“I think we should send Irene, Tina and Noelle. All three of them can help him find peace.”
He wanted to scream at Alki, but instead he ran away as fast as his little legs could carry him. He ran off into the bush, stumbling once and scratching himself on his face. Panting he came to a stop and sitting under a tree hugged his knees, just sitting there, not crying, even trying to stop himself from thinking.
Cherine shook her head. “I don’t know why, but I think only Ashiir and Aganthi should go.”
Dommi looked at Cherine for a moment and told the two to go to him. Ashiir was at a loss. “But what must I do?”
“Listen to your heart.”
They had to run to him as they could not see where he was from his eyes, since they were closed. Silently they walked over to him and sat to either side of him. From under his arms he saw them, but did not acknowledge them.
Their presence did not seem to be helping, so Ashiir began to talk. “There is a world far away in space and the people who live on it are called the Anadir. They are very different from people on this world. They don’t have skins with only one colour. If you look at them in the sun they look like rainbows, tiny shimmering dots of colour all over their bodies.
They are also different in another way. When the Anadir are children, it is not the boys who love to run, find tigers and climb trees; it is the girls. The girls are worse than the boys of this world. They are not afraid of anything and do a lot of silly dangerous things. The boys love to sit and listen to stories, read and things like that. Because the girls are so silly and brave, the grown up men have to watch them all the time. Because they needed to see the girls even if they are far away or in the dark, the men slowly lost their eyes. Instead of having eyes they look with their minds.
The girls, when they grow up are still a little wild. When they have their babies they let the men look after them while they spend their time looking at the world, enjoying it’s beauty and challenging it. To them life should be experienced all the time. They do not find stories in books real enough for them. They want to stand on a cliff and laugh and hear their laugh as it tumbles about among the rocks. They want to look at the sky and feel themselves flying with the birds. Can you understand girls like them Robert?"
“Yes.”
“I think your mummy is a little like the Anadir girls. She must be a beautiful and wild person, at least in her heart. I think you are lucky to have a mother like her. I’m glad she is coming back to see you. Robert, tell her that she mustn’t only listen to her laughter dancing among the rocks, she must also hear the love in her heart and stay a while with you. Maybe then you will also be able to hear and see all the magic things she has in her heart.”
Robert raised his head and stared at her. His eyes grew huge. “Ashiir, you are an alien.”
“It’s a secret. I’m only visiting here. Promise you won’t tell, only the girls and now you, know.”
“I swear.” He took her hand and pulled her arm close to his face. He looked up at her and she saw his little boy’s heart was in love with her and what she represented. “If my mummy is like you Ashiir, then the teachers are wrong, there is magic in this world!”
“There is a lot of magic in your world Robert, if you are able to see it. Most grownups forget how to see it. I think you will remember. Robert, there is another kind of magic sitting next to you. Why not ask her to tell you.”
He looked at Aganthi. “Are you also an alien? I thought you have a strange face.”
“Is it ugly Roberto?”
“No. I think it is your eyes, they are like those of a cat. They are lovely.”
“Do you want to hear my story? I’m not an alien, but I had some magic in my life also. It was the magic of a heart.”
“What is that?”
“I’ll tell you the story and then you tell me. Agreed?”
“If I can.”
“You will be able to Roberto mou. You will.”
2132
“I come from a country near Greece called Albania. We had a lot of problems in our country and because there was no food and no work for the daddies, a lot of families ran away and went to Greece. My family was one of them. When we got to Athens we found that there was no work for my daddy, but there was work for me. I learnt to stand at traffic lights and beg. I pretended I was selling little things, but I knew and everybody else knew I was begging. Compared to people in my country, the Greeks were rich and the little bit of money they gave me helped to buy food so that we would not starve.
Roberto, I lived in an ugly world as a beggar. There are grownups who pay money so as to hurt little children. I had to let them hurt me so that my little brother and sister could have clothes and food. Sometimes I was very sad, especially after someone paid to hurt me and I would steal a little of the money I had for food for my family and buy drugs. It helped me forget my pain. Can you understand how bad that was?
I had too many grownups hurt me and I got very sick. I was dying Robert. My father had saved some of the money I brought him and he bought flowers and made me go late at night to the restaurants and clubs to sell the flowers. This way even more of those bad grownups found me and paid to hurt me. I knew I was dying and I was glad, at last I would be free of all the cold and pain.
One night I went to a club and a man came running after me. I got frightened and ran away. He looked for me, but I had hidden myself. This man, he did not forget me, he spent a lot of money, more than I could make if I worked for years and let everyone hurt me, so that he could find me. But I was afraid and I stopped going to that club. Now I was making less money and my father was beating me and I had to go back to the club. They grabbed me and put me in a car and took me to that man.
I knew he was going to hurt me a lot, but I hoped that he would at least give me a lot of money so that my father would not also beat me. Do you know what he did Roberto?”
“He fell in love with you?” he asked hopefully, not liking this story of pain.
“He saw me Roberto. I mean that, he looked and saw the Aganthi inside that miserable, sick girl dressed in rags and dirty. He saw the story of that girl and he cried. He had his women wash and dress me like a princess. He has a beautiful house and he told me that from now on this house is for me to live in. That I would never be hurt again. Roberto, he took a poor sick flower girl and turned her into a princess.”
“But you got better?”
She grinned. “I am better than better. This man is a friend of the aliens. He has magic in him and he made me better so that I can never get sick again. This man, he would tell you that he is an ordinary man, but I’ll tell you a secret, he is not. He is a prince. He has the heart of a prince and that makes him a prince to me.”
“Can I meet him?”
“This is where the magic comes in Roberto mou. Do you know who that man is? Roberto, I have come back from the future to meet you, because you are the boy who will grow up and become my prince. Ask Ashiir, she will tell you, Roberto, my Roberto of the future, is a friend of her people.”
*Did I do wrong to tell him Dommi, Cherine?*
*No my love, you both did well.*
We could feel him and the way there was suddenly a magic in his heart. He did not scoff or doubt. He believed!
“Is it true about my mother? Is she really coming?”
“My Roberto of the future found her getting old and sick. He made her young and beautiful again, but he saw a pain in her heart because of you, so he is sending her back here to meet you. I think you will take all the pain out of her Roberto mou.”
He turned to Ashiir. “Do the girls of your world ever cry?”
“Yes Robert.”
2133
“Good, because I feel like crying again.” He put his head in his arms, but he did not shed a tear.
“Neither of them will be happy with just one day Dommi, they will need longer.”
“Then we make the decision Alki and do so. If you have to leave, we’ll share with you when we return.”
“You think I would miss one moment?”
I can tell you from now, in case you were hoping for further sex scenes, Robbie did not show any interest in us sexually again. What he had been through saw to that, but it also brought about a change that does not belong to a boy of his age. Suddenly, to him, all girls, all females, are frail delicate creatures that he feels he has to care for. Even Marian and Claire. At his age and with his limited abilities, he can only express it by being solicitous and watching out for all of us.
Rose arrived the next day and we shared with her so that she knows what to expect.
“I see you could not resist taking advantage of his innocence.” She was smiling, so none of us felt hurt. “Even if you had only shared this with me I would have been grateful to you forever. To have a few days with him is like a dream.”
“Rose, would you like us to leave so that you can have him to yourself?”
“I will never separate my son from those he loves. Please stay so that I can see him with you.”
We had suggested to him that he wait for her in his bungalow, but he could not contain himself, at first waiting by the window, then just outside and by the time we got there, he was nearly halfway to the main buildings. He saw our group coming and stood as still as a statue. Being the only adult, Rose stood out and we felt him begin to tremble. As Rose saw the little boy and felt him, she too got shaky and fought to stop the tears. About ten metres apart they stood still, staring at each other. Rose got down to her knees and held out her arms.
“Rob, my little Rob.”
He ran into her arms and we withdrew. I do not know where the beauty of that special love a child has for his mother comes from, but he had all of us crying. I’ll confess, by now all of us were in love with this little Robbie of ours. They went to the bungalow where she held him to her as they talked for hours. When they came out and went for lunch and then a stroll along the beach, he was so happy that we knew we had lost him for a while. We forgot that this was still our Robbie. He left her standing on the beach, running to us. He arrived out of breath.
“Aganthi, Ashiir, all of you, thank you. I’m sorry I can’t play with you, but I have my magic just like you said I will. I’ll never let it go again. Never! Aganthi, before I forget, will you thank your prince for me?”
“I will do so.” He nodded solemnly and walked back to his mother.
My darling Robbie, if you are reading this, you will soon have all the memories of those days with your mother. They belong to the two of you and we are glad we were able to share them with you. We have not seen and felt you so happy at any age. I think this time is the best gift you ever gave any of us. Thank you. Your loving daughter, Samantha.
Chapter One Hundred Twenty Three
When they brought me back, Cherine wisely insisted they do not release my memories of those days, wanting me first to read what Sam had written. I’m glad; this way I saw it through their eyes first. The pictures of those days were not ready for Sam to include with her writings, so I am adding them later.
Sam baby, I must say, if I had written the above, with my style of writing it would only have occupied three pages and I would have missed out on including so much.
2134
The experience has brought my mother closer. It was worth doing just for the new closeness, and I suspect for the first time she really sees her son in me.
And of course, talking of mothers and…fathers. Laughing Rose has taken over the house, a whirlwind of activity as she tidies up, a spring cleaning I think she called it. They were warned of our imminent return by Alki who jumped back half a day earlier. We came home to a hot meal and found them comfortable with each other. Rose has lost that look of sadness she had, though it still appears in her eyes now and then when she looks at him without him being aware of her doing so.
I was not able to use my office as Sam was writing, so I went and sat in the garden, curious about what had happened, but staying out of the girls as I had promised. I could sense from them that they were glad to be back with me, but I also sensed a disturbing feeling that I have caused them a loss, a small sadness that will stay on in them. I wondered what could I as a little boy have done to them.
Rose brought me my coffee. “I think you should stop smoking. You know it is bad for you.”
I nodded, my mind on other things. “Was I right to bring you Rose?”
“I find it difficult to believe you are my son, well, you know what I mean. Not the fact of your existence. I find it difficult to believe I would have such a conniving one.”
I was in a mood to tease. “You don’t know yet how bad I really am. I mean, look at you. Rose you are lovely. I can’t help wondering, what if I went and found another one of you as a little girl - for me.”
She was shocked, but wise to me it seems. “You said that to shock me.”
“Are you sure?” I laughed. “Actually I’m not that depraved yet. Rose, you did not answer me. Did you evade the question on purpose?”
“Of course. How do you expect me to answer?”
“I think if I were you I would be very confused. Emotionally that is. You had a husband, you saw him die and here he is again, only you know inside you that he is not the man you loved, not the lips you kissed. But he is so much your Wilfred it throws you about in a storm of contradictions.”
“If you understand so well, why do you ask me?”
“I think you should also wonder a little about this business of alternate worlds. Try to understand it better. It might make things clearer for you.”
“I understand Robert, it does helps a little.”
“Bullshit. You understand nothing. I’m sorry Rose, what is it they say? A little knowledge is worse than none? Forget about the time issue, the difference in ages, that does not mean anything. It seems when worlds split off they arbitrarily choose different rates of time.
Go back to the split itself. At first there is one Wilfred and Rose. A crucial choice is to be made and the world splits, in one the answer was yes, in the other, no. In one world Wilfred does something or goes somewhere and he gets sick. In the other world he does not and stays healthy and alive. If I had taken you back in time, on your world, to just before he got sick and you were able to save his life, would you love him?”
“Yes.”
“So what is different now?”
“The way you put it…but in this one he had his Rose also. He has memories of her that are not mine.”
“And you have memories of yours that he does not. So what? If we use the example I’d given you of going back in time. Would you not have memories of the days he was sick and died? Is that reason enough to feel you are strangers, not the couple who love each other? The memories of my Rose were not good ones for him. As long as he blamed her I would not have brought you. Once he understood how much of the fault lay with him, I knew he was closer to the Wilfred of when he first married, only a little wiser, helping to save him from making the same mistakes again. That is what you have Rose, the man you love with a few experiences you did not share with him, but also wiser and more loving.”
2135
Just to pique her I asked for a cigarette to be ‘sent’ to me, already lit. She watched as the cigarette appeared. I smiled. “I could smoke ten packets a day Rose, and I would not have a trace of nicotine or tar in me.”
“Does that mean you should drink a bottle of whisky a day and take drugs? You can become emotionally dependent also Robert.”
I kissed her cheek. “You sound just like a mom. When you have children, they will have a great mother. It is strange having a mother who only has the experiences of a young girl. My mother suffered so much, she has depths to her I treasure. Yet I also love seeing in you how she was before life changed her. Rose, I’d like to see to it that you never have a bad moment, but I must not. You have the right to live your life and make your wrong choices, same as I do.” I waved the cigarette at her.
“May I speak Rose? We also objected to the smoking. Our generation have grown up filled with warnings about how bad they are. When you sit through a storytelling you will understand why we now do not object. With what he has gone through, he needs a safety valve.” Dommi had come out without us noticing. I can tell that Rose can sense something special about my lovely girl and likes her.
“It is not my place to object. I only did not bring him one.”
“It is your place Rose. Do you know where we have been the last three weeks?”
“I heard, but I’m not certain I’ve understood.”
“We all went for a special holiday. Cherine and I went into his mind and blocked off all the memories of Robert after the age of eight. He had the body and mind of an eight year old for three weeks. It gave us an opportunity to get to know him as a child.”
“That sounds fascinating!”
“We brought Rose to meet him. You should have seen them! I can’t tell you about it now, we don’t want Robert to remember yet. I will say this. It gave both of them a chance to repair some of the hurts they had felt when she had to leave him. I have a reason for telling you this. Rose, when you decide to love his father, we are going to trust the two of you with our little Robert. Perhaps that way his father can help heal some of the wounds he caused. Robert will think you are his mother.”
“But he will be able to sense…”
“Rose, we will be giving you a normal little boy of eight. He will not have any paranormal abilities. He can even get sick.”
“Does Wilfred know?”
“Not yet. We did not want to tell him until the two of you have found a way to love each other.”
“Why are you telling me now then?”
Dommi looked at her with a happy smile. “You know why. It seems Robert has helped you to see past your problems.”
That was news to me, as I always keep out of this Rose’s mind. “Shit! You mean it was that easy!”
Dommi playfully slapped my leg. “Don’t listen to him Rose, it is his usual male way of showing he is happy.”
“Rose. It is time for you to become a full-fledged Cherinian. You will go to the void, listen to a storytelling, experience the golden circle of love. You are not just anyone though. You are the one who became my mother. If you and my father have the time, I’d like to tell you a few things I do not often talk about. Would you like to know what my dreams for the Cherinians are, what my fears and worries are?”
“Not fair Roberto, we all want to listen.”
“Of course my love. I see Sam has just about finished. I’ll wait for her also.”
“Roberto, you can be so thick sometimes! I was not talking about the family only. Do you think Alki will not want to listen, or Themi, or Jonathan. Tell me which Cherinian will not?”
2136
“No. I will not do it. Dommi, you are taking something I want to do for my family and making me do something I did not want to do yet. Anyway, Alki has already heard most of it.”
“I’m sorry. You do realise they will share it from us anyway?”
I sighed. “That is why my offer was to these two only, but as you say, soon as their minds open, all will share. Perhaps it does not matter. They will not see it as official policy just a chat of a son with parents. When I talk to them all, they become so inflexible Dommi, taking what I said as being the word of their leader, even if I am just talking to find my way through my thoughts.”
She became contrite. “I should not have interfered Roberto.”
I answered with a grin, “If you had not then you would not be my Dommi, just some Dominique or other. Don’t you dare change on me. Dommi, if you, Cherine or any of the girls are wrong I must have the right to say so or else you have an unfair advantage.”
“We have it anyway. You are a male.” Claudia called from the door.
“Is that so Claw? You can’t include yourself with the other females, you are Swedish. You are just a poor imitation male.”
“Oh yeah? I’ll remind you later.”
I turned to Rose urgently, before Dommi said anything. “Careful Rose, your feelings of disapproval are felt by all. Please remember that our home is also my place of work. When we are just family, I will not tolerate anyone interfering with our interactions as a family. We have to be able to relax and let our guard down.”
She gulped and avoiding the eyes of Dommi nodded. “Shall I call Wilfred?”
“Sure.”
“I’m certain all of you know what we mean when we call ourselves Cherinians.” I was directing my remark at my girls and they agreed. “That is good, perhaps when you have a spare moment, you can tell me, because I’m not sure I know.
The more I think about, it the more convinced I become that they do not. What would describe a Cherinian then? I would tentatively suggest that the characteristics of us as a people, whichever species we are, are more important. What are the morals we set for ourselves, what is our attitude towards all non-Cherinian life; how do we interact between ourselves. What are the laws we accept that define us as human beings.
It all seems so obvious that we are in danger of missing the true depth and importance of these questions. We say we do not believe in harming others, in helping those we can and so on. Every day, how many people on our world die? Every single death could have been avoided if we gave of our gifts, whatever other consequences we faced. At least they could all be healthy and have the immortality they crave. So, is every death a guilt we bear?
2137
What about the pain and other suffering? If all of us devoted all our time to it, how much could we alleviate! Why are we then complacently living our lives without doing so? Should we all become martyrs for the cause of saving or helping all?
Do you get the drift of the questions I’m asking? Obviously each of us will respond according to our own personality, some feeling a greater need to help, than others. The basic fact is that we must have some ground rules, allowing ourselves a small dash of self-interest, if we are to survive as a people and become a true society.
Why the self-interest? You will ask yourselves, surely it contradicts what the gift of empathy asks of us? Just as Cherine herself had to toughen herself so as to survive all the negative emotions she has been bombarded with since before her birth, so must we.
Something else, so obvious it hardly needs thinking about, I’m certain. I also am linked as you all are through Cherine and share all the gifts you do. Ignore the extra powers I have, those are not really relevant at this stage of the discussion. So that means I am also a Cherinian.
My loves, father, am I really?”
I had to stop at the outcry this provoked. My girls were all upset. I waited for them, not answering their comments.
“I would postulate that I am an animal that resembles a Cherinian in many ways, but that I am not a true Cherinian. I am a species linked to the Cherinians and hopefully I am the only one and there will not be any others after me. I don’t know, I’m only guessing, it may be necessary that there are, the future will show.
I am a creation of the Cherinian species, sort of catapulted into becoming what I am. That is funny in a way because I am forced by being what I am, into viewing all Cherinians as my children - even those as elderly as the Sparklers and Anadir. Do you need an explanation of why it is so? It is because I am more protector than Cherinian. That small difference forces me into a place that is apart from all of you, even while being part of you. Thank goodness for that last fact, for if I did not have that feeling of being a part of you also, my place would be a very lonely one - as it often is, when I have to make decisions and the responsibility for the outcome is only mine.”
I smiled, maybe just a little smile, but it was born out of the deep exultant joy their hearts fill me with. “How can I ever be lonely with so many hearts that beat with love for me? What are my dreams for my children, the Cherinians?
I only have vague ideas, bits and pieces to guide me. Try as hard as I can, I cannot come up with a complete picture. Perhaps after living a thousand years, if I study subjects like psychology, the dynamics of societies and a hundred other subjects, including philosophy and ethics, I’ll be able to put together just a few pieces of the jigsaw. Am I likely to do all that studying? I don’t think so. Not only because I am lazy - for some reason I feel that the answers do not lie in that direction.
How do I reach for a dream if I cannot even see a tiny part of it? The only way I can is by trusting my heart, my intuition and the artist in me at every stage. Have you ever wondered how it is an artist lays brushstroke after brushstroke of colours, creating and sometimes defining shapes and textures…and in the heart of the maelstrom, he or she suddenly stops, steps back, looks at the painting and somehow the painting speaks to the inner eye of the artist, warning that it is done, that even one small brushstroke extra will spoil his creation? I depend on that inner eye for finding my way towards the completed canvas we are trying to create, using our dreams instead of paint.
Do all of you know what the protector in me is? It is this overwhelming love I have for all. Just that, nothing supernatural or even paranormal. The protector, the entity is, but not what guides me as protector.
I sometimes think the visions I have for us are stolen from dreams Normals have of a Utopia. The problem is, as the Normal people themselves have discovered, Utopias don’t work. They cannot when you consider the diversity of our characters, personalities, needs, beliefs. That diversity is more important to me than living in any defined and limited Utopia.
2138
I cannot count the number of times I have said to myself, ‘that, that is what Cherinians must be like’, only to find later that I had presumed in my ignorance and thanks to a naïve idealism. It can be very disheartening when that happens. But, as I look back I see growth in my Cherinians and in myself and it pleases me. At least we are moving in some direction, whatever it is.
As for myself - in the beginning I saw myself as being, because of having the protector, the one capable of killing to protect my Cherinians. I am finding it more and more difficult. Not only because of what it does to me, but also because of what it does to all of you. God, but how I wish the Sparklers had arrived a few years later. I might not have had to bear the guilt of what I did.”
Solomon cut me off. “Robert, I’m sorry to interrupt. You keep telling us not to feel guilt for what we did because our intentions were good. Are you telling us that guilt, whatever the motives should live on?”
“Do you see how I struggle with understanding, Solomon? I have set myself apart and through that I have to assume guilt for every mistake because my existence dictates that I do not do anything to harm even one life. I know it is wrong of me, but I fear that if I am able or allow myself to accept any justification, however valid it is to others or myself, I will no longer be what I am and what is needed.”
“Perhaps it is time then for me to help you find the peace you need. Robert, I think you have not understood something about us Sparklers. You cannot kill us - unless you deliberately do so as the void.”
He stopped and we all stared at him in amazement. He smiled at our expressions. “Robert. There is little point in me explaining, I have to show you. Will you trust me enough to break your own rules?”
“In what way?” I asked in a hoarse voice.
“You must come to the void and kill a Sparkler.”
The picture came to me of a harmless Sparkler being killed by me in cold blood and I felt my body react, it felt as if my protector were attacking me. I stared at him as my body shook, “I can’t Solomon.”
“Then you will never believe, for you are the only one who can kill us.”
“That is a contradiction, I thought you said I cannot kill you. I felt them die Solomon!”
“Did you stay and watch to feel them live?”
“How?”
“You must trust me Robert, however much it pains you.”
How could I explain that it is not a matter of trust, I just cannot do it. To take an innocent life was not possible. I felt his need that I do it, for their sake also, not just for mine, and I tried to fight my weakness, force myself to contemplate doing it. I felt as if I were falling apart.
I felt, as if in the distance, Cherine throw herself on me, crying out, “You don’t have to do it Robert, please stop, you don’t have to do it. Come back.”
I managed to pull myself back together and I found myself being held by as many hands as could reach me. I gave them a look, acknowledging that I felt their pain and spoke to Solomon, “You are too late Solomon. I have evolved, I am no longer that Robert. I cannot even force myself to think of doing it.”
“It is a pity, for then you will have to break your word and at the same time bring me a loneliness even you cannot imagine.”
“What are talking about? Why are you doing this to me?”
“I have to. You must take me with you back in time to the moment you killed those Sparklers. You must become the void and take me there with you. What you will see will release you from your guilt Robert. Unfortunately it means you will have shown me how to become the void. We will not call on Aganthi and her child. So that your promise is kept I will have to block that knowledge within myself, not allowing the Thinkers that are part of me to see it. It will force me to follow that step of evolution you spoke of, I will no longer be able to return to where I come from. I offer this Robert, because I must. You will over time poison yourself with your guilt if you do not see. Trust me, being told will not be enough.”
2139
“Oh Solomon, how you must love me!”
He gave a sad smile. “Not necessarily Robert. I am the supreme thinker of my people. I see how important you are to our future. I cannot do otherwise.”
I pulled up the chin of my little love. “You see what a fraud he is Cherine? What do you say to us finding a way so that he does not have the pleasure of saying he sacrificed himself for me?”
She gave me her cheeky smile. “I’d love to do that to him.”
I looked at Solomon, my face I’m certain betraying how disturbed I was. “You take a terrible risk coming with me Solomon. We cannot do it while you are bearing a child. I would also need to know that if you die, there will be the same Solomon here to carry on guiding and helping my loves. Without me around you would be needed twice as much.”
“What do you fear Robert?”
“What could happen to me when I see myself killing? I could end up becoming a permanent part of the void. How would you get back then?”
He sighed, so exactly like a little girl does who is fed up with a stupid adult that I laughed. I just had to tease him. “If you really do not love me, then you have played a dirty trick on me by making of yourself a delightful child of great beauty, for it has helped make me love you. Feel it, even my loves feel the same way.” We sent him how we felt and he sent back his love. Suddenly we felt our circle expand and pull him in. At first we were all overwhelmed by the beauty of it and then shock hit me.
“What have we done! Solomon, that wasn’t meant to happen!”
“Robert, I did not link him!”
“I know love. How could it happen, how could you become one of my family circle!?”
He was shaking. “I think it is because of the child I carry.”
“Oh sweet Jesus! Solomon, we are all in shock, but can you also feel how happy we are?”
“I feel everything!” His sweet little face showed his rapture.
Wendy called out, “Robbie, we can’t keep calling him Solomon. We can’t even call him a him anymore.”
I saw what was in her mind and blanched. “You can’t do that love, you can’t think of him as our wife.”
The strangled sound my father made was drowned out by the happy voices of my girls. They all agreed with Wendy. I shrugged, a helpless ‘what do I do’ gesture for my father.
“But you can’t Robert. Not only is he an alien, he is also a male!”
“He is carrying my child, father. Sparklers are neither male nor female. They propagate their species by dividing, similar to our bacteria. Two Sparklers get together and give a part of themselves and create a new Sparkler. We started thinking of him as male because of our own need to see him as being of one sex or another.”
That shook him up even further. I’d forgotten how anyone else would see this and my explanation had only made matters worse.
“Solomon. In one thing Wendy is right. In the void you can be Solomon, but here you are our little girl and need a female name. What would you prefer?”
Jodine asked, “Can’t we just call her Sol, here and there?”
I laughed, a little wildly. “Why not the second half of his name? Omon. No, Oh Mons!”
“Sol, I think he is getting too happy, he is becoming silly again.”
“I presume you have not finished with what you wanted to tell us Robert?”
2140
“I haven’t, but we are all feeling too euphoric to talk seriously right now, dad.”
“Rose, let’s take a walk.”
They left us, with her looking back at us as she walked away. I wondered with amusement what she thinks of us. Meli wanted to make her mother laugh at the idea of a Sparkler being our wife, so she jumped over and told her. Laura did the same. I watched in dismay as our garden filled up.
With a teasing look I asked, “Sol, how come you are still here? I’d have thought you would rush to your people to tell them the news.”
“For the first time ever, I do not know what their reaction will be.”
“This does not change who you are Sol, just that while here with us, you will be part of us. The child you carry symbolises our wish, from both sides, to come closer to each other, Earth humans and Sparklers. What has happened is only an acknowledgement of our love for you and through you, for all Sparklers.”
She smiled. “That message I could carry.”
Nicko had arrived, his lovely girls showing their pregnancy. When he was told what had happened, he got that look of mischief I know from school days and went to Ordinx.
“Before you grab her too, perhaps Ordinx should become part of my family.”
Ordinx looked up at him with a sweet smile. “That would please me Nicko. Since I am not like Sol and am of the male sex, with you I could assume the body of a man. I think you are pretty enough for me to enjoy making love to you.”
I have never seen Nicko so embarrassed and my heart went out to him. “Nicko, I think Ordinx sees what there is of Dominique in you. If she is our Mother, I think you would be the Father. That is why the children all respond to you. I envy you my friend.”
The girls stopped their teasing of him and felt him. They crowded around him. “Robbie is right!”
Dommi came and put her arms around me, her eyes moist with love. *That was a wonderful thing you did Roberto mou, especially as I know how you yearned to be loved that way. How did you find it in him?*
*I’ve seen where it is in you and opened the door for him. Block it my love. Let him think it was always there - after all, in a sense it was.*
Sol stayed long enough to be hugged and kissed by all, her flushed face betraying her feelings. I thought of how far she has come; from wondering what love is to feeling it so powerfully that she is pulled in to our circle. I wondered aloud about it.
“Sol, when you first came you wondered what this thing I called love was. What you feel now, will the ability to feel that way be passed on to all Sparklers?”
“Are you certain it should be Robert? Looking at the history of your people, it seems to me that most of your wars are caused directly by emotions.”
“Evil can come out of anything, I agree. But not to know love, the lack of it is an emptiness surely.”
“I only meant my question in a rhetorical sense, all Sparklers will feel it on my return.” She looked thoughtful. “I wonder, will all feel and grow or will some close themselves to it? If so, it could cause a split among us.”
“Not if you present it in the right way. If you show your love as being love of us, it may. Look at the love within you Sol and feel how it extends to your people. Show them that.”
She went into the house, lay down and left us. Ordinx, Sam and a few others did the same. They wanted to see the reaction of the Sparklers. I was stuck here with the rest, playing host. Cherine had stayed focussed on what is important to her.
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)23rd September, 2019
- posted on Steemit: 24th September, 2019
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