Outcast Island

Outcast Island Chapter 6

“Come now! What will you name me? I am excited to hear my new name, My Beautiful One!” His patient smile grew larger, and while he waited he turned his head toward the sound of the breaking waves. Finally, she spoke.

“If I am to be outcast to an island forever with a man, I should want that man to love me. Although we have only been with each other for a few hours, I feel that you will love me. Ever since I was a small girl I thought if I could name my husband I would name him this one thing.”

“And what is that?” He asked, raising his eyebrows. His blind eyes and white teeth standing out from his tanned face.

She smiled and giggled out loud to herself. He smiled back at her with anticipation.

“I shall call you My Man, the One that Loves Me.” She said.

He smiled bigger than ever. “My love grows for you with every word your melodious voice speaks. It is a good name. Come, give me your hand so that I may touch you. Let us sit and listen to the beating of the waves on the shore as our hearts begin to beat for each other, this new day. Later, we shall begin to plan our life and home together. You shall pick the trees and I shall cut them. You shall tell me where to dive and I shall fish. You shall tell me where the best coconuts are and I shall climb. You shall tell me the best location for a garden and I shall dig deep furrows for you to plant. You shall show me where fresh water is, and I shall cut a path through the forest to it.”

She sat down next to him on the sand, in the shade of the huge palm tree. She was happy and yet, she knew deep down inside that she would die on this island. At least now it seemed less hopeless than it did before. She felt confident she would be able to live longer with someone by her side, but she was still unsure of how long and how much suffering she might yet still have to endure. She thought quietly for a few minutes, then asked.

“My Man, the One that Loves Me, if we have no tools to cut with, how shall we build our home?” As she asked, a small wave of hopelessness shot down her spine. For, she realized without tools they would not last long.

“All outcasts are cast out with all of their possessions so that the gods may have some small things to sustain themselves. I was cast out with my tools of war for, they bring superstition if they stay with my captors, and what little I had in my house as a war servant. Were you not cast out with anything, My Beautiful One?” He stroked her arm as he spoke and turned his face with blind eyes searching for hers.

“I have only the clothes on my body. For I was the lowest of slaves.” She said quietly.

“Then, My Beautiful One, we shall be resourceful with only the items I have in my canoe!” He said with a huge smile.

There was a long pause between them. She moved slightly closer to this man she had met just a few hours ago. His hand lay in the sand and his fingers intertwined with hers. His blind eyes were turned toward the vastness of the ocean he could not see. She looked at his muscled figure and at the scars upon his body from many a battle he had escaped with his life. He seemed so care free and so unperturbed to be outcast by all of society because of his physical flaws. What vastness of character lay within such a man, she wondered.