Poppy in Paradise
Marley Quinn
Poppy in Paradise
by Marley Quinn
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
The Solo King
Thirsty
Poppy’s Coconuts
Man Banana
Poppy Want More
Poppy Like Dane
Whitefella
Searching for Poppy
The Solo King
Dane gulped as he looked up at the heavens, watching as the storm clouds gathered. He was more than 1,000 miles off the coast of Fiji, so there was little chance of rescue, even if he could get his radio antenna fixed.
For the first time, he began to doubt whether sailing across the Pacific in a tiny boat was such a good choice.
Calling upon his decade of experience as a sailor, Dane did his best to steer his tiny craft into each wave and then ride the swell. But it was no use. The storm was simply too powerful.
Wave after wave washed over the deck of the Solo King. Realizing that the end was near, Dane threw on his life jacket and activated his emergency beacon.
A few minutes later, an enormous swell flipped over the boat, sending Dane cascading into the water.
He bobbed up and down, riding through the terrifying storm for a long time until a piece of debris hit him in the head, knocking him unconscious.
Thirsty
When he awoke, Dane was battered and bruised. But at least he was on dry land. Looking around, he saw that he had washed up on the beach of a tropical island.
Even with a quick glance, he could see that the island was quite small, which probably meant that it was uninhabited. Certainly, there were no signs of any human activity.
Somehow, the life jacket had gotten ripped off when his boat capsized, as had his shirt, leaving him with a pair of shorts and nothing else.
Dane grimaced. He knew that his chances of survival were slim, even if someone had received the signal from his emergency beacon.
Dane got to his feet and began walking toward the line of palm trees that marked the edge of the beach. His throat was dry, and with the hot tropical sun beating overhead, he knew that he needed to find water right away.
But where? And what if there was no source of fresh water on the island? Dying of dehydration would be a far worse death than drowning in the ocean.
Dane looked for some kind of path or at least an animal track leading toward the interior of the island, but all he saw was thick underbrush.
He tried making his way through it, but he gave up after a few minutes of having branches and plants scrape against his bare skin. His thirst was now maddening, and he cast about for some kind of relief.
That’s when he noticed a coconut sitting on the ground about 100 yards away. Dane ran up to it and saw that he had discovered a stand of coconut palms. The one on the ground looked rotten, but surely, there had to be a fresh one somewhere.
He hunted around until he found one that looked fresh. He held it up to his head and shook it, smiling as he heard the liquid sloshing around.
But how to open it? That was the question. Without a knife, it would be almost impossible to cut it open. Dane hunted around, looking for a sharp rock, but all he saw were shell fragments.
He picked up the biggest one and tried to use it as a knife. But even after several minutes of sawing, he had failed to make a dent in the thick rind of the coconut. Shit! What was he going to do?
Just then, he caught some movement out of the corner of his eye. Dane hunkered down, wondering if he had accidentally stumbled upon the island's inhabitants.
But all he saw was a flash of red hair from deep in the undergrowth. Did Pacific islanders have red hair? That didn’t seem likely. But he didn’t know.
Dane turned back to the important issue at hand, which was getting the coconut open. He looked around until he found a large stick. Using it as a club, he began to whack the coconut. But each time, the stick harmlessly bounced off the coconut.
Finally, he gave up and slumped to the ground. Why was it so hard to crack open a coconut? He shook his fist at the sky and screamed out his frustration.
Just then, Dane heard the unmistakable sound of a female giggling. He turned his head but didn’t see anyone.
A moment later, though, a young woman stepped out from behind a tree. She was stunningly beautiful, with long red hair that hung almost to her knees.
Her breasts were full and on full display because all she was wearing was a skimpy skirt that was woven from some kind of grass.
Dane blinked in amazement, not sure if he was dreaming or hallucinating. “Hello? Who are you?” he asked.