A rather inhibited engineer finally splurged on a 
luxury cruise to the Caribbean. 
It was the "craziest" thing he had ever done 
in hislife.

Just as he was beginning to enjoy himself, 
a hurricane roared upon the huge ship, capsizing it 
like a child's toy.  
Somehow the engineer, desperately hanging on to a life 
preserver, managed to wash ashore
on a
secluded island.

Outside of beautiful scenery, a spring-fed pool, bananas, and
coconuts,
there was little else.  He lost all hope and for hours on end, sat
under
same palm tree.  One day, after several months had passed, a
gorgeous
woman in a small rowboat appeared.

"I'm from the other side of the island," she said. "Were you on the
cruise
ship, too?"

"Yes, I was," he answered. "But where did you get that rowboat?"

"Well, I whittled the oars from gum tree branches, wove the
reinforced
gunnel from palm branches, and made the keel and stern from a
Eucalyptus
tree."

"But, what did you use for tools?" asked the man.

"There was a very unusual strata of alluvial rock exposed on the
South side of the island. 
I discovered that if I fired it to a certain
temperature in my kiln, it melted into ductile iron.  
Anyhow, that's how I got the tools. 
But, enough of that," she said.  "Where have you
been >living all this time? I don't see any shelter."

"To be honest, I've just been sleeping on the beach," he said.
"Would you like to come to my place?" the woman asked.

The engineer nodded dumbly.  She expertly rowed them 
around to her side of the island, and tied up the boat 
with a handsome strand of hand-woven hemp 
topped with a neat back splice.  

They walked up a winding stone walk she had laid and 
around a Palm tree.  There stood an exquisite bungalow
painted in blue and white.

"It's not much, but I call it home." Inside, she said, 
"Sit down please; would you like to have a drink?"

"No, thanks," said the man. 
"One more coconut juice and I'll throw up!"

"It won't be coconut juice," the woman replied.  
"I have a crude still out back, so we can have authentic 
Pina Coladas."

Trying to hide his amazement, the man accepted the 
drink, and they sat down on her couch to talk.  
After they had exchanged stories, the woman
asked, "Tell me, have you always had a beard?"

"No," the man replied, "I was clean shaven all of my life until I
ended up on this island."

"Well if you'd like to shave, there's a razor upstairs in the
bathroom cabinet."

The man, no longer questioning anything, went upstairs to the
bathroom and shaved with an intricate bone-and-shell 
device honed razor-sharp. Next he showered -- not even 
attempting to fathom a guess as to how she managed to
get warm water into the bathroom -- and went back downstairs. 

He couldn't help but admire the masterfully carved banister 
as he walked. "You look great," said the woman.  
"I think I'll go up and slip into something more comfortable." 
As she did, the man continued to sip his Pina Colada.  

After a short time, the woman, smelling faintly of
gardenias, returned wearing a revealing gown fashioned 
out of pounded palm fronds.

"Tell me," she asked, "we've both been out here for a very 
long time with no companionship.  
You know what I mean.  Haven't you been lonely, too?
Isn't there something that you really, really miss?  
Something that all men and woman need?  
Something that would be really nice to have right now?!"

"Yes there is!" the man replied, shucking off his shyness. 
"There is something I've wanted to do for so long. 
But on this island all alone, 
it was just ... well, it was impossible."

"Well, it's not impossible, any more," the woman said.
The man, practically panting in excitement, 
said breathlessly, "You mean... you actually figured 
out some way we can check our e-mail?!"



 


