INTRODUCTION TO READERS
WET ENCOUNTERS
is a novel-length story of love, lust and betrayal that takes place on a tropical Pacific island during the second half of the twentieth century.
It's seventeen chapters pivot around a single event that takes place when two people are forced to take refuge in an abandoned cabin when they are cut off by rising floodwaters.
During the three nights they spend together, they discover things about themselves and the regular occupants of the cottage that will destroy their previously stable lives.
The big question is, can anything be saved from the wreckage that remains after the floodwaters recede?
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CHAPTER FOURTEEN
With breakfast out of the way, we carried out a bit of housekeeping - removing the soiled towels from the bed and replacing them with the ones we'd washed; washing the sheets we'd had soaking in the bathtub; cleaning up the bathroom after Juanita's little golden shower episode; and cleaning up the coffee and broken cup and spilt coffee from in the living room; and one or two other things - before settling down to a game of Squatter.
She had suggested another game of gin rummy but I had already decided that the only way I would sit down at a card table with her would be if I had her as a partner. She was a shark.
Having said that, she also cleaned me out at Squatter. After almost three hours, she had taken everything I had owned. I'd started out a wealthy sheep and cattle grazier and, by two o'clock, had ended up broke. Once again, she agreed to let me pay off my debts to her in 'kind'. This time, however, she wanted something more than mere kisses.
Before heading to the bedroom, where it was agreed that I would offer up the first instalment of my debt repayment plan, I checked the floodwater levels.
After ensuring that our visitor hadn't returned, I went out onto the front verandah. From there, I would not only be able to gauge the rate of rise or fall - I expected the latter - I would also be able to see what cloud cover remained. As I looked westward, I had a clear view of the seven-thousand-foot-high mountain range with only their peaks enshrouded in cloud; which was typical of most days. After the heavy rain, the air was so clear that they looked to be only a few miles away.
Smatterings of blue sky were visible above our cabin as the cloud lifted and dissipated and the wind had dropped. Rather than coming from the west, it was now blowing in from the coast and the rain had stopped. Everything appeared to be returning to normal.
A glance down at the stairs showed me that the water level was beginning to fall; I'd estimate it had dropped about eight inches since I'd checked from the back steps, a few hours earlier.
'If it continues at this rate,'
I thought,
'the cabin will be sitting on dry ground by nightfall. We should be able to cross over tomorrow morning'
.
This was the first chance I'd had to check on my truck - It had been impossible to see past a hand held in front of your face when the rain was in full downpour - but all I saw was an empty space where it thought it had been. I leaned out over the verandah rail just in case it was just outside my line of sight. No luck. It was gone.
Its loss was a disappointment. It was a special build dual-cab and I'd waited almost twelve months between placing the order and taking delivery. I wasn't surprised, however. I was half expecting that it would have been washed away when the floodwaters covered the little peninsular upon which it had been sitting.
"It looks like we'll be able to cross the creek tomorrow morning," I said to Juanita as I went back into the house. "But unless it is shallow enough to drive your truck through, we'll have to hike up to my homestead. It looks like the floodwaters have taken my vehicle.
"Still, it's only a couple of miles so shouldn't take us more than twenty minutes."
"Oh, Matthew," she said, her voice filled with sympathy. "I'm so sorry. Do you think it's completely gone?"
"I might find it caught up in the plantation," I answered. "But if not, it's been washed down to the big river. If that's the case, it'll be somewhere out on the reef by now. If I find it in the plantation, I might be able to rebuild it. If I'm lucky, though, the insurance company will pay for a new one. The bloody thing was only a couple of years old.
"Anyway, it's no good crying about something I can't do anything about. Tomorrow's another day. And we'll have enough to worry about before I can do anything about my truck."
Juanita wrapped her arms around me and held me tightly against her.
"This last couple of days have been filled with highs and lows," she said. "Rather than worrying about the lows, which, as you keep saying, we can do nothing about at the moment, let's think of the highs.
"We've found each other. We've survived a major flood. We've been well fed. We've managed to keep warm. We've slept in a relatively comfortable bed. And, did I mention that we'd found each other?
"Oh, and I've learned how to have my temperature taken without a thermometer. I've learned how to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation" And I've learned what it will feel like if I ever have to be rescued by a lifesaver and have to be helped to swim to shore; or across a flooded river.
"My God! I hope that if that ever happens, I don't have an orgasm in mid-stream. That would be embarrassing; not to mention dangerous.
"Oh, and did I mention that I had found the man I will love until my dying day?"
"I believe you might have mentioned it once or twice," I answered. "And I have to agree with you. What's the loss of a truck when you've found the one person you didn't even know you were searching for?
"I suppose I'm a bit of a realist. Having grown up in parts of Australia where we had to make do with what we had or go without. There was no point in dreaming about what might have been. I've always been adventurous, though, and I've never been so closed-minded that I wouldn't look over the next hill. I have, however, accepted my place in the general scheme of things.
"Even when I met and felt an instant attraction for you, I switched my emotions off. You were married to James and I wasn't about to interfere with that. Besides, I was married to Liz, whom I loved, and I had two beautiful little girls. There was no way I was about to throw that away, just on the off-chance that you felt the same way about me as I thought about you.
"From what you have already told me, you felt the same. And you handled it the same way; although I must admit that I couldn't for the life of me understand why you seemed to have taken such an instant and, seemingly, intense dislike towards me. I'm such a likeable fellow.
"Anyway, those barriers were destroyed as soon as I put my hands on you in the cabin of your truck. I knew as soon as I touched you and felt the charge of electricity that passed between us that pragmatism was bullshit. I knew in that instant that you and I had been searching for each other since time began and that I had suddenly discovered the woman I would love forever."
Juanita lifted her face to me as I finished my little speech. It was covered with tears. I bent my head down to hers and gently kissed them from her face before joining my lips to hers. Our kiss was filled with so much passion that I felt Juanita's legs give way. I bent down and picked her up in my arms and carried her towards our bedroom.
We made love for an hour before we both fell asleep. It wasn't the rushed, exploratory love we had been indulging in during the past forty-eight hours. That had been fucking. We had been satisfying our lust. This time, our lovemaking was of the gentle, passionate kind. We took our time to properly explore each other. It was baby-making love.
I don't know whether the baby-making aspect of our lovemaking worked but I was reasonably sure that, if Juanita's eggs were receptive, between our lust and love, there would be three of us crossing the creek tomorrow.
It took me a few minutes to work out where I was when I woke. I had been in a deep sleep and had been dreaming about playing with a little girl I didn't recognise. She had the same caramel-coloured skin and black hair as Juanita. Unlike Juanita's brown eyes, however, hers were hazel. She must have been a little more than a year old because she was running around but she was still a bit unsteady on her legs.
As I emerged from the fog of my dream, I could hear a voice calling my name. It was a man's voice and it was also calling for Juanita. I recognised it as James' voice. He seemed to be some distance away.
"Holy shit!" I exclaimed. My eyes snapped open as I realised that it
was
James' voice. I dived out of bed and ran towards the kitchen, where I threw on my shorts and pulled my T-shirt over my head.
"What's going on?" Juanita asked as I ran into her coming from the bedroom.
"Quickly!" I said. "Throw your dress on and come out onto the verandah. James is over on the other side of the creek and he's calling us.
"It also might not be a bad idea to run a comb through your hair before you come out," I said with a smile on my face. "You look like you have spent the past few days having the shit fucked out of you." As I was speaking, I ran my fingers through my own hair, silently thanking Liz for insisting that I keep it reasonably short.
