Betty Levin - Island Bound

C HRIS COULDNT BELIEVE IT . H ERE HE WAS, JUST sprung from school and ready to cut loose, and instead he was bound for Fowlers Island, where his best friends would leave him to spend his only full week of freedom in total isolation. He had better things to do before starting his summer job at the Harbor View Inn. He ought to have his head examined.

He glanced back at Ledgeport. If someone was going to stop them and ask where they thought they were going, it had to be now. But everyone on the waterfront was used to the three boys taking off like this on a Sunday. No one took any notice of them.

The small workboat wasnt designed for speed, but the boys could make it cover a lot of water. Of course they had to go slow and easy until they were clear of the harbor. But as soon as they headed into Grace Narrows, nothing but the old one-lunger engine could hold them back. Letting go like that usually made Chris feel good. But not today.

It had started last fall with the kind of boasting that so easily sets a trap. Even with three town boys against one from away, Chris and Andy and Eric had felt pressed to challenge Gary. And all because Gary had returned to his summer home bragging about the two nights he had spent alone on Brimstone Island.

Anyone could do that, the town boys had retorted. They didnt need survival training either. Look at all the times Chris stayed out on one of the islands with his father tending sheep. Anyway, Brimstone was small. No one had ever lived on it in bygone days, so you wouldnt meet up with old ghosts and that.

Ghosts? They believed in ghosts? Gary had laughed and laughed.

So one of them had mentioned the light that used to be seen on Fowlers Island on certain moonlit nights. Not the signal from the lighthouse that marked the treacherous ledges of the outer islands, but a low, faint flicker like a candle flame. Most of the old-timers hereabouts had glimpsed it at least once. Or else they knew someone who had. Anyway, they believed it, even if they didnt all agree on what caused it or what it signified. Try staying way out on that island.

Gary had shrugged. He figured it was a lot easier spending a couple of nights on a big island where people used to live than on a wild, uninhabited island where you could hear the sea all around you no matter where you unrolled your sleeping bag. Besides, if a storm came up, there was always that lighthouse for shelter.

The lighthouse was out of bounds, the town boys replied. Anyway, its downstairs room was usually full of dead birds and bird crap. And maybe something else.

Gary had laughed again. None of that bothered him any. If one of the town boys went out there alone, he would, too. After all, he had made it through survival camp and passed his solo island experience. He knew about marking eggs in a nest to find out which were newly laid. He knew how to grind up burdock roots and which plants were edible raw.

He didnt think hed have any trouble getting permission from his folks to spend a few days on an island with a lighthouse. He assumed there would be a well. A gallon of water would be enough for a day or two, but not if a person stayed much longer. And theyd have to agree to certain rules, like no food handouts from outsiders and no raiding lobster traps, and only one box of matches. Hed go a day longer than any one of them on that island. No sweat.

Andy and Eric and Chris had each planned to be the one to outsurvive Gary until it became clear that no ones family would put up with any such nonsense.

Then at New Years Chriss parents had won the prize of a lifetime. The New England Association of Sheep Breeders had awarded them a three-week sheep tour in New Zealand. They put off the trip until early June, when the home farm chores were least demanding.

Grandad moved in with Chris, who made sure that things were going smoothly before proposing to take the week off.

On Fowlers Island? Grandad didnt like that idea, not one bit.

Chris hadnt actually lied to convince him, but he did have to point out that it wasnt all that different from his being out there with Dad when they sheared the island sheep. Nor did Chris mention not bringing food. And he had to promise that his friends would check up on him and report back to Grandad.

Since Gary hadnt yet arrived for the summer, the town boys just assumed that he would agree to this. To be fair, everything would have to be the same for Gary, and Chris would provide him with a map or description of the island.

Dont forget, Andy remarked as he cut the engine and coasted up to a rocky outcrop below the beach, even if someone shows up, you keep away from them. No help. Unless, he added, youre in trouble.

I wont be, Chris said, tossing the rope onto high ground. He shrugged his backpack up his shoulder, stepped out on rockweed, and sank to his ankles in the frigid water. Andy and Eric laughed. Chris laughed, too, to keep from yelping. Hoisting his water jug and sleeping bag, he splashed shoreward.

The one-lunger revved up, making its usual racket. Chris turned to watch them go. Eric shouted something that must have been pretty funny because both boys doubled over laughing. The boat rocked as it backed off.

Chris could only grin. He wouldnt let them see how he felt, even though it had nothing to do with fear or being spooked. It was more like being shot into space. And it seemed connected to a feeling he had brought with him from the mainland. Grandads misgivings? But Chris knew this island too well to let an old mans superstitions bug him. He had outgrown all the family lore that formed the bedrock of Grandads convictions.

Chriss parents used to try to stop Grandad from filling Chriss head full of rubbish about ghost girls and island jinxes and strange, flickering lights. Once when they were out on Spars Island visiting Grandad and he had mentioned a sighting, Mom and Dad had tried to kid him out of it by asking if he thought it was a UFO. Grandad didnt even know what that meant. So they got serious and told him it could be like that smuggling case a few years back. Maybe someone was bringing stuff ashore, even stashing it in the lighthouse and signaling for it to be picked up.

Maybe, Grandad had agreed.

Mom and Dad had gone out then. They hadnt heard Grandad murmur under his breath, Or maybe not. They hadnt seen him fix Chris with a hard look, not defiant exactly but purposeful. Let them believe whatever they want, that look told Chris.

Of course that had happened way back when Chris was a believer, too.

J OELLEN LUGGED ONE OF HER FATHERS BAGS OF GEAR down the ramp. It bumped from tread to tread like a stubborn child holding back.

Hey, Josie, no! Dad called up from the cockpit. That should be carried. Abbie can give you a hand with it.

Joellen stopped mid-ramp and waited. Nothing in the world would make her ask Abbie for help. Her father picked up a carton of canned food and disappeared inside the cabin. He and Mom used to stow the supplies together. Now Dad did it all. Abbie was still learning where things went and seemed unsure of herself, especially when she knew she was being watched. Joellen kind of guessed that if she wanted to, she could make Abbie extremely uncomfortable.

Getting ready to go on one of Dads bird projects used to be fun. But this year he was anxious and tense. He had already been out on Fowlers Island in March to set things up. Now he was about to find out whether all his planning and work, which had begun five years ago with Mom and had continued up until last year, had succeeded.

Joellen had objected as soon as she had learned that Abbie would be with them the whole time. This was supposed to be vacation time with Dad.

You know Abbies living with me now, Dad had said.