"Good morning!" Ronnie was much more disciplined and polite now since he had upset Michiko with his last joke.
Michiko frowned and said coldly, "You've become so polite now, it's not like the usual you, I still prefer the original Ronnie.”
Ronnie didn't know what to say back and just kept his mouth shut, luckily at that time Alice came over and said to the two of them, "What are you talking about early in the morning? why don't you come over and have some breakfast?”
Hearing this, the two of them got up and walked over to the simple dining table made of tree branches and sat on their butts, and since there were no chairs, the three of them could only sit cross-legged. Today's breakfast was a large crab and some small dried fish, Alice first peeled the crab shell and then broke the crab meat into two halves and gave them to Ronnie and Michiko, respectively, and ate the small dried fish herself. Michiko was in a bad mood because Ronnie's attitude towards her just now made her feel that the relationship between the two of them had gotten a lot rustier. She mumbled as she accepted the crab meat, looking lost in thought. Seeing her in such a state, the two siblings kept their eyes on her, afraid that she would suddenly snap. They also didn't dare mention the matter of going to the small garden again, lest it irritate her. The three of them chewed slowly, but the time came when they had finished eating. "Let's go!" Michiko suddenly stood up and said. The two siblings had no choice but to follow her, and without saying a word, the three of them walked silently towards the "Little Garden". They soon arrived at their destination. After yesterday's work, Michiko bent down and mechanically pulled weeds. Ronnie crouched down beside her to help, remembering his last prank, he felt guilty, "I'm sorry, Michiko.”Seeing that she was still moping, he wanted to make her happy, slowly leaning over, he said, "The weather is nice today, it shouldn't rain.”
Michiko looked at him and said weakly, "What are you doing here again? don't talk nonsense without words."
"Michiko, why are you unhappy?"
"I'm not unhappy and I don't need you to mind my business."
Ronnie bumped his head and smiled awkwardly, stood up straight, stretched, and turned to face Alice. Alice, who was strong enough to stand up to both of them on her own, saw him approach and asked curiously, "Why aren't you with Michiko anymore?"
"She's mad and I don't know what pissed her off," Ronnie said, shrugging helplessly.
Alice also shook her head helplessly and went back to her work, and for a while all three were silent. After perhaps three hours, a large portion of the weeds in the valley had been removed. "Sister, let's dig out half of the potatoes first and wait two months before planting."
"Ah, ... still needs to catalyze the sprouts? why didn't you say that before?" Alice didn't expect it to be that complicated.
"That's for sure, I thought you knew."
This time they dug twelve potatoes, both large and small, and the three returned home full of anticipation. Before they knew it, it was December and a new year was about to begin. In the last three months or so, Ronnie had added two more pots of water, and they also dug a fish pond on the beach, where Alice kept all the fish she caught that they didn't eat. Potatoes were planted all over the "garden" and would be ready for harvest next February. Ronnie also built a boat, but Michiko burned it and they had a big fight about it and didn't talk for half a month, but finally Ronnie took the initiative to make peace and they made up, and Michiko didn't get sick again and a smile came back on her face.
That day, the three of them were lying on the beach, sunbathing, when Ronnie spoke up, "Michiko, why did you burn my boat last time?"
"I don't like it out there, I just want to stay on this island. Ronnie, isn't it good for the three of us to be on this island? why do you want to go out?"
"You're asking me to stay in this shithole for the rest of my life and I ain't doing it," Ronnie stood up and yelled.
Michiko pointed to the sea, "Then go! you can swim there without a boat."
Seeing that the two were about to argue again, Alice hurriedly advised, "Ronnie, your last boat was too small, luckily it burned down, if we get on that boat, there's no telling where we'll drift to."
"Sister, we can't move the biggest tree on this island, and the smaller ones are too thin, I can't do anything about it, it's impossible to get out of here without taking a risk," Ronnie was busy explaining.
"Let's wait a little longer, maybe a boat will come through here."
"Seems like that's all we can do, sis, we'll go fishing with you later too, just to see if any boats pass by."
"If there is a boat, how will you let them know that there are people on this island?" Alice asked a practical question.
"This ....." Ronnie thought for a moment before he said, "it looks like we'll have to build a beacon, and when a boat comes by, we'll light it so they can see it from afar."
"Then you and Michiko are in charge of building it, I'm not involved!"
Michiko heard that her siblings still wanted to go, and a pang of loss ran through her heart. Ronnie turned to her and said, "You heard that, this time it's my sister who agreed, so let's go now!"
"I'm not going, you go!" Michiko got up anyway and followed him.
Ronnie couldn't help but chuckle as he watched her follow, "I thought you said you didn't want to come?"
"What do you care?" Michiko gave him a blank look as she said it.
The two of them crossed a beach to the other side of the island, and Michiko spoke from behind, "Ronnie, we rarely come to the north side, so be careful, don't get bitten by snakes."
"Haha, you were bitten by a snake once, now you're so scared," Ronnie scoffed back.
"You're not listening to me, if you get bitten later, I won't save you, I'll watch you die of poisoning!" Michiko huffed.
Ronnie laughed and didn't take her words seriously. The deeper the duo went, the more violent the sea breeze became, and the waves pounded against the reefs with a rumbling sound, making people feel an inexplicable sense of oppression. At that moment, the two of them simultaneously stopped and looked up to see a large bird standing on the branch of a tree, making a "calling" sound. "White-headed sea eagle!" Ronnie exclaimed casually.
"Why does a white-tailed eagle make such a small bird call when it's so big?" Michiko asked curiously.
"Most eagles have bad calls, only the red-tailed hawk has a better call."
"Oh! you know so much! is it all from books?"
"Yes, I read about it in a book in the school library and studied it because I liked it better."
The duo continued on, the journey was quite smooth, and came to the edge of a two meter long and short rock shaped like a straw hat, "This should be the highest place on the whole island. Ronnie said as he pointed to the rock.
"So how do we build the beacon?"
"We'll move some rocks to enclose it and just put some wood inside, but we'll also put a cover on top so it doesn't get wet from the rain."
"That simple?" Michiko was a little surprised.
"It's not that simple, it's all we have to work with," Ronnie said as he walked over to the edge of the rock and pointed down, "Michiko, look, this is where we pitched our tent to sleep on our first day on the island, we haven't been here since the last time we slept here."
"Be careful, don't fall in." On a whim, Michiko slowly took a few steps forward as well, approaching the overhang and taking Ronnie's hand as if afraid of falling. The duo stuck their heads out at the same time and looked down, better not to look but to be startled, only to see that there was a red tent at the corner of the platform below. Two people hastily shrank their heads, looked at each other, saw the color of panic in each other's eyes, it seems to be someone on the island. At that time, it was already six o'clock in the afternoon, dusk. The two of them immediately turned around and went down the mountain, they returned home as soon as possible, they were anxious to see that Alice had not returned, they were afraid that she might run into the two men. After waiting more than ten minutes, Alice still hadn't returned. Ronnie spoke first, "I'll go out and look, you wait at home."
"No, I'll go with you, we'll bring a shovel, I can help if something happens," Michiko said with a stubborn look on her face.
"All right then!" Ronnie nodded.
The duo walked out and ran straight to the beach, luckily halfway there they came face to face with Alice who ran over in a panicked state, "Sister, what's wrong with you?" Ronnie asked as he stepped forward.
"I'm glad you guys are okay, I just saw two people on the beach driving a speedboat onto the island. They seemed to be carrying guns, I hid behind the rocks for half a day before I dared come out, I was really afraid you would run into them too," Alice gasped.
"We also saw their tent on the north side of the hill, so we came out to look for you."
"So you saw them too, now that everyone is safe, let's go home."
"Sister, it's best not to go home now, if they find the house, it will be troublesome."
"Then what should we do?"
"Let's go to the north side of the mountain and spy on them down there to see who they really are. If they make a move, we'll know in advance."
"All right, let's go." Taking advantage of the darkness of the night, the three of them ducked and dodged and hurried toward the northern mountains. On the way, they walked with extra caution for fear of running into those two.