Micah's Island (11 page)

Micah had broken his neck.

Everything seemed to happen in slow
motion.  Micah took his arm away from Dolph’s waist and let him go. He toppled
slowly, like the drunks I used to see who stayed too late and drank too much at
the tiki bar on Tiago. His mouth was moving as he fell, but I’m pretty sure he
was dead before he hit the ground.

And I couldn’t have been happier.

Micah pulled me off the rocks and cut my
wrists loose with Dolph’s knife. He reverently picked up my torn sarong and
tried to wrap it around me, his brow furrowed in deep thought.

I could see things moving across his
face and in his eyes. He didn’t have the words, but he understood what Dolph
had been about to do to me.  He pulled me into his arms and rocked me back and
forth, sobbing hard. I’d never heard him cry before.

He was saying something against my
shoulder but I couldn’t understand him. I tried to hear, but it made no sense.
I pulled him back a bit and looked into his eyes.

“What are you saying?”

“Luff.  Luff Gee.  Luff Gee. Luff.”

I cried right with him.

He loved me.

We dragged Dolph’s body out into the
ocean and weighted it down with rocks from around the pool.  I didn’t want that
asshole anywhere on the island, even if he
were
dead.

I had Micah throw Dolph’s pistol as far
as he could into the ocean. We didn’t need things like that here.

The yacht anchored off the island
concerned me. I didn’t know if they had ‘little black boxes’ like airplanes, or
if there was any way to track them once they were out on the ocean. We sure
didn’t need a boatload of people showing up here, trying to find out what had
happened to Dolph. I just wanted it gone.

I debated sinking it, but didn’t know if
we could do it easily.  I debated setting it on fire, but I didn’t want to
cause Micah any trauma. I really wasn’t sure how we were going to get rid of
it.

I got tired of looking at it out there,
a reminder of what we’d almost lost.  One day I loaded Micah into the skiff,
and we motored out to the yacht.  I was not happy about being on open water
again, but we clearly had to do something. 

I climbed aboard and stripped it of
anything of value.  I even took the fire extinguisher.  I found food, propane
grill lighters (Yes, I took them. Just in case.), toothbrushes and toothpaste, medical
supplies, MAXIPADS (Thank you!), toilet paper, and other goodies.  Micah
watched me throw things down into the skiff with questions in his eyes. I’d have
to explain later.

When I was done, I took a knife and cut
the nylon rope holding the anchor. The yacht started to move immediately. I ran
back and jumped into the skiff with him.

“Go on! Get out of here!” I pushed on
the yacht with little effect, but no matter.  It was already nosing away from
the island.

We rode the skiff back and unloaded it
onto the beach. I pushed the skiff back out into the water too.  Micah must’ve
thought I was crazy when I stormed down the beach, dragged the little orange
lifeboat out into the surf, and gave it a violent push.

I was taking no chances. 

~***~

So here we are four months later. Things
couldn’t be better. We’ve settled into a routine. I really don’t miss
civilization all that much, though I do pine for some hot wings and a Pepsi
once in a while.

I still don’t understand what Dolph tried
to tell me about the island disappearing and reappearing, unless it has
something to do with the weird purple lightning storms we have sometimes.  This
is
the Bermuda Triangle, after all. Maybe the storms keep us safely
hidden from view somehow. I hope so.

As far as Calvin is concerned, he’s
probably up shit creek right now. With no paddle.  He can’t take possession of
Tiago without valid documents, and I’m sure he’s wondering where Dolph
disappeared to. For all of his scheming and treachery, he owns nothing.  

What Calvin
does
have, as Dolph
so eloquently put it, is toilet paper. No one on Tiago liked him. I doubt
they’ll even let him continue to live on the island, let alone run it.  I
sometimes wonder who they’ll get to manage it. Then I realize I don’t care.
That’s not my life anymore.

 Will they question Calvin relentlessly
about my disappearance? Will he eventually be arrested on suspicion of murder,
even if they can’t find my body?  It makes me smile to think about it. It would
be poetic justice, after what he tried to do to me. Karma truly is a bitch.

Micah is talking more and more.  It
seems like a light came on somewhere in his brain.  He picks things up very
quickly now. In fact, I can’t shut him up!

What did I ever do without this man? 
He’s my everything.

I have a new word I’m going to teach
him, but I’m going to wait. It won’t have any meaning for him right now, but it
will in another month or two when I start to expand.

That word is
baby
.