Little Cherine Book 11 - BPost050
The secretary recognised him and was obviously terrified, so Robbie only asked if he can speak to Nicko. She showed them through to the boardroom and offered them coffee or cold drinks. Nicko walked in.
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“Mr Teller…” He froze as he saw Cherine. “But how…”
“Nicko, I’m not your Robert Teller, I come from another reality.”
He quickly answered, “Yes, of course, from another…reality. I hope you are enjoying your visit.” Cherine grinned at the furore they are causing during their visit, but Robbie kept his face solemn.
“Your Robert found the powers to attack us in our reality, that is how we learnt of you.”
“And you managed to find a way to bring your Cherine back to life? The world will be very happy for you Mr Teller.”
We were not making it easier for Robbie since he could sense us laughing, so he gave up on trying to play it straight. “I’d hoped to do this differently.” Suddenly he reached out and touched Nicko. Nicko found himself in the center of over fifty giggling girls.
Robert quickly moved forward. “Mr Spiropoulos, my apologies. The other Robert by you really is from a different reality and he has brought you to their spaceship Freddie. As you see he has also gone back in time and brought back to life Cherine and Rosie. No harm is intended, apparently you and I are close friends on his world.” It took a long time before Nicko could settle down enough to understand what he was being told. It did not help that he found himself desperately attracted to so many of us - it really was messing up his thinking.
Gently Robbie asked him, “Do you still recall what Dominique looked like as a child? Don’t get upset, the Dominique you’ll meet now is not your sister, she comes from our reality.” The sight of her shattered him. Freddie moved to another reality and we saw to it that Nicko had a bottle of whiskey and some mezedes to get totally sozzled in the privacy of a house we’d given him. We used our gifts to cleanse him before he woke up.
Within another two days Nicko was a convert and tried to become friends with Robert. Robbie took him aside. “Nicko, my Nicko and I grew up together as friends. You did not and friendship needs time to grow. Relax and give Robert the time he needs. He has suffered a great deal and is still recovering. Be there for him and he’ll respond.” He gave him a moment to think about it and then asked, “Didn’t the two of you go to the same school?”
“I went to the American College in Psychiko.”
“How the hell did Robert and Cherine meet then!”
“Their story is well known. Robert is an artist, though his paintings were not well known - they only became collectors items when he became known as a mutant with great powers - and to be honest, I have not seen any, apart from photos in magazines. He did art work for nature magazines to pay his expenses and took an apartment in Kolonaki so that he could travel throughout Greece and paint what inspired him. Cherine’s mother was offered a job by a shipping company and she rented an apartment in the same building.”
“What happened after Cherine died?”
“He withdrew, refusing to respond to anyone. Governments sent their ambassadors to speak to him, but he would not even answer his door. It has been a terrifying time for all of us, for we were warned that he has been driven insane by his loss and scientists kept telling us that because he is a mutant he is unstable and nobody can foresee what he might do. The whole world and all the media were very careful to only write and talk with great sympathy for his pain.”
“Did he harm anyone?”
“Not that I heard of.”
“Good, that means he only directed his pain and self-hate towards us. God, what he must have lived through; to know he killed those he loves more than life. Basically he has a gentle soul, once you relax and get to know him, I think you’ll be close friends. Now, about your sister, you have understood one of the reasons for our interest in her?”
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“Because of your Dominique? You plan for them to marry her? What about her husband - they do love each other.”
“We can only hope. Nicko, your sister also has a gift that is very special. We call our Dommi the mother of all Cherinians. She has made us become a family and has often guided us on the right path for the future of Cherinians to be what it should. All Roberts and Cherines, for some reason I don’t understand, tend to hurt each other. It is Dommi who sees to it that the hurt is turned back to love.”
“If that is to be her future, then I cannot stand in her way, only…Robert, your Dominique…she is so young!”
Robbie smiled. “Your Robert is not a lover of the beauty of children as I am. Dommi keeps herself that age for my sake. Nicko if your sister really is in love, then we’ll have to find a Dominique from another reality. That means you’ll have two sisters called Dominique on your world.”
I packed myself some sandwiches, a cold drink and taking a good book I’d been meaning to read for a long time, I went to a spot close by the river that was secluded. Not more than an hour later Sebura with Birshima and Bobby came by. Sebura veered towards me so I put down my book.
“Samantha, we are here to change this world?” I nodded. “You have finished changing your world and mine and need a new world to change?” Robbie repeated what he’d said and everyone laughed. The person who burst out into the loudest laughter was Campbell. He asked Robbie whether he’s allowed under the terms of our truce to quote Sebura.
“Sit with me, you too Birshima. I’ve noticed that the two of you have been keeping each other company. Is it because of your proposed stay with Kiris? Bobby, would you like to sit next to me?”
“We will be family Samantha, it is good that we know each other before then.”
“I think it is time the two of you see a full telling about Kiris so that you know what kind of world you will be living in. I wish I could share with both of you during the telling so as to feel your reactions to the way he handled the changes that were forced on him by us, but I cannot. Birshima, since I have to choose only one of you, may I choose you?”
Sebura said, “I have seen him in a telling Samantha.”
Birshima nodded, “I saw him in the dreams Robert shared.”
“Neither of you saw enough to understand the man. Just as you can sense that this Robert is unique, so is Kiris. Sebura, when his story began he was Sebura the rider when he first met me. All he cared about was power. What is extraordinary about him is that we had little to do with the way he changed. Perhaps we could say that Nericha changed him more than Cherine did.” I grinned. “Sebura, have you ever seen the fire warrior of Birshima? Bobby, wouldn’t you like to see it - I would.”
“Like Fiera, it want to kill me?”
It is very rarely that anyone (apart from his parents and Birshima) touches Bobby. I softly put a finger under his chin and pulled it up so as to stare into his icy eyes. He stared back at me without pulling away. “Bobby, you are a frightening boy, not because of your shield, but because of the way you look. Do you know what is amazing about you? That in spite of the cold way you look at people, you are loved by more people than anyone else in all the worlds. Do you now remember when you died? When the children on our worlds saw what happened to you, they all cried and demanded that you be brought back to life. I’ll tell you something else that nobody seems to have told you. Because of you Bobby, the lives of all the people that exist, even those that don’t look like us,” I pointed up at the spaceships to make certain he understood, “their lives were changed because you were loved so much. One day, when you understand what the person who is writing about us did, you will then understand that he was forced to write for you to come into our lives because everyone loved you.”
“Why I look different?”
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I took a twig and scratched into the soil two circles to represent the brain and a face. “The brain tells our face to smile or frown or look angry. For us, this is how the brain is connected to the face.” I traced lines to the muscles of the face and explained how the instructions from the brain move the lips and so on and then sketched a second brain and face. “This is how your brain is connected. Can you see that they are different? Bobby, it does not matter. You and we are Cherinians and we can sense that when it looks as if you hate us, you are actually filled with love. That is all that matters.”
When we returned to the taverna, Bobby’s hand in mine, his Cherine asked to speak to me alone. We jumped to my apartment and she instantly hugged me. “What you said to Bobby, thank you. We should have explained as you did instead of trying to bury his worries with hugs and kisses.”
I was curious. “Since you cannot sense him, how do you know that what I did was good for him?”
“He held your hand when you walked back, didn’t he?”
Robbie decided it was time to go after Alki. They’ll need him and it will be more difficult for a child (Wendy, Aganthi and any others we collect) to adjust to a man coming back to life. Alki asked Robbie to take him with. Taking Robert, Cherine and Alki, they left. Robbie showed Robert and Cherine how to hold a soul and when Alki arrived in the void they took turns holding him and sharing love motes so that he bonds to them. Alki is a very private person, so his body was not materialised in public, we used a guest bedroom. He was covered before he became conscious and us girls waited in the sitting room. They took a couple of hours to come out, for he needed a lot of explanations - he’d not been alive when Robert and Cherine went public.
Everyone was told that the next night our loves plan to do a detailed telling of the life of Kiris. On the night, for the first time our new Cherinians saw the mass of aliens in Freddie, for they all wanted to watch. To give them time to settle and concentrate on the telling, our loves had to begin about two hours later than we’d said.
Birshima saw deeper into Kiris than I’d expected whereas Sebura (he shared with Haven) saw him more superficially because he kept on trying to identify with him. I had not expected it to work out that way. At least they are both likely to become friends with him.
Robbie went to stand on the platform between the girls to speak to all of us. “It is not often I view a telling as one of you, but I have no direct memories of the years I spent as part of Kiris. Watching the telling tonight made me realise that I had the wrong idea about souls. I don’t know about everyone else, but I did tend to view souls as very fragile energy forms. It just goes to show that I did not think it through. We know that souls can be sent across galaxies by the void and we even have the example of Noname who survived against unbelievable odds a journey that would make me break out in sweat just to imagine. My immersion within Kiris is another example. It seems that beyond the energy that makes up a soul, there is something extra, a mind or ego. I can’t help wondering what they are made out of since they do not seem to be created out of the same energy as souls. Could it be that the mind exists within the motes that make up the soul? Shouldn’t that make the mind more fragile - or does it mean that, as building blocks of the motes, they are more durable and are the attraction that holds the motes together, creating a soul? That thought is almost the opposite of what we’ve believed till now and I’m not claiming it is so, just that we must investigate, experiment and ask a thousand new questions.
I wanted to make public my thoughts so as to remind ourselves that we have only scratched the surface of knowledge waiting for us to be discovered. The main reason for the telling tonight was thanks to Samantha deciding to send Sebura and Birshima to live with Kiris. They will be living there in the bodies of Kabetu and will present themselves as a family; as brother and sister. I envy them the adventure they will live through, for they will learn and grow in new directions.
Thank you for sharing this evening with us and now that it is over, why don’t we play some music and have a party for Vincent and Kirsten. Perhaps they will be ready to tell us afterwards where they wish to go for their tenth honeymoon.”
The party started with laughter and the questions Robbie asked were soon forgotten, but we knew that they will remember and search for answers - I suspect the Sparklers will be even more determined to succeed than the others.
Wendy was found. She’d died in England. When she died, her father took her tiny body out to sea and wrapped her in chains and weights and then dropped her overboard about fifty kilometres distant from the shore. After six weeks he reported her as missing and the police found no reason to suspect him.
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This has been the most difficult Wendy to heal. Robbie almost lived in the mind of Robert so as to help and guide him and still it took twenty days before Robbie was confident that she is on the road to recovery and left her to Robert and Cherine to heal with their love.
Campbell is impressed by the transformation of Robert. For months all our efforts to build him up did not seem to be affecting him as we wanted. Then, first of all, he now goes to the void and is eagerly waiting for when our Sparklers find their alternates of his reality. Going to the void changed him drastically. Before that he could not help thinking of himself as being superior to Robbie on moral grounds - now that he’s had to make love to Rosie his mind has lost that smirk of superiority. He even accepts that it will not be long before Wendy needs to be loved by him. The other change that has played a major role in helping him grow emotionally is the fact that his circle of family and friends is growing so fast. As Robert had hoped, his compulsion to be their protector has forced him to grow stronger - despite the misery of his Cherine and Rosie; they hate seeing him change, but accept it is necessary.
Sebura is the only person who refuses to bend and is still unfriendly towards Campbell and remains guarded. I have no wish for him to change, as he must remain on guard for dangers from all directions when he is back home. At first he did not open much to Birshima because he thought of her as a child from a similar background to his. As he learnt more about her and listened to what her thoughts were, without realising it he opened up and soon was confiding his thoughts to her. She is proud and straight, just like her mother, so when she thinks he is wrong she’ll argue the point.
After some soul searching, it was decided that Robbie would go as the void to spy on Dominique, without us telling the local Robert and Cherine. If he senses she is happy and in a stable relationship, he will withdraw. If he senses she does not love her husband, then he is permitted to monitor her for longer. Once we had agreed, Robbie asked Campbell to visit us at home and he confided to him what we propose doing and asked him to keep it a secret for now.
“Why have you told me?”
“Samantha has told us that you will be like Samuel King, a policeman who stops us from straying from our ideals. We are worried about the ethics of what I am about to do, but we feel that ultimately Dominique will also benefit if she is not in a relationship that will last, whereas I’ll immediately stop monitoring her if she is happy.”
Campbell glanced at me. “Do you expect me to make a judgement and would you refrain from doing what you plan if I object?”
I shook my head. “No, we have already accepted that we do not have the right to do what we will do, but we will go ahead because we love our own Dominique and therefore want her alternate to have the future she has. What I think my father is saying, is that by you knowing, we cannot just sweep it under the rug.”
“But I would not have the right to tell our world what you did?”
“Whatever gave you that idea? You would not be very effective as a policeman if you could not speak freely. Arthur, having the right, places a responsibility on you - you should only decide to speak if you expect to achieve something good, not just for promoting yourself. We will not comment on your reasons if you do use the information for the wrong reasons, but then you will cease to hold the position we’ve entrusted you with.”
I have deliberately not mentioned Michael for some time now, because I am displeased with him. He’s seen and sensed what it cost Robbie and me to change with regard to Campbell and though he made a couple of comments that could be construed as constructive, after that he mostly sat back and watched with inner amusement, but kept himself shut off from Campbell. He is the leader of his people and has to beware of betraying them, but then, so are we leaders of our people, and yet we’ve dared to take the risk because we see that our Arthur was right; it is time for us to actively do our best to help Campbell grow.
Robbie returned from monitoring Dominique and we sensed he was troubled. Dommi demanded to know what is wrong and Robbie sighed.
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“Nothing is ever as simple as I expect it to be. She is happy and loves him but…their relation is not healthy. He is overbearing and is stunting her.”
“Share with me.” Reluctantly he did and for the first time ever Dommi jumped to a ledge to be by herself. Cherine waited for an interval she decided was necessary and then with a grin jumped to be with Dommi - she was not paying her back for doing the same thing to her countless times, she was ignoring her need for privacy and jumped as soon as she knew Dommi was ready for her. One of the wonders of Robbie is that he understands many of the games his wives play with each other and we felt his amusement as his heart and love for both Cherine and Dommi went with Cherine. Gosh, that turned into such a convoluted sentence when all I wanted to say was that Robbie, as ever, lives in our hearts. No wonder he’s not a ‘man’s-man’ as he’s said of himself.
Dommi asked, “Robert, can your world survive without you for a few years? It would not be fair to break up Dominique’s marriage at this time, as she thinks she is happy. It also would not be fair to her to bring another Dominique. I have a feeling that she is slowly becoming disillusioned with her husband, but is hiding the fact from herself. She soon won’t be able to hide the truth from herself and then we’ll make our moves.”
Robbie nodded. “Alki, how about we use these years for you and your alternate to build up a fortune for supporting my family’s alternates? You’ll also have to bring in Themi and it would not hurt if you spent some time in England wooing Marian. Dommi and I will bring in and prepare Natalie so that she’s ready for Themi.”
Our Alki looked at Alki. “Isn’t it strange how, whichever reality they come from, the young always think they are wiser than their elders? Shall we go meet Elias while Roberto finds Hettie and Eddie for us?”
Campbell thought to make a joke. “What am I supposed to do while you all dash around reordering people’s lives?”
I grinned. “I’ll offer you the choice, first go at either your alternate or else Hettie and Eddie.” His face froze with shock and Robbie, soon followed by my loves, jumped home to hide their amusement. “I’m sorry you can’t have both, I should also have something to keep me busy.”
“If you’re serious about it, I’ll take Hettie and Eddie.” He smiled. “You’re welcome to have a go at my alternate, I doubt he’ll have any powers.”
“Are you certain? Having him on my side means I would have a source for understanding you better - I thought you don’t agree with us that the better your enemy knows you the stronger you are. As for Hettie, you better ask Robert to open some new powers for you, otherwise she’ll make mincemeat of you. A suggestion, first check which of the two, Hettie or Eddie, is a softie, and go for that one first, I don’t think you could deal with both of them if they fight you.” Campbell looked around, surprised at how quickly the taverna had emptied.
“What’s going on?”
“I guess everyone has someone they want to help join the Cherinians of this reality.” I sat at his table opposite him. “Arthur, don’t let yourself become tempted by my offer. What I really think you should do is offer to go with my Robert when he searches for Hettie and Eddie. By helping him you’ll learn much more that would be of use to you back home than having them as your allies would. No Hettie or Eddie has successfully fought Robbie, so what is the point of wasting the opportunity we’re offering you?” I felt Cherine’s hackles rising and grinned at him. “You are desperately wondering why I want you to learn and become stronger? Have you forgotten what I told you about you being our ally in the future? I suspect the enemy will be someone not only very powerful but also ruthless and the stronger you are the more effective you’ll be in helping us save lives of the innocent.” Cherine sent me a rueful smile.
Sebura had stayed to listen and with a dark look into my eyes he turned and walked away. I left Campbell and followed Sebura. I touched his arm and he stopped. “What’s wrong?”
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“Nothing.” I just continued looking at him. “You play with a man as powerful as him as if he were only a Sebura. Sometimes I see too deeply into you and it frightens me.”
“Have I ever used my mind or gifts to harm anyone Sebura? What is there to fear?”
“The future that must be as you demand it to be.” I let him walk away, stopped cold in my tracks. Robbie jumped to me and wrapped me in his arms and jumped us back home.
“Sebura is growing faster than you expected? Sam, he only said what most Cherinians think. The difference is that most of them know what you want and hope you succeed. Give Sebura time to understand.” He gave me a grin. “I must admit that what you’re doing with Campbell does get scary at times - sending him with me to Hettie and Eddie!” I sent him more love than he knows what to do with and allowed myself the luxury of settling into his lap for a few minutes so as to listen to his heartbeats.
I decided I’ll do what will please me most. I asked Jodine and Ashia to come with me to find the local Allan. In many of the realities he is not a paedophile, so we aged ourselves to about twenty. We found him in London, living in Eaton Square. I rang his bell.
“Who is it?”
“My name is Samantha, may we come upstairs for a few minutes?”
“We? Who is we?”
“Two girls, Jodine and Ashia.”
“Are you friends of Bobby?”
We looked at each other, surprised and not quite certain how to answer. “Yes.”
“Just tell her to piss off will you? Goodbye.” That cracked us up and we stood there laughing, hanging on to each other.
“Not quite the kind of Allan you’re used to.” Ashia said with a grin.
I shrugged. “And I’m not the kind of Samantha he’s used to.” While they laughed I rang the bell again. I had to keep on pressing the buzzer until he became angry and answered. He shouted at me so I shouted back at him, demanding an apology.
“Well, you’ve certainly got balls. Hold on, I’m coming down.”
“He wants to be able to slam the door in our faces.” Ashia said.
“Not when he sees what we look like.” Jodine reassured us.
As he opened the door I asked, “Do you speak Greek?”
“I don’t answer questions from strangers. If you’re not from Bobby, what do you want?”
“We’re not from this planet. How would you like to see our spaceship?”
He tilted his head to one side. “Who’s your boss?”
“Boss?” Not the reaction I’d expected. “Uh, Robert.”
“Please pass on my congratulations to Uh Robert for a brilliant marketing ploy, but I do not like discos. Better luck next time girls.” He shut the door on us. As my companions doubled over with laughter I jumped into the lobby just as he reached the door of the elevator. Surprised he turned.
“I’m certain I closed…” He saw the outer door was closed. “How did you get in?”
“Hold on, I’ll show you.” I jumped back out to the girls, waved to him and jumped back. “Now, are you going to invite us in?”
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He got the shakes real bad. “What do you want with me?”
“Are you writing a story?”
“No.”
“Do you dream of a Cherine?”
“Which Cherine?” He paled even further. “You’re not talking about the one who died? I had nothing to do with that.”
“Of all the Allans I’ve met you certainly take the cake - talk about defensive! Now let my wives in so that we can talk in privacy.”
“Wives? Allans?” He sagged against the wall. “Who are you? What do you want with me. If you’re looking for Allan the Australian guy, he’s skipped the country. Did he sell you a sports car and then disappear, is that what this is all about? He cheated me also, but I’ve traced him to Miami. If you wait here I’ll bring you his address.”
“You’re the Allan I want - I’ll explain about the change of your name just now. I was serious about the spaceship, would you freak out if we take you to one?”
“Yes.” The girls jumped to me and touching him we returned to Freddie.
“This is Freddie, our spaceship.”
He collapsed to the ground and Maria came out with a whiskey for him. He brought it to his lips and stretched his arm out to give the glass back. “I’m sorry, I hate the stuff.” He took another look around him and swallowed all the whiskey with one gulp.
I sat on the ground next to him. “Allan, nobody intends harming you. We thought you would enjoy visiting a spaceship.”
“This isn’t a spaceship, it’s a whole damn world! What are those trees? Are they homes? Is that where you keep us?”
“Keep who? Oh, you haven’t been abducted, we’ve only borrowed you for a while and we’ll return you as soon as you decide you want to go home.”
“Could I go home now please?”
I didn’t want him to call me a liar so I jumped us back to the entrance of his apartment and returned us to Freddie. “See how easy that was? Allan, I asked you whether you speak Greek. Do you?”
“Not really. I’ve forgotten most of what I learnt as a child. Is that really what you look like? I find it highly unlikely that aliens would look like us, you must be in disguise.”
“Are you certain you want to see what we really look like?”
“No, it’s fine, I like your disguise.” He sort of steeled himself. “Okay, let me see.” We changed back to little girls. By now half of Freddie was laughing hysterically, but luckily he could not sense them. He looked affronted for a moment, his face a pasty white. “I’m not comfortable with children, I prefer you as you were. Is this really what you are like or are you making fun of me? Not that I mind, anything to keep visiting aliens happy you know.”
I grinned. “Allan, you’re going to kick yourself afterwards. Look, Maria has brought out some grilled lamb chops, chips and salad. If you prefer you can have a beer with your meal.” I made him get up and sit next to me as Maria piled the food before us. “I’m going to tell you a story while you eat. Enjoy your food and listen without interrupting. You can ask any questions you want once I’ve finished. Okay? So, once upon a time there was a man we call Allan and he was lonely and bored and he began to write a story about a girl called Cherine and a man called Robert…”
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He’d eaten and drunk three coffees before I ended. “As you should have understood by now, we come from an alternate reality and your Robert and Cherine Teller are our local alternates. Allan, we’ve come to help, so stop being afraid of us.”
“All Allans, you said…there are more realities?”
“More than can be counted. Don’t you know anything about alternate realities or probability worlds?”
“I’m sorry, I’m not much into science or science fiction.”
“Oh? What are you into?”
“I lean more towards reading the classics that have proven to be worth reading, you know, like Crime and Punishment?”
“It was clever of him using a psychological truth known by everybody to write a novel. I’m not certain that all criminals would return to the scene of the crime - I think most of them tend to stay away and try to forget about it?”
“But that’s the point, he was not really a criminal…you’re making fun of me.”
“What do you do for a living?”
“I trade on the Stock Exchange. I buy and sell shares - for my own account.”
“You must be successful to be living in Eaton Square.”
“I do okay, the trick is not to get greedy.” He decided he could not wait any longer and that he was only torturing himself by postponing the inevitable. “You didn’t bring me here to discuss literature or the buying and selling of shares. What is it you want with me? Are you going to use me for vivisection? It would make much more sense to take bodies from mortuaries you know. This way you waste money on feeding me and energy teleporting me backward and forwards. Yes, grabbing the already dead makes much more sense and nobody’s feelings get hurt. Wouldn’t you say it has aesthetic merit?”
I think I could quite easily make it a hobby of mine, going from reality to reality to introduce Allans to us. They always seem to find a new way of astounding us. I cruelly played along and got into an argument with him as to whether it would be aesthetically pleasing the way he claimed and as I’ve come to expect of any Allan, he got caught up in his argument and almost forgot to fear us for a brief moment.
He crumpled his empty cigarette packet and Maria walked out with a fresh one for him. I was amused when he caught her by surprise by asking for another coffee. Almost apologetically he told us that she makes a very good cappuccino.
“Allan, I’ve had my fun, but the rest of the family will soon want to come to eat…” He turned white again, but I pretended not to notice. “We’ll have supper, I think Maria has prepared chicken with mpamies (okra) and mashed potato, and then I’ll return you home. I hope you’ll want to return to visit.”
He finally became curious when he met Robert and Robbie and the rest of us. He only recognised his Cherine, as ours is an eight year old and Tseri is about a year younger. When we finished our meal, Wendy sang a new composition of hers and he was spellbound, finally falling in love with one of us!
I was mercilessly teased that night about Allan, but everyone wants him back tomorrow. This time I jumped alone and knocked on the door to his apartment. He opened and stared at me for a moment and then apologised and made way for me to enter. He brought me a cold drink and sat opposite me.
“Would you like to visit us again?”
“Samantha, it is overwhelming coming there and I don’t understand half of what you tell me. Could we sit here as you explain to me again why you are here and what you want with me?” At lunchtime he brought out various hams, salamis and bread-rolls. I enjoyed it and complimented him on his cooking. For the first time he smiled at my joke.
“I envy the Allans you’ve told me about, if even half of it is true. I don’t have their imagination and my life has been empty of the love and family you speak of.”
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“You don’t have brothers and sisters?”
“My parents stayed in Kenya because my father bought a farm. I was sent to school in Nairobi and my parents were among the first white people killed by the Mau-maus. At that time Kenya was British so I was sent to an orphanage here. No uncles or other family asked for me, so I grew up in the orphanage.
As a young adult I had a boring job that barely paid enough to feed me, but I managed to save a small amount each week. I used to read the financial pages of the newspaper at work because they were the only pages nobody else wanted. One day I read that a company is about to make an announcement. It rang a bell and when I recalled that about ten months earlier they’d announced their crops had been good, I guessed they have good news. Hardly able to breathe I drew my savings and invested them in shares of the company. I made nearly thirty percent within weeks.
I’ve always been taught that if something is too good to be true, then it is. I decided that adage has probably crippled more people than anything else I could think of at that time. Carefully I studied the companies and made small purchases. I had a success ratio of seven out of ten and never stayed in to maximise my profits. My broker told me about a new company that was to be listed in a few weeks and he suggested I take some shares. I read what I could about them and then ordered one hundred pounds worth of shares. My broker insisted I should buy more and I could not tell him I did not have more cash, so I said that my money was already tied up in other shares. He gave me credit and I purchased two thousand pounds worth. I spent three weeks chewing my nails and that was the time I started smoking. I was convinced I’d lose my money and be arrested for fraudulently obtaining credit. On the day the company shares were quoted on the board they rose by seventy percent. I gave the sell order and made a clear one thousand two hundred pounds. I gave up my job and that is how I’ve lived since then.
I don’t have friends and don’t belong to any clubs, as I spend my days studying shares. I’m not much of a lady’s man, I can’t think of what to say when I’m in the company of girls and the way they look down on me has me running back to my apartment the minute I can get away. Even should you disappear and never return, you’ve brought colour into my life and I’ve had a unique experience. I never expected to be so lucky - even if it terrified me. Thank you Samantha.”
“To be loved, you have to be capable of loving. Allan, you need to spend some time with us. When we leave, come with and we’ll get you back home within weeks of leaving. It will change your life and I bet you’ll even find someone to love.”
“I can’t Samantha. To do the trading I do, I have to have a feel for it. The feel is not some gift or talent I have, it comes from the unbroken study of shares.”
“So you don’t trade for a few weeks until you get the feel for it again; isn’t that worth losing for the experience of travelling with us to other worlds?”
It was only after I returned home and got over my anger at his obtuseness that I realised why he refused me. He was not afraid of losing money or of travelling with us. He was terrified of Wendy!
When I shared with my loves, asking for hints on how I should deal with the problem, Wendy could not believe what I showed them and then the way she felt placed us under obligation to Allan big time. She has been loved by strangers, but never so hopelessly, and Robbie sat quietly without emoting jealousy, just pleasure at feeling our Wendy. I don’t think he knew what else to do. Cassie of course teased Wendy about her being an old woman of over a hundred years before being loved like this.
The next morning Wendy asked me to take her to Allan. When he opened the door and saw her the pain in his eyes was obvious, we did not need to sense his emoting. As with other Allans, when hurting he withdrew into himself and we could barely get a word out of him. Wendy asked me (telepathically) to make an excuse and leave. We shared with her from Freddie.
“Allan, I’m here because I’m trying to find a way to avoid hurting you.”
“I’d rather not have this discussion if you don’t mind.”
She gave an understanding smile. “I’d also prefer not to, but then I’ll go back to Freddie and not feel nice about myself.”
7550
Coldly he said to her, “I guess we can’t have that happening, you must feel nice about yourself. That’s all that matters, isn’t it?” Robbie stopped those of us who wanted to jump to her. Wendy is not used to anyone speaking like that to her and she was hurting.
As if it defended her from her pain she began to hum. She realised what she was doing and stopped, afraid her pain might be shown to him. She is aware by now of what a powerful weapon her singing can be and she did not want to cause him further pain.
Allan’s face turned red with anger. “I’m sorry, that was cruel of me! Wendy, I’ve understood that you are all telepathic and can sense how I feel, but that does not make you responsible - nobody is responsible, not even me. I’d like to tell you something, but I don’t want to hurt you.”
She looked directly into his eyes and he found himself confused, he was certain her eyes had been a lovely dark blue, not pale as they were now. “Go ahead Allan, if you do not mean to hurt me I’ll understand.”
“I’m glad I fell in love with you.”
“But I can never love you.”
He grimaced. “You did not need to tell me. Wendy, I’ve never loved and did not expect to. At least I can now say that I have loved. It’s worth the pain, thank you.”
Confused and miserable, Wendy returned to Freddie.
Robbie waited to be certain Wendy was accepting whatever comfort we could provide her with and then jumped to Allan. His face turned white and he came to his feet.
“Relax, I’m here as a friend.”
“Not likely is it? If you were a friend you’d have the tact to leave me alone.”
“God, you’re…I know what I should do, I should ask Meli to write a story about you and she can call it The Hedgehog Man.”
“Fine. Send me a copy if she does. Was there anything else you needed to tell me?”
“I’m extending the invitation from Samantha, I want you to stay in Freddie for a while. You might still love Wendy by the end of the trip or you might also be in love with Diana or Goldi or, who knows, even Candy - though if you do I’ll know for certain that you’re a perv. She’s our precious Peter Pan, for over a hundred years she’s remained six years old. Do you know who Candy is?” He cocked his head, waiting for an answer. “Okay, I’ll tell you anyway. She is the part of Wendy that existed before Wendy was tortured, that is why she doesn’t want to grow up. Get to know her, she’s really special.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The torture? When we found her she was dying, her father had tortured and sexually abused her for years.”
Allan collapsed onto the sofa and stared at Robbie with a white face. He put his face in his hands. “I didn’t know. God, how could I have talked to her like that?”
“Allan, come to Freddie and try to become her friend. You were not told that we found a Wendy from your world; she died and her father threw her body into the sea. We’ve brought her back to life and she’ll need you as a friend.”
I doubt that Allan understood what Robbie told him, but he answered, “Anything, just give me the chance to apologise.”
Robbie put on his stern face. “Not with you as you are now, you’d only hurt her. I’ll return tomorrow to bring you to Freddie, make certain you’re finished with this self-flagellating mood by then so that you can become her friend.”
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)- posted: 9th Jly, 2020
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