Patient Blue

They had now been on the Island of Dead Whales for eight weeks and in that time many things had changed. On their isolated windswept speck of land Pete and Trude were oblivious to events in the outside world. Unbearable heat and seismic activity had rendered many parts of the earth virtually uninhabitable. This was especially the case in equatorial and southern hemisphere countries. In the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East where most of the world’s oil was still produced, life became unbearable. Most wells and refineries were shutdown and abandoned many caught fire with the resulting plumes of toxic black smoke mixing with the scorching air to create a poisonous brew that few could survive. Large scale deaths occurred with the old and very young being the first to succumb. The mass exodus north to the heavily patrolled and barricaded fortress Europe gathered urgent pace.

In Britain, which had until now escaped the worst of the heat and seismic disasters, fuel reserves dwindled and petrol, at first rationed was completely restricted for the use of military,government and emergency vehicles only. Blackouts became common and electric power for domestic users was restricted to one hour a day. Food supply and distribution became critical and draconian rationing was introduced. The pace of the breakdown was startling and in mere weeks world society and civilization was on its knees. The heavily armed police, who in Britain now referred to themselves as the”May-hem”, became brutal in their often overzealous efforts to exert control. Little media scrutiny now existed to keep them in check.

On the island Pete and Trude went about naked, wearing just their shoes and for some protection from the sun, baseball caps they had found in the hut. Pete’s, bore the logo Callaway Golf and Trude’s, Disneyland Paris. They were both deeply tanned and Pete’s once mousy hair was bleached almost as blonde as Trude’s. His formerly underdeveloped body was now taught and lightly muscled from the physical activity, he felt and looked good. Pete noticed that Trudes small, pert breasts seemed fuller, her nipples larger and her previously flat stomach slightly distended. She looked beautiful and he could hardly keep his hands off her and she, now pregnant and full of hormones, was always willing to respond. Trude loved receiving oral sex and Pete certainly loved giving it. He thought her tight little snatch nestled in its cocoon of silky blonde pubic hair looked like Heaven and tasted like ambrosia, whatever that was.Island life was really starting to suit him.

The old whaler’s hut which had leaked, creaked, groaned and threatened to topple over at each puff of wind was abandoned and they moved up the hill to the cave some three hundred feet above the beach. The air in the cave stayed at a constant comfortable temperature and fresh water fed by the gentle rain, tumbled down the rocky face of the tor and gathered in pools in shallow depressions in the rocks close by. There was an ample supply of tough low growing ferns and dry spongy moss to use for bedding.The moss also made a pretty good substitute for toilet paper being soft and very absorbent. From the hut there was also a large store of tallow candles to provide light. Dead ferns and the copious supplies of driftwood that washed ashore each day and extracted from the piles of plastic detritus that scarred and blighted the pristine sand, provided fuel for the fire kept burning throughout the night. A sealed bag of twenty Bic lighters they had found in the hut, meant it could always be easily lit without resorting to that old marooned on an island cliché of rubbing two sticks together to make a spark.

Trude, proved a revelation in more ways than one. She had been brought up on a farm in the low lying countryside outside Amsterdam and was a dab hand at not only gutting and cooking rabbits, of which there were many, without a qualm, but also of making ingenious traps to catch them with wire nooses set by their burrows. Dispatching them where necessary, with a sharp twist of the neck or blow to the head with a club of wood. Pete reckoned if he could somehow catch or herd some of the feral goats, Trude would find a way to milk the females and kill and cook the males. Pete, no slacker,also contributed further to their larder by scaling rocky promontories and gathering bird’s eggs. This was quite a daunting activity as the large birds, Pete couldn’t identify the species, possibly Fulmars or Skewers, tried to protect their nests shrieking and mobbing him and occasionally drawing blood with their sharp beaks. He regularly received wounds that needed treatment from the first aid kit thoughtfully provided and left behind by the long gone whalers. Pete also foraged along the shoreline close to the rotting bodies of the three dead whales and caught some of the crabs that were feasting on the carcasses. By experimentation he discovered that one of the smaller species was really tasty and this supplemented the rabbit and egg diet rather nicely. He was also able to gather small fish that became trapped in shallow rock pools at low tide and these once cooked were devoured heads and tails intact like whitebait, they were delicious.

On one of his forays he discovered two badly decomposed human bodies, naked, grossly swollen and mottled dark grey green in colour, both were covered with small crabs that were feasting on what remained of the decaying flesh, crawling through empty eye sockets and open mouths. One of the bodies had a leg missing and Pete stared at the ragged stump wondering if this was the result of a shark attack. The shock of the discovery, the sight and smell made him vomit. The bodies were so decomposed that he couldn’t identify if they were male or female, he wondered if they had come from the plane crash or from some other accident at sea.

With a flat piece of driftwood he dug a shallow trench in the soft sand and managed with much effort and nausea to role the bodies in and covered them over with layers of sand and put some larger pebbles on top of the mound.He knew they would probably become exposed again fairly quickly but it was the best he could do in the circumstances. He decided he would not tell Trude of this grim discovery.

Pete and Trude, were generally well fed though the lack of any fruit and vegetables might eventually prove a problem. They still thought that at some stage, and certainly before Trude gave birth, that they would be rescued. Pete actually had mixed feelings about this he knew they could not live on this Island forever, though he could certainly think of far worse ways to spend the rest of his life.

Each evening as the fierce sun slipped below the horizon and the scorching heat moderated a little and after they had finished eating, they sat on piles of soft moss and fern at the entrance to their cave looking out at the dark empty Atlantic Ocean three hundred feet below. Faintly visible white lines of breaker’s rumbling and hissing on to the beach. Above them, auroras chased across the stars pulsing blue, green and violet while in the distance, perhaps even hundreds of miles away, vast electrical storms erupted, flashes of lighting making the horizon shimmer and strobe in silver and platinum.There was never the sound of thunder.

Pete sipped neat Scotch from a tin mug, Trude, in deference to her pregnancy drank her Scotch very diluted with water. They both loved the buzz it gave them, always lifting their spirits making them feel optimistic and at peace with their world. They made love every night, sometimes urgently or often slowly and sensually clinging to each other in the dark of their sanctuary. Always aware they were vulnerable and alone in the middle of a dark hostile ocean surrounded by violent unknown forces and may never be found.

One night following a stultifying hot and airless day they were woken by the sound of shrieking winds, blinding flashes of lightning and terrifying booms of thunder which seemed to be directly overhead. Torrential rain hammered down and the normal gentle flow of the waterfall turned into a gushing foaming torrent as it plummeted down the hillside. Even at this distance and over the sound of everything else, they could hear the roaring of the sea as it smashed against the beach. Fear and the cacophony of the storm made sleep almost impossible.

By the morning the storm had subsided Pete, who had woken from a light fitful sleep, rose from their bed of moss and ferns leaving Trude sleeping, she needed her rest, and went to the entrance of the cave to survey the aftermath. The waterfall crashed deafeningly down the hillside but the sea, sounding so terrifying in the darkness, had settled to a moody grey swell with waves that gathered in on themselves before flopping with a booming slap onto the sand and rushing with a foaming hiss to the high water mark. The three dead whales were gone. Pete strained his eyes trying to spot them but they had obviously been caught in the huge swells and dragged back out to sea, where presumably they had sunk to the depths. A far more dignified fitting burial place for such magnificent creatures. The hut, their first home on the island was also gone leaving just a few pieces of timber and part of the corrugated roof behind. Pete, thanked God that they had decided to move themselves and all their supplies to the cave otherwise they would have been unlikely to have survived the storm and the fierce sea.

At the rocks on the far side of the beach, Pete noticed something half hidden behind them. It was large and white he couldn’t quite make out what it was. Without waking Trude, he donned his shoes and cap and headed down the hill to the beach. As he left the cave the humidity and heat made him gasp and catch his breath, it just seemed to grow hotter daily and any physical activity during daylight hours was now becoming almost impossible. As he grew closer he could see ropes and wires trailing behind the object and then sheets of material twisted and part wrapped around the rocks and the unmistakable hull of a large yacht lying upside down in the sand. A jagged tear ran the length of the hull and Pete, could see water trickling from it. The damaged keel poked into the air like a ragged shark fin, stark white against the dark brooding background of the turbulent low clouds.

The yacht, he estimated at about sixty feet in length, looked expensive, a serious piece of kit. He could read the name of the vessel painted in dark blue on the bow, Jean Genie and under the name its port of origin, Chichester. Pete, was convinced there could be no survivors and wondered if the two decomposed bodies had come from this vessel which may have been wrecked weeks ago before finally washing ashore.

He slapped his hand two or three times on the hull and immediately heard a sound, a weak whimpering voice from inside the shattered hull. ‘Hello is someone inside, can you hear me?’

His call was answered by a scream then more screams, high pitched, childrens. ‘Help us please God help us, it was a woman, there are children, please get us out please, please help us.’

Pete put his face to the jagged tear in the hull and peered inside the shattered cabin. As he looked a face appeared in the gap, a woman with terrified staring eyes. She saw Michael and once again screamed ‘help us please help us.’

‘OK, I’ll try to get you out, how many of you are there?’

‘Me and seven children, get us out. Please.’

Michael heard childish howls of anguish from behind the woman.

‘Just wait and I’ll try to free you, let me find something.’

He went to the other side of the upturned hull that was now being nudged by waves as the tide rose higher. The hull was below the high water line and would easily be submerged at full tide. The cabin entrance was crushed into the sand and could not be exited through the small gap between the boats structure and the beach. Michael thought that if he could create a larger space perhaps by digging away the surrounding sand he might be able to free the terrified group inside. He found a flat piece of pointed driftwood and began digging into the sand under the hull stopping each time an encroaching wave washed against him washing some of the removed sand back to its original position. Eventually he was able to create a sufficient gap and first the woman and then seven children one after the other were able to escape, each waiting for an encroaching wave to retreat before emerging.

The woman, dark haired wearing just a black bikini, perhaps in her late thirties, though it was hard to tell, sat in the sand above the tide line and quietly said, ‘thank you.’ He noticed that she averted her eyes from him as she spoke. On the other hand, all the children who were sat in a semi circle around her and looked to be aged from toddlers to maybe nine or ten, were staring open mouthed at him. Pete, suddenly realized that apart from his shoes and hat he was completely naked. He blushed, took off the baseball cap and covered his genitals, ‘sorry not used to company I forgot, sorry kids, sorry, er-’

‘Annie.’

’Michael, and up there in the cave, he gestured towards Lookout Point, ’is my-friend Trude, she’s from Holland. You’ve landed on the Island of Dead Whales, don’t think that’s the real name but we call it that, it’s nice here and safe and there’s food and water and shelter

‘Don’t worry about,’ she pointed at the strategically placed hat, we did call unannounced,′ she smiled and Michael thought it was a nice smile, in fact for an older woman he thought she was rather fit, in an Earth Mother kind of way, firm bodied and full breasted. For the first time in weeks he became aware that he was naked in front of a woman, though he quite liked the feeling he was glad he had a strategically placed hat. The children all laughed at his embarrassment and he gave them a goofy grin.There were three girls and four boys, all deeply tanned, wearing either shorts or trunks and with bleached salt encrusted tousled hair.

‘Dead whales, cool can we see them?’

It was one of the older boys, ‘sorry but they’re gone washed away in the storm, but they were big, Humpbacks I think.’

‘Were they Minke?’

’They were by the time they got washed away, pooh-ee,’he tried to make a joke but the boy just looked blank.

‘Never mind, perhaps we’ll see some live ones soon, before we’re rescued.’ He looked back to Annie and saw she was weeping.

‘My Daddy’s dead.’ It was one of the younger girls who looked to be about five and immediately the small girl next to her, possibly her sister maybe even a twin, joined in the crying. A boy who looked slightly older also began sobbing. The oldest of the children, the one who had talked about the whales, perhaps nine or ten years old said, ’both mum and dad are dead now, the four of us are orphans, he looked at the three younger children next to him, two boys and a girl who also broke into sobs of anguish.

‘Hush children I will look after all of you,’ said Annie, I’ll be Mummy to all of you now, not just to my baby’s Poppy, Lilly and Matthew but to Freddy, Aaron, James and Ruby as well. I will be a Mummy and Daddy to all of you. And we are on a lovely safe island and will soon be rescued, then we can visit your Nannys’ and Granpas’ and we can all live together as one big happy new family. And our Daddy and your Mummy and Daddy will all be looking down at us from Heaven and will keep us all safe. In fact they’ve already started doing that and made sure we arrived here on this island-′

‘The Island of Dead Whales,’ said Freddy.

‘Yes the Island of Dead Whales, where we will all have a great adventure and live with Michael and his friend Trude in their lovely magic cave.’ She looked strained and her smile was forced, but Annie had managed to calm the children.

Michael thought that Annie would make an excellent teacher, which in her life back in England before the sabbatical and two family round the world sailing adventure, she actually was.

‘Where were you heading, when you got, wrecked?’

‘We were half way through a round the world trip, six months in to the day in fact and were heading from Southern Brazil to the Cape of Good Hope when this awful raging storm capsized the boat. John, my husband, Donna and Mark, our friends, their parents’,she pointed at four of the children, the other three are mine, were washed away, their safety lines snapped and they were just gone. The children and I were below deck when the boat capsized and we seemed to get trapped in an air bubble. I don’t know how long we were buffeted in these giant waves, but eventually we fetched up here.′

’Do you know where we are? ’This island I mean. The pilot of the plane we were on that crashed, said we were somewhere between Ascension Island and St Helena.

‘I wasn’t the navigator but I believe we are much further south than that, but we lost all our means of navigation, satellites and radio link ages ago. Wang pulse.’

‘What?’

‘It’s a pulse apparently, messes up all communication systems.’

‘Oh, never heard of that before, Wang pulse, like it.’

‘It’s new, just discovered. We were steering by the stars after all the navigation went down, so I suppose we could be anywhere. I’m afraid it’s a bit off the beaten track here, we didn’t see many ships, just a couple of small fishing boats a few days back but going in the opposite direction.’

‘Hmm, we may be here a while by the sounds of it’.

‘Yes I fear so.’

‘What a terrible time you’ve all had. So kids, who wants to see the cave and meet Trude ? You can tell me all about your scary adventures when we get there.’

The children all put up there hands.

Annie and the children formed a straggling line behind Michael, whose naked backside as he led the way still caused them some mirth. They left the beach and the wreck of Jean Genie and began the ascent towards lookout Point, to the cave that was to become their new home, where they would meet Trude for the first time. Who in the long years ahead would become, for these new inhabitants of the Island of Dead Whales, and all those that were to follow, far more than just a friend.

He slapped his hand two or three times on the hull and immediately heard a sound, a weak whimpering voice from inside the shattered hull. ‘Hello is someone inside, can you hear me?’

His call was answered by a scream then more screams, high pitched, childrens. ‘Help us please God help us, it was a woman, there are children, please get us out please, please help us.’

Pete put his face to the jagged tear in the hull and peered inside the shattered cabin. As he looked a face appeared in the gap, a woman with terrified staring eyes. She saw Michael and once again screamed ‘help us please help us.’

‘OK, I’ll try to get you out, how many of you are there?’

‘Me and seven children, get us out. Please.’

Michael heard childish howls of anguish from behind the woman.

‘Just wait and I’ll try to free you, let me find something.’

He went to the other side of the upturned hull that was now being nudged by waves as the tide rose higher. The hull was below the high water line and would easily be submerged at full tide. The cabin entrance was crushed into the sand and could not be exited through the small gap between the boats structure and the beach. Michael thought that if he could create a larger space perhaps by digging away the surrounding sand he might be able to free the terrified group inside. He found a flat piece of pointed driftwood and began digging into the sand under the hull stopping each time an encroaching wave washed against him washing some of the removed sand back to its original position. Eventually he was able to create a sufficient gap and first the woman and then seven children one after the other were able to escape, each waiting for an encroaching wave to retreat before emerging.

The woman, dark haired wearing just a black bikini, perhaps in her late thirties, though it was hard to tell, sat in the sand above the tide line and quietly said, ‘thank you.’ He noticed that she averted her eyes from him as she spoke. On the other hand, all the children who were sat in a semi circle around her and looked to be aged from toddlers to maybe nine or ten, were staring open mouthed at him. Pete, suddenly realized that apart from his shoes and hat he was completely naked. He blushed, took off the baseball cap and covered his genitals, ‘sorry not used to company I forgot, sorry kids, sorry, er-’

‘Annie.’

’Michael, and up there in the cave, he gestured towards Lookout Point, ’is my-friend Trude, she’s from Holland. You’ve landed on the Island of Dead Whales, don’t think that’s the real name but we call it that, it’s nice here and safe and there’s food and water and shelter

‘Don’t worry about,’ she pointed at the strategically placed hat, we did call unannounced,′ she smiled and Michael thought it was a nice smile, in fact for an older woman he thought she was rather fit, in an Earth Mother kind of way, firm bodied and full breasted. For the first time in weeks he became aware that he was naked in front of a woman, though he quite liked the feeling he was glad he had a strategically placed hat. The children all laughed at his embarrassment and he gave them a goofy grin.There were three girls and four boys, all deeply tanned, wearing either shorts or trunks and with bleached salt encrusted tousled hair.

‘Dead whales, cool can we see them?’

It was one of the older boys, ‘sorry but they’re gone washed away in the storm, but they were big, Humpbacks I think.’

‘Were they Minke?’

’They were by the time they got washed away, pooh-ee,’he tried to make a joke but the boy just looked blank.

‘Never mind, perhaps we’ll see some live ones soon, before we’re rescued.’ He looked back to Annie and saw she was weeping.

‘My Daddy’s dead.’ It was one of the younger girls who looked to be about five and immediately the small girl next to her, possibly her sister maybe even a twin, joined in the crying. A boy who looked slightly older also began sobbing. The oldest of the children, the one who had talked about the whales, perhaps nine or ten years old said, ’both mum and dad are dead now, the four of us are orphans, he looked at the three younger children next to him, two boys and a girl who also broke into sobs of anguish.

‘Hush children I will look after all of you,’ said Annie, I’ll be Mummy to all of you now, not just to my baby’s Poppy, Lilly and Matthew but to Freddy, Aaron, James and Ruby as well. I will be a Mummy and Daddy to all of you. And we are on a lovely safe island and will soon be rescued, then we can visit your Nannys’ and Granpas’ and we can all live together as one big happy new family. And our Daddy and your Mummy and Daddy will all be looking down at us from Heaven and will keep us all safe. In fact they’ve already started doing that and made sure we arrived here on this island-′

‘The Island of Dead Whales,’ said Freddy.

‘Yes the Island of Dead Whales, where we will all have a great adventure and live with Michael and his friend Trude in their lovely magic cave.’ She looked strained and her smile was forced, but Annie had managed to calm the children.

Michael thought that Annie would make an excellent teacher, which in her life back in England before the sabbatical and two family round the world sailing adventure, she actually was.

‘Where were you heading, when you got, wrecked?’

‘We were half way through a round the world trip, six months in to the day in fact and were heading from Southern Brazil to the Cape of Good Hope when this awful raging storm capsized the boat. John, my husband, Donna and Mark, our friends, their parents’,she pointed at four of the children, the other three are mine, were washed away, their safety lines snapped and they were just gone. The children and I were below deck when the boat capsized and we seemed to get trapped in an air bubble. I don’t know how long we were buffeted in these giant waves, but eventually we fetched up here.′

’Do you know where we are? ’This island I mean. The pilot of the plane we were on that crashed, said we were somewhere between Ascension Island and St Helena.

‘I wasn’t the navigator but I believe we are much further south than that, but we lost all our means of navigation, satellites and radio link ages ago. Wang pulse.’

‘What?’

‘It’s a pulse apparently, messes up all communication systems.’

‘Oh, never heard of that before, Wang pulse, like it.’

‘It’s new, just discovered. We were steering by the stars after all the navigation went down, so I suppose we could be anywhere. I’m afraid it’s a bit off the beaten track here, we didn’t see many ships, just a couple of small fishing boats a few days back but going in the opposite direction.’

‘Hmm, we may be here a while by the sounds of it’.

‘Yes I fear so.’

‘What a terrible time you’ve all had. So kids, who wants to see the cave and meet Trude ? You can tell me all about your scary adventures when we get there.’

The children all put up there hands.

Annie and the children formed a straggling line behind Michael, whose naked backside as he led the way still caused them some mirth. They left the beach and the wreck of Jean Genie and began the ascent towards lookout Point, to the cave that was to become their new home, where they would meet Trude for the first time. Who in the long years ahead would become, for these new inhabitants of the Island of Dead Whales, and all those that were to follow, far more than just a friend.