MYSTIC ISLAND

                            A Short Story by Darwin Hageman

It had, as always, been a hectic day, when the family was leaving. Mystic, the island itself, was small, but the house was rather large, though built low, only one of the decks was built on tall wooden stilts. Danyon Basquet was actually a steward on their yacht, that was anchored off shore, waiting to receive its owner and his family, but Danyon always became a houseman when they were staying on Mystic.

The owner of the yacht was the owner of the island, itself. Even for Danyon who was born in Nassau, on New Providence, it was a rare thing to work for somebody who owned one of the 40 or so of the inhabited islands in the Bahamas. Of course, maybe it was one of those ninety-nine year ownerships, and after the ninety-nine years the ownership reverted to the Bahamas Commonwealth.

Odd, Danyon thought, there were only three of them in the family, the father the daughter and the son, but there was always so much confusion whenever the three of them arrived to stay at the house on Mystic or to leave Mystic for the yacht. But there had been a bad weather warning, and so the decision to leave had been made on the spur of the moment.

Of course, while the yacht was at anchor, the cook on the yacht also became a house servant, and that morning it was the two of them, Nelson Exsuma and himself, that had to get all the gear down to the motor launch. There was a long wooden walk through the palm trees, but there it ended, and you had to trudge through the sand to the launch, pulled up on the beach, rear, first, of course.

Ames Emery, the father and owner, called suddenly to Nelson Exsuma, who was bending over a basket packing up some kitchen pots he had brought from the yacht for their stay.

"Exsuma, I want you to go with Ted back to the yacht and bring canned foods and fresh vegetables and fruit back here to the house. And bring back several chickens and steaks."

"Here to the house, sir? But we are leaving the house. The vegetables will all spoil. And the fruit. That is why we put everything back on the yacht, sir."

"Just do as I say."

"Yes, sir."

"And Basquet..."

Danyon paused with the two suitcases he was carrying to the door. "Come into my office with me. Put those things down and come with me."

"Yes, Sir."

Nelson and Danyon looked at each other and shrugged. Nelson Exsuma hurried after Mr. Emery. "Mr. Emery, sir, does Ted know about this?"

"No, Ted knows nothing about this, explain it to him. Have him come back once you've packed it all up, the food I asked for, I mean. And you'd better come back, too. To unload the food onto the beach."

Nelson said, "Yes, sir." And turning, he said, "Danyon, help me carry that big basket with the lid to the boat."

"I have to go in and see Mr. Emery, Nelson."

Suddenly the son, Alfred stepped out of the office, smoking a cigarette. He said, "I'll help you carry the basket, Exsuma. I need to stretch my legs."

"Thank you, sir."

And Danyon went into the office. Outside the windows of the office there grew a huge bougainvillea, and the flowers on the vine were encroaching from the top and the sides over the screened windows, that were opened to let the cool breeze in. Danyon stood waiting for this man to tell him what he had to tell him. In doing so, in standing there, his feet closed together, it was as if he were in the military and standing there by having been given an order to stand there. Yes, Danyon had a great respect for men of power, since he, himself, had never had any power, especially power over his own destiny, he simply took jobs that he could get, without having any choice about the effects those jobs would have on him. And as he stood there he confined his gaze to the beautiful bougainvillea at the window. He did not look at the man who was quickly packing papers away into an attaché case.

Mr. Emery jumped up, startling Danyon.

Mr. Emery said, "Run with this attaché case to the launch, run and give it to Exsuma or Ted, before the launch goes to the yacht."

Danyon barked out, "Yes, sir, but your son is taking the launch, shouldn't I give the case to Alfred?"

"No! I don't want Alfred to have it, and what is he doing taking the launch?"

"He said he needed to stretch his legs, and he would help Exsuma take the basket to the launch."

"That idiot. Run as fast as you can and try to get this case to Exsuma or Ted, then come right back here to me."

Danyon took off. The front door was open. Danyon took the front steps in one leap. He charged along the wooden walk, under the palms. Yes, perhaps there would be a storm, for the palms were moving more than usual in the breeze. There would be a storm.

Coming up the wooden walk to the house was Lillian, the daughter. Lillian pulled off her wide brimmed hat and smiled, and she said, "Oh, Danyon, is the packing all finished?"

But Danyon leapt like a gazelle past her, and continued to run to the end of the wooden walk, then he jumped off it into the sand, and kicking off his sandals and leaving them, he sprinted over the sands to the retreating launch, and he started yelling and yelling, and waving the attaché case.

Nelson Exsuma stood up and waved. Danyon was already standing in the waves up to his hips, holding the attaché case up over his head. The launch started to turn back. Danyon heaved a sigh of relief, but then Alfred, the son stood up yelling something at Nelson, but the launch continued to turn back, and Alfred losing his balance fell into the ocean. Danyon on seeing this, slowly backed out of the waters, and stood on the beach holding the attaché case, wondering, "What on earth is going to happen?"

The launch stopped, and idled its motor, as Nelson got Alfred back into the boat, then the boat continued back to the beach. Danyon heard somebody call his name. He turned. There was Lillian standing and waving and calling to him. Danyon ignored her. He walked back into the waters to meet the boat. The boat came, and he handed the attaché case to Nelson, "Take this case to the yacht, it is his orders."

Then the trouble started. Alfred said, "I'll take the case."

Danyon yelled, "Don't give the case to Alfred, Nelson, the father said not to give it to him!"

Alfred tried to struggle with Nelson to get the case, and Danyon saw Ted, very neatly lift a leg, so that Alfred fell into the shallow waters, and the launch turned and started its journey once more back to the yacht. Alfred started wading ashore. Danyon turned. He saw that Lillian was still standing there on the wooden walkway and watching all of this, and Danyon started to run. He retrieved his sandals, put them on, turned and saw Alfred striding across the sands. Danyon leapt up onto the wooden walk to Lillian Emery.

He said, "What is it you want, Miss Emery?"

"I wanted to know if everything is packed."

"Yes, but not nearly as it should be, the storm is coming, and your father wants to see me at once. I must go."

"But..."

Danyon leapt off again, like a deer, and vanished into the shadows of the palms.

When Alfred caught up to his sister, "Where is he? Where is he? These islanders have to be taught a lesson!"

Lillian took her brother's very wet arm and said, "I think they have learned their lessons very well, Alfred, dear. When will the launch be back? This has all been planned very badly. I'm starving, and I doubt if there is anything left to eat in the house."

Danyon arrived back in the office, still wet, but, oddly, because of his long run, he was already mostly dry. "I am here, sir."

Ames Emery turned, from the bougainvillea framed window and taking the cigarette and putting it down said, "Did you make it?"

"Yes, sir. Your son and your daughter are coming back to the house. The attaché case is on board the launch."

"Sit down. You can say no to what I want you to do, but I hope you won't."

Without hesitation, Danyon remembering in a flash the poverty of his youth, in Nassau, said, "I won't say no."

"Good man, Danyon. Oh, now that you have sat down, you told me that my daughter and my son are returning to the house, would you please get up and lock the door to the office. There is a key in the lock."

Danyon got out of the chair, found the key in the lock and turned it and sat back down. The banging at the door started at once, then the testing of the lock and then they could hear Alfred yelling, but Mr. Emery went on without even hearing it.

"Danyon, I want you to stay here on the island, in this house during the storm, alone. I have had to rush this leave-taking. I need to get certain papers to the bank in Florida. So I have not been able to really lock up the house properly, and get the shutters all checked before I leave. My son and daughter and I will go at once to the beach, and when Exsuma returns with the launch, I will have Exsuma put the basket with the food supplies for you on the beach, and my children and I will leave on the launch with Ted and Exsuma at once. Is that acceptable?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Here are the only other spare keys to the house; lock the chain on your belt."

"Yes, sir."

"Now, would you go in there, to the bathroom, and pretend you have to go to the bathroom, as I get my children to the beach."

Danyon got up and smiled, taking the keys and locking the chain to the belt of his shorts, and he said, "But, sir, I do have to go to the bathroom."

This time it was Mr. Emery's turn to smile. But then his face became serious again, and picking up a cell phone from the desk, he said, "You can contact me on the yacht with this phone, or I can contact you."

"I don't know the number, sir."

"I will phone you the number, the moment we get to the yacht."

Danyon entered the bathroom and used its services. Danyon wondered why Mr. Emery could not give him the phone number while they were in the office. Danyon heard a lot of shouting from Alfred, from the office, but suddenly it became silent. Danyon opened the bathroom door and stepped out; he went to the window. He watched the three of them walk away. He was alone, in the house now. From the window, draped with the bougainvillea, Danyon saw that Lillian and Alfred as well as Mr. Emery were all carrying their own luggage, which was unusual. Danyon realized why Mr. Emery had had him get the attaché case early to the yacht. Mr. Emery knew they would all have their hands full in leaving the house. Still, he wondered why Mr. Emery had not asked him to help.

Stepping gingerly out of the office, Danyon thought and said aloud, "Perhaps it is some secret phone number, that Mr. Emery did not want anybody else to know."

Without thinking, he went out the front door to the porch and started slowly along the wooden walk, what a very different trip it was than when he had the attaché case. He came out of the shadows of the palm trees, just in time to see the launch, creating a tide of foam behind it, approach the yacht. There was no need to wave, they were too far away. There was no one on the island now, but he, himself. He took off his shirt and his shorts and his underpants and his sandals, and he walked slowly past the big basket of food left on the sand, down to the water's edge, and he walked in and went swimming. It would be hard work for him to get all of the food in that basket up to the house, he needed a swim, first.

The water was clear and soft. A school of small silver fish darted away as he dived down; he swam towards them, and they flashed away in several different directions, then reforming, the school seemed to disappear in the blue of the water. Danyon surfaced, rolled onto his back and floated and watched a few seagulls gliding against the vacant blue sky.

Danyon swam to shore and let the gentle waves cast him up onto the sand. He dressed again, the clothing sticking to his wet body. He looked out at the ocean, but the yacht was gone. All that was there was the island of Eleuthra, like a long arm stretched out, blocking a view of the horizon. Danyon went to the huge wicker basket and lifted the lid.

It would be routine work, part of the job. Danyon had brought many supplies in and had taken many supplies out. He went back to the house and found four large shopping bags. It was just like going shopping at the supermarket, except the supermarket was all in one big wicker basket sitting on the sand. It took him several trips, and a couple of hours, since he had to unload the bags each time, in order to go back for more. He had, finally, to drag the big basket up onto the wooden walk and back to the house.

When his 'shopping spree' was all finished, he spent another hour putting the fresh vegetables and fruit into the refrigerator, careful to leave the bananas on a tray on top. They would not keep very well, anyway. Maybe if he cut a couple of them in slices, and stored them in a closed container. Then he stored all the canned goods back on the empty cupboard shelves. The chicken and meats he put into the long, narrow freezer chest and dragged the big wicker basket into the storage/laundry room.

"There." He said it aloud. Danyon, back in the kitchen looked at himself in a mirror over the kitchen table. He stuck his tongue out at himself. Putting his fists on his hips, he said also aloud, "Danyon Basquet..." (the rest of the statement was not said aloud) "...all of this was routine, stuff you would do on the job, any ol' day. But you have several days until the storm passes and they return. You have got to turn this time into a vacation, into a holiday."

Danyon realized at once that he did not know how to do this, not when he was actually on the job. On the job, he was used to having someone tell him what to do next, at all times. But he was determined to try to turn this time he had into a vacation.

Without thinking about it any longer, he went directly to Mr. Emery's office and sat down at his desk. He turned on the computer. Lillian Emery, who was studying something, at some university in Florida, had tried to teach him something about computers, but either she was not a very good teacher or he was a poor student.

Danyon moved the mouse on its pad, until the arrow pointed to an icon called Encarta Encyclopedia, and he clicked the mouse twice. When the next screen appeared, he clicked on Encyclopedia articles.

What appeared next was all about Italy, with a picture of The Dolomites Alps. Danyon wondered why Mr. Emery was reading about Italy? Danyon exited back to the first screen and tried several other icons, but he could not find any information about the local weather. He would have to depend on the radio for that, he concluded.

But dipping into the encyclopedia gave him an idea, about how to spend his vacation. He could read the articles. Danyon loved to read and rarely got the time to do so.

Then, thinking of reading, he got up and looked over the shelves in the office. They were all legal books about real estate. That sounded terribly dull. Leaving the office, he went through the rest of the house, especially the rooms he had never been in.

He knew that in the small room he shared, when at the house, with Nelson, off the kitchen and laundry room, there was nothing, and what was there Nelson would have taken back to the yacht with him.

First there was Mr. Emery's room. A couple of magazines on real estate. It was a very Spartan room: bed lamp and writing table. The next room was Lillian's. It smelled of perfume. In one of the drawers of the bureau, he found two white leather diaries: the two books had the word Diary in gold printed into the binding. Danyon knew better than to read a person's diary.

Alfred's room, well, it was very attractive. There were beautiful large posters, on the walls, reproductions of paintings: flowers in vases and sailing boats, but nothing to read, except some porno magazines, and Danyon knew all about those, since he early on worked in a magazine and tobacco shop, in Nassau. Well. it was either going to be the encyclopedia on the computer of Lillian's diary.

In the main room, there was a large stereo unit. There must be a radio. He found the radio switch. A voice said, "And now the Divertimento number 15, by Mozart." Danyon loved Mozart, but he switched off the radio. He just wanted to hear about the weather. Well, in any case, there was no use in bolting all the shutters over the windows until the storm started.

Standing there in the main room - staring, in thought, at the stereo unit - the knock at the door made his heart leap and his heart began thumping, and he slowly turned. God, it startled him so. There was no one else on the island. It couldn't be a breeze, or a palm hitting against the roof, the palms were not that close to the house. Someone was actually at the door. It was rare, when Danyon was on a job, to ever hesitate. And he did not know why he was hesitating at that moment, unless it was simply the shock that knocking gave him, after he, over the hours since the yacht had gone had become convinced that he was alone and going to be alone, once the family had left.

Danyon went to the door and opened it widely. A man and a woman stood there, smiling.

The woman said, "Oh, good, we thought you might be in the bathtub or sleeping. Hi, you remember us, Harold and Francis Merryweather. I know, with this storm coming, our name being Merryweather seems like a big joke. Mr. Basquet is it? We always called you Danyon on the yacht, you look bewildered, but we had been to Ames' yacht several times, Mr. Emery to you."

"Oh, yes, yes, of course, I do recognize you, do come in," and Danyon stepped aside to let them in. "Please, sit down, won't you? I am alone here and if I looked startled, that is the reason. The family have all left on the yacht that you just spoke of."

Sinking onto the comfortable sofa, the woman went on with: "Oh, we saw the yacht leave; we watched it leave with our binoculars from our porch. We have a house on Eleuthra, and from the porch we have a perfect view of Mystic. But we didn't just drop in for that reason."

Danyon, feeling more relaxed, said, "Would you like a drink?"

Harold said, "Yep, tha'd be nice."

Danyon said, using a phrase that he had heard Nelson use on the yacht: "Would you like me to play bartender, or would you like something from the kitchen?"

"You just play bartender all you want, and do sit down and join us. We'll have vodka martini's on the dry edge of the edge." And he laughed.

Danyon prepared the martini shaker and then poured three drinks; after all, he was in a position to be hospitable in the true host's absence. As he brought the tray to the coffee table and put it down, he explained, "There was quite a rush this morning, so they could get off on schedule."

"Yes," she said, picking up her drink, "Ames phoned us at the house, from the yacht, to ask us if we were sure we did not want to join them, but they are heading for Florida, and we didn't want to go that far. We're going right now, as a matter of fact, in our motor boat to New Providence to wait out the storm. Ames told us you were here, had been left here, to take care of the place, but Harry and I felt that was unfair, and thought we would drop in and invite you to come with us."

"That is very kind, but I can not do that. I have given my word to Mr. Emery, and I must stay, as an employee of his, and as a man that he trusts."

"Yum, delicious drink. Yes, we know all that, but you see we know exactly the truth about why Ames left you here."

"Now, Francis..." her husband warned, as he sipped his drink.

"I know, I know, Harry. But Ames is like a man who steps out of the pages of Forbes' Magazine, one hundred percent business man, and he treats his kids the same way, the way he does a business deal, meaning he has to have all the cards in his hand, all the time. Consequently, those two kids are spoiled brats. But that isn't the reason I am saying that, this kind of interference is no joke, and that is why Ella left him for another man, because he does interfere." Then she turned back to Danyon. "You are probably laughing inside that head of yours thinking I'm interfering, too. But no, if you want to stay, you stay. And Harry, here, thinks it's not going to be much of a storm anyway. No, I'm really doing this for Ella, who still is my best friend."

Harry said, "We know, we know, Francis, but don't forget Ames is just about my best friend, and it puts me in a difficult position."

"You men stick together, and you should, Harry, but don't forget we women do, too, and Lillian, the girl, is already a woman, and I am not comfortable playing ostrich, with my head in the sand, and there is a lot of sand around here. You see, Danyon, Lillian has an enormous crush on you, and her father knows that. So he is taking her back to Florida to dump her there, and he has stashed you away here so you can not see her. He's hoping Lillian will get over her crush in time, in Florida, at her school, and that she'll meet somebody else. Aren't you from Nassau?"

"Yes, I am, I was born there."

"Well, that's why I thought it would be nice to offer you the invitation. It won't interfere with Ames' plot, but why should you be stuck out here, when we are going there. Anyway, Ames will come back and pick you up, and business will go on as usual."

Danyon was blushing. "But I know nothing about Lillian's feelings for me."

"That is beside the point. Oh, all you men are blind as ducks. I know that ducks are not really blind, but ducks sure can act like it when they can't tell a wooden decoy from the real thing. I know that you are of mixed blood. Was it an island mother and a French father?"

"Yes."

"Well, you certainly inherited your father's complexion, because I can see you are blushing. Well, fix us another drink and we'll be on our way, now that I have put my cards on the table, which are also Ella's cards about her daughter. Ella claims that Ames is just an interfering old fool. And he is using the storm as an excuse. Could be?"

Danyon put the empty glasses back on the tray and carried the tray to the bar. He said, "If what you say is true, I feel I am on Mr. Emery's side."

"What?" the woman belted out.

"Yes, he could so easily have simply fired me. So, because I like my job and want my job, I am glad he chose his plan."

"So, you don't love Lillian?"

"It never entered my mind. She has been teaching me about computers, that is about the only time that I saw her."

"Oh, you men, it is not important that you saw her, what is important is that she saw you."

Danyon brought the drinks back. "Mrs. Merryweather, I am of mixed blood, and I know it is said that a man's brain can not control his heart, but to me Lillian - Miss Emery - is a member of the family, Mr. Emery's family. And because I am of mixed blood, may or may not be important. But I am an employee, that is enough to make it clear that I send money home to my mother, and the job is what is important to me."

She said, "I gotcha, I gotcha. And I am glad, to be honest. Lillian would only be in more trouble, and she has gotten herself already into trouble with her father."

Harold Merryweather said, "Francis, we have a long trip ahead, even though the storm will not hit until late tonight, we have got to get going." He turned to Danyon. "We have our bags in the motorboat, we are going directly from here to New Providence, so we will bid you adieu."

Mrs. Merryweather smiled, and then she paused.

Harold Merryweather said, "Come on, Francis, we've got to go."

"Yes, I know, I know." Francis turned to Danyon Basquet, "I am going to try to explain the truth to a total stranger, I admit it. During this storm, you being left here behind, if the roof fell in and hit you on the head and you were killed, and if I had not come to offer the option for you to come with us, knowing what I know of what Ames Emery is doing, I would not only have carried the guilt to my grave, but I would have carried it beyond the grave. If I had not acted, I would have been so guilt-ridden. Now, thanks to you, and to my husband, whatever happens, I know that I did the best I could with a bad situation. Bye for now."

Francis Merryweather pulled opened the door and walked out onto the porch, and down the steps, and along the wooden walk under the palms, as her husband trotted behind her. Danyon stepped out onto the porch, and took the same steps out onto the wooden walkway and slowly followed. He did not want them to know he was following them, he did not want them to know, that he was so interested in this woman who knew about the mix-breeds. She had cared. That was enough of a beginning, enough of a caring. Danyon paused under the palms, until he saw them help each other down onto the sand. Then he moved forward to the end of the walk, and he watched them get into their motorboat. Then he pulled off his sandals and also hopped down onto the sand and walked forward on the beach to the tide.

Mr. Merryweather was driving the launch, but Mrs. Merryweather stood up, and Danyon waved, with both of his long arms, and she stood up and jumped up and down, waving both of her arms.

Danyon understood her need not to feel guilt, and he stood there, now in a strong wind, until he saw their boat curve around the end of Eleuthra. Then he went back to find his sandals. The wind was getting stronger and stronger, and he knew it was time to lock all the windows and all the shutters, and he found his sandals and walked towards the house along the wooden walk.

As the wind whipped up the fronds of the palms, Danyon became calmer. That woman, Mrs. Merryweather said that Lillian had a crush on him. As he slowly walked under the twisting trees, he never faltered, he knew he would go to the diaries, in Lillian's drawer and read them.

Danyon closed the door to the house and locked it. He went to Lillian's bedroom and took out one of the beautiful leather books. The one he picked up had, in her handwriting, on the first page, the word Diary. But the second book, when he opened it, had the written word Diary 2. Danyon took Diary 2 with him, closing the bureau drawer, and sat down in the chair by the window, which looked out on the dunes, and the ocean, driving foam up on the shore. He flipped the pages of the diary through to the back. Every page was written on. So, that explained it, Danyon thought, she did leave these diaries behind, but she took Diary 3 with her, since she had finished the second one, and on the last page in the book there was a lipstick print of Lillian's lips.

Danyon started to read:

"I love him, with a pure love. Of course, Daddy would not approve. I can say nothing, to Daddy, but I can say nothing to Danyon, either, but, yes, I try to communicate with my eyes. His beautiful eyes only reflect the sea and the sky, he never seems to read my eyes. Oh, he is tall, and so slender, all flexible tenderness, and his long fingers, the nails always pruned and scrubbed, in fact, he smells at time of soap, he washes so much, in his cabin.

June 12.

It is bad news. Alfred, my brother was caught stealing money from Daddy's wallet. There was a terrible scene. Danyon stood stiff and stared from the doorway, and when Daddy saw him there, for he had asked him to serve the lunch, he barked at Danyon to get out. My heart broke for Danyon, I wanted to rush to him and hold him in my arms, to comfort him, and say he was innocent. Alfred was sent to his cabin. Daddy said, if that ever happened again, he would alter his will, and cut off the funds for Alfred's education. We ate lunch in silence, Daddy and me. I stole some food and took the food to Al's cabin. Danyon, in seeing the wrapped food in my hand, as he walked back to clean up the lunch things, walked by me without a word. He is so loyal. So understanding.

June 12 That night.

Finally, Danyon and I went swimming before dinner, as we usually do, he mimics the dolphins so well, diving down and then leaping out of the water, with that grin, that the dolphins have. I love Danyon so much, and I am learning to discipline myself and never to show it. It would be difficult for Danyon. I am going to go to bed now, Dear Diary, I dream sometimes that Danyon and I are naked. I have seen that bent thing in his bathing suit, he is always so modest about it. My brother flaunts his, actually, pulls down his bathing trunks in public to show it off, but not Danyon. So modest. But, I dream of seeing it, and of having him, with that long lean naked body gently, which, is his manner, stretching out on top of my naked body, and in my dream, he lays his face in between my breasts, that smooth, clean face of his, and he kisses there, between my breasts. I am crying now, Dear Diary, I can not go on writing. But someday, Danyon's bent thing will get big and straight and enter me, I just know it.

Danyon closed the diary. His eyes were fogged from holding back his own tears, having read someone writing about him, nothing like that seemed ever possible to him. Struggling, he got up from the chair. He wanted to go on reading the whole diary, but he felt it was indecent. Mrs. Merryweather was right, she had not lied or exaggerated. He liked Mrs. Merryweather even more because she had told the truth about something that he knew nothing about, and in fact, which was always true of Danyon Basquet, he always felt he knew nothing about life, at all, especially about women, and especially about what were called 'white women'.

He went into the front room. It was as if he were deaf to the beating of the wind and the rain. He opened the door, and closing it tightly behind him, had every intention of locking the outside shutters. But instead he walked out. A palm frond blew against him, as it fell, torn off, from the tree. He walked unsteadily, not only from the wind and pounding rain, tears were running down his face. He had never been loved by a woman at all, say nothing of a white woman. He had to send his check to his mother in Nassau. "Maybe Mr. Emery, from the yacht will mail it," he thought.

Danyon fell off the end of the wooden walk onto the sand. He buried his face in the sand, as if the sand would dry the tears away, and the embarrassment away.

Somebody loved him, and he could not return the love. Now, his face was covered in sand, and his nostrils were filled with sand, and the wind-driven tide was already up, and washing over him. He ran and fell into the water, to wash the sand off.

He struggled back to the wooden walk. He gripped the tree trunks to keep his steps in the wind and the rain. He got to the porch and he locked the shutters. But it was then that the last of the shutters, swung out and hit him in the face, and he fell backwards, hitting the back of his head on the porch railing, and then a great wave hit Mystic, and the chairs and the table, that he had forgotten to take inside, were washed off the porch and down the stairs, and were smashed against the trunks of the palms, but Danyon, stunned, by hitting the back of his head, clung to the porch railings. In his semi-conscious condition, he remembered the diary, but his last thought, as he drifted into unconsciousness, was that he was supposed to cook the vegetables that were in the refrigerator for his supper.

In the complete darkness and chaos, he found himself staggering to his feet, and struggling along the railing towards the front door, torrents of rain rushed along the porch, beating at him. He got inside and locked the door. In a dazed state he got into the kitchen, and bit into a banana, skin and all, then spit out the skin, and swallowed some banana. Back in the living room, he fell onto the sofa and fell into a painful sleep.

It seemed like an eternity of sleep, to him, when he finally woke up.

Danyon was very confused. The unshuttered small windows at the back were bathed in sunlight. He got up and opened the door. Everything was a shambles, but the sky was clear. The sunporch at the end of the house, which had been built up on stilts had collapsed, and had been pulled away from the house.

He walked down the wooden walk. The storm, in the form of a great black monster-like shape, was over Eleuthra. It was as if the monster-like shape were devouring the island of Eleuthra, in big gulps.

But Mystic was safe. The sunporch was gone, but the house was intact. Danyon felt such a sense of relief, so much so that he grinned from ear to ear. His head ached but he was sure he could find some aspirins, in one of the bathrooms.

It was then he saw something that gripped him with the steely grip of terror. There was the body of a man lying face-down on the sand, a body that must have washed up, out of the sea.

This time Danyon did not jump down off the wooden walk, he took the stairs at the end, and walked slowly down the beach. He hesitated, as he stared at the body, at the body lying up ahead. His knees were weak; actually, his legs were trembling. He felt he might be sick and vomit. Danyon had never seen a dead man before. He walked slowly forward. By this time he had lost one of his sandals. He leaned down over the body and touched it. It was warm, meaning it was not cold and clammy like a dead fish. He rolled the man over. He was alive. In a rush, Danyon went back and forth, tossing handfuls of ocean water over the man's sand covered face. The man sputtered and spit and choked. Then Danyon lifted him up off the sand and immersed his whole body in the waves, to wash the sand off, then he started back to the stairs to the wooden walkway. As he carried this body in his arms towards the house, he realized how light the man was, he weighed as much as a tall boy, a black boy. His clothes were full of water, but he only wore torn-off jeans, a T-shirt and tennis shoes. Danyon did not look down at the face, because there were palm fronds all over the wooden walkway and he might trip and drop the stranger.

As he approached the house, with the smashed porch furniture in the front yard, Danyon realized that this was real. Such fantasies as Lillian's diary, after all, were all a fantasy. Saving this man was a reality. And realities seemed to fit Danyon's thought patterns more comfortably than fantasy.

Squatting down, to hold the man on his spread thighs, he reached up and opened the front door, then lifting the man again in his arms, he walked directly to the room he and Nelson shared, and again squatting down, opened the door, and lifting the man again, he put him on his bed. He ran into the small bath, and got two big fluffy towels. He pulled the torn jeans and shirt off the man, and simply tugged off the tennis shoes, not attempting to untie them. And with the towels rubbed and rubbed him dry to get the circulation going. After all, as a steward he knew how to dry somebody who got a chill in swimming in the ocean. Then he covered the man with a blanket. The man was stirring, but had not yet opened his eyes.

Danyon then ran into the kitchen; he peeled and cut up a banana and put it in a bowl with milk. He went to the freezer and took out a chicken, filled a pan with water, and put the frozen chicken and the pan on the stove to heat. Then he took the bowl of banana, with a spoon, in to the man on the bed, and mashing up the banana, with the spoon, he got some in between the small, chapped lips, the man did not choke, he swallowed. Oh, Danyon felt so glad that he swallowed. He waited and repeated the feeding.

The stranger was tall and lean, but strongly built. But it was at that moment, when he was feeding him, that he noticed his teeth. He was young. He simply had a mature face. And his hands were the hands of a workman. Danyon left the spoon in the bowl in his right hand and he lifted one of the hands. Yes, they were callused.

At that moment, with such a jolting movement, the man started up, his eyes wide with horror, and he cried out, "Where is he?"

"Where is who?" Danyon stammered out.

"My Pa! He'll kill me! He will kill me! I've lost the boat, the row boat!"

Putting the bowl of milk and banana by the lamp on the table, Danyon put his hands on the young man's shoulders, saying, "You've got to rest, man. I'll go out and look for the boat on the beach. You stay here."

"No, no! I'll come with you! What beach? Where am I?"

"You are on Mystic. You must have come from Eleuthra, if you were in a row boat, and the storm washed you up here."

"Yes, my Pa is a carpenter on Eleuthra. He repairs the houses." Suddenly, in his weakened condition, he slumped back onto the pillow. The young man groaned out, "I ran away. He hit me. He is very strong, when he is angry. He hit me again, and I ran away and took the boat. I didn't care about the storm."

Danyon got up. "I'd better go now. There is a bathroom in there. I'll come right back and tell you if I found something."

The young man seemed to drift back into sleep. There was no way Danyon could lock the sick man in, so he simply turned off the fire under the frozen chicken, which had thawed by that time, ready for making a stew out of it. Danyon poured the old water off, then covering the chicken in fresh water, but not turning on the fire, he headed out onto the wooden walkway.

He walked all long the beach, and then back. He could see Eleuthra now, the storm having passed off it. Danyon stopped. Then he saw it. The row boat. He at first could not believe his eyes; it was bobbing in the water at the eastern end of the island. He pulled off his clothes and ran out into the water and began swimming. There were many palm fronds in the water and kelp, brought to the surface by the storm. When he got to the boat, he knew he could never get up into it, it might overturn. So he got to the back and began kicking as hard as he could, pushing the boat towards shore. He spent much of his time, hanging onto the back of the boat to catch his breath and rest. Then he would start again. Finally, he got the boat into the tide, and getting his footing, grabbed the front and began tugging the boat up onto the beach. It was not going to work. When the tide came in, the boat would float out again.

He ran up into the trees, where the storm had littered the groves with fallen palm fronds. He dragged as many as he could out onto the beach, soaked each frond in the water, to make them slippery, and then laid them on the beach at the front of the boat and going back into the water, he managed to push the boat, as it slid on the fronds, up out of the water. Repeating this routine over and over, he finally got the rowboat up, safely under the trees, out of the range of the tide. Exhausted, he trudged back to his shorts and shirt and went back up to the house. He was thinking about the cell phone Mr. Emery had left. If he called the operator, he might, using the name of Merryweather, be able to contact Eleuthra, but he was sure they would not be back to Eleuthra from Nassau, after the storm, that soon. But it was a plan. The oars were missing from the row boat, so there was no way they could paddle or use some planks of wood, and make it to Eleuthra, they would have to wait for the yacht, but he would try the phone.

Danyon opened the bedroom door as quietly as he could, but the young man sat up at once, his eyes hollow and staring.

"I found the boat."

"You found it?"

"I found a boat, this one is called Rose."

"That's it! That's her! That's Rose!" He sank back on the pillows.

"I got the boat safe, up under the trees. She's lost her oars, the boat is fine. I have to do some cookin', or the both of us are gonna starve. I am gonna draw you a hot tub in the bathroom, and you soak in the tub, then you dry yourself and get yourself back in bed. What is your name?"

The young man took a deep breath and he said, "John, John James."

Danyon drew the tub, and meanwhile went to the kitchen, and salting the water in the chicken, put the pot on low heat. Then he went back and checked the tub, got the young man up and into the tub.

"Now you soak. I am right there in the kitchen, just call, I'll hear ya if ya need anything. Otherwise, there are the towels, and then get back into bed."

Danyon, in the kitchen again, washed and chopped collard greens, put them in water to heat, cut up some ham and added the ham to the water, turning that low, also. Danyon's shoulders were sagging. He went to the bar in the front room and poured himself some brandy and sipped it. Oh, that felt good in his stomach. The ocean water had been warm, but it had eventually given him a chill. The brandy helped.

It was then he heard the phone. Rushing into the office he found the phone on the desk and answered it, fumbling with the buttons.

"This is the Emery residence."

It was Mr. Emery. As clearly as he could, Danyon told the story of the young man named John James. Mr. Emery said, "Danyon, we are on the way back to Mystic."

Danyon mentioned Mr. and Mrs. Merryweather, and the possibility of calling them.

Mr. Emery, said on the phone, "I want you to contact no one, until my return. Now I must sign off. We will be back in a day's time." Danyon said good-bye and pushing more buttons, put the cell phone down.

Danyon knew that was not right, what Mr. Emery said, was not right, about contacting Eleuthra.

Danyon, picking up the phone, got the operator, and eventually he got the Merryweather number, and jotted it down. He called at once. But there was no answer.

He had lied to Mr. Emery. But he simply would not tell him about the call to the Merryweather house. He went back into the bathroom. The young man had fallen asleep in the tub. Danyon got him up, dried him, and got him back into bed. Then he cut some carrots and onion, and peeled some potatoes and put it all into the water with the stewing chicken. Then he stretched out the sofa, but he got up. He could not go to sleep, the chicken stew would burn. He put on his wristwatch, the chicken would be done in an hour. It would be four o'clock by that time. So, to stay awake, he walked down to the beach.

It was quiet. Danyon was not a philosophical man, but he felt such peace. He had saved somebody's life. He was now glad he had been on the island, of course, if he had gone with the Merryweathers to Nassau - but he never would have done that. He had walked along the beach to check on the boat, and he started back in time to save the chicken. When he served the food - the greens had cooked a bit too long - he took a tray into the bedroom and woke up the young man. Putting the tray on the top of the bureau, he got John James propped up on pillows and started to feed him. But John James was so hungry he began gobbling the food on his own.

"Stop," Danyon said, "I'm hungry, too, and I think you can get up and come to the table."

"I don't have any clothes."

"Your clothes are drying on the porch; go get'um while I put your food on the table and dish myself up some."

They sat there in silence both eating seriously.

John James said, "Can I go and see the boat?"

"Sure. You want some more juice?"

"No. I mean, what if somebody else finds it?"

"There's nobody on this island but me. There is nobody gonna bother your boat."

"Only you?"

"I work for the man who owns this. He and his family left on their yacht because of the storm and left me behind to take care of the place. Good thing I did, too, huh?"

John smiled shyly and nodded.

"And until they come back on the yacht, we have to wait, because I don't have a boat, and you don't have any oars, and anyway I couldn't go with you, I have to stay here, and you couldn't get all that way alone, in a row boat."

"You mean we're stuck here?"

"Yes, except...since your Pa works on Eleuthra, do you know people called Merryweather?"

"Very well. Fran and Harry. My father and I fixed some steps on their stairs, and repainted the house."

"I met them once; they came here just before the storm and asked me if I wanted to come with them to Nassau to wait out the storm. They knew that Mr. Emery had left me here, and they were worried. I have their phone number, but when I phoned today, thinking they might be able to tell your father you were all right, there was no answer."

"Tell them the boat is safe, that's all my Pa will care about."

"You know that is not true, John."

"You don't know my Pa. He loves fishing and he loves that boat."

Danyon realized there was no use arguing about it. "Well, you go look at the boat. I'm gonna stretch out on the sofa and take a nice long nap. Getting the boat out of the water pooped me. Follow the wooden walk, then go right along the beach. The boat is under the palm trees, near the end of the island."

John turned in the doorway, and looked back at Danyon. "It was when you told me about Harry and Fran, that I knew I should tell you why my Pa hit me. Pa wanted me to go with the Merryweathers in their motorboat to Nassau. I did not want to go and leave my Pa there. That is when he hit me."

And John turned and walked out of the kitchen, and then he walked out the front door.
Danyon got up and stood at the front door to the house and watched John walk off. John walked a bit wobbly at first. Then Danyon lay down on the sofa; and the minute he closed his eyes, he went to sleep. When he woke it was dark, and he felt something warm and heavy laying on his right arm. He reached out and felt a sweaty brow and curly head. James must have fallen asleep on the floor beside the sofa. It moved Danyon, it moved him in a strange way. It made him almost helpless to rise and wake the other.

But he had to turn on the lights, clean up the kitchen, and thaw some more food for tomorrow. Also, he needed a bath, or a shower, at least. He simply eased his arm out from under the head, letting the head slip down onto the sofa, and he crawled down to the sofa's end and crawled over the sofa arm. He found the light switch; James still did not stir.

Danyon cleaned up the kitchen and put two steaks out to thaw for the next day. Then he drew himself a hot tub and got in it. Oh, it felt so good, his muscles were stiff and ached. The door opened, and James said, "Sorry."

Danyon called, "Come on in."

"I have to piss."

"Go ahead. I really like this big tub, being tall. On the yacht, we can only shower. So I look forward to coming here, 'cause of this tub. You were in it, and you fell asleep, so I pulled you out and put you back to bed."

All James said, was: "I'm sorry, but I'm so hungry again."

Danyon laughed, "So am I. Amazing isn't it? I'll make some ham sandwiches and how about fried potatoes?"

"Yeah! that sounds really fine. I can peel potatoes."

"How about three, they're in a basket under the sink"

"How about four?"

Danyon laughed again, then he immersed his head under the water and rose up into the sitting position. "Four is fine. I'll chop an onion and fry it in with the tatters."

Happily, John hurried off, then he returned and flushed the toilet and hurried off again. Danyon got out of the tub and dried and dressed. He also brushed his teeth. Then he hesitated. He knew he felt an obligation to the father of John James, to try to call again the Merryweathers' to get the message to the father, that his son was alive and well. And then Danyon realized he was thinking of his French father, who left his mother and went back to France, oh, he left her some money, but Danyon was one of the other 'things' that Monsieur Basquet left with his mother. Danyon wondered if he might be exaggerating, by putting too much feeling to the father of John James, a man who had hit his son and driven him to sea, to run away. Perhaps, Danyon was trying without knowing it, to make the father kind, and good, and understanding, because he knew nothing of his own father.

Danyon shaved in the bathroom, then he went out into the kitchen. James had peeled and cut up the potatoes. Danyon chopped an onion, and the pan with corn oil in it, sizzled, as the potatoes and the onion went in it. Together they cut big wedges of brown bread from a loaf, and put a slab of cold ham between the slices, and even as they sat down to eat, John said, "I saw the boat. I don't know how to say what I thought then, or how to say it now, but it means I am so ignorant. Did you, as I saw it, or did the ocean, put all of those palm branches on the beach, that laid there as I stood over them, studying the interweaving of the patterns, to get the boat up out of the ocean?"

Danyon, eating, only said, "I had seen it done before. It was not my invention, in order to get a fishing boat up out of the waves, and that time they had to climb the palms to get the branches and lay them out."

"Thank you for saving the boat."

"Your welcome, but I think the sea saved the boat. And saved you, too."

There was that theme again, that to save John, in Danyon's mind, was more important than any boat.

Danyon got up, leaving the pots and dishes in the sink, and he said, "The other rooms in the house belong to the family, I will sleep in the bed next to you, which belongs to a very nice man name of Nelson. In the night, if you need anything, just wake me. Use the bathroom whenever you need to. Do you want to brush your teeth?"

Danyon went through the house, and along the porch, yes, all the shutters were now tightly locked. The cooking stove was turned off, and all the lights were turned off, and when he went into the small bedroom, John was already in his bed. Danyon went to the bathroom, saw the brush and the toothpaste on the edge of the basin and grinned. Then even turning off that light, which left the whole house in darkness, he pulled back the blanket and sheet and crawled into Nelson's bed and flopped his head down on the pillow, and soon once more he went to sleep, in that sort of slumber that comes from stress and weariness.

When Danyon woke up, he knew he had not awakened by his own will or nature. Something had awakened him. It was so silent. John James was still asleep in the other bed. And then distantly he heard the ringing.

Danyon leapt out of bed. He ran to the office, and pushing buttons on the phone said, "Yes, hello? The Emery residence?"

"Oh, Mr. Basquet, it is Francis Merryweather, the women who..."

"Yes, yes. I know, I..."

"Mr. Basquet, we traveled all day yesterday and all night, taking turns in the motor boat, because we heard the storm had hit Eleuthra badly, to get back to see if our house was all right, it fared much better than a lot of them. But there is a boy missing from the island, and a row boat, did you, or have you...?"

"Yes, yes, yes. He is here and so is his boat. He washed up on Mystic."

Mrs. Merryweather started to sob, and her husband came on the line. "Oh, thank God, Danyon. Juan, he is all right. He is like a son to Fran and me. We never had children, and he grew up with us. We will come at once to get him. His father is nearly suicidal with worry. We will tell him the good news at once. We will be right there, in our boat."

Danyon said good-bye, and pushed more buttons and put down the phone. What wonderful sincere people, he thought. When he turned, John stood in the doorway. Danyon smiled brightly.

"It was the Merryweathers. They call you Juan, do they, instead of John?"

"Yes...yes."

"They are coming to get you."

"Oh."

"Let's go make a quick breakfast, shall we?"

Danyon went to the door. James did not move to let him pass, he just stood there and he said, "It has been like a vacation, being here with you."

"Oh, that is so strange, man, you saying that. When they told me I would have to stay here alone, and that the yacht would go without me, I said to myself, when I was alone, Danyon, you should turn these few days into a vacation, not just make it only work. And John - Juan - once you joined me, it has been a vacation. You see, finding you on the beach taught me a big lesson, it taught me the difference between fantasy and reality, and believe me, finding you and seeing you be okay, was reality."

John looked down at the floor, and then up at Danyon and he said, "I know the difference between fantasy and reality. When you are fishing, the difference between fantasy and reality is the difference between a big fish and a small fish."

Danyon laughed and pushing him out of the way hurried in and dressed and went to the kitchen.

When Danyon served the scrambled eggs and toast and coffee, John stood there in the torn off jeans and the T-shirt and tennis shoes he had been wearing when Danyon had found him on the beach.

They sat down and ate in silence.

They walked together down the wooden walk to the beach. They watched as the motor boat came closer and closer, and another form of reality became more and more real.

Harry Merryweather drove the motor boat harshly up into the sand. He leapt out into the water and ran to them, as Fran stood in the motorboat, wringing her hands and then waving. John James' father was not in the boat.

After Harry had hugged and hugged John, he said to Danyon, "His father was so frantic when he found out Juan was alive, we had to force him to take a sedative and go to bed. We'd better rush Juan back, to keep his old Pa from going crazy. We'll come back to tow the row boat to Eleuthra."

Harry dragged John down the steps and they stumbled across the beach. Fran leapt into the water, finally, which was too deep, and she had to swim to shore. And she had to be carried back into the boat. They all got in and the motor started, and went into reverse, Danyon stood there watching, as the boat turned heading back to Eleuthra.

Fran Merryweather waved, but John just sat in the boat staring back at Mystic.

Because John did not wave, Danyon just stood there watching, also.

Danyon turned. He finally found his missing sandal, and he walked carefully, not hurrying, back towards the house carrying the sandal.

Danyon was thinking of his father, Normand Basquet, and he was thinking of the father of Lillian and Alfred: Ames Emery, and then he was thinking of Pa James, the father of John - Juan - James.

And as he reached the house, he said to himself, "How different fathers are."

He went up the steps, noticing that he had not swept the sand off the porch, after the storm, and he went into the house and closed the door.

THE END

Copyright1999 by Darwin Hageman

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