Hail Warning

Hail Islands

Hail sat down in front of the steering wheel and fired up the outboard engine. The crew member then cast off the line that had been tethered to the ship. Kara found a chair next to Hail, and the boat pulled away from the Hail Nucleus. He pointed the launch toward the island on his right. Five minutes later, Hail found a small channel of water that formed a natural lagoon, and he guided the small boat into the calm water.

“This reminds me of the lagoon in Gilligan’s Island,” he commented.

“What’s Gilligan’s Island?” Kara asked.

“Never mind,” Hail replied, realizing there was no reason Kara would have seen the TV show he had watched reruns of while he was a child.

Hail beached the boat on a thin strip of sugary white sand and killed the engine.

He stood and jumped off at the bow of the boat. Hail leaned over and offered Kara his hand which she accepted before jumping off the boat.

For a moment, the two just stood there in the sun, drinking in their surroundings.

“This is really beautiful,” Kara commented. “It’s like a little piece of paradise.”

Hail said nothing, but the smile on his face conveyed he shared the same opinion.

Then on a small trail leading into the jungle, a man appeared holding a leather strap dangling behind him. Two small horses followed the man onto the beach.

Kara smiled and asked, “What’s this?”

Hail said, “I bought these islands more than a month ago. Since there is no infrastructure of any type on these islands, my staff gets around on horses. They don’t require any gas or electricity, and this breed of horse is acclimated to eating indigenous vegetation on the islands in this hemisphere.

Kara walked over to the nearest horse and pet its long nose. “They are so cute,” she said.

Hail took the reins out of the hands of his crew member and handed them to Kara.

“Then that one is yours,” he told her, referring to the horse she was petting.

Kara laughed, and said, “You have got to be kidding. This is the closest I’ve ever been to a horse, and I certainly don’t know how to ride one.”

“There is nothing to it,” Hail told her, still offering her the reins. “You just get on, and your horse will follow mine. This is the most docile breed of horse. You’ll see.”

Reluctantly, Kara took the reins from Hail. Hail then gave her a foot up into the saddle of the small brown horse.

He then climbed upon the back of his own white horse and asked the man, “Jack, can you please tie up the boat? We’ll be back in about an hour.”

“No problem, Marshall.”

Hail tugged the reins to the left, and his horse shifted in that direction and began walking back toward the jungle trail. Without being prompted, her horse followed his horse.

“This is so cool,” Kara called out.

“I told you so,” Hail responded.

“You love saying, “I told you so,” don’t you?”

“I have to admit; it is one of my favorite phrases.”

After ten minutes of following the jungle trail, the canopy opened to a clearing. Kara heard a waterfall and tried to locate it through the area that was studded with massive banyan trees. Kara looked at the tangle of trees. She did her best to determine where one tree stopped and another began. It was an impossible task, because banyan trees dropped vines down. Those eventually became thick new trunks.

Hail brought his horse to a stop and pointed at the tree, or trees, and said, “That’s where the treehouse will be.”

Kara smiled and said, “OK, I’ll play along. What treehouse?”

“The treehouse my committee crew will build.”

Kara hesitated for a moment, and she asked, “You are talking about all the young adults on your ships?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“And why would they be doing that?”

Hail smiled and said, “Because every couple of months, every one of my young crew members will be living on this island.”

“And why is that going to happen?” Kara asked.

Hail looked serious and said, “Because I’ve come to the realization that they can’t be cooped up on my ships their entire young lives. They need to get out to build stuff, grow stuff and take care of animals. They need to be in touch with

nature, and I can’t provide them that on my ships. It’s not practical, but this is practical,” Hail said, gesturing toward the beauty surrounding them.

“I want them to be part of building a massive treehouse in the banyan trees. I want them to swim in the lagoon, play in the waterfall and know what it’s like to get a sunburn.”

Kara said nothing. She was thinking about her own childhood. Her parents had taken her on trips and on a few cruises to idyllic islands, but she had never really lived the life Hail wanted for “his kids.” She had been pampered; she couldn’t recall sleeping on a bed that cost less than a small home in this part of the world. So, it was hard for her to understand the lifestyle that Hail was describing.

Hail continued, “I want them to grow their own food. I want them to hunt and fish and cook and clean and have campfires at night and sing silly campfire songs and play and just be — well, just be kids. No computers. No electricity, unless they want to build a generator that is harnessed to the waterfall.”

Kara resurfaced from her own childhood memories and told Hail, “I think that would be wonderful. I think this place is amazing.”

“I also want to build a zoo, so the kids learn about all sorts of different animals. I need something to keep them busy, and I don’t know of anything more rewarding and educational then a zoo.”

“Sounds expensive,” Kara said, “and maybe a little dangerous.”

Hail made a face and shook his head, “It’s not like I plan to have lions, tigers and bears. Just some mellow animals the kids can feed, nurture and watch them have babies.”

“Ah, the teaching of the birds and the bees using the real thing — very crafty,” Kara said.

“No, that’s what the Internet is for,” Hail joked, but Kara suspected that was the way most kids learned about sex these days.

“Speaking of the birds and the bees, I also want them to learn beekeeping and how to make their own honey. If they produce sweets, then they can eat the sweets they produce.”

Hail got off his horse and tied it to a palm tree in the shade. He then walked over and grabbed Kara by her waist and helped her slide off her pony.

“It’s hot,” Hail said. “Wanna go skinny dipping in the waterfall?”

Kara was a little shocked, but she smiled and said, “Marshall Hail, you are a naughty dirty devil. But I thought you would never ask.”