The Island

Chapter 4

I woke up and rolled over in the musty-smelling grass. I was wearing nothing but my underwear and watch. The sun appeared high in the sky, I must have slept for about an hour. The sleep felt good, but I'm famished, I need to eat! My mind was scattered, the thoughts I had before my nap returned. Kari, Dad, Drake, the studio, my life; on and on it went.

As far as I can tell, I'm the only one on this island. Why?

My stomach is growling and it now takes center stage in my thoughts. Its time to go shopping for a good coconut. I didn't have to look far. There were several lying in the grass nearby each covered in exocarp. Are they ripe? How to tell? I knocked on them but they all had the same dull sound.

I used to buy them at the grocer occasionally. I would put them in a vice in the garage and use an electric drill with a half-inch bit through one of the germination pores. Well, that was fast and easy; I don't have a drill. I don't even have a hammer. I'm going to have to do this the old fashioned way, I'm going to crack the exocarp loose with a heavy rock. I'll have to be careful though, don't want to lose too much of the coconut juice. It's very nourishing but low on calories and little significant nutrients. The coconut meat is high in saturated fat and carbohydrates. These coconuts could keep me alive until I get rescued.

I found a good ten-pounder flat rock that should be sufficient to smack the coconuts with. I'm looking for a hard, flat surface to put the coconuts on. The soil around the raft is all sand and light grasses. I could try pounding them here but they might just go into the earth; I need a much harder surface.

I wandered deeper into the forest, and managed to find a flat rock with a slight slope beside two palms; in a perfect spot. I declared this to be my coconut smashing station. I took one of the coconuts; fibrous husk and all and placed it squarely on the rock. I don't know if they're green inside or not, this is all part of the adventure. So here goes. I stood over the husk and holding the rock with both hands above my head, I brought it down hard; making use of gravity and momentum. As the rock fell away, I deftly stepped aside so as to avoid injury. Nothing. I tried again, this time a little harder; I know I'm being extra cautious, but I have this thing about not having the rock fly off and hit me in the leg, I can't afford to get injured.

I carefully examined the husk and noticed a slight crack had appeared. A good sign. It's all about being persistent. I tried a third time directly on the crack. Then a fourth. With each successive hit, the crack was widening!

I started rummaging around looking for a dagger-shaped rock that I can grope in my fist like a caveman and use to tear into the husk. I gave up and ended up using my fingers carefully tearing it out fibre by fibre. I finally got the coconut out, a bit like shucking a bowling ball out of a corn husk.

It was already cracked and my fingers couldn't pry it open, so I whacked it with my rock. I'm telling you, I'm back in the stone age; what I would give for a machete! It doesn't take much to crack it open, it split three ways and juices splashed out. Inside was white meaty coconut. Nice. Can't get it any fresher.

I drank some of that refreshing coconut water, most of it leaked away down my hands. I sat there for a moment, in my underwear, inhaled deeply and closed my eyes. I could feel my strength returning. I needed a better way to scoop out the coconut meat.

I got up and wandered back to the beach and found a good-sized mollusk shell, with a sharp edge. This will be my scooper; a wonderful tool as a means to scrape out the meat and clean out the shells. If I can crack the shells in such a way, I may be able to use them as bowls; I can make matching dinner sets. Other smaller pieces I should be able to burn as fuel.

I thought about what to do with the husk fibres; they would make great kindling if they stay dry. Another brilliant idea; why not put them in the life raft? That should mask over the smell; coconut husks beat out vomit anytime.