"Kevin?"

"Hey, my lips are sealed, man. I can't give the cook's secrets away, or she'll kick me out of the kitchen."

"Well, I think it's probably done by now," announced the chef. "We just have to get it off the fire."

"Here," said Jonathan. "Use these."

He handed Kevin a couple of short bamboo poles with the ends cut off halfway, making a flat, scoop-like surface. Kevin used them like giant salad forks to grab the wrapped fish and drop it over to the side of the fire, where they could pull it out of the wrapping without being burned.

Candi carefully pulled on the strings, which gave way easily since they were completely dried out and burned most of the way through. She pulled the dried banana leaf to the side to see what the fish looked like inside.

A cloud of steam came up from the opening in the leaves. The smell was nice very faintly coconutty.

"Mmm, that smells goooood," said Kevin, enthusiastically, rubbing his hands together.

"I'm not sure what to do now," confessed Candi.

"Just reach in there and pull a hunk off," suggested Kevin.

Candi reached in and touched the fish but pulled her hand back quickly. "Too hot."

"Here, let me try."

Kevin took the edge of the leaves and pulled the fish towards himself. He gingerly touched the fish, and slowly teased a hunk of flesh away from the body. He popped it into his mouth after pulling the skin off.

The other three searched his face, looking for a sign.

Kevin closed his eyes, opening his mouth to let cool air in so his tongue wouldn't burn. "Mmmm ... heaven."

They all dove towards the fish, completely forgetting any manners or concerns about temperature. They each got a chunk of fish and shoved it into their mouths, not caring whether they got all the skin off first.

"Holy s.h.i.t, Candi, this is really good," said Sarah, shock in her voice.

"Hey, don't sound so surprised."

Sarah tried to respond around a mouth full of fish. "I don't mean that you're normally a bad cook or anything, it's just, I didn't realize you were like a professional." She smiled as fish juice ran down her chin.

Candi blushed with the compliment. "It's pretty good, isn't it?"

A couple minutes later, they all looked down at the carca.s.s that was sitting on the remains of the banana leaves. "Um, I think next time you should take the guts out," said Jonathan.

"Ew. Yeah, I second that idea," agreed Sarah.

"Yeah, you're right. I was just so excited to have you guys see it and eat it, I didn't even think about that. Next time I'll take the guts out."

They were all satisfied, even full. The fish was flakey and light and had a nice coconut taste that went perfectly with the light salting Candi had added. Even the chunks of coconut had cooked through and easily separated from the nutsh.e.l.ls.

Kevin patted her on the back as they walked toward the waterspout to wash off his face and hands. "You can cook for me any day of the week and twice on Sunday, Gumdrop. That was amazing."

"Me too," agreed Jonathan.

"Me three," chimed in Sarah.

Candi smiled as she followed the others to the water. Success at last. "Maybe now I can teach you guys now that I've finally figured it out."

"Sounds good to me," said Kevin.

That night they all went to bed content and satisfied. It was an especially good night after Kevin and Jonathan announced that the treehouse would be ready to live in by the next day. It wouldn't be completely finished for another few weeks, but the floors and roof were in; it was solid enough for a trial run. All four of them fell asleep dreaming of the beds and the night breezes they were going to be enjoying very soon.

The next morning, Jonathan was the first one up. "Well, I think we can officially verify that we have rats on this island with us."

Kevin walked up to join him. "What's up?"

"Well, obviously something came and took what was left of the fish guts. Plus they left some pellets behind; and I know rat p.o.o.p when I see it."

"I'll trust you on that one, buddy," said Kevin as he walked to the water spout. He shouted over his shoulder, "I want to get a jump-start on the last bit of flooring we need to put in, so the treehouse could be ready for tonight."

The girls walked over and stood by Jonathan.

"Candi, can you help me today with a few things?" asked Sarah.

"Sure, what'd ya have in mind?"

"Just a couple things for the treehouse. It'll go faster if you help me, and I'd love to have it all done for our first night."

"No problem, just tell me what to do. I'm going to go fishing first if that's okay, but I don't think it will take me as long this time."

"Yeah, that's fine, I'll see you later then, after lunch."

Candi begged to be excused from exercise for the day, and Kevin decided to let everyone off the hook. They were all excited about getting the treehouse ready to live in.

They worked hard the entire day, stopping only for five minutes to eat a lunch of bananas, coconut and water.

Candi came back from her fishing trip without any fish. "I think it was too early in the day or something. I usually go later when the sun is lower."

"You can go again later. Come help me with my projects," said Sarah, glad to have an a.s.sistant.

Jonathan and Kevin worked harder than they'd ever worked in their lives, that day. They made a good team, choosing the right materials together and easily agreeing how everything should fit together. With Jonathan's added muscle, it got easier and easier to transport the materials and get them in place.

"What do you think, Jon? Is she going to be ready?"

"Yeah. We just need to finish that part of the floor and that one wall, and that'll be good enough for temporary living s.p.a.ce. What do you think?"

"Yes, definitely. Let's get this mother done."

"Wow, I'm totally impressed with the progress you've made." She walked through Sarah's workshop. "Cots!" She laid down on one. "Oooh, comfy. Is there one for me?"

"Of course. You're laying on it right now."

Candi sat up and looked around. "I love the table. How cool is that? It's like a j.a.panese restaurant table. We're going to sit on the floor around it, right?"

"Yes. I made cushions to sit on by weaving a big pocket out of palm fronds and then stuffing it with crumbled up palm frond leaves and palm canvas." The canvas was a material that naturally came off the palms around the coconut bunches. It was pliable and thick and made good cushion innards.

"What else? I feel like I'm at Pier One Imports, shopping for my new house."

Sarah smiled.

"I made shutters to go over the window holes that will eventually be in all the treehouse walls. Right now since we only have one wall, I have only one set of shutters. I need you to help me finish that project."

"Sure, no problem. What do we need the shutters for?"

"The rainy season. I think the rain is going to come in at an angle. That's how it was when we took a vacation to Miami one year, anyway the rain came down and the wind blew it sideways."

Candi held up a rectangular-shaped woven mat. "What's this?"

"It's a placemat."

"Why do we need placemats?"

"We don't need them. It's just ... I don't know. To make our little treehouse more like home." She flipped one back and forth, flicking the edge with her fingers. "My mom was always a placemat fanatic. She loved a formal dining table setting. I miss her. This is kind of my way of having her here with me, even though I know she can't be." Sarah looked at the ground, hiding her face.

Candi reached over and stroked her arm. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound critical. I think it's nice how you're making everything so comfortable for us. It's going to make a big difference in our lives. Seriously. Thank you."

Sarah nodded, fighting the sadness and pushing thoughts of missing her mom to the back of her mind.

Candi walked over to admire one of Sarah's roof panels. It was several layers thick, secured with a complicated weaving technique that looked like it would last a long time.

"Man, Sarah, you are seriously good at homemaking."

Sarah shot Candi a suspicious look.

"No, I mean it. I know in this day and age that sounds like an insult but here on Peanut Island, it's a major compliment. If it wasn't for you, we'd still be sleeping on a dirty sheet in a swarm of bugs."

"Thanks, Candi, that's very sweet of you. It was a team effort." She looked around at her handiwork. "I am good at this, though, aren't I? I think if we were back home, I would never have appreciated what it meant to make a home. Now I do, I really do. I'm not ashamed of that. Even when we get back, I'm sure I'll still feel the same way. This is important." She stopped for a moment to consider what she had just said. "Holy s.h.i.t. Shoot me now, would you please? I sound just like my mother."

Candi laughed.

The girls both went quiet then, thinking about home, wondering what their mothers were doing. Neither wanted to consider what it might be like for them, home alone, thinking they had lost all of their children. Or worse that their parents wouldn't be home at all.

CHAPTER TEN.

Moving In Finally the end of the afternoon came. The guys announced that the floors were totally done. Under Kevin's direction, all four of them formed an a.s.sembly line to get their new furnishings into the treehouse. They used a ladder they'd made of bamboo and rope; it was designed to lean against an opening on the edge of the treehouse and could be pulled up and stored above, making it impossible for anyone below to come up if they didn't want them to.

They spent an hour putting the cots away, laying down woven sleeping mats for the guys, working on securing the roofing materials better, and attaching the one set of shutters. The guys put the table in place, and Sarah carefully placed the cushions around it.

The last item Sarah put up was a small mirror that had come from her makeup case. She had framed it with a palm frond border. This she hung by its plant rope loop on a splinter of bamboo that had been implanted into the side of one of the poles of the treehouse in the area she had designated as the bathroom. They couldn't actually use this area as a toilet that place was still deep in the woods as far as they could reasonably make it from their water source. This bathroom was for brushing teeth and doing hair. Not that there was a lot of hair doing going on these days, but maybe in the future, when all the building was over, there would be time for beauty again. Sarah sighed. What she really needed was running water.

"What are the chances you guys could get some running water up here?" Sarah asked of no one in particular.

"I don't know about running water, but we could probably rig some sort of water in a pulley system kind of thing," suggested Jonathan.

"Yeah, but not until we get everything else done," said Kevin. "We still have walls that need to go up, platforms to build, extensions to add. The water pulley thing comes after that stuff." He stared at Jonathan, giving him one of those looks that said, 'Don't even think about it.' He knew how easily Jonathan was influenced by Sarah these days. If Kevin let her have her way, Jonathan would build her a fully functioning bathroom with a spa tub before they had the d.a.m.n walls up. How and when did Jonathan get so wrapped up in my sister, anyway?

When they were finally done and the sun was lower on the horizon, they gathered around the south side of the treehouse, in what was the guys' bedroom, looking out over their rock to the treetops, beach, and water below. There were a lot of branches and leaves hanging down in front of the wall, providing an effective screen against the sunlight and the intruding eyes of anyone approaching the island from the south but there was enough s.p.a.ce between the branches and leaves to see out over the water. The view was simply magical.

Candi stood next to Kevin. He reached out, putting his arm around her. She didn't resist. It was nice to stand there and feel the breeze on his face and the warmth of Candi's body next to his.

Jonathan watched Kevin and his sister out of the corner of his eye. He wasn't surprised to see them getting closer. He turned the other way and saw Sarah standing off by herself. She didn't seem to be aware of what was going on. He wondered if she would approve of her brother and his sister together.

Jonathan stepped over to stand next to Sarah and began speaking quietly with her, at a volume only she could hear.

"What are you thinking about?"

"I was just wondering if we're ever going to get off the island."

"What do you think?"

"I'm not sure. I don't even know how badly I want to be rescued right now."

"Why do you say that?"

"I don't know. I'm conflicted. I do miss my old life but not as much as I probably should."

"I don't get it."

Sarah sighed. "School's always been so easy for me, you know? I had lots of friends, a boyfriend, lots of things to do on weekends ... but there are a lot of things I don't miss, too."

"Like what?"

"I feel guilty saying it."

"It's just us here. I'm not going to judge you."

"My parents for one," she said, looking down at the bamboo floor. "I should miss them more, but I don't. I miss my mom a little. But shouldn't a girl miss her mom more than that?"

Jonathan shrugged. "I guess it depends on the mom."