Island Girl

Chapter 1

It was September 6, 1942. The New York Yankees held an 8 game lead over the Boston Red Sox with 18 games left for the American League pennant while the Brooklyn Dodgers had a slim two game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League. A month from now the National Hockey League would begin their 1942-43 season with the Toronto Maple Leafs as the Stanley Cup Champions. Stanford University was the defending NCAA Basketball Champion while the Minnesota Golden Gophers would be defending their NCAA Football title. The 1942 NFL season would begin in three weeks with the Chicago Bears looking to defend their crown. How Green Was My Valley took home Best Picture honors back in February while Mrs. Miniver was in strong consideration for Best Picture this year. Jingle, Jangle, Jingle by Kay Kyser was the number 1 hit on the radio and World War 2 in full effect. I was stationed on the USS South Dakota serving out my time in the US Navy.

I graduated from St John's University and the first thing I did after I graduated was enlist in the Navy. How I ended up on the South Dakota is anyone's guess but here's 22 year old me on one of the most important warships in the South Pacific. The ship's XO was an asshole and more often than not he'd threaten to Court Martial me for everything. Well, its poetic justice that he had to deal with the brunt of what happened on that fateful afternoon. I remember it being a Sunday and just getting done with morning mass when we hit some serious chop in the water. The boat was rocking back and forth so much you could bounce from one side of the large ship to the other in eight seconds flat! I remember one of my fellow Ensigns saying “Holy mackeral what a carnival ride!” Then all hell broke loose as the mast started to really teeter. Up ahead was some great coral reef and it looked like the barnacle brained XO was steering right into it!

I was tasked to make sure the life boats were in place in case the worst happened so I raced over to them. The first two were secured but sure enough, the third wasn't in place properly and any sudden movement could snap it into the ocean. I didn't hear it exactly, but the impact of the great ship hitting the reef caused the life boat to drop into the ocean with me hanging on to the rope. I don't remember much but what I assumed happened was I went with the rope and knocked myself out on the impact. I must have drifted off into the sea while the rest of the crew struggled to get out of the reef, not knowing I was gone.

When I awoke I was being dragged out of the lifeboat on a beach of some sort. I could see hear the birds squawking and the sounds of the waves crashing on the beach. I must have had a concussion because I couldn't even see who was dragging me away. Even though my head was foggy I still wondered just where the hell was I? We were off the coast of Tonga two hours before we hit the reef so I figured I must be on one of their islands. Tonga declared war on Japan so they were on our side, but how would I get back to the South Dakota? Finally I was let go of and I landed on the sand. My eyes began to clear but to my utter shock, these weren't Tongan citizens, these were some kind of island natives holding spears at me! I was in my Navy uniform but it didn't look like they had any contact with an outside world judging by their primitive weapons and loincloths. They looked more like African tribal warriors instead of Samoan, Tongan or even Polynesian natives. Obviously communicating was going to be an issue once I started hearing them talk amongst themselves. Not that I knew a lick of Tongan, but if I was on one of the known islands there might have been someone to recognize my US Naval attire. I started to wonder if I had drifted all the way to somewhere off the coast of Africa but that would have been impossible in such a short amount of time on a damn rowboat.

Just when it looked like one of the tribal warriors was about to gut me with a spear, I heard a female voice. An older looking villager stood in front of them and it sounded like she was telling them to back off. She was wearing a loincloth like everyone else but had no top. The only time I had seen a lady naked apart from accidentally walking into the bathroom while my mother was taking a bath was in one of my older brother's National Geographic magazines. Not that this villager was particularly attractive to me, but seeing a woman topless would have made me a legend in high school. She had wrinkles and partly graying hair. If I had to guess based upon some of my teachers I had, she looked to be in her 40's. Definitely was older than my mother but not by much. She started speaking to the others and they seemed to back down except for one man. He was in great shape and looked to be 6 foot 1 and 220 pounds. He could be a running back for the Ohio State Buckeyes or a famous wrestler. He looked taller than wrestling legend Man Mountain Dean!

Whatever the lady villager said upset this big fella because he started shouting and pointing at me. All of a sudden a booming voice from behind silenced the big guy. Clearly this had to be the village elder. He wasn't as tell as Dean here but he definitely was much wider. He had a huge gut hanging over his loincloth and a shaved head. He had a full beard and he had white war paint on his face. He pointed his spear at Dean and said something to get him to back off. The Elder walked over to me and pointed his spear at my chest and said something to the others. I slowly got to my feet and noticed that I was taller than the Elder although Dean still definitely had a height advantage. I sized up the other warriors and they all looked impressive but not as buff as Dean. I had spent most of high school and college playing football and staying in shape at my uncle's boxing gym so I knew how to handle myself in a fistfight. A spearfight would be an entirely different story but I hoped it didn't come to that. I looked around at the open ocean in front of me and decided running for it would be a mistake. I was better off doing what I was told for now, as long as they didn't poke me with their stinkin spears.

The Elder said something else and it looked like everyone was following him somewhere. I stood still until Dean nudged me with the back end of the spear. I walked along with them along a path of trees, bushes and the sound of birds high top those trees. I saw plenty of coconuts and bananas in the trees and gathered that if the villagers were living off any animals and fruit provided, that would explain their carefully maintained figures. But how did the Elder get so fat? I didn't have time to think about it because after a short walk we made it to the village itself. What I saw made my jaw drop.