Fire. Shelter. Survival. And the memory of the people worth staying alive for.
This is Part 2 of the novel Love on Fridays. Missed the beginning? Start with Ms. Coconut.
“Fire! Fire! FIRE!”
Mack is again walking on the beach anxiously, holding his stick in the hand.
“But how?” — “Think Mack! Think!”
His stomach starts to growl—
“I think Mr. Belly needs something really urgent” — “I will get back to you in some time, Mr. Fire”
He walks back to the tent area, breaks open the remaining coconut, drinks all the water, then cuts it into two and eats the coconut flesh.
“That was amazing!” — “Gotcha!” — “I recall something from our school wildlife camp!” — “They taught us how to make fire with some wooden sticks”
Then with pride he says to himself—
“Once I get the idea, it is a piece of cake for me.”
He breaks down a big branch of a palm tree, cuts out two or three thin sticks and he also gets a very thick wooden piece from another tree. He also collects a few palm leaves and coconut palm husk fibers (coir).
“Fire Drill 101” — He starts speaking as if he is shooting a video for his social media page, showing all the material.
“First, we need the fireboard”
He took a thick wooden piece, but it is not flat, so he starts rubbing it on a big rough rock surface to make it flat.
“The fire board is ready!”
He then picks up two-three sticks, sharpens them, also flattens their surface so that the tiny thorns on the surface won’t hurt his palm while holding them.
“Now we are ready for the drill!” — He then senses — “Something is wrong!” — “Our equipment is all wet because of the humid climate” — “Okay then, let’s dry them up!”
Mack picks up the board, the sticks, the coconut coir and the palm leaves to the beach side where there is sunlight. He again thinks—
“But what if the sea waves reach till here and make them more wet.”
He rolls down a small boulder from a distance and places all the stuff on it — high enough that the waves can’t reach, and the sun rays fall directly on the items.
“Well done, Mack!” — Mack thanks himself. “Sometimes I feel like I am a born genius!” — He laughs thinking this.
While the fire drill stuff is getting ready, he gets his Transpiration machine ready. He again seals a few leaves of a tree with a plastic bag for water.
“Now! Let’s get some coconuts!”
He goes for a different tree this time. The job is done in almost two hours; he gets the coconuts back to his tent area.
He completes his meal and returns to the beach to check on the fire drill stuff.
“Oh! This is still a bit wet.”
He turns all the items onto the other side.
“Completely forgotten it! The tent!” — “I planned to finish setting up the tent by tonight.”
He plans for a cuboid-like tent, in which he can fit completely, such that it’s sealed from outside during night.
He starts gathering a few poles of wood that would act like four pillars on four corners and some other wooden sticks to support the tent overall.
He puts all the material to the side, then cleans the area with his hands. He then draws a big rectangle box on the ground using a stick — The foundation marking.
Now he starts digging holes on the line. He digs with a sharp pole stick of wood and then takes out the loosened soil with his hands. He digs for almost two feet in depth, places a pole at a corner, hits it inside using the rock, throws in some pebbles and stones for strong support, presses them down with his foot, then covers the remaining pit with soil and stomps it hard enough so the pole is strong and steady.
He does this for all other poles. After a lot of effort, the skeleton of the camp is ready. He tries to put the tent over the structure. The top is covered properly but the tent is not covering the sides, and something can still come inside from the walls.
“I need to plan for something!” — “Hmmm….”
“Oh! The fire board!”
He quickly runs back to the beach and checks on the fire board material.
“Thank God!” — “You’re all still alive.”
It is almost evening. Before it gets dark, he wants to complete the fire.
Mack places the wooden plate between his legs, holding it tight, then starts to rotate the spindle stick with both hands as fast as he can. He does this for an hour. His hands start to sweat, and the muscles start to hurt.
“Ush! This isn’t my piece of cake!” — he sighs catching his breath.
“Quick plan!” — “I just need to properly cover the walls of my new home sweet home, and I should be good for tonight”
He carries a few logs of dead trees and breaks branches with his legs. He also gets two or three boulders and a bunch of rocks. He cuts lots of big palm leaves that look almost like banana leaves.
He first covers the whole hut with palm leaves, then fixes the poles horizontally across the walls, ties them up with the vine, like the bricks in a wall. At the bottom of each wall he places boulders and logs for strong support, to not allow any creatures on the ground to enter inside.
“Home Sweet Home!” — he writes down on the right side of the hut.
“Mack & family live here!”
It is already night.
“Aaaah…” — he starts yawning — “Time for bed.”
He has covered the inside of the tent with dry palm leaves and some wooden logs for warmth and softness. He lies down inside, places his hands on his chest, slowly closes his eyes and starts thinking—
“How are you mom and dad?” — “I will come back soon…”
“I am waiting to see you, Jenny!”
The story continues in Part 3 — The Family.
