you
would ever want to be."
Monsoon ? The seriousness of her
situation dawned upon her as she stared into the distant sky
shadowed by black sheets of rain and sparkling with lightning.
"Do we have enough supplies?" she whispered,
as he began to pull her back towards their camp.
"What the hell do you think I've been doing
these last six-plus hours while looking for you? Close the water
bags and replace them, while I go back down to the beach and get
the traps," Griffon barked, shoving her towards the shelter. "If I
am not back, start weaving more palm fronds for covering."
"Griffon? I'm really sorry," Jade said, as he
turned to go.
"You certainly should be. If not now, then
when I am done with you."
Jade gulped as he stomped away. The wind was
beginning to pick up again, and she felt her heart pounding. She
had been caught in a tropical monsoon once before. She and her
father had been visiting a friend of his who was stationed in
Okinawa, and the storm struck without warning one afternoon. Flap
jackets were required if they were outside the buildings; the winds
were strong enough to blow them down. She recalled standing by the
window and watching a small car being flipped onto its side. She
had stared, dumbfounded, just before being shoved out of the way so
that the window could be boarded.
Terror ripped through her as she quickly tied
up the trash bags that had collected rainwater and set new ones in
their place. She stoked the fire and wrinkled her nose as she
turned the skewered sea cucumbers that Griffon had slowly smoking
over the embers in the smoking hut he had made. Jade glanced
nervously at the path that led to camp as she started stringing
fresh limes on a small vine to hang from the shelter's supports
next to other fruit, smoked fish, and baby green coconuts. Wisely
keeping her comments to herself, she then restacked the pile of
small yams they had dug up from an open field near the campsite.
She was peeling the outer bark off the top of a small palm to get
to the sweet, crunchy heart when Griffon returned.
The two parrotfish flipped on the end of his
spear, and he had something else in his hand. Jade wrinkled her
nose as he tossed a medium-sized octopus on the flat rock that they
used as a table. He glanced around the camp. His expression
indicated that he had noticed her work, but he said nothing as he
set about cleaning the catch, securing four tentacles to a green
stick to roast, arranging the others in the smoker. Jade bit her
lip, watching him out of the corner of her eye as she began to
silently braid two palm leaves together like he had shown her. His
back muscles rippled as he tore the outer skin off the 'head' and
chopped the white, chewy meat into small steaks. He cubed one of
them and placed the meat in a large clamshell with lime juice and
chunks of coconut and set it aside.
"Are we going to cook that?" Jade asked,
timidly.
"The acid from the lime juice does that
chemically," Griffon responded coldly.
"Oh," Jade said. "I bet it's good."
"It serves it purpose," Griffon muttered.
"Get inside before it starts to blow out here."
"The smoker …"
"It's protected by the rocks around it. I
just need to keep adding wood." Griffon's response was cool and
indifferent. Jade swallowed, unsure of what to do, except stay
quiet.
Uncomfortable silence flooded the shelter as
the rain began to beat in a heavy, natural rhythm around them. Jade
shifted on her naked backside, the scratchy bedding of grass and
palm leaves reminding her of Griffon's threat. With a sigh, she put
her project down and crawled next to him. Her need for physical
comfort grew more pronounced as the wind whistled through the
branches and a strong breeze blew through the shelter.
"I really am sorry. I honestly didn't
consider that you would care," she said softly, leaning her chin on
his arm.
He pulled away from her. "Why wouldn't I
care? Haven't I been busting my back to make sure that we have a
safe place to hole up and plenty of
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