Castaway

Jeff awoke to the simultaneous challenges of sunlight as it beamed onto his face through the loosely woven thatch and the vibration of the ground he slept on. He lay still while he tried to gauge if the tremors were more severe than before. Rolling onto his hands and knees he managed to stand as yet another, stronger quake passed. Like advancing labor contractions, they were closer together and stronger. He emerged from the makeshift shelter to be greeted by the sight of a cloudless sunny day and a towering column of smoke that billowed upwards in frantic turmoil. The volcano at the other end of the small island was about to erupt. Based on the intensity of the smoke and earthquakes it would probably explode, taking the entire island apart with its fury.

“Damn” he muttered.

He turned his gaze to review his progress on the raft. Scavenged parts from the wreck on the reef were laid into a grid that was partially lashed together with palm frond fibers twisted into cord. “No mast, no sail, no shelter. We aren’t going to make it” he assessed aloud. He began to shiver.

***

Once Julia made it perfectly clear that she was done and the divorce went through, he thought some time alone to lick his wounds in private made sense. A solo trip around the world seemed like a cool, romantic adventure, after the drama of an affair discovered, the explosive outcry and publicity that surrounded his public shaming as the proceedings dragged on. Julia exacted her revenge by taking everything but the boat. He sailed on the midnight tide the same day the decree was final.

Things went well the first three weeks, until a storm took out his main mast, and the radio. He managed to fix a sail to the remaining rigging and limped along. It wasn’t until hours later - when the sun finally set on his right instead of ahead of him - that he realized the GPS system had been damaged; he’d sailed miles away from his intended course. He never saw the low white line of surf that marked the reef at high tide. When the ship struck, he was thrown clear with no life vest. He was barely able to make the beach.

***

“DAMN GPS” he shouted to the cloudless sky as the strongest tremor yet struck. He heard a loud bang behind him and turned in time to watch the rest of his yacht slide from the reef where it had been impaled and sink into deep water.

“No way it would fall inside the lagoon” he fumed. “Not where I’d have a chance to salvage more stuff.”

There was a loud rumble from the volcano and moments later the ground shook so hard Jeff fell down. He got up and ran back to the shelter. He was frantically gathering supplies when he realized that anything he could do was futile.

Resigned, he walked back down the sand to the water’s edge where he sat down and leaned back on his elbows. He watched the tide roll up to wash his calloused heels while he waited.