Storymania - An Island Unto Himself, The Novel by Tony Mossor

An Island Unto Himself, The Novel (12)
Tony Mossor

CHAPTER 27

For the first time, Tawni found herself struggling to keep up with Stu, instead of the other way around. Stu huffed and puffed as he pulled her along by the hand.

"Stu Stu, wait," she implored. "I cannot keep up!"

Stu labored to answer between pants, "Just a little further, c’mon."

Tawni had never seen him so determined. A little farther back, Yobo was striving to keep pace. Little Ton was another fifty feet behind, running as fast as his chubby little legs could carry his plump, little, quivering physique. Further back still, the hefty Tootawni brought up the rear.

Yobo drew his little knife! "Wait for Yobo!" he shouted.

"Almost there,"

Stu gasped as they reached the sand dune. Halfway up, Stu hit the dirt, infantry style and motioned for Tawni to do the same.

"Get down, they’re just over this rise," he whispered.

Stu crawled up the hill like a war seasoned guerrilla. Tawni looked at him as if he had lost his mind. Just as he reached the dune’s crest. She walked past him upright and topped the rise.

"Where?" she asked.

Stu was frantic.

"Get down!" He implored. "They’ll see you!"

"Who?" Tawni said.

Everyone else arrived and trampled right past the cowering, prone Stu. Yobo waived his knife in the air.

"Where are they?!" he demanded.

Stu crawled to the top of the dune and poked his head up. The beach was deserted. He jumped to his feet and ran down to the vacant beach. The others looked at him dubiously.

"They were right here," Stu mumbled, "and the ship was right over there!" he testified.

Tawni looked to her sister.

"I think Stu Stu spent too much time in the sun today," she said.

"I think he is crazy as hell," Tootawni said.

Stu spied a crushed paper cup washing up in the surf and rushed to pick it up. "See I’m not crazy!" he said.

"Damned tourists," Tootawni muttered.

"Is that your ship?" Tawni asked.

Everyone looked up. Tawni was pointing to a speck on the horizon.

"There it is!" Stu yelled triumphantly. "See, I told you. Boy, that had to be the biggest ship I ever saw. Of course, that’s the only ship I ever saw... in person I mean. I wonder how far out that is?"

Everyone was fixed on the speck. After a moment Tawni said, "Oh no".

"What?" Stu asked.

Tawni instinctively took a couple of steps backwards as if preparing to retreat.

"That boat’s not going out," she said. "It’s coming in!"

Tawni grabbed Yobo and Tawnawki by the hands.

"Come children, hurry!" she said and everyone fled for the treeline leaving Stu all by himself on the beach, still staring out to sea at the approaching boat in the distance.

"This place is getting way too crowded," he said.

When nobody answered, he looked around and realized he had been deserted. He saw the others making for the trees and ran to catch up.

When he got to the trees, the others were already crouched down. The mothers each held a hand over their respective son’s mouth.

"What’s the big deal?" Stu asked. "It’s just another cruise ship, a fun boat. They won’t hurt you."

"That is no cruise ship, look," Tawni said, removing her hand from Yobo’s mouth and pointing toward the fast approaching cabin cruiser.

Stu still didn’t understand.

"Okay, so it’s a cabin cruiser, so what?"

"Pirates," Tootawni said bluntly.

"I will cut out their guts," Yobo claimed, presenting his knife.

Tawni re-covered her small son’s big mouth.

"Pirates?!" Stu said. "Come on, you mean like ruthless, raping, killing, rum runners, buried treasure, that kind of pirates?"

"No," Tawni said, "she means like ruthless, raping, killing, drug smugglers, that kind of pirates".

"Drugs?" Stu asked.

"Bad medicine," Tootawni explained.

"I know what drugs are!" Stu said.

Tawni put her index finger up to her lips.

"Shhh".

Again, she pointed to the boat. It dropped anchor beyond the breakers and four of the modern day pirates loaded a wooden crate with rope handles into an inflatable, outboard dingy. They grabbed two shovels and headed pell mell for shore leaving the boat’s captain and a couple of hands behind to man the cabin cruiser.

Stu watched the proceedings curiously.

"What are they doing," he asked.

"They are going to bury their treasure," Tawni said.

"Get outa here," Stu said doubtfully.

But, Tootawni nodded her head in agreement.

They all turned their hushed attention back to the drug smugglers as they made shore. Two of them labored with the heavy strongbox while the other two, obviously the leader and his number two man, toted the spades. They walked across the beach about halfway to the trees until they just were in ear shot of Stu and the others.

"This is good," said the gruff leader.

He and Number Two handed the shovels to their subordinates.

"Hurry it up, we don’t have much time," the leader said.

Stu couldn’t help noticing how much one of the diggers looked the part of a pirate. He wore black, leather boots, black pants and black belt with a big silver buckle. A red and white striped T - shirt was stretched tight over his pot belly and he had a red bandanna affixed on his head and knotted in the back. He wore one gold, loop earring and he even sported a full, black beard.

He and his co-worker quickly dug down to about three feet.

"Deep enough?" asked Black Beard.

"It’ll have to do," the leader said. "Cover it up and let’s beat it!"

Black Beard and his partner quickly dropped the crate in the hole and piled the loose sand back in on top of it.

"That does it, let’s get out of here," the leader said turning to leave.

Black Beard grabbed his shirt sleeve.

"Wait, we have to draw a map!" Black Beard said.

"There’s no time for that nonsense," Number Two said.

"But, pirates always draw a map," Black Beard pointed out.

The leader delivered a swift kick to the seat of Black Beard’s pants. Stu, Tawni, Tootawni, Yobo and Tawnawki all winced in unison.

"I’ll show you pirates!" the leader yelled. "Get back to the boat before I have you drawn and quartered! Pirates!"

Black Beard got back to the dingy as fast as he could run while holding his butt cheeks. The smugglers loaded up and headed back to the cabin cruiser at full throttle.

They were about halfway there when the boat captain keyed his radio microphone. He switched it to P.A. and called to his approaching friends.

"Hurry it up!" his amplified voice demanded. "I’ve got them on radar. They’ll be in site any minute now!"

The smugglers raced back to the boat and clambered on board. They weighed anchor and headed back toward the open sea with the rubber dingy in tow.

They hadn’t gone far when another boat came barreling around the island to intercept them. It was a Coastguard cutter!

One of the sharply uniformed guardsmen on deck hailed the cruiser over a bullhorn.

"Ahoy the vessel, ahoy! This is the United States Coastguard. Stay where you are and prepare to be boarded."

"Who is that?" Tawni said.

"The cavalry has arrived!" Stu said triumphantly.

"The cavity?" Yobo asked.

"The good guys from my world," Stu explained.

The Coastguard cutter pulled up alongside the cabin cruiser and a search party boarded it.

"Now they’re in for it," Stu said as they all watched. They couldn’t hear the conversation that the Coastguard officer, boat captain and leader of the smugglers were engaged in while the boat was being searched for contraband but, they watched intently just the same.

After a few tense moments, the search party regrouped on deck. They were empty handed. The Coastguard officer tipped his hat and gestured to the boat captain as if to say sorry for the inconvenience. He and his crew reboarded their own vessel and headed toward the open sea. After a minute, the cabin cruiser followed.

"I don’t get it," Stu said, stepping out in the open.

"Hey! No, don’t leave!" he shouted vainly at the Coastguard cutter.

He ran down to the water’s edge waving his arms and yelling.

"Those guys are drug dealers! Come back!"

Tawni and the others ran after Stu.

"What are you trying to do, get us killed?!" Tawni said.

Stu paid her little mind.

"Man, I hate to see guys like that get away with pushing drugs! I have a teenage daughter you know!"

"Let us just be thankful they left. Come, we should leave as well," Tawni said.

"What about the treasure?" Yobo said.

"The treasure!" Stu exclaimed. "Come on!"

Everyone but Tawni hurriedly followed Stu to the burial site. When he got there, Stu fell to his knees and started digging with his bare hands. The others all joined him and began scooping out the sand, all but Tawni that is. The deeper they went, the more furiously they scattered the loose, gritty dirt.

"I wonder what it is?" Yobo said as they dug.

"Maybe it’s a trunk full of money!" Stu predicted.

"Maybe it is a trunk full of gold!" Tootawni said.

"...or knives and swords!" Yobo added.

"...or food!" Little Ton said with great anticipation.

About that time Stu’s fingernails scraped against the rough, wooden top of the chest.

"There it is!" Stu exclaimed.

They quickly cleared away enough sand to pull the treasure chest free from the earth.

Tootawni continued to prognosticate as Stu and the boys hoisted the box out onto the beach.

"Maybe it is jewels..." she said with her hands clasped together. "Or maybe it is a treasure chest full of..." she began as Stu threw open the lid to reveal the contents.

The crate was packed full of what looked like dry, shriveled, chopped parsley. Tootawni’s shoulders drooped in disappointment as she finished her sentence.

"...dead seaweed?"

Stu sifted through the shredded, grassy stuff and picked up two big hand fulls for closer inspection.

"This isn’t seaweed," he said. "I think it might be pot."

"Pot?" Tootawni said.

"Drugs. Bad medicine," Stu explained.

"I know what drugs are," Tootawni said.

An ominous voice spoke from behind the group of treasure hunters.

"Put it back."

Stu, Tootawni and the boys turned to see Tawni standing directly behind them. Her arms were crossed and her face was flushed. She was clearly agitated with their actions.

"Put it back," she repeated.

Stu had other plans.

"Let’s get rid of it," he said. "Let’s burn it or something. It will serve..."

"Put it back!" Tawni demanded, raising her voice. "If the pirates come back and find their drugs missing, they will kill us."

Stu was determined to change her mind.

"But, they sell this stuff to kids," he said.

Tawni had the final word.

"Put it back!"

CHAPTER 28

Stu stood erect on his imaginary pitcher’s mound and toed the imaginary rubber. He checked the imaginary runners on the imaginary bases, then bent forward and rested his left hand on his left knee and looked toward his imaginary catcher for the sign. He spat. After receiving the imaginary signal for a fastball, he checked the runners one last time, performed a dramatic windup and let fly with the easiest, underhand pitch he could deliver.

The coconut arched softly through the air and floated right past Tawnawki who stood beside a makeshift homeplate with a bamboo bat resting on his shoulder. He swung about two beats after the easy pitch had passed.

"Strike fourteen," Stu said. "That’s okay Little Ton, try again", Stu shouted.

As Tawnawki retrieved the coconut, Stu looked out of the corner of his eye to see if Yobo was still lurking on the sidelines. He was. This warming up period was taking longer than Stu had expected. Yobo still didn’t want anything to do with him.

Miraculously, Tawnawki hit the next pitch. The oblong orb rolled to a wobbly stop at Stu’s feet. Stu yelled encouragement to Little Ton.

"That’s the way! Good job!"

Stu picked up the coconut.

"Hey Yobo," he said, "come on, try it!"

Yobo just turned and walked away without acknowledging his elder.

Later that same day, Stu was sitting by himself on Tawni’s front porch. He was gnawing on another piece of straw and whittling on a forked stick. He was putting the finishing touches on a homemade slingshot. He had already cut and attached one of the bungi cords from the VW’s toolbox. With a couple alterations it made an excellent launch pad.

As Stu completed the apparatus, Yobo and Little Ton emerged from a path laughing and carrying armloads of grapes in big bunches. They ran to the house with their riches.

"Mama, Aunt Tootawni," Yobo yelled, "come see what we found!"

Stu greeted the boys as they came up the steps to the front porch.

"Hi, Yobo. Hi, Little Ton."

Tawnawki smiled a toothy grin at Stu but, Yobo just brushed him off. Determined to break through to Yobo, Stu grabbed his arm as he passed.

"Whoa there," Stu said. "Why the rush? Look, I’ve got a present for you, a toy."

Yobo returned Stu’s gesture with a cold stare.

"Have you ever had a toy before?" Stu asked.

Stu’s question was answered with more cold stares. Stu took the grapes from Yobo and replaced them with the slingshot. He pulled a duplicate slingshot from his back pocket.

"Here Little Ton," he said, "I made one for you, too. Watch this."

Stu plucked a grape from one of Little Ton’s bunches and loaded it into the sling.

"See the knot hole on that big tree over there?"

Stu took careful aim and let the grape soar! It whizzed across the clearing and vanished into the black hole.

"Bull’s - eye!" Stu yelled. "Just like when I was a kid! Here, you guys try it."

Stu traded the second slingshot to Little Ton for his load of grapes and leaned forward on the edge of his seat in anticipation. Little Ton loaded his slingshot with a plump, juicy grape but, Yobo just stared at Stu.

Stu plucked a grape for Yobo and held it out to him. Still, Yobo stared back silently. Stu nudged Yobo on the arm.

"Go ahead buddy, try it," Stu said.

To which Yobo unceremoniously threw the slingshot as far as he could across the clearing and into the jungle growth! Then he ran off the porch and also disappeared into the vegetation.

Tawnawki chose that very time to let his grape fly, hitting Stu right between the eyes with a splat! Stu closed his eyes in order to quell the urge to scream. When he reopened them, Little Ton was grinning ear to ear.

"Sling shot is fun!" he said.

"Yeah, a real hoot," Stu said with a lack of passion.

He popped the grape that Yobo had refused into his mouth and picked up the others.

"C’mon Little Ton, let’s get these grapes inside."

After Stu and Tawnawki went inside with the grapes, Yobo stepped out from behind a tree and double checked to make sure they were gone. He crept over to the spot where he had thrown the slingshot, picked it up, smiled and ran off.

CHAPTER 29

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