She stares at me for a moment and then nods. Goes back to scribbling about her peril.
Jeez Louise. I don’t know what it is about Lacey. Just when I think there’s no more excess baggage between us, she finds even more. There’s an endless supply of angst and resentment. Are all sibling relationships this complicated, or did I get handed a doozy?
“We are men,” Richard announces as he and Tai walk toward us. Richard has the rod and a peachy silver fish at the end of it. He pounds his chest with one hand. “We bring food for you women.”
I want to roll my eyes, but he is bringing food for us women, so I rein it in. Better this than his Star Trek talk.
“Right on time,” Tai says, shielding his eyes from the sun as he looks across the lagoon where Fred is coming back with his dinghy. “You’d swear that guy has a sixth sense for food and booze.”
But as Fred gets closer, his expression is grim.
Something in my stomach drops.
Shit.
I exchange a worried glance with Tai, not liking the look of this.
“Castaways,” Fred addresses us, getting out of the boat. Tai runs over to help him haul it up on the beach. “I’m afraid I have some bad news.”
I swallow hard. I knew it.
He looks off to the west. “Seems another weather system is moving in overnight. Things are going to get pretty rough for us.”
“What do you mean?” I ask. “Are we in danger?”
“Not really,” he says, and I relax slightly. “This is a fairly good location. I have to say mine is better though. It’s facing the east lagoon, more protected from the waves, less currents. I think it would be best if we all moved over there at some point today. Just till the storm passes.”
“Sure,” Lacey says. “I mean, that’s not the best news, but we’ll make it work.”
“Oh, beg ya pardon,” Fred says, taking off his ball cap and holding it between his hands. “That wasn’t the bad news. Though I suppose it was part of the bad news.”
“What’s the bad news, Fred?” Tai asks gravely.
For a moment I expect him to tell me his goat died, but then I notice Wilson off in the distance. I have to admit, I’m kind of relieved, even though he still has the vibrator.
“They’re not coming,” Fred says.
Okay, that relief was short-lived.
“What do you mean they’re not coming?” Lacey asks. “You mean rescue?”
He nods. “The storm sure done and messed things up for us.”
“They’re coming after the storm passes, though,” I say. “Right?”
Right?
“Oh, for sure,” he says. “Don’t worry your pretty red head over that.” He hesitates. “It’ll just be in a few weeks from now.”
“A few weeks!” I exclaim.
“You’re kidding me!” Lacey cries out.
“Afraid not. The storm messed up their schedule and the availability of their planes. Believe me, I’m just as disappointed as you are.”
No you’re not, I can’t help but think. You have your goat, and now you have us.
I’m starting to feel like whatever hope and good thoughts I had lately were just an illusion. I kept telling myself it would be over soon, that I needed to make it through one more day. I focused on the positive because there was an end in sight. I didn’t let myself get too sucked in to anything negative because I had a feeling that’s where I’d stay.
Now I feel like the rug has been yanked out from under me and I’m falling. No happy hopeful feelings to keep me up anymore. No inner buoyancy to keep me afloat.
We’re really fucking stuck here.
And what if they don’t come in two weeks?
What if it gets pushed back and back?
What if something awful happens to us in the meantime? What if someone gets attacked by a shark? Or gets sick and can’t get medicine? What if I slipped on the rocks at the waterfall and split open my head? Who is going to help us?
I turn away from everyone, throw my head back to the sky and I scream.
“FUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!”
I mean, I am having an out-of-body experience right now, there’s no other way to describe it. All the feelings I’ve pushed aside, all to try and keep a positive frame of mind are now coming out of me like a rushing torrent of despair and rage.
“Fuck, fuck, FUCK!” The words just rip right out of me.
“Daisy,” I hear Tai whisper, and then feel his arms around me. “It’s okay.”
I yank myself out of his grasp, staring at him, staring at everyone else. They’re all in shock, maybe because of the situation, maybe because I am finally losing my mind.
“It’s not okay! You just heard what Fred said! We’re stuck here for another few weeks. And then what happens after that? Another few weeks more? And more?”
“It’s not going to be like that,” Fred says calmly. “I promise you.”