Stranded! by Pepper Pace Read Free Book Online

palm full of the precious salt that they had long ago begun to dry on various fiberglass sheeting. She added fresh water to some of the yucca flour and kneaded it into a dough. It was the exact age old recipe used by millions of people across the world; it was the recipe for bammie. She fried small bammie cakes on hot rocks. They looked like corn cakes and Marshall's mouth watered as he watched them come perfectly off the rocks. They ate half of them right there for breakfast and then the two went off into the forest for their daily search for wood and to collect more cassava.

"I was thinking about fossil fuel." Marshall spoke while stooping down to pick up and examine a rotting coconut. He hefted it deeper into the forest.

"Fossil fuel?" Oceans asked. She used her large walking stick to rustle a dense bit of foliage. Sometimes birds, snakes or fast moving creatures inhabited them and she didn't like running a yard into the forest screaming because something had scared her.

"Yeah. There's a reef along the rock line." It's where he always had success catching a fish or two, though trying to catch them against the reef was dangerous. They were sharp like razors and he'd cut himself more times then he wanted to recount. "I was thinking that if I can get a nice size piece of reef then we can dry it, and then use it for torchlight."

She gave him an appreciative look. "It's worth a try." Marshall had at least begun sleeping through the night—now that their hammocks were near impossible to reach by wild boars, but he was frantic about keeping the torches lit through the night and often got up to relight them.

Certain things had made life easier for them on the Island, such as the hammocks, the knife, the lighter, and Geddes' backpack. Now Marshall had change of clothes and shoes to put on his feet. The string gave them a very lucky day because a Meer rat was in the trap that Oceans had made. Both of them just stood frozen, breaths held. Truthfully, it was just luck that something bigger hadn't come along and snatched the thing.

Finally Marshall jumped into action. He dispatched the small animal with a quick twist of its neck. Afterwards Marshall and Oceans looked at each other solemnly, and then they both whooped with joy. Oceans then quickly reset and repaired the trap, improving it in places at Marshall's suggestion. They collected the rest of the wood, tying it into bundles which made it easier to drag by using vines that they had made into rope. The day was starting out to be a good one. They trekked back to camp happily. Feeling inspired, they picked wild greens, onions, mushrooms (avoiding the red ones because Oceans said too). Marshall's mouth was practically watering at the thought of the feast they would have.

Even though he had plenty of work to do, Marshall was unable to help himself from watching Ocean's prepare the meal. He felt like he was back home in his loft apartment watching the Food Network. A city boy, he had no idea how to skin and prepare the little Meer rat. Oceans' island girl came out and she prepared the animal for cooking in just a few short moments. Marshall saved the fur, though he had no idea how to dry it but he would figure it out later.

When all prepared, Oceans set their feast on the oversized mat that they used for eating and sitting. There was roasted Meer rat. Wild onions and mushrooms were sautéed on a piece of metal in the fat rendered from the animal, as well as ackee and fish (though not the salt fish she would have preferred). Various greens, including cassava leaves, were simmered in the makeshift pot of water and then seasoned with a bit of the sea salt and more of the wild onions. Perfectly roasted plantains lay on banana leaves, split and steaming, while bammie bread was used to sop up everything. As an additional treat, they drank a mixture of mango infused coconut milk that Marshall had concocted.

Wordlessly, they had dressed in their best clothes and Oceans had pulled her