Sun began each morning with a morning swim.
She often swam out as far as she could go, with nothing but horizon all around here. She never feared sharks or other dangerous fish (they never saw them) and she always returned home feeling refreshed and ready to start her day.
Back in their little shack, she painted while Jie ate his cereal, sitting in a high chair Biron had made from driftwood. He made a lot of things from drift wood over the years but Sun missed the comforts of home. Her son would grow up without knowing them at all.
Biron went about his business of catching fish. He used them to eat and to fertilize his small root garden… or to catch bigger fish.
Jie really didn’t have to do. It’s hard being a toddler on an island so small. His father fashioned him toys (out of drift wood) and painted them with plant pigments.
But a lot times, Jie was just miserable.
Sun spent a lot of time trying to make him happy, as well as teaching him to speak and do other things she knew babies should be learning.
As time passed, he grew into a handsome young boy.
Sun soon realized that, as their family grew, drift wood and plant extracts would not be enough to sustain them. She began to obsess over it – having enough for their family to survive. finally, she convinced Biron that she should make an attempt to find civilization.
“If I find anyone, I can bring them back, and we can get rescued,” she tells him.
“Should we all go?”
Sun doesn’t think so. She wants to go alone because if something happens to her, Jie and Biron will be safe.
Biron agrees, and Sun sets out in the little boat.
She makes it back to China, by some twist of fate, and boy! Does it feel good to be home! She heads off to find her brother and convinces him to help her. They fill her little boat with all sorts of supplies for the rescue, food for their journey and first aide supplies. Then they head out – Sun in her little boat and her brother in a small barge, so they can bring the whole family home.
But the journey back is unpredictable and Sun and her brother get separated by storms. When the seas calm, she is back on the island and her brother is… who knows?
Biron is somehow un-shocked by this. Something seems to be keeping them on this island.
But he makes good use of the supplies. He and Sun work hard to make clothes, furniture and rugs.
Jie LOVES the new couch, and the kitchen. And all the new toys. Now he doesn’t have to pretend to have toys.
The rugs add a sense of homey-ness to their little hovel and a good thing, too. Sun no sooner comes home from China than she becomes pregnant again (Biron missed her THAT much!).
During her pregnancy, she works hard on her paintings. They help to keep her sane in the times when there is nothing to do on the island.
She is almost finished with her latest masterpiece when her water breaks… the baby is coming!