By The Rocks

By The Rocks



As he walked towards the the big rocks down the beach, he
wondered who the Hanks person was that came through the portal before
he did, and when did he do it. He knew it had to be a Hanks because
the time master said the only way they could find out why they lost
the power to travel back in time was to send a Hanks back in time to
find out what went wrong. It was a bit of a shock to find out that
the Hanks family was represented by time masters. Maybe all families
were but they never had the same problem with a loss of power, so he
never heard of it. But then he never heard of time travel before
except in movies and novels. He reasoned he had a lot of thinking to
do if he was going to be successful in his search.

It was a dreary looking day. Ominous clouds hung up there in
the sky and it was about three thirty in the afternoon. He was
beginning to feel a bit hungry since the teams had lunch about eleven
o'clock, while they waited for the backhoe.

When he reached the big rocks, he placed the clam shell and
coconut on one of the rocks that was a bit farther away from the rest,
just in case there was another earthquake. No sense in having another
rock crush him. He decided to take stock in what he had to keep
himself alive and healthy while he was here wandering around. He had
on a jacket that could be turned inside out to make it waterproof.
He had on a belt that his Uncle gave him that was made with woven
paracords, that could be undone and used in an emergency. It had a
buckle on it that had a fire striker in it, as well as a compartment
with a couple of fish hooks in it and fifty feet of fishline.
A water bottle in a holder and a Leatherman tool in a holder on his
belt. Water bottle was still full since he had water to drink at
lunch time. He was wearing a black sweatshirt and blue jeans. He did
have a good pair of hiking boots that he kept dressed with
waterproofing agent. He was wearing a watch. In his jacket pockes he
found two sticks of gum and two empty peanut packs from the plane trip
down to England. A small notebook and ballpoint retractable pen.

Linc decided to spend the night here since it was getting late
and and here he had a place to stay by the rock for a bit of shelter.
He figured he better look around and find firewood and things that
might be edible. He went up to the treeline and found quite a bit of
driftwood and dead ferns for a fire. He went into the cramped growth
by the palm trees and found a tree with yellow fruits about the size
of pears. He picked one, smelled it, then took a bite. It tased
somewhat like persimmons. He picked four of them and put them in his
jacket pockets. He gathered up some firewood an took them back to the
rocks. He put the fruits on the rock and made a couple more trips for
firewood he also picked up another coconut. He could drink the liquid
and save his water. No telling when he would find potable water to
drink. Besides he liked the stuff.

Linc set about making a fire pit and put the dried ferns in it
and started it afire. He then put a few sticks and pieces of
driftwood on it as well. He then took the big clam shell down to the
waters edge and filled it up and placed it on the fire after adding
some larger wood to it. He took the walking stick and flushed out a
bunch of crabs from the debris. He cleaned them and added them to the
water in the clam shell. As he sat there by the fire, stiring the
crabs around a bit, he was thinking how the saltwater should help the
taste. He husked the coconuts while he waited for the crabs to cook.
Didn't take too long because the water was about to boil before he put
them in.

He punched the coconut and drank the fluid, then dug out some of
the meat after cracking it open on the rock. That should taste good
with the crabs.

Looking around a bit, he found a big abalone shell to use as a
plate, and a couple of sticks to use like chopsticks, he dished up the
crabs and finished them off with a couple of fruits for desert.

It was beginning to get dark and he still had to figure out a
place to sleep. He didn't want to sleep up in all the dense trees and
brush so he gathered up some sticks and brush and made a lean-to
against the big rock. Covered it with some of the big kelp leaves.
Built up his fire then crawled in and went to sleep.


To be continued.