By Todd Hicks
Copyright by Todd Hicks in July 2014
About The Book
This is a fascinating mini novel about two business travelers who verbally and physically quarrel with each other. After fighting on an airplane, they are given the choice to get off the plane by parachute or stay on and be taken into custody. Stranded on an island together, they must overcome their animosity toward each other plus bad weather elements and the dangerous animals that lurk to survive. The characters in this book are fictional. Any similarity between them and any actual persons is purely coincidental.
Martin Isher was a 25 year old man working as a carpenter in
Lincoln, Nebraska. Being the foreman for his business (Built Just For You, Inc.), he supervised construction workers. On this day, he and his crew were working on a house.
“Move it over a little,” Martin instructed the crew members who were lining up the roof with the edges of the wooden beams placed at the top of the unfinished house.
As this step was completed, Martin congratulated his staff, “Well done! That’s it for the day.”
Soon, the workers clocked out and signed out. After Martin signed off on the time cards and time sheets, he climbed into his pickup truck to go home. Soon after pulling out of the company parking lot, he encountered a traffic jam that was bumper to bumper. “Man, this traffic is going nowhere,” he complained after being stuck in a long line of idled cars for several minutes. “I might as well turn off the ignition.”
As he did that, he turned on his car radio and listened to pop music that soothed him. Hearing some of his favorite songs, he was no longer frustrated.
Taking things into perspective, he figured, “Being stuck here is worth it right now. I’m hearing terrific songs I haven’t heard in months.”
Once he came home, he put everything he had gone through for the day behind him and was happy to see his family.
“Hi, honey. How was your day?” asked Martina, Martin’s wife.
“It was fine. How was yours?” replied Martin.
Martina replied, “It’s been hectic. I spent all day cleaning and endured screaming and running from the kids before having them settle down and do their homework.”
“My commute coming home was a mess. I spent over half an hour idling in traffic. Anyway, I’ll review the kids’ homework then cook dinner after taking off my work clothes,” comforted Martin.
Dinner consisted of pork chops, bread, corn, peas and lemonade. It was time to watch TV after dinner. Martin made it a habit to watch nature shows with his kids in the family den.
“Ooh, look at that orangutan, Dad!” spoke seven year old Marty.
Martin replied, “Yes, I see it. It’s amazingly pretty and strong.” “I agree,” seconded five year old Marion, Martin’s other son.
Soon, Martina brought her husband and sons a piece of chocolate cake for dessert.
“That’s sweet of you! Thank you,” said Martin.
“You’re welcome, dear,” reciprocated Martina.