“Oh boy, she sure is different from me!” We giggled, but we agreed with Cherine and privately sent her comments, like, ‘thank goodness’.
3321
Robbie asked, “May I borrow him?” and walked away with Robert. He had sensed that Cher may say more that will make it even more difficult for them to become a couple. He asked Rob, “Would you like to meet some friendly aliens?”
“How long will I be staying here?”
“As long as you want…but I’d say at least a few weeks. Robert, we are in a different reality, so we can return within minutes of leaving your reality.”
“Can I meet the aliens tomorrow? I don’t think I can handle much more right now - has Cherine met them?”
“Some of them. Look up.” He did. “Do you see those tiny sparkling lights, they are a species we call the Sparklers who live in the void.”
“How can they survive in the vacuum, how do they get the energy to stay alive?” Robbie enjoyed explaining and when they sat by the river, Agapi took them a tray with beers and fried halloumi and salad. Rob did not comment when she suddenly arrived and departed, it seems he is starting to think we can do anything we want to do, or else, maybe he thinks he is dreaming.
As Robbie was explaining about how we were attacked by other mutants, forcing us to grow and mature our thinking, Rob cut in with, “You do know that you are not real, don’t you?”
He was almost insulted at the way Robbie could not stop laughing, so I jumped to them and explained to him about Arthur and how he created us. It was too much for him to digest and Robbie put him to sleep and laid him out on the bed in a guest bedroom.
Since little Cher felt comfortable about the presence of the Anadir (slightly less so with the CherInguel, but she can sense what they are like and is trying to rid herself of her prejudice), the scientists joined us after our supper…the Anadir mostly to enjoy a few beers. I had been puzzling out a few ideas and thought this might be a good time to ask, since an astronomer was among them.
“We have seen that not only do the galaxies turn around themselves, so do clusters of galaxies turn, each around themselves, but also in the same manner as a group, though there seems to be small differences which mean that over great periods the appearance of each cluster changes, with galaxies within their cluster-sized orbit changing their position relative to each other.”
“It is so, Samantha, even with galaxies outside of clusters revolving around each other.”
“I was wondering, does the universe also revolve around itself? If it does, shouldn’t that cause all galaxies to revolve in the same direction? Actually, that was not my main question, what these thoughts caused me to wonder is, does the void also revolve? For instance, we know that normal space is also a part of the void, so it would make sense that the void revolves as the galaxies do, but, where galaxies or clusters revolve at different speeds to those of their neighbours, does the void, in their vicinity, get twisted, affecting the energy streams of the void?”
Diana asked, “If Sam is right, does it mean that the rate at which universes revolve also depend on their size, the smaller ones revolving faster?”
Little Cher asked Cherine, in a whisper, “Does Samantha know a lot about the stars?”
Cherine shook her head. “No, Sam knows very little about anything, which would make her a boring person, but luckily she has the gift of thinking up interesting questions.” Our loves laughed, knowing I will be determined to get my own back on Cherine once we are alone in our bedroom. I’m not certain I should forgive Robbie for grinning like that, though I could sense him trying to think of ways of finding out whether the void does revolve around itself - which then poses another interesting question that I cannot truly visualise - if it does revolve, how does something of infinite size manage to do so?
A few of the scientists found my questions interesting and decided to try to find out the truth - at least with regard to the normal universe. Of course I then had another question, but was willing to forego asking it, but Robbie sensed me and insisted I ask.
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“If the entire universe does revolve, then it suggests that alternate-reality universes also revolve. Does that mean that the alternate Earths are at times on the opposite side of the universe…compared to the one we are in? If so, does it mean that if we jump to a period set millions of years in the past or future, the jump will be much bigger or smaller? Also, we have seen that time is not the same in all the realities, so maybe the rate at which alter realities evolve differs? Could it be that a reality breaks off and spins at a slightly faster speed, say an entire revolution only takes a tenth of a second less, but it also splits off, with that reality also spinning slightly faster, say another tenth of a second, so that over billions or trillions of such split-offs, the difference grows to a very big number…say the last one now spins at double the speed, how would that affect the galaxies and even planets within that reality?”
An Inguel scientist sighed. “I should have known, when you asked your first question, that it would not stop there, that you would complicate it so that we all feel compelled to find an answer.”
Robbie suggested, “What if we create a stasis field and place it in the void of an alternate reality a hundred million years in the past and after returning here we jump back to the equivalent of the time here. If the stasis field is no longer at the same distance from Earth…oh. It would not prove much, for either it could mean the void did not revolve but normal space did, or that they revolve at difference speeds…”
“…or even in opposite directions,” Jade added, “since we are told that anything is possible in alternate realities.”
Robbie decided to leave the solving of my questions to the scientists, to which Cassie responded, “Not fair! They have so many questions of their own to solve and now you want them to solve questions Samantha thinks up - you know that at the rate Sam thinks up questions, not even an extra million scientists could keep up with her.” So, okay, she got the tick on our board, probably by the scientists also, if their laughter is any indication, but I still feel I owe her one.
It has taken weeks, but at last the two of them are beginning to respond in the way we had hoped. He is beginning to sense how special our Cherine is, despite her apparent childish age, and she, in turn, is beginning to sense Robbie more deeply than she did earlier on, so that she is beginning to respect him and think of him as her equal. We had not considered that aspect, but we now sense that because her Robert has no gifts, she thinks of him as not being worthy of her love. I wonder why our Cherine never felt that way - maybe it was because her father had inadvertently led her to thinking of herself as a freak? I wonder, if she has such an inflated sense of worth, how did she make friends of Normals?
We are carefully monitoring them, for we do not want either of them to fall in love with our Robbie or Cherine, but it is not only love we must watch out for. For instance, it is also likely that Cherine will grow to esteem all the good qualities of our Robbie to the point where she begins to feel she is not worthy of him - by implication, she is not worthy of the potential of her Robert? I am still trying to work out what the effect would be, if that happens, as it could be a positive development, if it opens her to the possibilities of her Robert growing to a similar stature as our Robbie if she devotes herself to helping him. We’ll have to exert our influence and efforts into leading them to the discovery that they both will grow if they allow themselves to trust and love each other.
The two of them have adjusted to seeing a variety of aliens and have grown to like a number of them, so they did not pay much attention when a group of them, representatives of the various species, asked to speak to Robbie, Dommi and Cherine in privacy.
We respected their privacy, so we were just as surprised as our two guests when Robbie announced that we must leave immediately for another reality. He added that a number of aliens will stay on Earth, in appearance as being of our species, so as to watch over Robert and Cherine and to help them visit each other.
The Anadir are more sensitive to those emotions us, of Earth, especially the Normals, try to keep hidden, so they helped break our guests out of their unease and worried state by pretending to take on the form they will adopt on Earth. They made themselves look very odd and funny and once Cherine was laughing uncontrollably, Robert joined her, apologising as he did so for insulting them. When he saw they are amused, he stopped apologising and allowed himself to enjoy the moment.
Maria has extended her range of cooking, including many Italian and French recipes, but her most popular are still her grilled lamb chops, fried potatoes and the huge plates of Greek salad. Almost at every meal, little Cherine gets a large helping of grilled halloumi and it seems she can never have enough. We had a special dinner and the mood was kept light and happy, without any jokes or slapstick comedy.
They each had to get a big hug from each of us and then Freddie jumped back to their reality. Each was returned within twenty minutes of their departure and then we sat in Freddie, watching them. Robbie admitted he had made up the story of needing to leave, as the group who had met with him had asked to be allowed to help make them a Teller and Cherinian family.
3323
At first, they only appeared for keeping them company. Those visiting Cherine projected themselves as girls of about Cherine’s age, so her parents did not object to them sitting in her bedroom for hours. They could be heard giggling and talking and whenever Marian checked, she would find that Cherine has done her homework, without any errors or sloppy mistakes. She was pleased to see her daughter making new friends and went out of her way to make the visitors feel welcome.
Some of the giggling was about her Robert, though they never said anything to denigrate him, the sole intention being to affect the way she thinks of him and so as to make her feel she misses his company. No Cherine gets sentimental, but she did find images of him floating in her mind at the oddest moments, even just as she is about to drift off to sleep, but she accepted them as being natural.
We were warned to keep watch on the night that she had her first sensuous dream of her Robert. She woke up with her hands cupping herself as she experienced her first orgasm. During the peak of her intense feelings, the mental image of Robert remained with her and it even felt as if he is watching and sharing from her. It shook her.
Those who were meant to be the companions of Robert did not have it quite as easy. Robert had decided he needs to work as many hours overtime as he can so as to have more money. He was expecting the aliens to take him to England and he felt that if he is to take Cherine for a meal or even a cold drink, it is bound to be far more expensive than it is in Nairobi, but he does not know by how much. He need not have worried, since our friends intend taking them to Athens, where everything is much cheaper than in Nairobi. At that time, in their reality, Greece has few tourists - with the result that all the cold drinks and foods are ‘more’ Greek and cheap.
At this time of the year, winter, Kefalari is very quiet, only a few elderly people sitting in the few coffee shops. Kolonaki is still the place where the young gather, so it was totally boring for Robert and Cherine. Their companions soon realised their error and took them to Kolonaki. What happened nearly was funny - and if it had been, it would have damaged the growing closeness between Robert and Cherine. If it had happened three months ago, Robert would have reacted incorrectly. Their alien companions, thinking it would be a good idea to give them some time alone, left them and went for a long walk.
Of course, it now became obvious that Robert and Cherine are on their own, so there were many curious glances. The younger Robert of a few months ago might have become embarrassed, but he now felt comfortable with Cherine and wondered what it is like for her.
“You can sense them?” She nodded. “Are they just curious, or…” he gave a grin, “are they scandalised?”
“Mostly curious.”
“Oh.” He pulled a face, exaggerating. “Do you want to scandalise them? Do you reckon you can run fast enough afterwards?” She burst out laughing and Robert saw the look in her eyes and he half fell in love with her. He shook his head. “You have a naughty spirit.”
“Me?! You are the one with the bad ideas!”
“Bad? I only have good ideas!”
She realised he is playing with the words (she knows our Robbie well enough to understand that), so she responded with a cheeky air, “Yeah? Are you saying Gracie was a good idea?”
He blushed and sensing him, she quickly apologised, adding, “I was only trying to tease you - like Cherine teases her Robert.”
His heart tried to tenderly wrap itself around her and he answered, “I wish I could feel them as you do, just from watching them I get the feeling that their love must be like a miracle.”
Cherine forgot to consider how he would feel and replied by asking, “I wonder whether he loves her because she loves having sex with him so much?” Robert blushed and looked around to check that nobody had heard, but she continued, as if unaware of his feelings, “Does it make you not like me because I don’t want to have sex with you?”
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We know that the subject makes him feel uncomfortable, for he still thinks it is perverted of Robbie to love us that way, but he surprised us, “I wonder why I am so different from him. Do you think that it is just because of the way you feel or is it also because I am different?”
“You mean, because my daddy did not die?”
“Do you mean she only wanted him because of that? But that is terrible, it means he took advantage of her need, not just of her young age.”
“I have shared from them Robert, he did not take advantage of her in any way - maybe she took advantage of his softness - you did not really understand their telling, did you?”
“They tell me I will only fully understand once you open my mind.”
With a look of dismay, she said, “I don’t know how to do that.”
“Don’t worry about it; if it is meant to happen, it will. If not, then it won’t.”
She remained quiet for a minute or so. “It is not nice being able to share everyone’s feelings.”
“I’ve been thinking it must be difficult for you. To tell you the truth, I don’t think I would be strong enough, like you. I might be older than you Cherine, but I am softer - so I guess it means I am also weaker.”
She nodded. “Yes, you are softer - but I don’t think you are weak.”
I should mention that this time we have avoided even hinting at the need for them to love each other so that they can become immortals - it was even left out of the telling, though it should be obvious if they give it any thought. We want to see if it will happen without that incentive pressuring them, since every Robert tends to have negative reactions towards being pressurised.
He leant forward, “Are you tempted when you see how powerful being together has made them?”
“I’m more tempted by the idea of having our own Dommi - not Samantha though, she scares me, I bet she would try to boss me around.” The idiot laughed!
“To tell you the truth, I’m more scared of Goldi - I would never be able to refuse her anything.” Cherine slightly frowned. He quickly added, “Not that I could ever refuse you anything.”
She was out for revenge, I guess. “Does that mean you are willing to have sex with me? Should we get a hotel room?”
He paled, but even she felt how he responded physically - though she must have also felt how devastated he was by his reaction. Still feeling a bit nasty, she laughed at him, thus making it a bit obvious she had sensed him. He tried hard to shut off all his feelings.
“Perhaps it is time they take us home…it was nice spending the afternoon with you.”
Our friends returned to Freddie and asked for a drink as they sat with us. “It seems we messed it up, not that we can understand why…or what happened.”
Dommi smiled. “Don’t worry, there are bound to be some downs with the ups. Robert will soon face himself more honestly and stop blaming Cherine for his own feelings. The problem is Cherine, she is enjoying teasing and manipulating him, but she is not attracted to him - she still thinks of him as being too old for her.”
Coral grinned. “What if we make him a baby next time they spend the day together?”
Dommi shook her head. “She’ll enjoy it, but it won’t change the way she thinks of him.”
“I know!” Tina said, “Why don’t we let Samantha take over?”
I just gave her a frosty look. “Not a chance. Anyway, in this reality everything is bound to take a turn for the worse every time we interfere. Let them work it out.”
3325
We talked to their alien companions, explaining why they must not make it so obvious that they are trying to be matchmakers. They then took them places and tried to see to it that Cherine enjoys herself, but stopped trying to throw them at each other. They even spent more time with them and they told us that they like this Robert more than they had expected to. As for Cherine, they say she feels too much like a Normal little girl, despite her gifts.
Dommi nodded in agreement. “She has not suffered the loss of her father - and the guilt. Cherine, my love,” she carried on, so as to prevent her speaking, “I would like for us to try to help them without making her suffer. Seeing the alternate Arthur walk step by step towards the death chamber during each of our attempts to save him has provided me with all the suffering my empathy can stand.”
Coral agreed and then caught us all by surprise, “I am willing to make a small sacrifice to help her, if you all think it is a good idea. I should go to visit her and then you should disappear. It means you must really be gone so that I am a Normal, or else it will be obvious it is a trick.” She tilted her head, as if listening to someone and then continued, “I’ve been a Cherinian for too long and since I was a baby, so maybe Cherine better help block me off. I want the keyword that unblocks me, just in case it becomes necessary. Take Robert with you and stay away for three years - my time. When you return she will be three years older, maybe making it easier for both of them to love each other.” She looked at Robbie. “It will be so difficult to be apart from you for so long; will you be able to bear it my husband?”
He knows that what often starts as game-playing by us, becomes very serious if he does not react correctly, so he kept his eyes filled with concern as he nodded seriously, “I will have to, my sweet butterfly, my most precious Chinese work of art.”
“Taiwan!” Recently, just before we departed from our Earth, many in Taiwan have been arguing that they should re-unite with their motherland, China, with the result that many have become patriotic Taiwanese - Coral surprising us by becoming one of them.
Robbie nodded. “Before we do, I better earn us some real money of this reality, I don’t want you to have to rely on what would be considered counterfeit pounds.”
Robbie reminded her, “For us, only days will have passed, for Robert must not think of himself as having aged three years.” In a way it is a pity, but he is right.
Cherine demanded, “We must stay away at least two months and we must let him understand that his Cherine and our Coral will be at risk as they will be Normals and could get hurt or killed.”
Rosie asked her mum, “Do you think it would help open his heart to her if they are killed?”
Cherine replied, “As you heard Dommi say, we are going to try to help them without making them suffer. Why, do you have a plan?” We all laughed at Cherine and Rosie admitted she does not.
Robert is not stupid and immediately understood what we intend. He did not object, but cynically felt certain we will fail. Luckily it is not necessary that Cher understands why we are leaving, or why her Robert is coming with us, so she accepted our explanations at face value - which was polite of her, since she must have sensed that we are trying to control our emoting. Part of the reason she accepted so easily, without too many questions, was because of her being overjoyed that we are not leaving her alone. Coral explained to her that as an adult, she will rent an apartment somewhere between her home and school, but that when she visits her, she will come as a child - which means she will have to keep her healer, which is a good idea anyway.
As we said our goodbyes, we were genuinely sad, for the Cherine we know now will no longer exist. She will be about three years older and there is a big difference between a child of eight and eleven years. We are losing out on the last years of her childhood and despite knowing we are wrong to feel the way we do, we stared at Robert with wonder, amazed that he can bear to lose such an important chunk of her childhood. I guess the day will come when he will feel it more keenly.
Although Robert was excited and slightly awed at being in an alternate reality, the keen edge of his feeling were just slightly dulled by it not being his first time - plus it is a sort of vague fact, since no changes can be seen or felt from inside Freddie. He asked Robbie, “Are we going to wait here for the two months?”
Cheekily, Latreia asked him, “Why? Are you bored?”
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He laughed and waved an arm around, indicating all of Freddie. “Bored with all of this impossible world(?)…or bored by having so many beautiful girls for company? Not bored, Latreia, just curious as to what is intended.”
Laura did not let him off the hook. “We are taking this trip because you do not find little girls interesting…uh, titillating, so your last comment was not true, was it?” He flushed and she continued, before he could try to think up an answer. “What you really mean is that there is so much for you to see and learn about how other realities are different, that it would be criminal to wait here?”
Robbie said, “Laura love, I don’t really want to leave here, anyway, we are rather limited as to where we can go, and visiting a new reality without our love, it would not be fair to her.”
Cherine shook her head, disagreeing. “Coral is having her own experiences, with most of us envying her, so there is nothing wrong in our having a new experience - as we’ll share with her, she’ll share her memories with us. Maybe Lynda could find us a reality which has no Robert and Cherine so that we don’t get caught up in trying to make them fall in love with each other?”
Lynda said, exciting all of us, “It would be easier looking for a reality where they already love each other.” Happily we all backed her and Cherine and Robbie agreed.
When Lynda opened her eyes and sent images to Freddie, there was a gleam to her eyes that promised this reality is to be, at the least, interesting for us.
We arrived in the void, as usual, and we saw that Lynda had timed it so that we arrived at the time the Sparklers are arriving. Sparklers from within Freddie rushed out to greet them, while Robbie searched for the Anadir. They are close to where ours had waited, but there are less of them. For a moment Robbie hesitated, thinking we should probably wait to greet the local Solomon, who we are certain is being created, but then empathy changed his mind - the Anadir must be terrified by the arrival of Freddie and the Sparklers, we must first help calm them. He called the Anadir and creating a transporter they can control, he sent them to visit their alternates. We asked both species to arrange that the place where their alternates meet each other be in Freddie.
Claudia called to us, “Robert, we must be quick, the local Robert and Cherine should be present at their first meeting.”
Robbie quickly created a bubble of energy large enough to fit all of us, plus Marian, Alki and their family, and we were transferred to normal space. From there, Cherine felt for her alternate and we jumped to her.
It was very rude of us - and showed a certain callow lack of empathy. Having more than sixty people you don’t know (or, at least, that you did not know they really exist) suddenly arrive unannounced in your home, is startling. Luckily their Cherine is, by far, the strongest of them, and she instantly sensed and shared from our Cherine and reassured her family.
We were interested to see that we have arrived in the previous home of our Alki. This suggested their story must be fairly similar to ours, to this point. We waited for our Cherine to speak first.
“We’ll explain about alternate realities as soon as we have time, first I need to know, Cherine, have you been to the void? Are you able to go to yours?”
“The void? Alternates?”
“Share from my mind, it is much quicker.” We waited, none of them trying to talk as they sensed their Cherine learning from ours.
She turned to her Robert, her face and eyes alight. “They’ll be able to help you!”
He stared at her and then asked our Robbie, “You are able to open your mind to your Cherine?”
“Yes.”
“Jesus!” He swirled around and picking up his Cherine he crushed her to him.
Our Cherine asked the rest of them, “Will you trust us, we need to urgently return to the void, the Sparklers and Anadir are going to be arriving soon and we must be there.”
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“Pappou,” their Cherine said, “It is okay.”
Alki said, his eyes still showing his distrust of our Alki, “Then we will come with, since our Cherine asks it of us.”
Robbie, with us trying to help, reached out and we jumped directly into Freddie - the bubble of energy waiting in space will dissolve within a day and is no risk to anyone.
The others must have realised we would need a while to settle our alternates, or else they needed more time than we’d imagined, but we had a few hours on our own, which helped settle our visitors. The first Robert we’d brought with will be referred to as Rob, for now. None of us said anything, but I think we were more upset about the absence of their Wendy than by the problem their Robert has in opening his mind. Timewise, we think, they should have had their Wendy, so it might mean she is dead by now.
They are made up of: Cherine, Robert, Dominique, Alki and Marian (the two of them are not a couple yet, but are already growing to love each other). It does not make sense to me, how could they have drawn their Dominique in without their Robert having any psychic abilities? Of course we did not ask any questions, allowing them to first quiz us.
Robert asked, “This is not a planet - is it some kind of space-station? What about the governments of Earth, can they see you?”
“We are not in space…not what you would think of as space. It might help to think of it as a different dimension.”
“I must admit I have never been interested in such matters - or most kinds of science. Can you describe for me what is meant in this instance by the word ‘dimension’?”
Robbie stared back at him with a sort of bemused look, but his efforts to find an answer from us failed, so he was forced to reply, “I’d never asked myself the question before. I read about how we live in a three dimensional reality, which seemed easy to understand, then read about the possibility of there being a two dimensional reality and then I read about eastern religions which describe a number of dimensions that our souls can travel through. We’ve been using the word rather loosely ever since.
I guess we could say that when we speak of dimensions and are not speaking of the strict meaning, for instance, one of three coordinates that determines a position in space, but are alluding to different planes of existence, with their own rules which in part define them, I’m using the word without having a scientific meaning or definition for what I’m describing…”
Robert nodded, as if he had understood Robbie's ponderous gobbledegook - which was obviously not true, but it was generous of him. He then asked, “You spoke of the possibility of a reality with only two dimensions, is it truly possible, and if yes, is a one dimension reality possible…and up to how many dimensions is it possible for realities to have? Oh, by the way, is it possible to have a two-dimensional reality within our three dimensional reality?”
Jade dramatically struck her forehead and exclaimed, “God! Now I know what went wrong and why he can’t open his mind to his Cherine! He does not have the soul of a Robert; by accident the soul of the local Samantha must have entered his body!” I’ll confess, not only did everyone else love her humour, so did I. I gave her a big tick (though not the kind that bit Dommi on her bum, since none are available in Freddie). 
Goldi reminded Robbie that Time is also considered a dimension, which served to confuse Robert even further, but she did it so sweetly that her explanation enchanted him while he barely registered the fact she was making it more complex for him without really providing any explanations.
Having their Alki and Marian with ensured we were kinder to their Robert, but Robbie played a dirty trick on Rob. After we had a meal, he asked our loves for another telling, up to my birth and our war with the Sparklers, including the explanation of what their true intentions had been. He then asked Rob to answer any questions Robert has and to explain why it is so important he opens his mind to his Cherine and then excused himself and us, telling them it is time us girls do our studies.
The next day we realised that our Alki had decided it is up to him to break down the wall of suspicion the local Alki feels for him, so they took a walk, talked, returned and sat at a table by themselves and continued talking. When our Alki called his Marian and all his kids to join them, we knew they are now both comfortable with each other. Alki excused himself and came to Robbie.
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“He has the same abilities I have, yet he did not extend himself commercially to the same degree I did. He told me he never had an interest in acquiring companies outside of Greece, though he has deposits in Switzerland. I do not understand this blindness of his, but I accept it is how he is.”
Robbie grinned. “Perhaps he needed to meet you?” Pappou frowned at him, but Robbie continued, “I presume Hettie has not attacked, and even if we interfere and she does not, we cannot be here to hold their hand - Alki must grow to be as wealthy and influential as he can for the day their planet officially meet us and our alien friends.”
Alki nodded, grabbed a beer and some halloumi and returned to the other Alki. He soon took him off on another long walk.
Since we did not jump to yet another reality, it meant the locals had to be returned to their homes each day and collected once their working day is over - with our Alki going with so as to advise their Alki on new acquisitions. As with all Terrans till now, they are comfortable with the Anadir and Solomon, but slightly less with the Inguel and a few of the other species. It took a few days, but finally we managed to convince their Dominique that their Nicko and her parents should be told about us - and them. Nervously she asked Dommi to help, but she asked Wendy to handle them. She teased Dominique, telling her that Wendy only has to sing to them and they’ll eagerly open their hearts to her Cherine and Robert.
Cherine helped their Cherine by sharing with her and helping her grow her gifts, and then she took her within her mind and they entered the mind of her Robert. He soon felt them and the delight on his face as he shared with his Cherine was a beautiful sight for all of us.
Afterwards, Cherine told us and them, “Now he will find it easier to grow. His mind was blocked because he had a subconscious fear that if she is able to sense his inner mind, she will not like him.”
Robbie asked, “How come I was not blocked for the same reason - I had the same fears.”
Dommi did not grin, as we all did, when she told him, “Your way was worse; you just did your best to make our lives hell for the first few years, punishing us for your own feared shortcomings!” The two Roberts had seen it in the telling, so they also grinned, maybe because they were relieved that he also has been just as big an idiot as them.
Nicko was frightened, but also curious. We already knew that he and Robert are friends, but they have never been as close as our Robbie and Nicko. Of course we had to prove everything his Robert claimed about us at least five times over before he accepted what he has been told. Once he did so, he became eager to become a Cherinian and to acquire the gifts. His parents are more like the parents of our Dommi and after recovering from the shock, they accepted all the changes without them going overboard in making changes to their lives. Having shared how our Elia and Claire adopted a little girl, they initiated a plan of their own for adopting a child from a local orphanage.
Nothing was forced on the local Robert; neither by us nor by his own Cherine. She has shown she is mature and is waiting for his own need to be one with her, to help him break free of his fears. I think that her attitude, more than anything else, helped him confront his little devils and he spoke to her of all that he felt shamed him, thus leaving him without any secrets that opening his mind would have potentially caused him embarrassment. We know most of what he thought of as his secrets and nothing was really terrible - heck, Arthur had much worse secrets which he entrusted us with and none of us condemned him for any of them…mostly we just accepted that having the advantage of being Cherinians removes from us the right to condemn much, most, of what Normals do or think; especially when they show they recognise their weakness that caused the shameful deed or thought.
Robbie grew impatient and taking the local Robert with him, he took him to the void (both of them as souls) so as to maximise the effect he has on Robert. Once he sensed Robert is strong enough, his Cherine was taken to them and then, after they had merged and been forced apart, their Dominique joined them. Robbie then told them that it is time they help their own Wendy. The three of them grew over-excited, so Robbie had to wait for them to calm down.
Our first blaring hint that life for this Wendy has been very different came from the discovery that the family have never lived at any of the addresses we have and the father has not worked for the same shipping company. Robbie had to go further back in time to the date the parents were married. He guessed right; they were married on the same date and at the same registry.
3329
“Richard, her father, met an old friend of his deceased father, who has a farm in Australia and he offered him a job. Sylvia, who disliked the idea of spending most of her life as a grass widow, as most wives of mariners are, pleaded and he accepted the job. This is going to cost us quite a bit of real time, as we have no idea where in Australia he is about to go to, so we will have to wait and follow them. Then we can jump forward to a date closer to the birth of Wendy.”
Richard has not been a good husband, for he has been more eager to become a part of the male group working on the farm - and neighbouring farms. It means he acts tough and drinks far too much, even insulting her in front of his ‘mates’. We cheated and checked and sensed he does not give a damn about any of his companions - male, or those few females he has been with; to him they are only part of what he needs to disguise his true self from the society he senses he must be a part of for his own safety.
During this time he made the life of Sylvia unpleasant, but he did not torture her. Then he learnt that she is pregnant and he changed. It is a wonder that there was no miscarriage, for he beat her quite badly a number of times. I found it sickening that his companions knew about it, but accepted it as normal!
The local Robert and Cherine, even their Dominique, as many Cherinians of those realities we know, have grown up knowing (theoretically) of men who are violent towards their wives, but they had never experienced what it is like. It is interesting that those with us more or less have had to adapt in ways that are similar to the ways we had to adapt when we first experienced such bastards. Finally, after some particularly violent episodes, where they sensed tiny foetus Wendy also being physically hurt, the two girls were forced to hide within the soul of their Robert so that his warm and protective presence helps them survive without losing control - as Robbie demanded of them.
It seems there is such a thing as fate or destiny which applies to each soul, for Richard grew ill and learnt from a visit to the local clinic, that he has contracted herpes and Aids from one of the local prostitutes. He became afraid for a short time, but then his rage overcame him and he publicly attacked the woman who had infected him. She ended up in hospital and he ended up in prison. Though he caused the woman some severe damage, we could not believe it when he was only sentenced to six months in jail. As he had spent nearly two months awaiting trial, he only stayed in prison for another few weeks and was let out on probation.
Us girls felt very sorry for the local Tellers, for we knew that only now would begin the real suffering of Sylvia and Wendy, but there was nothing we could do to insulate them from their own gift of empathy.
It was as bad as anticipated and those few months did more to change the new Teller family than we had managed to do for them, so that they will return to their bodies as fully committed Cherinians. We too have no charm to protect us from the suffering of their Wendy and her mother, so I suppose it changed us too, though it is not as obvious; as no creature of empathy can remain untouched by such cruelty and suffering. What also made it more difficult for us to bear was the presence of our Wendy and Candy, though their empathy was mostly extended to their mother. How their hearts wept for her.
Robbie kept a constant watch on the mind of little Wendy, not wanting to allow or protract her suffering by one minute. As he felt her gift grow and the moment he sensed she is now ready for her Teller family, he grabbed Richard and took him to our prison colony. The other ‘inmates’ eyed Richard cynically, for they have known a couple of Richards and know he will not last long. Robbie made no comment, in a hurry to return to Wendy and her mother.
Physically, Wendy is not in as bad a condition as our Wendy was, and she is younger by a few years, but her mind has been scarred and shattered, so we took Sylvia with us to Freddie and Robert and Cherine took Wendy home with them. We could sense the other Cherinians struggling to stay away so as to give their Wendy time to bond to their Robert and Cherine, so the moment we sensed they will no longer be interfering with the process, we let them know they can visit.
However much we may suffer as souls and try to help each other with love motes, there is a different kind of catharsis that comes from weeping, so we stayed at home for a day, giving many of us the time to weep and slightly gentle the memories we had just experienced, while also taking turns to help heal Sylvia. Only then did our hearts open enough for us to welcome our closest and dearest.
We are happy that Coral missed sharing these experiences, for sharing them from us afterwards will not be as traumatic, but I can’t help wishing that some of us, like Goldi and tender-hearted Tina could have also been spared.
3330
When we returned for our first visit to the taverna, Robbie went over to Robert (from Nairobi). “You need to talk with me?”
“Yes.” Robbie touched his shoulder and coming to his feet, the two of them walked away.
We respected their privacy, but the emoting of Robbie was all the clue we needed to realise that Robert has also opened his heart and is ready for his Cherine. We did not show our amusement when Robert asked Robbie to return him within months of our departure, as he does not want his Cherine to grow up by a year or two without him being present. We tried reminding him that his Cherine does need to mature, at least to the point where she can see him as a man and not just as an ‘older’ man. He insisted and told us he will wait for her to be ready, but he needs to be with her.
Despite his request, we did not leave immediately. We had suffered with Wendy and Sylvia and we needed to sense both of them healed and happy - or at least the strong potential of it. We only kept Sylvia with us for four days, for then the local Cherinians asked for her, having decided she is one of them and their responsibility. They have also, during this time, brought in some of our closest friends, such as Savva and his wife, Tasso and Stella, the friend of Alki, professor Themi - and the important one, for their Dominique, her friend and my alternate mother, Natalie. In this reality Natalie does not have the same gifts, but her heart is just as warm and by being linked the important gifts have blossomed in her. She was fascinated by my story and I could sense her struggling to adjust to the idea of having a daughter like me - which is not likely to happen...but I’m certain that any child she and Themi have will be special. One more point of interest; at this time it looks as if Sylvia might end up becoming part of the Themi and Natalie family. I hope not, as they might, then, not draw in the mother of their Robert, once he brings her to them. Meeting our Rose, through our memories (remember, she is still on the mountain, at the wedding reception), has softened the local Robert and he will bring her as soon as he feels his own little family are now a full family, totally devoted to each other.
“Before we leave, Robert, we must first meet with Hettie and Eddie. I don’t want to risk them attacking the local Robert, he is not strong enough yet for dealing with her as an enemy. Tell me,” he grinned as he asked, “do you think I should not interfere and allow yours to attack you?”
He played along with a grin and shrug. “Not a problem, all I have to do is go to Dar and find Eddie. He’ll be so glad to meet me and be so enchanted by my Cherine that he’ll prevent Hettie attacking us.”
Robbie chuckled. “Not necessarily; Hettie has not been the aggressor in all realities. Yours might be one of those where Eddie is the bad guy.”
“Is he likely to try and hurt Cherine?”
“He will sense the power comes from her, so yes, he will. You’ll have to grow quickly if you want him to concentrate on you.” Our Cherine gave him a tick for grabbing the opportunity, so blatantly, for providing Robert with the incentive to let go any reservations he has - she thinks his protective instincts will also be very strong - as it is with most of the Roberts we have met.
First we had to deal with the Eddie and Hettie of this reality, so Robbie grabbed the opportunity and took the local Robert and Cherine to the house of Dimitri. Another family are living in the house. When Robbie asked if they know where Dimitri is, they only looked blankly at him.
It turns out that this Dimitri did not fight when they nationalised his farm. We traced him to Greece. We saw that he has a small farm in a village and seems to have settled quite happily, wasting most of his hours at the local kafeneion.
“Good afternoon, Dimitri. Or should I ask, habari ngani?”
“Ahh, you are from Africa? Mouzouri sana, karibou.” He gestured for Robbie to sit. “Coffee? Metrio?”
Robbie grabbed a neighbouring chair so as to sprawl in the Greek way across two chairs. “So, you are the first Dimitri I have met who did not fight. I guess you are not as xerokefalos (stupidly stubborn).”
“As who? What do you mean by saying I am the first? There are others?”
“An infinite number of them.”
I hope you enjoy reading this story of fantasy, adventure and love - and should some of it be true for our reality, I hope you will love our Cherine.
Αλέξανδρος Ζήνον Ευσταθίου
(Alexander Zenon Eustace)30th November, 2019
- posted: 30th November, 2019
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