A Man, a Girl, a Deserted Island - - A Crazy Epic Love Saga

Episode 30: Today a King, Tomorrow a Slave

Miss Eva is right here, just a few steps away from me.

I pretend not to notice her. I try to focus on my chess game. I boldly advance my rook and capture another pawn, but that was not a good idea.

My opponent is not dumb at all. He immediately noticed the queen's vulnerability, so I end up losing my queen, while the opponent's side only loses a measly bishop. Good deal! Maybe for him.

"It seems like you're fighting a losing battle," Eva says. Then she asks simply, "What do we have to eat?"

"You have a choice between raw fish and raw fish," I reply, my eyes fixed on my opponent's knight.

"Raw? Why raw?"

"I didn't have time to make a fire."

"I see," she says calmly. "And, pray tell, why didn't you have time?"

"Don't you see it at all?" I say annoyed. "I was busy with chess."

The fish are neatly arranged, hanging to dry on the life jacket cord. They sway gently at the end of a stick, in the wind. I make a wide gesture and invite her to choose.

She doesn't need to be asked twice. Eva's white teeth eagerly tear the flesh off the bones. Although I could swear she's famished, she doesn't show it. She's composed. 

A true lady, what can I say!

"You can have them all," I say generously like an oil sheikh. "I don't mind. I renew my supply every day."

Hunger doesn't scare me anymore. I've evolved! My belly is full, and I'm cerebral. I'm in control of myself and everything around me. 

I've become the King of Fish, the King of the Island, the King of the Wind, and, above all, the King of the Chessboard.

You'd better become the King of Rain, boy! The sooner, the better!

I puff up so much with pride that I become careless. In less than two minutes, I checkmate myself!

That's what happens every time a woman appears near a man. Yes, the poor fellow loses his mind. It happens everywhere in the world. Thrones and heads have been lost this way.

"Do you still yearn for civilized life?" I ask teasingly. "It's time to get used to our new life. I know you don't like it, but you can't fight fate. It's called fate."

The girl tears off a piece of fish and spits a bone in my direction. Look at that! She's not acting like a lady anymore. Why is she behaving like this?

"Fate, you say?" she asks sharply. "Fate means slipping on a banana peel and breaking your leg. Fate means opening the window in the morning to let in some fresh air and getting hit by a meteorite on the forehead. But what happened to us up there, that's not called fate."

"And what is it called?"

"It's called sheer stupidity!" she suddenly shouts. "That's what it's called. Can you tell me what you were doing in the pilot's cabin?"

Ah, that? So that's what it was.

"I was craving a cigarette," I say innocently. "Yes, I openly admit it: I went there to smoke!"

"I see."

"And to pilot a bit," I continue amused. "Jean-Louis promised to teach me how to fly."

"That's ridiculous!" she shouts again.

"Calm down! What's wrong with you? Why are you shouting? I didn't kill the poor guy. He drowned."

"With a sandwich," she mutters.