She kissed both little girls and squeezed Sarah tight, "Megan, don't loose Sarah, stay together. If I call you come to my voice, remember where the raft is, pull the cord and jump in if you don't see me or Matthew. Head toward that land we showed you. I love you," Corral's voice betrayed her fear though she tried to be reassuring.

"Mummie, Mummie," Sarah ran after her mum followed shortly by Megan.

Corral hugged them both and put them together back by the bed, "It'll be okay girls. Daddy is a good sailor, but I need to help him," she paused and looked at Megan, "remember what I told you honey."

Megan's mouth was a pout but she fought back the tears and nodded trying to be brave, putting a protective arm around her 7 year old playmate. The ship was tossing so violently Corral could barely make her way out of the cabin. The girls huddled together and Sarah began really crying. Megan O'Malley was almost a year older than her friend but she knew Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair were counting on her to keep Sarah safe while they wrestled to keep the ship from sinking.

"Your daddy will keep us safe Sarah, he will, your mommy too, its okay," Megan wasn't too sure she was right, she wanted to cry too and she wanted her mommy.

The girls heard Matthew Sinclair shouting out orders and caution over the violent storm, "We …..too close…tighten that…. if…. hit…….go……girls."

Suddenly the ship seemed like it rolled completely over sending the girls rolling with it causing Sarah to scream out, "Ahhh, Meg………." as they were thrown by the motion. When the ship righted itself Megan was still holding tightly to her friend, but there was panic up above.
"Corral……..Corral…..Caracal………Nooooooooooo……God…nooooooo,……….girls…Saraaaaah……..Sar…." Matthew's voice was terrified.

Sarah rushed up to the deck with Megan on her heels.

"Daddy, dadd………."

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh," Sarah screamed as the girls were engulfed in a huge wash of water but Megan held onto her little charge as they fell back down the steps.


"Girls, Sarah, Meeeegan……….where, Cor……Coral…………..Saraaaaah…….daddy's voice, Saraaaaah………" Matthew was screaming.

The girls were coughing and picking themselves up when the ship titled violently, it seemed like they could have been airborne for a moment and then there was a horrible metal crunching- tearing noise as the floor ripped open and a huge rock came slamming through the cabin almost penetrating the ceiling. The girls screamed as the force of it threw Megan into Sarah but it took only a few moments before they were scrambling over the debris to the top deck as water came spewing up into the room.

As they got to the deck they could see a huge monolithic looking rock beside the ship and they frantically looked for Matthew but he couldn't be found before another wave crashed over the vessel. They grasped the ship and held their breath. Megan looked toward where the raft was held fast and as she pulled Sarah toward it, they saw Mr. Sinclair sprawled on the deck with his leg caught up in the rope that held the raft in place.

"Daddy, Daddy, wake up….. daddy…….." Sarah had run to her father, just as a huge wave came up under them and over the side of the ship Megan was nearest too.

It took Megan by surprise and she was washed overboard as she heard her name being screamed, "Meeeegan!!!!"

At first the momentum of the wave took Megan away from the ship and in the next moment it hurled her toward it. She was slammed into the side of the ship hitting her head and the left side of her body hard. For a moment the world was black but the next thing Megan was aware of was hands grabbing at her. It was Sarah leaning over the side of the rail reaching desperately for her friend. Megan grasped Sarah's hand enough to help her reach the railing. Just then Matthew appeared and the water drenched them all again but as the wave receded they were all still holding onto the railing. He was bleeding from his head but helped Megan back up to the deck.

"Daddy, where's mummie……….daddy you're bleeding…….daddy……" Sarah was crying.

"Come on girls, we have to get off this bloody ship," he began leading them forward wincing each time he put pressure on his right leg.

"But daddy, where's mummie, we can't leave mummie…….daddy, I want mummie……." Sarah was hysterical.

"Sarah, mummie isn't here, please we have to go, mummie wants you safe, now come on gir………….."

Another wave smashed upon them, throwing Matthew to the deck, while Megan and Sarah were washed almost off the ship again. But Megan had grabbed her friend and as they slid with the water Megan reached out for anything and wrapped her hand around a rope, which became taught almost immediately halting their progress and making Megan scream in pain almost releasing her grip, but she held on and they stayed on the ship.

Matthew was scrambling forward as well as he could, reaching the children as another round of water smashed over them washing them all off the ship. Megan wasn't far from Sarah, both bobbing in the water with life jackets. They swam toward Matthew's body that floated lifelessly, with the assistance of his life vest, but they didn't reach him before his body was thrown into a rock. Struggling against the water they continued to swim and finally reached him then began striving toward the slightly calmer waters near what appeared to be a beach. The waves, often higher than tall rocks, carried them like toothpicks but their fortune changed as a huge wave propelled them all forward enough that Megan's feet could almost touch the ground in shallower water. Matthew sputtered awake as his leg touched the ground and the pain brought him to consciousness.

The girls helped him crawl upon the shore and they eventually sloshed their way to a little alcove naturally made by some rocks at the north end of the beach partitially sheltered from some of the wind and driving rain. Matthew collapsed in puddles after telling the girls not to move, to stay put until the storm blew out. If he didn't wake up, they were to go get water and splash on his face, if that didn't wake him, they were to strip the ship of every possible item they could use and bring it to the beach.

Sarah held onto her father crying for her mummie while a stunned Megan could hardly move, especially due to the pain in her shoulder and head. She sat staring at her friend and let the tears fall wishing she was back home in Lake Hopatcong New Jersey with her mommy and daddy. The older girl was scared that Sarah's dad might die and she knew that's what happened to Sarah's mom, she got lost in the water probably when Mr. Sinclair had screamed. They were cold, scared, practically alone, and lost.

Exhausted from the ordeal, they slept fitfully through the rain that continued into the night but lessened well before dawn. It was early in the morning; the colors of the sunrise casting a faint orange glow, when Megan was tugged awake, opening her eyes to see a blonde little girl looking at her rather urgently.

"Megan…..Meggie, wake up Meggie……I've got to pee, but I don't wanna go in the bushes by myself," Sarah's Australian brogue broke through the morning cobwebs.

So a sleepy Megan followed her friend and they both took care of business. Megan didn't mention the big spider she saw in the tree she just hurried them along and back out to the beach, which was only a few feet. Megan paused, her head was throbbing and her shoulder felt like it was on fire even though she tried not to move it very much as they walked.

Noticing Megan lagging behind Sarah came back, "We should get some water for my dad, cause………Meggie, your face is big, you got hurt," she reached up and touched near Megan's left eye.

"You got blood, but it's kinda dry," Sarah said with concern.

Megan wanted to be brave even though she was hurting, "Come on lets go to the water Sarah."

They trudged across the beach to the beautiful turquoise clear waters of the lagoon. Even though the sun was only beginning its trek across a cloudy sky, it was already a bit humid and the water looked inviting so Sarah plunged in and came up quickly.

"Ow it stings my leg," Sarah was rubbing the back of her thigh and bottom, through her pink shorts, where there were some large scraps from being carried across the ship's deck by the huge waves.

Megan, also still clothed in her jean shorts, sneakers, and yellow T-shirt, slowly moved into the coolness and found the same trouble when the water hit the severe rope burn on her left hand and wrist. She took in her breath with a hiss squeezing her eyes to the sting.

"Meggie, what's wrong what happened!!!!!!!!"

"It just stings like you said Sarah. My hand hurts," she looked down at her hand, which she had clutched to her chest cause it hurt to be in any other position.

"You're hurt too Meggie, like my dad, we should go back and bring him water like he said and you can sit down."

"Sarah, I want to put my head under water and not fall, hold around my back and stomach."

"K," Sarah moved in back of her friend her chin just above the water and held on.

It stung and made Megan come back up quickly groaning in pain because of the movement. It took Sarah by surprise and she began sputtering.

Not turning around cause it hurt she said with alarm,"Sorry, you okay, Sarah."

"Yeah I just swallowed water, it's really salty," Megan didn't see the sour face Sarah was making.

They walked back to their alcove, Sarah adjusting her pace to Megan's slow movement. After not being able to wake her daddy, Sarah slipped off her white, pink pock-a-dotted T-Shirt and rang out some water on his face causing him to moan.

She bent down quickly, "Daddy, daddy, wake up daddy……..please."

"Cor……..you…come ba…..Coral………Co……."

They tried more water but the man would only mumble. He had a nasty gash in his light brown hairline caked in slightly drying blood, his ankle was swollen and his body had many bruises and scraps.

Sarah's face clouded in a deep frown and the tears started flowing, she cried beside her father with Megan's hand on her back. And though Megan wanted to be more comforting her body was so weary she fell asleep. It rained heavily the next day but only briefly and not much later they rung out their clothes into their mouths because they were still thirsty. Matthew had moaned and groaned during the down pour and his eyes fluttered but he didn't wake up. The late afternoon found them in the lagoon again because it was so hot, the rain only having made the humidity worse.

Megan looked out across the landscape searching for the ship. The white sandy beach was about 150 hundred yards long with large and small black rocks on the north and south ends. Rocks dotted the lagoon here and there but were mostly concentrated at the mouth of the tranquil waters with the deeper ocean just beyond them. There was one large rock Megan thought looked like the one she'd seen by the ship, but she was in no shape to swim anywhere. They decided to wait till she got better before trying to find where they had wrecked.

"Mummie, mummie what hap……..mummie com…….mummie, mummie," Megan woke up hearing Sarah cry out in her sleep.

Hurting, she still moved over to her friend as Sarah woke up. Sarah looked pained into her friends face and closed her eyes as if to shut out reality.

"I want my mummie, I want her here it's not fair, she should swim over here, I want my mummie!"

Megan wrapped her good arm around her little friend and let her cry. It made her sad and scared cause she knew Corral was probably dead but she wasn't sure Sarah thought so too. They fell asleep next to Mr. Sinclair but were awakened in the night by the mumbling of the injured man.

"Water, I ……water, Sarah…….girls," the words were uttered hoarsely.

"Daddy, Daddy, are you awake?"

"We don't have water Mr. Sinclair, just the ocean and it doesn't taste good," Megan wasn't sure what to do and was still half asleep.

"Ship…..water….ship…..Meg…..swim to….water," his eyes fluttered closed again.

The next day the girls pondered how to get water as they were really thirsty and Mr. Sinclair had made it clear he needed it.

"You can't swim out by the rocks Sarah; it's too far by yourself. We have to look in the bushes and stuff," Megan didn't look very thrilled with the whole idea.

Her shoulder hurt so very bad even walking to the lagoon. Sighing deeply she slowly got up, trying not to show the pain.

"Meggie, you stay here, I'll go look," Sarah started moving out.

"No Sarah, no………your dad……….might wake up. You tell him I went to get water," Megan's face was stern trying to handle the pain of moving quickly toward the island's vegetation.

Sarah ran after her friend, "Megan, you stay, I can go, I'm not hurt like you. Its just water, I can look for that," Sarah's voice betrayed some hurt feelings.

"Sarah, no, you might have to go find the ship if I don't find water now. So I can go this time and if I don't get water you'll probly have to swim to find it," Megan was glad she didn't have to tell Sarah about the spiders cause the girl hated them.

Apparently this made much more sense to Sarah, "Oh, Okay, but I'm gonna stand on the edge here so you can yell. I can hear daddy too I think."

Megan smiled tiredly and, not being fond of snakes and spiders either, she slowly made her way into the jungle-like bushes and trees, the progress slowed, the farther she got the denser the foliage. The ground was still squishy from the storms and her sneakers were getting all wet and muddy. Fortunately she didn't have to go too far before she came upon an area where the ground was littered with something that looked like it could be food; it was kind of round and a little smaller than a volleyball. There was one that was kind of broke open so she kicked it first, then picked it up and got wet from the water that started pouring out. She wanted to pick up more but with one good arm she only managed two.

It took some investigation and cautious tasting to find out the liquid seemed okay, only it tasted a little sweet. Megan said she'd drink it and they would wait some to see if she got sick, then Sarah could drink it and maybe they could wake up her dad.

They couldn't get the other one open so Megan went back and found another one that was slightly cracked and they had more. Mr. Sinclair did successfully wake up enough to take the water offered, but that was all. With growling tummies, they worked on opening it up more to find out what was inside. Whatever it was was white and moist stuff and it was sweet tasting. All they had to use was a stick and it wasn't easy but they were both so hungry, they worked together and got their first food in days.

The next morning Megan went out to get a few more but she didn't find any that were opened and whatever it was, it was too hard to crack. Not finding any more cracked hard round things, Megan went cautiously further into the jungle again, not too far, and found something that looked like big grapefruits. The ones that were kind of cut open had bugs on them, they were really small "see through" kind a bugs, but she didn't want to pick those up and hunted for whole fruit.

"They look like grapefruit," Sarah said excitedly when Megan brought them back.

She picked one up and stared peeling off the skin but there were more "see through" bugs.

"Ewww, spiders, ewww, ahhh," Sarah threw the offensive fruit away and started dancing around shaking her arms and scraping at her clothes.

But being hungry makes you creative, so Megan took the fruit out into the lagoon and opened them under the water even though it really hurt her arm. The "see through" bugs didn't last long and they never bit her so now the girls had a tart tasting citrus kind of fruit that they devoured between them.

Sarah was so happy she kissed her friend on the cheek, "Sorry I was so scared. I know there's bugs and I saw a spider when you were getting these, I hope my dad wakes up, he always kills the spiders. They're so crawly, I don't like em, they're creepy."

Megan was tired from her excursions; her shoulder was throbbing and on fire even more from all the moving. She was trying not to cry and was really starting to get scared they would be alone, that Mr. Sinclair might die. Closing her eyes she leaned back against the rock, which wasn't real smooth, but she was too tired to care.

Megan woke up to Mr. Sinclair again, "Water……..Sarah….girls……where…….we need water."

"I think she went potty maybe, I'm hurt I can't swim, we found some sweet water stuff and gave you some, here we saved this for you," Megan put some fruit slices in his mouth.

As he ate, Sarah came from around the beach side of their alcove, "Daddy? Daddy!!! Daddy are you okay, are you awake now," she knelt beside him and hugged him until he groaned.

"Sarah……….girls, need water………and Megan…..more fruit. You…..get…. everything……the ship…….might sink," he was obviously struggling to stay awake.

"I can't swim Mr. Sinclair, I'm hurt. But we can try more fruit and stuff."

He moaned, "More fruit ………next time……..we must ……ship Megan…….." he looked at the girl with desperation and urgency before losing consciousness again.

Sarah insisted on coming with Megan and though the older girl was scared that either one might get bitten by something, Megan knew she couldn't do it alone. Loading themselves up with as many fruit that were on the ground they came back to the campsite. This exhausted the injured girl; she couldn't even go to the water to open the fruit, so Sarah being reassured that the bugs didn't bite did the chore. They still couldn't open the hard things but Sarah found one more that was slightly cracked.

Rain woke them in the night again, even Mr. Sinclair. He told them to use the coconut shells as drinking cups, which they did and all received some much needed water. The rain lasted quite long this time and Sarah began shivering, so she was placed between Mr. Sinclair and Megan who was also shivering. Mr. Sinclair had stayed awake longer this time trying to give the girls all the instructions his exhausted injured body would allow.

They were to both put on the life jackets and swim out to the big rock Megan thought looked familiar. Megan would just use her legs if she could and try to float on her back going as slow as she needed. When they found the ship, they needed to see if it was secure on the rocks or if it moved when they pushed hard on it. If it was underwater, they would have to wait for Mr. Sinclair. If the ship wasn't in the water and it didn't move a lot, they were to find anything made of steel, look for silverware or anything hard they could use like a knife and a hammer. They also needed to find the first aid kit; he told them to stuff their pockets with food like apples and stuff in plastic bags, but mostly bottled water. The most important chore was to find where the radio was and turn the knobs and listen for any sound. Even if they didn't hear sound they were to call May Day, May Day, Stranded SOS, many times over the radio.

It was about 165 yards out to the big rock and it took all Megan had to make it. In front of the tall column like rock they found the ship, wrecked on the smaller more jagged rocks in front of it. The ship was tilted to the port side its bow pointing north. Sarah and Megan both used their legs to push as hard as possible but the ship didn't move only creaked and moaned a little. Sometimes a wave would be big enough to splash water on the rocks where they were standing but the ship wasn't in the water at all so the girls began their search. Megan lay down for a time on a soggy bed in their former bedroom, trying to gain more strength for their return. So it was up to Sarah, and she scavenged around the ship. She only peeked into her mum and dad's bedroom and was a little frightened at how big and long the rock was that was still jutting up almost to the ceiling. She hesitated only briefly, trying not to be disappointed that she didn't see her mother anywhere in the room. And when the tears threatened she busied herself with searching the rest of the ship and helping Megan to stuff her pockets then stuffing her own. After carrying out their instructions on the soundless radio, they headed back with the supplies. Sarah carried the first aid kit, which was made to float. Megan struggled even more on the return especially with the extra burden of all the stuff they could possibly shove in her pockets and hold on her stomach while still being able to swim on her back.

She had to rest periodically and just float, not moving so she could catch her breath. Hearing the deep breaths from her friend, a worried Sarah swam as hard as she could to the beach, deposited all the stuff in her pockets, leaving the first aid kit then swam back to Megan and helped her friend get back to the beach. The taller girl collapsed on the beach as soon as she was out of the water.

"Meggie!!!!! Meggie, I'm sorry, Meggie," Sarah dropped down beside Megan.

Her eyes squeezed against the pain and as she breathed really hard she managed, "It's…..okay….Sar……I'm okay, just…….a minute."

There were several minutes of painful deep breaths while Sarah went back out into the lagoon to retrieve the items Megan had lost. Though it truly hurt to use her arm she had Sarah place plastic cups, two juice boxes and some bottled water, on her chest where she tried to grasp them as they swam. Fortunately she hadn't lost the items until shallower water.

"Help me get my jacket off, it hurts," Megan's voice was strained.

Everything hurt her arm and shoulder except if she stayed absolutely still, only then was there any real relief.

Sarah helped her and took all the supplies out of Megan's pockets," Here have this water," Sarah lifted Megan's head to help her drink.

The dark haired girl's breathing was returning to normal and she closed her eyes. The next thing she knew, she was waking up to Sarah's sweet face, "Meggie, wake up Meggie. You have to take Tylenol Meggie," Sarah stroked the face of her friend as blue eyes fluttered open.

It was dark now, but the moon was out.

"Daddy says you have to take these," Sarah pulled Megan's mouth open and plopped two Tylenol and an anti-biotic onto her tongue and put a water bottle to her lips.

She lifted Megan's head while the girl drank, then helped Megan sit up.

"Daddy said let you sleep till sunset, then wake you up and give you these. But I fell asleep too. Sorry. Can you come back to where daddy is now," Sarah's voice was full of concern.

It was painful but Megan was recovered enough to bare it as they went back to the alcove. Sarah had brought all the supplies to their partial shelter, the girls having found all that he had asked for. The first aid kit was in tact because everything was in plastic. They had brought forks and butter knives in their pockets along with food. They put two sharp knives into the first aid kit. The food was lunchmeat, apples, two bags of carrots, fruit role ups in their plastic wrappers, a bag of sunflower seeds, and a plastic container of pudding. Sarah had also managed to carry a hammer along with the first aid kit.

"Daddy was real happy about the hammer and knives. He said you should eat when you woke up too," Sarah handed her friend a fruit role up.

Megan was almost too tired to eat but she was also incredibly hungry.

"Daddy said to eat up the meat first, cause it'll spoil. Wanna share the pudding?"

Sarah pulled back the foil and took a spoonful of chocolate pudding murmuring the yummy sound then handed it to Megan.

"I'm gonna eat the meat Sarah just save me some."

"K, I love chocolate, sgood. I saved you half."

As Megan struggled to finish eating Sarah took the time to fill her in, "Daddy said he should wake up tomorrow too, he was awake for a while today. He said he feels better maybe and the biotic would help him, you too. I gave you some. And we should use the hammer to open the coconut. He said we could use the first aid kit to keep water when it rains till we can go get more stuff. I told him it's your shoulder that got hurt. He said he wants to look at it tomorrow. He said the most important was water. And that we need to fish and we need to find food like the fruits and we need to get wood to build a fire and a shelter."

Megan had listened to the rambling recital slightly smiling at her friend knowing Sarah was also likely not feeling as bad since it appeared her father might be getting better.

But then the girl's mood changed quickly and she was frowning looking down at her hands silently, "What's wrong Sarah?"

Still looking at her hands, "I asked him about mummie and he said I had to be brave and that she couldn't be here right now and we would talk about it when he got better," Sarah began to cry.

"I'm sorry Sarah," Megan didn't know what else to say.

Sarah crawled over to her friend and sat real close, Megan put her good arm around her.

Sarah was still teary when she leaned over and whispered in Megan's ear, "He didn't say, but I, I know."

She looked at Megan so deeply with such anguish on her face and whispered again, "She's not, she don't swim here cause, she's, she's dead huh Meggie, my mummie's dead, I know…, I know," Sarah curled up in a ball and covered her head and began sobbing.

Megan had mostly kept the tears away since this ordeal had begun, but she couldn't anymore. She reached out and held her friend and they wept together. Megan wanted to be with her mommy and hug her doggie Scooter and she wanted Sarah to be there too and Mr. Sinclair. It was scary here and she just wanted to go home. She woke up in the night and found Sarah's head in her lap. The pain washed over her again and more tears fell. She wanted her mommy, but it hurt more cause Sarah didn't have a mommy anymore. Megan didn't want to move, she didn't want to wake up her sad friend or feel her shoulder hurt but she had to pee. As gently as she could she got up and when Sarah woke too they went to pee together, one to watch for bugs while the other one peed.

Mr. Sinclair didn't wake up till the afternoon. The girls had worked hard on trying to break open another coconut, but they still couldn't do it. They shared the last apple and a few carrots leaving the rest for the sleeping man. Megan took more Tylenol and they emptied the first aid kit in case it rained. They were in the lagoon sharing a citrus fruit when they heard Mr. Sinclair.

Sarah ran to her father while Megan eventually caught up.

"Hi daddy, I left you the water bottle like you said," Sarah said as she watched her father gulp the liquid.

He ate the rest of the food and told them both how proud he was of them. Striving to move as little as possible he took inventory of himself. He didn't know how long he'd be awake, but he sensed he might be getting better.

"Megan, how does your arm hurt, let me see."

After investigating and trying to move her arm even though she screamed he sighed deeply, "Megan your shoulder right here, it sits in a pocket, they call it a shoulder socket. Well that's the place its suppose to be….here, feel mine. See, its round and doesn't bulge a lot. But yours is bulging a bit and I think it came out of the socket. Did something happen when we wrecked do you remember?"

"Yeah, I grabbed Sarah to keep her from going over and we slid and I found a rope and grabbed it and when it stopped us it hurt really, really bad ever since then."

"Your whole arm seems to be swollen; you probably tore some ligaments too. I know it's really painful, but its gonna heal badly and you won't be able to move it a lot if we don't try to get it back in the socket. When I'm stronger we'll have to try, but for now we're gonna make a sling."

He instructed the girls on what to do using things from the first aid kit; they ripped some cloth from the bottom of his shirt and used an ace bandage. The efforts made pretty blue eyes shed many tears but eventually they got her as comfortable as possible. It had really made Sarah feel poorly for her friend and she wouldn't leave Megan's side the rest of the afternoon, giving her kisses and holding her good hand and giving her water. They also used the rest of the ace bandage for Mr. Sinclair's ankle and both the injured took more Tylenol.

Mr. Sinclair struggled to his feet the next day; he couldn't bare pressure on his ankle so he hopped to the bushes to relieve himself. He put the girls, mostly Sarah, on the task of finding some long sticks he could make a crutch out of. It was the third day of his wakefulness and he struggled to sit next to Megan and his daughter.

"Remember I told ya we needed that shoulder bone to go back in its place? Well, I need to help that happen. But its gonna take all three of us, and Megan…….it's bound to hurt more than when you grabbed the rope and it stopped you."

Megan's eyes went wide and she looked up at him to see if he was really telling the truth.

"If we don't do it Megan, it won't heal and you'll not be able to help me and Sarah like you want. All of us need to get well so we can gather food and water and make a little house for us to live in. We need you to get better just as much as me. I'll not be able to swim out to the ship anytime soon and Sarah can't go by herself. We need to get all we can off the ship before the next big storm blows and that could be any day. So I'm sorry but I gotta ask you to be real brave and know it's gonna hurt really bad. It's okay if you scream and you'll probably cry. But I gotta give it a go Megan. I'll give you Tylenol first, then we'll have to give it a go, right?"

Megan swallowed hard and nodded slowly, "Right now?"

"No but soon honey."

Turning to his daughter, "I know you love Megan honey, but your daddy needs your help. It'll make her feel better so you'll be helping Megan that way. You have to be brave too my girl, okay?"

"I don't want to daddy, but I can try if it makes her better after."

Megan had a hard time falling to sleep that night but finally did. It was well after the morning sunrise when she awoke and ate some fruit, was given some Tylenol and went potty. When she returned, it was time for the painful shoulder ordeal. Matthew had reconsidered yesterday and decided to wait till morning when the body was rested and Megan was still a bit relaxed from sleep hoping this might help. Sarah grabbed hold of the girl as instructed; she was going to push as Matthew was going to pull.

Poor Megan fainted in mid scream and the shoulder still had not popped into place. Matthew didn't give up and instructed Sarah to wrap herself around the girl tightly while he pulled. This time he heard the snap over Megan's unconscious painful moan and Sarah's tears. The efforts had cost him having broken ribs, bruises and a sprained or broken ankle himself, but he was pleased.

He had laid Megan down with Sarah's help and was holding the girl's hand when she woke up and began moaning and breathing heavily. He prayed that he hadn't done more damage than good.

"How does it hurt sweetheart, please you have to tell me, how does it hurt," Matthew knew he was no medic.

"My elbow hurts most its like stabbing, ow…….ow, it hurts," Megan was crying.

"Daddy when does it stop, you said it would be better, daddy!!!!"

"It won't be right for a few days yet sweetheart. We put it back in place but we made the torn ligaments hurt more and it may swell even more afraid to say. Megan girl, it will get better, but not for a while, its gonna keep hurtin, you have to try and be still," Matthew hated being able to do nothing as the girl moaned.

The next few days were possibly more painful for Matthew than for little Megan. He was positive and caring on the outside but hating every minute on the inside wondering if she would truly heal and longing for his beautiful wife who would have soothed the child just by her presence. When Megan was sleeping, which she did a lot though fitfully, he had Sarah show him where the coconuts and fruit were. Not well enough to go far, he hated the limitation, wanting to really explore and see what could be found, knowing they needed more food, but they did bring back more fruit. He found a straight, sturdy tree branch and whittled it to a sharp point. With the help of the homemade crutch he hobbled to the lagoon with Sarah near by in case he fell on the sand but he made it and enjoyed the tranquil water that ironically had turned violent wrenching his wife away from him.

Feeling the coward he closed his eyes and let the tears fall as he dipped under water. He had heard the girls crying a few nights before and Sarah speaking of her mother. Most likely she knew, he hoped she wouldn't ask and cursed himself for hoping such. Corral had been swept away so fast and he knocked off his feet so often he could hardly believe it was real. She was there one moment bobbing in the water and completely gone the next. The only reason he was even coherent and had survived was to be there for his little girl and Megan. This brought another wave of tears and he was thankful he had sent Sarah back to check on Megan. He was responsible for killing his wife, leaving Sarah motherless, and taking someone else's child from them.

Matthew was lost in anguish when he heard his daughter return, "Meggie's still asleep daddy, you want your stick?"

The man took a breath dipped below the surface again, trying to compose himself, and came up shortly.

"I reckon, bring daddy his stick."

"Okay, now go see if there is more fruit and check on Megan again, I'm gonna try and spear a fish."

"But I want to watch daddy."

"You must be quiet and very, very still Sarah. We'll wait for these little buggers to swim near me so we must be absolutely silent."

She sat in perfect silence for a while as she was told. But it was rather boring for a 7 year old, so she got up and went to see about Megan and some fruit.

Megan improved within a week, but it was a very rough week. He hadn't speared one fish and they needed protein. He hobbled around and they found more fruit, though Sarah ran screaming from the bushes when they saw a snake. Matthew had his spear and was extremely angry at himself for missing the slithering thing. The pain for Megan was still present, but definitely not as severe so it had been hard to get the girl to stay put for a week. He did allow her to find refreshment in the lagoon on a very hot day and while they were all in the water it rained heavily for about a half hour, which it did on a regular basis. Upon their return to the alcove they found their first aid kit and the coconut shells filled to the brim. The next down pour came as a storm and they suffered through the driving rain and howling wind in their alcove. The girls were cold from always being wet and he was afraid they'd become ill but they had made it through.

During that week Matthew had had the girls, mostly Sarah; help him build two huge stacks of firewood on the beach. They had written a huge SOS in the sand and he alone had climbed/limped to the highest part of the island he could see. The north side of the lagoon was a rocky cliff that stretched from the main island and tapered into the sea perhaps 700 feet at its highest point at the mouth of the lagoon, the ship was wrecked on this side on some smaller rocks just above the ocean surface. The south side of the lagoon had a long stretch of land that sloped up getting rockier as you went about 400 feet high. The path to the top was mild only a bit rocky nearer the top causing you to have to climb over some rocks which could be done so by someone healthy without the use of hands. This brought you to a V shaped grassy area that began to fill with more vegetation as the V widened into the island and lost its shape. Facing south, his back to the lagoon, there was a much steeper and rockier descent on this side of the V that led onto a long narrow beach that was also much rockier and exposed to the ocean waves.

Matthew sighed deeply as from this vantage point at the pinnacle of the V; he could see only blue water in every direction and waves crashing onto the rocks down below. Tears came as he stared at reality not wanting it to be so. Standing on the grass, he pledged to teach the girls every possible thing he could think of to survive. He wondered if that was a blessing or a curse, but how could he look at such beautiful faces and ask them to give up. They would live here as long as God allowed and he knew they would die here unless another plane or another ship got thrown horribly off course and happened by. It was improbable but he built the firewood high anyway.

The girls noticed that Matthew would be gone sometimes very long hours. His ankle was finally well enough that he was able to get out to the wrecked ship, still secured by the huge rock penetrating the hull. The footing wasn't flat enough and he wasn't yet fit to retrieve anything, so he looked west out across the empty horizon and prayed that God would forgive him and have mercy. They were stranded with little hope of rescue and he was angry at what life he had robbed his wife, child and Megan of. He wept for his beautiful wife hoping her demise had been painless and when he returned from his long trips he was very quiet, though he noticed the red eyes of his sweet little girl on occasion and Megan's protective nearness.

Finally at the end of the week, he had Sarah swim out with him to see what could be retrieved, still unable to stand up on the rocks, he had Sarah report on what was in the ship. He was delighted that it seemed many things were still aboard. They brought back what Sarah could carry out to him and on her person as well. Upon their return Megan was surprised at all they'd managed to bring back. He and Sarah repeated the trip for the next few days, though getting Megan to stay behind was harder and harder. On the 4th trip they all went out to the ship and brought even more back since he finally was able to get up on the rocks and into the ship himself.

After another three days, they had recovered the torn raft, two large bowls, a large plastic jar which had been used on the yacht for making sun tea, lots of Rubbermaid containers emptied of soggy rice, flour, sugar, noodles and nuts. There were cups, silverware and utensils, pots, tools, plastic bags, wire clothes hangers, two buckets, fishing gear, blankets, towels, soap, toothbrushes and paste, hair brushes and hair ties, a tarp, pillows that would dry out, netting, rain slickers, more clothes, some magic markers, scissors, a tiny hand held sewing kit, a warped backgammon game, cards and pretty much every possible thing that two little girls and an injured man could bring back.

Other than the rock penetrating the hull there was no other damage so most everything had remain aboard. Much of the perishables were unsalvageable, but any food stuff in plastic like raisins, candy, granola bars, trail mix, margarine, pop corn, hotdogs (which had been in the freezer) peanut butter, syrup, olive oil, beef jerky, olives, pickles, jelly, and many canned items all made up their food supply.

It had been a yacht fully stocked with everything they could want on their three-week cruise, which had begun on June 10th the day after Sarah's 7th birthday. They had stayed in shipping lanes but Matthew longed for the open water and his ambition had encouraged the captain on a journey where they sailed his father's yacht from Australia out across the pacific headed for San Diego. They were far south of Hawaii just having left the province of Kiribati when the hurricane came bearing down on them quickly. Surprised and angered at the faulty radar, Captain Ray had headed for any land he could find but unfortunately the seasoned sailor had been the first to be lost at sea when the hurricane began bringing its full force upon the vessel. The ship continued to be propelled toward land but Matthew, though a good sailor, was helpless to prevent the shipwreck on this little lonely island somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Their flight had taken them horribly off course and lost to all rescue.

Over the next several weeks the recovering injured continued to get stronger and they made a shelter out of their little alcove, naturally shielded from most of the wind that seemed to blow from the west. It wasn't finished too soon as they had to weather another strong storm. He hadn't quite finished completely when it hit but this time it was a bit drier, though their brand new shelter got battered and he had to chase down some parts blown in the wind and make repairs and major improvements before the next storm came.

It wasn't but a few days after the storm blew out that they ate fish for the first time as Matthew was becoming more proficient with the spearing technique. Megan and Sarah were actually feeling secure enough that they would have splash wars in the lagoon, play hang man in the sand, build sand castles, they even fought over who dived the best or who was IT in water tag, they had a few fights as little girls do but Matthew would tell them they needed to make up before going to sleep, after which they would fall asleep huddled together which was the norm half the time.

The next several weeks found him at the ship, stripping it of all its value. He brought back plastic and wood, taking the cabinet doors off their hinges, what railing he could wrestle from its secured location, and the water logged worthless radio equipment. If it was screwed in he unscrewed it and brought it back. He was glad of his efforts as more storms periodically battered them, though not hurricanes, it still made living extremely difficult.

The wind often threatened to take the temporary tarp he had rigged to hang as their doorway. So he took the time and new materials to make as solid a roof as possible and secure the tarp with rope and vines. Their shelter was butted up against the rock alcove, being a structure made from ship salvage, bamboo, vines, palm leaves and branches. It wasn't enclosed entirely, but it did help keep the rain off their heads because Matthew had used as much wood paneling from the ship as he could on the making of the roof. He got the girls to help him bring back mattresses. It took all three of them and they almost didn't make it. But they were now all sleeping on three twin mattresses. The queen mattress had gone to the bottom, too heavy to manage, but they had gotten three twins to the shore, though it had taken three separate arduous trips but well worth it.

They used the sun tea jar and some Rubbermaid sealed containers to collect water during down pours and store it in the cooler jungle in the mud. The kids were learning how to make fire, spear fish or use the fishing equipment, look for muscles, dive for clams, hunt crab, and even spear snakes occasionally. They learned how to cut wood, repair the roof, cautiously explore the jungle, and be mindful of what was swimming along with them as they explored their lagoon. Swimming out to the ship and fishing off those rocks provided only about two fish every week.

One of their trips of exploration revealed a cave about 3 feet off the ground and only about 30 yards into the jungle from their camp but on the south side of the island. Matthew had the girls help him gather tree branches and twigs place them in the cave and set them on fire, not knowing what might live there, but he wanted to be cautious. It wasn't large but could fit all three of them lying side by side easily, his 5' 8" frame could stand up with quiet a few feet of clearance, and there was a natural rock wall shelf that hit below his breast bone. It had a sandy floor but was mostly a rock cave. Quite a few storms had them seeking refuge in the cave's security.

Matthew was thankful no hurricanes engulfed the island again; the tropical storms were enough of a hassle. The lagoon became turbulent, fishing wasn't possible, the wind battered their shelter and each time he repaired it, he wondered if the next storm would leave him anything to repair. The beach was littered with debris and their SOS was often in need of being re- written.

Once a day he climbed up to V shaped grassy knoll to look out upon an empty horizon. The firewood stack had often been blown apart and he repaired it with little hope. The girls began taking this trip with him periodically and they used a red blanket as a flag and stuck its flagpole tree branch in the ground. Matthew didn't know how long it would last but it was color and they couldn't be on top of the island all the time.

He was putting more wood on the fire when he began missing Megan. His daughter had fallen asleep, but Megan was unusually absent. Matthew thought perhaps she had gone to relieve herself but his concern made him go looking. He found the girl by the sound of her tears on the opposite end of the beach.

"Megan," his voice was alarmed, "Megan are you hurt, honey what is it," he began searching her body thinking the worst.

"I just, I…..know we can't…..but……, I miss home. Sorry………..I'm okay," the girl could barely get through the words hiccupping along the way trying in vain to stifle her tears.

"Megan, oh Megan," he wrapped her in his arms and fought his own emotions.

"Megan, I miss home too. I wish I could take you home child. I just……..I should never have……..forgive me sweet Megan, forgive me."

He was losing his battle to remain strong.

"I like you…..and you're good and you show me all kinds…..of stuff, but I miss… my…. mom. I just……want to see her one more time and………. then I'd stay here. I know she's sad and….. I……. want to tell her I'm okay cause………you take care of us……… I'm sorry," Megan managed through her sobs.

"Dear God child you have nothing to be sorry for. I wish I could give you back to your mum too. I wish I could get us off this bloody rock, I'm so sorry Megan……..forgive me."

"You didn't do anything bad, you help us live here. I just want……..to see her again," Megan dissolved into more tears and Matthew barely kept from weeping himself.

She finally started to quiet down and he walked back to the campsite with her in his arms. She fell asleep still in his embrace and his tears kept falling, as he cursed himself for his pride, his selfishness, his arrogance. What it had cost was unforgivable.

The next day they went about their chores, Matthew very quiet and Megan kind of sullen. Sarah tried to lighten the mood she didn't understand by tickling her best friend and she only got a mild response.

"What's wrong Meggie, did I do something bad, daddy's real quiet, is he mad," Sarah was trying to puzzle it out.

"I think I made him sad Sarah, I didn't mean to. But I miss my mo…. ahh, my family. I went on the other side of the beach to cry but he found me and it made him real sad. I'm sorry Sarah; do you think he's mad at me?"

"Did he sound mad last night?"

"No, but he thinks he did something bad, like it's his fault we're here I think. But he helped us be here and shows how to do all kinds a stuff and I told him, but he asked me to forgive him, and I even made him cry I think. I'm sorry Sarah, I tried to be quiet but he found me," Megan's face was a big pout she was trying not to cry again.

Sarah looked at her friend and kissed a sun tanned cheek, "I'm gonna go talk to him, k? I'll be back."

"Hi daddy."

Matthew turned around from his exploration of the tide pool.

"Is Megan with you honey?"

"Huh uh."

"You swam out here alone, you're not suppose to, reckon you forgot eh," he cautioned his daughter slightly.

"Oh, yeah, sorry. I just wanted to come out here with you by myself. Did you find anything daddy?"

"Well a few muscles, but I think we need to have a check on the other side of the island again and leave this one alone for a bit."

"Are we gonna go today?"

"No it's too late for that; we have to make us a bite you know."

He looked to his daughter clad in her bathing suit, which had become the norm for all of them, and motioned to get into the water.

"Daddy, can we sit here? Not long, but a little bit just you and me?"

"Oh…kay. Are you feeling okay little one, anything wrong, is Megan okay?"

She sat down on the big rock above the water and he beside her, "Well she's sad. And she's sorry she made you sad………….You aren't mad at her are you daddy?"

He took in a deep breath, "God in heaven, of course not Sarah. Why would I be mad at her?"

"Cause she said you feel like you did something bad cause we're here. And that she told you you help us and you take care of us. She even tried to cry by herself but you found her out."

He was silent a long time, looking out over the water.

"I love you daddy. And I don't want anything bad to happen to you or for you to be sad. Megan loves you too; she doesn't want to make you sad either. She just misses her……..family."

His voice broke a little, "She has every right to miss her family, so do we. I think we're all sad Sarah and…….its okay to be sad," a tear slid down his cheek and he sighed.

"I'm sad about mummie daddy, I'm sorry, but I'm sad too," Sarah started crying quietly, trying not to.

The pain was almost unbearable, knowing he had taken his child's mother from her.

"I'm so sorry Sarah," he rasped.

She sought his embrace and they both cried.

"Daddy, I'm sorry mummies not here, but I'm glad you are, I love you and so does Megan."

"I love you too Sarah and of course Megan."

There was a moment in silence.

"Can mummie see us from heaven?"

"If ever an angel….. Oh yes sweetie, I know she can."

"Well if she can hear us too, she knows we love her and miss her right?"

"Yes."

"I hope it makes her feel good if she sees us sometimes we laugh and stuff. She's probably happy you showed how to do so much stuff too."

"I hope so honey."

After quite a few moments of silence while Sarah's tears lessened and Matthew struggled to gain composure Sarah asked, "Can we go back so you can tell Megan you're not mad at her?"

Looking back toward the beach he was a little concerned he couldn't see her.

"Where is she, do you know?"

"She was on the beach when I left."

They swam back and found Megan trying to wrench open a coconut.

She looked up exasperated, "This ones hard, I did like you showed me, but I just can't on this one."

"Sometimes they ain't quite ready," he smirked; cocked back his arm and threw it as far along the beach as he could.

"Reckon tomorrow we can play kick ball with it," he wiggled his eyebrows.

"But it hurts my feet," Sarah whined.

"Okay, I kick it, you two catch it, tomorrow morning before it gets too hot, what ya say?"

They both nodded and grinned.

After dinner, Matthew said, "Hey Megan you wanna hop on and go for a ride? I think I can still manage to put you on my shoulders."

She grinned shyly and climbed aboard as he squatted down. He managed to run down to the water and plunge them both in hearing a delighted scream.

"Oh my girl, me thinks you get a mite big for that much longer. You're a tall one sweetie."

"I think I grew, my shoes hurt, so I don't wear um much."

"We're gonna have to figure out what to do about that. Maybe put a rock on your head to stop you getting taller," his voice was playful.

"Nah huh, that'd hurt. I can go barefoot."

"Not in the jungle sweetie, remember we gotta watch for the creepies."

They trudged out of the water and he said, "Hold on now, lets see. Come here. Stand straight; let's see where you come to."

He measured her against him and her head came just to his arm pit.

Then he looked down at her with a smirk, "You keep this up, you're gonna pass me in a few years. And I might not be able to do this."

He picked her up and twirled her around, finally holding her close.

"I love you sweet Megan, never forget I love you like my daughter. And you don't make me sad, you make me happy, cause I get to see two of my favorite girls everyday, so no worries eh?"

She squeezed his neck and said, "I love you too and I like all the stuff we do."

Sarah got bitten by a spider on one of their excursions. Another anti-biotic was given and Matthew forced as much water as he could get into the girl. She was feverish, threw up even when there was just bile, but never lost consciousness. Megan was usually in the water daily, hours at a time if possible, but she never left Sarah's side. Matthew assured her that Sarah's breathing was fine, he checked the girls mouth, tenderly felt her throat for swollenness, took her pulse and had Megan keep her as cool as possible. Everyone felt better when it was only a few days and she was on the mend. Matthew took the opportunity to show the girls about mouth-to-mouth recessitation and CPR telling them what to do and what to look for.

Six months had passed and they had food, shelter and water, but there was always work to do on the island, even though the storms had lessened in intensity there was still the wind and water down pours to deal with. But it was important to have fun too so Matthew sat on the beach while two little girls sang him some songs and acted out the three wise men since it was approaching Christmas time. He shouted bravo and clapped energetically when they took a bow, then he attacked his girls with tickle fingers and the afternoon erupted in laughter.

Both girls had grown, especially Megan who had out grown her jean shorts and T-Shirt. The bathing suit was also too snug, so they spent time adapting some of Mrs. Sinclair's clothes. Mostly they all went without clothes except for shorts or a bathing suit; it was just too humid and often too hot for clothes.

A fire wasn't necessary everyday, but Matthew made sure he kept the girls in practice of making one from scratch. There were sometimes cuts and scraps always thoroughly washed but seldom with the rubbing alcohol or disinfectant except on a few occasions.

"Megan, this looks deep. I know its fun to play, but you can't be so careless honey. We can't have anything bad happen to you, no broken legs or arms or deep cuts like this one. You're gonna have to stay off it for several days and I'm glad we have disinfectant, but we can't afford to use it much, it must last us. If it doesn't begin healing and gets red and puffy we'll even have to use an anti-biotic pill. There's only one bottle, we can't afford to have to use it because we weren't careful and got cut," he had been addressing both girls.

They were used to his constant caution, "Don't jump from that rock, its too far to climb, watch where you put your hands, be careful not to touch the corral, watch out for jelly fish and sharks, don't run through the jungle, you could get bitten," and so on.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be bad," Megan had a downcast look.

"Daddy we were just having fun, she just went way far when she jumped off the rock, she never goes as far before. We just wanna have fun daddy," Sarah was pouting at always having to be so careful.

"You weren't bad Megan, but you should have been more careful, just remember that," he tussled her dark brown almost black locks which were usually back in a ponytail.

Later that night Sarah sat next to her friend whose foot was propped up on some blankets, "You jumped far. Better than before, maybe you grew more. I wish I was taller, I'm not growing like you."

Megan was silent.

"Hey what's wrong, does it hurt lots, you want me to brush your hair, you like that."

"Nah."

"Meggie, its okay, you didn't mean it. I hate that we can't do more fun stuff. I wish we could build a tree house or a dollhouse. We could make dolls. Wanna do that tomorrow," Sarah sounded excited.

"You have to help your dad more cause I'm hurt," Megan's voice sounded apologetic.

"Yeah but I have to help you too, get you stuff cause you can't move on your foot, and after we can play, maybe we can paint pictures like we did that day we mashed those tree leaves to make the Christmas tree on the rock."

"Maybe," was Megan's sullen reply?

Sarah slept close to her friend that night not wanting Megan to be sad.

They played tic-tac-toe in the sand; Sarah did brush Megan's hair and helped the girl go to the bathroom in the bushes. But Megan was right, Sarah had to do more to help her dad.

When she could walk about again Megan was extra cautious much to the disappointment of her playmate.

"Megan we can go just a little more, I think I see something shinny farther down, come on," Sarah began descending and Megan followed.

But after Sarah pointed in the direction she wanted to go she was brought back up by her companion, who was the taller, stronger swimmer.

"Why'd you do that? Come on its not too far I'll show you the shinny thing, maybe it's from the ship."

Megan was shaking her head, "Too far, we have to be careful, it's deeper and there might be sharks and stuff like your dad said."

"Meggie, you're a better swimmer and if I could do it you can, we'll be careful and keep looking for sharks and stuff, come on."

But Megan won out and a very disappointed blonde followed her back.

When they got to the beach Sarah let out her frustration, "I hate it here. Megan you didn't use to be careful. Ever since you hurt your foot we can't have fun as much. We used to and it made it better here. It's just swimming and looking for buried treasure like pirates but now you won't go far like you're chicken. I hate it, it's stupid!!!!!!"

Sarah began stocking back into the water.

"Sarah, Sarah where you going, not …….."

"I'm just going to the tide pool and I'm going by myself," she launched out into the lagoon.

Megan's face showed her frustration too cause she was just doing like she was told and she stomped off.

Things didn't get better when Sarah got back to camp. Matthew and Megan were cooking dinner when Sarah showed up with one muscle.

"Daddy what's Megan cooking, did you get some fish?"

"No my dear, thanks to Megan's quick thinking we're dining on snake thank you very much."

"Ewww, a snake. What happened?"

"Megan saw it when she was going to the bathroom and got as big a rock as she could find and whacked it dead she did. So we've got meat finally, smart job Megan," Matthew sounded proud.

Sarah didn't say anything and when her dad wasn't looking she stuck her tongue out at her best friend. Megan made a face back at her and Sarah was pretty silent during dinner. Matthew insisted his daughter eat some protein in response to her sour face and protest.

"We need protein young lady. We'll have to get up early in a few days I reckon and go to the other side of the island to chase down some crabbing little buggers. We need to keep up our strength."

Sarah ate sullenly without looking at Megan and asked if she could be excused right after dinner.

"Hold on, I think that since Megan snagged us dinner and helped me cook it you should help with the cleaning up Sarah."

"But it's not my turn tonight, I did it last night and helped with the bloody food too," Sarah had a sour face and crossed her arms in a huff.

"Sarah!!!! You've been out there all day and Megan's been…………"

"I don't give a care about Megan! We're suppose to be careful, how come she's not in trouble. You always say be careful and if you see a snake come get you. She didn't do it and you're not even mad at her. But she's careful when we play now cause she doesn't want you to be mad at her like before. She won't do anything fun very much. I hate it, I hate you, she's like your favorite, I hate her……….."

Matthew was hurting for his little daughter who had begun to cry, but she was being hurtful, "Sarah Megan Sinclair, I know its har……………."

"I hate it here, I hate it!!!!!!!! How come you can't make boats, why can't we go home? We always have to look for food; always have to be careful even when I go potty. There's creepy things and it's scary to get bitten again. I hate it daddy, I wanna go home!!!!! It's NOT FAIR!!!!"

Sarah ran to the water and swam as fast as she could back out to the tide pool to sit on the big rock even though it was just a little while before sunset.

Matthew sighed deeply with a pained look on his face and after a few moments of reflection he went out to join his daughter. His arrogance had placed them here, but he thought she had been adjusting as much as could be expected. Sarah had always been a petite little girl, not very physically active preferring to play with dolls and have tea parties and play dress up, though she did love to swim. He had always thought the pairing of these two was odd. Though Megan enjoyed dress up and tea parties too, she seemed much more inclined to be a tomboy. Due to their friendship Sarah had begun to play outside more, enjoying playing tag and skating, she had even asked for a bike like Megan's for her birthday, which was waiting at home for their return from the cruise. He cursed himself again internally as he recalled that the child had lost her mother, her home, her security and her future thanks to him, her anger was hardly out of place.

Megan had been silent through this whole affair, but the words had hurt. She loved Sarah and felt a bit responsible for looking after her when they played or when looking for food together. She didn't like being stuck here either and she missed her mommy so much. She had cried more about it but had successfully done so alone without being caught. Megan didn't want Matthew to feel bad again and she just wanted to cry cause she missed home. She hurt a lot cause she knew her mommy and daddy were sad. She didn't have brothers and sisters cause mommy couldn't have babies anymore.

Megan cleaned up dinner through her own tears then lay down and cried. It felt good to be alone sometimes so she didn't have to worry about them when she was upset, she could just cry. When she awoke in the night to go to the bathroom she saw that they had returned and Sarah was sleeping next to her father.

The next morning Megan woke up to see a little blonde sitting beside her patiently with a shy look on her face.

"Daddy's making breakfast, look I squished you juice from the fruits," Sarah held out a plastic cup of juice.

Megan sat up and took it without drinking just looking down at the cup in her hands a bit puzzled because they didn't want to waste the fruit by making juice.

"No worries, Daddy said sokay."

There wasn't a lot in the cup so Megan only took a few sips and handed it back to her friend.

"No sokay you have it, it's yours. I made it for you, do you like it?"

"Its good, but you should have some too, here."

"No Megan I don't want to, it's just for you, specially."

"But it's good; you can at least taste it."

"I licked it off my hands and squished some in my mouth. I'm still sticky a bit. I gotta go wash. Drink it and we can go together K."

Megan did so quietly and followed the smaller girl out to the lagoon. The water was cool which made a few goose pimples but it felt good. Megan scrubbed at her face; her eyes were quite puffy from having cried herself to sleep. She was rubbing her eyes when Sarah splashed her and before long there were having a water fight.

Matthew joined them shortly and they all played in the water before breakfast. After eating they went about their chores of getting more fruit, finding firewood, burying their waste and digging another waste hole. They all swam out to the tide pool and then Matthew swam farther out to do more fishing.

After they looked in the tide pool and found two muscles, Megan said, "Do you want to try and find that shinny thing in the water. If we're more careful we can. You go first and I'll swim in back and watch for sharks and jelly fish."

"Nah, that's okay, it's too far."

"But we can be more careful like you said, we can try."

"I'm sorry Meggie. We don't have to swim there. I'm sorry for what I said, I just………"

Megan watched Sarah's tears begin to flow, "I miss home. I don't like all the bugs and stuff. Only I feel better when you're with me specially when we play. I'm sorry."

"Me too Sarah, I'm sorry we can't be home. I miss Scooter a lot and my family," Megan tried not to feel so bad again.

The girls did go swimming that afternoon looking for clams, but didn't search for the shinny thing Sarah saw. Matthew didn't get any fish once again, nor did they find clams and their meal was fruit just two muscles he made the girls eat.

That night Sarah curled up next to Megan laying her head on her friend's chest. Megan drew words on Sarah's back for her to guess, which was one of their favorite ways to fall asleep. But before Sarah conked out she rose up and looked directly into sleepy blues eyes, briefly kissed Megan's lips and said, "I'll never hate you Meggie, I love you lots."

Matthew had found some banana trees on the other side of the island and avoided the family of spiders making it their home, but just barely. They also found a very small crab and a dead fish. He was the only one to eat some of the dead fish and was extremely glad because he got sick to his stomach. It didn't last more than a day, but they buried the fish.

Hunting for food and all the other chores filled most days. In their first year stranded alone, they explored the entire island twice finding impassable cliffs in one location, a grassy meadow in another, good usable bamboo, some really fat looking bugs Matthew called grubs and most of all a beautiful pond that actually seemed to be fed from an underground spring. They had a nice swim and decided to stay in the pond as they got another down pour of rain late in the afternoon.

"Come on lovelies, lets go on a hunt for good solid logs," Matthew instructed as they finished cleaning up after breakfast.

The girls both looked at the mounds of firewood they'd gathered the previous day and Megan shrugged bewildered at her friend.

"Daddy we got lots, how come we have to get more," Sarah sounded puzzled and a little whinny.

"Nah, these are special. They gotta be long as me or longer really. Gonna have to cut some I reckon. Come on then off we go, but be on the look out for creepies, don't go runnin about," he rested the axe over his shoulder and pointed the way.

"What are they for daddy, are you building another shelter……..or a tree house, can we build a tree house, please daddy!!!!!"

"I'm sorry little one, told ya, too many creepies. But yeah it's to build something, it's a secret, you'll see."

During their search Matthew urged Sarah and Megan to sing the latest song Sarah had been teaching her tall friend.

"Its funny, where'd you learn it again."

"From mum and Grams, she came to the lake sometimes remember, mum used to live with her."

"Yeah, she's Benji's foster mom too, he's mean, but grams is nice. We went to her house when we did Christmas carols and she stood in the snow and clapped then had us all in for coco and cookies."

"Yeah I love grams; she sang the song to my mum when she was little. Its fun."

One daaaaay
While I was riding on the subway
My High Silk Hat, my High Silk Hat
I laid it dooooown
Upon the seat beside me
My High Silk Hat, my High Silk Hat
Harken, Harken,
Whada ya tink a dat
A big afat lady she sat right on my hat
My hat she broke it was no joke
My hat she broke it was no JOOOOOKE
Christopher Columbus
Whada ya tink a dat

This seemed to make the chore a little less arduous for the girls, though it took a while. They did have to cut down some long bamboo lengths and it took all of them to haul each log back to the beach. Finally Matthew gave them a reprieve as he judged there were enough logs. While the girls played a game of tag in the lagoon he worked on selecting long strands of palm leaves and broke out his tool box. He'd used some of the nails on their shelter but had a handful left. It wasn't enough but he would make due.

It was the second day of working on this project and Megan thought she might have figured it out, "Are ya building a boat," she asked skeptically.

"Just a raft my girl, just a raft. I think we can fish better with it, row out a ways you know and plop the line over. We can have an adventure round the island perhaps to find the best fishing. What do ya think?"

Megan's eyes were a bit round and her face was a big grin as she nodded with enthusiasm. Sarah joined them after finishing at the waste hole and they all worked on making a fishing vessel.

The third day they made a sail from one of the sheets and the girls were ready to go. But Matthew disappointed them saying it was better to wait till morning. When the morning came he could hardly get them to eat breakfast they were so anxious to set sail.

With breakfast behind them they launched the craft and erupted in cheers, shouts and claps as the raft bobbed soundly in the tranquil waters of the lagoon.

In the successive days the raft did prove to be a good way to catch fish; they definitely had more protein than usual. Not always but on the longer adventures around the island the girls would accompany him. They used the sail as they struck out to see if the could round the island to the southeast and they saw some sand among the large rocks that the raft could not reach because there were too many rocks in the way though the waters were very calm here it was almost another lagoon. Matthew felt that fishing here would be good, but on this time round he let the girls explore the clear waters some keeping an eye out for any danger from the raft. He came back to this location a few times and found his hunch was right as he snagged three fish easily.

When they tried the sea journey to the north, the current was much stronger and Matthew decided they would seek the north by way of the south. The west side of the island was their lagoon and jungle and cave, the south side was a rockier beach where they hunted for crab and found more jungle and their pond. But the north was high cliffs and their overland journeys had always been blocked by the more unfriendly terrain. Directly east had also never been fully explored because of some steep valleys they needed to cross that were too dangerous in Matthew's opinion.

The first several months was spent mastering the raft and finding the best fishing places. And then the year had almost come full circle as it was Sarah's first birthday on the island and they had a celebration. Megan made a sand cake for show on the beach and put palm stems in it for candles and as the stems burned they sang happy birthday. Matthew danced merrily with his 8 year old daughter and Megan, showing them how to waltz and do the tango, but Sarah's favorite was doing the twist while they all sang at the top of their lungs. Megan showed Sarah the tree she carved a heart in with Sarah and Megan BF (Megan being sure Sarah knew it meant best friends) written in the middle. Their treat was to open a can of peaches and take pleasure in the sweetness they seldom indulged in.

Though it often rained sometimes once a week, the storms began to increase in intensity after Sarah's birthday. So Matthew began using the cave to store the first aid kit there, many containers of water, plastic cups, some silverware especially extra knives, and some clothes. Since the hurricane rainy season was upon them again he took inventory of their food stores. There were still some canned goods mostly green beans and corn but there was still a can of yams, and 2 of spaghettios, 3 of spaghetti sauce, 5 small cans of mandarin oranges, some trail mix, 1 package of beef jerky, about 6 granola bars, 5 protein bars, 5 packages of fruit juice, 4 plastic fruit cups, a 6 pack of applesauce cups, 2 jars of peaches, 3 plastic jars of peanut butter, 1 jar of peanuts, 3 jars of jelly, 2 jars of pickles 1 dill, 1 sweet, 3 jars of olives, and 5 plastic packages of tuna.

The tin cans were beginning to show some rust from all the moisture so they would have to eat those things during the times they had to use the cave as refuge from the storms. Matthew wished he could save all the food stores for desperate times. He didn't want to admit it, but he knew it was possible he could die; it was possible any one of them could die. If it was him, he wanted the girls to have these supplies and use them sparingly. But the rust on the tin, though topical now, would soon eat away the can.

Megan's 9th birthday was celebrated the next month but it had to wait a few days after July 14th for a big storm to blow through. The previous year, since they had ship wrecked only about 3 weeks prior to her 8th birthday, it had gone mostly unnoticed as they were desperately trying to survive and adapt to the new environment. Sarah had been the only one to remember last year and had surprised Megan by presenting the girl a happy birthday picture showing them being rescued and Megan happily back with her mommy, daddy and Scooter. This year found them in the routine of hunting and working at daily chores and playing together as much as possible, but Sarah was the first to remember once again.

She had gotten up early even before her father and had put on a white T-shirt she'd colored with black spots. She returned to Megan on all fours and leaned in to lick the girls face. This brought a surprised and puzzled Megan awake quickly to find a blonde little girl with whiskers painted on her face whining at her and then barking happily when she woke up.

"Ha ha, you're funny, what are ya doing Sar?"

"Arf Arf," Sarah panted and danced around.

"I'm your pretend Scooter doggie for your birthday, Arf Arf," she licked Megan's face again.

"He'd come here if he could, so I'm gonna be here for him, Arf, Arf," she panted.

She then proceeded to bark out the Happy Birthday song, which brought Matthew out of his slumber and provided for a fun and amusing morning as Sarah remained on all fours and followed Megan everywhere licking her hand and barking.

Megan had fun feeding her doggie and Sarah even ran after the stick and brought it back in her mouth.

"Arf Arf……….," Sarah wiggled her rear end and panted.


"Ha ha, I should call you Arfy," Megan smiled and petted the hair of her new doggie and the new doggie licked her hand.

"Seems like you have a special friend Megan, but is there anything else you want to do for your birthday day," Matthew inquired pleasantly.

"I don't know, its fun playing with Arfy, but I wanna go swimming," Megan looked at Sarah questioningly not sure what else to do on the island.

"Arf Arf," the girl panted and nodded her head.

Matthew produced a map he'd drawn on some old clothing, "We can go swimming any time, why not try something new like looking for buried treasure, what'd ya say mates," he put on his best pirate face.

Megan's grin was wide and Sarah's eyes were saucers, "Daddy is there really treasure?"

"Well Lassy says so right on this treasure map, just gotta go find it now, are ya with me," he wiggled his eyebrows at the pair playfully.

Sarah insisted that they spend a few moments making themselves look like pirates. Again, out of the oldest most out grown clothes, an eye patch was made for their dad. A make shift kerchief was worn by both girls and some jewelry from Mrs. Sinclair's jewelry box.

As they painted their faces with mud and mashed green leaves, Megan announced, "Hey, let's cut my hair."

Sarah said puzzled, "What'd you mean like try to pin it up more than your pony tail?"

"Huh, uh, cut it," Megan motioned showing how far she wanted her long pretty hair that reached her mid back to be cut to.

Sarah's eyes went wide as she looked at Megan pointing to her earlobe, "Meggie, we can't. That's too much, I like your hair its shinny in the sun. And you like me to brush it."

"But Sar, it's my birthday and I wanna be a pirate and they don't have long hair cause they're boys."

"I'm not a boy, there can be girl pirates and I'm not cutting mine off. And I ain't bobbin yours off either."

"That's not fair Sarah, just cut it some, come on please……….Sarah……" Megan whined.

"What's all this girls aren't you ready yet, we've got treasure to find," Matthew was returning from the cave.

"Megan wants her hair cut too short, so I won't," Sarah pouted folding her arms looking determined at her friend.

"Megan, you want short hair?"

"Yeah, like a pirate," her tone was serious.

"Well now, some pirates had longer hair ya know. So you don't have to cut it to be like a pirate."

"Oh," Megan sounded disappointed.

"How much do ya want cut honey?"

Sarah stepped in pointing to Megan's earlobe, "All the way to here, that's too much," she looked at her father for agreement.

"Well, I'd have to agree that's quite a bit. How bout we cut it to here," he pointed to the base of her neck.

"Ooooookay, I guess," she was resigned.

"But Meggie, it's pretty, like when it's wet and it gets real dark. And it won't be as much to brush, I like to brush it, it's soft."

Megan looked at her friend who smiled sweetly with an expression that seemed to be pleading.

She smiled back not wanting to disappoint her best friend, "Okay we don't have to."

Matthew knew Megan was just backing down to please his daughter something she often did.

"Now Sarah, if its cut just to her neck you can still brush it and it will grow. It'll probably grow better without split ends if I remember the girl stuff right."

"What's split ends daddy?"

He reached out to Megan's frayed hair and said, "The hair gets all fuzzy at the bottom like this and doesn't grow as well," this knowledge from his wife made a wave of pain threaten to well up.

Sarah pulled the ends of hair from her back to where she could see it, "I got em too, so I have to have mine cut off too daddy," her question was genuinely curious. Though she looked more like her father, he saw the child's mother in the girl often and again his emotions threatened but he wanted it to be a happy day.

So he put this off and said, "That might just be a right good idea. We cut off your split ends and we let Megan get the kind of hair cut she wants, it is her birthday remember."

So he cut off Sarah's damaged hair, which brought it just between her shoulder blades.

"Okay, are ya sure just to here is right o sweetie," Matthew indicated the base of her neck.

Megan nodded and Sarah said, "Wait."

"Sarah, I thought we were letting Megan get her hair cut like she wanted for her birthday," Matthew's tone was a bit warning.

"I know but I want a hug first," she walked over to her friend.

Megan looked at Sarah puzzled and stepped a little closer, "What's wrong Arfy?"

"I just want to feel it one more time then you can cut it," Sarah reached up and put her arms around her friend's neck and snuggled her face into the girl's hair with a big hug.

Megan was a little surprised and wasn't sure why her friend was being so funny about her hair getting cut. Sarah began to release her but slowly almost as if she didn't want to let go. Then she looked up at her friend reached up once more and stroked the girls hair then looked a little self conscious and said off handily, "It just feels good on my face, its soft. I gotta go before we leave," and she took off quickly to relieve herself.

Matthew had also looked on a bit puzzled until he remembered that Sarah loved to snuggle into her mother's hair since she was a tiny tike. Some days were just harder than others and today was meant for enjoyment so they must move along to their birthday treasure hunt and he said, "So you ready Megan?"

"Yeah, but just to here," she pointed to the top of her shoulder.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, you said pirates can have long hair too, so that's enough."

They had a fun filled day following the treasure map, making sure they followed all the steps and paces. Matthew had taken some jewelry from his wife's rescued jewelry box, collected some seashells and pretty rocks and buried the treasure in a treasure chest he had made of some bamboo. The location of this buried treasure was on the other side of the island not too far and not too close to the lovely pond. While they were there, they took a swim and played water tag, they captured two crabs, which was more than usual, and returned with their loot. The girls had stocked around all day walking and sounding like what they imagined of pirates. But they were hungry and glad to get back to the beach, so they ran all the way to the shelter.

Supper was boiled crab, a can of Spaghettios, a coconut and a fruit cup for Megan, which she insisted on sharing with Sarah, after they sang happy birthday. There was a round of dancing and singing and finally it was bedtime.

Sarah snuggled up to the birthday girl as they laid down, she stroked soft hair and rubbed it with her face slightly then whispered, "Thank you Meggie, I love you," Sarah didn't see Megan's smile since her eyes were closed and her head was resting on Megan's shoulder with the rest of her curled up close.

Sarah was almost immediately asleep and Megan wasn't far behind whispering, "I love you too Arfy."

The birthday's were always the beginning of the wet season and Matthew decided he'd wait for the drier season before seeking to use the raft to venture farther east and see if they could sail around the whole island. Unfortunately, though there were no hurricanes this year, there were storms with strong enough winds to destroy the small little raft and damage the shelter all too often. It was a busy season of repairs and chores and trying to stay dry.

When December came it found them using crushed leaf pigment to paint a Christmas Tree with lights and ornaments on a big flat free standing rock face. Christmas dinner was the can of yams, two crabs, a fish and the last of the raisins. There were gifts under the rock tree wrapped in huge leafs.

"Hey good old American football. Here Megan catch," Matthew threw the coconut shell at the girls, which they had they decorated like a football and they chuckled.

Megan opened hers, "Sarah I like the flowers you drew and the yellow one best," she leaned over and kissed her friends cheek admiring the two short tops Sarah had worked hard to mend enough for them to fit the growing girl.

"It's pink, like mummies' dress. I like that one; she looked pretty with pock-a-dots, thank you Meggie! Ahhh its smooth, here feel," she grinned widely at her friend who had worked really hard at modifying a woman's dress to fit a small girl.

That night they all prayed together Sarah saying the prayers on their behalf, "God, you made it pretty here and its fun to swim. But it's hard to get food. We get wet and the creeping things can hurt us. So please help us while we're here. Don't let us get hurt and send us food pretty please. Help daddy to find it cause he tries real hard and specially don't let him get hurt. Help us see any ships you send so we can go home. And um, tell my mummie hello and I love her. Amen. Oh and thank you for the baby Jesus, Amen."

They settled in next to Matthew on the grassy knoll, one on each side with his protective arms around them and they looked up at the stars. He pointed out the Big Dipper, Orion and the North Star mentioning how the Bible said it was a big shining star God put in the sky to guide the Wisemen.

Silence came, Matthew's breathing deepened and Megan could finally cry silently wishing she was home with her mom and dad and Scooter. She wanted to see snow again, build a snow man, sit by the fire with the lights out and watch the lights of their Christmas tree twinkle, and she wanted to eat Christmas cookies, see her grandparents, use her sleigh and sing songs with grandma at the piano. It was hard here and she wasn't sure God heard the prayers cause they were still stuck even though they prayed the same prayer the Christmas before. There had been another ship far in the distance to the Southeast again, they had lit the fire right away but still no one came. She and Sarah had cried together this time while Matthew brooded and was in a foul mood for a month. Megan often privately told God she wanted to go home and thought it wasn't fair that Sarah didn't have a mommy now, but God seemed silent, unknown and uncaring about them.

It was now late in January after their second Christmas on the island when Matthew was swimming back from fishing by the ship and noticed the girls running up onto the beach from the lagoon and waving their hands motioning to stay away, by they're yelling, he thought he heard, "Shark go back it's a shark!!!!!"

He scrambled to the north side of the lagoon climbing up a rock face trying to find foot holds. When he was out of the water though barely he looked anxiously into the clear lagoon waters and saw two dolphins swim past him leisurely about 30 yards away. He let out a sigh and slowly got back in and made his way to the beach.

"Its okay girls, they were dolphins, I know it's hard to tell, but I could see they had spots on their back side. You did good to get yourself out of the water," he beamed at them proudly.

Megan smiled at the obvious approval but Sarah frowned, "Ah you mean we coulda swimmed with dolphins. Daddy………." she rolled her eyes, "that ain't fair!"

"Sar, maybe they'll come back, come on let's go back out and look."

But they didn't return and Megan spent the afternoon chasing her friend around, playing hide and seek underwater, tag, underwater messages, and doing goofy dives all in an effort to make her friend chase away the disappointment of missing the dolphins.

The second raft was built in early Spring and fishing was resumed. But curiosity was calling and they began the journey around the island right after sunrise. It took about an hour to get from their lagoon to the small lagoon like alcove on the southeast side. Shortly after the alcove they watched the shoreline get steadily higher. The higher it got the less vegetation could be seen until it seemed like it was one huge rock face that bowed out to meet the sea. It was calm this day and rowing was their only propulsion, Sarah on one side and Matthew the other. The girls took turns though Megan's turns were always in the rougher water she seemed to thrill at the adventure and challenge.

It took another hour before they rounded the corner of the tall rocky mountain covered here and there with moss. The smaller rocks in front of the big mountain side were incredibly black and blocked the way north for a bit. The mountain seemed to recede in a curve back into the island but could not be seen above the smaller rocks most of the view was still blocked. When they did put the final rock behind them they saw the tall mountain molded to the sea like the inside curve of a crescent moon.

Unlike the water round much of the island, this was much deeper. The farther the water got from the mountain and rocks on the side of their approach, the darker and bluer the water became. Being on one tip of the crescent they looked across dark waters to the other tip of the crescent and saw a small beach near more rocks. They rowed towards it and found rest on the sand bar. The water was colder here and Matthew didn't let Megan swim out very far. They had a little beef jerky and a citrus and Matthew wanted to begin the journey back. The dark water was clear and yet they could see only dark, no rocks, nothing. It felt a little unnerving so much so that he didn't try fishing. They did do a bit of swimming and fishing at the alcove on their way back so that dinner and tomorrow's breakfast was well taken care of.


It was now November, they had gone through many severe storms this year, but Matthew was crossing his fingers they would escape any hurricanes. When he looked up from his fishing perch in the late afternoon, Matthew brooded about the darkness in the distance, he had a bad feeling. They spent a lot of time placing every possible thing they could stuff into the cave with them. The storm had begun, the wind becoming fiercer and he was still trying to undo his roof and save the wood paneling that helped keep them dry. He had told the girls to stay in the cave while he wrestled to save all he could.

The waves in the lagoon were being hurled upon the beach so much so that he was almost standing in knee deep water as he finally recovered the paneling. He raced back to the cave and felt ridiculous for not realizing the breadth of the thing was too big to fit into the caves entrance. He resigned to breaking it up some.

Looking for his hammer he realized he'd left it back at their battered shelter. He wedged the paneling as best he could; it was too dangerous to have the girls outside the cave because so much debris was being blown in every direction. Making his way back to the shelter he dodged tree branches and fell twice. He had just cleared the jungle and was on his way to find the hammer when a bamboo pole from their shelter hit him square, making him lose his balance and stumble, then fall backward against the rocky mountain side striking his head badly.

After waiting and waiting for Matthew's return, Megan told Sarah to stay put that she would go look for her dad. Sarah refused and they both attempted to go outside the cave and barely made it back inside because the wind was so terrible.

Sarah cried out her fear, "I want my daddy, Megan where is he, Daddy……….why isn't he back, daddy!!!!!!!!!!!!!," she continued to yell at the mouth of the cave.

"Maybe he's hiding by the rock on this side before the beach. He might have to stay there cause the wind blows so bad. It's okay Sarah. He's okay. We can't go, it's too hard. But he's okay. He's strong and he can hide by the rock," Megan wasn't as sure as she tried to sound.

"But he's bigger, how come he can't run here. He's strong and the wind's not so bad on him. I want him back Meggie…………."

Megan listened to the howling wind continuing to try comforting a distraught friend and they finally fell asleep. When they woke it was barely light outside, but the storm was subsiding, and before Megan could rub the sleep from her eyes Sarah took off in search of her father.

"Daddyyyyyyy, daddyyy…………," Sarah was the first to see her father lying on the ground.

He was indeed by the large rock Megan spoke of; he had crawled there before losing consciousness. The back of his head was bloody. Megan used his training to find a pulse and determine he was breathing while Sarah cried hysterically.

"Sarah, Sarah, watch me, he's not dead. We have to help him so come on, let's go get some stuff. Come on, Sarah………."

But Sarah wouldn't leave her father. So Megan got all the supplies from the cave she could manage, the first aid kit, a blanket, some of Sarah's clothes that were too small, water.

She did the best she could to clean and bind the wound on the back of his head, made a pillow out of the clothes she hadn't used on his wound, covered him with a blanket and tried to get him to drink water.

Sarah had watched Megan as if scared to touch him herself, but when she was done the girl huddled by her father pleading with him to wake up. Megan tried to comfort her, but Sarah's hazel blue eyes looked miserable and she just put her head on her father's chest, held on tight and cried.

It had been one night and almost two days when Matthew struggled to consciousness, took an anti-biotic and Tylenol Megan had ready, looked at his desperate daughter and managed, "I..….love you…. Sarah," and was out once again.

It was another day and Megan was trying to get her sad, scared friend to eat, "You have to eat something Sarah, you have to. Your dad wants it, if he was awake now. Come on its corn, you'll like it it's good. Come on Sarah, please."

Since Sarah hadn't eaten in 3 days, hunger overcame her pain and she ate the whole can. She was even persuaded by a watchful friend to take a dip in the lagoon while Megan stayed with Matthew.

While Sarah was gone, Matthew came too briefly.

"Megan………"

She gave him water, "You can have another pill, here."

He refused, "How long?"

"Your head's hurt for 3 days. You need more water Matthew please, here," Megan was fighting the tears.

"Sor..ry….Meg………remember, care…..ful. Don't eat………just canned…….use cave……." he was out again.

Sarah had come back right before Matthew lost consciousness again, "Daddy……..Daddy…..no daddy, no wake up daddy………daddy!!!!!"

Megan had tears in her eyes she couldn't hide from her friend this time and it was too much for Sarah, "NOOO, nooo, Meggie, he's okay, he'll wake up, he will…..did you give him more medicine, he'll be better…." Sarah was frantic and began sobbing again.

It had been a hard night, Sarah was so upset and Megan was having a hard time trying to be brave. The morning came and was hot before the sun even rose. It remained extra hot for 2 days and Matthew's fever increased severely, so they were busy trying to bath him with water and keep him as cool as possible.

Megan had left Sarah for a moment saying she needed to gather more wood. Going as far away from them as she dared, she lost her resolve and cried out some of her frustration. She hated this, it wasn't fair. They needed him, they couldn't do it without him, they were just little girls, she didn't want to be so grown up and worry so much. She wanted her mommy back. Megan walked out to the lagoon and plunged in wishing it would all go away. But worry wouldn't let her stay away, she had to try and help Sarah, she had to go back and wait with her friend.

When she got back the girl was asleep next to her father and she let them be. She wasn't hungry, but she ate knowing its importance. In the next hours as the sun was setting Megan bathed the shivering man and prayed God would make him better.

It wasn't long before he barely opened his eyes, his body began twitching, "Meg….." Matthew clutched at the girl then opened his eyes wider and looked directly into hers, "La…….lagoon……take me…,f..far……..let me go…….too…too many germs…….far Me…gan……passed ship."

"Daddy? Daddy……..here have more water daddy…."

"I Love….you……..," Matthew reached for his daughter's face, he turned his eyes back to Megan, "You too…….careful Me…gan….." his look was pleading then he turned back to his daughter lovingly and slowly closed his tear filled eyes mouthing, "Forgive me."

"DADDYYYYYYYY………nooooooo…….DADDYYYYYYYYYY……Meggie….…Help……Daddy…..nooooooo," Sarah's eyes were wide with terror pleading with Megan.

Megan checked for a pulse and did CPR as she'd been taught, but Matthew Clarence Sinclair the 3rd was dead.

When Megan stopped, tears streaming down her face Sarah flew at her father, beating his chest, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO……....Daddy, Daddy, NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Megan, do it again, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" her scream was gut wrenching and Megan's heart clenched she hurt so bad. Megan sat in shock for a moment trying to comprehend this, asking why when she asked God's help to heal Matthew he immediately let the man die.

Megan tried to hug her but Sarah wouldn't have it, she wept clutching her dead father pleading with him to wake up. And Megan, still in deep shock feeling utterly lost and hopeless, sat and just stared at a dead man and an agonized little girl who now had no parents, they weren't just far way like hers, they were dead. Distraught and bewildered unable to even comfort the one person she loved more than she understood, the tears fell as she wept out her own agony hugging her knees and rocking back and forth. She wondered when they were going to die and if it would hurt, would it be her or Sarah first or would Sarah now just die of pain.

She woke up to the dark but her investigation told her Sarah wasn't clutching her father any longer she wasn't there. Megan thought perhaps she'd gone potty, though they usually did this together at night, but she didn't find Sarah.

Her heart began to race, "Saraaaaaaaah, Sarah…………Saaaaaaaraaaaah," she yelled at the top of her lungs looking on the beach frantically, but it was dark, no moon and there was no fire.

"Saaaraaaah, Please, Please……….Saaaraaaaaaaaah. Where are you Saraaaaah," Megan's panic became tears.

She felt so alone, what if something had happened to Sarah too. Breathing rapidly desperately and frantically looking into the dark, it was all too much, where would Sarah go, where could she possibly go in the black. She dropped to her knees in the sand and screamed again, Saaaraaaah………Saraaaaah, Please come back!!!!!!! Saraaaaaah!!!! Don't leave me Sarah…….don't, please…please, "and the sobs overwhelmed her.

"AHHHHHHHH," Megan screamed when she felt a touch on her shoulder.

"Sorry," was a whisper.

Megan reached out for her friend and held her tightly, though Sarah seemed stiff and limp in her arms at the same time.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't find you, I just want you okay Sarah. I was scared; I can't los…..Where'd you go?"

"I walked up to the flagpole. It's gone now I think," was Sarah's flat report.

After a long silence and a long embrace by Megan she began, "I'm sorry Sarah, I don't……I wish……I…….."

A little hand covered her mouth, "Let's go back to where the flagpole was it feels better up there."

Sarah was numb and Megan was worried. They each struggled with the desperation of their circumstance quietly, Sarah's smaller hand held by Megan, as they sat side by side watching the sunrise from their high vantage point. The colors of dawn were no more and the humidity of the day was already beginning when Megan became aware of a terrible thirst.

"Sarah, let me go get us some water," Megan's tone was a question to which she received nothing, Sarah was just staring at an empty blue horizon.

Sarah was standing fairly close to the edge of the cliff blonde locks flying in the wind when Megan returned. It wasn't windy on the beach but she realized it was almost always breezy or windy up here. Not wanting to startle Sarah she sighed heavily and made as much noise as possible putting down the sun tea jar. It had a spigot on the side of it and Megan had drunk her share before coming back.

"Sarah you need to drink some, come on," she took the girls hand bringing her gently back to where she deposited the jar.

Megan held the jar up in the air; Sarah put her mouth under the spigot and drank quite a bit. It was hot, there was no shade on this mountain top Cliffside.

"Let's go swim Sarah," Megan wanted relief.

Sarah's face clouded, "Huh uh, I'm not going," Sarah turned around and went closer to the cliff's edge.

"Its hot up here Sarah, you don't have to see………."

Sarah shook her head.

Megan came up to her friend, took her hand again and tugged but Sarah resisted.

"I just don't want you that close to the edge Sarah, please, you don't have to go anywhere, just not so close is all."

Sarah was led back to a more secure distance. Their vantage point took in every direction. There was a trail to the lagoon on one side and on the other a more difficult passage to the south side of the island.

After a moment standing hand in hand looking to the ocean, Megan knowing they needed food and that Sarah didn't want to go anywhere near her father suggested, "Wanna go see if we can find a crab?"

Sarah didn't agreed or disagree but just followed in a zombie like state. They hadn't ever gone this way without Matthew so Megan carefully and slowly led them down the path to the other side of the island. The beach on this side was dotted with a lot of rocks and was a prime crab hang out. Megan wasn't successful in her crab grab because she had no container or tools; the supplies were still in the cave. She did retrieve some muscles from the tide pools and made their way back to the mountain top. Megan made a supply run to the cave and returned with a blanket, a pot to cook the muscles, and a coconut and had found the hammer by the shelter that was partially still standing.

It took quite a while to make a fire pit and a fire; the sun had already set while the muscles were just starting to boil. Megan couldn't get Sarah to eat anything but one muscle and drink some water. They had hardly spoken all day, just going through the motions. Tonight found Sarah almost in a fetal position lying on her side and Megan, not knowing if she could touch her, cautiously reached out and stroked the girl's hair and when Sarah sighed she lay down behind the girl, put her arm around her devastated friend, feeling much the same, and they fell asleep.

Before the morning fully dawned Megan was down at the beach. The trail back to the beach from the mountain top made it impossible to avoid Matthew's body so Megan ran by as fast as possible and out onto the clear sand. She went over to the battered shelter and began picking up as many scattered parts as she could. Remembering the paneling, she went back toward the cave, it had been broken into a few pieces in the storm, but one piece was still fairly large. It wasn't heavy just awkward so she tugged her way to the beach haltingly.

By this time the sun had risen and was beginning to heat the day once again so she took a much needed dip in the lagoon and thinking of Sarah she decided to go check on her friend. Megan grabbed a few citrus fruit first and ran by the body again with her eyes shut and at the top she found the blonde picking around the fire stack.

"What ya doin Sar?"

"We need to make another flag pole and put up another flag," Sarah said through a yawn.

"Oh,……. let's eat first, come on, you pour the water and I'll open the fruit."

Megan was still hungry after the fruit but Sarah who had hardly eaten said she wasn't. It was decided that the flag would be one of the sheets that was no longer used on mattresses. The mattresses had been disgarded within months after they had been retrieved due to mildew and bugs. In the afternoon Sarah worked on the flagpole at her mountain top retreat while Megan tried to spear fish down in the lagoon.

The breeze had increased during the late afternoon and Megan could smell something foul coming from the direction of Matthew's body. As she tried and tried and tried to spear an illusive fish, she puzzled how to get Matthew's body into the water knowing she had to do it, but not knowing how, especially by herself. The breeze had really picked up and was blowing around some of the shelter parts she had gathered up. So she quit her futile efforts and went to secure the parts again, just catching the paneling as it slid across the sand almost into the water.

After doing her best to stow everything in the alcove, she took another coconut, water, and two fruits back up to Sarah noticing the smell was getting worse as she ran by the body. Sarah ate one fruit and though Megan scarfed down the rest she was still hungry but said nothing.

'I'm sorry I didn't get a fish, maybe we should try on the other side too. We can bring the net and the pack to try for a crab," Megan suggested.

"Yeah, if you want," Sarah sounded uninterested.

They put up the flagpole together then Sarah looked in all directions as if a ship would appear magically, after a few moments she sighed deeply and lay down on the blanket. The sun had barely set but Megan was tired from the days efforts and joined the girl again as they slept another night in the same position as the previous one.

The beginnings of dawn's light found Megan once again at the beach. Her heart was heavy as she wrinkled her nose at the worsening odor knowing she had to do what he told her. She tried to motivate herself by thinking of her friend knowing Sarah would never come down to this side of the island again unless his body was gone.

Reluctantly, Megan brought the paneling over and placed it beside the man's body. The tears were almost as much from the smell as from the gruesomeness of the task no 10 year old should ever have to be responsible for. She struggled to roll his body on the paneling and finally accomplished it. The effort made her hot even though the sun hadn't broken the horizon. She went to the cave and retrieved more water that was running low having had no rain since the hurricane. Taking another gulp and a deep breath she walked to her task practically dragging her feet, she had to do what he had told her, she knew about germs, she knew practically everything she knew because of Matthew.

It broke her heart that he wasn't here anymore and that Sarah had no parents now, neither one of them did. She'd never see hers again unless a boat came close enough to see them. In the whole time they'd been there, there had been two very small dots in the distance spotted on the southeast side of the island. Matthew had lit the fire and they had all prayed, but they knew no one had seen them. At the first one when no one came she'd never seen him so angry, he had swum out to the boat after a week of waiting and she heard him screaming and beating the ship. It had scared Sarah and it was all she could do to keep the girl from swimming out to him. The second failure to be spotted made for a very mad and moody Matthew who yelled uncharacteristically and scared them both. They had gone on their first tour of the island shortly after that, which is when Sarah got bitten by the spider. The worry in his face had made Megan very upset even though he kept being reassuring, though he hardly slept. But he had taken care of his stricken daughter, having Megan keep her as cool as possible; he gave her medicine, prayed and kept giving her water until Sarah had gotten better.

Now the man that took care of them, their security, their father, was gone and she had to take his dead bloated body far out passed the ship. She swallowed hard trying to be brave though heart broken, she bent to her task noticing how off color he appeared and the smell almost made her be sick. She closed her eyes and tugged and pulled and pushed hating to touch the cold body of this man she loved. She'd been struggling for about 15 minutes making a small amount of progress so she sat down and used her legs shoving as hard as she could almost rolling him off the paneling. Now Megan was just getting mad, grunting and groaning as she worked at the arduous ugly task, she finally screamed out in frustration and redoubled her efforts using the fuel of anger to help. It had taken the poor girl so much effort and time to get him just across the sand but he was near the water now.

She was already exhausted and she plunged into the lukewarm lagoon to regroup not noticing a small little girl standing on the mountain top looking on as the colors of sunrise were giving way to full daylight. Megan prayed a silent prayer that God would help her do the rest of this terrible thing. She hadn't noticed the tide coming in and found that his body was closer to the water now than when she had stopped shoving. So she managed to get him the rest of the way and thankfully his swollen, discolored body floated. She drank some water before starting the next phase sighing heavily.

It was a long swim alone much less pushing a dead body with you but Megan had finally made it farther passed the ship than she would have been allowed to go if he were still alive. She didn't know why, but this was the hardest part, she gave one last shove with tears streaming down her wet face and swam back to the ship.

She yelled out loud to a God that didn't ever hear you anyway, "I don't like you, you're mean. You take away people we love, people we need. Why do you hate Sarah, why!!!!!! She's nice she is so nice, she loves me and she loved her mummy and daddy and you took them away. Why does both her mum and dad have to be gone? Why don't you just kill us too? What do I do now, why don't the ships come closer, why don't they see us, why are you so mean, why…….why? I can't make it better for Sarah, Sarah………….., poor Sarah…………" the tears began falling rapidly when she said the girl's name and Megan wept out her anger, her pain, her dismay more deeply than she had since they'd been stranded. Rocking herself back and forth on the rocks by the ship until the tears slowed down and she knew she had to get back.

Suddenly wondering if Sarah was awake, she looked up to the mountain top and saw her blonde little friend looking toward where Matthew's body had gotten hung up on some rocks. She had started this early in the morning almost before light hoping Sarah would sleep and she could just report to the girl that this was done and over. Angry, worried and sad, she dove back in the water and swam as fast as her tired body and soul could take her back to the beach.

Sarah was there, pain etched deeply on her tear streaked face and they collapsed together both weeping for the man they both loved as a father. They sought the waters of the lagoon again to help them recover from being hot and exhausted, it helped their bodies but not their souls, there was time unaccounted for as they both just stared at the water.

Regardless of grief, Megan had spent so much energy in the last few days, she was famished, so they decided that they were too tired to hunt for food, and opened one jar of peanut butter and one jar of grape jelly. Megan looked longingly at more food but said nothing after they ate half the jar of peanut butter and jelly between them. It would be tomorrow morning's meal as well regardless of the diarrhea it caused since their bodies weren't used to processed foods as the normal diet. They spent another night on the mountain top, Sarah still needing distance from the truth. The parentless girl lay on her side and Megan extended a protective arm and molded her body to the girls form once again and let slumber be their escape.

The next several weeks found them both engaged in the hunt for food since Matthew had been the major provider and now they knew it was up to both of them. Megan seemed to have better luck fishing on the south side with the fishing gear than spearing anything, though the weeks turning into months found a much improved spear fisher. It had taken a few weeks after Matthew was gone, but they were sleeping under the shelter again having spent many, many hours making repairs as best they could. The storms had lessened and the rain wasn't as frequent so more trips were made to the pond. The girls decided to make a shelter near the pond, not wanting to have to trek back and forth all the time.

The shelter was nothing more than a lean to butted up against a rock face. It did a fairly good job of keeping the rain off, but they were usually at the shelter by the lagoon when it rained making sure the containers were open gathering much needed water.


It had now been about 8 months since Matthew had passed away. Both girls had completely out grown any clothes and Mrs. Sinclair's were still too big, so much of the time they went without any. It was Sarah's 10th birthday and they spent much of it in the lagoon, splashing each other, diving and racing to see who was fastest.

"You…..let……me win…..cause it's my birthday. You….can win me any……time cause you're tall," Sarah lunged at the girl and they fell into the water again giggling.

"You're getting faster silly, you won," Megan insisted.

"Nah uh, you're just being nice," Sarah's eyes sparkled at her friend.

Grinning broadly, Megan hadn't seen such a look on Sarah's face since her father had died.

"I'm not nice, I'm mean, RAAAAAAA," Megan growled and lunged toward Sarah playfully.

"Come on; let's see how far we can go under."

It was one of their favorite games to swim underwater as far as they could without coming up for air. Pretty soon they would be able to swim all the way to the ship underwater, but today wasn't the day they would first do that. Sarah was out of the lagoon first with Megan following when she screamed, fell and clutched at her ankle. Realizing it was a very small shark still attached to her flesh; she ignored the pain, grabbed it before it got away and threw it onto the beach.

"MEGGIE…..MEGGIE!!!!!!!!!"

"Come on, lean on me….." Sarah started for the shelter.

"No go get the hammer," Megan groaned.

Sarah looked at the girl as though she were crazy, "Megan I can kill it, we have to stop the bleeding."

"I don't know if you're strong enough and I don't want you bitten too, go get it Sarah."

"Meggie I don't care about that bloody thing, we have to stop the bleeding," Sarah's face was a picture of fear.

Knowing the small shark was much needed meat Megan insisted, "Sarah, we need it and it's too close to the water, it might flop back," Megan's voice was urgent and authorative.

Sarah's fear turned to anger and before Megan could react Sarah had kicked the thing twice farther away from the lagoon looking back at her friend with the anger still flaring in her eyes. They got to the shelter and cleaned the wound, bound it and Megan took an anti-biotic. The whole time Sarah hadn't said a word and Megan knew she was in deep trouble.

"Sar, I'm sorry, but I just……."

"I'm not a baby Megan, I can do things too. You're taller, you're stronger but I help. I can kill it you watch!"

Sarah grabbed the hammer, walked out to the poor flopping shark and took her anger out on the half dead thing. She stomped back still a bit miffed and threw it near the fire pit then went about making the fire, cutting up some coconut and citrus fruit not even caring about the bugs, and working on getting the shark into the pot. Not able to cut off any part of the thing, it was so tough skinned, she finally just let it boil with its head sticking well out of the pot.

While they waited for the shark to cool enough for them both to work at cutting it up Megan asked for help getting her throbbing leg elevated. While the girl was close Megan put both hands on her face and looking earnestly into pretty hazel eyes still slightly smoldering, "You're right, I'm sorry. You're not a baby. You're my best friend I could ever get and I'm bloody stupid, sorry."

"You're not stupid Meggie, you're my best friend too," she quickly kissed a surprised blue eyed friend and said, "You can't stay hurt, you gotta get better, it's more important than food even."

A remorseful face frowned and let a few tears fall, then nodded agreement.

Sarah wiped the tears away kissing a cheek and tried to lighten the mood, "Ya reckon it tastes like fish then?"

Megan shrugged, "But we have to eat the bugger even if it tastes bad."

It provided 3 full meals and it tasted okay. Megan's foot kept her from doing anything, she even needed help getting up to go to the bathroom and needed Sarah's steadying hand when trying to squat on one leg. But Sarah enjoyed taking care of her friend, humming while she went about the various chores smiling often when she looked at her friend who always seemed to be watching her. Sarah would smile back with a warm feeling inside, she felt needed and loved being able to do things for Meggie; it made her feel so good.

"I'm sorry you have to do everything Sarah, I'll be better soon I reckon, I can almost walk on my own now," she looked at the healing wound and flexed her leg.

"I like doing all the stuff Meggie. Glad you're getting better, but it feels good to help you, makes me happy. But sorry I'm not good at fishin."

"Fishing's hard; I don't do good all the time either. Thanks for doing stuff, but I want to get better, it's boring."

They shared a hug and another quick kiss when it started to rain. The storm wasn't too bad so they weathered it at the shelter, singing songs, cutting off the split ends of the each others hair, brushing and braiding, playing 20 questions, drawing on each others back and finally falling asleep, with Sarah snuggling close her face almost buried in Megan's hair.

"AHHHH," Sarah exclaimed as the spear missed the fish just barely.

The bite was healing with only little puffiness and Megan escaped any fever or illness, she was almost better. So Sarah had helped Megan to the lagoon and she was sitting on a partially submerged rock and quietly encouraging her small friend, urging patience.

"I'm not as quick as you Meggie, I can't do it," Sarah pounded the water in her frustration with a few tears.

"Sarah, I can't do it quick all the time or we'd eat more. Its hard Sar, you're doing better, that was soooo close."

She had swum/crawled over to her friend and gave the girl a hug and kissed the top of her head.

"Snot fair, your muscles are stronger," still in the girl's embrace Sarah squeezed Megan's arm looking up at her friend with a not fair expression.

"You could catch fish too on the other side; I'm just scared for you to go by yourself. You can do it cause you're not a baby, but it's not good alone Sar."

"I know Meggie, but we haven't had meat in 5 days since the shark. There's no muscles, I gotta go to the other side I'm thinkin. I could help you to the top and you could watch me."

"But what if you fell, my bloody ankle isn't better enough to come get you and help. Same with me, I don't wanna go alone even when I'm better because it's steep to get down and we've slipped already."

They sighed and floated on their backs a while. That night they opened a bag of tuna to eat along with their coconut. It was only a few more days, then Sarah went fishing on the other side with Megan watching from the mountain top and they had fish for dinner again. Not long after that, they were both back to being hunters and food gatherers though Sarah refused to allow Megan to hunt for snakes. And the tall girl wisely didn't push the issue knowing Sarah was fearful of the danger and the worst case scenario, neither wanted to take the chance.

Megan's 11th birthday was better given there was no shark bite. They splurged and washed their hair even though it wasn't time yet. The regime of shampooing once a month and washing with soap a different time during the month had left them 2 and a half shampoo bottles where there had been 4, 2 and a half bottles of soap where there had also been 4. Wash days were always fun, they'd swim out to the ship then stand on the rocks and have a shampoo, washing hair first then using the rest of the lather to wash the body. It was too rocky in this spot to dive off, but being all soapy they'd get in the water and swim back to the beach. Matthew said being out by the ship nearer the waves would help keep the lagoon from getting contaminated by the chemicals in the soap. On body soap wash days, they would go to the other side of the island where the waves broke onto a partially sandy but rockier beach, the more turbulent waters quickly carrying away the suds.

It had only been two weeks since they last washed but Sarah had said it would be fun to smell good and clean on Megan's birthday so they finished washing then played tag in the lagoon for a while. Later that day Sarah asked the birthday girl to stay at the shelter while she did an errand and a puzzled Megan complied.

"Okay Meggie, close your eyes," Sarah yelled before she was in eye sight.

Megan had a look of anticipation though her eyes were shut when Sarah knelt in front of her.

"K, open," Sarah said with a smile.

Megan opened her eyes to find Sarah holding a bunch of flowers with a wide grin splitting her face.

"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Meggie, Happy Birthday to you," Sarah leaned in and kissed her friend missing her lips and getting her nose.

They laughed.

"Here," Sarah placed a flower stem behind each of Megan's ears.

"Now you do me."

Megan put the white blossoms in Sarah's hair the same way.

"Now we smell pretty and we look pretty, let's dance," Sarah took Megan's hand and started singing as they danced with each other, but they made up their own dances, leaving the memory of the waltz, the tango and the twist with Matthew this year.

This time it was an applesauce cup they opened and shared then they lay on the grassy knoll of the mountain top and watched the puffy clouds go by as the sun began to paint the sky flaming gold and dip into the water.

"It's a bird, its big, look at the wing, see on that side."

"Haaa haaa, I thought it was a surf board with a big head, look," Megan giggled and pointed out the shape.

"Hey that one looks like Tele Tubbies, look," Sarah grinned.

"I don't like Tele Tubbies, it looks fake."

"They're not spossed to be real Meggie, they're funny. Like the one they flew to the moon. Their space ship was tin foily."

Megan sat up looking across the whole sky for the moon, but it wasn't out. So they built a fire as the breeze began to grow and they huddle together falling asleep until the rain woke them extinguishing their fire. They cautiously felt their way to their shelter in the dark and spent the remainder of the night huddled together in a dry spot with a blanket, which they decided needed a bath when it stopped raining.

The rainy season had started again, they had left most things in the cave since Matthew died but they had brought some clothes out for using as pillows, the real pillows having gone the way of the mattresses, some utensils, some water jugs, and some tools. Each time a storm came, more than the normal rain, they would pack all these things back to the cave with them and wait out the harsh wind, rain and