FORTY DAYS AND FORTY NIGHTS
By Bridgid
THE DIRECT CONTINUATION OF "THE ELEVENTH"
WITH A WHOLE DIFFERENT TONE BECAUSE, WELL,
SHE NEEDED TO AFTER THAT...
In the Garden of Eden,
As everyone knows,
Lives Adam and Eve,
Without any clothes.
It was water lapping at his feet that woke him. Steve lifted his head and if anyone saw what the right side of his face looked like, they might compare it to a breaded pork chop. He brushed the sand away as best he could with the back of his hand, knocking some of it off his long lashes into his eyes.
"Oh, shit!" It was bad enough he was having a hard time focusing and now what little sight he had was obstructed even more.
"Let me help you with that." She reached to touch his brow so she could turn his head.
The sound of a feminine voice made him recoil and he shoved her hand away. "Who the fuck are you?"
"I have no idea. Who the fuck are you?"
"How am I supposed to know? I just woke up!" He blinked a few times and caught sight of her. She’s stood up and was brushing sand from her upper thigh and hip. His eyes were drawn to her hair at first, long and blonde. He’d have bet it was out of a bottle until she turned around.
“Jesus Christ, you’re naked!” he yelped in surprise.
“So are you, so what?” She looked down at herself and shrugged. The only thing she wore was a St. Florien’s cross on a chain around her neck, the patron saint of firefighters and emergency services workers.
Maybe modesty wasn’t an issue. Steve didn’t feel the need to cover himself, either. He did notice that he was also wearing an item on a chain around his neck, a dog tag. Lifting it up, he blew the sand off and read.
“I guess my name is Steve. Is there anything on yours with a name?”
She turned it every which way but loose. “All it says on it is Milan 14K. Is that my name? Milan?
"Millie for short,” he chuckled. “Milli cent..Millie Vanilli, Millie Millie bo billy b’no banana bo billie..Millie.”
“You’re fucking weird. Where are we, anyway?” She flopped down on the sand beside him as they both faced the vast expanse of sea. "…on some kind of Desert Island?”
Steve turned around to look at the palm trees beyond the water line. He scanned the area for any other signs of civilization. Placing a hand to his brow, he looked up at the sky to see if there were any planes, jets or rescue helicopters above but it was all just peaceful. The occasional sideways glance he took focused on her rather well-formed breasts and the patch of blonde hair that tufted up from where her legs met. He caught her looking his way in a double take and the both of them immediately faced forward.
At the sight,
Adam did stare,
There was Eve's treasure,
All covered with hair.
“I’m thirsty.” He rumbled
“Me, too.” She replied.
“Parched, even.”
“Well, shut up and go find some fresh water.”
“I’m not going into the jungle by myself. What if there are cannibals in there? Who died and left you in charge anyway?”
“You’re the man. You’re supposed to provide. I’m the woman. I cook and shit like that.”
“Millie, if you are going to be technical that would make me the hunter and you the gatherer. You don’t hunt water; you gather it in a bucket. I guess it’s your job then.” Turning his head he gave her a strange look. “If you happen to come across Ginger or Maryann would you bring them back for me? I bet it gets pretty cold at night around here.”
She stood up with a huff and began searching the sand for something to carry water in. “Listen, Stevo, finding a woman for you might fall into the category of hunting and the union rules say it’s not in my job description. Why don’t you focus on hunting for something for us to eat while I go gather some water?" Picking up a moderately large tortoise shell, she held it up to the sun to see if any light filtered through it. She brought it down to her nose and took a quick sniff hoping the sun had taken any fishy smell away from it. “This’ll do.”
He watched her walk away for a moment then his better judgment got the best of him. If there were cannibals in the jungle then the least he could do is protect her. “Who are you kidding Steve? You’re not a hero. You’re a…..what the hell am I anyway?”
“Are you talking to yourself?” She turned and flashed her baby blues at him.
“I’m not talking to you. Who does it leave?”
She gave him a withering look and continued on. Truth be told, she was scolding herself for finding him attractive. Let’s face it, there were more important things to think about, such as how did they get to this place? Why were they there? And how the hell were they going to get back to civilization? Never mind that, what part of civilization did they belong to? Neither of them knew exactly who they were.
Steve double-stepped to come up beside her. “Hey, hold on a minute." Taking hold of her arm, he stopped her and turned her so they were facing each other. “We’re both a little confused right now but it’s not reason for us to take shots at each other. After all, maybe there was some kind of nuclear war and maybe we’re the only two people who survived it? If we’re all we’ve got then we better make the best of it.”
“Steve, I don’t think you and I are going to repopulate the planet.”
“Did I say that? There you go! See, you’re being a bitch. I didn’t say we were going to repopulate the planet, though it might be fun trying.” He waggled his brows and it culled a frown from her. "Come on, Millie, it was a compliment. You’re a nice looking woman. What
guy wouldn’t think about it?”
She pondered for a moment. Tapping a foot, she crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re absolutely right. There’s no reason for me to be such a beeeatch. Thanks, you’re pretty fine looking yourself, Steve. You’ve got great eyes.” …and a hell of a sweet mouth. And you’re hung like a ... Her eyes drifted down and she raised them slowly.
‘Uh huh. You just checked me out, Millie. Caught like a rat. You just looked at my junk.”
“Well, it's all there, isn’t it? Besides, I saw you checking my lady business, so don’t go pointing fingers, okay?”
“Look, I can’t really stop it from pointing north when you look at it like that. It’s out of my control. I’m a man. Men think about sex every fifteen seconds.”
And wonder came,
Under Eve's eyes,
As Adam's thing,
Started to rise.
“Oh, for Christ’s sake! Could we please just worry about another primal need right now? I’m thirsty and I’m getting hungry. One more thing, my feet are killing me. I don’t think I went barefoot often where I came from. “
“Naw, Mil, me either. I hope we don’t have to get used to it, though.”
The two of them continued on further into the jungle. The more lush it became the harder it was to navigate. It wasn’t long before the trickle of water had them both pick up their pace. The trickle became a soft roar as they broke out into clearing.
“It’s a lagoon. It’s beautiful Steve!” Millie set the shell down and padded up to the waters edge. She knelt down then bent over to take a taste of the cool blue aqua pura. “It’s good fresh water. It’s so cool, too. Steve, you’ve got to try this.” She bent to take a deeper drink. When she sat up she was surprised to see that Steve had not joined her. Placing her hands on her knees for support, she swiveled around to look his way.
“What are you doing?”
“Marveling at the view, could you bend forward like that again?”
“For the love of…” grabbing the tortoise shell, she scooped up some of the cool water and stood.
“You need a cold shower!”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“Wanna bet?” Stepping forward, she launched the makeshift bucketful directly at him, catching him square in the kisser. “Next one is going to be lower.”
“There won’t be a next one, smartass.” Lunging forward he caught her about the waist. She squealed and pounded her fists on his shoulders but any bystander could tell there was a sprinkle of laugher in her protest.
“Put me down! Put me down!”
“Okay. I’ll put you down, Millie.” And that he did, right on her ass about as far as he could launch her out into the water. It was a hell of a splash. In her surprise, she sank like a rock but
it wasn’t long before she surfaced. Pushing her hair out of her face, she swiped the water away from her eyes.
“You’re gonna pay for that, Stevo, and when you least expect it!” She warned with a giggle. “Hey, come on it, its nice. It’s cool and refreshing.”
“I don’t trust you. You’ll dunk me.”
“Damn right I will, but so what?”
He waded his way out to her and she didn’t hesitate to put him under. The splashing and playing lasted about a half hour before the two exhausted beings hauled their bare asses out of the lagoon.
“That was kind of fun, Steve, but we should be practical. We need food and I figure we better find some shelter too. Maybe build a fire.”
“I guess you’re right. I was hoping that since we were in the twilight zone maybe a split level ranch would appear with a stocked freezer and a wine rack full of vintage grappa.”
“I’m thinking of steak, rare, with a big puddle of HP sauce on the side and plenty of button mushrooms, too. No matter how good it sounds I think were stuck with bananas and coconuts. Maybe we could catch some fish or something, you think?”
“It depends. Do you hunt for fish or do you gather them?”
“I’ll check with the stranded survivors union later but my guess is you hunt for them if you are going for a single one but if you have a net, it could be described as gathering. “
“You wouldn’t happen to be a lawyer would you, Mil?”
She shook her head. “The only thing I’m sure of is that I’m here with you. Everything else is just a blur. We better get started on building a fire.” Nudging her head back toward the beach, she lifted a foot and wiped the pebbles off the bottom of it on her shin before repeating the same with the other one. “Shit, now I’m craving spaghetti. I don’t suppose we’ll find a good Italian bistro around here.”
“There isn’t much of a chance of it. Please tell me you don’t like carrots in your sauce.”
“Ah no, I don’t like carrots in spaghetti sauce, but a lot of folks do.”
“Eugh!” Steve replied with a shudder. He’d barely taken two more steps when the sound of leaves rustling and a thump, thump, thump brought a coconut to land right at his feet. Steve bent over to pick it up, examining it closely. “Look at this. It’s perfect. It’s magnificent. I’ve never seen a more perfect coconut in my life.”
“It’s just a god damned coconut, Steve. At the rate we’re going it's going to be your supper. too.”
“Don’t be so trite. It's much more then just a coconut. Look at these bananas over here. They’re on the short side and they’re really green but aren’t they beautiful?
“Can you make them taste like spaghetti?”
“No, but I bet if I arranged them just right they’d look like a work of art.”
“Great, so you’ll be the resident starving artist.”
“Millie, aren’t you curious as to why we are here?” Steve asked as he piled some driftwood for the fire.
“Who do I look like, Simone de Beauvoir?”
“As a matter of fact…”
“Don’t go there. I don’t think we have time to be curious. I think we’ve got to consider our survival in the present first then we can sit and ponder if you like.’
“Is there any chance of us pondering repopulation?”
“I’d at least like dinner and a movie first.”
“How far can I get if I offer half? Dinner, consisting of pygmy green bananas boiled in coconut milk.”
“Hey, big spender.” Sarcasm abounds.
Slightly frustrated and thinking it was just his luck to get stranded with a woman whose tongue and wit were sharper than razor wire, Steve went about trying to light a fire. He mumbled something about why couldn’t he have been stranded with a nice dumb blonde like that Hilton babe. Maybe things will improve; after all he could give Millie dinner. Now all he had to do was figure out how to show her a movie.
“There!” He heard her proclaim proudly. Steve turned to look at her. She was standing with her hands on her hips eyeing her creation. Millie had managed to build a funky little pup tent out of sticks and banana leaves and she seemed right proud of herself too.
“So, Stevo., Where are you going to sleep?”
In this garden,
Were two little leaves,
One covered Adam's,
One covered Eve's.
“I don’t know. “I’ve been busy building a cook fire. So, Millie Vanilli, what are you going to eat?”
As the story goes on,
Never the less to say,
The wind came along,
And blew the leaves away.
ON TO STORMY WEATHER, THE NEXT CHAPTER
BACK TO LIBRISCROWE
BACK TO THE ELEVENTH