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Every day, when he wasn’t fishing, Aleksey took his telescope to the headland and scanned for ships.
On the sixth day they decided to make a rescue beacon by the light.
They dragged the old canoes all the way from the boatshed to the headland and then raided Kittiwake for furniture, which they broke to add to the pile.
When this was done, Aleksey led Ben back to Guillemot and they collected some things there.
When their beacon was built, they ripped open a mattress for its stuffing and then turned to the trunk they’d hauled all the way from the house. They took the coat, the jerseys, and even the underpants, and stuffed them to make a guy and they set him on top of their bonfire.
The next day, he saw the lifeboat from St Mary’s and called to Ben who was lying in the gorse, fixing his traps for the evening’s hunt. Ben ran up to him, peered through the scope and hissed, ‘Yessss.’ He went to get Aleksey’s lighter, which they left permanently ready in Hitler’s pocket.
Aleksey followed him, watching him, but laid a restraining hand on Ben’s arm before he could set flame to the mattress stuffing.
He didn’t say anything.
Apparently, he didn’t need to. Ben just grinned and they went back to watching the lifeboat powering by, but this time on their bellies, secretly, passing the telescope between them.
On the next day, their eighth since their return, Aleksey got the idea to build a raft. He was sick of his skin never healing. They had tools and rope, and they had empty barrels of 2-stroke oil and, of course, they still had their milk cartons, which were actually inadequate for his purpose, but he included for old time’s sake.
When it was built, they tested it out together and were able to stand on it and paddle with the oars from the old canoes. They did a slow circumnavigation of the coast and discovered on the northern side a wild patch of rocks, inaccessible from the land, covered in mussels, and they harvested them and ate them raw.
On the south side they discovered sandy warm coves, and one that was particularly inviting Aleksey named Coronation Cove, because he had high hopes now for that particular event.
On the ninth day, Ben found the aloe plants. They’d gone feral too, and were spreading wild across the low headland of one of these coves. It was one of their best finds ever, for that evening they sliced the long green leaves and spread the cooling, healing gel on their skin and the relief was instant and profound. Aleksey told Ben he was the smartest person he knew, and Ben agreed.
Their evenings were down time.
Not dark until ten, they did a few basic maintenance tasks, but then they retreated to their nest where they’d gathered all their books, and some of the board games they’d discovered in the attic. Aleksey’s reading glasses were with his favourite watch at the bottom of the ocean, along with, he supposed, some more expensive items, but he’d discovered he didn’t need them on the island.
Ben began to read to him—just to get into practice for doing this with Molly.
Ben would lie on his belly in front of the fire, which they always lit despite the evenings now being warm, and Aleksey would pillow his head on the small of Ben’s back and listen to stories he had not heard since he was a child.
The board games similarly brought back strange memories for Aleksey. He had not told Ben about Nina saving their lives. How could he? He did not really believe she had actually been there, although he felt contradictory to this that she had, and more than this, he knew he’d finally been forgiven. No, not that, he understood now that there had never been anything he’d needed forgiveness from her for. He had been ten, exhausted and terrified in cold Danish seas, and he had stood no chance of saving her. So, he didn’t tell Ben about Nina. Not yet. Maybe one day.
Playing monopoly and scrabble with Ben brought back memories of fantastic games he and his brother had enjoyed with their mother in the evenings on Aero. He’d forgotten these good days, his memories so over-shadowed as they were by the bad. But when she was well, she would challenge them to these long matches, and her twin boys, competitive in nature, went wild with the fun and the love. They were evenings of just music and passion, with the madness held at bay.
But the light, Aleksey did tell Ben about.
One day, their tenth on the island, they went to visit their Lord of the Nazi Flies on his bonfire and took some fruit with them and some water and some of the crab legs for a picnic, and they lay sprawled on the short grass by the cliff.
‘We could climb down get some eggs maybe.’
Aleksey rolled over to peer towards the cliff where Ben was looking. He made a sound of disgusted horror, and Ben laughed, his teeth startlingly white behind his beard.
Aleksey turned his attention to the lighthouse and said deceptively neutrally, ‘On that last night we were in the water, the lamp was lit and it guided us home.’
Ben gave him a puzzled look then copied his gaze up to the glass dome high above them. ‘The light?’
‘Yes, the light.’
‘Not a flash of sunlight maybe? We’ve seen them, remember?’ He swivelled and sat cross legged.
‘No. Not that. The entire night. Every twenty seconds.’Kick. ‘I counted them all night. You were…asleep.’
‘I was entirely alert and merely assessing my surroundings.’
‘Not very useful assessing from what I recall, and stop stealing my lines.’
