The Club
"Dude, come on … why do you do this to yourself? Would it kill you to be helpful?"
"Well now, that's just it, ain't it? Maybe it would. Or maybe I just don't see the value in helping people who hate me, for nothing'."
Tipping her shades down, Shannon peered over the rims at the scene unfolding in front of her. Sawyer swaggered across the beach with an armful of metal debris, while Hurley trotted after him.
"Dude! Unless you want to give me CPR, slow down!" Bending over at the waist, hands on his knees, gasped Hurley .
Sawyer, sardonic smirk at its best, stopped and turned. Shifting his weight to one foot, he tilted his head back and grinned up at the sky. "Well golly, Romeo, if you just wanted a kiss all you had to do was wear somethin' pretty." Cocking his head to the side, he stared down at a glaring Hurley. "Now unless you've got somethin' to make it worth my while, I think I'll just truck on back to my castle here on the Island of Doom."
Rising up a bit on her elbows, she watched Hurley roll his head to the side and snort, "Like what, Sawyer? You've got pretty much everything that wasn't nailed down!"
"Temper, temper there funny man! How's about a weeks supply of water delivered to my doorstep, so to speak".
"For some writing paper?! No way, man. Four days. I'll bring you water for four days -- that's it."
"Hmm, four days, huh?" scratching his jaw with his free hand, Sawyer pretended to ponder the offer. "Well Hell, four days without having to listen to Doc Wonderful preach is better than nothing'. You have yourself a deal, Chuckles". Sauntering on down the beach, Sawyer passed by Shannon. Looking down at her, he smirked, "Tsk tsk, eavesdropping, princess? Didn't they teach you not to do that at 'Delta Gamma Stuck-up'".
Her comeback was cut short by the sound of masculine laughter behind her. "No, she was taking "Work Avoidance 101" instead."
Glaring at Boone, she threw her shoe at him, hitting him squarely in the chest. His only response was to laugh harder. "Oh! Shut up Boone! Go find a tree to hug!"
Getting up, she dusted the sand off her legs and stormed off down the beach, hoping the sound of the waves would drown out the snickering. Muttering to herself, she moved further down the coastline, putting distance between them … physical distance to match their emotional distance. "I don't even have to say a word, to get him criticizing me," she fumed. Scrambling over an outcropping of rocks, she continued to vent … letting anger camouflage the hurt. "All I was doing was minding my business and he comes along and … ouch"! Slipping on a loose pile of shells, she hit her knee on a sharp section of rock.
"Damn it!" dropping down onto the secluded bit of sand, she sat there with the injured knee drawn up to her chest. "Damn it!" she repeated before bursting into tears. It was just too much for her. First Sawyer's crack, then Boone's mockery, now this. Wallowing in her misery, she nearly jumped out of her skin at the gentle touch of a hand on her shoulder.
Whirling around, she found herself looking into the concerned eyes of the Korean woman. The woman said something to her in Korean. Wiping her eyes with the heel of her hand Shannon shrugged her shoulders, "you're wasting your time if you've come over to insult me….I don't have a clue what your saying". Turning away from the woman, she stared back out at the sea, hoping the woman would just leave her alone. The only thing worse than crying like a baby over a scraped knee, was being caught doing it. At least Boone hadn't seen it. Thank heavens for small mercies.
She heard the woman's retreating footsteps. "Not bad Shannon. You've managed to alienate someone in a foreign language now. Hmm, what next? Time to piss off the dog now, too?" Shaking her head in self-disgust, she caught some motion out of the corner of her eye. Turning, she saw the Korean woman coming back toward her with something in her hands. She watched warily as the woman knelt down in the sand next to her. Again the woman spoke to her in that clipped language.
"Look lady, I have no idea what you're saying, so you may as well save your breath."
Pointing to Shannon's knee, the woman held up the object she had brought over. It looked like part of a coffee mug with some cloudy white glop in it. There were even specks of green stuff in it.
"Um, yeah. Pretty mug. Not in the mood for tea, though. "
Even though the woman's head was tilted down, Shannon could have sworn she rolled her eyes at her. Scooping out some of the mixture, the woman smeared it on Shannon's knee. Humming softly to herself, she wiped her hands on the sand and gave the "container" to Shannon.
Looking from the piece of ceramic to the quiet woman next to her and back again, she felt more tears welling up inside. "Um, thank you," she said awkwardly. Bobbing her head, the Korean woman smiled tentatively at Shannon. "And, well, thank you for before, when I couldn't breathe. Jack and Boone told me you were the one who did the thing with the eucalyptus. I know you can't understand me, but, well, thanks anyway."
Expecting the woman to leave, Shannon was surprised when she sat down next to her and settled in. At a loss for what to say, and despite the language barrier, she fought the awkward silence. "So you like plants, huh?" "Brilliant, Shannon," she muttered to herself, "try to chat with the foreign woman". Shaking her head, she started to look back out at water, but the woman stopped her with a touch to Shannon's arm.
With her dark eyes intense, the woman said "Shannon" slowly and pointed at her.
Catching the woman's thought, she nodded her head and pointed to herself, repeating, "Yes, Shannon".
The woman smiled and pointed to herself "Sun".
"Oh, your name is Sun? Mine is Shannon. Oh, yeah, well I guess we covered that already, huh?" chuckling at herself, she looked at the woman next to her. "I guess you're kind of lonely here too, huh? I mean, I know you've got your husband here and all, but I just don't quite picture the two of you shooting the breeze. Not that there'd be much to say anyway; 'Gee honey, what did you do today?' 'Oh, well I looked at the sand. What about you?'"
The woman smiled and said something in Korean, that judging by her laughter was meant to be funny. Shannon started to explain that she didn't understand, but gave up and laughed with the woman.
Sitting companionably, they weren't disturbed until a slimy green ball was dropped at their side. Looking behind them they were greeted by a wide doggy grin.
"Hey Vinnie, whatcha doing out here?" she asked as she reached up to scratch behind his ears.
"He wants you to throw the ball," came the young voice, as Walt emerged from the tree line.
Pointing at the soggy ball between them, Shannon looked at Sun and raised her eyebrows. Sun gingerly picked up the ball and threw as hard as she could down the beach. As Vincent bounded down the shore with pure canine delight, Sun grimaced and wiped her hands in the sand.
"Wow, Sun, good throw. You'd have made a great 1st baseman!" Shannon laughed.
"Hey, how'd you know her name?" Walt asked as he plopped down in the sand.
Dodging Vincent's exuberant advances as he brought the ball back, Shannon chuckled and replied, "Well, she told me, kind of a 'Me Tarzan, You Jane' thing." Suddenly remembering herself, she stopped laughing abruptly and retreated behind her "wall". It was one thing to be relaxed around someone who didn't even speak English …..
"Yes well, you should keep that dog on a leash or something. He can't just keep running away from you like that."
Getting up to leave, she froze when she heard him say "Like you do when someone sees you being nice." Turning around, she saw Sun watching her with keen interest, and Vincent, the ball momentarily forgotten, staring at her with his head tilted to the side, as if waiting to hear her reply. Walt was kneeling in the sand watching her, his chin up, in the age old gesture of challenge.
"I already told you, I'm not -"
"Yeah, yeah. You said that you're not nice. But you were lying …. Adults always lie and stuff to kids, like they don't think we can tell." shaking his head at the follies of adults, he continued. "I don't know why, but you're just afraid to have people like you."
Nervously tossing her head back, she mustered up her haughtiest facial expression, saying, "What do you know anyway? You're just a kid".
"My step-dad said I knew lots of stuff and that age isn't everything. But it's okay, I won't tell on you. I'm good at keeping secrets". Tipping his head at Sun, "And I don't think she'll exactly be telling anyone either."
With all eyes on her, Sun smiled, and dipping her head rattled off something in Korean. Looking back at Walt, Shannon shrugged her shoulders and said simply, "Yeah, whatever."
"Besides", Walt said with a grin, "Vincent likes you and he'd be really sad if you didn't let us visit." As if on cue, the dog crawled on his belly toward Shannon, dropped his head on his paws and whined plaintively. But ruined the dramatic effect with an eyebrow wiggle and tail wag.
"Yeah well, there's no accounting for his taste, is there" she replied with a small chuckle.
Looking off down the coast, Sun started to stand. Following her gaze, Shannon watched the husband walk quickly up the wet sand, with his pants rolled up to his knees and two fish hanging from a shoelace. Barking out a series of commands, he strode towards her and nodded in the direction of the jungle. Turning back to Shannon, Walt and even Vincent, she smiled and said something. With a small wave she followed her impatient looking husband, presumably back to the caves.
"I guess we're all the same, huh?" Walt said suddenly as he threw the ball for Vincent again.
"What are you talking about?"
"Well, we all seem to have people yelling at us and telling us what to do. She has that guy, you have your brother, and I have my dad."
Feeling awkward, Shannon stared at her feet for a minute and said "Yeah, well, I'm sure he loves you though."
"Yeah, I guess so. Like her husband does and your brother does. Too bad they aren't nicer about it."
Marvelling at the kid's perceptiveness, Shannon wished she'd saved her money on a therapist and waited to meet this kid.
"Fabulous. Our very own Gilligan's Island 'Breakfast Club'", she said with a roll of her eyes.
"I don't know about any kind of club." Walt said, the movie reference lost on him. Squinting up at Shannon he asked, "We wouldn't have to let that Sawyer guy in, would we?"
Choking back laughter, Shannon ruffled his short hair. "Kid, you and I are in total agreement on that one."
"Walt!"
Hearing his name being called, the boy looked up to the tree line. "Well, that's my dad. Guess I gotta go."
Nodding to Shannon, he waved goodbye. With his own woof of farewell, Vincent turned and chased after Walt.
Watching them go, Shannon was left standing on the beach holding a broken mug filled with goo, and a feeling she was afraid to name.
And suddenly she realized that her knee didn't seem to hurt much at all.