Dominique felt nervous seeing herself and Robert as the only adults with three children. She kept on looking for danger. Seeing only zebra and buck soon calmed her down - she did not know that where the food is, a hunter is also bound to be around. I gave them a couple of hours of enjoying themselves and had the lion wait for a moment when she was about ten steps away from the others. I warned Robert and sent the lion in.
2011
When it appeared before her and roared, she froze and then turned to run, the mistake that gets you killed. As she looked back and saw it race after her, Robert arrived, screaming at Dominique to get the kids and jump. He kicked out, catching the poor beast on the jaw. It stopped, stunned for a moment, and turned on him in a fury. I quickly deadened most of his pain centres, but even then he screamed as it lashed out and raked him with it’s claws. They ripped through his abdomen. Robert fell down, fast fading and I made it bite his leg, tossing him around as they all stood watching in terror. It dropped his leg and bit his arm, bones audibly being crunched.
I made what was an unconscious Robert turn his head and scream, “Dominique love, get away. Save the kids and yourself.” Then I let his head fall, showing he is unconscious.
Their Cherine found herself running to her Robert screaming and the lion looked up, paused a moment and then walked away, flicking his tail. We had not told Cherine or Pamela what was about to happen and she could not understand why her healer and other gifts were not working. Dominique and my Cherine arrived by his side and Dominique stared down at his mutilated body in horror. She saw him open his eyes and misted as they were with his pain she saw his love as he managed to croak. “Look after them for me love.”
I decided I had hammed it up enough, it was now up to them. His Cherine and Pamela were sobbing their hearts out and Dominique could not help gathering them both within her arms as they sobbed against her. She looked down at poor Robert and my Cherine was ready. She struck and she struck hard, calling and building on every slight feeling of love she has ever felt for Robert, building it as if wanting to create a golden circle of love. Her eyes streaming, she was crushed by her discovery that she loves him, only to have also lost him.
“We have to get him back to our world. I’m jumping to Dr Maria, touch me if you want to all come with.”
Cherine’s healer and mine were already inside him repairing the damage. I was in his mind soothing him and told him it has been a success.
*It was worth it then. God, but it hurt!*
*Stop being a sissy, I have deadened over seventy percent of your pain.*
*You fucking pervert, why are you letting me feel any pain!?*
*Cherine and Pamela will sense it if I do you idiot. They also have to love Dominique.*
Pervert indeed! I should have let him feel it all for a second - that would have shut him up.
Soon as they arrived back, Cherine and Pamela ran to me in desperation. They explained what happened, that they could not use their healers.
“Probably the same thing that happened to me when I was on that world. Must be something about that world. Don’t worry, your gifts will return in two to three days. Cherine, Dr Maria and I will do our best for him.”
We had to leave our doctor friend in the dark too. We kept him battling, at a point making it look as if he was dying. Dominique was tireless, grieving, but giving love to the two children with all her heart. Cherine and I monitored them and felt their love for her grow.
We had made certain his critical injuries would not kill his body and removed all poisoning. Now we were able to speed up his repairs and they watched with unbelieving joy as his wounds closed up. When he opened his eyes he was met by three females sobbing their hearts out. Cherine and I walked out.
We let the gifts gradually return to the two and when Robert had his first kiss from his Dominique we sensed their circle expand to include Dominique. The cry of joy by Robert was heard throughout the whole clinic.
2012
I stood with head bowed, on the one side beset by four hearts beating with joy and love and on the other side feeling Petsas. I went to Maria’s office with a sudden determination, grabbed the key and went to him.
“Right. Let’s get it over with.”
“Robert, what are you going to do?”
“I’m going in. Either I cure him or let him have peace. This has gone on long enough Cherine.”
“You are going to confront him in his own mind!? Are you crazy? Robert, that is his world, he could really kill you in there.” Her face was white with fear and we sensed the other girls jumping to us.
“I have to chance it my love.”
As the girls arrived, so did Alki and Marian and others. Even Robert and his three girls came out, bewildered by what they sensed. Sobbing Cherine told them what I intended.
“Please Roberto, son, please wait. Do not do this. If it frightens Cherine so much you must not do it.”
“I cannot leave him like this. Here, feel it.” I sent on his terror. They blanched, but stayed resolute. They did not want me going in. Henry appeared. When they told him he came to me.
“Robert, I’ve met him another three times. I told him you were off world somewhere and he has to wait. Maybe I can do it for you.”
“Thanks Henry, but I do my own dirty work.”
“You proud arsehole!”
“Cherine love, calling me names won’t help. Can you think of any other alternative?”
“Actually I can Robert.”
“Meli, this better be good.”
“Henry, you go in and tell him you know where Robert is. Take him to my desert world. I’ll make sure there are no storms where you are Robert. Meet him there, at least he can’t kill you there.”
“Meli, I was short with you. I’m sorry. Henry, do you think you can get him to come with you?”
“I think so.”
“Right, then first lie down somewhere and go to the desert world. Once you know it, then it will be easier for you to take him there.”
Maria quickly gave him a bed and Meli went into his mind and showed him how and where to go. She smiled as she stood with her eyes lost somewhere in the distance. As he came back she turned to me.
“He liked it!”
Henry said, “It’s a clean world.”
I laughed. “A world of sand and dust he calls a clean world. Sorry Henry, I know what you mean. Next time you go, let Meli place you in the body of a local. I won’t tell you much more, just that you will enjoy it.”
“Are you feeling nervous Robert?”
“I’m scared shitless, never mind nervous. Meli, will he appear with his gun and if he does, will it be able to kill me?”
“You really are nervous! Can anybody or anything hurt you on Gilli’s world?”
“I don’t know, nobody has tried. Okay, all you guys, being so scared is getting through to me. If I go in this mood I’ll make silly mistakes, instead of just crazy ones. Either block yourselves or leave please.”
2013
“Robert Teller, don’t you dare tell me to leave!”
“And you Mrs Cherine Teller, will you come lie in my arms while I travel to some astral desert world and have my meeting with a mad Cypriot? The rest of you, Meli can see what is happening, why not be nice to her and ask her to let you also watch?”
Dominique asked, “What is happening Robert?”
“He’s going to try and help that guy that shot him.”
“How?”
I ignored them as he explained - he probably had a difficult job of trying to make sense of it to her, but they must learn from each other, not from me. I lay down and Cherine, no worries about being dignified, clambered over me and lay down.
“Mind taking your boots off love? A few hours of them digging into me will leave bruises and may even distract me while I’m trying to deal with Petsas.”
I waited until she was ready and closed my eyes. First I went to Henry and watched as he spoke to Petsas. When I saw him get excited, I went to Meli’s world and positioned myself on the crest of a dune. I dressed myself in a robe, my appearance simple.
“There’s the devil, you were right!” A shot rang out, but I felt nothing. Well, since I did not wish to be shot and he did wish to shoot me, that at least proved that either my wish is stronger or else Meli is weighing the odds in my favour. Looking at his eyes I decided it must be Meli.
I put a block so that he cannot leave. I pointed at Henry. “You have betrayed me, you brought him here.”
“He came to watch me kill the devil.”
My mind had twisted in a new direction, so I played it out differently from what we’d planned. “Does a gun make you more powerful than God? If I am the Devil and He does not kill me, how can a gun do so? Think man, there is only one way you can get the best of me.”
His mind has obviously lost much of his critical faculties, for he naively asked, almost daring to hope I’ll tell him, “I can? How?”
“Wasn’t something said about freewill? Is that not in the Bible?”
“You mean I must will you dead?” He tried. Since I was monitoring him, it did not feel nice.
“I said freewill, not willpower. You have the right to either believe in me or else believe in God and refuse to believe in me. If you believe in me, I can grant you many wishes, but then your soul is mine forever. Or else you can refuse to believe in me and force me to leave this body so that he becomes an ordinary man again. Which is it to be?”
“Then he will hunt me!”
“Why? He was glad when you tried to kill him. It was the easiest way for him to get rid of me. Think carefully before you choose. If you decide to not believe in me, when you return to Earth you will have to join a monastery and dedicate your life to God. Do you really prefer Him to me?” I laughed as evilly as I knew how to.
“If I believe in you, what will you do for me?”
I whispered in Henry’s mind.
“I will give you wealth.”
“And he will have you sent to prison for stealing the money.”
“I will give you any woman you desire, the most beautiful…”
“And she will give you aids and be unfaithful so that all laugh at you. Everything he offers you, remember he is the devil and gives with the one hand, but only so as to trick you.”
2014
“I must think.”
I asked Meli to let me know when there would be a sandstorm in the distance. Her amused voice came to my mind, *Just point where you want it and wish for it.*
“While you think, I have some stupid creatures of this world to have fun with. I think I’ll give them a sandstorm and destroy their water wells.” I pointed and in the distance sand could be seen to be rising. The terrible winds it needed had to be gathered from all directions and some of it came from us. Petsas watched as it rose high into the sky and swept along distantly.
He pulled Henry to him and whispered urgently. Henry answered and they argued for a while. Petsas climbed up a dune where he would be higher than me, looked at the distant storm and pointed his finger at me.
“I banish you Satan. I choose not to believe in you. May God strike you down.”
I let my body fall to the ground and it seemed to dissolve into the sand. I watched, invisible now.
“I did it! I got rid of the devil!!” He ran down the dune and hugged Henry. “You were a true friend, you helped me when the whole world was against me. I will not forget you.”
“Nor I. You were magnificent, such courage!!”
I removed his block and passed back to my body. Cherine had her face over mine, looking into my eyes as I opened them.
“What a sight for sore eyes! Almost makes me wish I wasn’t a Cherinian so that I could have sore eyes.”
“You did it Robert!”
“We won’t know until he wakes up. Maria?”
“Yes Robert?”
“May I stay in this bed a while? When he wakes up, tell him someone came to see him. That I was in a fury. Suddenly I collapsed and that I have been in a coma, but I keep on crying that I am free and calling his name. Bring him to see me, telling him I will wake up in a few minutes.”
Everybody had to leave. I lay there waiting, almost dozing off. I heard him calling and the footsteps of Maria rushing to him. She must have been talking to him or something, but I could not hear and did not bother to listen in. As I heard them coming I slowed my breathing and told the healer to make me very pale.
“Glory be to God. I have been saved and this young man helped me. With him at my side we vanquished the Devil, Satan himself.”
They stood by my side and while he waited he kept up with his ‘Kyrie Eleison’ and so forth. I gave him a quarter of an hour and then moaned. He must have noticed that I do not look the same as I did when he visited me in Athens and I guess he came to the conclusion that it is further proof that Satan has been kicked out of me, for he put his hand on my arm.
“Do not worry, you are free now, God has helped us defeat the devil. He is gone from you now.”
I opened my eyes, looking puzzled and dazed. What I saw was a man who still looked like a rat, the type who come out of the sewer in the slums and prey on the weak, but this was a fervent rat and he was my rat.
“It is you!! I saw you from inside my body. You forced him to leave me!” We played out the whole scenario and Henry left to stand outside to stop himself from laughing.
“I shot you in Cyprus. Are you angry with me?”
“Angry!? I’m grateful. I nearly managed to escape then, thanks to you. Mr Petsas, I heard you lost all your money. I am very sorry to hear that. Would you allow me to help you get back on your feet, maybe a small business?”
2015
He was tempted, but then he remembered. Piously he put his hand to his heart. “I have decided to devote myself to God. I will become a monk. If God wills it, at the monastery on the mountain where Archbishop Makarios is buried.”
“I’ve been there. It is so beautiful and tranquil, made me feel as if I was closer to God just by being there.” I let my eyes darken. “That was before it came into me. How can I thank you for saving me. Mr Petsas, I still have some gifts, powers you might say, those were mine, not from the Devil. Will you at least let me help you get back home? You are in Greece without money or your passport.”
“In Greece? Then I must find that she-devil and kill her first.”
I groaned silently. Not again!!
“It will not be necessary. She was released at the same time I was. She was not strong enough to come here to thank you.”
Maria said he could stay the night and she arranged for him to have a good meal. She told me that I am not sick and must get up and get out. He helped me to the front door, still full of himself and how he has done God’s work. I wondered for how long the monks will be able to stand him. I think Alki will have to make a donation.
I arrived home to find them all laughing at me. They made jokes about me having a pet rat of my own. Themi just shook his head. “I could have sworn it would not work.”
“Why not Themi?”
“What made you think it would. A man like him to believe in God!”
“I think you forget something. Before he became a man like him, he was a little boy with at least a mother or grandmother who was religious. I was acting for that boy.”
I walked over to a radiant Dominique. “You owe me a kiss.”
“For bringing me back to my Robert?”
“No silly, for forcing me to be a total shit. I didn’t want you liking the wrong Robert.”
She looked me up and down and smiled, “You definitely would have been the wrong Robert.”
“Are you happy Natalie?”
“Yes.” She looked so warm and friendly, just happy for her friend. She got up and put her arms around my waist. “I’ll give you the kiss.” And she did.
Henry said, “I bet that within less than a year he will have become fed up of being a monk and will be up to his old tricks.”
Themi nodded and said to me, “You do realise that he is still insane, all you did was transfer his obsession.”
I nodded, “I thought of that. At least his insanity is not making him miserable now - though I cannot give any guarantees that the other monks will be happy.”
Nicko grinned, “I wonder if we have any chance of curing our leader also.”
I had my Candy on my lap and looked at her seriously. “Would you like me to be cured?”
She cocked her head, that lovely golden hair a curtain that hid half her face, and shook it. “I think I want you as you are.”
Cherine sat by my side. “Watching you in Meli’s desert world gave me an idea. I want to try something, will you enter my mind?”
2016
“Now, love?”
“Yes, they’ll all share, I bet they’ll find it interesting.”
I did as she asked. As I entered her mind I found I am in a large sitting room. Cherine, looking just like she really does, stood watching a painting on the wall before her.
“Do you like the painting with the demon on that distant hill?”
I looked and saw it is a nice painting of some hilly land, green and filled with blossoms, in the distance I could see the jagged form of a red demon. As I wondered about it, Cherine started to run. She entered the painting, calling to me to follow her and forgetting it is not real, I did so, afraid for her. As I entered the painting and ran up a hill towards her, I saw the demon turn to look at us and then it ran away from Cherine and she chased after it. As I also ran, I expected to see more hills, beyond the edge of the painting, but it all blanked out and I found myself back in my body.
Urgently I looked and sensed for Cherine and found her still sitting by me, chortling and proud of what she had achieved.
“Where is the demon, is it still inside you?”
“There was no demon Robert…”
“You imagined there was, so your mind must have created it…”
She grinned. “I didn’t, you did. How could I create such a painting Robert? I only imagined a white canvas with a plain wooden frame and by suggestion let you create the painting for us. Ask everyone, they saw the blank canvas.”
I still find the exercise she set for her and me, interesting. I also watched us from the mind of my loves and she is right, there was no painting until I looked at it. I don’t see any practical uses for what she had us do, but maybe at some time in the future we’ll find it leads us to other possibilities. The obvious use, my using the gift to make another see whatever it is I wish them to see, for reasons of my own, I will never do. It has been lovely feeling how proud of her all my loves are - and, especially her pappou and mother.
Over the next weeks, big Cherine, still a little girl, opened the doors in Dominique’s mind and she was soon glorying in her ability to jump. She played around with her ability to change her appearance at least a dozen times. We all noticed that they were all slowly and comfortably getting closer to their Natalie, but their circle has not taken her in yet. We can wait, but there is something else urgent.
“Robert, you must all go to the void and dance together. What if we return to your world so that you can go to your own void. If you form your own World, it should be there. We’d like you to all come back afterwards, but the choice is yours.”
When they decided to go, I first took Natalie aside, interfering again in my usual busybody way.
“You are like an old pair of slippers; comfortable. You are in danger of becoming just a friend or something like a favourite aunt. I have known our Natalie in bed, so I know that you are hiding a lot of passion in you. Show it girl. Touch them now and then. Do those little things that show you are interested and not just a friend.”
“I thought I have to wait for Themi.”
“No silly, take love where you can get it. Robert confided to me that he cannot understand why I did not love my Natalie that way. I think it suggests he finds you interesting. Show him that you are also interested.”
“I can’t do that to my friend.”
“You still have not realised that Cherinians are different?”
I then found Dominique on her own and had a talk with her about Natalie.
2017
“Your group will grow. Just look at us! Forget the old ideas of one man one woman. Now, you have the chance of having a wonderful wife, a really good friend to love also. She is very inhibited. Because of her years of thinking of herself as fat and unwanted, she will not show her feelings. Don’t let it happen Dominique. You will regret it later.”
“Do you do this because you love to manipulate people? You try to interfere in everything!”
“I’m sorry.”
I pulled back and left them alone. The girls had been watching me with amusement at my poor matchmaking skills, but now they were upset. I called them into the bedroom.
“Are you upset with her or me?”
“With her!” , “She did not have the right to speak to you like that after all you’ve done for them” and other such comments.
“Do you want to teach her a lesson, in the most effective way?” They did. “Let them dance, we then bring them here and give them a storytelling and then a golden circle of love. If she understands me then there will be no reason for her to fear me. You have realised that she fears me?”
We told Robert what we want to do and he was pleased.
Their void looked so empty and there was not much I could do to give it life and make it interesting for them - which also means, less frightening.
Out of curiosity I became the void and went in search. I found the Anadir and there were less Worlds than ours had. I also saw that the Sparklers would be upon them soon. I did not know how to prevent this tragedy without harming any Sparklers; not in the time we had left. I went for Solomon. I explained and he became agitated - his agitation almost immediately reflected in the movements of all the Sparklers.
*We must stop them.*
I took him across into the other void, arriving close to them. I watched for hours after he disappeared among them. When he finally came out he had another entity with him.
*This will grow into being their Solomon. I have passed on all our knowledge to them and they need to know that you will help them too.*
*You already know how to help them, but I will help when I am needed. I must get Ordinx and bring him to talk with his people.*
I did so and he found it a bit more difficult. His own World had been caught and devoured in the previous confrontation with the Sparklers and they thought for a while that he had been sent by the Sparklers to trick them. A group of them came to look at me and left without speaking.
*They have decided to move to the position we occupy. I will need to return to this void so as to help them. It will take them about two of your years to arrive.*
*The Sparklers will do the same.*
*I better return the two of you then. We will come back here when they are ready.*
With all this I missed the dances, but it was just as well that I did leave my protector with them. They came together and when they asked Natalie to join in they were all overwhelmed by the love motes they were giving and receiving and melded. The protector helped part them again.
I told them what I had found and done and they all became very excited.
“How is it that you never rest and keep on getting involved in new situations?”
“I feel a need to be looking out for what could go wrong Pamela. I dare not sit back and relax and let something develop that could harm my loves.”
“I’ve noticed our Robert is becoming like that - especially since going to those two worlds. You know that he has decided to return there and help them again.”
2018
“I’m happy to hear it. I also see a much happier Pamela now. Am I right?”
We returned home and let the Cherinians know we will be holding a storytelling and golden circle, in case any of them want to come. Only those who were on an undercover mission for Her Majesty’s Government did not. In other words, just in case there are any thick Cherinians in the future, they all came.
We gathered in the hall and the girls did a lot to make me look less fearsome and harped more on my weaknesses. It was still touching, but not real to me, and to a number of close Cherinians who know me well. It was as well they did so though, as their Robert has become more gentle than I and it is better they do not see it as a lack in his personality.
“We will do two golden circles. One for our guest Robert and his Cherinians. As you should all know, Dominique has been taken into their family circle and Natalie has been linked and is now a Cherinian. I do this with love from all of us. When I end their golden circle what I will do is carry on by bringing us into theirs so that they remain as part of our love.”
They would have had to be insensitive not to feel how their love strengthened and deepened when Natalie was brought in. They must have also felt the way Robert responded, Dominique too. Cherine brought us in by first bringing Candy, then the others and left me for last. By that time I was so flooded with love that my inclusion was felt by all. Wendy softly sang and helped hold the golden circle and sent it out in gentle waves until the light faded and they left us as prisoners of our feelings, not able to break away for a long time.
“Don’t you have the instinct of self preservation like the rest of us?”
“I do Pamela.”
“It did not seem so. You deliberately had your protector attack you, breaking bones and hurting you badly. No normal person would go through all of that just for the sake of calming the fears in a little girl.”
I grinned, “I suppose my love of manipulating people is greater than my instinct, then.”
Cherine turned into a little ball of fury. “How dare you!! Pamela, he was hurt because he was called a manipulator and was being sarcastic. Of course he has the same instincts as us, but he is also the protector. He cannot bear pain in any of us and will go to any extreme to rid that heart of pain - especially if it is a child. I thought we made that clear in our storytelling.”
“There was so much! Yes, you did, I was not thinking.”
I held Cherine to me in the hope of calming her as I explained, “Pamela, some of the people here should have stayed at home as they have heard our story umpteen times. Yet they all came. Somehow the girls manage to make it slightly different every time while still telling the same story. Many find they only recall the complete story after hearing it two or three times. It is not the same as reading a book, they emote and make you feel the events and that makes it difficult to remember the details. You’ll see.”
Only Robert and his Cherinians came home with us. Claudia made me my coffee and gave me a cigarette. I walked in the garden without warming it. I was pleased when I sensed Dominique come out.
“I spoke cruelly, I’m sorry Roberto.”-
“You spoke as you saw it, love. No apologies needed.”
“No wonder you are so different. I’m glad my Robert will not go through all those bad experiences.”
“They were not bad. Not even the dying and the pain. Only the guilt. They still darken my soul.”
“Perhaps you should find a way to manipulate yourself. You need to learn how to forgive yourself.”
“No! I must never do so. The guilt is what stops me from repeating myself. It has made me more mature in some ways. As I said, there is nothing bad in my life I would wish to change. There has been so much that is wonderful!”
2019
“Has it been more difficult for all the adults to adapt to being Cherinians?”
“In many cases. You want to know something you will find very difficult to believe? Your parents of this world had almost no problems. They just seemed to accept it and have continued with their lives. They will have to deal with the changes in their age, but I think having a new daughter to love has kept them from thinking about themselves too much.”
Almost shyly she asked, “Will you also be my friend Roberto?”
“All you have to do is look into my heart and you will see the love you want. I speak the words ‘my love’ easily and so you may not have noticed that I only use them where I truly love.”
“Natalie says you will give her a copy of Samantha.”
“Never say that! I neither give a child nor are they copies. Samantha will give a part of herself and the Samantha in your world will be just as much the original Samantha as ours.”
“Sorry. When will you do it?”
“I don’t know yet. There are still many problems to deal with. How do we fit Natalie back into your world; who will her family be. I’ll be coming there to see if we can help you bring in Alki and Themi. If it works out, she may end up marrying him.”
“I thought you wanted her to marry us!”
“You thought wrong. I said there is a window of opportunity for you to bring her in and love her. As I see it that window will be closing soon.”
“What about Sam?”
“The natural thing would be for her to be with her mother. I have no idea how you will work it out.”
“This is all so confusing!”
I knew what she meant and still feel so at times, but I did not comment. I’d said all I had to say and just wanted to be with my girls. She followed me back in and went to her family.
“So it worked?” Dommi asked.
“As far as accepting me. I think she does not fear me so much now. As for Natalie, who knows?”
“Are you also still my best friend?”
“You have so many now - how should I know. As for me, I still think of you that way.”
All my girls have learnt to filter out what I say and accept the meaning, except for Dommi. This time she just hugged me and whispered I am still her best friend.
We began to prepare for Cherine’s birthday party. I know there will not be one Cherinian who willingly stays away, Rob and his family will definitely come and perhaps many of other worlds. We need space, even the night club with its tent will not be big enough - plus I very much want to do something different and very special for her.
“We have discussed it and Cherine would like to have the party here. Eddie, I have made some sketches. As you see, I was thinking of a ring of fires around which the guests will sit. In the center will be the dance area. Outside the ring of fires will be the tables with refreshments. I will arrange the toilets - we could be well over a thousand people and we don’t want them wandering off to find a bush. Tents should be placed here, they will not sleep in them, but a number of them have normal babies who will need to be watched and having them with us is the best solution. There will be considerable damage to the ecology in this space, but I will correct it with the help of my healer immediately after the party ends.”
“I think there is another site you will prefer, come with me.”
2020
It is at the foot of a stark and dark cliff. The cliff is shaped at this point in almost a half circle (horseshoe) and resembles an amphitheatre. At the base it is higher than the surrounding land and the view is beautiful. Apart from baboons, there are no animals for us to disturb. I agreed to the change. Over the next days we carried in the portable toilets we had hired, tables, tents, coolers and so on. For the sake of the novelty I collected a large chuck of ice, after my healer and the protector declared it safe, from the moon, for keeping our drinks cold.
Cherine was flitting backwards and forwards, getting under everybody’s feet, but she is so loved that all actually enjoyed her presence.
I went to Meli’s world and brought Daniel, the parents of Gilli and a close friend of hers, a pretty girl of about her age. Ashiir and Ordinx came in their human bodies and Solomon brought a Sparkler we did not recognise, giving it a male body of about twenty. He watched me for a time as I rushed around getting last minute things ready and glancing out of the corners of my eyes at the stranger, wondering who Solomon has brought.
“Robert, would you object to more than one of me being here? If we can bring them from the alternate worlds this will be the perfect opportunity for them to see what it is like having a human body.”
“Bring as many as you like. I’m presuming you have not gone off on your own and met another million or so - that would be a problem.”
I had forgotten to provide tables for everyone to put their gifts on so we dashed off to find what we could. I also brought extra milk. Most Cherinians do not drink the dark and heavy Greek coffee I enjoy and the Gillians are quite likely to drink a lot of milk.
The party is to be on the night before her birthday and by the afternoon we all left, only Manoli with Henry for company staying to keep the baboons away and to keep the spits turning, brushing the meat with a concoction of herbs, rough sea salt, lemon and olive oil that Socrati has provided. The party started at nine in the evening. For lights I created balls of energy that emit different colours and just before the first guests arrived I created a golden waterfall of light falling from the cliff.
I did interfere with some of the animals in surrounding areas, getting a herd of zebra and various buck to come close to us. I was also lucky to find some giraffes. The girls loved them, especially their soft dark eyes. The guests mostly stood looking at the scenery, drinks in their hands. The animals attracted them and they were sorry to see them go when I sent them away. The sound of a rasping growl kept them all glued to the plain stretching out from us and they were all like children when they saw a pride of lions walking past us, disdaining to look in our direction.
I’ll confess here, they were not real lions, I projected their images. If anyone, apart from the Eddies, had looked, they would not have noticed that none of the departing herds were bothered by the appearance of lions.
There were no waiters. Various Cherinians gave of their time to oversee the cooking of the meat on spits and barbecues. Various families had undertaken the preparation of huge bowls of salads of all kinds. Various items had been ordered by Claire. Others replenished the coolers as the drinks disappeared. It was a help yourself night mainly and since all understood why we could not bring staff here they made the most of it, everyone pitching in to help where needed. Apostoli mostly saw to the music. We had a small power plant tucked away among the rocks and muted by me to provide electricity for the music and to light the toilets.
I looked at the tables with the gifts and wondered where we will fit them in our house. There must have been hundreds of them. I had suggested to Cherine that she come as an adult.
She refused. “It is my sixteenth birthday and I will look like a sixteen year old.”
Dommi took her to London and bought her a lovely outfit and she very lightly used a little makeup to highlight her features. When I saw her I could not believe how lovely she is. I made certain I kept on catching glimpses of her as she circulated and made certain she talks to everyone for a couple of minutes at least.
We had provided a thick canvas on the ground (groundsheets) around the fires with cushions for those who want to sit on the ground and chairs for those who do not - I did get rid of all ticks and other unpleasant insects by moving them elsewhere, just to be safe. After the first drinks, the meat was ready and everyone filled their plates and had their meal. As they finished eating the music got louder and a number of the guests and my girls began to dance.
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)16th September, 2019
- posted on Steemit: 16th September, 2019
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