Free Demigods by Robert C Ray

forty-five minutes, he repeated the process repeatedly, until he was satisfied. Three good-sized fish, two huge crabs, and a handful of seaweed should help him earn his keep.
    "You did well," she said with a smile as she pulled the basket up under her arm, and began to walk back through the sand.
    Pulling up the stick with the fish, he began to follow her to the jungle's edge, and saw that she had built a small fire. She certainly seemed quite adapted to this environment, which only increased his attraction to her.
    Setting the basket back in the sand, she took the fish from him, and motioned for him to have a seat next to the fire.
    "You worked very hard," she told him with an expression of gratitude. "Relax while I clean the fish."
    Once again, she mesmerized him, as she began to walk back to the water. When she reached it, and leaned forward to clean them, she did nothing to break the spell that she had on him. The sun that was beginning to set in front of her, only further fueled the flames.
    Soon she turned, and began to head back with the cleaned fish in one hand, and a crude looking knife in the other. How, he wondered, could any other woman possibly compete with that?
    Reaching the small pile of branches that lay off to the side, she grabbed three of them, and skewered the fish. Only moments later, she shoved them into the sand, and began to slowly roast them over the fire.
    "You are one talented lady," he told her with his most charming smile, and for a second he thought he caught her blushing, though she quickly turned, and stepped to the edge of the jungle.
    "We all have talents," she explained as she lifted something from behind a large palm tree. "No one talent is more important than the others."
    "Talents are like the plants, and animals," she continued as she sat next to him, and offered a coconut that had the top cut off. "If all of one kind were to vanish, the rest would be inadvertently affected."
    "This might be true," he replied as he looked down at the milk within the coconut, before locking his eyes with hers, "but some seem to perform their talents with much more grace."
    This time he was certain that she was blushing, as she dropped her gaze to the sand, and smiled ever so modestly. It delighted him to see that he had some effect on her, considering the effect that she had on him, and he now found himself a bit more comfortable, and confident.
    Sipping from his drink, he found her surprising him once more, as it was clearly the taste of fine rum on his tongue, and it went quite well with the coconut milk.
    "Ok," he finally broke down to say, "where do you get rum from?"
    Looking up at him with that ever-present smile, she replied.
    "You would be amazed at what you can find on this island."
    Yeah, he should have left well enough alone. It was likely among the remnants of pirates from long ago, he thought, or at least that was the best explanation he could come up with. Nonetheless, it really completed the scene, as they sat there and watched the sun set beyond the vast, blue ocean.
    Once night had arrived, and the tide had receded, she stood to her feet, and offered him a hand.
    "There is one more thing we need to do," she told him while helping him to his feet, and then he curiously followed her to the sand that was still wet.
    Searching around, she found a spot, and dropped to one knee.
    "See this small hole?" she asked as she looked up at him, and he knelt beside her to examine it more closely. "See how a small bubble has formed in it?"
    "I see it," he answered, and then watched as she began to dig at the sand with her bare hands, and moments later, she pulled out a solid object, and carried it to the water.
    Rinsing it off, she smiled, and held it up for him to see, delighted by the small treasure she had unearthed. It was a clam, and a rather large one at that.
    "These are what we need," she explained, and for a while, they gathered about a dozen of them, and then carried them back to the basket,