LiTTLE CHERiNE Book 02 - post215

arthur.grafo (69)in #sfandf-fiction • 5 years ago

^{“If I do or not, it would not stop me from listening and trying to understand.”

“I suppose that is all I can ask for. Do you have any cigarettes, I feel I need one.”}

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1251

He got a packet for me and sitting in the shade I began our story. He listened as I talked and the hours went by. When I had finished he sat for a long time without speaking. He sighed. “You are either a madman or else you speak the truth. There is no lying, you would not tell me of your Cherine being a little girl, of your making love to your own daughters. Not as a lie.”

“If I speak the truth, what then?”

“Then I have done a great damage, for this is not something my strength can fight.”

“You must not blame yourself, you only spoke a truth I would like to think I would have seen myself sometime. I have never believed in hiding behind my finger.”

“I still think you are wrong. If I could speak to these Sparklers of yours, I would ask them to double their efforts and get all of them disconnected as soon as possible. I see something else also and it makes me angry.”

“With me?”

“Yes. You act and talk as if you are responsible for all these people being killed. How do you know they are dead? They may have killed a few, but do you think they would really kill thousands?”

“Yes. They have to. Anyone who knows of them, but can no longer be of them is a threat to them.”

“I think you are wrong. It may be true of a few at the top. The rest, what do they know? They would stay loyal for their rewards and will still be important to them. Good positions and money, they are enough for most people. It would be a stupid man who kills off his own army. It is different executing a few generals.”

1252

I could have kissed the man. He saw my face light up and he laughed. “You are really stupid. You flow from one mood to the other for the slightest reason. How could they survive so long with you as their leader?”

“I’ve wondered that myself.”

“I will not decide how I feel about your story until I meet your girls. Some of the names you mentioned, I know of them. I will act as if what you told me is only the truth. I swear I will make you pay if you lied. I will get off the ship with you, they might decide to use violence again. There I can be of help. A few things still puzzle me.”

“Only a few! Okay, tell me.”

“You said you told that girl in Italy to pass on the message you want them to stay in contact with you. Why?”

“So that they do not think I have returned home and attack them.”

“Then why have you not phoned your home? They must be worried. If your enemy traces the call they will know you are far away.”

“Shit. I keep forgetting how stupid I can be. I’d not even thought of it because of this being such an old ship. I just assumed there were no telephones. I forgot all ships have ship to shore phones.”

“That was in the old days. We are linked by satellite. We even have internet.”

“Dommi my love, are you all well?”

“Don’t you ‘my love’ me you bastard. How could you not phone us for so long? We have all been sick with worry.” She began to cry.

“I’m sorry love. I’m on a ship, I arrive in Mombasa in about two days. I’d forgotten I could phone from here.”

“You should not have said where you are Robert. They will find you again.”

“I want them to. Last thing I did in Italy is ask them to find a way for them to be able to contact me whenever they wish to. Otherwise they will think I’ve returned to you and they will attack.”

“They did attack, a number of times. Rob and your protector kept us all safe.”

“How are the kids, are they bearing up under the strain? Any nightmares or anything like that?”

“Some, but it is normal Roberto. It is not possible to go through something like this without being affected. The adults too. Did I tell you they all moved back in with us?”

“No. I’m glad. Dommi, has anyone shown any new talents?”

“Not that I can think of.”

“Then make it your priority. Go all out on that my love. I do not know what will come up, but one of you might just develop a gift that wins this war. Think my love, why are they so scared of us, we did not know of them, we had no interest in attacking them. I think they foresaw we would grow and our talents would become a danger to them.”

“They’ve all heard and agree with you. We will do all we can, I promise.”

“Cherine, I know you can hear me through Dommi. I had to make a decision without you here to help me. I have enlisted the help of a very good man. If anything happens to me and he comes to you, make him a Cherinian if you can.”

“What is his name?”

“Not now. He looks like a brute. Don’t worry, you will recognise him from what he knows of me, not of our story, the enemy knows that too, but what he knows of me as a person.”

1253

“We are glad to hear you are not on your own. What gifts does he have?”

“None, only that of friendship. What about Aganthi? Any news?”

“Nothing.”

“Damn! When I get hold of her I think I’ll give her a damn good hiding.”

“How can you speak like that Robert? She may be captured or even dead.”

“Not my flower girl. She is a survivor. If she had died she would be on our World or the Sparklers would have her.”

I chatted with a number of my girls, then with Alki and my mother and Rob. Last of all my Cherine came on. I thrilled at the sound of her voice. If the satellite had shorted from the love she was trying to send me I would not have been surprised, it was not built for so much power to go through it. I desperately wished I could feel it, even a tiny echo of it.

Mombasa had over the years become an extremely popular tourist spot. For large distances along the coast multi-million dollar hotels had sprung up. There was even a story doing the rounds about one of them. It involved somebody in the ‘non-existent’ Mafia. The Americans wanted him and the Italian government was willing to hand him over. The daughter of a well known politician in Kenya was approached. If her government did not allow extraditions to the USA, this Italian would built a hotel that would be the pride of Kenya and she would have a substantial share in it. The hotel was built and she got her share, but never made any money out of it as he was not interested in filling the hotel with guests. He mostly used it as his personal home. Whether the story was true or not, what is true is that crime soared, the government seemed unable to contain it and all those lovely hotels became white elephants. Thus it was that Kenyans found out that though pink elephants do not exist, it is very easy to create white elephants. The trouble with white elephants is that they frighten off further investments. As they say, one of the most timid creatures in the world is capital.

We arrived and I decided to save the captain a long walk and gave him his money. He was not too upset about Manolis leaving so we left together. It was in the middle of the day and the heat was unpleasant. I love that kind of heat if I am by the beach, sitting in the shade with something cold in my hand, but struggling through masses of people while trying to carry my things and watch out for pickpockets was not much fun. The sweat tends to run down the spine and make me very itchy. I was so used to being without my gifts that it was only after the worst of it was over that I recalled I could have asked the healer to help us. I had wanted to take the train to Nairobi, but as there had been attacks on the trains and there were a number of other problems, we ended up trying for a flight. To cut a long story short (all stories in Africa tend to grow long), we took a bus. With the terrible condition of the road, the fact that we were crowded in with livestock and the seats were wooden benches, we came out the other end almost hallucinating from exhaustion.

Enough of Nairobi was still there for my nostalgia to assert itself, but so much had gone to seed it was heartbreaking. We went to the hotel my father used to favour where they used to have a beautiful thorn tree in the centre of the coffee-bar patio. Now there is only a stump left and the few tables and chairs are of the cheapest plastic and in terrible condition.

We had to pay for the room in dollars and they were not cheap. It irritated me when I found a sign in the bathroom asking me not to use a new towel every day as they wish to reduce pollution of our planet. The little fridge bar was not stocked and when I complained they charged me the fridge bar prices plus a charge for room service. Nostalgia or not, I was out of there next morning - especially after being told the night before that the restaurant does not have any food. I looked at Nairobi, seeing nothing that spoke of the progressive attitude which had existed years before under Kenyatta. It was depressing and I wanted to leave as soon as possible. I could not help wondering whether the spider has any reasons to install operatives here. I almost felt safe because things were so bad.

I found out there was a flight to Dar-es-salaam that day and on impulse I booked us on it. When we arrived we were taken into a small room and told that we do not have cholera inoculations and the only way to enter is to have them done now - though for a fee it could be arranged that the certificates be given to us without needing to suffer the actual inoculations. I paid for both of us and when they gave us the certificates I mentioned, in Kiswahili, that I will be staying as the guest of the Minister of Finance (I’d read his name in a newspaper on the flight) and I would be certain to mention these gentlemen by name. Since Tanzania is not mentioned on any list worldwide as requiring cholera inoculations I will offer to inform the U.N. and other health authorities on behalf of the Tanzanian Government. I promised to make sure the Minister knows who his government should reward for the way they take care of the foreigners visiting their country. That sent them into a panic and our money was returned, but they forgot to take back the certificates. We were escorted through customs and left the airport hardly able to contain our laughter.

1254

“I do not think they would have believed you if you had not been able to speak their language.”

“I pretended to know more than I do. I have not spoken it since I was a small child. There used to be a Greek lady who had a small hotel in the centre of town. Let’s try there first.”

She was still there and gave us a room, though we had to share. It was interesting talking with her. She did not remember my family from Nairobi, but was friendly, especially when I spoke to her in Greek. She warned us not to expect any white person to invite us to their home. It is impossible to buy paint, light bulbs and so on - it is even difficult to buy toilet paper. Common things like aspirin, toothpaste, soap, they are only available on the black market. People are ashamed to invite visitors from abroad, they would rather pay to take us to a restaurant.

The next morning I hired a taxi to take us around town and to the beach. We got in and the door handles were missing. I looked how to close the door and saw the owner had fitted a sliding lock, the kind one often sees on gates. I was amused by his ingenuity. He turned the steering wheel and asked me to hold it. He got out and started to push. Manoli jumped out and told him to get back in and he push started us. I think he was laughing so much he hardly had the strength to push us.

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