One Star, Two Star

Chapter Two

“You always bring to much” the blond, hyperactive Martha Baker complained as she shoved Melissa’s duffel bag into the Cessna Caravan’s open hatch. “I brought the tent, camping gear and food, all you needed to do was bring your gear and a swimsuit. But nooo... You had to bring extra clothes, tools and your school books. We are on Spring Break if you remember.”

Melissa laughed, she always brought this much and her friend always complained exactly as much. “I did bring a swimsuit, three to be exact” she countered. “One for daily wear, one for around the pool and one for formal occasions. That black thing you bought me for my birthday.”

“Any bites yet?” the blond woman asked, a badly acted leer on her face.

“Only you, I’ve only worn it at your pool so far” Melissa admitted. “Maybe at the island, you never know right? But what about you, that silver lame thing you like so much?”

“That’s Lamé not lame” her friend corrected, lifting up her own much smaller bag. “No, I bought a new one, a ivory one, and a copper one for you.” She looked at the Amphibian, “Just why did daddy order me to take this thing, I love the Grand Caravan.”

“Maybe” Melissa answered, leaning against the fuselage, “Because the runway at Little Whale Cay is 1750 feet long and the Grand Caravan needs 2160 feet to land?”

Martha thought about that, it made sense to her that her friend would know such details, they had first met in fourth grade when Martha needed a tutor and Melissa, even though she was only ten at the time, needed the money for her college fund. Martha had passed while the two had become tight friends since then, with Melissa acting as Martha’s private tutor even now. But they were going to different colleges, how would she manage to pass college the blond thought. Her father had already warned her that if she got her M.R.S. degree she would be disowned and her younger, way smarter sister would get everything. He’d even mentioned that if Melissa had been male she would have been very acceptable as a member of the family. Melissa? That way? Euuuu...

“Okay then, how much space does the amphibian need to take off” she asked.

“3660 feet” her redheaded friend answered without thinking. “Landing, 2341 feet, that’s calm water and maximum load which we are not coming anywhere near. Anything else?”

Martha grinned, taking hold of a handhold to pull herself up into the craft, she was almost as physically fit as her friend. “We dine in Hell” she quoted. “It is the Devils Triangle after all.”

Melissa shook her head in disbelief, following her friend aboard the aircraft. “It’s on the South-Western edge, nothing has ever vanished on Little Whale Island other than socks and I lose socks in the dryer all the time.” She found a seat across from her friend, letting the co-pilot strap her in before giving them the standard safety briefing. Once he was done he turned around and closed the hatch before finding his own seat. “Is this what your trying to do? Get us sucked up in some kind of interplanetary vortex to land on the sun?”

“We’d vaporize” the blond shot back, “Even I know that much and I’m a blond, remember?”

“At night?”

“Funny...”

Their aircraft engines starting made further conversation impossible until they were airborne, besides Martha was fascinated with aircraft, she even had her own single engine licence so getting her attention until they were safely airborne would be near impossible. Melissa pulled out her Greek book and started studying, Martha would let her know when she was ready to talk again. It wouldn’t really be that long.

They were cruising at eight angels when Martha turned her attention back to her friend, noting that Melissa was deep into her Greek textbook. Tapping a fingernail against the back of the seat in front of her the blond waited. It wasn’t that long of a wait, Melissa finished the paragraph that she was reading, slipped her bookmark into place then closed her book, looking over to her friend.

“Ready for the plot?” Martha asked when she had her friends attention.

“Schedule first” the redhead requested.

“Okay then, schedule” her blond hared friend agreed. “We spend the first two days at the resort, letting our equipment top off and fixing anything that won’t work.”

“Like your improvised flash bombs?” Melissa prodded, remembering the battery powered strobe flashes that had broken apart before they could go off. That had been the desert battleground, hot, dry and filled with real things that wanted you dead.

“I fixed that problem, I’ll show you when we arrive. Anyway, we get pampered for two days, then the third we explore the entire island, rain or sun. It’s not that big, plot out where we want to camp then that night, right after sundown we go out, set up a cold camp then start our play, night only because it is that small of an island. Three days before we return we break camp, return to the resort and clean up, get pampered again then come home. Simple?”

“At least we won’t get sun...”

Whatever Melissa was going to say was never heard, there was a brilliant pea green flash and the aircraft was gone, simply... gone.