Paradise island

7. Sam

Sam laughed, a little confused. "Why do you say that?"

"Because, dude. That guy is off his rocker." Colby pointed in the general direction of the path through which Trey had disappeared back to the house.

"He's what?" Sam slipped into the water to wade closer to Colby. "Off his rocker. Means crazy," Nate explained.

"I know what it means. I just didn't hear him!" Sam scoffed.

"Sorry. There I go again, using my big boy words," Nate muttered.

"And it's annoying. Just because we're not in college doesn't mean we're idiots." He loved Nate to the death, but the guy needed to stop assuming they were uneducated buffoons all because they didn't study poetry or literature or whatever the fuck Nate was studying

"I just... You know what? I'm'a shut up now." Nate dunked himself in the water and came up for air a moment later. "So, what makes you say we're going to die, Colby?"

Colby perched himself on the center oasis's edge. "A moment ago, while you guys were here talking, I decided to try and make conversation.

I asked him what it was like living here all alone with Georgia, if he ever got lonely or wanted friends his age."

"And?" Sam prodded.

"And he showed Colby his sex doll!" Alex blurted loudly enough for anyone within two miles earshot to hear.

"Bro, sshh!" Colby laughed, as they all burst into suppressed snorts of laughter. Once the giggles died down, Colby widened his eyes and stared ahead like a zombie. "And he looked at me with this serious face and said, 'I.will.always.stay.on.this.island. This.island.is.paradise.Like a brainwashed person does in a movie. You guys know what I'm talking about."

Sam laughed at Colby's impression. "I think he's just a little different." Colby gawked. "Sam... There's no way a guy our age like him could be happy living in isolation. A few months maybe. But going on two years?"

"What are you saying?" Alex asked. "That he's here against his will?" "Maybe not against his will, but maybe he's losing touch with who he is. I talked to that guy at that party. I know what he wanted from life."

"Yesterday, you said didn't know who the fuck Trey was," Nate you pointed out, "and that's why you didn't want to come here."

"What I said was that we barely knew him." Colby felt seen by the omniscient gaze of Nate.

Nate scoffed. "Same thing, Colby. Now you're saying you know him. Look, even if you did know him inside-out, a man's allowed to change his mind. Besides, his cousin Donny did say Trey was always kind of a blank slate. He'd act like whoever he was around. You know, not having a personality of your own."

"That's what I'm saying, bro," Colby said. "And now that he's with this lady, he's kind of acting like her. Don't you agree? Maybe the reason he asked us to come visit is because he's going a little crazy in isolation. If you ask me, I think he needs young people, mainlanders like us. Look how he's dressed like an old guy."

Nate ran his hands through his wet hair. "I agree he's strange, but I think he's perfectly happy. Trey's always been an old soul. Some people are like that. I'm betting Georgia makes him feel special, and that's all there is to it."

"Just leave the dude alone." Alex, with his infinite mature wisdom. Sam nodded. He mostly agreed with Nate and Alex, but listening to Colby, he also agreed there was definitely something odd about Trey, something he couldn't quite put his finger on. Maybe that was the inves- tigator in him thinking.

Literally a second later, who should come bounding back into the lagoon area than the boy-boomer himself? He'd changed out of his other outfit and now wore dark blue slacks, a blue and green Hawaiian shirt, and a gleaming gold chunky bracelet on his wrist. With his hair slicked back and his barbershop pedostache, Trey Weiss was serving up serious old-school retro.