25. Y2K and All is Well

December, 1999

Rick spent the next few days finishing all the odd jobs they'd discussed. He moved the tarps of their shelter to the end of the pergola that they planned to use some day as a dining area. He made the tent area smaller than they'd had before; they didn't need as much room now that their pallets abutted each other. This allowed better overlapping of the tarps, and he was able to support the 'roof' tarps more effectively.

He was then able to start clearing the path to the outhouse into a wider avenue. He built a hand rail that was waist high on both sides. He decided to take the time to lay a floor down along the path: since it was dirt, it was prone to becoming quite muddy after it rained. And it rained a lot.

The floor was made quickly, by making it modular. He simply took two lengths of bamboo, about five feet long, and tied them together by laying lengths of more bamboo, about two feet wide, across them like a train track. He used the x-gouge system to fit them together, and used some grass rope that Kate twisted for him to tightly bind it all together. He smeared the two long pieces with breadfruit sap, as they would be in direct contact with the mud. It wouldn't eliminate rot, but it would prolong their lifespan.

Since the pieces were modular, it was then quite simple to lay them along the path. If they ever needed to move the outhouse, they could move the path pieces as well. And as the pieces were all relatively short, he set up a little factory near the kitchen area to make them in bulk. It definitely beat the back-breaking labor that laying a floor directly in the mud would have been.

He was done a few days later. It was now a simple matter to walk to the outhouse from the future shelter. No lamp or light would be needed. He was very proud of his work; it wasn't something that improved their chances of survival, but it definitely made things easier to deal with. They were finally at a point where making life more comfortable was both possible and necessary.

Wandering back to the kitchen once he'd finished admiring his handiwork, he found Kate weaving more baskets under the pergola.

"All done. I think you'll really like it."

She looked up and smiled. God, he loved that smile. And doing things to earn it.

"Great. Thank you; the idea for making a bamboo path to keep out of the mud is something I'll definitely appreciate. I'm so tired of wet feet."

"The rainy season is usually over in March, but that still leaves a few months to deal with lots of mud and humidity."

"I can't wait," she sighed.

"So, when do you want to start our exploration trip?"

"Rick, if you're asking if I can leave Pereora, then the answer is today. I don't need to stick close to camp anymore. Thanks for being so understanding."

"It's no problem, Kate. Do you want to go today? It's still early."

"Actually, I thought we might take the canoe and go to the outer lagoon today. I made up a kind of picnic and gathered some things; we could have a dinner on the little beach out there. I was even thinking we might camp out there, celebrate a little bit."

Rick was puzzled. "What are we celebrating?"

"Surely you know what day it is?"

He did, just hadn't thought she'd want to do anything or acknowledge it in any way. It was so close to her mother's murder date.

"It's New Year's Eve."

"I didn't think you'd want to do anything," he cautioned, watching her for signs of distress. He didn't want her to feel obligated to do anything.

"I normally wouldn't, not with—well, you know," she trailed off, as he nodded sympathetically. "But it's an especially important New Year's Eve, isn't it?"

"It's the last day of the century, Kate." Couldn't help some of his boyish enthusiasm from coloring his words.

"I know. That's why I thought we might do something special."

"If we were in the real world, we'd be all worried about Y2K," he mused. "But there aren't any computers out here."

She laughed, the sound lifting his heart as usual. "No, we don't have to worry about the millennium bug here on a deserted island. Though I wonder what everyone is doing out in the big, wide world."

"Maybe it's a good thing we're here. Can you imagine if all the computers shut down like people are expecting? New York would be a nightmare."

She gave him a rueful look. "I doubt I'd care if I were in New York. I don't think I'd be celebrating anything about this New Year."

"Why is it different here?" He was frankly surprised she'd suggested the trip, let alone celebrating anything. He'd been anticipating that the coming days leading to January ninth would be especially difficult for her.

"Nothing on this island reminds me of my mom, or of my former life. And I'm with you; you make me feel safe. I'm sad and angry my mom is dead, but she wouldn't be here with me if she were still alive." She wiped a few tears from her eyes before continuing.

"For all we've been through, surviving everything we have, I think it's fitting that we celebrate the start of a new year together. Today just feels different to me, though I imagine this next week will be hard. Do you think that's okay?" she asked with a watery smile.

"Yeah Kate, I think it's okay. I didn't know your mom, but from what you've told me about her, I think she'd be really proud of you. How you've come through so much, when many people would have just given up. I'm sure she'll be there celebrating with us."

Kate couldn't speak, too many tears were rolling down her face after Rick's reminder that her mom was still with her in spirit, if not in person. She just nodded, hands covering her face.

"Ok, let's do it. The moon is waxing, so we should have enough room at high tide to be able to camp out," he interjected, trying to lighten the mood a bit. If nothing else, doing something so different for the coming night would help distract Kate from the specter of the coming date in January.

They took a few blankets, some of the baskets that Kate had finished, and food for their meals. A tarp, to use as a makeshift tent, would protect them from the inevitable rain at night and the empty bucket, to bring back any treasures that required water, rounded out their supplies.

They popped out of the channel in mid-afternoon. It was another sunny day, with a few fluffy clouds scudding across the blue sky. Looking around the vast ocean surrounding their island, Kate was once again disappointed to see nothing. No boat, no sign that anyone ever came near. They made their way quickly to the biggest beach. From their low position in the canoe, they could see no indication of their sign that they'd formed last visit. Deciding not to worry about it, Kate concentrated on enjoying the day with Rick.

Setting up camp beyond the high tide mark, Rick gathered rocks to make a fire ring while Kate smoothed out some sand to set up a tent structure. She went and found some suitable branches to use as poles, but they weren't going to put the tarp up until evening. She just hoped it didn't rain too hard tonight.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in the lagoon. Rick showed her the sea sponge clusters and how to pry them off the rocks where they were anchored. She gathered a dozen good sized sponges for personal use and for the kitchen.

Rick fished and spent some time looking for crabs. They'd brought some raw breadfruit for dinner, but planned to catch the rest of it. While looking for crabs, Rick found some rocks that were just out of the waves. He hadn't noticed them on the previous trip, but was delighted to find they were crusted with tiny crystals. Prying off a few chunks, he ran back to where Kate was exploring.

"Look what I've found," he exclaimed.

She looked at his outstretched hand, not sure what the small crystals were.

"What is it, Rick?"

"Taste it."

"No way."

"C'mon, Kate. Trust me, you'll like it."

She glared at him. It didn't look like something one should taste, but she was sure he wouldn't ask her to taste something awful. Pretty sure, anyway.

"What is it, Rick?" she repeated.

"Kate, just lick it," he whined. He could be such a baby sometimes.

"Fine, but if this makes me sick, you're in trouble."

"It won't make you sick, I promise."

Tentatively picking up one of the small crystals in his outstretched hand, she touched the tip of her tongue to it.

"I don't taste anything?"

"Just put the whole thing in there."

She decided to humor him and popped it in her mouth without any further discussion. A second later she had a huge smile on her face.

"Salt!"

He showed her the rocks and they spent some time prying off as much as they could.

"Is this what native people do for salt?"

"Well, I suppose some might, though it's pretty labor intensive. The crystals are so small. Most people make their own from seawater."

"Could we do that?"

"Sure, but it would take time. We'd need to fill several large buckets of salt water. You have to filter it, which we can do with a cloth, boil it and dry it. It's definitely a project that will take a few days to make a large quantity, but it would be worth the trouble. It'd be nice to have a little salt with the meals."

"Yeah, especially since I used up all the ship's supply preserving the dead chickens when we first left the ship."

"Well, that was very important at the time, but some seasoning for our cooking now would be great."

"You said it would take several days?"

"To make a decent quantity, yeah."

"How would we do that without having access to salt water at Pereora?"

"Well, that's a good question. If we get some large baskets completely waterproofed with our breadfruit sap, we could use them and the bucket to haul water in from the ocean. Or, we could take a few days at some point and come and camp on the beach."

"That might be nice. If we saw any ships or signs of people, we might be rescued."

"We could use the time while the salt is being prepared to fish and dry the fillets to preserve them. Then we'd have a good stock of protein, besides eggs."

"Well, that sounds like the best plan. When do you want to plan this big trip?" she teased. Obviously they weren't going far, but psychologically being away from their base camp made it seem like a journey of some distance.

"The moon is waxing now. Shall we wait until the waning moon in about two weeks?" He wasn't sure how she'd feel about that; it would be just after the anniversary of Johanna Beckett's murder.

"I think that would be fine, Rick," she said, slowly. Her eyes were cast down at the sand, reluctance easy to read in her hunched shoulders. She surprised him when she lifted her head to look directly into his eyes, sincerity pouring from them as she conveyed her next statement. "I'll need to get away for a bit, after. Since we can't go far, this might be the best place to be anyway."

"Are you sure you'll want to be stuck with me on such a small beach? There's nowhere to go if you want to get away."

"I'm not sure, but I think it will be what I need. If I have to go back, you'll understand?" She looked at him with such trust that all he could do was nod wordlessly. He'd do whatever she needed.

January, 2000

An uncomfortable night spent huddled under the insufficient tarp as rain deluged the spit of a beach eventually gave way to a bright dawn. They'd wanted to see in the New Year by staying up until midnight (or at least what they thought was midnight with Rick's watch. He wasn't sure it was still accurate.), but the rain had driven them under the tarp and they'd fallen asleep to the rhythmic pounding on the plastic that tried to protect them from the downpour.

It was certainly a very different New Year's Eve than Rick's typical celebration as an adult. No debauchery. Not even a kiss at midnight, since they were both asleep by then. Plus he wasn't going to push her, right now at least.

But, it wasn't his first quiet New Year's. He'd celebrated the year before in the South Pacific, having already left New York. He'd simply lost himself in a crowd in Papeete, then melted into the shadows after the clock struck twelve. He'd been at loose ends during those first few weeks here on the other side of the world.

Then Anapa had found him. And his own first year anniversary was coming at the end of January, though he considered his time on the Iriata a blessing. It was the complete opposite of the anniversary Kate was about to observe. Anapa and Hina had shown him how to be a man, helped him grow into the person he was today.

All in all, he quite preferred being able to remember what had happened on the last day of the year, and waking up without a pounding head and in a strange location no longer held any attraction for him.

He'd prepared breakfast for the two of them when Kate made her first appearance.

"Morning."

She gave him a small glare and accepted his offer of some coconut. Typically a morning person, she was a bit grumpy at times. He expected this would worsen as the days rolled inexorably to the date she dreaded more than any other.

"Welcome to the year two thousand. As you can see, the world did not in fact end as predicted. Well, as far as I can tell."

She chewed on her breakfast for a few minutes before a tiny smirk appeared and she deigned to answer him. "You never know, Rick. Maybe we're the last two people alive." There was a tiny lilt to her voice as she teased him. He gave silent thanks. She was trying. He couldn't ask for anything more.

"Well, wouldn't that be a fortunate occurrence for the human race?" he replied, pompous on purpose. His plan did not fail, as she quirked an eyebrow at him.

"How do you figure?"

"Just think of how great looking all humans will be in the future."

She shook her head. "I don't follow you."

He gave a pretend sigh and prepared to run, certain he'd need some distance from her once she processed his next words.

"Well, Kate, it's like this: with a handsome man like me playing the role of Adam, and a beautiful woman like you as Eve, our children will be nothing if not incredible looking. Not to mention smart, with my brains. Our descendants will bring a new level of good looking to the human race." With that, he was off like a shot, though not before being pelted by some coconut.

"Not if you were the last man on Earth," she yelled at him as he sprinted down the beach, laughing.

"I thought you just implied I was," he shouted back, then doubled over in laughter as he saw her expression. Oh, that had been worth it. Very worth it.

She'd forgiven him a few hours later. Well, after she'd managed to trip him in the surf. He'd fallen quite ungracefully, gotten soaked, and came up sputtering with some seaweed covering his head. She'd had her turn laughing until she cried, and they were even.

He reflected on their little trip as they slowly paddled back through the channel. It had been fun, though if they were going to camp for several days they'd need a better shelter. Overall, it had been good for them. He felt like they continued to draw closer to each other, even though there was still a lot they didn't know about each other. It was clear they could rely on each other to survive. Everything else would come with time.

The next few days after their return were spent exploring fully the interior of the island. It was hard, hot work as some areas were nearly impenetrable with the lush growth engendered by the frequent rain, warm temperatures, and rich, volcanic soil. However, it paid off as they made some exciting discoveries, and for the first time really appreciated how lucky they'd been to find this paradise.

Kate was put in charge of drawing the map on the single piece of paper Rick sacrificed to the cause. She had a better eye for details and was far superior in her artistry. Rick identified plants and they slowly filled in the large blanks that had represented their knowledge of the island past the shore and the plain they'd chosen as their home.

They started by heading east from Pereora, towards the bamboo thicket near the lakeshore that Rick had been harvesting from. Marching through the trees, they moved north until they came to the insurmountable cliffs that cut the island off from the sea.

"Most of these trees are ones we've seen before."

"I think I recognize them all. That's candlenut, right?" she asked, pointing to the correct tree.

"Yep. And I know you're familiar with that kind," he said, indicating another grouping of trees near the cliff wall.

"Breadfruit. I gather enough of those, I hope I recognize them. This looks like a bigger cluster though. I'm going to mark them down on the map."

"May I suggest using symbols, instead of the names? Then it would be easier to mark lots of types of plants."

"That's a good idea. We can make a key, so we don't forget." She quickly marked the two groves, then marked the banana plants that were interspersed. As they wandered back towards shore the Pandanus trees took over in number.

They continued to meander back and forth from the shore to the cliff, trying to accurately represent the terrain and the flora found between the two. Besides finding more sweet potato patches, the ubiquitous coconut palms, and a small group of taro in a shallow pond, they also found more bamboo. Not just any bamboo; giant bamboo. Located in a grove near the cliff walls just east of the grove Rick had been harvesting. It was clearly older, with some very large specimens.

"Look at these, Kate. These would be perfect for support poles for our new house." He could hardly believe the size.

Kate nodded, running her hand over one of the large stems. It was so big around that she couldn't span it with both her hands.

"You're right, but there's a problem. Maybe a deal breaker."

"What's that?" Rick was still lost in thought, marveling over the things he could do with such enormous poles.

"We're at the cliff wall. The lake is several hundred yards away."

"Uh huh."

"How are you going to get these huge pieces to the lake?"

Rick sobered. She had a point.

"Wellll, I could—no that wouldn't work. We could carry them out together?" Her skeptical look made him continue. "Or I guess I'll have to clear a path to the lake before I start harvesting."

"That might take a while. Maybe we should keep looking. We know where this grove is, maybe there's one closer to the lake?"

"I hope so, because these are so large, it would take probably an extra week or two to get a path cleared. And then moving them. It would be a real chore to drag them to the lake. But just look at 'em, Kate. They're huge," he said, patting one of the larger stems almost reverently.

"They are impressive, there's no doubt. But maybe this isn't uncommon here on this island."

"Wow, that would be exciting. You're right though, we need to keep looking. Who knows what else we'll find?"

The second day of their explorations found them almost halfway to the channel opening. Kate was busy recording the location of trees. She was focusing intently on the task, trying to keep busy so she didn't think about the fact that there was a week left until a year had passed from the worst day of her life.

"Kate, Kate!" She heard Rick crying out. He'd forged ahead of her, impatient to see what lay beyond the next rise, while she lagged behind being careful to record everything.

Rushing forward, she found him standing stock-still, staring up at a tree she didn't recognize.

"What is it?"

"It's a Noni tree."

"A what-ee tree?"

"Noni. No-knee."

"Noni tree? That sounds familiar. Have you told me about it before?"

"No, I don't think so. You probably heard it on the ship. Hina had a supply in her workshop."

"Oh, that's right. She mentioned it once, but we talked about so many things. It was all a bit overwhelming for this city girl."

"Well, it's pretty important here in the islands. It's been used by the native people for a variety of things. Do you see the fruits?"

He pointed to some green to yellow green globules that hung directly from the tiny branches.

"Yeah. They kind of look like green strawberries."

"I suppose. People eat them if they're starving. They're too bitter to eat regularly otherwise. But the juice is used on dry skin or chapped lips. It's also good for skin scrapes. And many women drink the juice for menstrual cramps."

"Sounds useful."

"Yeah, we want to gather the yellow-green ones. The ones that have turned white are too ripe."

They gathered just a few. "A little goes a long way, Kate."

It was the first purely medicinal plant that they'd found. Other trees and shrubs had properties that the islanders used for treating the sick, but the Noni was reserved nearly exclusively for alleviating various ailments. It didn't replace their lack of modern medicines, but Kate felt a little better knowing they had access to some of the same plants that had served for thousands of years before Western medicine had come to the South Pacific.

The next four days were spent in careful deliberation and observation. Rick was excited to find some Tahitian limes, which he said were similar to key limes. They would add vitamin C to their diet, and Kate was excited about the added flavors when they cooked.

By the time they finished their map, they had a complete record of what plants existed on the island and where they were located. They found more bamboo, but none as large as the ones near the cliff wall. Rick was determined to use the strongest material for their shelter, and resigned himself to the fact that harvesting what he wanted to use would take longer than expected.

At no point did they find any break in the cliff walls, nor any place that seemed easier to scale. Rick considered climbing the area near the waterfall, as it was the tallest point of the island, but the walls near there were slick with mosses and ferns. He gave up after nearly falling while just ten feet off the ground. Luckily, Kate had been busy with the map and didn't see the near miss.

They finished everything on January eighth. Rick thought it had been timed out perfectly. Kate had been distracted by the project during the day, and exhausted by all the labor so that she fell asleep almost immediately at night. He'd wanted to finish before the ninth, knowing it wouldn't be fair to her to try and take that day away from her.

By the afternoon of the eighth, there were no crucial jobs left to do. He could see the weight of the coming day pressing down on her as they retreated back to Pereora. He wasn't sure how to help her. He didn't think she knew what she wanted from him, either. Deciding to trust his instincts, he remained quiet. He thought she'd come to him if she needed him. He'd be happy to provide a strong shoulder to cry on.

His first clue that this was the wrong approach came that night. She'd crawled into her bed under the tarps in the pergola before it was even dark. He'd declared he was in charge of their food for the next few days, wanting to let her out of the mind-numbing chores so she could grieve in peace. Yet, she'd been silent at the dinner he'd prepared, and had barely touched the food. He'd thought it was delicious, using a bit of the salt he'd found and some of the limes to flavor the fish stew.

She'd completely ignored him when he came to bed as well. He might have thought she was asleep, except she was too still. Her body was tense, curled into a ball facing away from his bed. He reached out and placed a warm hand on her shoulder and whispered a 'night, Kate' to her back. He was trying to let her know he was there for her without intruding into her private world too much. She didn't respond, and he was asleep within minutes, the long labor of their days catching up with him.

He slept fitfully, fully expecting nightmares from her; they weren't unusual and as the calendar had rushed towards this date, she'd had more of them. Blood-curdling screams that startled him out of sound sleep. He comforted her as best he could, but he couldn't take the place of a beloved mother who'd meant the world to her. So, he was just there for her. A calming voice in the dark of night. It seemed to help, marginally. Yet on this night, of all nights, there were no nightmares. No screaming woke him.

It was the silence that finally registered in his sleep-addled brain. The absence of screams was just as important to his mind as their presence. Something was wrong.

Dawn hadn't broken yet, and it was pouring rain once again. However, there was just enough light to see around the tent. He wasn't sure why he had awakened until he looked over at Kate's mattress. Her screams weren't the only thing absent from the dark night. She was gone.

A site I've referred to extensively for their excellent survival articles is Hedgehog Leatherworks. This is where I learned about the x-gouge system for making a structure easier to put together and much stronger, rather than just lashing two poles together. They also have great articles about making cordage from natural materials and the firebow system that Rick makes.