Chapter 3

It took over two hours for the two kids to make it back to their beach camp. Kathy could not avoid looking at his bare buttocks as they hiked. On occasion, when they were going up an incline, she was presented good views of his scrotum which would swing free as he lifted a leg over a rock or fallen branch. From her angle, that was pretty much all she saw and began to understand why some people called them 'balls.' She had heard that more than once by her friend, Nancy, who was baby sitting her baby brother and pointed out his anatomy to Kathy when changing his diapers.

They were still elated over having found fresh water. They talked of returning to the pool tomorrow with the empty water canteens. They wished they had larger containers, but had to deal with what was available. Nathan wondered aloud if they could make some utensils out of the coconut shells. There was just so little they could do without real tools. The knife was of limited use so far and was used primarily to open the food tins. It had a can opener on one end.

They hung their damp clothes on their selected "clothesline" bush to finish drying and went about selecting items to eat for supper. They could now drink all the water they wanted, so both took advantage of this without worrying about further conservation of the precious liquid. While eating, Nathan presented his sister with a potential problem.

"You know Kathy, if we keep wearing those same clothes and keep washing them on rocks like we did today, they're gonna wear out soon. We need to be wearing clothes when we get rescued, but we won't have any if we're here for any length of time." He waited for her reaction, but was surprised by her answer.

"Nathan, do ya really think we'll be here that long? Oh gosh, that's awful. What are we gonna do?" She had that crestfallen look again.

Realizing his comment had revealed his own pessimism about their chances, he quickly corrected himself saying, "Oh no Kathy. I didn't mean it that way. But, we don't wanna be wearing tattered rags when they show up. It's just that we don't have any soap and we hafta rub them on those rocks like the natives do to get 'em clean and they'll wear out fast. I jus' meant we ought'a think about just goin' naked since it's just you and me until they come. We should save the clothes for that. But, heck, they could be here tomorrow... it was just a thought."

Kathy was smiling again, but agreed that he was making sense. They would fold them up and keep them where they could get at them fast. "OK Nathan; yeah, that's a good idea. Actually, it's a lot more comfortable without clothes now that we been doin' it."

Neither child was thinking about other than being frugal and utilitarian at that moment. Unlike adults, they did not consider the implications of going nude on a continuous basis as something that might be provocative. It was simply the prudent thing to do. It made sense.

They were extremely tired and decided to retire early so they could get an earlier start the next morning. When they lay down for the night, there was little hesitation about hugging each other. Whereas they had had no problem holding on to each other the previous night with their clothes on, it somehow didn't seem right to have their bare skin in contact like that. Kathy was still his little sister whom he vowed to protect, and he figured such contact would cause the inevitable rise down below.

It was true that she was more innocent that her brother, but he had awakened her curiosity with all that had happened so far. She was greatful to her big brother for taking care of her, and being close to him was like a security blanket. He was like a teacher, a parent she no longer had. But, thoughts of her parents brought tears to her eyes and she began to feel guilty for not having thought of them for most of the day.

Despite how much she had experienced in just a couple of days, she could not keep from reverting to her little girl status as she began to sob once again. Nathan pulled her into his arms and asked, "Kathy, what's the matter? Are you OK? Are you feeling sick?"

"No, Nathan, it's just that I miss Mommy and Daddy and am scared we won't ever seen them again. Oh, Nathan, what are we gonna do even if we get rescued? What's to become of us?"

"Now don't worry Kathy, they were probably picked up by some boat while we drifted to this island. Someone's bound to look for us once they find Mommy and Daddy." Even though he hoped they had survived, in his young mind he doubted they were still alive. Her sobbing was contagious and he fought off the temptation to cry with her. His fears about being in skin contact disappeared as they hugged each other for consolation.

For the moment, at least, the close contact of their bare skin did not result in his getting another erection, but the longer they stayed like that, the more he became aware of how nice it felt. He truly loved his little sister and would do anything to keep her safe and sound. He realized so much resided in his doing the right things. Their playing around with each other's body certainly did not fall into that category he surmised. Once again, he resolved to be a loving brother and not an abuser. He was almost three years older than she. He knew how to behave even though he was only 12... well, almost 13.

They finally fell into a deep slumber lulled by their consoling embrace during which they once again acknowledged their dependence upon each other. In childlike bravado, they vowed they would never be apart and take care of each other forever. Nathan woke up during the night only to find his penis had erected against his sister's bare skin. He was so tired that he only briefly thought about his body's early betrayal of his secret vow to behave. When Kathy moved her body even closer, he was so tired he just let it be as he fell back asleep. It did feel so good.

When Nathan awoke in the early morning, he realized his penis was erect and against his sister. He decided the best thing was get up and walk around for a while until it went down. As he walked toward the water, he focused his eyes since he thought he was seeing a mirage. Right there, just beyond the entrance to their lagoon, in front of him, maybe a couple hundred yards out, was their vessel tipped on its side. There was no sign of life, but his eyes could not deny that he was looking at the sailing vessel they had abandoned only two days ago.

His heart went into triple beats as he began to run out into the water until he could no longer touch bottom and then began to swim toward the ship. Its draft was enough for the keel to lie on the bottom even though he had to swim. It was resting against some rocks at the narrow entrance to their lagoon. His mind was going like a trip hammer with all sorts of thoughts about what he might find. He finally reached the vessel and climbed aboard without difficulty since it was practically on its side with the railing within reach. All was quiet except for the squeaking of yardarms which still had the canvas sails rolled up intact. Occasionally, he could hear the ship's bell tinkle as the waves of the incoming tide lifted the aft end of the ship off the bottom at wavelength intervals.

With great trepidation, he worked his way down the ladder of the main hatch. He was relieved not to see any bodies, but became more and more apprehensive since it was apparent no one was on board--dead or alive. Even though the ship was rolled at an acute angle, he could move around the vessel with relative ease. Everything seemed to be intact below decks. He opened the doors to a few staterooms and found them dry unlike the main passageway. Even though items were strewn about, it was obvious that the ship contained precious items they could use ashore. Nathan was delirious with joy about the condition of everything even though he was disappointed about finding no live human beings.

It was a quandary since he did not know that much about vessels, but the good Lord had brought him and his sister the necessities they needed to survive if he could only get them ashore. But, Nathan was knowledgeable beyond his years having been taught by his father to observe even the minor things in life in order to know how things work.

That's how Nathan knew about the Sun, east, west and even the stars at night. His father was an amateur astronomer and he had gotten many lessons on the sky. He really knew nothing about the sea. Yes, he had learned about tides in school, and in only two days had observed that there were two tides a day on this island. Somehow, he thought that he had only limited time before the vessel might be picked up by the tide and deposited back at sea thereby losing all the valuable goods on board.

Time was limited in Nathan's mind. He needed Kathy's help and they had to figure out how to get these things ashore before they were lost to the sea. Without making any further investigations of the ship, he made his way back topside and dove over the side swimming as fast as he could back to the shore. As tired as he was, he ran for all he was worth up the beach while shouting KATHY, KATHY. When he got to the raft lean-to, she lurched upright sensing something bad had happened. He stopped in front of her with his chest heaving and obviously out of breath. By this time, she was totally non-plussed and frightened that something was terribly wrong. Then she saw the wide smile spread across his face.

As best he could, he explained what he had discovered and that speed was essential except he wasn't sure how they could get all of the things they needed off the vessel before it might drift back out to sea. At that point, he was forever indebted to his little sister when she said, "Nathan, we already got a boat. We're sleeping under it, an' we got oars too."

He lifted her up and not only hugged her but gave her a big kiss on the lips. In short order they were dragging their boat down to the shore line where once in the water, they figured out how to attach the oars and with each one handling an oar, they made their way out to the vessel. Kathy's energy was fueled from her brother's enthusiastic response to her suggestion and the kiss he had given her. She felt like a big person who was contributing her share. In her life she could not have felt happier and in her mind was more energized than ever to continue being her brother's helper and companion. She was proud of how they worked as a team.

When they reached the ship, Nathan climbed aboard and tossed down a line which he told her to tie on the line of the raft. He had learned knots from his father who had been a sailor and later a naval aviator. In turn, he had taught Kathy how to tie various knots. Since that had been some time ago, he simply told her to use a square knot in tying off the raft. She came up onto the vessel after securing the line.

There was so much to take ashore that they had to pick and choose. Nathan alerted Kathy to the possibility that the vessel might drift back to sea so they should concentrate on only the most desired items first. Since the raft was built to hold eight people, they figured they could take at least 1000 lbs. of loot on each trip unless bulk took precedence.

Kathy was just younger, not dumber than Nathan, but she left it up to him to figure out such things as weight, items to take on each trip, but certainly understood his insistence that they needed to drag the items just above the berm line rather than all the way up to their "camp site." She thought his urging to work as fast as possible seemed a bit unnecessary after a while, but did not make any objections except to say that she was getting awfully tired after their third trip. Nevertheless, she noticed what he was considering most important with each trip ashore. For instance, he took line, matches, pots and pans, tools, buckets, and, of course, food on the first trips.