March 2004
Summer, sand , sea, sailboats, seabirds and seashells . . .
We're a bunch of blundering hysterical imbeciles. We all realized that the minute our boat got tossed about by angry waves before it finally smashed against a nice atoll and shattered to a dozen pieces. Our captain managed not to cause any injury to himself while his hapless passengers clambered out of the wreckage terribly shaken, bruised and bloody. "Where the hell are we?" cried Cedwynn as he struggled to swim ashore. Nobody knew. Not even the brilliant captain.
It's a miracle we're alive. We weren't devoured by sharks or some ravenous killer whales. And it's a bigger miracle I didn't drown in the sea considering that I can't swim, and this fact was forgotten by my so-called friends while they were busy saving themselves. Of course it helped immensely that I've worn the only life vest in the boat. Without the thing I could have descended to ole' Davy Jones locker. Instead I conquered the waves by floating and praying. I had a close encounter with a mermaid though. I saw her beautiful face smiling from the whirly depths. Her hair was the color of seaweed and she wore a coronet of pink pearls. Then in the blink of an eye, she simply vanished.
Kai-Vagnner, our venerable skipper was the first to reach the shore. He had a fine time watching us struggle for our lives and while he waited, he lit a Rothman and strolled around the beach like a happy tourist. Besides being unscathed, he also succeeded in saving his precious backpack which was to become the object of contention for the ensuing days and weeks while we're marooned in the island.
" Welcome to Gilligan's Island," he announced dramatically. " The accommodations are rather primitive at this point but we'll manage to get comfortable soon enough."
Cedwynn was in a very feisty mood. His left eye was turning purple and he just vomited a good amount of brine. " Did you have to hit a goddamn rock? You're supposed to take us to La Rosa where there's civilization and electricity and cabanas with decent air-conditioning. Instead you got us shipwrecked here so nicely. You have a lot of explaining to do. And why for god's sake was I ever convinced that you're qualified to steer a damn boat? "
Kai quickly retorted, " Oh stop ranting. It's not your yacht that got wrecked. I inherited the Victoria from my grandfather so I should be the one gnashing my teeth and crying to the gods. If not for my excellent navigation skills, the lot of you could have been dead right now."
Then he directed a charming smile towards us. " Ladies, follow me. We'll do some exploring while that sun's still up. Let's see what this island has to offer."
Midnight. Cedwynn has finally calmed down and he's fallen asleep. Asteria and Lydee were engaged in a small talk by the bonfire; Kai was somewhere in the bushes answering to nature's call, and I strolled along the beach, pondering on our fate. The night was starlit and the moon would peek behind the curtain of clouds every now and then.
Kai discovered the shack this morning. Out foraging for breakfast, he wandered deeper in the island and found a cottage nestled amongst a grove of citrus trees. He expected an axe wielding savage to meet him at the door but to his surprise, the place was completely deserted.
We practically ran into the woods to see Kai's fantastic discovery which we immediately claimed as our residence. It's another miracle that after our exposure to the elements last night, we came upon a shelter that's surprisingly furnished. It also has a well stocked larder, a small kitchen sink and a closet filled with clean sheets. I'm beginning to think that there really is a god.
Naturally, Kai being his all-knowing, bossy self didn't waste a moment taking charge of things. Firstly, under the impression that he's Magellan reincarnate, he gave the cottage a stupid name: Ritz of the Woods. Then he formulated rules and regulations, assigned specific duties to each one of us, divided the house into two quarters and appointed Cedwynn as assistant tribal chief. Our feminist instincts are flaring at this male dominated set-up but we're too tired to protest. We ladies had a little huddle in our quarters and plotted a mutiny. Not today though. There'll be perfect time for that. Meanwhile we'll just be docile and nice.
We just realized that Sebastian's missing.
Lydee's inconsolable, guilt-ridden and lugubrious. She refused to eat her meals and prefers lying in bed, buried under the sheets. I'm worried she'll soil all the clean blankets. I think it's actually her fault that Sebastian perished in the sea. It's a collective opinion that he went down with the Victoria, the poor sod. If Lydee had enough sense to have her wits intact instead of panicking, she would have remembered to fetch the inebriated and sleeping Sebastian from the cabin before the yacht disintegrated to bits and sunk. When Cedwynn callously quipped he was probably eaten by sharks, she wailed like a banshee.
We can't fathom our own neglect of Sebastian. God only knows why we'd forgotten all about him. Albeit the fact that Sebastian was perpetually sloshed and unconscious, he's still human and not some fixture or excess baggage that we could afford to forsake. How cruel we are. Shame, shame, shame... Anyway, after mulling and ruing over this for two days, Kai came up with a convincing reason: it's the island's enchantment. We've been bewitched. And so we dumped all the blame to that invisible island enchantress. There goes that ugly black cloud of guilt....what a relief.
Then I thought of the mermaid with the crown of pink pearls.
It rained all day. It's a gentle, comforting kind of rain. We watched the silver threadlike downpour with the fascination of ten-year-olds. Asteria lit several joss sticks that she found in a cupboard. There's a Zen like atmosphere in the house. We slept as the rain fell incessantly on the island.
We held a mock funeral for dear Sebastian on the beach at sunset. We murmured prayers for his soul, scattered flowers over the surf and cried a little. The sun glowed a bright orange before it slowly faded in the horizon.
Cedwynn had his arm around Lydee during the ceremony.
Asteria burnt our lunch today. She also scorched our breakfast so we've all been cross with her. I suspect she's burning our food deliberately. She's the designated chef for a whole week so she's probably sick of preparing and cooking our meals.
I saw Lydee and Cedwynn kissing under a tamarind tree. Poor, darling, dead Sebastian . . .
The outhouse is starting to emit an extremely awful stench. One simply can't perform those private bodily functions without gagging. So we consulted the chieftain about this problem and he came up with an immediate but drastic solution, which aggravated the destruction of our planet's ozone layer. Kai, acting heroic, poured kerosene over the pit and incinerated it rather carelessly. The resulting fumes and stink's indescribable. When it got to the point where we couldn't bear it any longer, we decided to douse the fire with seawater. Kai noticed our buckets. No, no, no. no! he yelled furiously. Then he barked orders like an agitated general. We were to gather firewood and any dried dead thing to add to the flames. And so we obeyed. And so a dense black smog hovered above the island for hours.
I woke up this morning with a migraine and a mild halitosis.
Lydee announced it's exactly ten days since we arrived on this mysterious lonely place. She expressed her fears that we'd probably be marooned here for eternity, and accused Kai of enjoying every minute of it. Why does he not do something to get us out of here. Like sending distress signals, messages in bottles, flares, smoke, Morse Code, etc. Why, why, why? She went completely hysterical. Naturally, Kai used his potent charm to dissipate her sudden emotional surge. I watched him perform his magic trick on that little stage. Only Kai can deliver a most stupid and senseless spiel in a most clever, deceptive way full of flowery words and soothing whispers, that barely fifteen minutes later Lydee started smiling again.
Asteria is writing a journal. She scribbles about everything she sees, hears and feels. She likes sitting under the shade and writing madly in that thick notebook she found inside an old chest at the house. I'm starting to get really annoyed. Of course nobody knows yet that I'm the official diarist/scribe, and the emergence of a rival does not fit my grand scheme of things. Maybe if that journal of hers was misplaced, stolen, thrown in the ocean . . .
I saw Cedwynn's hand fished something out from Kai's precious backpack.
Lydee, Asteria and I had a conference late this afternoon while the guys were gone fishing. It's decided that our plan of mutiny is shelved permanently. It's rather pointless to disrupt the peace and order in our strange ménage. And what a strange ménage we have, indeed. Lydee and Cedwynn are having a grand time sneaking behind trees and bushes for supposedly secret trysts. Asteria and I are lusting for Kai, while he is half in love with Lydee. I have yet to ask Cedwynn about the little theft he committed recently.
We just ran out of shampoo. I can't bear to imagine how my hair would turn dank and coarse and smelly pretty soon.
Kai cooked our dinner last night. The grub, strange and somewhat indescribable didn't poison us. Later, Asteria stumbled upon a horrible piece of an unknown lizard's skin amongst the hedges. I inserted two fingers inside my throat and disgorged my meal. That was really really disgusting.
I heard somebody singing in my sleep. Perhaps it wasn't a dream. The soft melodious voice seemed to have come from the sea.
Success at last! I stole Asteria's stupid notebook today. She left it lying on a mossy rock in the woods and I, exalting at the sudden way my luck turned grabbed the darn thing and buried it quickly in a nice spot where I'm damn certain nobody would bother snooping about. Life is sweet. I am deliriously happy.
Everybody's cranky at breakfast. Evidently, the entire ménage suffered from a spell of some kind from that strange eerie looking moon last night. We hardly slept our usual dream-filled slumber, instead there was a great deal of tossing and turning and grunts and small oaths. And there was that singing again. Haunting, wailing, mournful melody coming from the depths of the ocean. My imagination's telling me the mermaid with the pearly coronet's the nocturnal chanteuse and that's that. I'm in a foul mood myself to discuss about last night further.
Cedwynn is so in love with himself, the stupid bastard. Having Narcissus in our midst is a most taxing thing. Mental note : in case we ran out of food, he'll be first in the cauldron . . .
My shampoo and conditioner deprived hair feels like a mass of seaweed on top of my head. I am now uglier than ever. Asteria tried creating a shampoo alternative from a concoction of unknown herbs and flowers but the result's a gooey evil smelling substance that makes the scalp itch. Lucky for the two males they don't give much importance to hygiene. If some beastly microscopic things start nesting on their heads, they'd probably shave off the infestation.
I have fallen in love with Kai. Stupid me.
Asteria is seeking her lost notebook. I told her to look around the beach. I hope she steps on a jellyfish or something...
Does Kai fancy me? Does he like me? Does he care? Does he mind my seaweed hair? Does he like my omelletes?
BORED. It's been a rotten week and I'm beginning to hate this stupid island. I miss the city and its noise and chaos danger and comfort.
That interfering Cedwynn found Asteria's infernal notebook when he was out digging for sweet potatoes. She's tremendously happy I hoped she'd fall down dead on my feet. Cedwynn is definitely going to be DINNER as soon as cannibalistic tendencies arise.
I LOVE YOU, KAI..... and it's purely carnal. God, I feel like a lovesick harlot!
Our mysterious chanteuse of a mermaid/siren/Nereid/enchantress has ceased her nocturnal serenades... Suddenly the nights are dull and lonely.... and dreamless.
I've got a strange feeling though. By the pricking of my thumbs. something wicked this way comes....
There is a God after all. And he has a wicked sense of humor too. Our dearly departed Sebastian rose from a sea foam today just after the tides settled. Like a male Venus, he emerged from the depths of the sea in all his naked glory while we watched, mouths agape and petrified from disbelief.
Later, when we recovered from the shock of it all, we interrogated him mercilessly but he's completely taciturn. Evidently he lost his memory and he's like a newborn Greek god, clueless, helpless and deliciously innocent. Lydee's not too pleased to have him back though. And Cedwynn's sulking. Lovely! A love triangle to spice up a very staid existence.
Bizarre day. Have this gnawing suspicion it isn't really Sebastian who has returned. Maybe he's a ghost, a goblin, a changeling, a doppelganger---whatever. Talked to him at last. He uttered 3 words: WHO AM I ?
I told Sebastian he's a prince from an obscure distant kingdom in some ghastly underworld. He just stared back at me as if I'm a mad alien from Pluto.... Later when I dragged him to the beach for a little afternoon swim, I felt him had a brief but delightful "stiffy". I remember him from 10 years ago, when we were crazy in love and rooming together in college; he a senior and I, a naive freshman with an incredible libido. I can't really fathom why we drifted apart suddenly; our lives going to separate directions and then converging again quite recently. It's funny how our old flaming passion for one another vanished completely and a new cool detachment and indifference took shape. Maybe it's all that wild sex back in college. Ooops! I shan't discuss that sordid chapter of my life here. Sorry folks.
Kai said he heard a helicopter hovering from somewhere. He went out to investigate. Here's my chance. I could follow him. Should I?
I'm catatonic. I'm too paralized with disbelief. This can't be happening at last. WE'RE GOING HOME! God,
why do I feel this way? Like I'm a huge whirlwind of various emotions bottled in a tiny jar and I don't know if
I'm going to explode or burst or simply evaporate quietly. But we're leaving this island. The helicopter is waiting
and they're dragging me aboard. Farewell, my island. Farewell, my mermaid of the pearls. Tata, aloha, sayonara.
Now what?