~ Diablo's Island ~
by Larisa
Disclaimer: Yeah yeah, we all know but these ones are all mine.
Sex, bad language, Violence, Gummy bears stuck to the ceiling and the kiddy part. Yes, yes, a little, I'll never tell and if you're wearing Pull-ups go the Hell away.
Sonji gazed out at the small waves of the Pacific Ocean; she and her lover of three years had decided to take a vacation together for the first time. They had rented a 42-foot yacht to tour all of the Hawaiian Islands; they could take their time and not be rushed, that would have happened on a regular tour. She looked over her shoulder and brushed her shoulder length blonde hair from her sea green eyes. Her lover Tabitha was on the raised deck covered from head to toe with a large beach towel, huge straw hat and sunglasses that made her look like a big bug. She had no idea why she even bothered to come out from below deck; she hated the sun and worse yet, the smell of the ocean. "Tabitha, I'm going below to check my e-mail, watch our heading. I don't want to get too far off from Oahu and then spend all night trying to find the island in the dark."
"Do I look like a deck hand to you," She pulled her sunglasses down to show blue eyes outlined with black eyeliner and mascara. "I feel like I'm on board ship with Captain Bligh or Captain Hook and when are we going to eat?"
"Ohh for Christ sakes Tabitha, whose idea was it to rent this damn yacht? And the last time I cooked all you did was complain that I picked the wrong wine for the type of meat we were having, so you can cook your self." She stomped down the stairs that would take her to the smaller berth that she was using for her laptop and time out room from her lover. She walked into the stately room and dropped down into the over stuffed recliner; she grabbed her laptop and leaned back while flipping the top open. She stopped and just looked around her; the room was furnished somewhat like her living room at home with the exception of the expensive paintings that she had spent a fortune on. It was one of the things that Tabitha didn't bitch about her spending money on, as if Tabitha had any say in how she spent her hard-earned money. She had more money than what she knew to do with and the old saying was right, you can't buy happiness or love with it. She sighed and opened her e-mail account; she had been waiting for notice from one of her work partners to let her know if a deal had gone through. Being an investment broker had its up and downs and right now, she was on the up. She had a deal that was worth close to 25 million dollars on the last step before it would be complete; her cut would be a huge chunk of money. More money than most people made in ten years and all she did was open another account and let it sit there, the interest would be sent to a charity but other than that, she did nothing with it. Tabitha always asked her why she just didn't give the whole amount to charity, she explained that this way, they would always get money no matter how many years went by. She checked her e-mail and found that she had nothing but Spam, like why did she need wholesale Viagra? "Guess either you guys forgot to e-mail me or the deals not finished yet?" She decided to check on some of the sites she visited regularly to see if anything new had been added and saw that one of her favorite fan fiction authors had posted a new story. She downloaded a couple stories and got comfortable before she started reading.
**********
Tabitha pulled her thin arm from under her towel and checked the time on her diamond-encrusted watch; she rolled her eyes and pulled the thermos off the table beside her. "I'll wait another hour before I start yelling for her." She poured another margarita into her glass and sipped it slowly while watching the white caps on the ocean. She leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes and fell asleep to the rolling yacht. She slept right through the high winds and the waves splashing up over the sides of the yacht.
******
Sonji fell from the recliner and staggered when she got up from the floor; she braced a hand on the wall and swayed with the toss of the yacht. She knew that something was wrong as soon as she cleared the door to the deck. The wind shoved her back against the door jam and almost sent her down the stairs backwards. "TABITHA!" She screamed and lurched towards where her lover's lawn chair was up against the opposite railing of where she had been. She fell to her knees and crawled to her, grabbing the end, she pulled herself up and shook her drunken lover. "God damn you wake up!" She grabbed her arm, pulled her from the chair and was dragging her across the deck when the yacht shot straight up in the air and rolled to its side. She held on to Tabitha as they pitched into the ice-cold water. She fought her way to the surface and pulled Tabitha up by her arm. She treaded water, and looked around for their yacht to see nothing but high waves coming towards them. "Son of a bitch! You always have to get DRUNK!" Her temper flared, she pulled back a hand and slapped Tabitha across her face. "Wake up you stupid bitch!" She slapped her again and saw blue eyes pop open and water spew from between her lips.
"Why are we in the ocean?" She looked around with bloodshot eyes and yelped when she saw a huge wave coming towards them. "Where's the yacht?"
"Gone, why didn't you move your ass and head us out of the storm?"
"Don't blame me I'm not the one who planned our course!" She screamed when the wave crashed down on them and then popped to the surface to look for Sonji. "What are we going to do now, we can't tread water forever!"
"Pick a direction and swim!" Sonji was madder than she had ever been in her entire life; she let the wave carry her upwards and looked around her. Off in the distance, she could see the dark outline of an island. "Swim that way, I can see the island!" She pointed and then started swimming against the waves. Every once in a while, she was able to cut through the wave and come out on the other side. It still felt like she had been swimming for days when she finally made it to the beach. She dropped down onto the cold wet sand and panted, minutes later, she felt Tabitha drop down next to her and whimper.
"I am never going on another boat, yacht or steam liner, my hair is ruined from swimming in salt water!" Sonji rolled to her back and covered her eyes; she wanted to run back out and drowned herself. As soon as they got back to the civilized part of the island, she was breaking it off. She couldn't stand Tabitha anymore, her shallowness had really come out during their five days of vacation and she wasn't about to put up with another ten. She lifted a hand and saw that Tabitha was trying to untangle her long dark hair and cussed when she broke one of her long blood red French cut fingernails. She groaned, rolled to her knees and took in the beach where they had landed. She started to walk towards the thick brush and stopped when Tabitha screamed her name.
"I'm going to see if there's anywhere we can get out of this weather!" She pushed her hair back from her face and sighed when Tabitha came running towards her.
"Not without me, I'm not staying on the beach all alone." She grabbed the back of Sonji's t-shirt and held on for dear life. The storm had now reached the island, rain pelted them through the vegetation, and lightning flashed overhead and struck the tops of trees. They fought through the wind to an area up against a cliff side; Sonji dropped to the ground and pulled her knees up to her chest. Her teeth were chattering and she knew that Tabitha had to be colder than her. All she had on was a skimpy string bikini that she had paid $250.00 for at some fancy salon on the main island. She would have been warmer if she had covered her body with dollar bills, definitely covered more as well. "Now what are we going to do, sit here all night and freeze to death? I can't believe this happened, of all the asinine things!" She dropped down to her haunches and tried to press back into the hard rock behind her. "I will never go on vacation with you again; everything has gone wrong from the morning we flew out of LAX!" Sonji rolled her eyes and hugged her knees tighter to her chest, gritting her teeth; she got up and pulled Tabitha from the ground.
"Come on, there has to be something around here. Someone has to live this close to the beach and we're not stopping until I find something!" She pulled Tabitha behind her through the wind whipped brush and torrential down pour. Three hours later with their lips blue and soaked past the skin to their bones, they dropped down onto the beach and hugged each other. "This is?hopeless?we?walked?in circles." Tabitha stuttered through her chattering teeth. Sonji looked up at the sky and saw stars appear; she dropped her head down onto Tabitha's shoulder and closed her eyes.
"At least?the storm?is over; maybe it'll?warm up?a bit." She shivered and prayed for a blazing fire to warm themselves by. She looked up when she heard a noise in the bushes and jumped when a small form rushed out and back in a distance from where it appeared.
"Ohh my God, there's wild animals around us!" Tabitha screamed right in Sonji's ear, jumped up and ran to the edge of the ocean. "KILL IT BEFORE IT GETS ME!" She screamed again, jumped up and down, and pointed to the bushes. "Just don't stand there Sonji Anderson, kill that animal!"
Sonji threw her hands in the air and stomped off into the bushes. "Come on and attack me, maybe you have huge fangs and you'll suck all the blood from my body!" She turned in a circle and tilted her head up when something hit her on top of her head. "Can't you throw something a little heavier and knock me out for the next 50 years or so?" Then she saw it, it was a small but had huge gold eyes that seemed to say to her that she would be supper that night. She shivered and then jumped when it made an ungodly noise and jumped from tree to tree and then disappeared. She turned and jogged back down to the beach to find Tabitha trying to start a fire by using wet seaweed. "What are you doing, that won't burn and where did you have a lighter hidden?"
"Well then find me something because I am not going to sit here in the dark and think of where I could hide a lighter!" Her blue eyes flashed with irritation from her failed attempt at a fire.
"If you just so happened to have missed it, it stormed like a big dog and everything is soaked. If you want to try to find us a cave that some ancient tribe or maybe Captain Hook stocked with firewood then by all means be my guest." She dropped down into the sand and hugged her knees to her chest.
"I knew I should have gone after that good looking guy in accounting, he would not have left us get thrown over board and if we did I'm sure that he would have a blazing fire started and caught us something to eat by now!" Green eyes looked up to the ranting woman, rolled and then closed. Sonji would just pretend that she was all alone and be done with it for the rest of the night.
******
"OK now what did you find?" A very tall woman with wild dark hair hanging down to her waist stalked the ring tailed Lemur that sat upon her worktable, she tilted her head sideways and looked into its large golden eyes. "Now where in the world did you find that ugly damn hat?" The small monkey dropped the hat over its small head and pulled the sides down to practically cover its entire body. "Come on Jimmy, I know you had to have gotten it somewhere, now where did you get it?" A small hand snuck out and pointed to the door. "That really helps me, now where's Gibbon, I know she went with you?" She looked around her hut and found her other monkey with a pair of big sunglasses on her face; she shook her head and dropped down into her office chair. "First a hat and now sunglasses, you guys didn't steal those from John when he was here last week did you?" Gibbon shook her golden head and gave her a toothy grin. "I wonder what else you guys have stolen from his boat?" She pulled herself up to her worktable, slipped her wire-rimmed glasses on and went back to writing notes for her research. She jumped when the small piano in the corner was pounded on and then went back to work; she would have thought that after 20 years of having her capuchin monkey scare the Hell out of her with her lack of music abilities, that she would at least stop jumping. "I wish you would learn something other than Beethoven's 5th piano concerto, how about some Mozart?" She sighed when her long hair swung across her back and she felt small hands grab the sides of her glasses. From the corners of her pale blue eyes, she saw pale green fur and then little green eyes staring at her from each side of her face. "I bet you two are the only ones that didn't go out and cause trouble?" She held up her pencil and let one of her pygmy marmosets crawl onto it. They were the smallest of her primates and the most lovable, when full grown, they were only six inches tall. "See that, Thelma and Louise are gonna get fresh fruit in the morning and you trouble makers aren't getting any." She looked over to see golden eyes starring at her from under the ugly straw hat. "And you little man, stay out of John's boat." She pointed a finger at him, got up from her chair and went through her hut to her bedroom. She put the pencil in the cup on her nightstand and then let Louise crawl down from her glasses to clutch the front of her t-shirt. "Time for bed guys and I mean now, no piano playing and no playing in the cabinets!" She kicked off her tennis shoes, laid down on her bed and sighed when Thelma jumped from the pencil onto her face. "OK, move your little furry body down with your sister and no sucking on my shirt." She crossed her hands on her stomach and drifted off to sleep even though her other monkeys were making ungodly sounds in the living room.
**********
The next morning, Sonji rolled over and jumped. She had bad hair days before but nothing could ever compare to the state that Tabitha's hair was in. Frizzy was a very pale description, more like deep fried from a bad perm. She grimaced and rolled over to the other side and got to her feet. She stretched her arms up over her head and groaned at the stiffness in her muscles, turning towards the trees, she walked slowly. "Gods I feel like shit," She rubbed her face with gritty hands and cussed under her breath. "That was smart, rub sand into your face; it'll go good with your soar feet." She had forgotten about her wet tennis shoes and knew that her feet were close to falling off from being wet all night. After relieving her full bladder, she went back out on the beach and snickered at her lover. "I have never seen you look so?terrifying before." She wiped the smirk from her face when blue eyes fluttered open and then focused on her.
"What time is it?" Tabitha asked and then looked around them. "Ohh God it wasn't an awful nightmare, we are really stranded on some strange beach." She got to her feet, ran her hands through her hair and whimpered. "Ohh this is just great, I just had my hair done and now it's?I need a mirror to describe it," She looked to Sonji and held out a hand to her. "Give me your comb."
"Do I look like I have a comb on me," She held her hands out to her sides and raised a dark eyebrow. "I don't have anything, not even my wallet." She turned and looked out to the ocean hoping to see their yacht sitting out there unharmed. "I wonder if it sunk or it's out there floating around?"
"And what good would that do us, we couldn't get to it if we wanted to." She stomped off towards the beach that they hadn't investigated the night before. "I really need a martini, margarita, vodka on the rocks or even a plain old bourbon."
"What you need is a pair of sheep shears." Sonji mumbled, pulled off her shoes and followed. "I need a doctor before my feet fall off." She flinched when the pale wrinkled flesh of her feet stepped on a small pebble. "Damn this really sucks, I may end up crawling." She jumped three feet in the air when the same sound she had heard the night before rang out, she stopped and looked to the treetops and saw a golden body swinging from the tree limbs. "At least I know that monkeys won't attack and eat us." She continued on her way until she saw that Tabitha had stopped and was looking at a waterfall off in the distance.
"I'm going over there to wash this sand off and if we're lucky, it's fresh water." She didn't wait for Sonji but just strutted off towards the water falls.
"Go then, I'm going to look around and maybe find some wood that I can set out to dry and something to eat." She figured if there were monkeys, then there was fruit. Stepping gingerly into the brush, she started searching for branches and anything else that would burn. What ever she found, she tossed on the beach and then searched some more. When she had gathered enough for a good-sized fire and enough to last a day or two, she started searching the trees for edible fruit.
*****
"HAAA! I have this gorgeous little lagoon all to myself." Tabitha shimmied out of her bikini, rinsed it out and then hung it from some branches to dry. Doing what she thought was an impressive dive; she flopped into the water and stayed under until she needed air. Popping to the surface, she shook her head and then did a backstroke across the crystal blue water. "This place isn't so bad, nice lagoon, tropical flowers, water falls and?" She looked back towards where she had left her bikini and saw that it was no longer there. "THIEVES!" She screamed and swam back to shore. "SONJI THIS IS NO WHERE NEAR HUMUROUS!" She continued to scream on her way back to the beach. "I can't believe her; she has the audacity to steal the only clothing I have." She looked down at her fake firm breasts and stuck her chest out even further. "That's OK, have your fun now and I'll have mine later." She continued to strut down the beach and found the pile of wood that her lover had tossed out of the trees. Dropping down into the sand, she grimaced when it got into crevices better-left sand free. "Just great, now I'll chaff and there's not a damn thing I can do about it. My beautiful flawless skin will be forever ruined?unless my plastic surgeon can fix it, maybe a chemical peel or two?" She sat and pouted, she knew that when Sonji saw her that she would give back her bikini.
**********
Sonji climbed up a tree and threw down a bunch of small banana's, she grinned all the way back to the ground and was about to pick them up when she felt the ground start to suck at her feet. She tried to pull free but the more she struggled the more she sunk, she grabbed at some tree roots and felt them break off in her hand. Just as she was about to yell for Tabitha, strong arms grabbed her by her forearms and lifted her from the quagmire she was stuck in. "Thank God Tabitha, I thought I was going to die in there," She tilted her head back and looked into pale blue eyes. "You're not Tabitha?Ohhh God, you're not her." She jumped away from the tall dark woman and fell on her ass. "Where's Tabitha?"
"Who?" The other woman asked and tilted her head to the side.
"Tabitha, my?friend?I have to find her and let her know that we're not alone here." She struggled to her feet and fell again.
"Who are you and what are you doing on my island?" She walked closer until she was standing over a gapping Sonji. "Are you going to answer me or what?" Sonji took in the way she was dressed and then up into crystal blue eyes.
"Our yacht sunk last night and we swam here, what do you mean your island. You can't own Oahu?can you?"
"This isn't Oahu, this is Diablo Island and you're about a four hour boat ride from there."
"Ohhh shit, you wouldn't happen to have a boat to take us to Oahu would you or a radio to call for help?"
"Nope, no boat and my radio's broke. Let's go find this Tabitha so you can tell her the bad news." She offered a hand to Sonji and froze when they touched, she could swear that she had touched a hot poker, and knew it showed in her face. Sonji was reluctant to let go of her hand but did so anyway with a small smile.
"She was going to the water falls to wash off and see if it was fresh water," She looked over her shoulder and took in the red material that was wrapped around trim hips the same way she had seen on the men when they were on Kauni. It was the fishnet half shirt that really got her attention; she tripped over a tree root because of it and gasped from her stubbed toes. "She should be back by now, I hope." She stepped onto the beach and rolled her eyes at her lover. "Tabitha where's your bikini?"
"You should know you stole it while I was swimming." She opened her eyes and gasped when she saw the strange woman standing behind Sonji. "Ohhh my God why didn't you tell me you weren't alone, I'm lying her naked with a strange woman looking at me!" She tried to cover all the vital parts and snarled at the deep laughter coming from the very tall woman. "Give me your shirt Sonji!"
"Ohh for Christ sakes Tabitha, you act like you haven't flashed your tits at complete strangers before." She pulled off her shirt, tossed it to her and stood there bare chested. "Feel better now that I'm standing here half naked?" She felt a blush work its way up her face when more laughter rang out from behind her.
"As a matter of fact yes I do, you know I can't get sunburned. My skin is very sensitive and I don't want to wrinkle or get freckles all over me." She held out a hand to the other woman and introduced her self. "I'm Tabitha Langston and who might you be?"
"I'm Diablo, the owner of this island and that's all you need to know and as for your bikini, I think I have an idea of where it went." She turned and headed back through the trees and brush. "Are you two coming or not?" Tabitha grabbed Sonji by her upper arm and whispered in her ear.
"Where did you find the pirate from Hell?"
"She saved me from a death by quagmire so be nice to her or she'll throw you out into the ocean." They followed in a zigzag pattern until the came to a break in the vegetation, Sonji felt her jaw drop when she saw the large hut like structure with another smaller one sitting on a perfect lawn. She looked at the garden furniture sitting on a rock patio beside a propane BBQ, and then her eyes went to a kids jungle gym off to the other side. "She must have kids here with her." She whispered to Tabitha and stopped when she heard the sound that sent her hair to stand on end.
"Jimmy, Gibbon get out here!" Diablo yelled after making the horrible noise.
"Her kids stole your bikini, that means they watched you skinny dipping."
"Just great, I was spied on by two little boys." Tabitha growled and rolled her eyes with embarrassment. She looked around them and then felt her mouth fall open when two monkeys came running out of the large hut like structure. "Those are the ugliest children I have ever seen and they have my hat too!"
"I saw that black and white one last night and the gold one just before I got stuck in that stuff," Sonji said and stepped closer to Diablo. "Are they yours or do they just hang around?" Diablo took the bikini and hat from her monkeys and handed them each a small banana from the bag hanging off her side.
"They're mine and if they know what's good for them, they'll haul their hairy little bodies back inside." She pointed and grinned when they both grinned at her and then ran back inside with their bananas. She walked over to Tabitha and handed her the bikini and straw hat. "They're thieves and you're not their first victim."
Sonji touched her upper arm and then dropped her hand away when it tingled from the warm skin. "So there is someone else here on the island?"
"Nope, a friend of mine comes out twice a month to bring me supplies. They steal stuff off his boat and I find it after he's left." She walked towards her hut and waved a hand at them. "Come on inside, I was on my way back for lunch, you're welcome to join me." She held the screen door open and then went to her kitchen to get lunch started. She looked over her shoulder to her guests and saw them looking around her living room. "Go ahead and make yourselves comfortable, I don't have much in the way of comfort but you're welcome to what I do have." Sonji sat down on the old couch and sighed, there wasn't anything wrong with what Diablo had. In fact, it was nice for being on an island out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. She jumped when Tabitha let out a blood-curdling scream and jumped into her lap. "What the Hells wrong with you?" She shoved her lover away and then saw the organ grinder monkey sitting on the arm of the couch grinning at her.
"That's Beethoven, she's harmless unless you have delicate ear drums." Diablo said and then brought a plate of sandwiches and a pitcher of iced tea into the living room and set them on the coffee table. "Bee go play with your violin or something but leave the drums alone." She tapped her monkey on her head and pointed to the small violin sitting in a toy box.
"She plays the violin?" Sonji asked and then took one of the roast beef sandwiches from the plate.
"Among other things including playing on my nerves." Diablo sat down in a chair across from the couch and grabbed a sandwich. "So the storm got you two last night?"
"No, it was still light out when it hit us. I have no idea how far we swam to get here." She looked to her lover and rolled her eyes at the delicate way she was eating and fluttering her eyelashes at Diablo. "I saw the island and thought it was Oahu." She shrugged her shoulders and looked back into eyes bluer than her lover's. "How long before your friend comes back and will he take us to Oahu?"
"Not until next Friday, he's supposed to have the part for my radio and he'll take you back with him if you ask."
Tabitha stopped mid bite and looked at her with wide eyes. "You don't have a radio, what happens if you have an emergency?"
"I stand out on the beach and yell help really loud," She got up from her chair and went to the back of the hut where her bedroom was, she returned a few minutes later with a t-shirt and handed it to Sonji. "You might want to keep as covered as possible, at night the bugs can eat you alive."
"That's good to know, last night was miserable but the bugs didn't get us." She pulled the shirt on and gave Tabitha a glare when she mumbled under her breath. "Just shut up and eat your sandwich, it's your fault we're stuck here not mine."
"Don't you start that again, if you hadn't been down below, we wouldn't have run into the storm. You know I don't know anything about sailing or yachts."
"You told me before we rented the damn thing that you had been on a yacht and knew how to sail!"
"I was on a yacht before and my ex-lover Angie used to take us sailing in San Diego, that's a big difference."
"Ohh now you tell me the complete story, I should have known that you would leave out vital information." Sonji sighed and moved further away from her lover, if the shallowness hadn't made up her mind to break up with Tabitha, this certainly did. She was so tired of how she thought only of herself and the half-truths that her lover told her all the time. "That's it, no more." She got up, thanked Diablo for her kindness and left. "I can't get away from her soon enough, I can't believe that I've stayed with her this long." She ran her fingers through her hair and wandered back the way they had come.
Tabitha smiled at Diablo and reached for a glass of iced tea, she took a small sip and moaned seductively. "So do you live here all alone and what do you do here?" She flashed a bright smile and fluttered her lashes above the dark black smudge marks from her smeared make-up.
"Yeah I live here all alone and that's exactly how I like it, John will be more than happy to take you guys back to Oahu. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some work to do." She walked into her bedroom, grabbed her backpack and headed out the front door. She hoped that Tabitha would wander back to the beach before she got back from her where she was headed. The woman had gotten on her nerves in the short time that she had been there and then to openly flirt with her with her lover right beside her. "Lady you are no where near my type, your shallowness rings like a church bell." She whistled and then felt the weight of Gibbon drop down onto her shoulders. "Are you going to help me this time or just play in the dirt?" Shivers ran up her spine when small hands scratched her scalp and searched her hair. "Ohh come on, I don't have any bugs in my hair." She continued on her hike to a part of the island that brought her there to begin with, years before, she had heard of an abandoned ancient city, no one knew why or where the natives had gone. For the last ten years, she had been slowly uncovering the city trying to find its secrets. The small shed near her hut was where she kept all the artifacts that she uncovered; she had yet to tell the science world what she had and probably never would. She didn't want anyone coming to her island and taking over and claiming everything for some university. She grabbed a rope that she had tied to a thick tree below and used it to help pull her self up the steep incline, after ten years, she still had trouble making it all the way to the top without the help of the rope. She figured that even if she was 20 years younger she still wouldn't be able to make it without help.
********
Sonji stacked the branches she had gotten earlier in a teepee, stuck some dried moss below it and then remembered that she had no way of lighting it. "Son of a bitch, I should have asked Diablo if I could have some matches." She dropped down onto the palm leaves she had collected on her way back to the beach and dropped her chin on her knees. "I wonder what she does here all alone and why she's here to begin with?" She could still see the pale blue eyes and the way her body moved when she walked. Tabitha was an attractive woman but Diablo was a goddess, the way her high cheekbones slanted down to a strong chin and her dark hair set off the blueness of her eyes. Not to mention the dark tan of her skin and how silky it felt to her fingertips. She sighed and fell back on the leaves, closed her eyes and tried to bring forth the images of the strong looking woman.
"Your friend is a rude person and I can't wait to get off this God forsaken island of hers." Tabitha dropped down beside Sonji and tapped her on the chest. "She left me sitting there in her hut all alone with those monkeys!" She rubbed at her arms and shook Sonji's shoulder. "They probably have diseases and lice, how can she live with monkeys? Maybe she's an escaped ax murderer and we should report her to the authorities when we get back?"
"Ohh will you just mind your own business and leave her alone, who cares why she's here, she's not hurting anyone and she did feed us."
"Ohh I see now, you want to sleep with her. I'm not good enough now that you found monkey woman."
"Ooohh please, I talked to her for a whole half hour and you have me jumping in bed with her. She may not even be gay so just drop the subject already and give me your lighter." She took the lighter from Tabitha and started the moss on fire, within a few minutes she had a good-sized fire going and felt better. "Now we won't freeze tonight and the bugs will stay away."
"And what am I supposed to do about my hair and food for later tonight?"
"I don't know and there's bananas right there at the edge of the trees." She laid back and closed her eyes not caring what Tabitha did with herself.
"Monkey food, you found us monkey food, just great. All that potassium is sure to cause problems with my complexion not to mention my metabolism. If I get sick it will be your fault and I will make sure you suffer for it."
"Like I don't suffer enough already," She looked over to her snarling lover and growled. "Maybe Diablo wouldn't have been so rude if you hadn't flirted with her, I think you're the one who wants to bed her."
"Ohh puleeease, like I would lower myself to having sex with a savage pirate who lives on an island all alone and sleeps with monkeys." Her blue eyes flashed in the fire light as she primped. "She does have a body that makes your mouth water but she needs to cut and style her hair and wear more acceptable clothes."
"Is that all you think about is how a person dresses or wears their hair or make-up?"
"Of course, why do you think I'm the top seller at Bloomingdales? You have to have an eye for that kind of thing; you know make an ugly duckling into a swan. Make them desirable to every walking creature and build their ego up at the same time."
"Make them shallow, stuck up and a duplicate of yourself. Just what this world needs more of," she moved to the other side of the fire to get out of the smoke that seemed to follow her no matter where she went. "I maybe rich but I don't act like it and clothes don't matter to me or the way I look."
"I know this and so do all our friends, that is all I hear about is why you dress like some regular slaving class person. You are a multi-millionaire and you don't act like it and what really irritates all of us, is you giving away so much money." She threw her hands in the air and pouted. "You could buy me that huge mansion in Bellaire I love and maybe one of those new sporty coupes that BMW just came out with."
"You know what Tabitha; you can go straight to Hell. I'll give every penny I have to the homeless and children's charities before I spend one more penny on you!" She got up from the fire and walked off into the darkness. "Maybe I'll buy an island and live like Diablo does, I could get a chimp for company. Guaranteed to be a more interesting conversation than what I have with Tabitha, plus it could fend for itself and get us bananas to put on our cheerios." She dropped down into the sand beside a tall palm tree, brought her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on top of her hands. She looked to the sky and saw dark clouds heading their way. "Just great, another storm, I feel like I'm on that Survivor program and I got stuck with the person no one else wanted in their group." She leaned to the side, grabbed a huge heart shaped leaf and draped it over her head. "Maybe I should make some kind of structure to keep us out of the weather? Nahh, Tabitha deserves to sit out in the rain." She shivered when the wind picked up and blew cold air in off the ocean, she sat there thinking deep thoughts and never noticed when it started to pour buckets of ice-cold rain.
"Hey, instead of sitting out here and getting drenched, you two can stay in my hut." Diablo said from behind her and snorted when Sonji jumped and let out a yelp when cold water ran down the back of her neck from the leaf.
"You wouldn't mind, I mean I wouldn't want us to be a burden or anything?"
"As long as you keep your bimbo's mouth shut, no I wouldn't mind. Besides, you don't need to get sick from being out here in the weather." She offered a hand to Sonji and pulled her up from the ground. "Go get Tabitha and I'll meet you guys back at my hut." She disappeared back into the foliage before Sonji could say another word. She looked over to where the fire was and saw that Tabitha had made a little teepee structure over it; the only problem she saw was that it was only big enough for one person and the fire. Shaking her head, she walked over and pulled open a hole big enough to look through.
"Diablo invited us to stay in her hut tonight; do you want to come with me?"
"I don't care if there's a hurricane coming; I will not stay in the monkey woman's hut, even if you paid me ten million dollars to do it." She slapped at Sonji's hands and went back to putting small pieces of wood on the fire.
"Fine by me, I'll go sit in a nice warm hut with the monkey woman and enjoy every single second I'm in her company." She mumbled to herself on her way towards the path that led to Diablo's. "I'm not too proud to accept help when it's offered." She stepped through to the clearing a few minutes later and was relieved to see a light burning inside the hut. She hadn't even thought of how Diablo had electricity on the island and would ask her about it. She stopped at the screen door and tapped on the wooden frame. "Hello, Diablo are you in there?"
"Come on in just watch out for the roaming critters." Sonji stepped in slowly and saw what she meant by critters. Four Jackson's chameleons slowly walked across the floors while honeycreepers sat on the windowsills and table singing.
"Do they come in every time it storms or are they regular visitors?" She stepped over to the large worktable and saw bits and pieces of pottery and gold coins littering the top along with a well-worn leather notebook. When Diablo turned her head and looked up at her, she couldn't help but grin at the tiny monkeys hanging from her glasses. "I bet no one else has glasses like yours, what kind of monkey are they?"
"Thelma and Louise are Brazilian pygmy marmosets, I smuggled them out of the jungle years ago." She grinned and closed her notebook. "Where's Tabitha?"
"Ohh she's being her difficult holier-than-thou self and stayed out on the beach. Thank you for inviting me, I don't think I would have survived on the beach without killing her."
"I noticed that she made her self a little Teepee and that you were sitting out in the weather." She gently pulled her glasses off and waited until the marmosets crawled onto pencils in her pencil holder. "Why do you put up with her shit, I would've tossed her out for shark bait before we even got away from Oahu?"
Sonji sighed, sat down on the floor and leaned up against the wall; she rubbed her tired eyes and shrugged her shoulders. "I guess after three years of putting up with all her shit, I don't notice anymore or I just don't care. Sometimes I just filter her out and pretend I'm all alone," She grinned up at Diablo and chuckled. "That is until she screams loud enough to make my hair stand on end. What about you, don't you get lonely here all by yourself?"
Diablo leaned back in her chair and looked up to the ceiling for a moment before she connected eyes with Sonji. "Not really, there's alone and then there's lonely. I'm never really alone as you can see," She pointed to all the colorful birds sitting on the windowsills and the other creatures that had come in after Sonji. "I have my work that keeps me busy and I've never really been a people person. This place suits me and I have John who comes twice a month if I want someone to talk to."
"I noticed you have some stuff there on your table, what is it that you do if you don't mind my asking?"
"Ohh I dabble in archeology?there's a place on the island that I go to and find bits and pieces of the past."
Sonji narrowed an eye at her and pulled a battered book from the table, she flipped it over and saw Diablo's picture on the back. "Uhh huh, so Dr. Diablo Hawthorne of the Mayan archeological site is just a dabbler?"
"I'm retired so yes I'm just a dabbler, what about you, what do you do for a living?"
"I'm an investment broker in Los Angles, it's a boring existence and I don't enjoy it like I used to."
"Ohh but I can imagine how lucrative it is, it would have to be if you could rent a yacht and sail around the islands."
"Yeah that cost quite a bit and if it is sitting on the bottom of the ocean then I just bought it." She looked down at her bare feet and spoke in a whisper. "Money isn't everything ya know, I give a lot of it away and I don't go hog wild and buy needless things. If anyone ever saw my house, they would think I was a blue collar worker." She looked up with twinkling sea green eyes and grinned. "I drive a fifteen year old Ford Taurus that has more dings and scraps than most garbage cans."
"That's something I don't have," Diablo grinned back at her. "I don't really need a car here and I never leave the island so a car would be an expense I can't afford." She got up from her chair and stretched her arms over her head; loud pops came from her spin and sent shivers down Sonji's back. "Are you hungry, I have some fried squash with onions, peppers and bacon on the stove?"
"Does John bring that stuff as well?" She pushed up from the floor and followed Diablo into her kitchen.
"I have a garden out back; I planted it there because there's a small water supply that runs through there." She pulled a bowl down from a cabinet and retrieved a fork from the dish strainer next to the sink. "If you're wondering, I do have indoor plumbing besides the kitchen sink. So if you want to take a shower you're more than welcome to it."
"I was going to ask you about how you have electricity and running water."
"I have solar panels and an emergency generator if there's not enough sun to run everything. It's approximately what we used when we were on dig sites, except I've gone to a more extravagant level. I had to since I live here and I can't afford for my refrigerator to go out." She pointed to another door that Sonji hadn't noticed. "That's the bathroom, it leads into my bedroom so if you don't want the company of little monkeys, you might want to close the other door."
"Thanks, I don't know how I'll ever repay your kindness." She sat down at the small kitchen table and started to eat the still warm food.
"No need, my ma taught me well and if she found out I let someone sit on the beach during a storm, she'd come here and kick my ass." She handed Sonji a can of Coke and then went into her bedroom. She came out a few minutes later with a clean t-shirt and a blue linen cloth. "Here's some clean clothes, there's a compact washer in the bathroom. Just toss your dirty clothes in there and I'll wash them later." She placed the clothes on the table and went back over to finish with her inventory notes and pack the fragments in a cardboard box. She had gotten lucky that day with the find of some gold coins that she knew were from the 1600's or earlier. She often wondered about Captain John Cook or Captain Cowley being near the islands, she hadn't been able to find their complete logs on their voyages but at some point in time, there had been Spaniards on her small island. Because those were the coins, she had been uncovering along with some Hawaiian helmets and other weapons. Most of the stuff that she did find were small statues of the goddess Pele, Hinakuluiau and the gods Kuula, Mokualii. What surprised her was the find of a small statue of the God Ouli; it was believed, that if you prayed to him, he would kill men. She wandered if the reason for the statue being there was because of pirates coming to the island and that it might be the reason for the natives disappearance. Whether by leaving for the other islands or by death at the hands of the pirates, she knew that she might never discover the real reason. She finished with her notes and started to pack the items in the box when she noticed the sound of the shower shutting off, she knew that once she started on something that the hours slipped away from her. She rolled her head on her shoulders, stretched her arms over her head and groaned at the stiffness in her muscles.
"I feel so much better now, thank you." Sonji said and used her towel to dry her hair. "I hope Tabitha is turning blue at this very moment, I swear she can be so?blonde at times." She draped the towel around her neck and stepped closer to Diablo. "Can you show me how you wrap this thing, I tried but I just can't get it right." She held her breath when long fingers unwrapped the linen cloth and removed it from her hips. She closed her eyes and held back a moan when Diablo brought the material through her legs and then wrapped it the proper way.
"There ya go; it takes a while to get it just right. John showed me years ago the right way; it's kind of a male thing if you know what I mean."
"You mean that only the guys wear it this way?" At Diablo's nod, she grinned and nodded her head. "That's cool; I've always been just one of the guys. Tabitha goes nuts when I wear a suit that's cut more manly then feminine, she's tried for years to get me in skirts."
"My ma gave up when I was six with the skirt deal; she caught me with pants rolled up underneath it one day and that did it for her." She got up from her chair, went over to a large steamer trunk and pulled out a pillow and thin blanket. "You can sleep on the couch, it's comfortable and the monkeys won't bother you."
"Where do they sleep?" She asked after taking the stuff from Diablo.
"They have a crib in my room, but Thelma and Louise sleep with me."
"Those tiny little things, how do you not roll over on them?"
"You'd be surprised at the places they sleep, I've woke up and thought I went blind because they were on my face. The worse part is when they stick their little hands up my nose." She grinned at the horrified look on Sonji's face and left for her bedroom. Pulling her shirt over her head, she tossed it into the washer along with her linen wrap. She flipped it on and then grabbed a worn pair of cotton shorts from her dresser before crawling into bed. She let out a long whistle and heard her monkeys come charging into her room and crawl up into their crib, from the noise they were making, she knew they were having their nightly wrestling match. "Will you guys just lay down and go to sleep?" She groaned when two tiny bodies jumped on her face and then curled up on her chest and throat.
***********
Tabitha sat close enough to the fire to singe the hair on her toes; she sniffled, wiped her nose and sneezed half a dozen times. She was miserable but there was no way she was going to go to the monkey woman's hut in the middle of the night. She could care less that her lover was there and was nice, dry, and probably sleeping like a baby. She shivered and wiped at the water that ran down the back of her neck again. "They can both kiss my perfect white ass; they are both freaks as far as I'm concerned. Sonji's a multi-millionaire that gives her money to charities, I'm a charity, and she should give it all to me!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, threw an arm out and knocked her teepee down. She cussed and scampered around trying to get it back up before the rain killed her fire. "I HATE you Sonji, I should have went to Bermuda like I wanted! Never again, this is it it's over and I hope you get a monkey disease and your tits fall off from jungle rot!" She kicked at the palm branches and stomped off to huddle under a nearby tree.
*********
Sonji woke to small fingers going through her hair and warm breath on her cheek; she opened one eye and saw a little face looking back at her. Moving a little, she saw that it was Beethoven playing with her hair and Jimmy was pulling on her toes. "You guys are worse than kids aren't you?" She sat up and then saw Gibbon stretched out across the back of the couch playing with a matchbox car.
"I treat them like they're humans, there's not much difference between them and man?well, except that they're smarter." She grinned and handed Sonji a cup of coffee. "I'll start breakfast now that you're awake and afterwards we'll go down and see if Tabitha's still there."
"God real coffee, I haven't had this since before I left for the airport." She took a sip and moaned. "Tabitha makes me drink that damn decaf stuff that tastes like shit."
"I have John bring me a couple pounds of Kona beans every trip, I haven't had anything like Folgers in over ten years." She poured cream and sugar in her cup and then filled it the rest of the way with the full-bodied coffee. "Do you like eggs and bacon?"
"I'll eat anything that doesn't scream when you stab a fork in it, with the exception of some of the stuff Tabitha cooks. She likes that fancy stuff that you can't pronounce or spell. I'm one for a nice thick steak, baked potato and a veggie."
"I hear ya; I hate that fancy shit that adds up to noodles with mayonnaise poured over 'em. I would kill for a Quarter pounder with cheese, fries and a big chocolate shake." Sonji got up from the couch and noticed that Diablo was naked from the waist up; she took a deep breath and walked the short distance to the counter that separated the kitchen from the living room.
"Is there anything I can do, I can cook or what ever you need done?" She stood there taking in every inch of Diablo's deeply tanned back and the way her muscles rolled beneath. She felt heat develop between her legs and moved her feet closer together, it had been a long time since a woman caused that reaction in her and it just had to be a straight woman at that.
"You can cut up some peppers for me, there's a knife in the drawer beside me and peppers in the crisper." She watched out of the corner of her eye as Sonji pulled open the drawer and found the knife; she watched her long fingers flip the knife through them before setting it on the counter. A small grin came with the rise of a dark eyebrow when she bent over to get the peppers out, blue eyes lingered on the backs of muscled legs and up to where the linen started.
"Well isn't this cozy?" Tabitha said through the screen door and stood there with her hands on her thin hips glaring. Diablo waved a hand at her and motioned again with a nod of her head.
"Come on in, we're just starting breakfast."
Tabitha made her usual Queen of the world entrance and dropped down in a chair at the table. "Do I have to eat with monkeys crawling all over the table?" She took a linen napkin, snapped it and placed it across her lap.
"They don't mind eating at the same table with you so why should you mind if you eat with them." She bit back a remark about their table manners being better and that they were never rude either. She looked to her side, saw Sonji holding back her laughter, and smiled at her. "Would you add the peppers and keep an eye on it while I gather up my kids?"
"Sure, you want anything else in the eggs besides the peppers?"
"Search through the refrigerator, I think I have some cheese in there and anything else you want to add." She wiped her hands on a dishtowel and went out the door towards the jungle gym.
"So did you fuck her last night?" Sonji slipped with the knife and sliced her index and middle finger.
"Son of a bitch!" She put her fingers under the faucet, turned the water on and shot a glare at her lover. "What the Hell is wrong with you?" She wrapped her fingers in a towel and pulled the scrambled eggs from the burner.
"Well, you're helping her cook breakfast; you're clean and have her clothes on so you had to have fucked her." Sonji turned around and leaned towards her lover.
"For your information, if she gave me the chance, yes I would make love to her. But she's straight and unlike you, she's not a rude bitch!" She went back to fixing the eggs and shooting glances over her shoulder. "She invited you to stay here last night but you had to be a giant asshole and sleep out on the beach during a storm. So don't go getting nasty with me or taking your nasty temper out on Diablo."
Tabitha threw her hands in the air and yelled. "Fine, you want her; you can have her because you're a waste of my precious time." She got up from the table, stopped beside Sonji and slapped her across her face. "We are through!"
Sonji grabbed her cheek and watched Tabitha storm out the door, a few seconds later, Diablo came rushing in and saw the bright red hand print across her cheek. "For Goddesss sake, what is wrong with her, is she insane?" She reached into the freezer, pulled out a handful of ice cubes and searched for the dishtowel.
"Sorry, it's around my hand, I cut my fingers." She held up the blood soaked towel and then hid her face so that Diablo wouldn't see her tear filled eyes.
"Ohh geez, come in the bathroom and let me look at them." She took Sonji by her arm and led her to the bathroom, moving her over to the toilet; she pushed her down and pulled out her first aide kit. "I should have warned you how sharp my knives are?,"
"It wasn't your fault, Tabitha said something and I turned and cut my fingers." She flinched when Diablo unwrapped the towel and stuck her hand under the cold water coming from the faucet. "She's such a bitch; she accused us of sleeping together." She saw lightning flash in pale blue eyes and wished that she hadn't said anything. "I told her she was wrong but she's?,"
"Don't worry about it; I think she was just looking for an excuse to break it off with you." She gave her a crocked smile and started to clean her fingers with peroxide.
"I told her the other day but she always has had to have the last word no matter what we're talking about." She winched and growled at Diablo when she pulled the cuts open. "I'm kind of relieved that she did this, I thought it was going to be one of those messy breakups where she screamed, yelled and tried to rip my arms off."
"From the mark across your face and two fingers cut, I'd say she came close." She put antibiotic on the cuts and then Band-Aids. "You're all set; just try to keep them dry and I'll leave the kit out so you can change the band-aids."
"Thanks, I have no idea what I would have done without you here." She cupped her throbbing fingers in her other hand and used her shoulder to dry her tears.
"If you get technical about it, you wouldn't have cut your fingers."
"True, but I'm glad you're here. I hate the thought of being on an uninhibited island for the rest of my life with just Tabitha for company." She shivered and rolled her eyes. "I would have jumped in the ocean after a week and prayed to the shark God to come and get me."
"You wouldn't need him; Tabitha's a land shark if I ever saw one. Come on let's go eat before the kids get it."
*******
Tabitha swatted at huge bugs, scratched at her sun burned arms and whimpered every step that she took towards her little beach site. On her way, she found some banana's on the ground and grabbed them. She knew that she made a big mistake by yelling at Sonji, she had never cheated on her in their entire relationship. Not that she herself hadn't cheated, but she didn't consider sleeping with a man as cheating on her female lover. "He bought me dinner, what was I supposed to do, say no?" She threw a banana peel on the dead fire and peeled another one. "He had the biggest dick I have ever had and wanted to see more of me, wonder if he's still around. He was rich, drove a Porsche and had that beachside house with all the glass on the beachfront side." She dropped down in the sand and ate three more bananas before she decided to go and get a drink of water. "How many days have I been here?" She tried to count the days but with all the other thoughts running through her head, she had no idea.
*******
"You're sure about this?" Sonji asked Diablo, held the food, clothes, bottled water and small tent out in front of her.
"Of course, she maybe an asshole but I can't let her stay down there with nothing. I can spare the food and stuff and it's up to her whether she uses it." She stopped at the edge of the trees and watched Sonji jog over to the small beach site and place the stuff on top of the smashed palm leaves. She looked around and shrugged her shoulders when she didn't see Tabitha and then jogged back to Diablo.
"She must be over at the waterfalls getting cleaned up; she's stupid if she doesn't use the stuff." She stepped closer to her and looked up from her five foot five height into blue eyes. "What's your plans for today if you don't mind telling me?"
"Ohh I thought maybe you'd like to see more of the island, there's a lot more than the beach and my yard." She took Sonji's hand and led her back onto the beach in the direction that she had searched right after they had swum to shore. "There's a little cove on this side of the island, that's where I do all my fishing and trapping. I have a taste for some fresh fish and maybe some lobster if we're lucky." They walked for twenty minutes before Diablo stopped and cut up through some brush to her small cove, she waited for Sonji and then walked out on a large piece of lava rock. "I fish here because it's not windy and the waters shallow enough to see the bottom."
"You fish with a rod or with nets?" Sonji asked as she jumped to stand beside her on the rock. I saw some men using these big nets on one of the islands and wondered how they could manage to pull all that weight in."
"They've been doing it that way their entire lives, but I use a pronged spear, I only need a fish or two and using a net would be a waste." She reached down beside her foot, picked up her long handled spear and took a wide footed stance. Sonji watched her close her eyes and hold the spear above her shoulder.
"You spear fish with your eyes closed?"
"It's called Zen spearing; I learned how to do it in Africa."
Sonji snorted and shrugged her shoulders, she had never heard of it before but then again, she had never been to Africa either. She was amazed when the tip of the spear followed the large fish swimming below them and in a split second, Diablo was falling sideways into the water. She dropped to her knees and watched her surface with Gibbon attached to her face. "Ohh I get it now, you stand there and when you fall in the water you hope you stab a fish." She laughed when Gibbon jumped from Diablo, shook her long hair of water and scampered off in to the trees.
"I hate when they do that," She growled and crawled back up onto the rock. "Now you see why I never get lonely, I have my kids to keep me from getting that way." She flipped her hair back over her shoulders and grabbed the rope that Sonji failed to notice attached to the end of the spear. "I've missed more fish that way?"
"Ohh I think it has more to do with your eyes being closed then monkey's jumping on your head." She smiled into narrow blue eyes and took the spear from her hand. "I can't be that hard, I used to gig frogs at night with just a flashlight with my grandpa."
"Ohh go ahead and show me up," She threw her hands in the air and dove off into the water, after she surfaced; she placed a wire cage on the rock and went back under. She pulled two more cages up and then rejoined Sonji. "We have some lobsters, so if you'd rather have that then fish?" She pulled a smaller lobster from a cage and put it back in the water. "I always put the females back." She gave Sonji a quick smile and then put three large males into one cage before dropping the others back into the water. "I only take what I need and try to keep the balance of nature, there's a coral reef not too far from here that I can show you. It's not as big as the ones near the other islands but it's never been touched by human hands."
"I read somewhere that just touching certain coral can either kill or damage it, why is that?"
"Some of its very delicate and when it gets touched, it damages the fine hairs that grab plankton. If it can't eat, then it can't survive." She grabbed onto the cage, looked around her and then jumped to the sandy beach. "Keep an eye out for my kids; they like to release my food back into the sea."
"Maybe they'll go chase Tabitha out into the water, she hates animals," She shook her head and then went on with what she was about to say. "She calls you the monkey woman."
"I know, I heard her ranting, I don't care what she thinks of me, I'm happy with my life and there's no reason for me to impress anyone. She's the type that has to fit in with the in-crowd and impress with her designer clothes."
Sonji just starred with opened mouth wonder at her, she had Tabitha all figured out and she had only seen her a few times. "You have her figured out all right; it took me months to see it."
"Its part of Archeology and being a corner lurker," She grinned and held back a vine for Sonji to go before her into her back yard. "I'm not known for my social skills but I watched a lot of people at the mandatory functions and knew who was doing the back stabbing to whom." They walked towards a long picnic table; Sonji stopped and watched three of Diablo's monkeys playing on the monkey bars and slide.
"Ya know, when we first came over here I thought you had regular kids when I saw that."
"John brought me that, he said that my kids needed something to play on, the thing is, when he comes over, he plays on it." Sonji laughed when Gibbon pushed the ring-tailed lemur Jimmy down the slide backwards and then stood at the top blocking it from Beethoven.
"Those breeds of primates don't usually get along do they, I mean in nature?"
"No, but I've had them all since they were babies and like any other animal, if they're raised together they get along." She pulled the lobsters from the cage and placed them in a large bucket. "Would you watch these while I go put the pot on to boil?"
Sonji nodded her head and continued to watch the monkey's play; it amazed her at just how much they reminded her of human children. They teased and did the same things that she had done as a kid, including wrestle with each other.
*********
Tabitha finished fighting with the tent and dropped down into the sand with a bottle of water. "Well this cements it, you two don't want me anywhere near you but that's OK." She took a long drink of water and picked up a stick. "I don't need either one of you to survive on this godforsaken island, I've watched the Survivor series and I can do just fine all by myself!" She waved the stick at a bug, swung it around and smacked down at it. "God damn that hurt!" She screamed and rubbed her bruised toes. "I can find my own food Sonji but that doesn't mean that I won't eat what you left for me." She opened the bag and searched through it to find some granola bars and a package of Oreo cookies, before she could open either package, she felt her stomach roll and gurgle. "Damn green bananas!" She jumped up and ran to the bushes for the third time in the last hour. She held her aching stomach and dropped back down into the sand in front of the tent and moaned from the cramping, she hoped it was the green bananas she had eaten and not the water she had gulped down from the waterfalls. Either or, she was sick as a dog and wished that she were at home where she could call her doctor to make a house call. "I would kill for some Pepto bismal." She rolled to her side and moaned some more. "I hate you Sonji, I hope you get a strange tropical disease!" Using her stick, she tapped at her stained and ruined bikini that hung from the tent ropes. "There's money wasted, I should have bought the black one piece, at least it wouldn't look like a cleaning rag."
**********
Sonji closed her eyes and moaned at the rich flavor of lobster meat dipped in real butter, she had lobster plenty of times but it had never tasted like this. She opened her eyes and watched Diablo use her hands to crush one of the large claws and then pull the thick white meat from inside. Her hands were amazing; at least those were her thoughts. They were long fingered but thick with muscle and calloused from digging in the dirt to recover artifacts. Where Tabitha had models hands, spindly and useless except to flutter around in blondish movements, the woman struggled opening a bottle of water or the everyday task. If her fingernails were not three inches long, she might actually be able to do something constructive besides slice open envelopes. She took another piece of the white meat, dipped it into the hot butter and bumped fingers with Diablo. "This tastes so much better than any I've ever had, why is that?"
"Because these guys are caught in a rich feeding ground, the ones that you get in the restaurants come from a lobster farm." She grinned at the shocked expression on Sonji's face and continued. "I know, you thought that they went out every morning and caught them from the ocean, some do but the larger places get them from farms."
"Can I ask you something?"
"Sure but I can't guarantee it'll be earth shattering or anything."
"Your name means devil, why did your parents name you after him?" Diablo laughed and shook her head.
"Actually the word Diablo is Greek, Dia meaning through and Vallo meaning throw. The French and English travelers named this Japanese yo-yo a Diablo because you throw the things." She saw the strange look that came over Sonji's face. "Actually, my ma named me Diablo after Mt. Diablo in California; I was conceived at the base of it. Not as romantic as being named after the devil."
"Or a yo-yo," She snorted and went back to eating. "So where are your parents and what do they think of you living on this island?"
"Ma's on her own island right now, she's helping with the excavation of some ruins in Crete and my dad passed away five years ago while they were on a did in Athens."
"You're all archeologists?"
"Yep, shouldn't be surprising. I was born in Egypt and have been on every single dig that my parents were on, it just seemed so natural for me to follow in their footsteps." She forked meat from a lobster tail and placed it on the plate they were using. "For thirty years we worked together until I retired to live here, Ma's more or less back home. She's from a city called Volos; it's one of two large cities in Thessaly. So, every couple of months she comes here for a visit, ya know to get away from the academic morons."
"So you're Greek that explains your dark tan. Pisses me off, I have to spend months getting a tan and most of the time I get burnt like a French fry."
"Only part Greek, my dad was from Monterey. He met my mom when they were in college and that was the end of it for a surfer looking young archeologist student. What about you, now that you know almost everything about me?"
"Los Angles born and bred, my dad works for a lithograph company and mom's a housewife. Ya know, the Tupperware parties, weekend BBQ's with friends, recipe swapping with her lady friends and the queen of the gossip line. They still live in the very first house they ever bought, dad still drives the same truck he bought years ago and they refuse to take any money from me." She winked at Diablo. "I did pay their house off for them and send them to the Virgin Islands for their 40th wedding anniversary. That cost me my very soul, I had to sell it to the devil to get them to go. I had to literally drag my dad to the airport and shove him on the plane, if that wasn't a sight."
"I've never known that kinda life," She leaned back on the bench and smiled. "We were always in a foreign country, mom's idea of normal, was cooking our meals on a camp stove and quizzing me on Minoan history. Dad always had his nose in his notes and mumbled to himself."
Sonji leaned back on the bench and rubbed her stomach, she looked to Diablo with twinkling sea green eyes and smiled widely. "I bet your life was more exciting than mine, I've never been out of the US and would love to go to Greece or Egypt."
Diablo felt her heart flip from Sonji's smile, it was warm and caring, so unlike some of the people she had met in the past. She wiped at the dampness on her forehead and tilted her head at an angle. "So what's stopping ya, you could have been riding a camel at the base of the pyramids instead of sitting here with an old tomb robber?"
"Tabitha didn't want any part of that idea, I had to beg her to come to Hawaii and that cost me a small fortune. Money doesn't matter to me but I would have at least gotten a thank you out of it. I get letters from little kids thanking me for the computers their school was able to buy with the money I gave them. Homeless people shake my hand when I visit the shelters I give to but my lover doesn't say jack shit to me." She looked down at the table and shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe I should have brought a homeless person on vacation with me?"
"I think this is your fate, now you're free of her and once you go back, you can enjoy life without a stuck-up Barbie doll hanging onto your wallet."
"It'll be different, I'm just glad that I never moved in with her or vice versa."
"You'll be OK, you'll find someone that's more laid back and doesn't see you for how many bank accounts you have. That's one thing I never worried about, everyone thinks us tomb raiders are dirt poor." She got up from the bench across from Sonji and collected their dirty dishes.
"Ohh Hell where's my manners, I'll help you clean up and do the dishes." She got up, grabbed the rest of the dishes and followed Diablo into the hut. They stood side by side at the sink, Diablo washed while Sonji dried. She had tried to bully her way into washing but lost after Diablo pointed out that she couldn't get her injured fingers wet. She gave up and decided to pepper her tall friend with more questions. "You know all about my personal life, what about you, anybody miss you since you came here to live?"
"Not unless you count my ma," She grinned and handed her another plate. "I've done my share of dating but never found anyone who wanted to stick around and travel from one country to the next. It was all exciting for them at first and then it hit them that at times we would have to live in a tent and take showers by having a bucket of cold water poured on us."
"I would think that men would find that rustic type life exciting and if they cared about you they would go where ever you went." Diablo chuckled and gave her a crooked smile.
"Maybe that's where I screwed up, I was chasing women and it should have been men." She grabbed the plate that slipped from Sonji's hands and placed it on the counter. "What, did you think you're the only one?"
"Well no but I just assumed?and made a complete ass of myself." She wiped her face and looked up into bright blue eyes. "I'll admit, I thought you were straight. My gaydar must be really outta whack; I'll blame that on Tabitha."
"Don't worry about it; I don't exactly put out any kind of vibes as to what side of the fence I'm on." She pulled the strainer on the sink, dried her hands and reached up into the cabinet for a bottle of 25-year-old brandy. "Do you drink, I have this brandy and it's the best I've ever had?"
"On occasion but I'll warn ya, I'm a light weight."
"That's OK, I'm the same way. This bottle has traveled with me for more years than I can think." She grabbed two glasses and headed over to her couch. "Have a seat and relax, after all that food, I tired as Hell." She dropped down onto her couch with a groan, poured their drinks and sighed when Thelma crawled on top of her head. "Where's your sister?"
"I have her right here," Sonji held up her hand to show Louise wrapped around her finger. "They're cute little things; I always thought monkeys were dirty."
"It depends on how they're raised, my kids are luckier than most." She looked up to see little green eyes staring down at her. "They have the run of the whole island and my undivided attention when ever they want it. Most human kids don't have that or get music lessons." She grinned when Sonji looked over at her.
"You're kidding right; you didn't get Beethoven lessons did you?"
"No but ma got me lessons and Beethoven was right there with me, what pisses ma off is that I suck and my monkey doesn't."
***********
John packed up the boxes of stuff he had for Diablo, he decided to make an early trip to her island after he got a letter for her from her ma. She usually got a letter from her two or three times a month, but this one was larger than most and it had 'Do not BEND!' written across the front. He knew that she had sent her pictures of her latest find in Crete and would be waiting for a return letter. "Ohh you'll love this one Diablo, maybe ma sent some pics from the nude beach?" He placed the envelope right on top of the last box and put it in his berth. He went top side and looked in all directions to make sure that he wasn't about to ship out in to an incoming storm front. He had been sailing for his entire life but the sea was not one to take and give back at the same time. She was a fickle entity, what she left alone in the past; she may take in the future. He checked the radar and turned his radio up to catch any late breaking weather announcements. "OK Neptune, let's go see the devil. She had better be happy that I like her and taking time out of my chick chasing to bring her ma's letter." He fired up his engines, backed out of the docks and then turned out into the open sea. He set course, then took a seat next to the wheel, looking out towards where Diablo's Island was, he leaned back, and let the wind blow through his long black hair. "Ohh looky there," He got up and looked starboard side at the yacht floating aimlessly; he hit his horn and then yelled out to the yacht. When no one answered, he pulled alongside and tied off. "Hello anyone aboard?" He jumped over and then did a quick search, when he found no one on board, he dropped anchor and used its radio to call harbor patrol.
*********
"OK now that's a fire!" Tabitha said and then dropped down into the chair she had made earlier by digging the sand out. "Now I'm all set for the night, I have my water and a nice thick hamburger warming up over the fire and clean clothes on my dirty body." She flipped the hamburger over on the green branches across the fire and sat back to wait. She had walked through the brush earlier that day and spied on her now ex-lover and Diablo. It took every once of will she had to not go charging in and steal the food right from under their noses. She kept mentally kicking herself in the ass every few minutes for causing so many problems that left her out in the cold, so to speak. "It could have been me eating lobster and getting monkey woman's body all sweaty at night. Damn Sonji brings out the worst in me and it is all her fault!" She rubbed her hands together and cackled like a hyena. "I could still get into her bed and shove Sonji out of the picture until my savior arrives. Sonji doesn't have the balls to make the first move, I can and that's what I'll do tonight." She grabbed her hamburger off the sticks and placed it on the now stale bun. "Sonji will be sleeping out here on the beach and I'll be in the hut with monkey woman. I'll fuck her a few times and be living high off the hog!" After wolfing down her meal, she finger combed her hair and headed off towards Diablo's hut. She figured that she had maybe an hour until it got dark and then she would make her move.
*******
Sonji leaned back into the couch cushions, placed her feet on the coffee table and closed her eyes. It had been a long time since she had felt so relaxed and been able to talk to someone without being criticized over every little thing. She opened her eyes and looked over to Diablo and felt her blood run like lava, the setting sun kissed her skin with a golden cast. Her blue eyes had chips of gold floating in them and her lips were wet with the brandy she had just sipped. She had never seen a more beautiful woman in her life, if she had one wish; it would to be to get to know the mysterious doctor better. Slowly, she turned so that she was facing Diablo and rested her head on the back of the couch. When a dark head turned and blue eyes trapped hers, she felt her breath catch in her chest and her throat grow dry.
"I'm turning in, too much brandy for one night." She brought a hand over and squeezed Sonji's thigh. "Goodnight Sonji." She rose off the couch in one fluid motion and then stumbled to her bedroom.
"Goodnight Diablo and thank you." She sighed and then stretched out across the couch. "I could fall for you so easily; you're everything I ever wanted in a friend." She rolled over and hugged her pillow to her chest before drifting off to sleep.
Diablo looked inside the baby crib and smiled; her monkeys lay draped across each other and sound asleep. She looked over to her bed and saw Thelma and Louise stretched out across her pillow and holding onto each other's little hands. She knew that none of them slept the way they were supposed to and had caught a ration of shit from primate experts for ruining their primitive ways. She could care less. If they didn't want to sleep sitting on their haunches then they didn't, they were her hairy little humans and she let them do as they pleased. She shed her clothes, moved Thelma and Louise over and lay down. With in a few minutes, she was sound asleep and dreaming of sea green eyes and the lilting laughter of her small friend.
*******
Tabitha saw the lights go out in the hut; she stepped carefully towards the front door and waited. When she heard no sounds except for the light snore of Sonji, she opened the door and crept in. She waited until her eyes adjusted to the darkness and made her way towards where she thought Diablo's room was. Front the moonlight, she could see Diablo stretched out across her bed and felt her pulse race. "All mine and you will never have any better than me." She shed out of her clothes, dropped them to the floor and then crawled on top of Diablo. Before she could even lean down, something jumped on her head and pulled her hair. She let out a scream that had Sonji falling off the couch in the living room and Diablo jumping straight up in bed. They smacked foreheads together and Tabitha screamed even louder. Sonji came running into the bedroom and ducked when a golden body flew from the crib and landed on top of a squirming Tabitha. The noise from the monkeys was enough to pierce eardrums, add in Tabitha's wail and it was down right deafening.
"Get off of me you crazy ass bitch!" Diablo yelled and then flung Tabitha on the floor. "What the Hell do you think you're doing coming in here and attacking me!?"
"Attacking you, you want me and you know it!" Tabitha yelled back and jumped when Beethoven bit her leg.
"I don't know what gave you that idea but I want you out of here, that's what I want!" She got up off her bed, towered over the other woman and growled. "Get out before I go postal, rip you into tiny pieces and feed you to my kids!"
Sonji moved into her ex-lover's personal space and tapped her on her bony chest. "You heard her Tabitha, move your ass before I rip you into tiny pieces!"
"You're both insane and so are those diseased monkeys!" She spun to face Diablo and pointed a finger at her. "I'm suing you, your animal bit me. I'll take you for everything you have and this island as well!" She grabbed up her clothes and hobbled out of the hut.
Diablo dropped down onto her bed and rested her face in her hands. "What the fuck?" She felt Thelma and Louise drop from the ceiling down onto her head and her other three monkeys crawl on the bed with her. "What in the Hell did she think she was doing?" Sonji sat down beside her, placed a hand on her arm and spoke in a deep whisper.
"She probably thought she could come in here and have her way with you, get me thrown out on the beach and be living it up until John got here."
"Does she think that I would actually do that, that I have no morals and that she's so desirable that I would fall at her feet?"
"She thinks so and she knows that I would never make the first move where another woman was concerned, so she knew that I wouldn't be in bed with you. She knows me well and I've paid for it in the past."
"What do you mean paid for it?"
"She cheated on me and I didn't do anything about it," She dropped her hand and covered her face. "She slept around when she thought she could get something out of it, one of the men came to me because he felt bad."
"Ohh for the love of Goddesss Sonji, if you ever go back to her, I will hunt you down and kick your ass," She wrapped an arm around her and pulled her into her side. "That woman is completely nuts and you deserve better, let's get some sleep and we'll talk about this in the morning."
"OK, I just can't believe some of the things she tries to pull. I'm sorry about all of this; if you want me to go I'll leave."
"This isn't your fault; you don't have to go anywhere." She placed a gentle kiss on the side of Sonji's head and gave her a gentle hug. Sonji wrapped an arm around her and rested her cheek on her shoulder.
"I feel like all I've done is cause you trouble in the last few days, I bet you'll be happy once we're gone?"
"To be honest, no I won't." She rested her head against Sonji's and closed her eyes, for the first time in years; she enjoyed having someone around other than John. "Are you a good pen pal?"
"The best, to bad you don't have a computer, we could e-mail each other."
"Ohh I have one of those, I'm not completely cut off from the world ya know."
*********
"That worked out well!" Tabitha growled and dropped down on the foam pad inside the small tent. "Those damn monkeys ruined everything; I could have been sleeping in her hut if they hadn't interrupted me!" She kicked her feet into the pad and slapped her hands down at her sides in a temper tantrum. "Damn Sonji didn't help any either if she hadn't come in I could have gotten my way!" She jumped up, hit her head on the metal support of the tent and whimpered. "I can still get in that hut, I just have to convince monkey woman that I can give her a good time. She won't be straight after I get done with her!" She stomped out of the tent and walked down the beach towards the waterfalls. "Everyone wants me, that has been proven numerous times by both sexes!" She jumped up and down, cussed and kicked sand everywhere. "Sonji's a cold fish in bed!" She cussed the entire way to the waterfalls, tripped over a tree root and fell face first into the cold water.
*******
John dropped anchor a short way from the beach, he looked out and saw the glow of a fire and shook his head. "That damn woman must have ESP or something; she built a damn fire to bring me in." He tossed his rubber boat over the side, dove into the water and then climbed inside. A few minutes later, he was dragging the boat onto the beach and looking around at the small campsite. "What the Hell is she doing?" He looked around some more and then felt the ground when he was knocked sideways, he gasped and then felt a body wrap around him. "What the Hell Diablo?"
"Ohh thank who ever that you're here!" Tabitha screamed in his ear and kissed the entire side of his face and his neck. "I'm saved and I can go home now!" She continued to kiss John and grope his body. "I'll give you a blow job if we can leave right now."
"Who are you?" He pushed her hands away and tried to break free of her thin legs wrapped around his.
"I'm a stranded woman who's in desperate need of rescuing, please; I'll give you two blow jobs." She fumbled with the front of his cut off jeans and finally got them unfastened even with his fingers trying to pry her hands away. "I'll give you one right now and another one once we're on your boat."
"Are you nuts or something?" He squirmed away from her, got to his feet and fell when his shorts tangled around his ankles. "Get away from me; I didn't come here to rescue anyone!"
"Please John; I'll do anything if we can just leave. I'll pay you; give you hours of animal sex?anything!" She grabbed him by his ankles and pulled herself up his body. "Diablo said you would take me to Oahu when you got here!" She grabbed his privates and massaged him until he groaned and fell back into the sand. "You have huge nuts John." She whispered and bit his chest.
"We can't do this? I have to?Ohhh Hell woman!" All the fight went out of him as well as thoughts of why he was there.
***********
Diablo placed breakfast in a plastic container closed it and then filled a thermos up with coffee. She looked to the couch and saw that Sonji was still asleep and that Gibbon was sleeping beside her. Grabbing the container and thermos, she headed out the door and felt one of her monkeys jumped down onto her shoulder. "OK Jimmy, you can go with me but don't go near the crazy woman. She might bite you and then I'll have to give you a shot and I know how much you enjoy those." She walked down the path slowly and thought of what had happened the night before, she couldn't believe that she was taking Tabitha breakfast but good manners just didn't go away over night. She sighed and picked up the pace until she came to where she would step out onto the beach. She froze after the first step and closed her eyes; she blinked a few times and then looked again. "God damn son of a bitch." She whispered and turned to go back to her hut, what she wasn't expecting was for Sonji to be a few steps behind her. "She's still sleeping?I'll bring this down?much later."
Sonji saw how Diablo avoided eye contact with her; she pushed past her and felt her mouth drop open from what she saw. "That rotten god damn slut!" She was about to storm the campsite when she felt an arm wrap around her chest from behind, she looked to where Tabitha still had her hand wrapped around John's dick and her face resting on his lower stomach.
"Come on Sonji, she's not worth it and she's the one who has to live with everything she's done."
"I am the stupidest damn person in the world," She turned to look up at Diablo and felt tears fill her eyes. "I've been so intentionally blind," She brought her hands up to her face and cried for what she had closed her eyes to. "I knew she had cheated on me numerous times but I figured if I never saw it, then it didn't matter." She removed her hands and dropped her chin to her chest. "It's like having ice-cold water poured over your head when you're sleeping." She fell into Diablo's body and felt tears pour down her face. "I don't know why it bother's me, I don't even love her." Diablo placed the container and thermos on the ground and wrapped her arms around Sonji.
"It's because she betrayed everything that a relationship stands for," She tilted Sonji's face up to her and wiped her tears away. "She'll get hers, she just happens to be with the biggest pig I know and that's saying a lot because I know a lot of men." She gave her a smile and pulled her into her body for a tight hug, she dropped her head down to rest on top of Sonji's and picked up the scent of her own shampoo and a scent that was Sonji. She took a deep breath and pulled back from the smaller woman. "Everything happens for a reason, fate jumps in when it wants and takes over. That's what's happening right now, you were given this chance to see the real Tabitha, break away and make a new start." She lowered her head and kissed Sonji lightly, when she brought her head up she saw flames spark in sea green eyes.
"Changes on the winds of Diablo." Sonji whispered and pulled her dark head down to her, she brought their lips together in an exploring kiss that left them weak in the knees and breathless. She pulled back when a small hairy finger slipped into her ear and a rough tongue licked her face.
"I forgot to tell you, my kids are perverts." She whispered in a deep voice.
"That's OK 'cuz so am I." She pulled Diablo back down and kissed her for all she was worth, without breaking their kiss, Diablo picked her up and started walking blindly back to her hut.
******
John's green eyes blinked open to see a hairy golden face and bright eyes with in inches of his own; he groaned and then realized that the strange woman still had a hold of him. He scooted backwards away from her and watched her face fall into the sand, grabbing his shorts; he yanked them up and then stumbled to his feet. "Ohh Gibbon, is Diablo gonna be pissed when she finds out." He mumbled and then took off at a jog towards the path that led to her hut. "I hope she can hide me from that crazy woman," He grabbed his groin and whimpered. "I think she broke it!" He came to a sliding stop when he saw Diablo standing near the front door with a small blonde wrapped in her arms.
*******
"Don't take this the wrong way Sonji, I would love to take you to my bed but it has to be because you want me not because you need to?"
Sonji dropped her head onto Diablo's chest and sighed. "I understand what you're saying," She looked up into pale blue eyes and felt her breath catch. "I'm very attracted to you but a part of me wants to hurt Tabitha," She groaned and slapped a hand over her eyes. "I'm acting like I care how she feels, I need my brain examined."
"No you don't, there's nothing wrong with your brain. Just listen to your heart." She gave her a gentle kiss and then turned when she heard footsteps close behind her. "I should drop kick your ass all the way back to Oahu."
"Ohh Hell you saw didn't you?" John said and dropped his dark head. She jumped me on the beach last night and then one thing led to another and well?" He held up his hands and then looked into fiery green eyes. "Sorry if I interrupted you guys, I didn't know?"
Diablo turned and waved a hand at him. "John Fox, this is Sonji Anderson and the crazy woman is Tabitha?" She looked to Sonji.
"Parson, Tabitha Parson." She stuck her hand out to John and offered him a small smile. "I'm sorry; she's?an insane, cheating, manipulative slut!" She ground her teeth together and was close to going off on a screaming rampage when Diablo pulled her back into her arms.
"She's not your problem any more." She whispered in her ear and hugged her tighter. "Let's go inside and have some coffee and I'll make us some breakfast." She looked to John and nodded her head for him to go in before them. "Take a deep breath, every things gonna be fine. John's in her sights now and she's in for a world tipping experience." She watched an eyebrow rise over a green eye and smiled. "It's strictly from his tales; I've never been that desperate to sleep with a man. Especially one who doesn't care if his date has any teeth or has gotten her social security check yet." Sonji chuckled and gave Diablo a tight hug before releasing her to go inside. John stood a few feet inside the door; he blushed and held out a hand to her.
"I had no idea that she?if I had known that Tabitha?"
"John, we are no longer together so don't worry about it." She stepped into the bright white kitchen and started to make a pot of coffee for them, she looked over her shoulder to see Diablo wiggling a finger at John.
"Listen here little man, hands off Sonji; I don't care what you do to Tabitha."
He raised a jet-black eyebrow over a right eye and smirked. "Do I hear the great tomb raider Diablo staking claim to a new treasure?" He crossed his arms over a wide chest and held eyes with her.
"No, she's my friend and she's been hurt enough in the last couple of days to last a life time and by the way you're limping you're not faring any better."
"Ohh you would not believe how I hurt, that woman just about ripped my dick off!" He whispered in a pain-filled voice. "Even my nuts hurt!"
"I bet they're the size of melons and why did you let her anyway?"
"Raisins is more like it, I think she sucked my prostrate out. Anyway, I had no choice, I tried to get away but once she grabbed me, there was no way I could get loose without loosing something." From the expression on his friends face, he knew that she didn't believe a word he said. "Diablo, you know me and my using ways, this is different! If some woman grabbed a hold of your clit with her teeth and bit down hard enough to bring tears to your eyes, would you struggle to get away? I have teeth marks on my dick for god sakes." He groaned when she grinned and started to laugh.
"You met your match little man, you wanna borrow one of my ancient male chastity belts?"
"It's not funny; do you have any peroxide and Neosporin?" He sighed when she nodded her head and pointed to the bathroom. "Thanks, I hope it doesn't fall off." She turned to see that Sonji was leaning back against the kitchen counter and staring at the tiled floor; she approached her and instantly had her arms full.
"It'll be OK Sonji, John will take you two back to the Island and then you can fly home separately. Move, change the locks, get a guard dog or what ever it takes to get the message through psycho's head that it's over."
"Ohh she got the message last night when she came in here," She rested her head on Diablo's shoulder and continued in a quiet voice. "I heard some of what John said, is he hurt bad?"
"Nothing that will keep him from chasing women, I'm just glad that it wasn't me she bit. I may not use those parts but I'd like them to stay undamaged."
"She can be down right vicious at times and since we left LA, she hasn't had sex. So she's really dangerous now, maybe John should hide? It's one of the reasons I went below and hid in one of the berths, we haven't had sex in five months and I was not about to become one of her victims."
"Was this vacation a thing to try and work out problems between you two?"
"Uuhhmm yeah, stupid me once again. I thought we could work it out; I haven't the slightest idea why since I can't stand her guts. I guess that I didn't want to be alone and even as bad as she is, I would still have someone to go out to dinner with or a movie."
"A dog or cat would have been cheaper on your wallet and at least they're faithful." She led her over to the table, pushed her down into a chair and went over the refrigerator. "I've got some steaks we can have with eggs, left over melon and some oranges if you want orange juice?"
"What ever you cook I'll eat."
"That reminds me," John said as he sat gingerly in a chair across from Sonji. "I have your supplies on my boat and a big envelope from your ma; I would have brought them over last night but?" He looked to Sonji and dropped his eyes to the table.
"John, you're not the first man she's been with and you won't be the last. She cheated on me the entire three years that we were together; it's not your fault."
"Thanks Sonji, I still feel bad about it happening anyway. I'm not the playboy I want everyone to believe." He looked to Diablo and saw her knowing grin. "If a man brags about his conquests then chances are, he's been sitting at home with just his TV for company. I will admit that when I do get a woman to go out with me I act like a macho jackass but it's what's expected." He shrugged his shoulders and gave Sonji a small grin. "I wish I could be more like Diablo, she treated all her dates like they were the Queen of Egypt."
"Yeah and then they found out that if they stayed with me, we would be staying in a tent in Egypt."
"And if it wasn't that, then it was sharing a hotel room with five monkeys. Two of which have to sleep with their ma, of course you already know this," He chuckled at the expression of Sonji's face and pointed to Thelma and Louise who were sitting on her shoulders. "Ohh come on, I can tell that you've been staying here in the hut with the devil."
"How can you tell that in just the few minutes you've been here?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Easy, you made the coffee."
*************
Tabitha lifted her face from the sand and looked around, she rolled to her knees and saw the scuff marks in the sand and then looked to where the rubber boat was still sitting on the beach. "I knew I wasn't dreaming, so where did he go?damn it! He's at the monkey woman's hut," She growled and got to her feet. "They're probably having a threesome or something!" She stomped her foot, turned and lurched into the small tent. "That's OK, I have his rubber boat, I'll just take it and go back to Oahu." Stripping out of Diablo's clothes, she pulled her stained bikini on, grabbed the rest of her water and then went out to the rubber boat. She flipped it over, put her water inside and then pushed it out into the incoming surf. After fighting with the oars, she finally stopped going in a circle and was able to get half way to John's yacht. She stopped and took deep breathes and shook the numbness from her hands. "My manicurist will have my hands in traction for months to repair the damage to my skin and nails." She grabbed the oars again and rowed the rest of the way, she grabbed a hold of the overboard ladder and crawled up onto the deck. She looked around and found the door to the lower deck. "I hope he has lots of hot water because I'm not coming out of the shower until it's all gone." She jogged down the steps and went into a room that had to be John's, the bulk head was covered with nude pin-ups and dirty clothes littered the floor. "Just like a man, they're all pigs!" She pulled open a drawer, grabbed a t-shirt and then searched the other ones for shorts. Once she had everything she needed, she headed for his shower.
**********
Where the Hell is my rubber?" John looked up and down the beach and then out to the ocean.
"Here's a better question, where's psycho bitch?" Sonji asked and then picked up Diablo's clothes from the ground. "Ohh god damn, I think she took your boat and is trying to get back to Oahu without you." Diablo stepped up beside Sonji and took the clothes from her hand.
"Well guys, there's only one thing to do and that's swim out to the yacht and toss her over board." She stripped out of her shirt and dropped her shorts to reveal electric blue Speedo trunks.
"You know I really hate when you go bare chested," John groaned and rolled his eyes. "Ya just gotta tease me to death with your tits, two of the most beautiful women I know and you're both dykes. Just ain't right." He jogged out and dove into the surf to surface a good ways out in the ocean.
"He's not the only one to suffer from you doing that." Sonji mumbled and ran out into the water.
"What, I can run around completely naked if I want, it's my island." She ran out, dove into the water, and came up beside Sonji. "Ya know I can't swim?" Sonji looked over to her and stopped to tread water.
"Then what are you doing if not swimming?"
"Standing on the bottom." She grinned and dropped beneath the water, Sonji started swimming and yelled when Diablo popped up beside her and dunked her under the water. "I swim faster underneath." She went back under just as a blonde head was coming to the surface; Sonji looked around and then dove under. All she could see was Diablo's feet and then her body arching through the water.
"She swims like a damn eel or a mermaid." She followed and came up a few feet from John's yacht, what she heard was her ex-lover's voice screaming at then saw John fall backwards over the rail into the water. "Son of a bitchin psycho." She said in a low mumble and then swam over to the ladder. Before she could get all the way up on the deck, she saw a dark head come up over the top of the cabs roof and then Diablo launching herself into Tabitha. Both women went over the side with one screaming bloody murder. Jogging across the deck, she looked over the side to see Diablo holding onto a splashing Tabitha by her hair. John stepped up beside her and grinned.
"Glad it's not me that has a hold of her, I tried and now I think my left nut is gonna fall off."
"She got you again, what with this time?"
"Those long ass nails she has, are they registered as lethal weapons?"
"No but they should be, what are we gonna do with her?"
"I could always drop her off on the yacht I found yesterday, oohh wait, that must be yours. The name on the side says Sully's Dream."
"Thank god it didn't sink; I didn't really want to own a sunken Yacht." She reached over, grabbed Tabitha by her hand, and pulled her on board while John helped Diablo. "Can you take us out there after we get Diablo's stuff on shore?"
"It didn't sink?" Diablo asked after flipping her long hair over her back. "That's good news, then you can sail it back to Oahu." She felt her heart sink at the thought of Sonji leaving so soon, she had hoped that John would stay a few days and that way she would have more time with the smaller woman. She caught Tabitha raising her clawed hands over her head, she spun and placed a quick kick to her solar plexus and watched her drop to the deck. "Stay down or I'll turn you into shark bait!"
"You can't treat me like this; I'm?a very important person for BLOOMINGDALES!"
Sonji stepped closer and stomped on her foot. "Shut the fuck up Tabitha before I throw you over!" She gave John a quick look and then pinned Tabitha with fiery green eyes. "Do you have any rope to tie her up with?"
"You can't be serious, Sonji don't you dare tie me up, I'll sue you for battery!"
**********
Diablo was sitting in a lawn chair on the top deck, the envelope from her ma on her lap; she placed the pictures on the small table to look at later. She was reading the letter when Sonji placed a beer in front of her and sat down beside her. "Does she write to you often?"
"About three times a month, she sent pictures of some relief's they uncovered in a Minoan Temple on Crete. She handed her the letter and then picked up the pictures to look at. A minute or two later, she felt eyes burning into her down cast face and looked up. "Huh?"
"So Saba misses you and can't wait to come for a visit, you said that you didn't have anyone missing you?"
Diablo smiled and then busted up laughing at the rage boiling in green eyes. "Do I see a bit of jealousy there Sonji?" She searched through the pictures and hand her one. "That's Saba and the only reason she misses me is because of my cooking." Sonji took the picture and looked at an older version of Diablo; the woman had long dark hair shot through with silver. The eyes were the same as well as the smile, what got her attention was the monkey sitting on the older woman's shoulder.
"Saba's a monkey?"
"Yep, she's Beethoven's sister. I have better luck with female primates than I do with human females." She shrugged her shoulders and handed the rest of the pictures to her. "This is the biggest find so far, everything they've found so far is split between the Archeological Museum in Heraklion, the Agios in Nickholaos and the museum in Rethimnon. Saba found coinage in the last letter, which had my ma going into seizures; she stole ma's wallet from her tent and was throwing her money from the top of the temple they were excavating."
"Are you sure you're archeologists and not Zoo keepers?"
"Not much of a difference, you should see some of the people who work the sites." She nodded a head at John. "There's a prime example, right now, he's studying pics ma sent him."
"Diablo, that's a foreign skin magazine."
"I know, not much has changed since we used to work sites together. He couldn't find any artifacts but he could find a titty bar in the middle of a jungle."
********
They carried the last of the boxes into Diablo's hut and placed them on the floor near the kitchen table. As an added bonus, John not only brought the parts for her radio, but a new cell phone and charging unit. "Hide the damn thing from your kids, like maybe inside that trunk you always keep locked." He said and handed her a spare battery. "Ma said she'd call you tomorrow night at nine pm our time."
"I guess ma called you and complained that she couldn't get a hold of me by radio?"
"Of course she did, she wanted to make sure that you got her copy of the book you two are working on." She raised a finger and walked over to a large envelope that sat on her worktable.
"Glad you said something," She pulled a ten-dollar bill from inside her notebook and handed it and the envelope to John. "It's all set for ma to write the next part, this would be easier if she would use the laptop I got her."
"Ohh she uses it?for PC games." He grinned, shoved the money in his pocket, and then looked to a pensive Sonji. "Are you ready to go check out your yacht, I didn't see any damage when I was on it and I'll take Tabitha down to one of the rooms and lock her in for ya?"
She nodded her head and looked to Diablo with teary eyes. "Yeah, could you give me a minute?"
"Sure, I'll meet you on the beach when you're ready." He gave her and Diablo a smile and left.
Sonji wiped her eyes and gave Diablo a small shaky smile; she stepped up to her and wrapped her arms around her waist. "I'll miss you; it's been a long time since I've had someone to talk to who listens to what I'm saying." She rested her head against Diablo's bare chest and inhaled the soft scent of the sea and what was all Diablo. "I left my e-mail address and phone number on your dresser if you want to call or e-mail me."
"I'll e-mail you and send you my phone number as soon as I find out what it is and I'll miss you to." She leaned back from her, dropped her head and gave her a kiss that neither one of them would ever forget. When Sonji started to sink to the floor, she wrapped her arms tighter around her and broke the kiss. "I really wish we would've had more time together."
"So do I, maybe I could come back and visit you?"
"Any time you want, I'm not going anywhere." She kissed her once more and then led her out the door and down to where John was waiting. Diablo helped her climb into the rubber boat and pushed them off; she stood in the waves and waved at them until they were too far away to see. "I'll be here Sonji." She wiped tears from her face, picked Jimmy up and walked back to her hut with tears trailing down her cheeks. "Figures, I fall for a woman who lives in California." She dropped down on the end of the jungle gym slide and hugged Jimmy. "Guess that's what I get for living on an island all by myself huh?" She kissed him on his head and let him cover his face with her long hair. "All right little man; let's go get my PC running. Now I have someone to e-mail besides those idiots from the colleges."
************
John turned his yacht towards where Sonji's yacht was anchored and then turned to her. "Ya know you're the first woman that Diablo's ever had on her island besides her mama and that nut locked down in the hold. She won't even go with me to Oahu to pick up supplies."
"How long have you known her?" She looked into his eyes that were so much like her own.
"Ohh I think it's been 16 years or so, I was one of her students when she was teaching at USC. When I graduated, I joined with her crew and worked with her until she retired."
"She taught at the college, how old is she?"
"She's 40, she graduated college when she was like 16 or 17, it helps when you have two geniuses for parents and your IQ is off the scale."
"Yeah I guess it would help," She shook her head at the information and looked out at the waves before continuing. "Then you just gave it all up when she retired?"
"Yep, she's the only one besides her ma that I want to work with. We left the last site with not so nice words screamed back and forth, one of the head honchos OK'd one of the other professors to use a backhoe to excavate a buried city in Brazil because it would be faster. We went off the deep end and walked out, to say the least, we can't get jobs digging graves now."
"What do you do now that you're not working sites?"
"I'm one of the charter fishing boats and when it gets slow, I take people out to see the whales. It pays the bills and I live on my boat so I don't have rent or anything." They turned to where the steps were to the lower deck and grinned at Tabitha's screaming. "She's really nuts isn't she?"
"You could say that along with self absorbed, egotistical, manipulative, slutty and money hungry." She smiled up at him and noticed that he looked a lot like Diablo with the exception of his green eyes. "You know, you could be Diablo's brother?"
"Yeah but I'm much better looking." He puffed out his tanned muscular chest and gave her a toothy smile. "She's my best friend and I love her more than anyone in my family, I'd do anything for her or ma." He pointed off to their left. "There's your yacht, I'll check it over and then follow you guys in. Ya know just in case it has damage that pops up halfway to Oahu."
"Thanks I appreciate every thing that you've done and I'm glad that Diablo has you for a friend, I'll still worry about her on her island but at least I know you're here for her."
He pulled up alongside the yacht, jumped down to the deck and tied off. He looked back to her and saw the tears forming in her eyes. "So what will you do once you get back in, are you flying home right away?"
"I haven't decided yet," She wiped her cheeks and gave him a small smile. "I have some vacation yet but I think I may fly back in the next day or two, besides meeting Diablo and you, this vacation has sucked big time."
"Ohh after the experience I had last night I can only imagine." He jumped aboard her yacht and then gave her a hand over. "Will you be OK with the psycho woman?"
"Ohh yeah, once she gets a few drinks in her, she'll be prancing around here like the Queen of Sheba, pass out in a chair and I'll have peace and quiet for the rest of the night."
After getting a spitting, clawing psychotic Tabitha on board, John checked out the yacht's engine and anything else that he could think of that could be damaged in a storm and then jumped back across to his own. He untied the ropes and waited for Sonji to get a distance in front of him before he powered up his engines. On the way back to the island all he could think about was his friend and how she acted with the little blonde, in all the years he had known her, he had never seen her show any emotion when she parted with someone. This was a first and it would stay in his memories forever, he hoped that Sonji would come back and visit her and just maybe get her off the island for a day or two.
***********
Diablo sat out in front of her hut watching the sunset; it was the first time in years that she felt lonely. She wiped tears from her cheeks and sighed. "Well kids, I guess it's just us until John comes back on his next run." She ruffled Thelma's hair and held out a grape for Louise. "At least Sonji will be free of Tabitha and poor John won't have to worry about being attacked. Maybe he'll change his mannish ways and treat his next date better." She chuckled knowing that her friend would never change his ways and would be like her, single forever. "Maybe he'll be too sore to chase women for a day or two and the parents on the island won't have to lock up their daughters at night." She looked over her shoulder when Gibbon crawled up the back of her chair; she held out Sonji's t-shirt to her ma and chattered. "She's gone back Gibbon," She scratched her furry cheeks and took the t-shirt from her. "We have a phone now so we can talk to her and there's always e-mail, I'll read it to ya guys when she writes." She hugged Gibbon when she curled up on her lap and played with the bottom of her shirt. "Yeah it's getting late and I'm worn out, we'll go to the site tomorrow and see if we can find anything ta write to granny about." She stood up holding her three monkeys, whistled and watched the other two go running into the hut. As soon as she stepped into her hut, she felt her heart sink and more tears come to her eyes.
************
Sonji didn't even wait for Tabitha to collect her things before she jumped off the yacht onto the dock and walked to the office to turn the keys in. She paid the rest of the rental fee, grabbed her bags and headed up the dock to where she could catch a bus to a hotel. She wanted to get as far away from her as she possible could without leaving the island. Once on a bus, she got off at the first place, went in, got a room and then made her way there. Opening the door, she dropped her bags and headed for the bathroom. After spending the day in and out of the ocean, she felt gritty and a little sore. "How I wish this was Diablo's bathroom and not some cleanser smelling place with sandpaper towels." She shed her clothes, stepped into the shower and turned the water on. She didn't care that it wasn't hot yet, just the feeling of fresh water washing the sea salt from her body felt good. She grabbed the small bottle of complimentary shampoo, lathered her hair and then just stood there with the water pounding on her head washing away the soap and her tears.
"You've turned into a big cry baby in the last few days." She got out of the shower, grabbed a towel and went into the other part of the room to drop down on the bed. "God how I miss you, it's hard to believe after only a few days you're all I can think about." She got up and grabbed her laptop case, after hooking it up; she booted it and waited for her ISP to connect. After what seemed forever, she was able to check her e-mail. She deleted all the spam and read the ones from her job. Just as she was about to sign off, the little mailbox flag went up. She looked at the e-mail addy and smiled. "Only you would go by Devilsspawn." She clicked on the e-mail and began to read.
Sonji,
I don't know when you'll check your e-mail but I thought I'd let you know that I miss you already. I hope psycho T. didn't cause you any problems on the way back, that's one person I hope I never see again. Anyway, me and the kids played around with the new cell phone and figured it out; it's amazing how a monkey knows more techie stuff than a human. I think Jimmy called Japan, I know I'll love the phone bill when I get it. Here's the number, make sure you write it down somewhere, I'm famous for deleting e-mail that I need. 808-421-0032 I hope you see this soon, I'm turning in for the night.
Miss you
Diablo
"I miss you too Diablo," She wiped tears from her eyes and wrote back to her."
I miss you and the kids, I got back OK and I got a room at the Sea Shore Hotel. Would you believe that I practically ran so that Tabitha couldn't follow me. I put the room under Gibbon Hawthorne, I knew if psycho bitch from Hell tried to find me, she'd never think that I'd put it under a monkey's name. And being the evil person that I am, I left her on the yacht to carry her umpteen million suitcases, make-up cases and every other thing that wasn't nailed or bolted down in her apartment that she brought along. I'm surprised that her shit alone didn't sink the damn yacht! I'm gonna close for now and I'm so glad that you e-mailed me, it's not the same as hearing your voice but I can live with that.
I miss you
Sonji
She signed off, shut her laptop down and went into the bathroom to brush her teeth. She looked into the mirror and saw bloodshot swollen eyes filled with unshed tears. "You're a mess Sonji, in more ways then one, you fell for her in a few days." She brushed her teeth and then used the phone to call reservations; she made it for the next morning for the earliest flight back to California. She just hoped that Tabitha wasn't on the flight with her.
**********
Diablo looked around her hut from where she was working at her worktable, she heard a funny noise but couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Then Jimmy let out a screech and came flying into her arms, she looked to where he had been on the couch and saw her cell phone jumping across the cushions. "Ohh I see what you're afraid of, you were playing with the phone." She carried him over and picked it up, hitting the on button she said hello.
"What took you so long?"
"Ma?"
"Who else would let the phone ring a couple hundred times until you came out of your coma?"
"Hey it's been years since I had a phone and this little thing is a mystery." She could wrap her hand around the thing and no one would know it was there. "How's everything there in Crete?"
"It's going good, we sent the relief's off to Agios yesterday and Saba found me the most amazing gold necklace today. I keep telling them that I'm gonna put her on the payroll and toss all the useless men off."
"Hell we knew that for years and no one would listen to us." She chuckled and then laughed when her ma cussed someone out in Greek. "So you can still scare them with threats from Artemis?"
"Of course, I just go in when they're sleeping and put little black hoof marks all over them, they think her stag stepped on them and then they hide from me the rest of the week. Dumbasses have the grace of a camel on ice, thank the Goddess I use a shit load of seltzer when I pack stuff. They dropped a wooden crate with vases in it off the back of the truck; I almost killed every single one of them!" She waited for her daughter to stop laughing and then turned the conversation over to something more serious. "So baby, who's this little blond woman you've fallen for?"
Diablo closed her eyes and shivered, her ma always knew how to send shivers down her spine. "You scare the shit outta me when you do that."
"Good, that's part of being a ma, now who is she and when's she coming back?"
She sighed and sunk back into the cushions. "Her names Sonji Anderson," She said in a low whisper and felt tears fill her eyes. "She's from LA and I don't know when she's coming back to visit me. I e-mailed her last night and she wrote back, she's still on Oahu as far as I know."
"Get your ass in gear, get John to take you to Oahu and go get her!"
"Maaaa, she has a life in LA, she's an investment broker and she just can't leave all of that to live on an island with an old archeologist."
"How do you know if you don't ask her? Diablo, you've been on your island for ten years, how many women have ended up there?"
"You're freaking me out ma, how much do you know?"
"Enough that the fates dropped a woman on your island and you let her leave. Now open up your damn trunk, get your civilized clothes out and go after her."
"So ya want me to kidnap her, drag her back here and live like the Robinsons?"
"If you show her what's in your heart, you won't have to kidnap her. Listen to your ma for once and go after what you want."
"I'll think about it," She tilted her head to the side and then ran to the door; she couldn't believe that the harbor patrol had the balls to hover a chopper over her hut. "Ma, there's a chopper trying to blow my roof off!"
"Well see what they want, maybe they need directions."
"Funny ma," She saw a white cooler attached to a rope lowering not ten feet from where she stood, she jogged over, disconnected it and waved. Flipping the lid up, she pulled out a bag from McDonalds. "Ma ya won't believe this, they just dropped off food from McDonalds?oh my Goddess, Sonji sent me what I told her I would kill for." She opened the bag and saw a quarter pounder with cheese, fries and a chocolate shake.
"What do you need next, a lightening bolt from Zeus?"
"OK ma, I got it. I'll call you in a few days."
"Just show her your heart and you won't have ta worry about anything, and remember the Goddess is watching you."
"Thanks ma, now I'll be paranoid for the rest of the day." She hung up listening to her ma laugh, she had noticed that with talking to her ma for just a little while, she went right back to their speech patterns. When younger, she had always gotten funny looks when she said 'by the Gods, or for Goddess sakes.' The other kids just couldn't comprehend that with her Greek heritage came the belief of more than one God. She was often called a pagan or a witch but let it slide because all the kids were idiots and would learn about Greek Mythology some day. By then, she would be in college and could care less what anyone thought. That was a memorable day for her and her parents; she was a thirteen-year-old college freshman that had college credits all ready towards her graduation.
Carrying the bag inside, she dropped down at the kitchen table and took a deep breath of the food. It had been years since she had food like this but she could still remember the smells. "Gods do I love you Sonji." She bit into the still hot hamburger and moaned deeply; no one had ever thought of doing anything like this for her, she now knew what she would have to do.
*********
Sonji smiled at the harbor patrol commander and handed him a bank draft, he looked at it and had to grab the counter to keep from falling down. "Ms. Anderson, all you had to pay for was the fuel for the chopper. Not a brand new chopper!" He tried to hand the check back but she stuffed her hands in her pockets.
"Nope that belongs to you guys; I couldn't have gotten that food out to her without your help. Take that money and by a new chopper, boat or what ever else you need to do your job."
He wiped his brow and looked at her with wide brown eyes, shaking his head; he put the check in his logbook and stuck a hand out to her. "We need another boat to patrol the east side; I'll make sure that they put your name on the hull. Thank you and if you ever need anything you just call us." She gave him a slight nod, smiled and left the office. Her next stop was to search out John and get some information from him; she had called and cancelled her reservations that morning. She had dreams the night before and was trying to make it a reality, one of which done. She wished that she could have seen Diablo's face when the chopper brought her McDonald's food. A wide grin came to her face just imagining the shocked expression; she looked out towards where all the boats were docked and saw John hanging off the side of the hull with a paintbrush. She jogged over and yelled out his name.
"Are you trying to see me fall head first in a bucket of paint?" He waved the bucket at her and grinned. "I thought you would have flown back to LA already."
"I cancelled that out this morning, I had some thing's I had to do first and needed and that's where you come in." He pulled himself back up the rope and was by her side in a split second.
"Me?" He gave her a rakish grin and yelped when she smacked him in the stomach. "I can hope and pray can't I?"
"Sure and Hell will freeze over first, now where can I get a brand new yacht?"
His eyes grew wide and his mouth fell open at her request. "You're kidding right?no you're not, I see a familiar stubbornness that I usually see in pale blue eyes." He sighed and rubbed a hand across a razor stubbled jaw. "The best place is where I got mine, Skinny won't rip you off and he can set it up so that you can sail with just one person. What exactly will you be using this for?"
"I want one that can get me to Greece or any other place I want to go, I learned some stuff while sailing around here and I know there's more up to date technological instruments that can be put in them."
"That will cost you a small fortune, you know that don't you?"
"Price is no concern, I'm filthy rich and it's about time I spent it on something that I want. So will you help me?"
He did a little bow and then took her hand. "I just happen to be Skinny's best friend; we'll get you set up with a yacht that can practically sail its self." He gave her a sideways glance and raised an eyebrow that reminded her of Diablo. "I can't tell the devil about this can I?"
"If you do, I'll kill you very slowly and have Tabitha help."
**********
The days went by slowly for Diablo; she had tried numerous times to raise John on both his boat radio and his cell phone. She was beginning to worry when she couldn't get a hold of him, it was so unlike him to not be on his boat. She wiped a dirty hand across her cheek, dropped the small worn paintbrush in her backpack, and looked at the pieces of pottery she had uncovered without the help of her kids. They were too busy teasing the birds and lizards that hung around the crumbling walls of the temple. Even Thelma and Louise had come with her that morning which was strange; they usually stayed around the hut and played. She looked down at them where they hid inside one of the outside pockets of her backpack and shook her head. "What's up with you guys is there bad weather coming or do you know that I want to go see Sonji in LA?" When all she got from them were their wide-eyed stares, she stuck her tongue out and started to pack up her stuff. "It's not like I'm not coming back and if I can get a hold of John, he'll be here for you to play with once he drops me off. Ohh come on, I haven't left this island since I came here, what's wrong with me going to see Sonji?" She stopped and dropped her head down into her hands; she was so mixed up that she didn't know what to do anymore. Her head said one thing and her heart said something completely different. She looked up to the sky, threw her arms up and yelled. "What am I supposed to do?"
*******
A few days later, looking like something that crawled out from under a slimy rock and then hit by a train a weary bloodshot-eyed Sonji pushed open the door to her lawyers office. She dropped her bags on the floor and fell into the leather chair across from his desk.
"Jesus Sonji, what the Hell happened to you?" The older white haired man handed her a glass of water and pushed his half glasses up over his bushy eyebrows.
"It's called jet lag and no sleep in I have no idea how many days." She yawned and then sipped the water. "I need you to do something for me and before you say it, no I haven't lost my mind. In fact I think I finally found it along with my soul," She placed the glass on the desk, pulled a thick envelope from her pocket and dropped it on his blotter. "That is the deed for my house and paperwork for everything else of any value that I own. I want you to sell everything but the paintings, those are to be auctioned off and the proceeds from everything is to go to my charities and draw up a grant for the archeological team in Crete, the person it's to be given to is Dr. Stesha Hawthorne. But before it's made out, find out how much their last grant was for and triple it."
He looked at her with wide eyes, blinked and used his hand to close his mouth. "You have lost your mind! You're selling everything and putting up money for a grant for tomb raiders? Where are you going to live and why all of a sudden this humongous change?"
"I'm hoping that I'll be spending some time on an island in the pacific and on the new yacht that's being fitted for me. The money is going to the mother of the most important woman in my life."
"But Tabitha's mother doesn't do anything but shop, what's this got to do with Crete."
"Not that psycho bitch, hopefully my future, Dr. Diablo Hawthorne." She pulled a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to him. "Can you get the other Dr. Hawthorne set up with round trip tickets from Crete to Oahu and back sent to her for next week?"
"Sure, I'll have Mrs. Davis take care of that and have her get a hold of a realtor for your house. Sonji, I don't know what happened on your vacation but you're not the same woman from two weeks ago."
"Easy, I was tossed off the yacht with Tabitha into ice cold sea water. We ended up on what we thought was a deserted island only to find out that a hermit lived there with just the company of monkeys and other island creatures. In the few days that we were there, I saw that my life sucked. The woman I had been with for three years was crazier than I thought and that even if you're on an island, you have the world."
"You didn't hit your head or anything did you?" She laughed and shook her head.
"No I didn't hit my head, I lost my heart." She pulled a magazine out of one of her bags and handed it to him; he looked at the cover and back up at her.
"This is the hermit," He looked again at the picture of Diablo and whistled. "I'd sell everything and live on an island with her to; she can stop your heart with one look."
"Don't I know it," She blushed and then cleared her throat. "I talked with her more in a few days than I did in three years with Tabitha, we spent hours just walking on the beach or just sitting by the ocean. She took me lobster trapping, cooked for me, gave me the clothes off her back and never asked for anything. She even saved my life the first day we were on the island and it was there that I realized that I hadn't been living at all, just existing. I want to live Andrew." He nodded his head and smiled, even exhausted and raggedy, he saw happiness in her tired eyes when she mentioned Diablo.
"How do I reach you when all of this is done?"
"You can e-mail me or call my cell phone, I'm gonna run by my house, grab the clothes and stuff I need and then head out to the airport." She snapped her fingers. "I almost forgot, I'll leave my car in long term parking, can you arrange to donate it to the VFW?"
"Consider it done and I wish you luck Sonji, it's been years since I've seen you happy."
"Thanks Andrew, for everything and I won't fall off the face of the earth." She shook his hand and headed out of his office.
************
Diablo smacked John in his shoulder as she climbed on board and kicked him in his ass. "I've been worried about you, where have you been for four days?" She leaned up against the rail and rung her hair out.
"I was helping Skinny get a yacht ready; we put some new radar stuff in it and a new satellite dish that can be used for cell phones and the internet."
"Must be some rich asshole who wants to show it off to his groupie friends."
"Don't know about that, I do know that Skinny paid me good for helping him. So I could care less if the thing ever leaves the dock, so what's with you wanting to go into Oahu and what's in the bag?"
"I'm flying out to the main island and then to LAX, I was hoping that you would stay at my place and keep the kids company?" She saw his eyes light up and a wide smile show his perfect white teeth.
"You're gonna do it, you're going after Sonji?" She blushed and looked down at her feet.
"Yeah or I'm gonna try, I talked ta ma a couple times and she more or less told me I was stupid if I didn't." She shrugged her shoulders and picked up the waterproof bag she had brought with her. "If nothing happens, I won't have any regrets."
"Do you love her?" She looked out to sea and then back to John, she nodded her head and spoke with a rough voice.
"More than life its self, I can't concentrate on anything, can't sleep, my kids are acting all weird and I carry my cell phone everywhere hoping she'll call."
"OK, now the big question does she know or feel the same way?"
"I hope she does, I haven't told her and I'm hoping she can feel or hear it in my voice." John busted up laughing at her and slapped the yacht's steering wheel.
"You are the biggest damn chicken I have ever known when it comes to women and emotions. With all the women you've been with and some of them in countries where if the natives would have found out you would have been buried up to your damn neck. You can't tell Sonji that you're in love with her?"
"I'm not a chicken; I have to be able to see her eyes when I tell her. I couldn't do it over the phone or e-mail, that would be something a man would do. What makes you an expert on this stuff anyways?"
"Never said I was, I just know how you are is all." He gave her a grin and pointed to the island on the horizon. "Better go get showered and changed, we'll be in the docks in another half hour. And I'll have you know that my boat is spic and span and that includes the shower." She gave him a wide-eyed look, grabbed her bag and went below.
*********
Continued in Part 2
The Athenaeum's Scroll Archive
