My eyes found Marian and saw her face wet with tears. She stared back at me and I saw so much love that I forgot the song and the danger we were in for a moment. I thought to myself, if the gifts of Cherine can make someone like Marian love me, then they truly are miraculous and worth whatever we have to endure.
687
The song finished as the battle turned into a warmth of love for the enemy and the golden glow brought all home to be held forever in the warmth of love. For all who had lived our turbulent two years the song made sense, but I wondered how Maria-Elena and her parents were interpreting it. Even with the emotions the song projected, it could not make sense to them. There was a stunned silence as Wendy hid her face again and went to sit among the girls.
*Cherine, how could you do this? She is bound to tell at school, and her parents, how do we explain to them?* *Tell them Robert. It is time. I am sick of worrying about her and Pavlo. Let this be my birthday gift from you.* *You keep expecting me to do miracles my love.* She sent me her feeling of trust in me.
Savva showed again how perceptive he is. “Roberto you did not know this was to happen?”
“No. They did not warn me.”
“Ahh, so you have a problem with Mr Kent and his wife?” I looked at them. There was not only awe in their eyes, there was fear too. Their daughter had run off with the girls, only excited by what she had seen and felt. He continued, “Mr Kent, I had the same shock the first time it happened to me. The little girl, Cherine, she has decided you are to be trusted and this family always accept her judgement. You see here some very influential people - I do not include myself, as you know I am only a police officer. If they and I could sit and listen and keep an open mind, will you?”
“Actually officer, I am quite excited by what we saw. I admit it is frightening to suddenly see what we dreamt about, come true. My wife and I have an avid interest in the paranormal. We often experiment on our own, though sadly without positive results. It began when we read a book about experiments being conducted behind what was known as the Iron Curtain.”
“You better tell your story then Roberto.”
“I met Cherine two year ago. She was a …” I told the story as I have a number of times. The difference was that they kept asking questions. I studiously avoided mentioning the sexual side of it and I think, lacking the cynicism of Savva, they did not even think of it, though the fact must have stared them in the face. The others, though they all had heard the details before, listened avidly. I suppose no tale gets told exactly the same way twice and they probably were hoping for details I had left out before.
“Remarkable Robert, most remarkable. Is there any possibility of you showing us any of that?”
“The dancing can be arranged. What would you like to see. Someone age before your eyes?” As I was speaking I aged to the equivalent of being in my sixties. Their eyes were popping out. When I returned to my age and shrank as I went down to about twelve, his wife got the giggling fits. I saw he strongly disapproved, but I smiled at her.
“It is quite a shock isn’t it? Now I have to tell you, Cherine has been pestering me for a long time to get her friend to join and develop her own gifts. Our problem was we could not do so without your involvement. When she pulled this trick on us, forcing my hand, I was worried she might have got carried away by her desire to see her friend safe.”
“She has never given you reason to doubt her Robert.” I found this deliciously funny. That Marian should be defending her from me.
I tried to use logic, as I sensed he is the kind of man who only responds well to logical arguments. “I presume you feel you need time to think this over. For Cherine’s sake I must point out, now that we have told you and offered you the opportunity to join us, it would be doubly tragic should you leave here without joining us, without exchanging ‘motes’ with us and something were to happen. Your souls would not ‘call’ to us, to the protector, so you would be lost to the void.”
“Still, this is a big decision to take. I am not in the habit of jumping ahead without due consideration. I would prefer to take my time, we will have to chance it.” Savva pulled a face, reminded of similar words he had spoken when he had been invited to join us. I gave him a smile of understanding.
688
His wife turned around to him, her face livid, suddenly not the meek little wife I thought he’d turned her into. “How dare you take such a decision for all of us. I will not risk anything happening to my daughter.” She turned to me. “Robert, could we do this before leaving here?”
“Yes we could, but it would not be fitting that you come to us with your husband disapproving. May I make a suggestion? We will all go out to have a bite to eat and Dommi will put together some plates of cold meats for you. I also have a job to do, so that would give you a few hours. Mr Kent, would that be enough?”
“If I am to keep calling you Robert, it would be more appropriate to call us by our first names. My wife is called Persephone, we just call her Percy. My name, and please do not even think of trying Clark Kent, is Jonathan.” I found his humour funny, despite him, but kept quiet; it would not have earned me any brownie points if I’d mentioned that the foster father of Superman is called Jonathan Kent.
“If you are to call me Percy, then you must call him Jonah. When I first met him he was rather overweight and he disarmed me by calling himself Jonah the whale. The name stuck.”
I gave her a smile, “I think I better stick to Jonathan or else he will start calling me Rob, which I dislike.” Keith grinned as my words brought back memories.
We started with the travel agent; she worked out the itinerary and promised to call once all flights are confirmed and the ticket is ready. My thrifty Cherine thought it was stupid of me to book a round trip, but I foresaw they would be doing a bit of shopping and we cannot jump loaded with goods, nor could I return without an immigration stamp.
Maria-Elena was excited and was continually whispering with the girls. We had brought her with as the girls refused to leave her and Pavlo. They said, if anything happens to them while they were with us, Cherine can save their souls.
I wanted to buy Cherine a nice birthday present and took her into a jewellery shop to buy her a watch for her birthday. She disappointed me by choosing a colourful but cheap one. Maybe I can convince her to choose something nicer once we are in Taiwan.
Elia would not let me pay for the meal. Even with the cheque in my pocket I did not insist, feeding so many people was not inexpensive. At the table, Nicko sat next to Diana and I noticed them having a very private chat. I kept out of her mind, but she let me know Nicko had wanted to know whose idea it was for her to become pregnant. She told him the truth and with a look of resignation he accepted it.
Annabelle asked, “Diana, have you thought of names for the twins?”
“I want to call the one Cherine and the other Dominique. After all, they are my mothers.” Even the two girls saw how confusing this would get and Diana was able to sense we did not like the idea. We insisted she choose names unrelated to us.
When Cherine gave a little squeak and hugged her friend, she did not have to explain, I knew we can now return home.
For those readers who have not understood, when they speak using telepathy, what they say is enclosed within stars, and the thoughts exchanged are in italic.
e.g *Hi, I bet you are wishing you could read thoughts.*?
Αλέξανδρος Ζήνον Ευσταθίου
(Alexander Zenon Eustace)5th August, 2018
- posted on Steemit: 5th August, 2018
