I Will Survive

The two women looked at each other.

“I mean, with an i at the end,” said Cindi.

“Oh, okay.” Jessie nodded. She laughed. “So it’s really Cindi with two is.”

Cindi’s smile tightened. “I’ve found that people usually know what I mean.”

Jessie raised her eyebrows at the condescending tone and there was an awkward pause before Cindi spoke again, pointing down at her own attire. “I think I’m supposed to be one of the ship’s crew. A chambermaid or cabin-maid or whatever they call it.” She was wearing a fitted black uniform with a white apron. It had long sleeves, Jessie noticed jealously.

She doubted that “Cindi with an i” was a chambermaid in real life. She had the look of someone who spent a lot of money looking after herself. Her short, platinum, tousled hair emphasized her big eyes, full lips and Slavic cheekbones. She was five and a half feet of slender, toned perfection and she made Jessie feel gangly and clumsy.

It didn’t help that Jessie was also an inch or two taller than the other contestant.

The man pushed his glasses up on his snub nose before he spoke.

“I’m Malcolm Talbot,” he said. “From Denver, Colorado.”

“Nice tuxedo,” said Jessie. It probably had been nice originally, and on a handsome man it might have looked rakish and dissolute, but Malcolm didn’t look as if he’d be comfortable in a tuxedo at the best of times. With his round face, receding hairline and owlish glasses he simply looked disheveled and lost.

“Did you guys get ‘washed-up,’ too?” asked Jessie.

Cindi and Malcolm looked at each other.

“Uh…no,” Cindi said apologetically. “We were brought to the shore.”

“I’m not a very good swimmer,” added Malcolm. “So I probably couldn’t have done it anyway.”

Jessie could see that he was trying to make her feel better and she smiled in appreciation.

“It really was quite a long swim,” chimed in Cindi. “You shouldn’t be embarrassed about getting into trouble.”

“But I didn’t,” said Jessie. She kept her voice pleasant but spoke firmly. “I only stopped because I thought I’d dropped my bag. I didn’t actually need to be rescued.” She turned to Kenny who was hovering silently nearby. “I mean, you were filming it. You saw that I wasn’t drowning, right?” She paused, waiting for an answer. “Kenny?”

Kenny’s head came away from the camera’s eyepiece and he grimaced apologetically. “Uh…I’m not really supposed to talk, you know. I’m just like, an independent observer. Just pretend I’m not here.”

“It’s okay,” Cindi said reassuringly. “I don’t have a clue about any of this survival stuff, either.” She shrugged. “That’s what we have the men for, right?”

Jessie’s mouth fell open but before she could respond, Malcolm spoke up.

“I’ve got lots of survival books at home and I love Nick’s show. I mean, I’ve never done anything like this before but I really wanted to come. Then, last night, we had to build our own shelters and go and find water and purify it. It was great!”

His eyes lit up as he talked and Jessie got the first inkling that Malcolm might actually be fun to be around.

Cindi laughed at his enthusiasm and put her hand on his arm. “Perfect! You can feel free to help me out any time you want. I won’t argue.”

“I’m really looking forward to doing stuff like that, too,” insisted Jessie, trying not to sound belligerent. “I think that’s part of the fun of being here.”

“Oh, I see,” said Cindi thoughtfully. “You guys are here for fun.” She lifted her eyebrows into two wicked darts. “It’s got nothing to do with winning a million bucks?”

Both Jessie and Malcolm laughed out loud.

“Let’s face it,” said Cindi, “we’ll probably end up backstabbing and betraying each other at the end but at least we can start out as friends, right?”

Jessie grinned, her misgivings about Cindi falling away. The girl was brash but at least she was up front about it.

“I’ll be honest with you,” Cindi went on, “I really don’t care about the money.”

“Yeah, right,” scoffed Jessie cheerfully.

“No, really,” laughed Cindi. “I’m in it for the fame. I’ve been trying to get my break as an actress for years and you can’t beat this kind of exposure.”

Malcolm and Jessie looked at each other.

“I believe her.” Malcolm shrugged. “I’m not really in it for the money, either. I just want to prove to myself that I can do it.”

Jessie spread her arms. “This is great. I am in it for the money, so why don’t we just agree that I’m the winner?”

Malcolm laughed. “I would but my wife would kill me. She’s pregnant and a million dollars would make a great nest egg.”

“Ooh, congratulations,” cooed Jessie and Cindi. Emboldened by their interest, Malcolm pulled out a photograph which was tucked into a small, plastic sleeve. “This is my Debbie,” he said bashfully. “That’s us on our honeymoon, in Miami.”

“She’s lovely,” said Jessie. Okay, Debbie wouldn’t be gracing the cover of Vogue anytime soon, but the couple had their arms around each other and the Malcolm in the photo looked just as besotted as the one standing in front of them. “You two look really happy.”

“We are,” said Malcolm, taking back the photo. “Married almost three years.”

“No husband or kids for me, thank you,” said Cindi. “I like the single life way too much. How about you, Jessie?” She picked up Jessie’s hand. “I don’t see a ring. You married? Or got anyone special?”

Jessie hesitated. That question would have been so much easier to answer only twenty-four hours earlier.

She was thinking about what to say when she realized that both Cindi and Malcolm were looking past her shoulders. She turned to see Nick bearing down on them, Lois hot on his heels.

2

JESSIE STRAIGHTENED HER spine and licked her lips nervously as Nick and Lois re-joined them. Kenny circled around so he could catch Nick’s arrival.

“Okay,” said Lois, crackling with authority. “Jess and Nick, I love this sexual tension thing you two have got going on and we’ll really play on it later but, for now, let’s just put it on hold until we get the practicalities sorted out.”

Jessie was horrified, even more so when Cindi nudged her and made kissy noises.

“There’s no sexual tension,” Jessie and Nick said in unison and then their eyes met in dismay.

Lois laughed delightedly. “Right,” she said. “Obviously. Anyway, I’m going to give you the rundown and I’m only saying it once so listen up everyone. We’re trying to keep the camera presence as unintrusive as possible. Even though this is a special we’re maintaining the feel of the regular Survive This! show, so Kenny will be the only handheld following you. Unless you have to split up and then we’ll bring in temps. Apart from that there are cameras scattered around the island.” She smiled. “We call them the Island Eyes.”

“Where are they?” asked Jessie.

“You don’t need to know. Now, you’ve also got the confession cam in the tiki hut, which is beyond the coconut trees at the end of the beach. Contractually, you’re obligated to do ten minutes, twice a day, but you can go in more often if you like. Remember, it’s no-holds-barred in there. Talk about life on the island, each other, what’s happening, any problems you’re having. If you’re thinking it, we want to hear about it.” She waggled her finger at them. “No holding out on us. And remember, that’s also your chance to address the audience directly. Which leads me nicely on to my next point.”

She looked down, checking her clipboard. “Nick will be setting challenges for you while you’re here and there’ll be a certain amount of points going for those. But sixty percent of your scores will come from audience votes so in the end, they’re the ones who will really be deciding who wins.”

Jessie nodded along with the others and then risked a peek at Nick. He was looking down at the sand, apparently listening, and she let her gaze linger on his face. The blue-green eyes framed with dark lashes, the thick tousled hair, the laugh lines at the corner of his eyes matched by the brackets on either side of his mouth. His features were so familiar from all those evenings on the sofa laughing along with his modest self-deprecating comments that she had to remind herself that he was a stranger to her. Then there was also the fact that, much as she’d told herself not to have any expectations, she hadn’t been able to resist the occasional fantasy regarding what would happen on the island. She’d imagined that, as she met each challenge with grit and determination, Nick’s admiration for her would grow and one night as they were gazing into the fire he’d suggest that just because their adventure was coming to an end didn’t mean their friendship had to.

“I’ve shared more with you in two weeks,” he’d say, “than with people I’ve known my whole life.” And then maybe he’d take her hand in his and lean towards her…

Except that now he thought she was some sort of hysterical bimbo.

Great start.

She suddenly remembered Kenny’s camera and she turned her attention back to Lois, hoping Kenny hadn’t caught her looking too moony.

Lois was still talking. “The first show goes out in two days, on Friday, and it’s going to be one hour a night every night after that, made up of edits from the handhelds, the Island Eyes and the confession cam. That’s what I’ll be spending my days doing, just in case you think I’m going to be out there drinking piña coladas on deck while you’re scrounging for grubs and berries here.”

They all smiled dutifully.

Lois came over to Jessie and handed her something that looked like a button on a shoelace. “Here, wear this around your neck.” She showed her a small black box. “This is the transmitter. Just clip it onto your dress or underwear or whatever. I want you all miked-up all the time, though please remember to take them off when you go in the water. Say something, Jess.”

“I prefer to be called Jessie, not Jess.”

“Got it,” said Kenny, tapping his headphones.

“Good,” said Lois. “Don’t worry, you’ll soon forget you have it on. Now, I think that’s it. I’ll be coming back and forth from the yacht anyway to iron out any wrinkles as they occur. Kenny will stop filming in the evenings and start up again at 7:00 a.m. so you’ll have the nights to yourself.” She treated them to another feline smile. “Apart from the Island Eyes, of course. Are there any questions?”

“So we haven’t really started yet?” asked Jessie. “I mean, will that stuff in the water be used?”

“We’ll use whatever’s good,” said Lois disingenuously. “So, welcome to your new home away from home and good luck to all of you.”

Silence followed and they all looked at each other until Lois made shooing gestures. “Go,” she said impatiently. “That’s it.”

Nick took a step towards Jessie and held out his hand. “I’m Nick Garrett,” he said. “Welcome to the island.”

“Jessie Banks.” Their eyes met as she introduced herself but she looked away quickly, infuriated to feel herself blushing.

“You’ve met the others?”

Jessie nodded, smiling. If Nick wanted to pretend that that little incident in the water had never happened, she could go along with that.

“Okay then,” said Nick, turning to Malcolm and Cindi. “Why don’t we go and show Jessie what we’ve done so far?”

Jessie let the others go ahead of her and she turned hurriedly to Lois and Kenny.

“I’m sorry to have to ask,” she said, “but I really could use a drink of water.”

Lois pointed at Nick. “Ask him,” she mouthed. “We’re not here.”

Jessie looked at Nick’s retreating back and muttered an oath under her breath.

“For the record,” came Kenny’s calm voice behind her, “the microphone you’re wearing is very strong.”

Jessie blushed again and started up the beach after Nick.

“I WAS JUST WONDERING—”

“Malcolm constructed the second eave of his shelter by himself,” said Nick. “He’s a fast learner.”

“That’s great,” said Jessie. Her throat was getting more parched by the minute but the others weren’t giving her any opportunity to broach the subject. They were too eager to show her the shelters they’d built the night before.

Jessie nodded politely as Malcolm extolled the virtues of vegetation as an insulating material but her eyes were darting around, trying to locate the supplies.

How rude is this, she thought, inviting someone to your home and not offering them a drink? Even if the home in question is only a smoldering fire and three V-shaped tents made out of sticks and grass.

Her disenchantment must have showed on her face.

“I hope you’re not getting cold feet,” Nick teased her. “I had to give a pep-talk to the others last night and I’m going to tell you the same thing now. The competition and the prize money, that’s only a small part of our stay here. Despite what my producer might think, this is not a game show. It’s going to be the real thing. A lot of my viewers are no strangers to survival situations themselves and I’m not going to cheat them by taking shortcuts. We’ve come onto this island with no supplies and we won’t be getting any help. It’s going to be up to us.”

“Speaking of supplies,” Jessie cut in. “I was wondering if I could get a drink of water. I got salt in my throat and it’s also much hotter here than I’m used to.”

“That’s a good idea,” said Nick. “Cindi, Malcolm, let’s see if you remember what to do. What’s the first step of purifying water?”

“Filter it,” gushed Malcolm.

“Right, and what do you do then?” Nick looked at Cindi who was fiddling with the skirt of her uniform.

“Is it heating it?” She squinted. “I forget.”

Nick tsked. “Okay, Malcolm can show you. Get to work.”

Today maybe, thought Jessie. Her dress was beginning to dry in the sun and she was longing to have a look around the island. The beach stretched enticingly in either direction and she could see palm trees swaying in the distance. But she couldn’t concentrate on any of it when her mouth felt like it had an inbuilt dehumidifier. She moved her tongue, trying to dredge up some saliva.

“What are you doing?” asked Nick.

Jessie stopped masticating. “Nothing,” she said vehemently before she realized he was talking to the others. She coughed and mimicked his look of concerned curiosity.

“We’re boiling water,” Malcolm said hesitantly.

Nick walked over and kicked apart the embers of the fire. “I lit this fire,” he pointed out. “I want to see if you can do it.”

Another milligram of Jessie’s patience slipped away.

“So we need tinder materials,” said Malcolm enthusiastically. “And something to produce friction.”

“That’s good,” said Nick. “I hope you’re paying attention Cindi, I’ll expect you to do it next time.”

Cindi gave him a flirtatious grin. “I pay attention to everything you say, Nick.”

“Apparently not,” he retorted playfully.

Jessie fiddled with a strand of her hair, considering the possibility that she might actually shrivel up and die of dehydration, right there on television.

She watched with mounting despair as Malcolm fumbled with a stick and a piece of bark.

“No,” he complained to Cindi, “you have to use the dry moss first. Try and crumble it up into smaller pieces and hold it over to the side.”

“You’re supposed to move the stick faster,” nagged Cindi in return. “It has to smolder.”

“On a scale of one to ten,” Jessie said conversationally, “how bad would it be to drink salt water?”

Nick smiled at her, evidently under the impression that she was joking. “About a five. It wouldn’t kill you but it wouldn’t do anything for your thirst, just make you feel worse.”

“Worse than I do now,” murmured Jessie. “Imagine.” Her throat was so dry that she couldn’t even swallow.

Another five minutes passed and Nick hunkered down to help out.

Jessie looked out to sea, at the yacht bobbing gracefully in the distance. She glanced at Kenny who was quietly filming them. She looked down to the shore, where Lois was yapping on a walkie-talkie.

She silently counted to ten and then opened her purse and took out the lipstick.

Nick paused in his efforts and looked up at her in disbelief. “Making sure you look good for the cameras?”

Jessie didn’t answer. She took the top off the lipstick and rolled it up, catching the matches as they emerged. She held one out to Nick.

“Here, tough guy, let’s get this show on the road.”

She couldn’t help smirking as his eyes widened in surprise.

Malcolm barked a laugh. “Where’d you get those?”

Jessie held up her sparkly evening bag and felt a glow of satisfaction as a small smile quirked the corners of Nick’s mouth. She rolled the matches back into the lipstick and tucked it away in her purse, then met Nick’s eyes.

“Look,” she cajoled, waving the match, “next time you can light it from scratch but I really need a drink, right now.”

The laughter lines around Nick’s eyes deepened. He took the match and started to scrape the waterproofing wax off it.

“Are you going to keep calling me that?” he said in an undertone.

“What?”

“Tough guy,” he muttered.

He looked vaguely uncomfortable, which Jessie found endearing. “I’m not sure,” she teased. “I’m kind of getting used to it.”

Nick struck the match and Jessie gave a cheer as the small bundle of tinder lit into flames.

“HI, EVERYONE! Uh…is this on? Well, I’m going to assume that red light means it is.” Jessie got comfortable in the seat and beamed at the camera.

“Welcome to Castaway Island and this, my very first broadcast. I have to say that it’s quite strange to be talking into a camera like this but I’m sure I’ll get used to it.” She waved cheerfully. “A big hi to all my friends back home in Iowa. Look, I made it! Martha and Sophie, I hope you’re being nice to everyone at work and hello to all the regulars at Fairbury Library. Janice, you’d better have one of your apple pies ready for me when I come home, something tells me I’ll have quite an appetite. Marty, thanks again for house-sitting and feeding Toby and I’d better have both a house and a dog when I come back. No wild parties, I mean it.”

Jessie paused and subconsciously folded her arms. “And Tom, hi. Thanks for seeing me off at the airport. Uh…I haven’t thought…that is to say…what I mean is I’ll see you when I get back.”

She looked down, trying to recover her train of thought and quickly found something else that bore mentioning. “Ah yes, my dress. Well, what do you think? Pretty glamorous, eh? It’s what every fashion-conscious castaway is wearing this season.” She made a wry face. “Don’t know if you’ve seen what the others are wearing, but I think I drew the short straw. I might have to steal Malcolm’s jacket while he’s sleeping.” She laughed. “Don’t worry Debs, I’m only kidding. I’m sure that neither Cindi or I will be doing anything to your husband while he’s sleeping.”

Jessie paused, thinking. She wanted to make a joke about how the other contestants deserved the money so much more than her, but she was afraid that the audience might take her seriously. There was no point sabotaging herself from the start.

She searched the sides of the hut for inspiration. “Oh, jeepers, I almost forgot.” She laughed at the camera. “And all you gals out there are probably yelling at me to get to the good stuff. Well, Nick Garrett is currently getting some food together for our dinner, which I’m really looking forward to. I’m starving.” Her eyes twinkled playfully. “But at least I’m not thirsty anymore. But I will warn you now that there will be a preponderance of shots of me drinking water. It is hot, hot, hot here. I guess that’s what you get when you come to the Tropics.” She looked up at the thatched ceiling. “Although, it’s not so bad in here. This shade is nice.”

Then she realized she was rambling and she looked back at the unblinking eye with the red light underneath it. “Where was I? Oh, yes, Nick’s making dinner.” She hesitated and then resolved not to let the silly misunderstandings cloud her judgment. It was much too soon to be saying things that she could regret. “So, I’m here to tell you that he is just as handsome and friendly in real life as he is on TV. A little overeager in some cases,” she couldn’t help adding, “but that’s hardly a crime.” Her mouth curved cheekily. “He’s very good at lighting fires.”

She rushed on. “And later, I’m really looking forward to exploring the island.” Her eyes lit up. “This place is so amazing. You should see the—” She broke off, laughing. “Hang on, you are seeing it. Okay, I think I must be getting delirious from hunger, I’d better go and see what’s cooking.”

She put a hand to her hair, thinking again of her friends. “I was in the water so I might look a bit bedraggled but I’m feeling good so don’t worry about me…just keep watching this space! Uh…that’s it, bye. Over and out.”

She waited a moment to see if the red light went out but it didn’t so eventually she just got up and left the hut.

“NO WAY,” SAID CINDI. “It’s just not going to happen.”

Kenny panned the camera down slowly to zoom in on the squirming, fat, beetle grubs and then up again to record the contestants’ expressions of repulsion.

“It’s okay, I am going to cook them,” Nick said.

Cindi shook her head. “I don’t care. I am not eating those. They’re disgusting. They even smell bad.”

Malcolm rubbed his hands together. “Sorry, Cindi, but if that’s your attitude, you’re going to be easy to beat. I have no problem with eating grubs.”

“Wait a minute,” said Cindi in outrage. “We haven’t started the challenges yet, have we? I thought we were starting tomorrow.”

Nick was cutting up some sweet potatoes and he paused to look at Cindi.

“Why?” he smiled. “Would you eat them if it was part of a challenge?”

Cindi jutted out her chin. “Of course.”

Nick nodded thoughtfully and went back to work. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Cindi gave Jessie a look of dread, making Jessie laugh. She looked at Nick who put the potatoes in a large tin of water and started to cook them over the fire.

“Where did you get that?” she asked suspiciously, pointing at the tin. “I thought we were surviving from scratch here.”

Nick looked up, pleased. “We went beachcombing yesterday. Managed to find ourselves some treasure.”

“Treasure?” Jessie smiled, playing along. “Like Spanish doubloons?”

Nick pointed out towards the west. “Now that you mention it, there have been ships wrecked on the coral reefs out there so it’s not unknown for the odd coin to be found on islands in these parts.” He put up a hand to forestall her excitement. “But I was actually talking about treasure of a different kind. Like this, which as far as I can tell is an old paint tin. Don’t ask me how it got here, maybe someone was touching up the paint job on their boat. Anyway, to us, it’s a cooking pot.” He looked up at Malcolm. “Want to tell her what else we got?”

Malcolm didn’t hesitate. “A rope. About ten feet long. And not as rotted as it seemed at first.”

“Cindi?” said Nick.

“Don’t tell me,” Cindi said eagerly. “I know this.” She scrunched her nose up prettily before sitting up straight with excitement. “Ooh, I’ve got it. Two bottles. So now we’ve got something to store our clean water in and to drink out of.”

“And to send SOS messages in,” commented Jessie, earning herself a grin from Nick.

“And we got some different-sized shells,” Nick added, handing them around. “Which we can use as bowls and spoons.”

They took their eating utensils and then watched with quiet curiosity as Nick whittled at a thin stick, scraping off the bark and sharpening one end to a point. He picked up one of the unappetizing white grubs and, without ceremony, speared it upon a stick.

“Eeeouw,” howled Cindi, flinging her hands over her face.

Jessie couldn’t help looking away as well. Malcolm kept watching as Nick impaled the remaining grubs, but his face was a few shades paler by the end.

Nick grinned cheerfully at their reactions and held the beetle-grub kebab over the fire while he stirred the sweet potatoes.