Chapter 3:
Looking at one another, Rae and Spot jumped to their feet and sprinted down the beach in search of Chris. He couldn't have gone that far...
"Chris?"
"Chris! Where are you?"
"There he is!"
They could just barely see his head bobbing above the waves in the fading light. Rae gasped. Spot muttered under his breath and plunged into the waves after him.
What seemed hours later, Spot finally managed to pull the boy ashore. Immediately, Rae swooped down beside them. Spot collapsed wearily onto the sand, breathing hard, as she inspected Chris. He seemed more scared than hurt. "We need to get both of you dry now," Rae said, attempting to pull Chris to his feet. As he was hoisted up, he coughed up a mouthful of water and whimpered.
"What happened?" Rae demanded gently, pulling Spot to a stand as well and leading the both of them down the beach.
"A wave knocked me down." Chris said.
"Can you swim?" she asked hesitantly, after a moment.
He hung his head as Julie giggled and said, "No!"
He made a face at her but didn't attempt to correct or yell at her. Rae put her arm around his shoulders. "Maybe Spot can show you how. He's pretty good at things like that." She gave Spot a smirk.
Spot glared at her and muttered something as he grabbed two blankets that had been salvaged from the wreck and threw one of them at Chris
Meanwhile, Rae peered over the can of food that Julie had taken over cooking. "Smells... edible."
She nodded. "It's done." She handed out shaved sticks. "Here's the fork 'till we find some or something."
They ate the food hungrily, seemingly not minding the small amount, or the makeshift forks. By the time they finished it was completely dark and the twins were beginning to nod off.
"Time for bed," Rae said softly, shaking the twins awake enough to place under the makeshift shelter. She kissed each forehead and murmured a goodnight. Spot soon followed with the same. Looking at Julie and Chris, he smiled to see that they both were already fast asleep.
Rae sat down next to Spot in front of the fire. He wrapped a blanket around her shoulders. "I love you," he whispered.
Resting her head on her shoulders, she repeated the phrase softly. "Spot?" she asked after a long pause. "What are we gonna do? We can't live off of fish and canned goods forever. Those canned things will only last us a short while."
"I don't know. I didn't want to say this in front of the children, but I don't think we are going to be rescued anytime soon."
Slowly, she shook her head. "I don't think we are either," she replied quietly.
"I'll start making plans for a better shelter tomorrow."
With tears forming in her eyes, she nodded. How awful this predicament was. Sure, it could have been worse... but it certainly could have been better as well. She didn't like the thought of making a better shelter- that implied that they really were stuck there... not just for the night.
Spot pulled her closer to him and stroked her tangled hair. "I know you didn't want to hear that, but we must face the facts. Who knows how long we could be here."
Rae sniffled and nodded. "Yes, I know..."
"Do you want a better tent, or a house?" he asked softly.
"I guess... I guess we have to... If we don't know how long we're gonna be here..."
"First though, we clean up this beach. There has to be all kinds of stuff that we can use in that wreckage."
Silently, she nodded.
"Why don't you try to get some sleep," he suggested.
"I'll try," she replied with a half smile. Standing, she kissed him and headed off to their shelter and laid down in attempt to sleep.
As soon as she had lain down, Ann crawled over to her. "Miss Rae?" she whispered.
Opening her eyes, she propped herself up on her elbows. "Yes Ann?"
"When I close my eyes, I see the ship crashing."
Rae sat up further and put her arms around Ann. "It's okay. We're safe now." Just then lightening streaked across the sky and thunder roared.
Ann shrieked and jumped into Rae's lap. Promptly, she burst into tears. Rae hugged the girl closer to her, suddenly afraid of the storm herself. "It's alright Ann," she whispered, trying to sound comforting.
Spot crawled beneath the shelter quickly, shaking rainwater from his hair. "Looks like another..." He stopped short, as Ann looked at him fearfully, and Rae tried to suppress her own fear. He crawled next to them. "It's gonna be alright," he said soothingly to Ann, but intending for his wife to take comfort as well.
Ann quickly crawled into his arms, "Make it stop Mr. Spot. I'm scared."
He kissed the top of her head. "It'll be okay." Reaching out, he squeezed Rae's hand. "We're safer here."
The thunder roared again, this time louder, and waking little Andy.
Ann cried even louder and Andy began to do the same, seeing his distraught twin.
Rae pulled Andy into her arms, and was doing her best to comfort him, but it was almost as if he sensed her fear.
Spot ruffled Andy's hair. "It's okay. It's only noise."
Chris was awakened by the noise moments later. "What's going on?" he muttered, rubbing his eyes sleepily.
"A storm blew up and frightened the twins," Rae explained, still trying to calm Andy down.
"It's just a bit of rain, kid," he explained to Andy. "It ain't gonna hurt you, see?" He stuck his hand in the rain and pulled it back in. "Just a bit of water."
"But the water broke the boat," Andy sniffled.
"Not the rainwater. The OCEAN water did. Way out... far in the ocean."
Andy nodded and quieted some, but just as he did, lightening streaked across the sky again and the thunder roared. Ann screamed and wrapped her arms tighter around Spot's neck. He gagged at her strangling hold. "Hey, hey there sweetheart. Loosen up some, okay? It's just noise. Loud noise, but noise can't hurt you, okay?"
Ann loosened her hold slightly. "It's still scary!" she sobbed.
"There, there." He kissed her forehead, not really sure how else to make her calm down. Chris aided with Andy, but he didn't seem interested in helping with Ann. It was then that he noticed Chris had fallen asleep again. With a smirk, he shook his head. "Try to close your eyes and sleep," he said, attempting to lay her on the blankets, but she shrieked and latched onto his arm.
He gave Rae a desperate look, through the dim firelight.
Rae set the now sleeping Andy down and moved over next to them. She took Ann in her arms and laid down next to her on the blankets. Ann snuggled up next to Rae and her sobs soon ceased as she fell asleep.
Spot wrinkled his nose, laying down next to Rae. "How do you women just do that?"
She smiled, "Woman's touch, I guess."
"I knew you were gonna say that."
Rae tried to roll over and mover closer to Spot, but Ann whimpered in her sleep and latched onto Rae's arm. Spot scooted over and put his arm around Rae's waist. "I reckon this is something we'll have to get used to."
She nodded. "Hopefully we won't have too many more storms like this one."
Spot nodded. "Hopefully."
* * *
The sun shone brightly into Rae's face the next morning. When she woke up she found herself in the middle of a human sandwich. Spot was still beside her, his arm around her waist. Ann was still latched onto her other arm and Andy had moved in the night to cuddle up next to his sister for warmth. She laughed quietly and very carefully extracted herself from the mash. Stretching she walked out onto the beach, enjoying the quiet, stillness.
The beach was nice- clean and white. Storm washed up more wreckage. She grimaced and turned away from it for awhile. A few minutes later, a very sleepy Spot joined her. "Morning."
"Good morning." She kissed his cheek. "You're up already?"
"Ann uh... kicked me... if you know what I mean."
She stifled a giggle. "My poor baby," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him.
"Yeah, poor me," he replied, kissing her back. "That child can kick!"
Rae glanced over at the group of sleeping children. "They should sleep for a while longer, let's go for a walk."
He nodded and took her hand.
Just out of sight of the tent he turned to face her. "Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?"
She blushed and smiled. "Not that I can think of at this moment... but you're welcome to tell me again," she added mischievously.
He took her face in his hands and rested his forehead against hers. "You know, I think you're more beautiful now then when you put that green dress on the day we found our house."
Rae smiled.
He kissed her on the tip of her nose and then went to kiss her on the lips, when a cheery voice called out, "Good morning Mr. Spot! Morning, Miss Rae."
With a grunt of annoyance, he turned, smiled, and the both of them waved to Ann, who was scampering across the sand to meet them.
"I'm hungry," she said, skidding to a stop in front of them.
"I should have known," he teased, ruffling her hair. "Wait until the others wake up though, okay?"
"Alright," she said. Then she reached over and pulled on Rae's pant leg.
Rae looked down at her. "Yes?"
Ann motioned for her to come closer.
She crouched down next to her. "What is it?"
"I have to go to the bathroom," Ann whispered in her ear.
Smiling, she took her hand. "We'll be right back," she told Spot and then led her across the beach.
Spot smiled and headed back toward the tent to build a fire to warm their breakfast.
Andy was soon to awaken. Drowsily, he crawled over to Spot and rested his head on his shoulder, silently watching.
"How did you sleep?" Spot asked.
"I got cold," Andy answered. Then he yawned hugely. "I want scrabbled eggs."
"We don't have any eggs, Andy"
"Bacon?"
"No, not any bacon either."
"What do we have?"
Spot held up what he was cooking for breakfast.
"What... what IS that?"
Spot made a face, "I'm not sure, but we'll eat it anyway."
After a very long pause, Andy nodded. "I'm real hungry Mr. Spot." He pointed to his tummy, which growled, as if on cue.
Spot laughed. "I think this is warm enough to be eaten," he said, handing the boy the can.
"How much can I eat?" he asked, eyes wide.
"Eat half and save the rest for Ann." Rapidly, Andy devoured his half. "Rise and shine, sleepyheads!" Spot yelled at Chris and Julie. "We have work to do!"
Chris groaned and flung his hand in Spot's direction. Julie sat up sleepily and then jabbed her brother repeatedly in the side until he woke up. "Mr. Spot said to wake up, muttonhead."
"Aw, shut it, sheepface."
"Get up, Chris!" Spot called again.
"Alright," he groaned, sitting up and shaking the sand from his hair. "I'm up..."
Just then Ann came running back into camp, Rae following at a slower pace.
"Yay!" Ann shrieked. "Everyone's up! We can have breakfast!" She pounced before the fire.
Rae smiled. "How'd you get everyone up in such a short amount of time?"
"I just told them it was time to get up." Spot answered, kissing her cheek.
"And?" she inquired with a smile.
"They got up," Spot answered. "Although I was afraid that I was going to have to find a snow bank to dump Chris into," he teased.
Rae wrinkled her nose at him and smiled again, while Chris, not getting the joke, just snorted. She grinned mischievously. "I'll get you back for that one of these days."
"I don't doubt it."
Chris made a face. "Lover's jokes... how gross."
"Well, when you get to be 18 and 19, like Rae and me, respectively, such things aren't so 'gross' anymore."
"How old are you, anyway?" Rae inquired.
"13..."
"Then you have a LONG way to go," Spot commented with a smirk.
Julie came and plopped down beside her brother, "I'm 10."
"You've got even longer to go then."
She shrugged, "Boys are gross"
"Girls are worse," her brother argued.
Rae waved her hands at them, "No fighting in the....tent..." she made a face.
"It isn't even a tent," Chris replied. "It's a... leaf roof... or something..."
"Well, it's the best we could do on such short notice. I don't pack with plans of a shipwreck when I go on a trip," Spot retorted.
"Boys!" Rae warned. "You two can start on a better shelter, while the rest of us clean up the beach."
"Can't I clean up the beach with you?" Chris whined. "He's too mean and bossy!"
"She can be worse, trust me," Spot replied with an impish grin.
She glared at Spot, "You are already walking on thin ice, mister." He only smiled angelically. She sighed. "Anyway, Chris, Spot needs another pair of hands to help build a shelter and the twins are too little...and I need Julie to help keep an eye on them."
"Oh alright," Chris grumbled.
"Alright, everyone....let's get a move on it." Rae ordered.
The children wandered off with Rae and Chris and Spot turned to face each other.
"We may as well get along, kid," Spot said after a long pause. "Who knows how long we'll be here."
Chris sighed. "I suppose you are right."
"Of course I am. Now come on. I haven't really ever built a house before, but I can tell that these branches aren't going to do us too much good if we don't figure out how to use them better."
"Right," Chris said, looking around. He suddenly smiled. "What if we built a tree house?"
Spot crouched on the sand and looked at him. "Do you know how? I don't even know what a tree house is."
Chris stared at him in disbelief.
"What? There aren't many trees in Brooklyn."
Chris shook his head. "I built one with my father a few years ago. I think I can remember how to build another one."
"Well, you'd better start remembering because I want to have as much as we can done by tonight."
"How 'bout we build a really nice one for Miss Rae? I'm sure we could find a good place not too far from the beach."
"I'd like that. And so would she... as long as YOU know what you're doing."
"Of course I do," Chris said, heading toward the woods.
The corner of Spot's mouth quirked up and he followed Chris.
Not too far from the beach there was a small clearing with a small, clear stream running through it. "Water!" they exclaimed simultaneously, delighted.
Kneeling down, Spot scooped some of the clear water into his hands and lifted it to his face. Chris, on the other hand, just dunked his whole head in.
Spot looked around the clearing. "So where are we going to build this thing?"
Looking around, Chris dried off his head briefly, and then pointed to a tall, thick tree. "That one'll be fine."
Spot stared at the tree for a moment. "Could we use a couple of trees? Stretch it out among several of the trees?"
He shrugged. "Sure, I guess. It'll take a lot longer to do, but sure."
"Then let's do it.".
"All right then... we need to find a way to cut down some trees."
"Let's go see if we can find a saw among the wreckage...Surely there would be one."
Again, Chris shrugged. "Reckon we ought to find one then." And he trooped out towards the beach again, not even caring whether or not Spot followed. Digging through the wreckage they were able to find a few rust covered tools with which to work. "Some saw," Chris muttered, holding up an ax. Spot rolled his eyes. "I guess this'll work though..."
"It will have too."
And off they went to try to build a tree house
* * *
Later that night they wearily drug themselves back to the small camp on the beach.
"It's about time," Rae commented, around a mouthful of canned vegetables. "What took so long?"
"We were building a house for you, Rae," Spot replied wearily. Julie handed him a plate and a stick-fork. "Who cooked this?"
"Julie."
Spot nodded. Rae watched in amusement as the two of the kept dozing off while trying to eat their food. Just as Spot was about to drop face-first into his plate, she took it from him. "Why don't the both of you sleep? I'm sure Ann and Andy are hungry enough to eat your portions."
Chris didn't have to be told twice. He handed his plate to Andy and crawled under the tent and was asleep as soon as his body hit the ground. Spot nodded mutely, mimicking Chris' actions and moments later, he too was out.
Rae laughed softly and gathered two blankets. She stepped under the tent and covered Chris with one. She then knelt beside Spot, covering him with the other blanket. She kissed his cheek and crawled back out by the fire.
"What were they doing all this time, Miss Rae?" Ann asked around a mouthful of vegetables.
"Spot said something about building a house," Rae answered. "Don't talk with your mouth full, Ann."
She swallowed before continuing. "A house? Like the big one back home?"
Andy perked up. "With nice beds and a big playroom?"
"Sorry kiddos, but no. This one will probably be very small and we will all be sleeping on the floor."
They pouted.
"Chris is good with construction stuff. He'll probably be able to come up with something... not SO small," Julie explained.
Rae nodded and turned to the twins, "Bedtime," she said.
"Right nowwww?" Andy whined.
"But I'm not tired Miss Rae," Ann argued, yawning while she did so.
"To bed," Rae ordered.
Grumbling under their breaths, they staggered towards the shelter where Chris and Spot already slept.
Rae and Julie gathered the plates that they had found that day and took ocean and washed them off as best they could. When they got back to the tent they saw that Andy had curled up near Chris and Ann was sleeping near Spot.
Rae smiled. "I know who their favorite men of the camp are."
Julie laughed softly as she settled down on some blankets near her brother. Rae lay down near Spot and Ann crawled over next to her. "Ann, you should be sleeping."
"I can't..." she whimpered. "I'm scared."
Rae sighed. "Alright, come on," she said, patting the ground beside her.
Crawling over to her, Ann curled up against her. "I had a scary dream last night that monsters were coming to get you and Mr. Spot..."
"Monsters aren't going to get us Ann. Now close your eyes and go to sleep."
Ann whimpered. "I'm trying."
Rae rubbed the little girl's back. "Just close your eyes. I promise that no monsters are going to get us."
Burrowing next to Rae, she asked, "You promise promise?"
"I promise promise," Rae said, kissing her forehead.
Nodding slowly, she rested her head on Rae's stomach and fell asleep. Rae sighed. She loved Ann dearly, but they had to do something to get her over her fear of monsters and storms and whatever else was keeping the small girl from sleeping at night. She glanced around the tent. Everyone was asleep except herself. Again, she sighed. Playing mommy for all these children was going to be keeping HER up all night!
* * *
When Spot opened his eyes the sun was already shining brightly. He rolled over and smiled at the picture before him. Rae was stretched out on a blanket with Ann's head resting on her stomach. Stifling a yawn, he sat up further. Chris and Julie were already awake, down the beach a bit, playing... together for once! Rising to his feet, he tousled Andy's hair, "Time to get up little guy."
Andy whimpered. "I don't wanna get up Mr. Spot."
"Sorry, buddy, I don't want to get up either, but we have work to do."
He sat up with a deep pout. "Why can Miss Rae and Ann still sleep?"
Spot sent the boy a look. "I'm going to wake them up right now."
With a sigh he stood up. "Mr. Spot, I have to go to the bathroom."
"Just a second." Spot said turning to Rae and Ann. "Alright ladies, up and at 'em."
Ann rose quite readily, but Rae dozed on. With a sigh, he shook her shoulder again. "C'mon Rae. Don't make me throw you into the ocean."
She rolled over, completely unaware of the fact that he was trying to wake her up.
With a sigh, he gripped her shoulder and shook her harder. "Come on Rae. Get up. It's morning. The sun's shining, birds are chirping, and I REALLY don't want to throw you into that ocean!"
She hit his hand, but slept on.
Rolling up his sleeves, and spitting on his hands, he muttered, "Alright woman, you asked for it." Scooping her limp form up in his arms, and tromped on down to the ocean. Taking a deep breath, he heaved her into the water.
Chris and Julie turned at the sound of the splash. What was Mr. Spot doing? Just then Rae surfaced with a deafening scream. And Spot bolted past them, laughing, with Rae on his heels. They watched in confusion as Rae chased him around the beach and finally dove at his feet.
With a yelp, Spot toppled face-first into the sand.
"Don't you ever wake me up like that again!" Rae yelled climbing to her feet and attempting to brush the sand from her wet clothes.
"Then wake up next time!" he replied with a laugh.
With a growl of frustration, she kicked some sand at him, before storming back to the tent.
"Aw, come on Rae, it was all in good fun," he called out, unsteadily climbing to his feet and trotting after him. Chris and Julie just exchanged glances and shrugged.
She stopped suddenly. "Where are Ann and Andy?" she asked, looking around.
He shrugged. "I don't know... I thought they were with the other two..." He glanced back. "Ann?" he called. "Andy?"
Rae turned to Chris and Julie, "Have you two seen the twins?" she yelled.
"No!" they called back.
"Do you think they went into the woods, Spot?"
"With the way Ann is afraid of monsters?" He paused and frowned. "I guess we should check."
Rae took off down the small path that they had made, not even looking to see if Spot followed her. Quickly, he ran after her. "Ann?" they called. "Andy?!"
"Andy, Ann, you'd better answer us THIS INSTANT!" Rae yelled.
Rae stopped suddenly. "Did you hear that?"
Spot, unaware that Rae had stopped, collided with her. "Hear what?"
"Listen, I think I hear Ann," Rae whispered.
Straining to pick up the sounds of Ann's voice, he heard faint screeching strains, that was either a sick bird or Ann yelling.
"Come on," he said, following the sound through the trees.
Rae hurried after him. As they came closer to the screaming voices, her eyebrows quirked. "We'll be lucky if they're both alive by the time we find them, by the sounds of it."
"Think you can move a little faster?" Spot asked
"I'm trying, good grief."
After a few more minutes they broke through the brush and found the screaming Ann and Andy. Immediately, Spot grabbed each small shoulder and pushed them a part. "WHAT is going ON?!" he barked.
"He got us lost," Ann said.
"I did not! I knew where I was going. YOU got us lost!" Andy retorted.
"I did not," Ann yelled, swinging her arm at her brother.
Rae grabbed the arm mid-swing. "Oh no you don't. Come on you two, you both have some explaining to do, once we get back. You're in serious trouble."
The twins remained silent on the walk back to camp, although they were glaring at each other when they thought Rae and Spot weren't looking. "Knock it off you two," Spot said after the third or fourth glare.
When they got back to the camp Rae turned to face them, "Alright you two, explain!" she ordered.
"I had to go potty.... but Mr. Spot was busy waking you up," Andy explained. "So I asked Ann to show me where to go, but dumb ol' ANN didn't 'member-"
"I did too! And don't call me dumb!" his sister shrilled.
"ENOUGH!" Spot yelled.
They fell silent.
He looked at Rae. "What do you suppose is a suitable punishment?"
"I suppose we can send them to bed tonight without their dinner," Rae suggested.
"Buuut!" they yelped simultaneously.
"No buts. You two got yourselves into a mess of trouble- walking off without telling anyone, arguing..."
"And you are NOT allowed in the forest... I guess we should have made that clear in the first place," Rae mused.
"From now on, you two stay on the beach, unless me or Rae is with you. Got it?" Mutely, they nodded. "I can't hear you."
"Yessir," they replied simultaneously.
"Good." Spot turned to Chris, "Ready to get back to work?"
"Huh?... Oh, yeah... okay." Chris nodded and together, the two young men walked off.
Rae sighed. "Alright, kiddos, back to work," she said, pointing toward the piles of wreckage.
Silently they nodded and trudged back to work. Just before dark Rae told Julie and the twins that it was time to get dinner ready. She left the twins playing quietly with some toy that had washed up with the ship's wreckage, while she and Julie warmed up the last of the canned goods.
Spot and Chris walked up a few minutes later, tired as they were before, but managing to sit up while dinner was cooking. "Dinner's ready," Rae said, handing each of them a plate. Ann and Andy came running over, waiting for their plates of food.
Spot held out his hand to stop them. "Nope. What did we say? To bed with the both of you."
"I'm hungry," Ann whimpered.
"But, Mr. Spot..." Andy protested.
Firmly he shook his head. "Nope. To bed."
Andy shoved his sister, "It's all your fault."
"No it's not, meanie!"
"Is too!"
"Is not!"
"Too!"
"Not!"
"Too!"
"HEY!" Rae yelled. "Knock it off and go to bed NOW!"
Ann looked up at Rae in fear and quickly scampered to her place under the tent.
She sighed and turned to her meal, picking at it. Spot reached over and squeezed her hand. "It's okay," he said. She nodded, but handed her plate to Chris and walked away from the camp. Rising to his feet, Spot instructed the two elder children to watch the camp and followed Rae.
"I'm sorry, Spot," she said, when he stopped next to her. "I know they needed to be punished, but I feel so horrible..."
He circled his arms around her. "I know... but we're doing the best we can, you know."
She sighed and leaned her head back against his shoulder. "I'm a horrible mother."
He stroked her hair gently. "You are not. We're both just learning all of this stuff."
She turned to face him suddenly. "Spot, what if one day it takes more than missing a meal and being sent to bed early to punish them? What are we going to do?"
"Send them to Jack?"
She gave him a look.
"I'm only teasing... well.. By then, we'll be more experienced, and we'll probably know."
She nodded, "I suppose."
"Don't suppose. Because we will know." He kissed her. "And you are a fine mother. Especially for one being thrown into it so suddenly."
She sighed and rested her head on his chest. "I just wish I was as sure of that as you are."
"Come on," Spot said, leading her back toward the camp, "Maybe we can get back before Chris and Julie eat all of our dinner."
With a sigh, Rae let him pull her along.
* * *
Things went fairly smoothly for the next week. Rae and Julie had managed to find some more canned goods among the wreckage, which was completely cleaned up now. Spot and Chris had made great progress on the house, but they still had quite a ways to go, before they could move in.
It was a brand new day, still fairly early in the morning, and Chris and Spot had been working on the tree house for hours already. They had yet to break into one of their daily fistfights. While it appeared to Rae and Julie that they got along great, the two young men couldn't work together for more than a few hours without breaking into an argument about something.
"Hand me that hammer thing, would you?" Spot said, climbing down the tree house's rope ladder halfway and extending his hand.
"Come down and get it yourself, lazy," Chris replied.
"HAND IT HERE," Spot growled.
"I'm busy, ain't it obvious?" he retorted.
"Don't make me come all the way down there, Chris!"
"Oh no, Heaven forbid you get off your lazy butt and come get it yourself," he muttered, tossing the hammer at the foot of the rope ladder.
Spot climbed the rest of the way down the rope ladder, muttering words that he never would have muttered had Rae, Julie or the twins been around. And suddenly a huge coil dropped around his shoulders.