Island Story

I was planning a vacation to Vancouver for a couple of weeks and I didn’t know it would be my last. I asked my brother if he would like to go because he likes taking vacations so he can get away from his long work days. 

A couple days later we were headed on our way to Vancouver on a boat. They said it would take a couple of days so my brother and I decided to get comfy. I woke up late morning. It was about 11.25 a.m. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and a slight breeze blowing on my face. My brother and I decided to get up and get some breakfast to start the day even though it was late morning. We had scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, and pancakes. That was one of the best meals I have had in a long time because my dad usually makes breakfast for my brother and I, but I moved out of there a couple weeks ago and moved in with my brother that had just bought a house. 

It was around 12:30 pm when we finished our meals. We decided to go play cards for a couple of hours to pass the time. We played a game called progressive rummy. I had a very good time playing cards. Then we both decided to go look out at the sea and see what we could see in the ocean or in the sky. We saw some seagulls and some other type of bird that I didn’t know the name to. I also saw a couple of dolphins playing and jumping in and out of the water. 

It was about 5:30 - 6:00 o’clock when my brother and I decided to go get some supper before we go play cards again. My brother and I got a couple of slices of pizza and some chicken wings for supper. The pizza was one of the best I have had. The wings were good but not as good as the pizza. We went to go play cards for a second time before we went to bed. We played UNO and we also played War. I had a great time playing cards. It was around 8: 00 o’clock and we decided to get some shuteye because the next day was going to be a very big day. The captain said we were close to Vancouver. I woke up in the middle of the night and it started to storm. There was lightning and thunder. The waves were crashing into the boat. That happened for a couple hours. 

We finally reached a point where the boat was going on its own. The captain could not control the boat anymore. It was terrifying when the waves crashed into the boat but it was even worse when the boat went out of control. I heard screams just before we crashed. I passed out from the impact. I woke up a little bit later and I saw a couple of people dead. I went to find my brother but I couldn’t find him. I got outside the boat and my brother and a couple of other people were with him. They were trying to find food and wood. One of the others was a woman by the name of Barbera. She found a stick and started to draw. She started making letters. The letters were spelling out SOS. I asked the other person that was there if he had a flare gun and he said yes. I said we can save that for a different time. By the way the other person is a man by the name of Bruce. He was a tall muscular guy that looked like he had been weight lifting for a long time. The woman by the name of Barbera was short and had red hair. I asked what she did for a living back home and she said that she was a rock climber and she ran every single day. I asked Bruce the same question and he said he lifted weights and exercised every day. I told him we could use your strength to break logs and other things. I told Barbera that we could use her climbing abilities to get berries and other fruit from high places up in trees. I could do the math and calculations in my head if we needed to do that for how much food everyone gets over the course of a week. My brother was a science guy and knew what we could and could not eat and drink.

So Bruce started to find pieces of wood we could use for a fire and also he got some sticks and leaves to sleep on. Barbera started to climb trees to find food for everybody. They asked me questions like,  “how much food would last us for tonight?” and “How much wood we would need for the fire to burn all night?” I answered their questions and they went out and got it. They came back within a couple of hours. They got the stuff I asked for and we sat there for a little bit and I brought some cards so we played cards for a while. Everyone started to get hungry so I said use your food wisely. I totally forgot about the water so we got buckets of water and sat them right up against some logs. We waited until it was about 8:00 p.m to start boiling the water so we could actually drink the water. It took a while to boil the water and get the salt out of it. It was about 9:00 now and we got tired so we went to sleep. 

I woke up in the morning and Bruce was getting wood for the fire. Barbera was up in the tree getting some berries and fruit from it. She was about 20 feet up into the tree. I thanked them for getting up and getting the food and the wood. Throughout the day my brother was getting asked questions about how much food we need for the day and how much wood we need to burn for the night. We took a dip in the ocean to pass some time until it was lunch time. We ate some red and black berries and some vegetation that we were able to eat without getting poisoned. After we ate we rested up a little bit. After that we played cards until it was about 3:00 p.m. Then we were all back to work. We worked until about 6:00 p.m. We took a break and ate some more fruit and barbera found some coconuts on the palm trees. We also cooked some water so we could drink it. I wanted meat but we couldn’t find any wild animals except for birds, lizards, snakes and frogs. I didn’t want to eat any of that. So I stuck with berries coconuts and vegetation. Every night we have been here so far we have made a fire to let pilots and people on boats see if they can see the smoke from the fire. Bruce brought a flare gun with him in his bag. We stayed another night hoping for someone to see us. We went to sleep at around the same time every night. We did the same things every day. 

The next day bruce and Barbera were playing catch with a coconut. My brother and I decided to get in on the fun. We played catch with it for about thirty minutes before we got to work and got the food, wood and water. Today was as normal as any other day we were there. We ate after the water was cooked. We had the same thing as any other day but we had coconut milk to drink instead of water. I stuck with the water after trying the coconut water for the first time ever in my life. My friends and brother started cheering me on while I was thinking whether or not to drink the coconut milk. We played cards again for about a couple of hours. I had so much fun today playing cards. After we played cards we got back to work. We worked until almost 6:00 p.m. After we worked we went and swam in the water. There was a shark in the water and it bit my brother. There was blood filling the water. My brother was screaming. We got him out of the water. We wrapped his leg with leaves and we had a little bit of rope on the boat so I ran and got it. We wrapped his leg with the leaves and tied it really tight so it would stop the bleeding. We found some maggots and put it on the bite mark so it would eat away the bad flesh and leave the good flesh. We tried to comfort him but he was in so much pain. That night we got some food and ate. The food took a little bit of the pain off my brothers mind. It was about 8:30 p.m now and we all decided to get some sleep. I woke up a couple of times from my brother screaming so I went over to him and asked if I could do anything and he said to wash the wound. I said I will go get the alcohol and pour it on the wound and clean it out. I went back to sleep. 

I woke up to a boat horn. I started the fire to get people's attention. The boat started to turn towards the island. It took about 20 minutes to get here. The boat finally got here and I called for help. I told the captain to call 911 so he did. It took the helicopter awhile to get here. The helicopter got here and brought out a stretcher and put my brother on it and I told him it was going to be okay. We got on the ship and went to the docs at Vancouver and got off. I bought a cheap phone as soon as I got off so I could call my brother as soon as he was feeling better. He was airlifted to the hospital in Vancouver. They told him he had to go to a different hospital so he could be treated properly there. So he was airlifted to University Health Network Hospital in Ontario. 

After I got the phone I decided to go find an apartment to rent. The rent wasn’t too bad. I decided to watch TV and relax after what had happened a couple of hours ago. I fell asleep watching a football game. I woke in the middle of the night and I was hungry. I walked to the restaurant that was a couple blocks away from the apartment complex. There was a McDonalds that was open so I decided to go there. After I got back to the house, I ate my food and went to bed. I woke up the next morning and I felt horrible. I booked a flight to Toronto to go visit my brother. I had to be on the plane by 1:00 p.m. I got there and they got me in and I got on the plane. I slept for awhile. I got some peanuts to eat for a snack. After I ate most of my peanuts I went back to sleep. I woke up again it was morning. I asked the person who was next to me where we were and he didn’t know. I went to the bathroom. I went back to my seat and sat down. 

As soon as we landed I got a taxi to the hospital. I went in and asked the woman at the front desk what room my brother was in? She asked me who I was and how I was related? I answered her questions and she told me where the room was. It took me a couple of minutes to get there. I finally got there and there was a doctor checking up on him. I asked if I could speak to him and he said yes. I asked my brother if he was doing okay and he said yes. The doctor said he would be out in a couple of days. I had some hospital food in the afternoon. The food was not half bad. The next couple of days I asked him what he wanted to do after he got out? He said he wanted to go to the beach and sit in the sun for a couple of days. We got out and he had crutches. So we went on the beach and sat there baking in the sun. After the couple of days we booked a plane and went home.

DJF