Chapter 5

"You Motherfucker!" Josie's dad screamed.

I couldn't deny it ... his wife was spread on the spread and I was buttering her bread. Mayonnaise just a drooling from two of her three holes.

I felt the slap but didn't hear the bang.

There was an interval ... not that I noticed. Josie told me later.

I had periods of light and periods of dark. Periods of dreams and nightmares, and periods and bouts of vile vomit. I'll tell you one thing for sure ... ether pukes are the worst.

When I was good enough to move I had to go to court ... where I was found guilty of alienation of affection and sentenced to time served. Josie was found innocent of murder by Reason of Self- Defense; we both missed the wailing and gnashing of teeth and the self-flagellation required of the surviving family. But we were outcast.

Outcasting is serious business.

Even though I served the time and Josie absolved of the crime, the village elders declared a murrain on us. We were a pestilence.

The village resurrected the worst of the abandoned fishing boats and we were given a week to patch, panel and caulk the hulk as best we could. What ever we could find in the other hulks or scavenge from the junkyards to replace missing gear we were allowed to install or mount in the week we were given.

Then we were painted pink ... except for a patch of green near the tailbone ... tied loosely together, installed in our craft and towed out of sight of land.

Our bounds were easily slipped, we bailed and I examined our options ... one of which was an ancient block of rust attached to a propeller.

The two cylinder make break started ... much to my surprise ... and we putt putted south ... or so we thought ... but we fetched an island.

The island exhibited a decent harbor with a coral block seawall and breakwater; a pier with a lighthouse and several swamped or beached sailing craft and not a single soul alive in any of the buildings ... nor any dead. There were gardens, swine, cattle(bovine, ovine and caprine), palms, sweet water, and a gently smoking mountain.

We took the place over.