Posted by hummingbird on 9/24/2014, 8:12 am VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
Chapter Six
Nora rolled to her back and looked through the skylight at the twinkling stars. She couldn’t sleep. She kept replaying in her mind the evening she had spent with Bo...playing in the sand, watching the sunset, the easy conversation…
The rest of the evening had been great too. They made a simple supper of sandwiches and beer, then had the coconut for dessert.
That coconut! Nora giggled to herself. What a time they had trying to open that thing! They took it outside and beat it against a rock until they both worked up a sweat. Finally it broke apart nearly losing all the milk. But Bo took half of the coconut shell and gave Nora the other half. He poured what little milk there was left evenly into their shells. He proposed a toast and they each had a sip. She smiled at the memory. The coconut meat was okay, but Nora told Bo she would much rather have it dipped in chocolate. He agreed…
Nora sat up and fluffed her pillow. She tried laying on her side for awhile…
We were going to stay out of each others’ way. This island is big enough for the both of us. That was the plan, she reminded herself. Now he was invading her days and occupying her thoughts at night. Get a grip, Nora, she told herself.
She rolled to her other side. She pictured, once again, his gleaming wet body rising out of that hot tub...and how his hair, tossed by the ocean breeze, lay across his sunburned forehead as they watched the sunset…
She sighed and rolled once more to her back. After a few more minutes of restlessness, Nora gave up and turned on the bedside lamp. She grabbed a book to read thinking it would make her sleepy.
That’s when she saw it! It had just left the wall above the bathroom door and was slowly beginning a journey across the ceiling of the bedroom. It was HUGE! She backed up against the headboard biting her lip in indecision.
It can't stay in here, she thought. And it’s up too high up for me to reach even if I stand on the bed…
Suddenly it skittered forward until it was almost above her bed. Her heart skipped a beat. "Ohhhhh…” she breathed quietly to herself. “What am I gonna do?”
This is ridiculous, she berated herself. She had lived alone for several years and; until Matthew grew to the age where he liked to help, she had killed her own vermin. Still...it was HUGE!
She thought about waking Bo… No...he would make fun of her. He’d never let her live it down...
At that moment, out of the corner of her eye she spied her slipper by the bed. Leaning down slowly, she retrieved it. She sat back as far as she could and held the slipper up. After taking careful aim, she hurled it toward the ceiling where it struck right beside her intruder. The intruder dropped quickly to the floor with a plop!
That's it! Decision made! “Bo?” she shouted. Then again, more loudly, “BO!” He didn’t come. Again, “BO!”
Nothing.
She couldn’t stay in that room. She just couldn’t. And she needed help whether she wanted to admit it or not. Not seeing her invader as she looked over the edge of the bed, she bolted from the mattress and out the door her feet barely touching the floor.
Making sure the bedroom door was closed, she hurried to the couch where Bo had been sleeping.
“Bo!”
He wasn’t there.
Next, she headed to the porch. That’s where she found Bo snoring in one of the hammocks. She hated to wake him, but…
“Bo?” she said quietly. Then shaking him a little, “Bo.”
Startled awake, he rubbed a hand over his face. “Nora? What’s going on? What time is it?”
“I don’t know,” she replied, “but...I need help.”
“It’s the middle of the night…” Bo began in a sleepy voice.
“I know...I’m sorry…”
Bo looked at her through droopy eyes. “Well, what is it?”
Hesitating to tell him, she said “It’s...well…” Finally she let the words rush out, “There’s a spider in my room.”
“What?! Are you kidding me?!” he mumbled in disbelief that she would wake him for something so trivial. He rolled away from her. “So kill it.”
“I tried, Bo. I threw a slipper at it, but I missed and it got away. If I had a dart, I know I could have nailed it.”
Bo was drifting back to sleep.
“Bo? Bo, will you help me?”
Bo grumbled as he sat up in the hammock. “You have lived alone for years. I can’t believe you can’t kill your own spiders…”
“I can, Bo, but...this is no ordinary spider. Seriously...he is the size of my palm...he’s the size of YOUR palm! No kidding! When he fell to the floor, I heard him drop.”
Bo ran a hand through his hair. “Fine. I can see I’m not going to get a moment’s rest until I get rid of it…” He stumbled to his feet and made his way to the door.
“It dropped down to the floor….might be under my bed…” Then she added, “Thanks, Bo…”
“Yeah, yeah…” he mumbled waving a hand of dismissal at her.
Nora sat in a chair to wait. She grimaced as she heard furniture moving, excessive thumping, and a few curses. Finally, the door opened and Bo padded back out to the porch in his bare feet.
“Well?” she asked. “Did you get him?”
“No,” he said stumbling back to his hammock.
“NO?! Oh, Bo! What happened?!”
“He got away, that’s what happened! He’s the spider from hell!”
“Well, what am I going to do? I can’t sleep in there knowing he’s lurking about…”
Bo sighed as he rolled away from her on his hammock. “I don’t know what you’re going to do, but I’m going to sleep! There’s another hammock...use it.”
Seeing no other option, Nora took Bo’s advice and made herself comfortable on the hammock. She could hear Bo’s steady breathing and knew he was already back to sleep. Within an hour she, mercifully, was the same.
