45. Limey
Chapter 45
Limey
Zane
“ D o you want to hold it?” Haley looks up at me. The gray, brown, and white bundle of fur and claws squirms in her arms.
“I’ll hold your pussy.” I wink at her.
Dante groans from next to the fire. We already had this conversation when I found the tiny thing. I know Americans call a fanny a pussy. And to them a fanny means butt. I’m not daft. We already went a round when I brought the wee thing onto the beach.
“Hey, Easton!” I wave him over. “Where the hell have you been?”
He jogs over. “I was in the... Where’s Calvin?” He cranes his neck around the beach.
“I’ve got no clue. I thought he was with you.” I’m staring at the little kitten Haley’s holding. I’m pretty sure she’s never going to let it walk again.
“Um, yeah. He was, but when I woke up, he was gone. I thought he’d have come back here.” Easton runs his hand through his hair. That’s when I notice the shirt wrapped around his hand.
“You good?” I point at the makeshift bandage.
“I cut my hand on some rocks. But it’s nothing like what happened to you. Man, I’m sorry for any part I played in that.”
“I’m doing good. It stings, but only when I move it. I’m not even limping. Taking it easy today is the plan. At least as easy as I can while looking for firewood, keeping the fire going, and foraging for food. That’s how I found...” I wave at Haley holding the kitten. “Found it in the weeds up in the clearing.”
“Fluffy? No, Muffin? Do you look like a Muffin?” Haley holds the Siamese-like kitten close to her chest. When she turns it around to show it to Easton, it’s crazy how blue the little thing’s eyes are, almost as blue as Haley’s.
Easton puts his hand on her shoulder. “Oh, it’s super cute.” He reaches down.
“Don’t,” Haley calls out, but the tiny little thing hisses and spits at him.
“It’s feral. Seems to only like Haley,” I tell him.
“That goes for a lot of us around here.” Dante looks up from where he is tending the fire.
“Where do you think Calvin could be?” Haley asks.
“I’m guessing he went out exploring again. Maybe at the top of the mountain.” Easton looks off to the jungle. You can’t see much of the mountain from our beach, but you can make it out really well from the top of the big tree. Not that I’m climbing up to the top of it anytime soon. Not with the stinging in my foot.
“What did you do to your hand?” Haley reaches for me.
“It’s no big deal. A little scratch.”
I glare at him. “Clean it up. The supplies are over there.” I point at the kit near the firepit.
“What happened here?” Easton asks, surveying the raft and the roof hanging over the side of the large log.
Haley looks up from the demonic fuzzball. “Well, I got a little carried away. I pulled on the ropes.”
I glance between her and Dante. It made for one complicated night, but we got through it. And it was worth it. Seeing her shatter the way she did was worth it. I woke and Dante had his hand around Little Bird’s throat. She liked it. Fuck, I’ll remember the look on her face for a really, really long time. Then the water soaking all of us was shocking.
“Is it fixable?” Easton stares at the raft.
“Sure, maybe,” I say. “We’re keeping the top off to let it dry out. But the thing is, do we want it to be? I don’t know about you, but I’m sure as shit tired of living with sand in my butt crack. We need to build something. We have the fishing boat now. But this is almost a sign that it’s time to get some proper shelter.” I know Calvin will agree with me. He’s been down on the chances of being rescued ever since we landed on the island. I’m sure we can get him on board.
“What do you have in mind?” Dante looks up at me.
“Something out of the way of the boars—away from the sand,” I add.
“With good airflow.” Easton nods. There’s something going on with him.
“You didn’t get into another fight with Calvin, did you?” I glance at my foot.
“Fuck no. I don’t know where he is.” Easton shook his head. “Actually, I think we’re good now. As good as anyone can be with him. I think?” He takes a step closer to Haley.
“That’s great, Easton.” She looks up from the kitten. “Where do you think its mother is?” Haley turns to me.
“I’m sure it’s around here somewhere.” Easton tries to scratch the little demon’s head again, and it hisses.
“Shh. Don’t do that, Whiskers. Easton is a friend. No, that doesn’t feel right, either.” Haley rubs it behind its ear.
“Ah, she’s finally figured it out about you, Easton. You’re not a friend,” Dante says
“You shh, both of you. I was talking about Tiger. Nope, not Tiger.” She walks away shaking her head, taking the kitten down to the area right before the surf. When she puts it on the sand, it sits next to her, looks up and then plops down between her feet, curling itself into a ball.
“What sort of structure do you want to build?” Easton’s eyes follow Haley. Mine too.
“A treehouse,” I say. “The bugs are getting to me in the sand. And in the jungle, it gets too hot. But sitting in the top of the map tree, it’s almost...”
“Pleasant?” Easton suggests.
“I was gonna say not hellish, but pleasant works. I’ve got ideas.” I sit on one of the bigger logs near Dante and stretch out my leg, slowly, ignoring the little twinge in the top of my foot. Subconsciously, I wiggle my toes. Everything still works. “Right, ideas. The map tree is big, but there are two normal-sized large trees.”
“Normal-sized large trees?” Easton crouches next to me like a yoga instructor.
“Yeah, you know, like you and Dante are normal tall and Calvin is...” I give a shrug.
“I think I know what you’re talking about.” Easton takes a twig from the woodpile and starts drawing. “This one here. And the other one is a little farther away, over here?” He draws x ’s next to the large circle. “There’s another one over here.” He points across the path, and Dante marks it.
“Fuck, I didn’t think about it, but you’re right. There’s no reason why we can’t cross the path. We can make a new path, or if it’s high enough up, it won’t matter,” I say.
Dante pulls up next to me and sits. “What about this stove you’re so excited about?” What Dante means to say is the stove he’s so excited about. He hasn’t stopped talking about it all morning. That and smiling, but then again, I get the smiling. Still, it’s a bit creepy. At least his sarcasm level has dropped.
“Yeah, well, we can have a kitchen down below. Near the trunk. If it’s cold, we can stay down below around the stove.” It sounds good. I can see all the little details we can build. I’ve even stared at the branches of the trees enough to know we’ll be able to connect them. I can envision it down to the last detail. When Easton mentioned the tree across the path, my brain cracked and the drawing in my head shifted over. Some of the new details are blurry, but I know they’ll come together. They always do when I draw a sketch. I cup my hands around my mouth. “Haley, can you and the demon watch the fire? I want to take Easton and Dante over to the map tree.”
She waves back with a big thumbs-up. “Don’t call Snuggles a demon.”
I give a thumbs-up back, and we head over to the map tree.
“See that branch? That one is big enough for a small platform, but if we join it to that tree, it will distribute the weight.”
“That’s a great idea.” Easton’s nodding right along with me. But Dante’s leaning against the big tree.
“What?” I cock my head at him.
“You ever build anything?”
“No.” I put my hands on my hips. “No, the kid who grew up in an apartment in the Midlands didn’t have a chance to build much but a little dollhouse for his sister. But I’ve been reading architecture books forever. You think you can do any better?”
“Unfortunately, yes. My dad wasn’t around, but my mom’s brother owned a construction company. I had to work with him all summer and most days after school. It’s fucking why I’m a chef. I got a job as a dishwasher at thirteen. It paid under the table. So much fucking better than having to pick up soda cans and cigarette butts from the construction site.”
“What did you learn? You were a fucking thirteen-year-old when you started working in the restaurant. How the hell are you going to know anything about construction?”
“Oh, I didn’t stop working with him just because I got another job. Fuck no, that asshole wouldn’t take that as an excuse. But I didn’t have to go as often because I had a job, even though the asshole took some of my salary from it. We were living in an apartment building he owned. Correction, a rundown piece of shit he owned. Still, he thought he needed to punish his youngest sister for getting knocked up by the wrong guy. Dear old Dad. He had worked for my uncle for a year. Long enough for my mother to end up with my sister and me. She’s eleven months younger than me. Then he split with 100k of my uncle’s money and his truck. The best thing I ever did was pay my asshole uncle off and move my mom and sister the hell out of the place.” Dante scrubs his hand over his face.
I know exactly what he’s thinking. Who’s going to take care of them now?
He shakes his head and pushes off the trunk. “This will work. We just need to be careful not to kill the trees in the process. Supporting the limbs and keeping the weight balanced is crucial. All without a hell of a lot of supplies.”
“I should show you the fishing boat.” Easton puts his hand on Dante’s shoulder, and Dante stares at it. “Right. Do you want to see it or not?”
“Hell yeah I do.” Dante follows Easton down the path.
“You coming?” Easton turns back to trail.
“No, I’ll stay and keep an eye on Haley and the fire. Let my foot have a little time to rest.”
They wave, and I spend some time staring at the jungle. Fuck, Dante and I aren’t that different. He has his sister and his mum. I have my sister and my mum. Granted, my dad wasn’t a thief—just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I should get back.
When I do, Haley has the kitten in the raft. She’s drying the rubber creases down with one of the sponges. “Hey, do you want to help me get the roof back on?” she calls to me.
I look over my shoulder at the jungle, but it’s still going to be there after we get the raft set back up. I’m a full believer that Easton is right. I don’t want to sleep on the plastic anymore, feeling it move every time someone rolls over. Sure, it’s like sleeping on an air mattress. An air mattress with a two-year-old and a box of biscuits. “Let’s get this done.”
“It’s not going to be fun.” Haley pulls the ropes down over one side as I hold it on the other, and it pops off like it’s the wrong size lid on a takeaway container. The plastic of the raft is showing some age. Just like we all are.
“We need a new plan of attack.” I’m practically growling the third time the roof comes unseated.
“Yeah, we do. You go on the inside.” Haley points.
“With the demon kitten?”
“You’re my big strong man. I think you’ll survive, my love.”
Fuck, I roll over the entrance into the raft with the little fuzzball who is running around and bounding off the sidewalls. It sees me and gives a hiss but then turns back to bat at the tassels of one of the cushions. I can’t help but smile. It’s such a normal cat thing, a normal home thing. Cats chasing tassels. My heart squeezes.
“Do you have it?” Haley asks.
“One minute.” I pull the plastic roofing taut. “Yeah.”
“Great, that worked. Let’s do the other sides.” She lifts the unconnected bit of the roof and smiles at me. “How’s Mr. Nibbles?”
“Well, he’s a she, and I don’t think that’s a good name to give a demon kitten. She might take it to heart and nibble us to death in the middle of the night.”
“She would never.” Haley gives her best shocked voice. “She’s a good kitten.”
“You’re a good kitten.”
She clears her throat, and I picture the blush on her cheeks I can’t see. “Sorry if we woke you up. Well, I know we woke you up when the water flooded the raft. But the before part.”
“Never be sorry for waking me up like that, Haley.”
She moves down the side of the raft.
“Pull tighter.”
“Got it. Two down, two to go. I sound like a football announcer.” She laughs.
“An American football announcer.”
“What’s your favorite team?”
“Which type of football?”
“Both.”
“Right, well, I guess the Ravens.”
“You’re just saying that because you know I’m from Maryland.”
“You got me. But my favorite club is Aston Villa. Man, there is nothing better than going to the pitch with all your mates. It’s brilliant. I fucking love it. We get tickets in the standing zone. A couple of pints before the match. Damn, I miss them.” I tap the side of the roof. “This one’s good.”
The last one is a lot tougher to get back into position. The sun has tightened it to where it’s almost impossible. But twenty minutes, a half dozen curse words, and a bucket of sweat later, it’s back in place.
I crawl out of the raft as Calvin comes in sight from down the beach at the edge of the jungle. His arms are loaded with fruit and coconuts.
“Calvin!” Haley jumps up and races after him.
The devil cat jumps but misses the edge of the raft, bouncing back in. “Come here, you monster.” It hisses but comes to me and jumps into my arms—claws fully extended. It nestles at the corner of my neck.
“Where were you?” Haley takes a bunch of coconuts from the pile in his arms.
Calvin glares at me as the devil spawn eats my ear, then looks back at Haley. “The island isn’t what we thought.”