Paradine Island

me and my trials and triumphs. Let me start by telling you about the very worst day in my life, and, Andrew, there have been several bad ones!”

It had only been eight months since she fought off the pirates who were attempting to board their yacht that terrible morning as their happy little family was sailing home to Paradine Island from St. Croix. Following is the story as it came back into her mind as though it was yesterday. She told it almost as though she was in a trance. Tina related the events of that day and those that followed as though she was a third person observing the whole affair from above.

This is the way it sounded to Andrew: James had seen the lugger at sun up. He changed course to avoid crossing its path too close. He didn’t like the looks of the boat. Unfortunately, they had the advantage of the wind. Upon seeing our yacht come about and commence to run before the wind, the two masted lugger came directly at us down wind.  Tina’s husband had called her to the deck, telling her to get the boys interested in watching something in the cabin and warn them not to come on deck. He asked her to bring him the guns and that he was starting the engine.  He brought the boat around to take advantage of the wind and try to outrun the suspicious boat. The trouble was that they were within rifle range before the ketch got under way!”

“I garnered the Winchester, the shotgun, and the two pistols and was sliding them onto the afterdeck as the wind began to fill the sails. James stood up to reach for the rifle. He pitched forward face down on the deck. A pool of blood began to form under his face. I quickly rolled him over and stared into his unseeing eyes. Without another thought, I knew that he was dead and my immediate duty was to save my boys. Checking the tiller to see that it was lashed, I picked up the Winchester and adjusted the scope the way James had showed me. Another shot whistled overhead. Bracing my arms on the taffrail, I squeezed off the first shot. The gun kicked so hard that it bruised my shoulder. Quickly throwing the bolt I took aim again. This time I had the satisfaction of watching the man with the rifle leveled at our boat tumble forward over the bowsprit and fall headfirst into the water. There was much commotion on the attacking boat. A few more shots added to the disturbance. I fired three more shots into the dodging crew. The lugger came about with sails cracking to head into the wind. Very carefully I brought the ketch around to a port tack heading to the northwest and away from the stalled pirate boat. Lashing the tiller once I saw that there would be no way for the pirates to catch our fleeing ketch, I closed the hatch and knelt by James body. It was obvious that he did not have the slightest idea that he had been hit. The bullet had entered the back of his head and come out his cheek. It must have been a steel-jacketed bullet, because it didn’t destroy his face.”

Tears welled in her eyes as she said, “I closed his eyelids as I quietly said a prayer that I had learned in the orphanage from the Catholic madres. There was no time for more tears.”

. “My immediate duty remained to get the boys and my dead husband back to Paradine Island as soon as possible. It would be necessary for me to continue the life James would have wanted me to lead. Working rapidly, I went into the cabin, saw to it that my boys were occupied with the video; collected a bucket, sponge, towel, a sheet, a water-proof cover, a ball of twine and a scissors. Hurrying back to the afterdeck, I managed to straighten out the feet of the man that had only minutes ago been my loving husband. I tied his arms and legs together at the ankles and wrists. Then scooping a half-full bucket of water from the sea under the lee rail, I sponged the blood from his face and head.  After mopping and washing away the blood on the deck, I rolled the body in the sheet using the twine to secure the sheet in place and performed the same enveloping procedure with the waterproof cover. To make sure that a rouge sea wouldn’t snatch the body, I tied both ends of the wrapped body to the cleats along the portside rail. Now it was time to throttle back the engines and calculate our position. If the wind held, the lighthouse at St. Martins should be visible in about three or four hours. From there I would change the boat’s heading to due north until we rounded the west light of Anguilla. Then it would be time to drop all but the staysails and rely on the diesels to take us to the anchorage at Paradine Island.”

After a short pause Tina began again, “It was still about three hours before dusk when I had secured the boat in the tiny bay. Three long blasts on the horn brought Rachel and her children to the beach in time to receive Jimmy and Carson. Thank goodness, Rachel’s husband came with them from the other side of the island. Joseph was strong with the bulging muscles of a man who hauls in the nets with or without fish. I sent the boys off to play with Rachel’s youngsters. As soon as they were out of earshot, I answered their questions about the whereabouts of my husband. I told them that pirates had shot James dead this morning! I said that James’s body was tied on the afterdeck of the boat, and asked Joseph to help me get him ashore? I wanted to make sure that he would be buried beside Claudine.”

“Rachel spoke up, between her sobs, ‘My poor honey child, come to Rachel’.”  The big black woman took me into her arms and hugged me to her ample breast. She asked as she wept, ‘What do the babies know? Did they see it happen?’”

               “Then Joseph wanted to know, ‘Miz Morgan, what do we tell to the authorities? You know, they raise big fuss about that poor Miz Claudine die’n here with no proper doctor to say she dead, an then be’n buried without no permit’.”

  “Still in Rachel’s grasp, I asked Rachel to help me with the children. I told her that I would explain to them that their daddy has gone to see God, and God has sent him to heaven. We will have to wait until God calls us to heaven before we will be able to see him again. And, Joseph, let’s not worry about the authorities until we have Mr. Morgan buried.”

“Together Joseph and I went out to the yacht in the inflatable dory. The big man untied the rolled up corpse and carefully lowered it into the dory. He insisted that I stay aboard the yacht, saying, ‘Me’n Rachel we fix Massa James for proper vigil with candles’n all. We take care of babies now. You have proper cry. I come fo you at dusk.’.”

“The sun was just sett