Paradise Island

Paradise Island

After all the years he had spent as a pilot, Richard was still
fascinated by the exhilaration he felt as he
watched the clear blue horizon dominate his view from one thousand
feet. He felt like he could fly on over
the sea forever, until it dropped over the edge of the earth and
thundered down the giant waterfall into what
should be hell. Maybe it would put the fire out, he thought.
Richard had been running his own business off the coast of South Africa
for about ten years now, it was the
best job he'd ever had. He had learned to fly planes in his late teens,
one of the benefits of having a rich and
loving uncle. An uncle who had also provided him with a well paid
office job for a healthy number of
years, a privilege for which he was still eternally grateful. It was
this job which had provided him with the
funds to set up his business, he had saved well over the years,
spending only when necessary and ensuring
nobody ever took him for a ride. It was sometime close to his twenty
eighth birthday when he had realised
he was tired of life in England, and tired of his job in that stuffy
office - He knew the office hadn't been
stuffy when he first began working there, yet he could not remember the
point at which the transformation
had occurred. He had made his decision and had stuck to it, he wanted
to work somewhere warm, with lots
of clean air and to do something which he would enjoy. His uncle Archie
had surprisingly stood by this
decision and had actively encouraged him to seek out his dreams. The
reason for this he had always
thought, was due to the fact his uncle Archie had himself once spent
quite a few years travelling the world,
seeking out his immense fortune. Archie had told him many stories, most
of which he knew were untrue if
utterly entertaining.
So here Richard was, flying tourists around the coastline of South
Africa for what was a reasonable price -
for his customers. For him it was over a three hundred percent profit.
Not a bad little business in anyone's
book. It was because of these healthy profit margins that he could
afford to give his friends - usually the
female kind - the odd free flight and on occasion provide a speedy
cross land taxi service when needed.
It was one of his 'freebies' that he was presently in the process of
completing. A favour for his now bed
ridden and rapidly declining uncle Archie. Apparently one of Archie's
old acquaintances was in a spot of
bother, the details of which he had kept quite vague. He'd received the
telephone call late last week, his
uncle's voice had been jittery and he had seemed unexplainably worried.
Archie had asked Richard to carry
out an errand for him, a task which he accepted without the slightest
hesitation, he would help his uncle in
any way possible. Archie had asked him to simply deliver a package to
an old acquaintance who lived on a
small remote island named Kechu, about two hundred miles off the
southern coast of South Africa. The
package had arrived from England to Richard's house the previous day,
it was a small cube shaped object
wrapped in plain brown paper, he was curious about what was inside the
wrapping, but never for a second
contemplated opening the package. He knew his uncle trusted him and he
would never risk betraying this
trust.
The package now sat toward the rear of Richards small aeroplane, which
was travelling at a relatively slow
pace toward the small island of Kechu. He had never been to this island
before, in fact he had never even
heard of its existence until his uncle had told him of it during the
telephone call. It did not appear on his
map of the coastline, but he had decided this was more due to the fact
that his was not a completely
comprehensive map than of the island not actually being there. Sure
enough when he had visited the local
library a few days ago he had found an oldish map, with the island
clearly marked, roughly where his uncle
had told him it should be.
Archie had instructed him to land the plane on the long beach at the
north face of the island, he had assured
him that the beach was of adequate size to land his plane. Once landed,
he was to take the package
immediately to the house situated at the top of the small cliffs, where
someone would be waiting to collect
it. He had been assured that there would be a path near by, which would
allow him to reach the top of the
cliffs. From the way his uncle had described the island Richard was
sure that Archie had visited the island
himself at some time in the past.

He could see the island on the distant horizon now, it looked like a
tiny blemish on the huge blanket of the
ocean which surrounded it. As the plane flew closer he began his
descent toward the island. From his
current position he could make out the beach which his uncle had
described, it was completely encased by
the cliffs which surrounded it, the cliffs themselves seemed much
larger than he had reckoned from his
uncles descriptions. As he completed his final approach to the
makeshift sandy runway, a quick glance over
his left shoulder revealed that the island seemed to be almost
completely encased by cliffs which seemed
even larger from his current proximity. He noticed the house atop the
cliffs too, it looked no more than an
old shack, with no signs of life other than a slight haze of smoke
emanating from what must have been a
chimney of some sort.
He had set out on his journey at about ten o'clock this morning, after
a bumpy landing and a quick check of
the aircraft for damage it was now close to midday, with the sun
burning down hard upon the beach. He
knew there was a storm forecast for late evening so he tied the length
of rope he kept in the back to the
undercarriage and fastened it securely to the trunk of a small tree at
the base of the cliffs. He had learnt
through carelessness in the past that it was always better to be safe
rather than sorry. Taking the cube
shaped package from the plane he set out to find the path his uncle had
described.
The beach was roughly a hundred feet long from top to bottom, he could
see no obvious path leading up the
cliffs so he headed toward the area which seemed nearest to where the
house atop the cliff would be. He
found what seemed more like a hiking trail toward the far east end of
the beach. There was a slight break in
the cliffs which dominated the island. He noticed what seemed to be
wooden steps hidden deep beneath an
overgrown clump of bushes and weeds. He managed to clamber through them
with only a small number of
cuts and gashes to his skin. He could now make out what was once a
winding pathway which must have
been neatly edged with timbers and plant life. What remained now was no
more than a slightly worn patch
of earth within the dense overgrowth of lush green vegetation which
scattered up the side of the cliffs.
Carefully, he edged his way up and along the path, gradually
approaching the top of the cliff face. Along
the way he kept as tight a hold on Archie's mysterious package as
possible, only loosening his grip when it
was necessary for him to use his upper limbs as balance aids and props
to keep him from tumbling to the
ground below. As he approached the top he could see the house, it
looked to be an old log cabin. His
immediate impression was that the cabin itself was extremely well
constructed, the sturdy timber beams
were neatly cut and ran completely parallel to one another, the sloped
roof kept a consistent angle
throughout and the tiny chimney perched atop sat sternly, puffing light
smoke into the early afternoon sun.
Richard stood at the top of the cliff now, looking down over the edge
he could see his aeroplane, its wings
shimmering in the sun. It looked much smaller than the one which had
brought him here, like a child's toy
in a sandpit he thought. He also thought that uncle Archie had been a
little too liberal while describing the
'small cliffs on the beach', he could hear his lungs churning and feel
the blood pumping in his forehead. He
took a long gaze about his position, he could see most of the island
from here, there was a lightly grassed
clearing in front of him which ran for about fifty feet until it
reached the cabin, beyond which was thick
woodland interspersed with the rocky outcrops dominating the landscape.
There seemed to be a slight slope
toward the centre of the island, rising to what looked like a crevice
leading from the ocean, although he
could not be sure from where he stood. He was feeling light headed now
and decided it would be best to
find some refreshment. His uncle Archie had said during the telephone
call that someone would meet him
at the cliff top cabin, so he decided that this should be his first
point of call. It wasn't until he had walked
half of the fifty or so feet that he realised it could be his only
point of call, for he had not noticed any other
form of settlement on the island. Upon reaching the cabin he took a
peek through the small murky window
next to the door, he couldn't see much inside, the window was too
dirty. He took a couple of steps back to
get a better view of the cabin as a whole. Although it looked to be
constructed well he could see now that it
hadn't been looked after by its owner, a couple of the small glass
panes within the window frame had
cracks in them and small weeds grew within the logs which made up the
cabin walls. Apart from the small
stream of smoke from the chimney it didn't seem like anyone was home.
If they were, surely they would
have heard the plane fly by he thought. He was sure that on such a tiny
remote island, it wasn't everyday
that a plane landed on what seemed to be the only beach.
"Hello?" He shouted softly.
"Is there anybody here?" No reply came.
"I've come on behalf of Archie Longstaff... He said someone would meet
me!!" It seemed to fall on deaf
ears.
He was still holding Archie's package in his hands, for a second he
wondered if he should just leave it in
the cabin and be off. He decided against it, his uncle had said that
someone would meet him in the cabin,
they were probably just late or something. They had never agreed a
specific time of day anyway, so he
stepped up to the cabin door and ventured through. He was surprised at
what he saw as he entered, to his
right burned a shallow fire, in front of which was a large, dark but
multicoloured rug. The floor was smooth
and had a slight shine, oil lamps burned on each wall illuminating a
number of paintings and what seemed
to be large black and white photographs. Opposite the fire was a small
sofa and chair, neatly arranged with
a polished coffee table in front. There was a door to the far left
which must have lead to another room,
maybe the bedroom or bathroom. He wondered if anybody was in
there.
"Hello?" He gave another soft call.
There was no answer. He placed the package carefully on the coffee
table and set toward what seemed to
be a sink in the corner. He could see a barrel there, he was thirsty
now and could still feel the blood rushing
through his head. There was no tap on the barrel but he managed to open
the lid with ease, there was
nothing but cobwebs inside.
He took another walk outside in search of anyone but couldn't find any
signs of the inhabitant. The sun
shone at its brightest now, it was high up in the clear blue sky, only
a few small fluffy clouds could not
offer him protection from the heat. He decided to go back inside the
cabin and wait. Sitting on the small
sofa opposite the dwindling fire he could feel the heat overcoming his
eyes, he attempted to fight the urge
to lay back but couldn't. Before long he had lost the battle completely
and was sleeping soundly, laid
sideways on the sofa.

Richard awoke from the most terrible dream, he was sure he had just
died or had been maimed in some
terrible fashion. His eyes were bleary as he focused them on the
ceiling of the cabin, when he'd managed to
fully focus his vision the dream had gone, as had any memories which he
might have had of it. He wiped
the sweat from his brow, there wasn't much there, but what was there
was sticky with the heat. He
wondered how long he had slept for, and how long it would be before he
could quench the thirst welling
within his throat.
"Ah, your awake. I was wondering how long you would sleep for."
The voice from behind him had caused his heart to skip a beat or two,
and caused his legs to spring himself
up to a half seated position, his head turned to face toward the woman
standing by the sink.
"I'm sorry if I startled you sir. You had been fast asleep when I
returned, so I thought it best to leave you."
Her voice was soft and relaxed and she spoke with the confidence of a
person without fear.
"Eh... no. I'm fine, just a little dazed." He stood now, straightening
his clothes and hair. "Do you live here?"
"This is my house yes." She replied with a smile. "My name is Ling Mae,
and who, may I ask, are you sir?"
"Oh, sorry. My name is Richard Longstaff. My uncle asked me to come
here. To deliver a package." He
pointed to the package which was still sitting on the coffee
table.
"Could Archie not make it this year?"
"Eh, no. He isn't well, the doctors have confided him to his bed." He
thought for a second about how his
uncle had come to know this woman. She was oriental in appearance, mid
fifties at the most but of obvious
beauty and well turned out. He must have met her on one of his business
trips to the far east or something
he thought.
"Oh dear." she said, sounding overly concerned. "Whatever is the matter
with him?"
"Cancer." Richard replied, keeping it short, not wishing to give too
much information to a complete
stranger.
Ling Mae sat down on the chair next to the sofa. Richard could see a
slight tremble in her arms as she
reached her hand to her lips. He felt uneasy, but he could see that she
needed comforting. He sat on the
edge of the sofa and took her free hand, holding it gently.
She raised her head to make eye contact with Richard. He could see
tears in her eyes.
"I'm sorry Mr. Longstaff." she said. "I know you too must be as upset
as myself."
"Call me Richard. Do you know my uncle well?"
"Yes..." She wiped the tears from her eyes as she spoke. "I am his
wife."
Richard was shocked at the words. He had never imagined his uncle as
the marrying type, nor had his uncle
ever mentioned anything of the sort, he'd always seemed too consumed
with his business to pursue a
relationship.
He gave her a questioning look. "I'm sure my uncle would have mentioned
such a thing as marriage!"
Ling Mae smiled, sniffling off the tears as she stood to her feet. She
made her way toward the fireplace.
Reaching upwards she removed a framed photograph from the wall. He
watched her stand and look upon it
for a few seconds, before turning and making her way back to the chair.
She handed the photograph to
Richard.
"This was taken on our wedding day."
He looked closely at the picture. There was a young couple, standing in
front of a large church, the girl was
dressed in a long, fluffy white wedding dress, holding a small bunch of
lilies in her arms. He looked at the
man, he was wearing top hat and tails, with a large button hole flower
on his chest. Both were smiling
widely, looking into one-another's eyes. He looked closer at the man,
it was definitely his uncle Archie. He
was much younger then, but there was no doubting that it was him.
"Well, I suppose I should call you aunt Ling Mae then should I?"
"Ling will be fine. This must have come as a surprise to you. Archie
has spoken of you many times in the
past, I had the feeling he hadn't mentioned me though."
"I'm a little concerned that he never said anything. He always tells me
stories of how he travelled the world
when he was younger, but never even a mention of anything like this.
May I ask you something?"
"Yes of course." Her reply was reassuring, he got the impression that
she would tell him anything which he
asked. She had a trusting tone of voice.
"If the two of you are married, how did you ever see each other? I
mean, I worked for my uncle for around
fifteen years and I've never known him leave the country other than on
business and the occasional holiday.
Are the two of you divorced or something?"
"I suppose you could call us separated. We lived here together, alone
on the island, for two years after we
married, it was wonderful, but Archie became restless, he wanted to
leave, he had ambitions and desires
beyond here. I could not leave this beautiful place, that was thirty
seven years ago now. Until now he has
returned to see me every year on our anniversary, but only for a day. I
knew that it would not last forever."
"I'm sorry. I had no idea." Richard didn't know what to make of it all,
Archie had always been open and
honest with him about everything in the past. He wondered if this woman
was telling him the whole story,
maybe his uncle had a different story to tell. Whatever was the case he
could see it was beginning to get
dark outside the cabin, he decided it was best to make his goodbyes and
get off home as soon as he could,
he would talk with his uncle when he got back home.
"It's getting late Ling. I should really be getting off, I think the
package Archie asked me to bring must be
for you. Maybe it's best if you open it when I'm gone." He tried to
make his words seem as if he wasn't
trying to rush off. He was unsure how well he'd accomplished it.
"I suppose your right. I'm sorry Richard, it was foolish of Archie to
put you into this situation. Whereabouts
is your boat moored? I'll walk to it with you." She had obviously seen
through his words.
"It's not, I came in my aeroplane, its landed on the beach at the
bottom of the cliffs."
A look of shock cast itself across Ling Mae's face. "Oh, no. Is it tied
down?"
"Yes why? is there a problem?" Richard was worried now.
"At this time of year the beach floods when the tide comes in
mid-afternoon. We should go check, you
might be able to reach it if your lucky."
His heart sank, that plane was his only way out of here. He cast his
mind back to after he'd landed to make
sure that he had remembered to tie the rope to something.
They both left the cabin and headed toward the edge of the cliff. It
was cold outside now, with a chilly wind
blustering along the tops of the cliffs. He could see clouds in the sky
too, he could see a storm was fast
approaching.
As they looked down toward the beach Richard felt his heart sink down
once again as he saw the plane
surrounded by water. The beach was completely gone now, as was most of
the plane, all he could see was
the wings and the tip of its tail. The waves crashed noisily against
the cliff faces and the wind blew through
the air with a low whistle as he felt his back shiver.
"I hope it is waterproof." said Ling Mae. "It should be okay as long as
it is tied securely. The tide will go
out again through the night and the beach will be back. There is a
storm coming now though, we should go
back inside."

Richard held the package in his hands as his new found aunt placed a
mug of what he assumed must have
been coffee or something similar on the table in front of him.
"Are you going to open it Ling?"
"Maybe later. Once the storm has gone."
She had seemed a little worried about the storm, he supposed anyone who
lived in such a remote place
would be.
"Do you get many storms out here?" He asked.
"Oh yes, all the time this time of year, it comes with the climate I
suppose, though some are much worse
than others."
As Richard finished off his mug of coffee he felt his eyes getting
heavy, his bones were aching now and he
was sleepy again. He sat back on the sofa, stretching his arms but
trying not to yawn. He looked up toward
Ling Mae, she smiled at him as he felt himself drift into a long deep
sleep.

Richard's head hurt, and his throat was dry, he couldn't remember when
he'd fell asleep but he knew he'd
been asleep for a long time because he could see what looked like the
morning sunshine shining through
the small window of the log cabin. He stumbled slowly to his feet,
stretching his arms and legs as he rose.
"Ling Mae." He shouted. There was no answer.
His empty coffee mug still sat on the table, next to it was uncle
Archies package, it had been opened but the
contents were still inside. He tried not to look.
"Ling Mae??" Still no answer.
He decided to check on his aeroplane, mentally crossing his fingers in
the hope that it would be okay.
As he neared the cliff edge he could already see the end of the beach,
a slight smile crossed his face as he
saw his plane standing clear of the water.

He was back at the cabin now. He had checked the plane, the engine had
fired up first time without any
hassle and there had been only a little sea water left in the cockpit.
There was still no sign of Ling Mae
though. He had checked all the rooms in the cabin now, he wasn't sure
what time it was and he wanted to
get home as soon as possible. He sat on the sofa, contemplating what a
strange day yesterday had been, he
wondered what his uncle would have to say the next time they
spoke.
He glanced toward the coffee table and the open package. Maybe there
was something in the package that
would explain it all. Curiosity got the better of him as he reached
toward the table.
Inside the package he found three things, a map of Kechu island, an
unopened letter and what looked like a
badly decorated antique earn. At the top of the map were the
words:

Richard,
Curiosity has probably got the better of you by now, the package is
for you!!
Open the letter when you reach X

Looking further down the map he noticed a trail was marked from the
house to the centre of the island
where a large X was marked.
"X marks the spot." He said aloud to himself.

It hadn't taken him long to reach the spot marked on the map, about
half an hour he thought, maybe a little
more. The spot itself was a small clearing at the base of a large rock
in the middle of the island, the only
object there was a small stone surrounded by many wild flowers which
stood upright in the middle of the
clearing. Carved into the face of the stone were the words:

Here Lies Ling Mae
The Most Beautiful Thing Ever to Have Been Stolen From this
World.
May You Forever Rest in Peace.

Richard, a little bewildered, opened the letter. It read:

To My Dear Nephew Richard,

I am sorry that this had to happen this way Richard. By now I am sure
that you know you are alone on this
island and that nobody will be arriving to meet you. The island itself
now belongs to you, along with
everything else which I own. I first bought this island when I was in
my early twenties, I was fuelled by
young love and the belief that my life would last forever. I had more
money than I knew what to do with at
the time and had no desire to live the high life. I fell in love with a
young Chinese girl named Ling Mae
while holidaying there one year, a year later we were married and
living together alone on this little
island. It was the most wonderful time of my life, I had no worries in
my life and I was surrounded by
beauty and love.
Unfortunately, two years later everything was taken away from me on a
stormy night. We were sitting on
the cliff tops watching the waves crash over the beach and against the
base of the cliffs, the storm was fast
approaching so we stood up to go inside, as we stood the ground beneath
Ling fell away plunging her into
the water below. I searched as best I could for hours but could find no
trace of her body. As the days went
by I eventually lost all hope that I would ever find her alive.
I carved this makeshift tombstone and left the island, not bothering to
clear out my belongings from the
cabin. I have returned to this island on the anniversary of Ling Mae's
death ever since to lay flowers at this
spot in her memory. Each time I came here I felt as if my heart was
being torn from within me and could
never bring myself to speak of Ling to anyone.
I hope Richard, that one day you find true love, and when you do, you
grab hold of it and never let it go,
hold on to it as you would a dying child, because as with everything in
life there will come a day when it is
taken from you.
You have been everything I could ever have asked of you Richard, and I
hope you feel something of the
same for me. I must however, ask you to carry out one final task for
me. As you know, I have been ill for
some time now, the doctors have told me that they can prolong my life
for a number of months, but I do not
wish to lie here and think of what might have been. So I have
instructed them to stop the medication and let
death take its natural course. As you read this letter I am already
dead. My dying wish is that my ashes are
scattered over the bodiless grave of my dear Ling Mae. I would be
eternally grateful if you would do this
for me.

Thankyou and goodbye
With Love Forever

Archie Longstaff