“Now that I think about it…I realize that this is going to be…very…challenging.” She was right, on that account, but honestly I wasn’t sure what was going to be more complicated…constructing these shelters…or dealing with AJ and Kris’ fighting. “How far do you think they need to be, of the ground? And how the heck are we going to actually get them off the ground?”
“I’d say a couple feet up, maybe? But um…as for the ‘how’ part…I’m not real sure. Do you have any ideas? We’ll probably have to try a few different concepts before we find one that will work.” I stood there, looking over the area, trying to think of something we could do…what we could use…how we would pull this off…and I was getting no where. We didn’t have nails or screws and there were no tools, except the ones we could fashion out of what nature provided for us…it was going to be challenging, to say the least.
“Hm. Maybe we could use vines and banana leaves to make hammocks? That should be fairly easy. But would they be strong enough?” Her head tilted as she started to tie a couple vines together, before tugging on them as hard as she could.
“Don’t pop a blood vessel, there, darlin’. We don’t have an ER nearby.” I couldn’t help but poke fun at her and something told me that she wasn’t the type to just take it, either. She dropped her arms, for a brief moment…the vines, at her side, were still intact and didn’t look like they even made a budge. This was a good sign that they might just work how we need them to.
“Don’t start with me, gramps.” The cutest playful grin graced her lips as she lightly whipped my leg, with the end of the vine she was working with. “I’m not the one who’s gonna break my hip, getting out of my improvised bed, in the morning. You’re old AND short…it’s a double curse.” Just as I predicted, she started cracking up, at her own smart ass comments. Well…two can play at this game!
“Look here…shrimp…you’re shorter than me, so you really shouldn’t make cracks at my height!” Like a little kid, I stuck my tongue out at her, egging her on. It worked too. Before I knew it, we were taking cracks at each other, as we tried braiding and tying the vines into hammock-like structures. We started with four long, thick braids going lengthwise and were attempting to make them stay separated, to form the basic shape of a hammock.
“Ooooo! You sure talk like you have a lot of balls, Howie. Judging by how high you sing, I could have sworn you had lost yours.” Now she was taking a stab at my singing?! Oh no, no, no! It was on, now! My fingers kept working at knotting the vines, as I glared at her and my mind swirled to come up with my next comment.
“I suppose I should expect a midget, such as yourself, to hit that low, huh?” A smirk played over my lips and my eyes narrowed, knowing that she’d have something to shoot back, at me.
“At least something around here is low…unlike your voice.” Now we were both cracking up, as I whacked at her with one of the palm leaves and nearly lost it when her hair got caught on the end, of it. We were laughing, so hard, that it was difficult to try getting her hair freed.
While we tried to calm ourselves down, there was a bit of silence and we both focused on the task, for a bit. It was looking like this hammock idea would work. Actually…it better work, because we already had a good hour into this and it would be a lot of wasted time, if it failed. We had a rough design, made up of braided vines, and were trying to figure out how to use the palm leaves as bedding, for it.
“My voice isn’t that bad, you know! At least I don’t sound like I have a stuffy nose, like Nick does.” I couldn’t stay silent anymore, even though it had been a comfortable one. Shaking my head, I tried to remember any other time that I had really goofed off, with a fan, like this. I mean…to be actually teasing each other and calling names? Fans rarely ever say anything mean to us…well…at least not to our faces…the internet is a completely different story. I’m not getting into that, right now, though. As a matter of fact, I like to forget about those comments all together.
“That may be…but Nick doesn’t have an eye twitch.” Ah yes…everyone has to take cracks at my wink. I should have seen that one coming…maybe the silence was the better option? Nah. I was actually having a lot of fun, bantering with Resa. She was funny and had a sweetness, to her, that I didn’t expect. But, now I had to get dirty. The way she seems to look at me, hasn’t gone unnoticed…and if I had to guess…I’d say that I’m one of her favorite, in the group…so…
“Yeah…but you like my eye twitch!” I couldn’t help myself…I winked at her…and once I saw the light tint of pink creep up, on to her cheeks, I knew I was right. “HA! You do like it!” Mhm. I knew it. All the girls make cracks about that wink…but it turns half of them into putty. I’m not trying to sound full of myself…honestly, I don’t know why it does…but it does, and it’s a fact.
“Ok…time out…let’s get this thing off the ground.” Admittedly, this hammock doesn’t look half bad! I’d say we did a pretty darn good job, constructing this thing. It was surely big enough for any one of us…it looked pretty sturdy…and hopefully it wouldn’t be torture to sleep on. Now it was time to try getting this make shift hammock hung up and tied, between a couple trees. I wasn’t really sure, just yet, how well this was really going to work…but in theory, it should do the trick. She was right, though, we needed to quit fooling around for a bit and put our full attention to this project. We couldn’t risk making silly mistakes, just because we weren’t focused enough.
“Just hold your end steady, Resa. I’ll tie up this side…” With my brows knitted in the center and my bottom lip pulled between my teeth, my fingers worked at trying to get the sturdiest, tightest knot that I possible could. “…then I’ll come over and help you get yours.” Surely she would need help to pull it tight, keep it level, and tie it.
“That looks great, Howie. Can you get the knot tight?” Bingo! One side up and secure! My hopes were really getting high, now, that this was actually going to hold up! Hard work, determination, and a bit of brainstorming can get you a long way.
“Yep. I got it.” Giving her a grin, I came up behind her and helped her with her end. Less than five minutes passed, and we were stepping back, to take in the looks of our creation. “That’s not half bad, if I do say so myself. Want me to try it out…that way if it doesn’t hold, it’s my butt that meets the sand?”
“Go for it. Just be careful, though. Like you said…we don’t have an ER nearby.” That playful glint was back in her eyes, as I took a deep breath and eased my butt into the hammock. So far, so good. “Easy now. Take it slow.”
“It seems pretty sturdy, Resa. By golly, I think we have a successful hammock here.” Slowly, and carefully I leaned back into it, lifting one leg up. “Here we go…the real test…” One…two…three…last leg up…lay down…IT’S HOLDING! “It’s holding! We did it!”
“Woohoo! Oh yeah!” Punching a fist in the air, she shook her butt a little bit and danced around in a circle. I had to admit that I was rather excited, as well…until I went to sit up and a loud creaking filled the air. “HOWIE!!!”
“AAAAAAAH!” Yes…I screamed like a little school girl as the tree splintered at the base, coming down onto me. Son of a…I was stuck…seriously…stuck. “Help me!”
“Oh my gosh, Howie!” I think she was by my side before I even got done asking her to help me. Looking back, in hindsight, perhaps we should have chosen our trees more carefully. Now I’m tangled up in a shredded hammock…I have a vine wrapped around my ankle, cutting of the circulation…I have a tree on top of me…and I’m pretty sure I broke, or fractured, my wrist. Wonderful!
“Push on it!” After several attempts, Resa and I were able to get the tree off me and get me untangled from the remains of our hammock. Although this really sucked, I was very happy that it was me and not her. I would have felt horrible, had she gotten hurt. Luckily, upon further inspection, I could tell that my wrist really wasn’t broken…probably just a bad sprain…but it hurt like you know what! Needless to say, we took a break from the project, so that I could recover. Just for the record…if you’re gonna hang a hammock…bought or hand made…you better make sure the tree isn’t half rotted. Yeah…we totally had a stroke of genius when we decided to mount this thing to a tree that was already leaning over because of the trunk rotting. Wow, we’re smart.
Several hours later, though…just as the last light, of the sun, was fading…we had successfully gotten three hammocks constructed and off the ground. The half moon was rising in the sky, shedding a bright, yet soft glow, around us when I sat down, by the fire. My entire body was aching from exhaustion, and I could tell that Resa was pretty drained, too, as she walked over to AJ. We really did put a lot of effort into those darnn hammocks. Hopefully it didn’t rain, since we hadn’t gotten to make roofs or anything over them, for protection. But no rain means the bugs will be out. So I guess, either way, it was still going to be an uncomfortable night, to sleep.
Zoning out, a bit, my mind started to twist. I could seriously kick myself for not listening to AJ’s little vision. I wonder if he’s had any more. It’d be nice if we knew, ahead of time, that there was a ship or something, coming our way. How would we flag someone down, anyways? Perhaps we should think about that, first thing, in the morning.
Looking up, I saw Resa and AJ talking…and Resa looked pretty irritated. By the sounds of it…she was badgering him about the whereabouts, of Kris. I could tell, by the look on his face that he had something to do with the fact that she wasn’t back yet. Worry dripped from Resa’s voice as she continued to interrogate him about what he said or did, to her.
“What was the last thing you said to her, man?” After all these years, I should know better than to ask him a question, like this. It never leads to anything good and this time wouldn’t be any different.
“I um…I basically told her she was a psycho bitch…and that she should warn people about that.” Oh why did I ask? Immediately ducking my head, I busied myself by poking at the fire, knowing that this was not going to turn out well. At first, it was hard to block out the loud argument that ensued, but it became easier as I started to think about my family.
They always say that you don’t know what you’ve got, until it’s gone. In this case…I’m the one that’s gone…but with the extra time, to think about it, I realize that I really don’t spend enough time with the people I love. For heaven’s sake…the last time I saw my mom and siblings was…new years! I’d give anything, right now, to tell my mom that I love her. Or to give my dumb brother a hug.
Most of all…I’m missing my little boy, something fierce. Granted, his mother and I aren’t getting along the greatest, lately…let me rephrase that…to be blunt about it, our relationship has gone down the shitter. Don’t get me wrong…I do love the woman…in a way…but it’s more like…just loving her because she’s the mother of my child. It’s actually rather complicated…and it started right before we found out about James. Perfect timing, huh? Not that I regret James! Because I don’t! Not even a little bit!
It started out slowly…it was just little things, you know? I mean…I just started seeing her true colors, once the ‘newlywed’ stage was over. Maybe there was a reason that our relationship was ‘on again, off again’ for so long, before we got married. At one time, I thought I was just being petty and over analyzing things…I tend to do that, sometimes…but as the years keep passing, things just keep getting worse and now she’s just never happy. Nothing I do is ever good enough, anymore.
But I don’t want to dwell on the rockiness of my marriage…or that it’s quite possibly coming to a bitter end. I still have my baby boy…and he means everything to me. Watching him grow has been the most amazing thing, in life, for me…ever since the day he was born. Sure, I love what I do…the fans…and everything about being in the group…but I would give it all up, in a heart beat, for my son, if I had to. No questions asked…I would choose James. Maybe some people think that’s perfectly understandable while others may think I’ve lost my mind…to even consider giving up everything I have, just for my son…but I would. He’s my pride and joy, that’s for sure…he’s got my puppy dog eyes! The day before we left he…
“You’re the ass hole…YOU go find her!” Oye vey…they’re still going at it? I probably shouldn’t be surprised. Resa stalked over and plopped down beside me, yelling at AJ, as he started to storm off. “Oh hey…and one more thing McLean…”
Author's Chapter Notes:
Ready for a dose of the D man? I hope you guys like the chapter!
