Under Normal Circumstances

The Elephant in the Room

Hank led us to the river bank where there was a small dock. The natives had their log canoes neatly lined up on the bank which made Hank's look large and out of place. I couldn't really tell where it began or ended or how exactly it was to function, but it was better than nothing for sure.

"Lovely," Conrad stated blandly.

Mason had gone off with her camera to play with the natives and I'm not sure what San and Houston were doing but they were definitely together. They were almost as attached as Slivko and I, and since I was still attached to him, I ended up at the river with him, Conrad, Victor, and Hank.

"My god," Victor, blurted. "That looks like pure tetanus. Does it even float?"

Hank had been admiring his craft and took offense at this.
"She's called the Gray Fox," he stated sternly. "And she floats."

He explained how he and Gunpei, the Japanese pilot, had salvaged parts of their planes and spent six years of their lives building this. I could tell he was proud of it and that to insult it would be to insult his friends memory.

"Wow," I piped up, trying to cheer him back up. "You made a boat out of plane parts, all by yourselves? You guys must be geniuses, that's really impressive, Hank."

He seemed to be pleased at my remark and smiled.
"Well thank you ma'am," he almost blushed as he patted the boat.

I giggled at his innocent mannerisms, I was really starting to like him.

The guys went to take a closer look at it and I was trailed along as well. I don't think Conrad and Victor noticed Slivko and I's handholding and I soon suspected Slivko had quite forgotten too. He was bent over, trying to open the hatch to the engine with just one hand.

"Hey, Slivie?" I said quietly, tapping his shoulder.

He turned to me and I became a tiny bit flustered because he was looking at me like I had 110% of his attention. In this situation especially it was surprising because anything I could say right now was not as important as this boat.

"You can have your hand back for a little bit so you can look at this, I won't mind," I told him kindly and soft enough that the others wouldn't hear.

He looked at our hands and blushed. "Sorry," he said with a small embarrassed laugh as he let go.

"I wasn't complaining," I clarified as I helped him open the hatch.

"It'll take us a little work to get her running, but it's worth a shot," Hank said. "It'll be getting dark soon though, so no point in starting now I suppose. We'll get to it first thing in the morning."

Slivko poked around a little bit and seemed hopeful about the state of things.

"What do you think Slivko, anything you can do?" Conrad asked him.

"Not too shabby," Slivko nodded. "We can get something out of it."

Conrad nodded and disembarked the Gray Fox, Victor following him.

"You know about that?" I asked Slivko, pointing to the engine.

He looked at me with a nonchalant expression about it.
"Yeah, my Dad owns a garage," He informed me.

I made an impressed face before also making my way off the boat.
"You are full of surprises," I told him as we stepped off the boat.

"Well, I would be, wouldn't I? We've only known each other for, what, three days now?" He pointed out.

"Is that all?!" I said, surprised as we trailed behind the others, the destination unclear and unimportant to me.

He gave a shrug and a smile.

"Geez," I breathed. "It feels longer than that, doesn't it? Like, at least four days," I joked.

"It does," he agreed, matching my tone  and giving a chuckle. The setting sun was in his face as he looked at me, making his skin glow warmly and him squint adorably.

We took a few steps before I held out my hand to him.
"Hey, did you want this back?" I asked.

He stopped and threw his head back with an embarrassed laugh.

"I was just-" he stopped and sighed.

"I know, I know. I'm just teasing you," I cut him off with a goofy grin.

He mumbled an "oh gosh" as he blushed and smiled.

After a moment of walking again I put up my hand.
"You seriously don't want it?" I teased.

He bit back his smile and shook his head at my antics. Whatever he was about to do or say was interrupted by Hank calling out to us.

"Hey! You guys hungry?"

"Yes!" I hollered dramatically. "But Slivko isn't and says I can eat his!"

Slivko tried to protest this but I tried to cover his mouth and it turned into a brief play fight as we struggled with each other.

"How do you guys have the energy for that?" Victor asked, genuinely perplexed.

"Because things aren't as bad as they were half an hour ago," I answered.

We approached a small fire where the Iwi's had set up some food for us and, my goodness, it smelled so good. My stomach growled and I salivated like crazy. Everyone else had started to gather too and some took a seat and set upon the food. I dropped my back pack and started helping Slivko unload all his stuff as well.

"Hank," I said as I carefully set the record player down. "How do you thank them without saying anything or smiling?"

"I find that a slight bow usually does the trick," he replied.

I turned to the people standing nearby and gave them a bow before sitting down to eat.

"Awfully nice of them to feed us after we blew up their island and woke up those nasty things," I commented as naturally as I could and tried not to obviously watch the reactions around me.

Everyone sort of froze as the realization hit them then slowly glanced at one another. Conrad and Slivko were still standing and gave them a bow, while San and Houston got up to do so as well. Mason emerged from behind them all with a wild far off look in her glassy eyes.

"Hey," I called her, patting the spot not occupied by Slivko next to me for her to come sit.

She did so and I handed her the other drumstick I'd picked up. I'm not sure what animal it was but I didn't care.
"You ok?" I asked her, licking my fingers and looking at her in concern.

"Yeah, fine," she said, seeming to snap out of it. "But starving, thank you," she said and dug in.

I stuffed my mouth so I could chew and pour us all cups of water when I noticed the little clay cups and pitchers. I gave one to Slivko then Mason and then my own. Their mouths were too full to thank me more than a grunt or nod and that was fine. Silence prevailed as we all ate to satisfaction.