Holly’s Island: The Complete Collection Read Online Free

was all the way on the
other side of the island and restricted to members and guests only.  For
the rest of the island's residents, which included mostly workers at the New
Victoria Ocean and Atmospheric Research Station and a handful of others like
Caleb who had homes and property scattered around the island, Bonefish Harbor
was their lifeline. 
     
    Lining the road on the right side was Tom's Grocery and
General Store, The Blue Water Cafe and Bar, the government office, which was
basically just a Post Office, and Bonefish Hardware.  On the left side
stood the three story, twelve room red brick Bonefish Bay Hotel, which had
essentially been taken over by the research station for visiting scientists,
Cousin Jack's Boat Repair and Sales was next, and then Bill’s Second Hand
Store, which also served as Bonefish's unofficial library.  It was the
library that had finally pushed Holly to make the trek into town, but it was
the owner that kept her coming back.
     
    The old man that ran Bill's was not Bill, but his son,
Sam.  Sam, like everyone else on the island, knew who Holly was and knew
what had happened to her parents, which was one of the reasons Holly had
avoided going into town for so long. But Sam was different that the
others.  Instead of feeling sorry for her and talking to her with sad,
sympathetic faces, Sam treated her like an old friend. It wasn't until her
sixth visit to his shop that she finally got up the courage to ask why the
store was named Bill's when a guy named Sam owned it. So Sam told her a
rambling tale about his long dead father.
     
    “Well, my father, William August Thorne Jr., was one of the
first inhabitants on this here island.  He had spent many of his early
years working on sailing ships that traded in these waters and he had heard the
rumors of what living here, on this particular island, did to people. Stories
of people living into their hundreds, of never getting sick, a place that
brought all its inhabitants blissful happiness and soulful knowledge and
romance. He believed these stories, took them as fact instead of the tall tales
that they were, and longed to make this place his home.  He built the
first harbor and the first house, the very house where I was born, in fact. And
he was an enthusiastic promoter of turning this little known island into a
tourist mecca, a sanatorium for the ill, a romantic getaway for lovers. It was
through Bill's efforts that people like Caleb's great-grandfather came to the
island, both to try and cater to the tourist crowd or just to live the island
life. It certainly looked like Dad would get his wish when, in the early
1930's, he sold a wealthy investor on the idea of building a high class resort on
the island.  Unfortunately, the investor decided to locate his new private
playground for the rich and famous on the north side of the island, about as
far away from Dad's harbor and fledgling little town as he could get.  The
resort brought people to the island, but they stayed within the confines of the
retreat's high stone walls.”
     
    “How awful, why would they do that?” Holly asked.
     
    “Well, the investors had all the money they needed … they
didn't want a shabby little town messing up their 'feng-shui'. And while they
didn't believe all the bull my daddy was slinging about long life and eternal
bliss they had experienced firsthand the strange … 'romantic properties' of the
island. They saw the money they could make from such a sensual place that lowered
people's inhibitions.”
     
    “What do you mean?” Holly said intrigued.
     
    “You might still be too wrapped up with your grief to notice
it my young friend, but let's just say that even after a few days spent on this
island most people are more … romantic.”
     
    Holly stared at him still not comprehending, but before she
could ask another question Sam continued his story.
     
    “Anyway, my father spent most of the next decade watching his
little town slowly sink into