Chapter 10

Kathy's 13th birthday approached as 18 March 1953 loomed big on the calendar they had devised for that year. She was particularly careful to remember such dates by circling them in red crayon (they had accumulated a goodly amount of writing materials from the luggage and other stores taken from the ship). She had also circled Nathan's birthday on 3 August when he would be 16.

Nathan was a strapping 5' 10" tall and pubic hair had sprouted of which he was proud since he figured that was a big indicator of adulthood. Kathy was a blond (like her brother) 5' 4" with only some peach fuzz over her pubic bone. Her growth spurt had centered around her breasts with were like small half oranges punctuated by those wonderfully big nipples.

Ever since he had asked her if he should kiss them to make them better, she had asked him to continue the practice, especially when they were making love in the missionary position. Of course, they knew nothing about what the positions were called. They had come up with their own terms for those.

The missionary position became 'regular way;' with her on top being 'me on top.' They had had to change the 'from behind' to 'animal way' when they realized there were various ways to do that especially when they 'spooned' with him behind her. Animal Way was now when she was on her knees. This was definitely a case of 'where there's a will, there's a way.' They were now self home-schooled in everything.

Kathy and Nathan were really not cognizant of menstruation. Their mother had been careful about leaving any sanitary napkins around, so the idea that she would have menses was not part of their sex education. Sex was carefree and done without the worry of pregnancy. It continued to be their favorite pastime. Nathan's penis had filled out and gotten longer, but Kathy's sex had easily adjusted to the subtle changes as they occurred. One might say that their genitals had grown up together since they were so frequently joined in tandem.

All of this is not to say that their castaway situation was one idyllic sexual romp. It was not since Nathan spent a great deal of time devising new ways to fish (especially spear fishing), adding to or repairing their hut, learning about the instruments they had acquired from the ship, and figuring out what they could and could not eat from nature. It was simply that there were no impediments to doing as they pleased, when they pleased.

Kathy seldom left his side no matter what they did. She would not have been able to say why, but it resided in her innate fear of losing him when he would be gone for any length of time. If he incurred an injury or got sick (seldom), she was inwardly upset that he might be taken from her. They knew about death.

Kathy no longer thought much about the power of her vagina over Nathan's penis. It had simply become too common a thing for him to be tumescent in her presence. She expected it, and would have become concerned if his penis did not erect when she got near it. She knew it had to be that way in order to enter her. She had no idea that their frequent copulations would have been considered unnatural in society. Intercourse at the drop of a hat (so to speak) was for her a natural part of life on the island.

So life continued unabated in this fashion occasionally punctuated by a severe storm during which they would take cover in the cave in case their hut should blow away. After several big blows, Nathan had to devise a new way to tie the bamboo poles forming the walls together so they didn't come apart under pressure. Kathy was always his helper and companion, often supplying unsolicited advice. The constant repairs and revisions were actual improvements over their original efforts.

They had long before begun more detailed exploration of their island by rowing their inflatable life raft up and down the lagoon which encircled the island. They had hiked to the highest point on the island and were able to see to the edges of it for 360°. It was probably two plus square miles in size not counting the barrier reef beyond. Nothing could be seen on the horizon to indicate another island nearby, even by the appearance of the fair weather clouds which inevitably rose above lush islands during the hot days.

They had long since stopped surveying that same horizon with their binoculars in hopes of seeing a ship. If one had passed by, they would not have seen it. They seldom talked about their parents any more. Nathan was becoming proud of his ability to spear fish once he figured out that he needed a barb on the end in order to retain what he had speared.

The matches they had recovered from the ship had long ago been used up. Luckily, they had found a tool with a flint which had apparently been used for BBQs on board the vessel. They had gotten very good at building a fire. They kept a supply of dried brush and larger wood covered with a sail tarpaulin so that fire to cook was always possible. They had, in effect, become a real life Tarzan and Jane couple.

They were very careful with the writing materials. Kathy was meticulous in keeping and annotating her homemade calendars. When she was a few days from her 13th birthday, there was no hesitation on her part to remind her brother that she would soon be a teenager like he was. Even if her breasts had not already developed into petite, pretty, pert, uplifted beauties, her entry into the teen years would confirm her new status for sure.

Nathan was even taken by her enthusiasm about becoming a teenager. He referred to the recipe book from the ship's galley on how to bake a cake. They had long ago run out of flour, and he was experimenting with pounding breadfruit into a powder which was no easy task. Even then, he would have to figure out how to build an oven.

He experimented by digging a hole in the sand, lining it with rocks which he heated in a fire, placing the concoction in a covered pan, and covering it all up again. Nothing seemed to work well until he built the fire in the hole, added a few rocks to hold the pan off the burning embers and then building a heavy leaf roof over his oven ditch except to let the smoke escape through a small hole.

The day before her 13th birthday, Kathy began to bleed. They had been doing "their morning intercourse" when she saw Nathan's penis all bloody after he had withdrawn. At first, the concern was for him since it appeared he must have cut himself. While they washed it off, Nathan saw the real source as droplets of blood streamed down the inside of Kathy's leg.

Now it was Nathan's turn to become concerned. He had her lie down, and kept asking her if she was in pain, "did it hurt?" He presumed he had done something to her insides while they were 'doing it.' He was afraid, however, to voice that as the reason. He would not let her exert herself and took care of her all day. He tore strips from a sheet to sop up the blood and try to stanch the bleeding. It really wasn't that much, but the fact that blood was coming out at all was frightening.

Kathy kept saying that she wasn't hurting, but the continued appearance of blood defied any logic that she was OK. An external cut, a sprain, or even a headache was something they could deal with. This appeared to be an internal injury and from the apparent amount of blood was, indeed, serious. Nathan was more upset than he had ever been in his life. He knew people could not survive if they lost a lot of blood. It just looked like a lot, of course.

"I feel OK, Nathan," she kept saying.

But on continuous questioning to find the answer, Kathy admitted that she had felt some stomach cramps the day before. She said they had disappeared and other than the fact that she was bleeding, she felt fine now. In fact, she was hungry.

Nathan hovered over his sister, not letting her do anything without his assistance. For the first time in years, he was looking at, tending, washing her vagina, and changing the rags between her legs without getting an erection. He was genuinely upset and concerned that he would lose his sister, his companion, his girlfriend. The thought was so horrible that he had to stow it away from his consciousness to avoid a sense of panic.

He, nevertheless, proceeded to 'bake' the birthday cake. It did not turn out well which upset him even further, but hid his feelings not wanting to upset his 'sick' sister. On the third day, any blood flow subsided to a trickle. All the while, Kathy was saying that she didn't hurt which made Nathan think something really bad would happen like she would just stop breathing. But, by the fourth day the bleeding stopped entirely.

"It's OK now, Nathan. I'm not bleeding anymore."

Nevertheless, her brother continued to be solicitous of her, not letting her do anything. Perhaps, he thought, the internal cut or whatever it was, had healed. He certainly didn't want it to start again by her over exerting herself. Kathy, for her part, was impressed by how her brother had been treating her like a queen. Unbeknownst to her, he had even cried one night after she had fallen asleep as those recessed thoughts of her dying assailed him.

Before a week was out, Kathy was as active, happy, and willing as ever. It had been a veritable scare they did not want to repeat. Time does wonderful things to the mind, and they were able to put it behind them. Still, Nathan had been frightened enough to be ever aware of his sister's well being. Thinking that his now larger penis might have inflicted harm, he was extremely gentle when they resumed their daily sexual activities.

About a month later, Kathy noticed the stomach cramps again, and when they were followed by the bleeding the two were not as startled, but still concerned.

"Nathan, the same thing is happening like before. I'm bleeding again."

He had washed the blood out of the saved torn strips from the sheet and brought them to his sister to once again soak up the bleeding. They had learned to conserve any and everything never knowing when something would be of use. By the time this had happened three times, the two figured out that this was something that was going to occur on a regular basis. Since her only discomfort was the onset of stomach cramps the day before it started, they decided it was a 'girl thing' she had to endure as part of life.

Kathy had even begun noting the event on her homemade calendar. Eventually, they figured out that it occurred about every 28 days. It was simply referred to as 'the bleeding' time. But, as Nathan's 16th birthday approached, Kathy was surprised when she had no bleeding on the anticipated dates.

"Nathan, I was s'posed to get 'the bleeding' by now, and it hasn't happened. Do ya s'pose that won't happen anymore an' was just a temporary thing for girls growin' up?"

"I donno, Kathy, but I hope so. It could be that you had somethin' wrong an' it just repaired itself. The body does that ya know. I can't imagine a girl havin' to do that all her life. It doesn't seem normal." It was only then that he recalled one of his friends had said once that girls 'go on or ride the rag.' He hadn't pursued that conversation since his imagination hadn't been able to conjure why a girl would have to or want to ride a rag. He had forgotten about that when it first occurred with his sister. Those sheet strips used to soak up the blood were certainly rags.

There were a lot of things he had not understood when he was younger and listened to guys talk about girls. He even remembered that a guy had said he knew a girl who had 'been knocked up.' At the time, the words made no sense to him so the friend had to explain what they meant. He had led a fairly sheltered life as far as sexual knowledge was concerned (except for street talk), but the more he thought about those long ago conversations, the more he started to understand their implications in terms of their present situation.

One day, he was admiring his sister's developing beauty and could not keep from making a remark: "Kathy, you sure are a good lookin' girl. I think you are even prettier than Mommy."

"Are you just sayin' that 'cause I'm your sister, or 'cause I'm your girlfriend, Nathan?" she asked with a beaming smile.

"I'm sayin' it 'cause you're just pretty. I couldn't have a prettier sister or girlfriend. When I look at you, I just think I'm so lucky we have each other. I wouldn't want anyone else to be my girlfriend." It truly did not occur to him that he could have no other.

Other than the conversation they once had about her developing breasts, they had not talked much about attractiveness of their physical attributes. Mostly, it was a matter of just being close, hugging, kissing, and, of course, the inevitable sexual union. None of these things had seemed unnatural nor unusual after it became routine. Even if they had had any knowledge about the fierce prohibitions against incest, their decision to be boyfriend/girlfriend simply dissolved anything objectionable about that part of their relationship.

Of course, they knew that brothers and sisters did not become boyfriend/girlfriend much less get married, but circumstances had allowed that to happen, especially in Kathy's case. It is not uncommon for a young girl to have a crush on an older brother in any society, day or age. Isolated at such a young age on a tropical island for years on end made it inevitable that the siblings would react as they had. In their case, it was just sooner rather than later.

Ever since she had ceased to bleed, they had assumed she was over that aspect of growing up. If anything, they had spent even more time amusing themselves in sexual play after that. As she got older, Kathy's libido appeared to be as great as her brother's. As a 16 year old, he had never ceased to desire his sister in any place, position, or time. Either one might wake up in the middle of the night to find the other's mouth on their sex trying to gently wake the other up to satisfy an urgent craving.

While admiring his sister's body, Nathan went on to praise her curves: "Ya know how you thought you didn't have any boobies? Well, you certainly got 'em now. Yeah, they seem to be gettin' bigger by the day. You've even got a little tummy now, like Mommy's."

"I think I'm just gettin' fat."

When Kathy really started to show a few months later, they both finally had to acknowledge that she wasn't just getting fat.

"Kathy, I guess you really aren't a little girl anymore--uh not like I mean you ever were, ya know. It's just that, well, I think you're old enough now to have a baby, an' I think you're gonna have one."

At first, Kathy merely looked wide-eyed at her brother as if she didn't understand a word he was saying. Then she replied in a serious tone, "Gosh, that means I'm gonna be a mommy, doesn't it? Oh, my gosh, I'm gonna be a mommy?"

"Yeah, Kathy, I think you are, but I don't really know anything. It's just that I know girls swell up when they're gonna have a baby, and then have it in nine months. I learned that from Daddy who said he was talkin' 'bout the birds and the bees, ' but he was really talkin' 'bout people." The long ago conversation with his friend about 'getting knocked up' had been on Nathan's mind as well.

"When do ya think it'll come out?"

"I donno, only that it happens nine months after the sperm gets together with the egg inside you."

"I wonder when that happened? Gosh, that means your sperm went up inside me and we made a baby. I don't know anything about babies, Nathan. I guess that means you're gonna be a daddy so you gotta tell me what ta do."

"Well, I donno, Kathy. I never did anything with babies. I hardly remember you when you were a baby. You helped your friend baby sit her baby brother. You know more than I do."

"Uh, Nathan, if we keep doin' it, does that mean that you keep doin' that to my eggs? Do we maybe hafta stop until the baby comes out so we don't just keep makin' more?"

"I don't think you can have more than one at a time, but I donno that either."

"I know a girl who had twin sisters, so it must be possible, Nathan."

"Yeah, but that's different. Otherwise, it would mean gettin' a baby on top of gettin' a baby, an' they all need nine months, so I only think you got just one in there." He would have to think more about that one.

Nathan wasn't sure how that sounded when his sister said he would be a daddy and would know what to do. At first he was feeling really grown up when she said that. Then he realized he knew nothing, and the thought scared him. The idea of her having a baby still seemed like a long time off even if they didn't know when his sperm joined with her egg. The future for young people was always ions away. Being stranded on an island had not changed that outlook. If anything, it made time stand still.

Actually, with more knowledge about the birth process and responsibilities involved, they would have been really frightened about that future. Ignorance is bliss as they say. Some would say that it is the Lord's way of sparing humans from undue stress. The two, especially Nathan, were very good at anticipating future needs in terms of their life on the island, but in this case they would proceed in bliss.

"So ya think it's OK to keep doin' it? It won't make any difference?"

"I don't think so, but I donno. It just doesn't sound right that if you got a baby in you that you can get another one on top of it. I think it has ta be one at a time."

"If I'm old enough ta have a baby, then that must really mean I'm grown up besides bein' a teenager, right, Nathan?"