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

An Island Unto Himself, The Novel (13)
Tony Mossor

Stu didn’t hear Tawni coming up behind him in the dark. He was too busy rummaging through the old VW bus. He was standing outside the van at the driver’s door, bent over with his head inside, looking under the driver’s seat. He rifled through the miscellaneous items long discarded and forgotten under it; paper, wrappers, a pencil and two quarters.

"What are you doing?" Tawni asked.

"Aah!" Stu yelled.

He raised up suddenly and banged the back of his head on the steering column.

"Ouch!... Don’t do that," Stu said turning to face the familiar voice and rubbing the rising knot on his head.

"What are you looking for?" Tawni asked.

"Something to smoke, butts, anything."

"Butts?"

"I’m out of cigarettes," said Stu as he flipped open the ashtray in the dash.

He’d forgotten about stashing Tiffy’s pipe there the other day and was pleasantly surprised when he found it.

"Eureka!" he said, "and the bowl’s already packed with tobacco. Thanks, Tiffy."

The tobacco felt stale when Stu packed it with his thumb. Drier than normal for pipe tobacco.

"What do you expect?" he asked himself silently.

After all, the pipe had been in the ash tray for a week.

"Do you want to come upstairs, Stu Stu?" Tawni asked from out of the blue.

Stu was shocked. Upstairs? The forbidden upstairs? The verboten upstairs? But, that was taboo... restricted... banned......... sacred. Hell yes, he wanted to go upstairs!

Stu and Tawni held hands as they crept past Tootawni and Little Ton asleep on their pallets on the floor of the hut. Squawker was on his perch, eyes closed. Though one yellow oculus blinked open in the dark as they tiptoed past, Squawker kept quiet. He kept their secret.

The same couldn’t be said for the bamboo ladder that led to Tawni’s bedroom. It creaked and moaned under the weight of the twosome... especially Stu. They cringed with each squeaky step but, made it to the top undetected.

They reached the top of the ladder and stepped up onto Tawni’s balcony just outside her bedroom door. They stopped, both unwilling to take the lead. They held hands again... for mutual support.

In his free hand, Stu was still clutching Tiffy’s pipe. He decided to break the silence... and hopefully the ice.

Holding up the pipe, he said, "I haven’t smoked a pipe in years..."

That didn’t get a rise from Tawni, so he continued.

"I sure am glad I found it though..."

Still no response from Tawni. She just stared dead ahead at her berth.

Stu carried on, "I was just about ready to waste a magic coin on a carton of Winstons. Talk about the high price of cigarettes."

This got Tawni’s attention.

"Magic coin?" she said.

Stu pulled the key chain with the two, remaining coins from his pants pocket.

"Yeah, I’ve got these magic coins, see? My son Brad gave them to me. I get one wish per coin. Pretty neat, huh?"

"You are teasing Tawni."

"No I’m not," he said, handing the coins to Tawni for a closer look. "How do you think I got here in the first place?"

Tawni took the coins and looked them over while Stu got Trusty Zippo out and clinked it open. He fired up the little pipe. Tawni was intent on the coins.

"You are not teasing," she finally said. "This is how you came to Nooki Nooki?"

She handed the coins back to Stu who stowed them safely in his pocket.

"This is how you will leave, as well?" Tawni asked.

"What?..."

Stu hadn’t really thought about that.

"I don’t know," he said. "Anyway, I’m not planning on going anywhere just yet."

He took a deep drag off the pipe. The harsh smoke burned his lungs and took his breath. He talked through clenched teeth.

"Good grief, I had forgotten just how brutal pipe tobacco can be," he said.

"It smells good. Can I try?"

Stu was reluctant but as always, he had a hard time denying Tawni. He caved.

"I guess it won’t hurt anything this once. Just don’t make a habit of it. It’s not easy to quit."

Stu sat on the top rail of the banister that overlooked the bottom half of Tawni’s house. Tawni climbed up next to him and scooted close. Their hands touched as they passed the pipe and they both paused for a nervous instant. They each looked at their touching hands.

Tawni took the pipe and put the stem between her lips. She looked into Stu’s eyes and took a slow, seductive drag... Then she started coughing uncontrollably.

Stu took the pipe and patted her on the back as she doubled over into his lap.

"Careful... you okay there, hero?" he asked.

When Tawni stopped gagging and choking, she sat back up and leaned against Stu.

"It doesn’t taste as good as it smells," she said... "Let me try again."

"What a trooper", Stu joked as he handed the pipe back to her.

Tawni sat up straight and took another puff. This one was one smoother.

"Hey, you’re a natural," Stu teased.

They traded a few harsh tokes and enjoyed a few quiet moments of reflection. Then Stu remembered Yobo. Nobody had seen him since the sling shot incident.

"Yobo hasn’t come home yet?" he inquired of Tawni.

"No."

"You must be worried sick... It’s my fault."

"Do not worry about Yobo. This entire island is his home, not just this house. He often goes off by himself... to think."

"What does an eight year old boy in paradise have to think about?" Stu asked, taking another drag.

"The same as eight year old boys in your world I suppose; eight year old girls, life, their fathers - how much they want to be just like them... and how much they don’t want to be anything like them at all."

Stu didn’t have an answer for that. He took another toke and rolled Tawni’s words over in his mind. He decided it better to ignore this just like dear old dad thing altogether. He looked at the pipe and took another puff.

"This is kind of nice. Just the two of us anome" he said slurring his words. "I mean alone... up here on your bathroom balcony... Bathroom?"

Stu laughed out loud. He was feeling pretty good from the pipe tobacco.

Tawni, on the other hand, wasn’t feeling good at all. She put the back of her hand to her forehead.

"Watsch wrong?" asked Stu.

"I do not know. My head feels dizzy."

Stu snickered, although he wasn’t sure why.

"Here, lean againsht old Shtu. I gotch you."

As directed, Tawni abruptly plopped against the inebriated Stu causing him to lose his balance. He teetered backward, grasped for Tawni but, only caught thin air, toppled off the banister and crashed through the thatch roof below. He landed flat on his back with a thud between Tootawni and Little Ton, rudely disrupting their peaceful slumber. They sprang up to sitting positions as loose straw from the roof floated down around them.

Looking up, Stu saw Tawni leaning over the banister and peering down through the new hole in her roof.

"Stu Stu?" she called.

"...Yes?" Stu groaned.

"I’m starving."

CHAPTER 30

Tootawni and Little Ton had decided to spend the day on the beach. Stu had volunteered to help carry their stuff, especially a heavy, primative Adarondak chair. Little Ton and his mother toted Tiffy’s blue cooler between them. Stu had also graciously volunteered it for the day. It held the rest of their beach articles; some of Tawni’s cool, berry drinks, smoked jerky, bananas and grapes for snacking and some of Tiffy’s magazines.

They headed for the scenic spot where the creek emptied into the sea. Once there, Stu set up the chair for Tootawni and she settled into a comfortable reclining position. She got Tiffy’s floppy hat and sunglasses and a Cosmo magazine from the cooler.

Stu stayed to play with Little Ton in the water for a few minutes. They splashed each other and jumped over the rolling whitecaps.

Stu found a wide plank of driftwood and got an idea. He could teach Little Ton how to surf... not that he had ever stepped foot on a surfboard himself. Oh well, Stu wasn’t one to let minor details stop him.

"Hey Little Ton," he yelled, "watch this!"

Stu straddled the board and paddled out to where the waves started to break. He waited for just the right wave and stood up on the board on wobbly legs. The powerful, breaking wave caught the board with a surge of foam and spray and swept it out from under Stu’s unsteady feet. He was sucked under by the mighty force of nature. When he washed up on shore, Little Ton was holding the runaway surf board and smiling broadly.

"That looked like fun!" Little Ton exclaimed.

"Yeah, well, you get the idea," Stu gasped.

Little Ton splashed out to the rolling waves with his new surf board while Stu staggered over and sat on the sand next to Tootawni.

"You are very fancy swimmer," Tootawni said earnestly, alluding to Stu’s antics.

"...Thanks, but I think that surfing is best left to the younger generation," Stu said. "Look at Little Ton, he looks like he was born on a surf board."

Sure enough, Little Ton was already gracefully gliding to shore on his first wave.

Stu stood and brushed the wet sand from the seat of his pants.

"Well, I guess I better go get started on that roof. It’s not going to fix itself," he said.

"Bye bye, Stu Stu," Tootawni said.

After Stu was gone, Little Ton paddled out to catch another wave and Tootawni settled in with her magazine. She couldn’t read the words but, it was just as well. She wouldn’t have appreciated the concept of 101 Ways to Make Sure He Calls the Morning After anyway. She was engrossed with the glossy pictures, ads for products she had never seen before like cologne, hair color, C D and book clubs. She laughed out loud at a lingerie ad.

"That cannot be comfortable", she observed "and that girl is too skinny".

Tootawni’s face had been buried in the magazine for about twenty minutes when she got one of those maternal feelings that all mothers get from time to time. The feeling that something wasn’t quite right. She lowered her magazine and her jaw dropped at the nightmare unfolding just a few yards in front of her.

Tawnawki had been abducted by three especially uncivilized looking tribesmen from another island. Two of them held the squirming Little Ton by the arms and covered his mouth.

They were all wearing buckskin loincloths and were replete with bones through their noses. Scalps hung from their belts and shrunken heads dangled from their spear shafts.

The first kidnapper was grungy, as they all were, but otherwise pretty nondescript; average height, average weight.

The second kidnapper was much more unique looking. He was a head taller than the others and skinny as a pole. He sported an eye patch and peg leg and was missing a couple of fingers. Although none of the three looked especially bright, he seemed exceptionally stupid.

Their leader was short and round and was holding Little Ton’s surfboard. He stood a few steps in front of his subordinates. He was grinning broadly at Tootawni as if eyeing his next meal.

"Cannibals!" Tootawni gasped under her breath.

Looking past the notorious headhunters, Tawni spotted their mode of transport. A rickety, old raft with makeshift sail was beached at the mouth of the creek. They had undoubtedly sailed silently up from around the island while Tootawni was engrossed in her magazine.

The cannibal chief stamped the butt of his spear shaft on the ground a couple of times, grunted and then pointed the spear tip at her. The shrunken heads swung ominously from the shaft. The chief grunted once more and motioned for Tootawni to come with them.

Luckily for Tootawni and Little Ton, Yobo was watching from the trees in silence.

CHAPTER 31

Stu was on top of a ladder, fixing the hole he had made in Tawni’s roof. He had already piled an enormous stack of dried grass at the foot of his ladder for materials. Tawni climbed the ladder and gave him a drink, a fresh squeezed lime and orange juice concoction.

"Here, Stu Stu," she said, "fixing the roof is hot work".

"Thanks," Stu said as he took the clay cup of refreshment.

Tawni eyed the hole in the roof thoughtfully.

"Stu Stu," she said, "I think you should quit smoking. It is very dangerous."

Stu drained every drop of liquid from the cup in one gulp and handed it back to Tawni.

"Okay," he said.

Tawni was delighted!

"You will?! Just because Tawni asks you?"

She was smiling proudly as she climbed back down the ladder.

"Just because Tawni asks me..." he called after her, "...plus the fact that I’ve already smoked up everything within a hundred miles of here," he said under his breath.

"Tobacco tastes funny anyway," Tawni said.

"Well, something tells me that wasn’t tobacco we were smoking last night. I think it was marijuana."

"Marijuana?"

"Marijuana, you know, pot, grass, wacky weed, just say no... drugs. I’ve really got to have that talk with Tiffy."

"Drugs?!"

"Bad medicine."

"I know what drugs are..."

Tawni didn’t get to finish. Yobo interrupted her when he ran into the clearing panting and yelling.

"Mama, Mama!" he yelled.

"Yobo, what is wrong?!" she exclaimed.

She grabbed him up and looked to see if something was chasing her frightened offspring.

"Cannibals, Mama! Cannibals got Tawnawki and Aunt Tootawni!"

Tawni was stunned.

"Cannibals? Oh no, where?!"

"They have followed the creek upstream past the waterfall! Come, I will show you!" Yobo said impatiently, tugging on his mother.

By this time Stu had clambered down from the roof to see what all the commotion was.

"What’s going on?!" he asked.

Tawni answered Stu and at the same time called after Yobo who was already running back into the jungle in the direction of the falls.

"Cannibals have Tootawni and Tawnawki!" she yelled to Stu. "Yobo, wait!" she yelled to her small son.

"What?" Stu asked.

"Cannibals!" Tawni repeated as she chased after Yobo leaving Stu alone on the roof.

"Cannibals?" Stu asked the single word question out loud even though no one was left to hear it.

"Hurry, before they eat them!" Yobo yelled from the jungle.

CHAPTER 32

Stu, Tawni and Yobo lurked behind a clump of trees at the edge of the forest and watched the cannibals who had made camp just upstream from the falls. Their raft was beached on the bank below the falls. Tootawni and Little Ton were tied to a stake, back to back.

Nearby, the cannibals were making ready to roast them. They had erected two forked branches about eight feet apart so that Tootawni and Little Ton’s stake could be placed across them rotisserie fashion. The round, little chief was now wearing Tiffy’s floppy hat and dark sunglasses and grunting orders to his second, the normal looking one. Normal, in turn, relayed the orders to the tall, skinny, stupid looking cannibal, the one with the missing appendages. Obviously, this one was clumsy as well as stupid.

Normal, pointed to sticks and branches lying on the ground and grunted, "Mm! mmm!".

Normal and Clumsy began gathering dead branches and assorted pieces of wood to construct a huge bon fire between the forked poles.

Unfortunately for Clumsy, he was straddling one particularly long branch when Normal picked up the other end. It was tangled in undergrowth. After a couple attempts to free it, Normal gave one big tug and it broke loose, inadvertently cracking Clumsy square in the crotch!

"Ugh," Clumsy moaned.

Stu winced in sympathy but, the other two cannibals doubled over in laughter at their friend’s slapstick misfortune.

Stu whispered to Tawni, "What are they doing?"

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