Alabaster Island

Chapter 6

I was fourteen. And on that day, just as the four of us surfaced from our dive, a beautiful, delicate tern swooped overhead. He carried a small silver fish in his long beak. We paused for a moment to watch, treading water in the hot, late afternoon sun. The fish ceased its flapping, and the tern flew across the water and landed on a rock near shore to consume its feast. 

We'd been diving all day. As usual, I went deeper than anyone, even Daniel. But it wasn't only about depth; a keen eye and instinct beneath the surface were needed. That day, Danny won.

Daniel held up his hand. "Look at this!" he cried. In his hand he held an incredible rainbow conch shell. What amazed me was its surface, an iridescent shifting rainbow of colors. It looked like a living jewel. 

"That's amazing! Like a crown jewel," I said.

Daniel held the shell above him and took on a mock, regal bearing. The hues undulated in the sun, competing with the shimmering sea and his blue eyes to become the most iridescent thing around. Even compared with the rainbow shell and deep blue ocean, Daniel's eyes won, at least for me. I could look in Daniel's eyes forever. Pools of turquoise blue flecked with specks of amber. 

"King of Lemuria!" Chloe shouted.

"Emperor of Atlantis," I teased.

"Was there an emperor?" Daniel asked. He was always a pragmatist. But none of us knew the answer to his question. Maybe we slept through that during Assembly. Certainly a possibility. The history of the ancient lands, which we realized were important, seemed abstract to us. Our world was Alabaster Island along with its shores and hidden depths. Ethan shrugged and rolled over onto his back.

"Listen," Daniel held the shell to his ear and then offered it to me. It was difficult to hear over the ocean, but I made out soft whispers in another tongue.

"What are they saying?" I recognized it as Lemurian but the language was complex. 

"Something like...listen people, here is my story...but I can't make out the rest," Daniel said. We took turns trying to understand the shell's words, but they grew softer and softer the more we listened until they faded away. Soon there was only the ocean. Meanwhile, Ethan hung back, looking jealous over Daniel's find. Being a year older, Daniel's muscles had developed faster than Ethan's and I'd noticed tension building between the two friends.

"One more dive and then we head home?" Ethan said, his eyes flickered with intensity. But I doubted he'd surpass Daniel today. 

We were immersed in a game we called Treasure Hunt. Our goal was to collect the largest number of cool and wonderful sea objects before the sun hit a predetermined position. Topaz shells, pieces of smoothed coral, stones that were blindingly white. Today we'd play until the sun hit Pelican Rock. Then we'd compare our finds and whoever had the best trove of booty became the winner that day.

Being declared winner wasn't as subjective as it sounded. You might think we'd each be biased toward choosing objects from our own pile as the best, but none of us were like that. One of the special things that bonded us together was the similar way we viewed the world. More than that, and I only realized it later, it was our appreciation for the aesthetic and tactile beauty of our island. 

We had no money, on Alabaster Island, remember. Everything on the island happened through exchange and barter. The items we found became our currency. Not the island's, but Chloe, Daniel, Ethan's and mine. Any object that could be traded became fair game. Favors given for fortune, unwanted chores agreed to in exchange for new and wonderful finds and of course the objects got traded themselves. Chloe's sand dollar for Daniel's three tiny conch shells, Ethan's lovely piece of golden coral for my smooth, round blue stone with a hole in its precise center. Ethan still wore that stone as a necklace the last time I saw him, even though I tried to trade for it several times.