LiTTLE CHERiNE Book 02 - post112
“Jesus! You must really be lost if you do not even know in which country you are. You are in the Ghanzi District within the Kalahari desert. ”
980
As he talked he gave out the water-bottles he was carrying. Angelo made as if to throw away our shoe-pots. I shouted in time to stop him. “Those saved our lives. They go on our bookshelf to always remind us - Never give up.”
“I came here by motorbike, the old man, my pa, will be over soon with the Landrover - it is going to be a squeeze to fit you in. I better rush home and tell ma to prepare more food; we did not believe the little black monkeys when they told us there were so many of you. They cannot count and always exaggerate.”
He was gone before any of us reacted. Cherine screamed over the roar of his bike, “Black monkeys - you arsehole, they saved our lives! They are people!!”
“Forget it love, he has grown up talking and thinking that way. Let’s concentrate on getting home and finding out what happened to the rest of our families and friends. We will only change people like him with love. Don’t forget, he meant well, he did come here to help us.”
Still angry and proud she spat out, “I don’t want help from people like him, I’d rather walk home!”
We all stared at her and then I burst out laughing. “To see the fire back in you, yes, that is worth walking through the desert for. Give me a kiss my lovely wife.”
She burst out laughing and hugged me, her split and bleeding lips crushing mine. As they touched my lips the link came back. She jerked as if she had received an electric shock and I laughed again. “That was too obvious. The test is over?”
“You knew!”
“No, but you just gave yourself away - I mean, one kiss and bam, back comes our power! So that is why our protector did not help.”
“It did. It put the blanket over your powers, but it stayed with us the whole trip. It was watching the unborn child.”
I chuckled. “I would rather get out of here right now, before the ‘pa’ arrives. It might be difficult to explain how we got here.”
981
We jumped back home to find Alki, Marian and the kids waiting in our sitting room. They took one look at us and concern was on their faces. “You are alright?”
“No. We need a long shower and some clean clothes. It is also about time everybody changed back to their real ages. My sweet babies, you can revert to a body age of ten for a while, I’m sure you will want to be part of all the talking afterwards.”
“I want to stay as I am…”
“And I need to see you as my little girl again, Cherine.” I pleaded, “You can change back to this age whenever you want.”
As we went towards the bedrooms I turned to Alki, “We are starving, can you order us some food? Offer a big tip if they get it here within twenty minutes. And Alki? Please, no chicken or lizard soup.” Everyone laughed.
By the time we came out, the healers had repaired our cuts and the sunburn. We had all decided to keep our tans though. I went straight to our bookshelf and cleared some space and Meli and Wendy brought our shoe-pots. I gave them pride of place, dirty ugly things that they were, for I really treasured them. P.S. I later had them placed in a glass box and they look less out of place.
The living room had begun to fill up and more kept arriving. I was pleased to find out that they had all been warned by the protector that we were being put through a test and would be missing and cut off from the link. Since it was the protector who told them, they did not worry.
Since most of them were Greeks, they chattered throughout our meal. I think the girls were more happy about having their fizzy drinks again than the food. This time it was the girls and Angelo who told the story of our adventure. Henry and I just sat quietly listening. By the end my face was burning, the girls had made me sound like some story-book hero. There was no point in arguing, so I let them enjoy themselves. I suspect they do it for the pleasure they get out of it. Because of their love for me, they actually basked in the glow of admiration they made others feel for me.
Wendy stood up to talk and I tried by gestures and direct appeals to her mind, to get her to keep quiet. She stared at me, her eyes blazing and everyone sensed us. They turned, silent now, to listen to her.
“About half a day before we got to water I was beginning to stagger, I did not have the strength to carry on. Robert with Henry forced me to let them carry me. Next time we stopped for a rest Robert took the razor and cut his wrist. He came from behind me, opened my mouth by force and stuck his arm over my mouth. He forced me to swallow his blood.”
She paused as tears ran down her cheeks. “He did not only do it for me. I saw him do the same to Solomon and Ordinx.”
She sat down, still weeping.
Solomon spoke up. “Wendy, we did offer to let you eat our bodies. They have no souls yet and would have given you the strength you needed. He refused and yet he gave of his own body to save ours that had no souls, no personalities yet!”
There were a number of very angry faces turning towards Solomon and Ordinx when I spoke up. “Please remember that this was a test. They had no intention of getting us to eat their bodies. They only wanted to see if I would agree - or if one of the others would plead with me to agree. To tell you the truth, I think they were sorely disappointed - they would have loved to be the ones telling you the story today and how your Robert wanted to eat them.” (Cherine sniggered in my mind, betting I would have loved to ‘eat’ them). Marian either caught on or overheard her daughter and sniggered out aloud. That made the joke more obvious to some of the others and soon most of the room was laughing.
“If you had eaten my wives, you would have done well to have stayed hidden in the desert.”
“Nicko! You haven’t even met them yet.”
“Says you? I have, they danced with me.”
982
“Cherine you lied to me!!” I was aghast and the possibilities of all I imagined could have gone wrong without me there to help.
“I did not! I had nothing to do with it.” She was genuinely puzzled, so I looked around trying to work out who had done it.
Alki intervened. “The mothers got together and did it. You had already explained how you did it and when we went dancing they could not wait any longer to meet them.”
I was incredibly angry, but one look at their faces and I swallowed it. There was no way I could get angry with them for doing what most children would have done - even though this was not a childish matter.
“Robert we better leave then. We can visit again whenever you wish.”
“No. I need a few more days. Then the girls can have their bodies. Where are they now?”
“They are visiting your emerald island.”
“Time moves differently for them there. I bet you they are enjoying the company of the dolphin people. They are very gentle and will look after the girls. I thought I would need to sleep a week when we got back home, but having the healer has left me feeling filled with energy. I do not think I could sleep now. What is the date?”
“The second of April.”
“Claire, Elia, can we borrow your apartment in London?”
“You do not need to ask. For as long as you like.”
“Anybody got any pounds or dollars? I’m flat broke and can’t wait for the banks to open.”
While Alki was getting me some money, I explained and apologised to the girls. “This trip took it out of me. I need to be alone with just one person, relax and be intimate or just sleep. Get rid of some of the nightmares. Let me just be with Cherine for tonight.”
Dommi’s fingers caressed my cheek. “Are you so used to being without the link that you feel you need to explain and apologise my darling husband. Take our sweet girl and go relax. That was a dirty trick your protector let them play on us. It must have been terrible for you with your instincts to protect us at all costs and not having any of your gifts. I saw what you were going through, but there was nothing I could do except to allow you to do your best. Now we all know that even without any Cherinian gifts you are very special.”
“It is not me who is special, it was just that all of you are so special to me. I was so afraid, if that bushman had not helped us we would have…I’m sorry, I still think of it as real, I keep forgetting it was only a test.”
Alki came back with a couple of thousand pounds and I kissed the girls and we jumped.
I asked. “Do you want to go to bed or go out?”
“I would actually prefer to just sit here in your arms for a while. This is heaven, just the two of us and no sand within a hundred miles.”
“That is a great idea. We must get a sandbox for the babies.” Her only reaction to my stupid joke was to gently stroke my unshaved cheek.
We gently kidded each other for a while, but our heart was not in it. The desert experience had been too real, had tested us almost to the limits of our endurance. We needed the comfort of being alone and just feeling our love for each other. Even sex somehow (for the moment) seemed out of place, though I needed the feeling of her warm body against mine.
When the girls went to bed they blew us kisses and we let them feel us and our love for all of them.
983
I think I would have said to hell with everything and just stayed in London for a week with my Cherine, but I had to return to deal with two of our favourite aliens - that thought poses another interesting problem, do I consider Daniel an alien and if I do, that means we have our first alien Cherinian.
We spent the first part of that evening just being in love, my thoughts often returning not to the days of her in our garden, but to the desert. She had shown me what she is made of when she has no powers. Her courage does not depend on our gifts. Her empathy and protectiveness of our girls had been as strong as ever. Even more satisfying to my ego was that she and all the girls had loved me just as much and had never faltered in their trust in me.
It is strange how many facets love has. I could have sworn that none of us could have loved each other more and yet this experience has bonded us, bringing us even closer.
Once in bed, our bodies clung to each other with a desperation we have not felt for a long time. Her lovemaking was fierce, trying to possess me, to be a part of me. It was a perfect marriage of our spirits, our hearts and our bodies. Morning found our passions satiated, but we had become so close, so deeply a part of each other that no monogamous relationship could have added to it. We both felt how our love of our children and wives added to the richness of the tapestry our love has woven for us. We returned to them without regrets, more I would say, to fulfil our love for each other.
Αλέξανδρος Ζήνον Ευσταθίου
(Alexander Zenon Eustace)5th December, 2018
* posted on Steemit: 5th December, 2018
@nikosnitza
If you wish to have your name added above, I would be honoured.
Καλά όλο αυτό ήταν ένα τεστ των εξωγήινων για το αν θα φάνε τα σώματα ή όχι?? εγώ θα τα είχα πάρει στο κρανίο και θα τους είχα στείλει από κει που ήρθανε....
Πάντως για να ηρεμήσει τσίμπησε το ταξιδάκι του στο Λονδίνο ε??
για να δούμε τώρα που θα επιστρέψει τι ακριβώς θα κάνει με τους εξωγήινους είμαι περίεργος να μάθω... :)))
Mou aresei pou mou dineis tois antidraseis sou, akoma kai ean diafonoume kapou-kapou.
:)
Skepsou to etsi - oi dio tous antiprosopevoun tous dikous tous anthropous. .. tora pes mou, kserei kanenan politiko apo tin Gi pou na dehotan ton Robert opos deihnei ton eafto tou? Ego ean eimoun, tha elega ston eafto pou 'kanenas den einai toso malakos...i einai malakas i kati skaronei. Pos na matho pos einai stin pragmatikotita?'
Nomizo oti i prosfora na faei ta somata tous eitan kati pou tous 'eirthe' san idea ekeini tin stoigmi. Pistevo oti theloun na doun pos tha antidrasei se tetoia periptosi, pou ehei hasei oles tois dynamois tou...dyladi, einai o Robert opos einai epeidi ehei terasteies dynameis - i einai panta o idios...tha einai prothimos na thisiasei tous allous gia na sosei ta koritsia tou i ton eafto tou?
Nomizo oti tous apodeikse oti adika fovontousan...
Πιστεύω κανένας πολιτικός... Εδώ η πολιτική είναι όλοι για να φάνε...
ναι και εγώ πιστεύω ότι το απόδειξε πάρα πολύ καλά για να δούμε όμως τι θα γίνει στη συνέχεια καλημέρα...