'Shocks and Revelations' (Chapter Five)
by Ennon
Disclaimers: Same as always.
"Emma, stop tossing and turning! Your vibrations are rocking my hammock!" Manny whispered with gritted teeth as she turned upside down and faced Emma in the hammock below.
"Can you believe that Sean? One minute saying he needs me then making out with that Ashley in front of the whole Island the next!" Emma hissed in a whisper.
"Emma, didn't you see them get exiled- along with J.T. and Ellie the Goth?"Manny whispered.
"Served Sean right! " Emma whispered/hissed.
"But what about J.T. and Ellie? Ellie wasn't even accused yet she chose to go along with Ashley. What a cool friend!" Manny beamed in a whisper.
"Fine! Take their side," Emma whispered.
"I'm not but what if it rains before they've built a shelter. Don't you care if Sean or J.T catch cold?" Manny asked.
"Let him get pneumonia!" Emma boiled.
"Shh! Would you two keep it down? ! I've got to take tidal and barometric readings before sunrise!" Kendra hissed from the cot across the room in the same hut.
"Sorry, Kendra! Thanks for letting us sleep in your hut," Manny whispered.
"Don't thank me! Thank the Assembly for assigning this. I know I am!" Kendra groaned.
"Goodnight, Manny, Kendra!" Emma whispered.
"Goodnight, you two- for the last time!" Kendra groaned- as she covered her head with her pillow.
A minute later, a large clap of thunder was heard- followed by pounding rain immediately therafter.
"Um, you think Sean will take cover before he gets soaked?" Emma whispered to Manny who responded by deliberately faking a loud snore to prompt Emma to quit talking.
"Emma, go to sleep!" Kendra fumed.
"Okay! Thanks for having us here. I imagine it could be worse," Emma insisted.
"Yeah, just ask Toby," Manny gulped.
"Goodnight!" all three shouted- though with differing emphases.
Toby was on the wooden floor of a hut looking at the homemade warriors' masks on the wall where the resident was making a loud series of whistling and popping sounds with his snoring before it abruptly stopped with Toby getting a kick in the head.
"Hey, Isaacs! I don't hear you sleeping! You'd better not be lying awake thinking of sneaking over and bothering any of the girls here- especially Paige or Kendra!" Spinner growled
"Why am I on the floor again?" Toby gulped.
"'Cause it's my hut and I get the futon!" Spinner boiled.
"But there's plenty of room on the straw mat,"Toby started to say about the object next to the right side of the futon before getting kicked in the head again.
"Paige herself wove for that me so only my feet get to touch it- NOT your sorry butt! I don't like you being here either but you're a security risk so you need to be where I can keep track of you! Start sleeping if you want to live to be awake tomorrow!" Spinner ordered before going back to sleep snoring a storm in no time flat.
Toby gulped and tried his best to at least sound like he was sleeping- while on the floor at the base of Spinner's futon.
"Are you sure there's something here to keep us dry?" J.T. groaned while he, Ashley, Ellie and Sean were poking about the Degrassi Island Dump on the opposite side of the island.
" We threw out that tarp last summer on account of the holes and bird poop but we're getting desperate!" Ellie insisted as they were getting soaked in the pitch darkness before dawn.
"But why can't we just take shelter under a tree?" J.T. asked.
"With all this lightning clapping around us, any one of these trees could get struck- and their roots could act light conductors turning us into cinders!" Sean explained.
"Oh, yeah. I seem to remember this in science class. I wish I'd paid more attention to that than the teacher's. .er smile," J.T. groaned.
"ROWWL!!" cried out someone waving a large rusted sword.
With each flash of lightning, they could see the person before them who looked quite a sight with matted waist-length black hair and a chest-length matted beard, rags and scraps covering him from neck to ankles and even his feet had odd hybrids of leather and rags randomly tied together.
"The hermit!" J.T. and Ashley screamed as they ran out of the Dump.
"ROWWL! Mine! Mine! Mine!" the hermit snarled as he ran towards them- and grabbed the soiled tarp.
"Hold on! There's four of us and only one of him!" Sean insisted as he grabbed the other end and pulled.
Ashley and J.T came back towards the others.
"We need this!" Sean yelled.
"Wait! We mean no harm. We're outcasts like you," Ellie pleaded.
"I'm no outcast! I just don't need people!" the hermit growled.
"Marco, we can help each other," Ellie insisted.
"M. .m. .Marco. No one's called me that since. .. .I can hardly remember," Marco gulped.
"It's your name," J.T. recalled.
" In spite of the sword, I know you wouldn't actually hurt anyone. I can see it in your eyes!" Ashley pondered.
"My eyes?" Marco gulped.
"Windows to the soul," Ellie insisted.
" Ladies, what are you thinking?" Sean asked in a whisper.
" As long as we have to be on this side of the Island, we might as well do our best to help each other- including Marco," Ellie insisted.
"What kind of help can you give me?" Marco snarled.
"Humanity," Ellie quietly whispered as the storm started to clear.
" I never thought I'd like collecting eggs, milking a cow and helping you fix breakfast for that bunch but I have to admit that doing this farm work's fun!" Emma enthused to Terri that afternoon as they were brushing the cows' coats in the barn.
"You also seem to have a green thumb! The crops could use your extra hands. I think you may very well fit in here!" Terri insisted as she swept the stall.
"I've been a city girl my whole life but I've been into environmental causes!So what's for dinner tonight?" Emma asked.
"Funny you should ask. We're having grilled sea bass, fresh baked blue corn tortilla flatbread, and onion soup with oranges and apples for dessert. We'll need to start firing the bread oven soon so it will be ready by tonight Oh, and I'll need you to pick lots of wild onions for the soup!" Terri insisted.
"Where are they?" Emma asked.
"All around us! They're weeds on this Island," Terri explained as they left the barn and Terri pulled a wild onion from the ground and put in the large wicker basket then handed it to Emma who put more
"You guys seem to have adapted quite a bit of the Island's stuff for your uses quite well. Let me ask you this. Today or tomorrow's my usual time so what can I use for tampons?" Emma asked- slightly embarassed but knowing that Terri was being helpful and kind.
"Oh, you don't need to worry about that!" Terri enthused.
" I don't? But I can practically set my watch to. ." Emma started to say.
"You've drank our water and eaten our food so there's no need to worry about that anymore. None of us girls do!" Terri chirped.
"Huh?" Emma asked as she dropped the basket.
"In time you'll come to understand but right now just enjoy not having that bother any more!" Terri beamed as Emma picked up the basket in puzzlement but continued picking the wild onions.
"Are you sure she said that?" Manny asked later while Emma was still picking onions.
"Yep! How did your day go in Hazel's boutique?" Emma asked.
"Fairly well! Wait'll you see the overalls I'm making for the three of us to change into!" Manny beamed.
"It'll be good to have more than what we have on," Emma sighed.
"But what a boom this would be! Imagine what would happen if word got out. You'd have virtually every woman in the world coming here to drink the water and eat the food!" Manny squealed.
" That may explain why there's no babies here but have you noticed that there's no adults either?" Emma asked.
"Yes, I know. It's like a dream come true," Manny sighed- as she munched on the raw onions from Emma's basket.
"Don't eat all those onions now! Terri has to cook them for tonight's soup!" Emma snapped as she slapped Manny's hand.
"I know but .. ..where are you going?" Manny asked as Emma started to run off.
" I have to find more onions," Emma shouted.
"You're not going to the other side of the Island are you? You know that they're supposed to fend for themselves and J.T. nearly ruined everything for us as it was!" Manny pleaded.
"Who's to say! Besides, maybe I might be looking for more onions but just lose track of where I'm going. .and if a few of them happen to fall out of the basket while I'm . .somewhere," Emma rationalized as she ran off.
"Emma! What are you doing here?" Sean asked as she came upon him using vines to tie several uneven logs together at a small clearing.
" I just was picking onions and happened to get over here. Nice lean to you're making. Where'd you get the tarp? It's nasty!" Emma sniffed.
"The Dump! Marco let us have it," Sean explained.
"Marco?" Emma asked.
"The hermit. He's not as bad as his rep so the girls are off giving him a makeover while J. T's in search of," Sean explained.
"FOOD!"J.T. yelled as he proceeded to chow down on Emma's onions.
"J.T. save some for the others! There's a whole cluster of them on the other side of this clearing you can eat," Emma explained.
"Marco's teaching the girls what weeds and roots are edible and what to avoid on this side. It's much steeper and more barren than the Village's side! Luckily, I caught some shrimp earlier," Sean explained.
"They were awesome,too!" J.T. beamed.
"You're going to have to learn how to take care of yourself instead of mooching off of everyone else," Sean warned.
"He may never learn that!" Emma laughed.
"Hey!" J.T. snapped.
"So, you're not mad at me anymore?" Sean asked.
"Of course I am but I don't want anything bad to happen. .and I was wondering how all of you are," Emma explained.
"Good of you to drop by but J.T. and I have to get this ready so we don't chance a second night of getting soaked,"Sean insisted as he grabbed one of the small logs and started to put it in the hole in the ground.
"So relieved you didn't catch cold," Emma sighed.
"Same here!" J.T. insisted.
"Oh, we never get colds or anything else on the Island," Sean shrugged.
"Um, Terri said that the girls don't ever have periods because of the water. Does that have something to do with no colds or is it that you aren't exposed to them," Emma gulped.
"It's hard to explain. I think the girls could use your help with Marco. J.T. and I need to finish this,"Sean insisted.
"Get your back into J.T.! Helping Sean could do you a world of good!" Emma and Sean laughed to J.T's consternation.
"We use this soap for everything from toothpaste and shampoo to laundry. I'm sure you're clean now!" Ellie insisted as Marco emerged from the pond wrapping one of her spare skirts around his midsection.
"I haven't felt this clean since Sal. .." Marco gulped.
"Emma! What are you doing here? You know I'm really sorry for what happened with," Ashley stuttered.
" Ashley, I don't know you and I'm not here to rehash that. I'm just curious as to see what's going on with the hermit. I'm Emma Nelson!" Emma insisted as she shook Marco's now clean hand.
"No one's shaken my hand since. …" Marco gulped.
"Now, just let the Island Delilah go to town with your locks and I'll have you looking shagadelic in no time!" Ellie insisted as she took a pair of scissors out of her purse.
"Ellie's our hairdresser!" Ashley explained.
"My mom's one,too!" Emma enthused.
"Really? I learned this from my big sister! Good skill to have. Far better than her bootlegging!" Ellie insisted as she held up the scissors and grabbed a waist length snatch of hair in her hands.
"Make mine a Renaissance cut! I feel as though I'm being reborn as a human being today!" Marco said with a happy shudder
"You'll floor 'em, babe!" Ellie insisted.
"If only Sal could see me. I've been hiding my humanity for so long trying to forget what happened and who I am," Marco with hesitation.
"I know what you're saying. Even though I'm not proud of why I'm here. I'd rather be here and be myself than staying a queen in a gilded cage like before," Ashley groaned.
"Who's Sal?" Emma asked.
"Mi amore! We were two Genoan kids who went sailing on my cousin Chris's boat through the Pillars of Hercules to a whole New World but we saw the other crewmen do unspeakable things so when our boat broke up, we took an outboat and fled." Marco explained in bursts.
"What happened?" Ellie asked as she proceeded to shave his hair and beard.
"We almost died before reaching this Island by Providence then the water, plants and animals renewed us. .and we were blissfully happy! So happy here that we threw down our guard and did what we had resisted for so long," Marco beamed. .then started crying.
"Then what?" Emma asked.
"Emma, can't you see he's upset?" Ellie asked as she clutched his hand.
"It's okay! I haven't told anyone else in so long," Marco gulped.
"Sal loved me but wanted to see the outside world again. I loved Sal too much to deny that wish. So Sal left and I was all alone for so long. I thought Sal had perished but one day Sal returned and even though Sal had changed a great deal, we were so happy. But Sal had been away too long so instead of the water restoring. It killed. Right in my arms, Sal died!" Marco burst into tears at the last part.
"And you've been alone. .. ever since?" Emma asked.
"I gave the Island Sal's surname. This Island's been a memorial ever since and I have no place in the Village or the Outside World so here I must stay," Marco gulped.
"That's not true! I'm sure I can talk the others into welcoming you into the Village," Ellie insisted.
"What makes you think they'll listen to you?" Marco asked.
"They have to! I'm the only one who can style their hair or do piercings!" Ellie enthused as she hugged Marco.
"It was good to meet you! I'll see what I can do," Emma insisted as she shook Marco's hand.
"Not just yet. You're still new here and we have to get Marco up to date on civilization. You better be getting back before Spinner and the others notice you gone! Thanks for the onions, though!" Ashley insisted as Emma ran off.
Emma hadn't remembered the way back so she took a different trail. This one led to a cemetary. Emma saw names and dates of hundreds of deceased dating back a large number of years. She noticed that it had a very diverse range of names from all over the world (Aden, Wang, Mikelchuk,etc.) but while there was a number of children under twelve and adults, she didn't see any for teens. She became more curious as several catched her eye:
Capt. Willem Van Zandt
(1618-1660)
'Papan du Liberté'
Elspeth Cromartie MacGregor
(1645-1681)
Beloved Widow of Terence and Mother of Teresa
Emma wasn't sure what to make of these but then she saw one that truly floored her.
Salvatore DeGrassi
(1478-1635)
Amore di Marco del Rossi
"Oh!My!God!"Emma gulped with a shudder when she realized that there was much more to this Island than she had ever imagined.