Castaway Writer, Part 3
The volcano (conclusion)
In the seven weeks Matoskah spent with the farmer humans he learned a great deal about farming. He was assigned to work with an older man named Billingsley who was considered the wisest farmer in the village. He learned about planting, weeding, watering, harvesting, and the collection of seeds. He also learned how to talk to plants.
Early in his time at the village fish was served with dinner one evening. Matoskah asked Billingsley about this, “I thought we were farmers but you also eat fish. When does this fishing happen? Can I come?”
Billingsley responded, “Yes, we are farmer humans but we also fish. Protein is good for us. Do you fish?”
“I’ve been fishing for most of my life. I love fishing. I also know how to talk to fish.”
“Well, well. Maybe there is something you can teach us. A group of us will be going fishing tomorrow and you may certainly tag along.”
The next day Matoskah was taken by a group of men to a place in the forest where their catamarans were hidden. Together, the men dragged the catamarans out of the forest to the beach where they were set in the water as the men jumped in.
Billingsley had come along to accompany Matoskah. After the fishing commenced Matoskah asked a question of him, “That island way over there; are there any farmer humans living there?”
“No. That is a true deserted island. It is the island where we originally came from. But many, many years ago that volcano erupted and killed most of our people. All of us in the village are the descendants of the few people who were able to escape that island. The island we live on now has no volcano and we feel safe. The stories of our people say that island over there is cursed so we never go to it. On some days the volcano will send out small puffs of smoke as a sign for people to stay away. It is still very much alive.”
“I see.”
Matoskah was beginning to enjoy his life as a pretend farmer human. He was amazed by how everyone in the village got along. They always supported each other and he had never seen anyone fight.
The chief (Rebecca’s father) finally decided that Matoskah was worthy of being part of the village. Together, the villagers built a thatched hut for him. He had lived on a boat, in a cave, and now he lived in a little hut.
Because she was the daughter of the chief as well as the girlfriend of a man who had a very sharp spear, he made no advances toward Rebecca but he was always looking for her. He was under her spell. Whenever they crossed paths he would greet her with a smile and look longingly into those magic green eyes. She always smiled back and looked longingly into his eyes. The attraction was starting to become palpable.
One day Matoskah was wandering through the open space in the middle of all the huts when he ran into Rebecca. She was picking up some buckets and was about to leave to go to the creek to collect drinking and cooking water.
“Greetings, Rebecca.”
“Oh, well hello Matoskah.”
“Can I help you collect water?”
“But aren’t you supposed to be in the fields farming?”
“I’m finished farming for the day. I’ll be more than happy to help you get water.”
“Well… uh… okay,” she stammered. She pointed to some empty buckets near the fire pit.
Matoskah picked up two buckets and followed Rebecca to the creek. Along the way they chatted; nothing serious, just everyday chit-chat.
At the creek they filled their buckets. They were about to return to the village when Matoskah set his buckets on the ground, “Rebecca, may I say something to you?”
She set her buckets down, “Yes.”
Clearing his throat, Matoskah spoke, “Please excuse me if I am being inappropriate but I simply have to say that you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life.”
A very long silence ensued as they stared into each other’s eyes. Very slowly, they began moving toward each other. The magnetism could not be stopped. Suddenly they were in each other’s arms kissing like tomorrow had finally come.
They kissed and kissed and kissed until they heard the rustling of the grass alongside the creek. Their mouths disengaging, they both turned to see Rebecca’s boyfriend standing just a few paces away, spear in hand.
“Get away from my woman!” the man yelled.
Matoskah immediately took a few steps back.
“How dare you touch my woman! And to think that we trusted you. You have not only betrayed me and Rebecca, you have betrayed the entire village. I should have killed you when I first found you. I kept your secret and now you betray me.”
Rebecca asked, “What secret?”
“That he is not really a farmer human. He is a writer human!”
Rebecca covered her mouth with her hand.
“Go!” yelled the boyfriend.
Matoskah picked up the two buckets of water and headed for the village.
“Put the water down! You have tainted it. No one will drink it.”
He put the buckets down and headed for the village. As he left he could hear the boyfriend yelling at Rebecca. Back in the village he entered his hut and sat trembling in fear as he wondered what his fate would be.
He thought about his writer’s pod which he had not seen nor touched in weeks. He remembered that Rebecca’s boyfriend saw where he hid it. He knew that he was doomed. He could not help but wonder what sentence he would receive from the village chief.
Eventually, five men burst into his hut and dragged him outside. They then took him to the chief’s hut. Taken inside, Matoskah saw Rebecca’s boyfriend sitting next to the chief. He was holding Matoskah’s writer’s pod. He was thrown to the ground.
The chief spoke, “So you have deceived us and betrayed us. We opened up our hearts to you and all the while you were lying. You are not a farmer human. You are a writer human! Writer humans are not allowed on our island!”
“I am so sorry.”
“You must pay for your sins. You are forever banished from our island. If you ever return we will kill you. Take him away.”
Matoskah was sure that he would be sentenced to death so banishment suddenly did not sound so bad.
After Rebecca’s boyfriend crammed his writer’s pod into his hands, Matoskah was dragged out of the chief’s hut by the five men. They took him to his hut to gather his things then they dragged him into the forest.
As they left the village they passed Rebecca who began yelling at Matoskah, “Liar! Impersonator! Scoundrel! Bastard! I could never be with someone like you! I could never be with a writer! I hope you die!”
The men dragged him past her but he managed to turn his head and get one last look at her.
She was flipping him off.
The men dragged Matoskah to the place in the forest where the catamarans were hidden. They dragged one of them down to the beach and into the water. Cramming Matoskah into the catamaran, they got in and began paddling towards the island with the volcano.
The men dropped Matoskah off on the beach of the island with the volcano then returned to their island. Suddenly, he found himself alone on a deserted island. He was again a castaway — except this time the island really was deserted. In the twenty-three years he lived on the island he never encountered another human of any species.
He finally found and set up a home in a cave. Once again he was living in a cave even though he was not a bear. Below the cave he cleared some land and planted a garden with the seeds he had stolen from Billingsley. He lived alone with the crops he grew in his garden and with the fish he managed to catch.
The ground occasionally rumbled but he ignored that. If the volcano was going to kill him then so be it.
He no longer carried his writer’s pod with him where ever he went. It stayed in his cave where he would look at it in the evenings after a long day of survival. He almost never wrote again.
While sipping scotch and smoking cigars in the evening, he would stare at that writer’s pod. He realized that the person on that pod was not the same person that he was outside of that pod. There were two different identities and he found that he could no longer identify with the person in that pod.
That was not him.
He finally realized that he was no longer a writer human. Although he grew a garden he was not really a farmer human either. He realized that he was simply a human. He realized that it was the part of him that was in the pod that always got him in trouble. He realized that it was the part of him outside of the pod that was his true self. It was only the part of him outside of the pod that could make him happy.
The day after that epiphany Matoskah went on a long hike. He strapped his writer’s pod over his shoulder then set out on a walk that led him to the very top of the volcano.
He got a little queasy standing on the rim of the volcano looking down into its depths. Taking some deep breaths he slowly and seductively removed the strap for his writer’s pod from his shoulder. He held the pod in his hands, feeling the many years he spent with it strapped to his shoulder. He then kissed the pod. It had been a part of him as long as he could remember.
Then he tossed the pod down into the volcano.
Matoskah lived many happy years alone on that island until he finally met his death one day when the volcano erupted.
The end.
Copyright by White Feather. All Rights Reserved. This is a work of fiction.