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004 - The Shipwrecked Engineer An
engineer took a cruise to the Caribbean. It was wonderful; the experience
of his life. But, alas, a hurricane came up unexpectedly and the ship went
down. He was swept onto the shore of an island. No people, no supplies, nothing.
He
explored but found nothing other than some bananas and coconuts. He was desperate
and forlorn, but what could he do? For the next four months he ate bananas,
drank coconut juice and looked for a ship to come to his rescue.
One
day, he spotted a rowboat coming from what looked like the other side of the
island. In it was a gorgeous woman: She was tawny and tanned, and her hair
flowing in the breeze gave her an ethereal quality.
When
she reached him, he asked excitedly, "Where did you come from? How did you
get here"?.
She
said, "I rowed from the other side of the island. My cruise ship sank four
months ago."
"Amazing,"
he said, "I didn't know anyone else had survived. How many of you are there?
You are really lucky that a rowboat washed up with you."
"There
is no one else -- only me," she said, "and the rowboat didn't wash up. I built
it out of raw material I found on the island. The oars I whittled from gum
tree branches, I wove the bottom from palm branches, and the sides and stern
came from an eucalyptus."
"But
-- but," asked the man, "What did you use for tools?"
"Oh,
no problem," replied the woman, "On the south side of the island there is
a very unusual stratum of alluvial rock. I found that if I fired it to a certain
temperature in my kiln, it melted into forgeable iron. But enough of that,"
she said. "Where do you live?"
The
man confessed he had been sleeping on the beach. "Let's row over to my place,"
she said. So they got into the rowboat and left for her side of island. The
woman tied up the rowboat with a beautifully woven hemp rope. They walked
up a stone walk to an exquisite bungalow.
"It's
not much," she said, " but I call it home. Would you like a drink?"
"No,"
he answered, "One more coconut juice and I will puke."
"I
have a still," said the woman, "How about a Pina Colada?"
Trying
to hide his amazement, the man accepted, and they sat down on her couch. After
a while, the woman asked, "Tell me, have you always had a beard?"
"No,"
the man replied, "I was clean shaven all my life."
"Well,
if you would like to shave, there is a razor in the cabinet in the upstairs
bathroom."
The
man, no longer questioning anything, went to the bathroom. In the cabinet
was a razor made from a bone handle, two shells honed to an edge were fastened
to its end inside of a swivel mechanism. The man shaved, showered and went
back downstairs.
"You
look great," she said. "I think I will slip into something more comfortable."
After
a short time, she returned wearing strategically positioned fig leaves and
smelling faintly of gardenia.
"Tell
me," she asked, "We have both been out here for a very long time with no companionship.
Have you been lonely? Is there anything that you miss? Something that all
men and women crave? Something that would be really nice to have right now?"
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