Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. Stephenie Meyer is the author and owner of the Twilight Saga. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
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A/N: To everyone who reviewed with suggestions, thank you – I will be using many of your ideas in future chapters, so look out for them.
Thanks to Anna and Julia for your unsigned reviews.
I've spent the past two days researching Polynesia (and painting my bedroom) finding lots of lovely information. Some of it, I had no idea about! See the A/N at the end if you're interested in a bit of history.
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Chapter 8 – Pig or Pork?
"Boys, breakfast is ready," yelled Mom.
My brothers and I jumped off the bamboo scaffolding surrounding the house we were building. It had been four weeks since we moved to the new camp site and three weeks since we'd moved into the tiny sleeping hut. It was holding up well in the rain, only springing a couple of leaks, which we fixed a soon as the rain stopped.
Emmett had adjusted the elevation of the house when he couldn't find enough driftwood logs of the right size and quality to support the weight of the structure. The house would still be elevated; it had to be in case the area flooded during the wet season, but the first level was now set three feet off the ground instead of five. If the camp site ever flooded, the house would be safe from damage unless the water rose higher than three feet.
The construction of the new house was hard work and our desire to make some significant progress had kept us close to camp instead of exploring more of the island. That was about to change today, when most of us headed off on a whole day exploration in search of edible plants and hunting opportunities to supplement our monotonous diet of fish, yams and jungle salad. Our planned trek was also a good opportunity to map some of the island and mark our trails. Mom and Dad decided to stay behind to act as sentries for the camp.
I think they also wanted some time alone together.
Over the past week, Mom and Bella had established a garden bed with Jasper's help and planted the month-old seedlings. More seedlings were being nurtured in a simple, tiered seed starter that Jasper made for Mom using split bamboo as troughs attached to the outside edge of two A frame ladders. He'd also constructed a fence with a gate, in a cris-crossing diamond pattern using the bamboo off-cuts from our hut. It would keep any animals away from the fledgling plants.
Emmett put his burgeoning plumbing skills to good use and constructed a watering spout for the garden that I hooked up to one of the bilge pump hoses so Mom could pump water directly from the stream.
The spout was ingenious in its simplicity.
It was constructed of two upright bamboo poles and a ridge pole, forming an upside down U. A crude bamboo tap projected downwards at a 45 degree angle from the ridge pole, filling a sort of bamboo bucket below it that moved in a see-saw motion as it filled or emptied. He sealed the bottom of the narrow bucket and cut the pouring end on the diagonal.
When Em saw how well it worked, he constructed similar spouts for the cooking area and built the promised bamboo shower stall, making Rosalie – not to mention the rest of us – ecstatic! The only difference was the inclusion of a shower arm and shower rose from one of Victory's bathrooms.
Bella weaved a couple of palm frond bath mats. She was getting really good at it as well, surpassing her teacher. Alice, not to be outdone by her husband, her brothers in-law and her friend, constructed a bamboo towel rack in the shape of two upside down Ts with three cross beams at different levels. We used a plastic bucket as a basin, and screwed a mirror to a tree, creating a crude outdoor bathroom.
"Come on, Edward! Stop daydreaming," yelled Jasper. "I want to leave in thirty minutes."
I waved in acknowledgment and hurried over to the dining area, sitting on a folding camp chair next to Bella at the makeshift table. It was one of Victory's cabin doors resting on two stools from the galley kitchen.
"Would you like some fruit salad, Edward?" Bella asked, offering me the bowl of brightly colored tropical fruits cut into even sized chunks. There was a jug of thick, coconut cream custard, sweetened with a little palm sugar, and thickened with some wild arrowroot we'd found under one of the palm trees.
"Thank you, Bella," I replied softly, taking the bowl from her. Mom poured me a cup of black tea from a large teapot. The coffee was all gone and the tea leaves were nearly depleted as well.
Bella smiled shyly, looking at me from beneath her lashes.
I'd been getting to know her a lot these past weeks. I really liked her, a lot. It wasn't just lust either, like it had been when she was unavailable and with that prick Mike. I still had the odd Bella fantasy when no one was looking, but there was much more to my interest now. Ever since she nearly died, I've looked at her differently. Before this fateful cruise, she was just another babe I wanted to sample – friend of Alice's or not!
From a practical perspective, if we were marooned on this island for a long time, she was the only female available to me, and I was the only man available to her. I don't mean to imply that we'd only be together for convenience, but a lack of any other options left us little choice if either of us wanted a partner to share our lives with.
"What time do you plan to return to camp, Jasper?" asked Dad, as he sipped from his tea mug.
"No later than five pm. I want to be back before it's dark."
Dad nodded. "I packed a small first aid kit for you. It contains everything you'll need for minor injuries, plus a tourniquet and a splint for more serious injuries."
"Thanks, Dad," Jasper said, taking the kit from him. "We're planning on heading in a northerly direction toward the mountain. We'll walk for four hours, rest for one hour and then turn around, following our trail back to camp."
"I want you all to be careful," he implored seriously. "Don't take any dangerous chances."
"We won't," assured Emmett, "But, Dad, we need to explore the island and find some game for meat – I'm sick of fish! I also want to know why seem to be alone here."
I'd wondered the same thing; so had Jasper. I don't think it had really occurred to Mom or the girls how unusual it was for a tropical island, lushly vegetated with a ready supply of fresh water, to be completely devoid of habitation like this Polynesian island appeared to be.
"You know, I don't believe it ever actually registered to me how strange that is," Mom said, obviously startled by her lack of perception. "I simply accepted it."
The girls nodded in agreement.
"Where exactly are we, Edward?" asked Bella. "Approximately, I mean."
"We're in the Polynesian region of the north pacific. The hurricane blew us around a lot, but as best as I can figure it, we're about 1000 nautical miles south of Hawaii, in, or very near to the Northern Line Islands."
"They're American aren't they?" asked Alice hopefully.
"There are eleven islands, but only three of them are US territories; the rest belong to Kiribati. I think we're fairly close to Kingman Reef though."
"That means we'll be rescued soon, yes?" Alice asked excitedly. "If the US owns this Kingman Reef won't they come and check on it?"
Alice was reaching. I felt bad for her.
"Alice, Kingman Reef is exactly what the name implies. It's a coral reef, which is fully submerged at every high tide. It's a maritime hazard – ships give it a wide berth if they don't want to get torn up on the reef. The US declared it a national wildlife refuge in 2001 and it's closed to the public. No one comes here, Ally," I told her.
"Then who the heck owns this island?" she almost shrieked, clearly disappointed, "And why aren't they checking on it?"
Jasper interjected. "Ally, if the US owned this island, there would have been resorts all over it with a thriving community and its own economy. The island probably belongs to Kiribati, and for some reason they've left it alone."
"So no one's coming?" she asked dejectedly.
"It's unlikely," her husband confirmed.
"Come on, Ally, let's explore and see if we can solve the mystery of this island," I said, getting up from the table after finishing the delicious breakfast.
"What shall we call this island?" said Mom. "If nobody cares about it, let's make it truly our own and give it a name."
"An excellent idea," agreed Dad. "How about Isabella Island since she's the one who found it?"
I had been calling it Bella's Island privately, but I liked Isabella Island better.
"I think that's perfect," I seconded, smiling at a furiously blushing Isabella.
Mom was beaming and the rest of the family was nodding, even Alice who had cheered up a little.
"That's settled then. I hereby pronounce this island will hereafter be known as Isabella Island," Dad decreed ceremoniously. "Charge your tea mugs! This deserves a toast."
We all laughed and complied, clinking our mugs against the others to make it official.
"Let's go!" boomed Emmett. "Isabella Island waits to be explored."
Mom and Dad waved us off with a packed lunch of cooked shrimp, mango slices and waterlily greens wrapped in banana leaves, some bananas and bottles of water.
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The jungle was thick, slowing us down as we picked out way through the undergrowth. We hadn't seen any animals other than some green iguanas and tree snakes, a few frogs and a flock of brightly colored parrots. The birds were pretty, but they wouldn't supply much in the way of meat on their small frames. Emmett would eat a dozen of them on his own. He was six foot four inches in his bare feet with massive shoulders. He was huge, and he had an appetite to match it.
Our sighting of the green iguana was significant. Its presence established that this island had been inhabited at some point, because iguanas were native to South America. Iguanas on this island meant they were imported. They may have been here for years, decades or centuries, but someone had brought them here and let them go wild, of that I was certain. Jasper pointed to it as we passed, raising his eyebrows.
The jungle was dark – the bright light and hot sun smothered by the thick rainforest canopy of banyan figs with their vine like tentacles. The forest was thick with rainforest vegetation, including countless species of palms and endless culms of bamboo, much of it mature. We took note of its position for harvesting. The humidity in the forest was so stifling, we were soon perspiring profusely.
We'd been walking for about two hours in a northerly direction, when we began to see a scattering of tropical fruit trees, other than those we had be subsisting on for the past five weeks. We easily identified guava as well as breadfruit, stopping to pick some to accompany our lunch.
"Let's stop on the way back, and fill our bags with the fruit," suggested Alice, who was sitting on Jasper's shoulders pulling plump guava fruit from the branches of the tall tree.
"I'm all for that," agreed Rosalie, who because she was so tall, rose up on her tippy-toes and simply plucked a ripe fruit like she was Eve in the Garden of Eden. "I'm fed up with bananas and papaya."
Bella chuckled as she picked three breadfruit from the smaller tree. "At least we have fruit," she argued. "We could have been marooned on an island that only had palm trees and bamboo, because heaven knows, there are plenty of those!"
"Well, Darlin', a lack of fruit was only a vague possibility," explained Jasper. "The ancient Polynesians introduced fruit species to the region from all over the pacific, including from South America. There are fruits and nuts growing all over the pacific islands that are not indigenous to the region, and yet here they are," he said indicating the breadfruit and guava.
"What other fruits might we find?" Bella asked him. She liked to help Mom cook, and she seemed eager to vary the dishes they prepared almost on a daily basis.
"We might find some Carambola, or star fruit as it's commonly known. I'm also hoping we might find Tahitian Lime, which would be a good source of vitamin C."
"It's also good for salad dressing!" Bella replied, eagerly looking around for the elusive tree.
"What's that red fruit over there that's shaped like a pear but is red like an apple?" she described, pointing to a forty foot tree laden with fruit.
We all looked in the direction Bella indicated. Jasper got an excited look on his face and squatted down to lift Alice off his shoulders. "Hop off, Darlin', I want to take a closer look."
He strode over to the tall tree and picked a fruit from a lower branch, inspecting it closely. He pulled a knife from his belt and sliced the fruit in half vertically revealing the center core.
"Is it safe to eat?" Alice said.
"I think so," he said as he sniffed it and touched his tongue to the exposed flesh.
Alice gasped. "Jasper! What if that's poisonous? You could get sick!" she admonished him.
He grinned and took a huge bite, munching happily.
"Not possible, Ally. This is a Malay apple. The ancient Polynesians imported them from SE Asia over a millenia ago. It's one of the original canoe fruits and it grows all over Polynesia. I've heard it called mountain apple. Come taste it; it's delicious."
"Oh, I've heard of those," Bella said, taking the fruit Jasper passed her, "but I've never had one."
"What does it taste like?" Rosalie asked, looking at her own apple suspiciously.
"It's rather like a common apple – the flesh is crunchy and juicy with a mild sweet flavor. Try it," he encouraged.
We all bit into our apples. Its taste and texture was just as Jasper described. I'd never take an apple for granted again. It was scrumptious to my denied taste buds, and exactly what my body had been craving. I pocketed the seed for Mom, as we hadn't seen any trees near our camp.
"I wouldn't bother, Edward. The reason we haven't seen this tree at home is because they don't like to grow too near to the coast. If we want the fruit, we're gonna have to trek into the forest to collect it. We'd better pick some greener ones to take back so they'll have a longer shelf life while they ripen. We'll take some ripe ones as well."
"We'd better get moving, Jasper," Emmett suggested. "We've been in this fruit grove for over half an hour."
Jasper marked the position of the grove on his map sketch and we continued north, happily eating the crunchy fruit.
We found the coveted lime tree, as well as the star fruit tree about a mile and a half further north, near the base of the island's central mountain. The trees were heavy with ripe fruit and the ground was littered with fruit already harvested by nature.
We decided to break there for lunch and explore the area before making the return trip to our camp, or 'home' as Jasper referred to it. I suppose it was home now. The area at the base of the mountain was not as densely vegetated as the forest we'd walked through, giving us an unobstructed view of the mountain.
Jasper pulled his wrapped lunch, his notebook and a pencil from his bag to update the map he was drawing with our current compass position. He made notes on the plants and fruits we'd seen as well as their locations. He asked me how far I thought we'd walked today so he could compare it to his own calculations and approximate the size of the island.
"I estimate we've walked about five miles. My study of the island as we approached on Victory suggests that it's wider than it is longer. The mountain range runs the width of the island with this particular mountain being the highest at around 300 feet. Do you think it's still volcanic?"
"I haven't seen any evidence of recent volcanic activity, but it was almost certainly volcanic at some point. If you look to the left of the mountain top, you can see the what looks like the rim of a volcanic cone."
"Well, at some point, we're gonna have to find a way around the mountain to explore the other side of the island. A coastal route on foot will take too long, but we might be able to take one of the dinghies," I told him.
Alice and Bella interrupted our conversation to tell us they were going to explore a little. We told them not to go too far and to keep us in sight as we'd be returning to camp in another hour. Rosalie and Emmett wandered off into the trees for a bit of private time.
The rustling sound of their clothes being removed and adjusted was thunderous in the humid silence of the jungle clearing.
"Oh, Emmett," we heard Rose moan.
"Oh, yeah, Baby, touch me there. Oh, Rosie, I've missed this," crooned Emmett.
Jasper and I grinned at each other and wandered away to give them a little more privacy, resuming our previous conversation as we did so.
"Jasper, any exploration overland or by boat is going to have to wait until April at least. The wet season has already started. It's the start of September now; by the end of December we're gonna be hip deep in torrential rain, mud and mosquitoes. We've already had a taste of what's to come. We need to get the house finished or the next six months is going to be hellish, especially for Mom and the girls," I warned him.
"So we find another way of getting to the other side of the island?"
"You and I can plan some more day trips, perhaps even an overnight one before the wet season progresses too much, but the next dry season will be the best time for exploration," I told him, "whether overland or by sea."
"Jasper!" "Edward!" the girls shrieked.
We startled and immediately began running in the direction of their screams.
"We're coming!" yelled Jasper.
"What's wrong!" I bellowed, getting tangled in the tentacles of a small fig tree in my haste to get to Bella.
Jasper had run a few yards ahead of me by the time I got myself free. I sprinted after him and we skidded to a halt on the gravelly beach of a small freshwater lagoon. The girls legs were wet and bare to the knees and water stained their rolled up pants. They'd obviously been sitting on the rocks dangling their feet into the cool water.
"What! What is it?" panted Jasper.
"Look!" they yelled, pointing at the branches of some mid-size trees.
We looked.
We shrugged, noting nothing of interest.
"What are we looking at?" I asked them curtly. If they'd shrieked like that to show us another fruit, they'd both get a serious lecture about the hazards of scaring the men-folk!
"Look! There are chickens!" cried Bella excitedly. Alice was dancing around on her toes.
"What?" I scoffed. "Where?"
"There!" Bella huffed, taking my hand to lead me closer to the tree. She told me to look up.
I rolled my eyes, but did as she asked.
There were two chickens perching in the tree. I was mystified. How could there be chickens on an uninhabited tropical island?
I turned to Jasper. "There are chickens," I told him with amazement. "Two of them."
"Eggscellent," Jasper joked.
"I'm not kidding, Jazz! There are chickens in the tree!"
"Let me see," he said, pushing me out of way so he could look up into the tree.
He turned around. "Those are chickens!"
"What's wrong? Why were you yelling. Who's hurt?" bellowed Emmett as he arrived at the lagoon. He was still pulling up his pants as he tripped to a stop. Rosalie was close behind, buttoning up her blouse.
"There are chickens!" we all chorused joyously.
Emmett looked into the tree we indicated and licked his lips. I could almost see the picture bubble forming over his head with a roasted chicken in it.
"Let's catch them," he said.
"What are we going to put them in," Rose said. "It's not like we brought a cage with us."
"We'll make one!"
We all stared at him. Yeah, that's right; we'll just make one! No problem!
"Oh, like you all want to leave these chickens behind! We might never find them again. How long will it take you girls to weave a loose basket from a palm frond? That should work as a cage. We can cover the top with our shirts."
An hour later, Bella and Alice had woven two open weave palm frond baskets, while Emmett guarded the chickens that were blinking at him sleepily in the heat of the afternoon.
"Okay, we're done," the girls said, bringing over the baskets.
Emmett crept toward the hens perched in the tree. "Get on the other side, Jazz. You grab one and I'll get the other," he said with determination in his tone.
Alice followed her husband with the basket ready and Bella followed Em.
"On the count of three … one … two … three!"
Em and Jazz made a grab for the unsuspecting birds, Jazz getting hold of his by the neck just above its body, and Em getting his by its feet when it stood up in alarm in response to its companions loud squawk of complaint. The hens immediately began pecking at the hands confining them.
"Oh, fuck!" hissed Jasper.
"Don't you fucking let it go, Jasper!" ordered Emmett.
"Give me the basket!" they each yelled at the girls, shoving the chickens inside and holding them down while Rosalie and I came forward with a long piece of palm frond to tie the shirts to the baskets so they wouldn't escape.
Emmett and Jasper held out their quivering hands that were covered in bloody peck marks.
"I'll get the first aid kit," volunteered Bella.
By the time she'd cleaned and dressed their wounds it was 2 pm and getting late, especially if we were going to stop and collect fruit on our trip home. We collected our belongings and the complaining chickens and began walking back the way we'd come.
We paused at the lime tree for five minutes so Bella could pick a dozen limes, while Alice and Rosalie collected some star fruit, loading it all into the beach bags they carried because we didn't have backpacks and there was no time to make another basket.
The loaded bags made it harder going on the trip home than it was coming, but the fruit was important and we didn't know when we'd come back this way. As we were making our way to the fruit grove for the guavas, breadfruit and Malay apples, I heard loud snuffling and pawing at the ground. As I entered the grove, I stopped dead and held up my hand in a 'halt' motion to the others.
At the base of the Malay apple tree was an animal. It was rooting on the ground, feasting on the rotting apples that had fallen from the tree.
We all stopped and stared at the enormous black swine with its razor teeth.
It stunk.
"It's a pig," I said.
"That's pork," Jasper corrected.
"Ham steaks," fantasized Rosalie.
"No … that's fucking bacon and eggs!" crowed Emmett ecstatically.
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A/N: FanFiction readers: you're being outstripped by the TWCS readers on reviews. However all reviews are welcomed, read, sometimes chuckled at and always responded to.
Some photos are on my blog at: jkazziefanfiction dot wordpress dot com; or the link is on my Fanfiction profile page.
Bella's island or Isabella Island discussed in this chapter is purely fictional, although the Line Islands do exist, as does Kingman Reef.
While I was researching Polynesia, I found out a lot of information. Here's a bit of history if you're interested. Feel free not to read.
The ancient Polynesian forefathers were great ocean travelers or Wayfinders, crossing the Pacific Ocean in their canoes as far as the coast of South America; south to New Zealand, north to Hawaii, and West to Melanesia and Micronesia. They did this many centuries before these lands were discovered by the Europeans. They definitely traveled to SE Asia. The Kingdom of Polynesia was at one time immense.
The Polynesians imported from these regions, many plants, fruits, flowers and tree cuttings as well as livestock and conversely, they also exported the same produce and livestock to other colonized regions of Polynesia, spreading non-indigenous plants and animals across the entire pacific region.
Many of these plants and animals found their way onto a great many islands in Polynesia include Tahiti, Fiji, Tonga and Hawaii. Wild pigs and chickens really were domesticated animals for the Polynesians, supplying them with pork, chicken and eggs. Pigs were often used as sacrifices to the gods and were at the center of all feasts.
The Polynesian culture also mastered crop production producing seasonal food crops for their own use as well as for trade. They brought the Malay Apple from Malaysia and propagated the fruit on just about every island where plants would grow. The Polynesians are also responsible for importing to the region, the Tahitian lime as well as the star fruit, guava and breadfruit and many other edible plants and fruits.
