A Good Day. A Bad Week. And A Beer.

A good day. A bad week. And a beer.

My current girlfriend, Leila was moping about the wharf when I finished cleaning a client's boat. I was happy to see her, but wondered why she was down.

After a little cuddle she said she needed some sea, sun and sand. I was a little taken aback because that was all we usually did. Going to the beach, I mean.

I decided to take her out to dinner. Might cheer her up, I thought. But no! Not that, she told me. She asked me to take her to the Dolphin Hotel. Jan, her friend was there, she said. I decided I could do with a beer anyway.

We wandered into the hotel bar and we immediately spied Jan and Steve, Bob and Julie, and some other guy who was eyeing Leila off. I gave him a look as I said hi to the others. I tried to make my look say back off, but it didn't seem to faze him. Maybe I need to practice my looks.

Damn it. Jan seemed very keen to introduce this guy to Leila. Todd was his name. When it was my turn he tried to break my fingers. I gave him a look that said do that again and I'll break your head. Didn't seem to work though. He pulled a stool up for Leila and sandwiched her between himself and Jan.

I listened from behind Leila as the gang started talking about a boat trip out to the little island that boaters called 'lover's island'. Sailors called it something else, but I forget the name.

To get to the point, Bob had hired a cabin cruiser for the coming weekend. They told me to meet them at the quay at 6 am on Saturday morning. Which I did. Of course they told me that Leila would be there so I didn't have to pick her up.

I noticed Todd was there without a girl. So that proved to me that Todd was trying to move in on my girl. And I thought Jan was trying to help him.

It was the start of a beautiful weekend. Sun and sea. Sand to come later. Todd took over the controls from Bob and started to show off to Leila. I went up to the cockpit and asked Leila if she wanted to sun bake on the forward section with me. She followed me to the front of the boat where Jan and Steve had already staked out their spot. Jan was topless, and encouraged Leila to remove her top.

Well there we were. Jan and Leila lying side by side, perky boobs pointed at the sky with all the males on the boat with a woody. It was a wonder that Todd found the island, the amount of time he was ogling Leila.

We arrived off the long beach and stared at the breakers. There were rocks in there, and I wondered if Todd could make it through. I supposed he could if he could find the island without looking. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, lining up the swell over the gap. Good boy I thought, but then he hesitated to long, and as he gunned the motor, to late, I yelled, "You won't make it."

Jan turned to me and said "Shut up. He knows what he's doing."

As the rocks gouged a big chunk of fiberglass out of the bottom of the boat I asked Jan to repeat what she said. All she said this time was "Shut up."

Todd did manage to get the boat beached before we sank.

We all climbed down onto the sand and stood in silence as the boat leaned to the side exposing a six foot long gouge that turned the boat into a beach fixture. The group stood around Todd as if he was wearing the gouge. I just thought he was an idiot.

We salvaged all our stuff from the boat, I mean beach fixture, and decided to set up a camp. Todd went back to the boat to get the radio. You guessed it. Butter fingers dropped it over the side. Salt water does wonderful things to electronics. None of them good.

We spent some time swimming. A lot of time swimming. I had the only spear gun so we had five lovely looking fish for dinner that night. The rest of us had sandwiches. I did all the work, except the cooking, and I get bloody sandwiches.

That night Leila let me cuddle her a bit. She didn't seem interested much. Kept looking over at Todd. I thought I'd give it one more try. I cupped both her breasts from behind and teased her nipples. She squirmed for a while, but then one thing led to another. We ended up making love.

During the night she sat up and woke me. She thought she was being sneaky and crept over to Todd. I watched for a while and eventually saw Leila lie down on her back with her legs up and wide apart. Todd mounted her, and if I hadn't been in there first I would have decked him. I knew I'd lost anyway.

Next morning I went over to them and woke them up. "Have a good night?"

'Yeah" said Todd with a grin. I noticed Leila didn't smile, nor did she look at me.

I asked her if she'd had a good night she kept silent. "Well" I said, Two in one night is pretty hot, I reckon."

Todd stood up and drew his fist back but he didn't look at his feet. A little push and he was flat on his back with both ankles tangled in his clothes.

The start of a bad week! There were three couples on the beach. I wasn't in any of them. They all tried to make me do their fishing that afternoon as they had all tried with no luck. I had a go and found no fish, but a young shark showed up and his inquisitiveness was what had him on the coals that night.

The group banished me from the beach that night, so I made sure I had a lighter, and then grabbed the spear gun and headed off towards the other side of the island. Todd called out. "Hey. Leave the spear gun. We need it."

"You don't know how to use it" I called over my shoulder.

I didn't hear from them the next day, and I'd been eating well. I even downed a bird and was cooking it up the next morning when I decided to pay the others a visit. I was chewing on the drumsticks as I wandered into their area. Leila came over and said she was hungry. I gave her some breast meat which she quickly devoured.

I was put out as she didn't say thanks. She just wandered back to the others. I decided to do some fishing for them as they may need to be kept alive. I found that a school of fish were close to the shore and was able to give them about a dozen fish. I supposed a shark was keeping the fish inshore. Sure enough there was a large shadow further out. I wondered if I should tell Todd to go fish.

I soon headed off to my solo activities again, exploring the island. I kept to the high ground whenever I could, checking the horizon for boats. And I didn't do a very good job.

Two days later I thought the group needed more fish. I wandered over to their side of the island and found that a boat had come into the lagoon, if you could call it that. The pilot was obviously better than Todd as it was floating nicely out about fifty yards.

As I wandered closer to the group I distinguished two extra men standing in the group. As I got closer I saw that one of them was pointing a rifle at me. "I'm a bit tough. I don't think you would like me."

"Smartass" was their first word to me.

"Hello to you to" I replied. "Can you guys give us a lift back to the big smoke?"

"Just sit there with the others, and give me that spear gun."

I sat with the group wondering where this was going. The two men had eyes for the girls and I suspected trouble. I was a bit right and a lot wrong. After some negotiations, these armed thugs had themselves a girl or two for a while. And then they might consider radioing for help.

I stuck around for the next day and a half. Realizing that these thugs might cause some major strife, I did a bit of eavesdropping. Sure enough, they had robbed something. Fifty grand was on their boat. I noticed Todd's ears perk up at the mention of money. But would they dispose of witnesses who had seen their faces?

That night, about three am, I decided to sneak out to their boat. They hadn't said anything about their boat or any other members of their gang. The boat was rocking from side to side in the swell getting into the lagoon.

I thought up a plan. Maybe it would work. As the boat rocked to the right, I pulled it a bit further, and each time I got up quite a rocking motion. I heard a noise of a door opening and closing accompanying some curses. I kept up the rocking and eventually the whoever returned to the cabin.

I breathed a sigh of relief and timed the rocking again. I climbed onto the paddle board and slipped aboard. Freezing and listening. No sounds. Good. I crept to the door and stood to one side. I rapped loudly on the door and was rewarded with a curse, a scramble noise and the whoever came rushing for the door. As he barreled through I helped his momentum towards the stern and threw him overboard.

So far so good, I thought. The man was struggling in the water and I leaned over the stern and said, loud enough for him to hear, there are sharks in there. Better head for the beach. He saw I was holding something in my hand so he did as I told him. Fast swimmer, that guy.

I quickly checked the cockpit. Key in place. Good. Turn on, check fuel. Good. I was going to have to wait for some light to tackle the gap in the rocks. Damn reef. Should have lights.

I sat in the stern with my eyes searching for any movement on the beach. It was getting a bit light and I was able to make out some individuals on the shore. Then the rifle cracked. I didn't duck then but headed for the cockpit. I knew they wouldn't shoot their nice boat. Or would they. Desperate men do desperate things.

I started the boat's motor and glanced at the reef. I could just make out the gap as the swell dropped. Another crack from the rifle. I heard the bullet spang off a fitting and this time I ducked. I opened the throttle and headed for the reef. Don't be a Todd I chided myself. As my back was exposed to the shooter, the pucker factor was running high.

I was a fair way out when I got the judgment right. No more shots yet. As the swell came up high over the gap I rammed the throttle to the stops and the powerful engines made the boat leap through and away. I turned and gave the beach the finger. Don't know if they could see.

Three hours later I tied up at the wharf. I did a quick search of the boat and found the stash. It looked pretty big so I just lifted a wad of hundreds off the top, hoping it wasn't dyed. As I walked towards the hire shop the owner came out to meet me.

"You were with that group. Where's my boat?"

"I looked sadly at him and said "It's not a boat anymore. It's a beach decoration."

"What the hell happened?"

"Todd" I said.

"That prick! I know him! Bob was supposed to be driving."

"There are some armed men on the island to. This is their boat. I borrowed it."

"Are you taking it back?"

I looked at him for a moment, then looked out to sea. Turning back I said "Nahhh!"

I handed the poor guy the key to the boat and left him with the problem and headed towards my car. Climbed aboard. Headed home. Passed the hotel. Did a U turn. Parked out the front. Got out and walked into the bar. The barmen saw me come in alone. Drew me a beer and handed it to me. I took a long pull, ending with "Ahhh."

"You still with Leila?"

Looked at him and said "Nahhh!" Took another pull and added "Good beer."