Today, Elizabeth thought of the island's abundance of natural food and decided to head for the nearest patch of dandelions. She brought a little wicker basket from the cabin in order to collect them. She arrived at the patch of dandelions and began to pick them. When she was about to pick a last dandelion, she saw one of the island's many monarch butterflies land on top of it. She paused and studied its beauty for a moment. Her eyes trailed from the white spots adorning the black border of its wings and body to the vibrancy of its red, orange, and beige wings. A flower on top of another flower, she thought to herself. And then she remembered that dandelions are actually weeds. She shook her head at herself and decided that today both the dandelion and butterfly could be flowers. And why couldn't she be a flower today as well? She was a flower gathering flowers for her love. She left the last dandelion and the butterfly undisturbed so they could continue to beautify the island. Next, she headed for the cattails. Part of a small pond ran through Aaron's side of the island, and it was abundant with ripe cattails, spilling their yellow pollen in the summer breeze. She yanked these up one by one and carried her load home in her hand.
Preparing the food was not difficult. She started with the cattails. She cut off the roots and lower stems, scrubbed and peeled them, put them on a baking sheet, and began baking them in the oven. She took the pollen and washed it through a sieve. This she would save as a flour substitute on days she made pancakes for them. Next, she went to the refrigerator and pulled out a bowl of elderberries she had picked the other day. She washed them, opened up the oven, and put them on the baking sheet with the cattail roots and stems. These would be her raisin substitutes to put in her salad. At last she got to her dandelions. She took the yellow flower part and the stems and decorated the table with them. The dandelion leaves would go into the salad she was to prepare for tonight. She went to the refrigerator, grabbed a romaine heart, and began chopping it up. Then she added in the dandelion leaves. When the elderberries and cattail parts had stopped cooking, she waited for them to cool and then mixed them in with the rest of the salad. She grinned at her masterpiece, sure that Aaron would appreciate the effort. It couldn't be more obvious that this little cooking adventure was done with love.
When Aaron entered at 8:00pm, she had the salad sitting on the table. But instead of sitting down he said, "Put on your hiking clothes. We're going out to eat tonight." She saw that he had a giant basket in his hand. She wasn't expecting a late night picnic, and she felt excited about the idea of him making a romantic gesture towards her. She immediately went to her room and changed into her hiking boots and outdoor clothes. After fixing the salad, she had put on her little red dress that showed off her waist so well. It would have to wait for another time.
"Grab the flashlight, while you're in there," Aaron called.
Elizabeth was even more intrigued. They didn't require flashlights to see in the dark because they both had natural night vision (a necessary trait for nocturnal vampires), but she grabbed it anyway. After she put the salad in the refrigerator, they headed out. She wondered where they could be going, but Aaron was silent. Is he surprising me? she thought hopefully to herself. Her heart rate was rising with anticipation.
They moved quickly until they came to a sea cave. She realized it must be the cave Aaron normally slept in. Weirdly, though she knew of the cave, it was the one place that she had never explored with Arthur or even by herself. She figured it was probably because she knew it was Aaron's, and it felt too much like entering his home unannounced. He had never forbidden her from entering, and she had no idea if he ever told Arthur not to go in there, but if felt implied that the sea cave was off limits.
She walked in and was as careful as she could be. It was slippery and falling seemed inevitable. She shined the light. Bats could be heard inside the cave, but Aaron urged her on. She went in and continued to walk into the cave, flashlight pointed straight ahead, until Aaron asked her to stop. Then he instructed her to point the flashlight to her left. What she saw took her breath away. It was an entire wall of fossilized eggs. Hundreds of eggs embedded in the cave wall, and they sparkled in the light of the flashlight. Some were covered in moss and algae, others were like precious rocks. They were all the colors of the rainbow. And what was even stranger was that Elizabeth noticed they were in a pattern. They were in a giant ellipse. It couldn't have been more perfect than if someone had come along and made it.
"What are they," Elizabeth pressed.
"Fossilized dinosaur eggs," Aaron answered. "They're beautiful aren't they?"