Lady of the Snakes

Chapter 6

It was two weeks after the crash. Nora had kept track by scratching a tally on the rock by her shelter. At this moment she was trying to find some berries for lunch. Though there was no official mealtimes and people mostly ate whenever they had the chance, everyone was still sticking to a basic pattern of breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Clambering over a rock, she stepped onto soft grass. Her feet sighed with relief, as she had long ago abandoned her shoes, and the surfaces in the island were either itchy, hard, or hot. In this small clearing, there were bushes and bushes of berries.

She moved towards the closest bush, only to realize that she hadn't brought anything to hold the berries in. Her skirt was too short and getting shorter all the time as she was continually ripping off pieces of it to use. Her sweater lay in the shelter, abandoned until it was time for sleep, when she would use it as a sort of blanket.

She glanced down. She had on a blouse over an undershirt. Granted, it was becoming hot with the two layers on, but she was trying to stay as modest-looking as possible on this boy-dominated island. She could just stay and eat berries off the bush, but she had told Bess and a couple of the littluns that she would bring back lunch for them. If she left, would she even be able to find this clearing again?

Nora straightened as something came out of the foliage. Was it a pig? As the figure stood up from its hunched-over position, she realized that it was Jack. She groaned inwardly. Part of her reason for going into the woods alone was to have some time away from the multitudes of dirty boys.

“What were you doing?” she demanded.

“Hunting.” Jack grinned at her. Nora sighed and silently pleaded for him to go on his way. She willed Jack to move but he stayed right where he was.

“Ralph doesn't ever want to come hunting. All he cares about is keeping the stupid fire going.” Jack kicked aside a rock. “He isn't a very good chief.”

Nora blew a strand of hair out of her face and bent towards the berries. “Mmm,” she said, noncommittally.

“So I was thinking.” Jack continued.

This couldn’t be good. Nora straightened up, turned on her heel, and started to walk away.

“Hey! Where are you going?” Jack ran around to face her. She turned in the other direction and began to walk that way.

“Hold still, will you?” Jack demanded. She kept walking.

She was in the woods and still going when Jack cried, “I want to form my own tribe!”

Nora spun around. “What did you say?”

“I want to form my own tribe.” Jack said, more quietly. “I'll start with the choir, obviously. But the others will join later. They won't be able to stay with Ralph for very long, not when we're the ones with the meat.”

“You're mad.” Nora stared at him. Then she looked away, afraid that he might think her eyes to only be looking at his bare chest. This island living was hard. At home, if she had liked a boy, she could have stared at him all she wanted, but here-But it didn't matter in the long run, anyhow, for most of the boys at home were cowards, afraid of her father and his fearful temper.

“I'm perfectly sane. But look, Nora, I can't do it without you.”

“What?”

“As long as you're in Ralph's tribe, everyone will be more hesitant about leaving.”

“But why? I'm not-”

“You are. The littluns all think you're their mother, for one thing.”

“Maybe that's true, but-”

“And most of the boys listen to you more than Ralph.”

“What? No, they-” Actually, they did. Maybe she should have volunteered for chief. “But even if they do, what makes you think I'd want to join your tribe?”

“Well, I-”

A herd of children came crashing through the bush, interrupting him. Jack turned on them with a fury. “Can't you see we're in the middle of something here!”

“Sorry, Jack.” One of them, Henry, turned to Nora with a bright face. “Look what Ada found!”

From the group of dirty-faced littluns came her sister, the dirtiest of them all. “What is it?”

Ada raised her forearm to her sister's eye level. “A snake! His name is Slive!” The snake was small, a common-or-garden variety, Nora thought. Despite their belief in the mysterious beast, all the littluns seemed to like the snake, even petting it with one finger.

“Slive? And how do you know it's a he?”

“He told me.”

“Alright. Go on and pick some berries for lunch.” Nora added, remembering her reason for coming here in the first place.

Jack began to back away. “Just think about it, alright?” He called back.

Nora shook her head. She never could figure out what went on in the boy's brains. Grabbing a few berries, she decided to make the trek up the mountain so as to clear her head and get some time alone for real.