There was this male engineer, on a cruise ship in the Caribbean for
the first time. It was wonderful, the experience of his life. He was
being waited on hand and foot. But, it did not last. A hurricane
came up unexpectedly. The ship went down almost instantly.
The man found himself, he knew not how, swept up on the shore of an
island. There was nothing else anywhere to be seen. No person, no
supplies, nothing. The man looked around. There were some bananas
and coconuts, but that was it. He was desperate, and forlorn, but
decided to make the best of it. So for the next four months he ate
bananas, drank coconut juice and mostly looked to the sea mightily
for a ship to come to his rescue.
One day, as he was lying on the beech stroking his beard and looking
for a ship, he spotted movement out of the corner of his eye.
Could it be true, was it a ship? No, from around the corner of the
island came this rowboat. In it was the most gorgeous woman he had
ever seen, or at least seen in 4 months. She was tall, tanned, and
her blond hair flowing in the sea breeze gave her an almost ethereal
quality. She spotted him also as he was waving and yelling and
screaming to get her attention. She rowed her boat towards him.
In disbelief, he asked, "Where did you come from? How did you get
here"?
She said, "I rowed from the other side of the island. I landed on
this island when my cruise ship sank".
"Amazing", he said, "I didn't know anyone else had survived. How
many of you are there? Where, did you get the rowboat? You must
have been really lucky to have a rowboat wash-up with you?"
"It is only me", she said, "and the rowboat didn't wash up, nothing
else did."
"Well then", said the man, "how did you get the rowboat?"
"I made the rowboat out of raw material that I found on the island,
replied the woman. The oars were whittled from Gum tree branches,
I wove the bottom from Palm branches, and the sides and stern came
from a Eucalyptus tree".
"But, but, asked the man, what about tools and hardware, how did you
do that?"
"Oh, no problem, replied the woman, on the south side of the island
there is a very unusual strata of alluvial rock exposed. I found
that If I fired it to a certain temperature in my kiln, it melted
into forgeable ductile iron.I used that for tools, and used the
tools to make the hardware. But, enough of that," she said. "
Where do you live?"
At last the man was forced to confess that he had been sleeping on
the beach.
"Well, let's row over to my place, she said." So they both got
into the rowboat and left for her side of island.
The woman easily rowed them around to a wharf that led to the
approach to her place. She tied up the rowboat with a beautifully
woven hemp rope. They walked up a stone walk and around a Palm tree,
there stood an exquisite bungalow painted in blue and white.
"It's not much, she said, but I call it home. Sit down please,
would you like to have a drink?"
"No, said the man, one more coconut juice and I will puke."
"It won't be coconut juice, the woman replied, I have a still, how
about a Pina Colada? Trying to hide his continued amazement, the
man accepted, and they sat down on her couch to talk.
After a while, and they had exchanged their stories, the woman
asked, "Tell me, have you always had a beard?"
"No", the man replied, "I was clean shaven all of my life, and even
on the cruise ship".
"Well if you would like to shave, there is a man's razor upstairs
in the cabinet in the bathroom." So, the man, no longer questioning
anything, went upstairs to the bathroom. There in the cabinet was a
razor made from a bone handle, two shells honed to a hollow ground
edge were fastened on to its end inside of a swivel mechanism. The
man shaved, showered and went back down stairs..
"You look great, said the woman, I think I will go up and slip into
something more comfortable." So she did. And, the man continued to
sip his Pina Colada. After a short time, the woman returned
wearing fig leafs strategically positioned and smelling faintly of
gardenia.
"Tell me," she asked, "we have both been out here for a very long
time with no companionship. You know what I mean. Have you been
lonely, is there anything that you really miss? Something that all
men and woman need. Something that it would be really nice to have
right now."
"Yes there is," the man replied, as he moved closer to the woman
while fixing a winsome gaze upon her. "Tell me ... do you happen to
have an Internet connection?"