Part 22: Eddie's Welfare

Little bits of rain dripped from the leaves as Yolanda, Marita and Eddie walked through the jungle. Yolanda hoisted up a gray back pack she made use of. She thought it belonged to either Mandy or Taylor but they said no. The black stewardess was trying to remember how many young adults were on the plane. It was a dreadful thought but it seemed that the death of the other passengers would forever be with them.

Eddie paused as he saw a giant leaf collecting water. He hoisted up one of the few water bottles he was carrying. Gently he tilted the leaf down, allowing the water to fill into the bottle. Marita smiled at the little boy’s thoroughness. Even Yolanda could see how good he was but she took it for a little strange. “He’s good.” She whispered.

“He’s had a good teacher.” Marita smiled.

Eddie heard their compliment. He acknowledged them by just turning around and offering one of the cute smiles he was slowly becoming famous for. Pride was what drove Eddie that day. He did have a good teacher; Tony taught him that as long as they have water, they stand a chance for survival. It was food that might prove silently difficult to find.

As they continued walking, they managed to stumble upon another pile of green coconut husks. Marita looked up and saw this was one of the trees that could bear the fruit. She took out a black magic marker she found and then wrote a giant X on it’s bark. “What’s that for?” Eddie asked.

“To find it easily when we need more.” She said, helping Yolanda scoop up the coconuts into her back pack.

The two stewardess were almost done. Eddie looked around and then said, “Marita, if my mommy did die in the crash, would you be my new one?”

Marita froze. She honestly didn’t expect Eddie to ask such a question and she really didn’t know how to respond. Tony had mentioned the poor child may be in denial about the death of his parents, and projecting the love he needs from them by accepting the circumstance love from Tony and Marita. She wasn’t sure what harm it would do to deny him the prospect of him being his mother. “I . . .I don’t know what to say, Eddie,” she whispered, “I really hope your mother didn’t die in the crash.”

“Yeah, me too, “ he sighed, “But we don’t know where the front of the plane is.”

“That is true, we don’t. But we can’t give up hope.”

“Why?” Eddie asked.

“Because we shouldn’t. Until we find your . . .parent’s bodies, we shouldn’t assume they are dead.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Eddie looked sad, “But . . .we don’t know where the front half is.”

Marita could see her plan backfired. She then quickly kneeled down in front of Eddie. “Why don’t we do this?” she smiled, “Until we find your mother . . .I’ll be your mommy. Your Right Now Mommy.”

“I’d like that,” the little boy laughed, “Can Tony be my Right Now Daddy?”

“I think he’d wouldn’t mind.”

Eddie then kissed her on the cheek and hugged her. He then ran ahead into the foresty jungle as they continued on their scavenge hunt. Marita smiled, as she rubbed her cheek where Eddie kissed her. The more time they spent together the more she was getting drawn to him. She had a few failed relationships, nothing serious. Nothing to ever contemplate marriage and the least of all, children. Eddie seemed to be filling a void in her life that she didn’t even know was there. While they walked, Marita casually looked to Yolanda only to find her staring at her. She had on her “unapproved” gaze that she would flash went Marita ever did something wrong. “What?” asked the Latina.

“Honey, you really shouldn’t be leading that boy on.” She mentioned.

“I am not leading him on. I just want to help him.”

“By letting him call you his MOMMY? Child, how the hell do you think that will help him? When we get off this island, that might make severing ties with you and Tony even more difficult.”

“And what about the ties to his real parents?” Marita said angrily, “Those might already be severed. I hope the boy’s parents are alive on the other side of the island, I really don’t but we don’t know crap about what happened to them. He needs us, Yolanda. He needs me and Tony. As long as we are there for him, if we find his parents dead, he’ll have us to fall back on for support.”

“But you are not his real family.”

Marita sighed. “No, we’re not. But he doesn’t seem to care. What’s more important while we are stuck here, Yolanda? Us getting out of here or making sure that boy is not scared to be with us?”

Yolanda returned the sigh. She still didn’t think it was a good idea but she respected her friend’s passion on the subject. “I hope you know what you are doing.” She told her.

“Me too, “ the Latina admitted.

“Hey, did you find any coconuts?” screamed Eddie.

Marita turned to respond to Eddie but realized he was no where in sight. She started to pick up her pace to find him. In her discussion with Yolanda she had accidentally lost track of him. When she still couldn’t find him, she started to jog. Then she heard him again. “HEY!” Eddie screamed, “Where are you going?”
Marita finally found him, looking in the distance. She came up behind him and embraced him. “Eddie, who were you screaming to?” she asked.

“That girl.” He pointed.

“What girl?” asked Yolanda.

The two stewardesses looked into the distance but only saw swaying branches, as if someone quickly pushed past them. “I thought she was out gathering coconuts like us, “ Eddie tugged on Yolanda’s shirt, “But she looked like scared when I called out to her.”

“Did you know who she was?” the black woman asked.

“No. I don’t remember her on the beach.”

“What did she look like Eddie?”

“Her hair was brown. And she looked like dirty, like she had been playing the mud or something.”

Marita was getting concerned. First there was Ethan, the strange man who approached Eddie and was never seen from again. Now at that moment, there was a strange girl that Eddie claimed was never on the beach. Two incidents that suggested there are other people on this island. But that was crazy. Wasn’t it?

She then told Yolanda it might be a good idea to go back to the beach. They could discuss with Tony and the others what they see. Or what Eddie had seen.