There was this male engineer, on a cruise ship in the Caribbean
for the first time. It was wonderful, the experience
of his life. He was being waited on hand and foot. But,
it did not last. A Hurricane came up unexpectedly. The
ship went down almost instantly.
The man found himself, he knew not how, swept up on the
shore of an island. There was nothing else anywhere to
be seen. No person, no supplies, nothing. The man looked
around. There were some bananas and coconuts, but that
was it. He was desperate, and forlorn, but decided to make
the best of it. So for the next four months he ate bananas,
drank coconut juice and mostly looked to the sea mightily
for a ship to come to his rescue.
One day, as he was lying on the beach stroking his beard
and looking for a ship, he spotted movement out of the
corner of his eye. Could it be true, was it a ship? No,
from around the corner of the island came this row-boat.
In it was the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen, or
at least seen in 4 months. She was tall, tanned, and her
blond hair flowing in the sea breeze gave her an almost
ethereal quality. She spotted him also as he was waving
and yelling and screaming to get her attention.
She rowed her boat towards him. In disbelief, he asked, "Where
did you come from? How did you get here"?
She said, "I rowed from the other side of the island.
I landed on this island when my cruise ship sank"
"Amazing", he said, "I didn't know anyone
else had survived. How many of you are there? Where did
you get the row-boat? You must have been really lucky to
have a row-boat wash-up with you?"
"It is only me", she said, "and the row-boat
didn't wash up, nothing else did."
"Well then", said the man, "how did you
get the row-boat?"
"I made the row-boat out of raw material that I found
on the island", replied the woman. "The oars
were whittled from Gum tree branches, I wove the bottom
from Palm branches, and the sides and stern came from a
Eucalyptus tree"
"But, but", asked the man, "what about tools
and hardware, how did you do that?"
"Oh, no problem", replied the woman, "on
the south side of the island there is a very unusual strata
of alluvial rock exposed. I found that If I fired it to
a certain temperature in my kiln, it melted into forgeable
ductile iron. I used that for tools, and used the tools
to make the hardware. But, enough of that", she continued. "Where
do you live?" At last the man was forced to confess
that he had been sleeping on the beach.
"Well, let's row over to my place", she said.
So they both got into the row-boat and left for her side
of island. The woman easily rowed them around to a wharf
that led to the approach to her place. She tied up the
row-boat with a beautifully woven hemp rope. They walked
up a stone walk and around a Palm tree, there stood an
exquisite bungalow painted in blue and white.
"It's not much", she said, "but I call it
home. Sit down please, would you like to have a drink?"
"No", said the man, "one more coconut juice
and I will puke."
"It won't be coconut juice", the woman replied, "I
have a still, how about a Pina Colada?" Trying to
hide his continued amazement, the man accepted, and they
sat down on her couch to talk. After a while, when they
had exchanged their stories, the woman asked, "Tell
me, have you always had a beard?"
"No", the man replied, "I was clean shaven
all of my life, and even on the cruise ship"
"Well if you would like to shave, there is a man's
razor upstairs in the cabinet in the bathroom." So,
the man, no longer questioning anything, went upstairs
to the bathroom. There in the cabinet was a razor made
from a bone handle, two shells honed to a hollow ground
edge were fastened on to its end inside of a swivel mechanism.
The man shaved, showered and went back down stairs...
"You look great", said the woman, "I think
I will go up and slip into something more comfortable." So
she did. And, the man continued to sip his Pina Colada.
After a short time, the woman returned - this time wearing
fig leafs strategically positioned and smelling faintly
of gardenia.
"Tell me", she asked, "we have both been
out here for a very long time with no companionship. You
know what I mean. Have you been lonely, is there anything
that you really miss? Something that all men and women
need? Something that it would be really nice to have right
now?"
"Yes there is", the man replied, as he moved
closer to the woman while fixing a winsome gaze upon her, "Tell
me ... Do you happen to have an Internet connection?"
|