Island Hideaway 30 - Mystery Shopping​

Waking from a coma isn't quite as easy as Jesus raising people from the dead in the bible, where the dead are immediately up and running around, chatting away to anyone who’ll listen about Jesus and his miracle. ​
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When you've been in a coma for 3 or 4 months like Mo had, getting back on your feet is a major effort, every muscle in your body has shrunk to nothing from non-use, like a Daily Mail reader's brain. ​​
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Mo tried to get out of bed, but the effort was too much and the risk of injury worried me. She even struggled lifting a glass of water or trying to digest food.​​
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What made matters worse is that I had nothing in place. I'd been on 24/7 Mo-watch since Eddie had dumped her comatose body on me, so I'd had no chance to get the essentials, a walker to help her re-find her legs, a set of weights so that she could exercise her muscles when she was lying down. She didn't even have anything to wear, just the two pairs of pyjamas Eddie had left me with and a pair of wellies I'd had the foresight to buy from the boatman. But you can only get so far with wellies and pyjamas.​​
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Mo was itching to get out of bed, bored senseless with nothing to do and an unresponsive body. I was going to need a lot of equipment, clothes, tampons, not to mention the various deodorants and creams with which Mo adorned herself. She even used a different toothpaste from me.​​
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Normally I buy everything I need from the Boatman, but the problem was that Mo’s very presence on the island was a secret. I'd told no-one, not even the Boatman. These secrets are easy to keep when the other person is in a coma, but not once they wake they need things. ​​
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I might be able to explain away a different toothpaste, even creams and deodorant, but the Zimmer-frame and women's clothing was a giveaway. Admittedly a weird giveaway, quite what the Boatman would make of it I didn't know, but that was my worry, that he would speculate, gossip, ask around, and the very thing I didn't want was people asking around and speculating.​​
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Contacting Eddie was also out of the question, he'd left strict instructions that I wasn't to call him for any reason, even if Mo woke. ​​
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I had no choice but to hire a boat and do the shopping myself, in secret. Hiring a boat was straightforward enough, and I made enough from my writing that the cost wasn't prohibitive, I just felt guilty about going behind the Boatman's back. ​​
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I made sure that Mo had everything she needed for a day alone, including a bedside table full of drinks and safe snacks, and an empty bedpan. I wrote out a detailed list of what I needed and where. I'd phoned ahead and ordered the walker and other medical equipment I needed, ditto the weights. I'd carefully measured Mo so I knew her current dress size and knicker preference. ​​
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The boat arrived very early in the morning. For someone living alone on an isolated island I had very little knowledge of boats, I had never had occasion to use one. I had agreed with John, the boat owner, that he would show me how to operate the boat and join me on the journey back to the mainland. It went smoothly and he left me on the mainland to do what I needed. It took me several hours to do all the requisite shopping, but eventually I had completed my list. I rode the boat to my island, unloaded and returned to the mainland, all without hitch. John dropped me hope, as agreed, at the end of the venture, so no evidence I'd ever been gone. It was a complete success.​​
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Or so I assumed. ​
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"I hear you've been on a day trip," the Boatman said the next day, when he arrived in the morning.​​
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I didn't show my surprise.​
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"Yeah," I said. "I had a few things I needed to get from the mainland."​​
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"You know you can ask me," he said. "I have a boat you know. And I do visit here. Every day, when the gods allow." ​​
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"Yeah, it was a special trip, not my usual shopping list."​​
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"I know. I heard around town, you've been in near every shop, a Zimmer frame, a set of weights, women's clothing, knickers, dinky little socks and toothpaste - not your usual brand, female hygiene products, shark repellent."​​
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"Shark repellent?" I said, surprised.​​
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"Ah, so the rest are true then. Thought so."​​
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"I have someone staying with me," I admitted. "A woman."​​
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"Ah, well you can always buy female hygiene products from me. And the toothpaste."​​
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"I will from now on, of course. I just didn't want people knowing."​​
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"I don't see how anyone would know," he said. "I'm not one to gossip."​​
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"Well, you have discussed my day's shopping with seemingly everyone on the mainland."​​
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"Ah, that's different. That's you keeping secrets from me. But if you tell me a secret, well that's a different thing entirely."​​
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"Well, I'm telling you. I have a young woman staying with me. It's a secret, I can't explain why."​​
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"No need," the Boatman said, tapping his nose. "No need. You're secret's safe with me, I'm the very definition of discretion.