"The Isle..."

"The Isle..." Prologue and Part I...

Bit of an old fossil of the sea and nearly out to pasture, but lovable all the same...

They couldn't be much more wrong...

And below, resting in the only bunks on the ship, the special passengers, quite famous and even rather astounding types to have boarded such a relatively simple vessel...

Billionaire and would-be president Fredwyn "Fred" C. Crumpt...A large, bustery, outspoken man, considered even by his friends and followers rather hot-headed and loose with the truth and facts...Hated and despised by many, loved and even idolized by many, most of those vastly ignorant of his true nature, underestimated by many, but by those in the know considered the gravest threat to the integrity and security of the United States since Adolf Hitler...A personal hero of Crumpt, who liked his leaders domineering and ruthless...And had little regard or liking for the restraints of law or democracy.

But hey, having no real ideology he admired Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, the Kims as well...Guys who got things done and took nuthin' from nobody. Like his teenaged self with eighty year old Sister Agatha, who'd tried to teach him the rudiments of music...He'd taken no guff from her...Nevermind if some say she beat the crap out of him when he tried to hit her and he wound up in reform...er, military school till college.

Though a number in the know quite well aware of his recent and increasing business failures and administrative incompetence somewhat masked by his abrasive, intimidating, and challengingly aggressive style...At least on TV...And aware that the "billionaire"'s title was an exaggeration if not an outright deception. And that "traitor" as well as "con man", "thief", "liar", and some were sure, "murderer", could be numbered among his titles.

His wife, Lovely Iwanka Crumpt...Former Slobovian model and actress, some would say "porn star", others with more factual evidence "hotel maid", in Crumpt's large but now crumbling from shoddy construction, "Crumpt Palace and Casino" in the Slobovian capital, Dobka , his would-be first lady, thirty-two years his younger and a good candidate for most depressed woman in America...

Lovely's only solaces...Her wealth via Crumpt, the social whirl she'd be able to drown herself in with the eager demand of her husband and his campaign staff, and her hope of again meeting that oh, so nice President Obama who'd been so kind to her at several events, noting Fredwyn's utter lack of attention to his wife...

How such a couple had found themselves on a, as Crumpt had described it on boarding at one of the most isolated of the Hawaiian Islands, "f-ing shithole of a boat", is a major facet in the story of how these seven came to be stranded...

And at last the man watching all...Amazingly alert for one who'd been through three days of desperate labor to survive, and carrying most of the burden of keeping the ship afloat...William Gill(igan)...

By appearance, a friendly, if awkward, fresh-faced young man, in his mid 20s, perhaps a bit gawky and angular, yet charming in his diffident but always kind and sympathetic manner...

In reality, a man of utter ruthlessness and rather remarkable abilities...Which his alert attentiveness was in part demonstrating just now...

In fact the actual commander of the operation underway...Though deferring, as always...And with sincere respect...To Grumbie...A man whose fame, while necessarily narrow, was legendary in the organization they served and the profession they espoused.

A fame that inspired as much fear as respect...Though due to the nature of their work and the secretiveness of their organization and Grumbie's need to maintain his façade with sincerity...A forgotten fame as far as the "Skipper" was concerned.

Though just now, Jonas Grumbie...Top CIA special agent and infamous cleaner...Handler of many a "problem" foreign leader in his day...Was needed.

Gill(igan) rose...Moving to Grumbie cautiously...