Chapter 163: Goodbyes (Part 1)

Sunday, June 20, 1971

Goodbyes are always hard. This goodbye was no exception, even though I knew I would be coming back to the reservation in the not-too-distant future.

The Omugi had welcomed me with open arms. We had fought together and now we were united in an even greater quest to vanquish the twin evils of illiteracy and poverty on the reservation. So it was hard to say goodbye. It was hard to say goodbye to Dawn as well. I offered to fly Dawn out to the White House dinner next week, but she claimed that she couldn’t leave right now. Especially with the grants coming, all the repairs to be made, and the first steps to be taken towards building a new heritage for the reservation. One built on better education and opportunities to raise the Omugi’s standard of living.

Telling Anna goodbye was tougher, even though she promised to meet us in Washington, DC next week. I loved the ranch and would love nothing better than to go back there with Anna, who was escorting Wilheinda and Tabita there to meet with her father, their futures uncertain at this point. Dawn was sending two of her people to escort them and Anna promised me she would stay in touch with Vickie for the whole length of the drive back to the ranch.

I also found out I’d be saying goodbye to Natalie as she was going to be leaving the train in Dallas to fly to North Carolina. She had been accepted in the pre-med program at Anna’s alma mater, Duke University, and had too much to do to wait on us to get her there by train.

“I think ... the next time I see you, I might finally be ready to give you a special gift!” she whispered in my ear before kissing me passionately. Then, breaking away, she started for the train without looking back.

Finally, as Rose and Eve led me away, I was surprised that they weren’t as upset about leaving as I was. I decided they must be anxious to start their journey of exploration, traveling on the train and going to New York and Tennessee.

“We can’t wait to get you alone,” Eve said, squeezing my arm tightly as we headed for the train.

Oh well, I was wrong on that one. It wasn’t the first time, especially when it came to women.

Eve and I were naked in my berth before the train ever left the reservation.

“Michael?” Vickie thought to me sometime later. “They’re serving dinner, if you and Eve are hungry.”

“Are we hungry?” I asked Eve.

“Only for more of what I’ve been having,” she said as she rolled back on top of me, kissing me hungrily.

I forgot all about responding to Vickie’s inquiry then. However, when I finally collapsed on top of Eve, sometime later that afternoon, it occurred to me that I would probably have to go through all this again tomorrow night with Rose.

“Such is life!” I thought. “At least my life.”

Looking back, I think it was the sheer giddiness of having faced almost certain death and then living to tell about it. Having spent both my seed and my emotional ballast, I fell sound asleep beside the now sleeping Eve.

When I awoke, an hour or so later, I felt drained, but somehow refreshed. I had fulfilled the expectations that Narvenia and Spiro had selected me for, and now, I was ready to get on with living. I did not need the adrenalin rush of constant stimulation from facing death, or saving the planet. Just keeping up with my overly large family was excitement enough. And although some might call them my harem, I knew there was so much more to each of them than the word implies.

Eve, of course, was gone. I habitually lifted my left wrist to look at the time.

“Damn!” I thought. “I have got to get me another watch!”

The train was still rocking along and I had no idea where we were. Hell, I didn’t even know what time it was. I could see it was dark, but judging by the activity on the crowded train, it must not have been too late.

I scanned for Eve and found her in a stateroom. She was busy talking with Julie, Jenny, and her sister, filling them in on all the particulars, so I didn’t bother them. I jumped in the shower and then threw on my shorts and an Izod with the gator on it, since I was out of clean t-shirts, and headed for the Dining Car. I was starved!

Catherine was talking with Kalani and Debbie in the parlor of our car as I emerged from my stateroom, but I only nodded at them as I grunted, “Food,” and continued on my way. They all smiled knowingly, then resumed their conversation.

In the Dining Car, Serkia and Pipiti were in the first booth, talking with Shelly. I quickly figured out that they were working on Pipiti’s English. Vie was seated in the booth across the aisle from them, in some serious discussions with Ileana and Deedee. I stopped for a moment.

“The answer is YES,” I told Deedee and Ileana without waiting for the question. “I would love for Vie to join my security team. I’d like her to watch out for Abby, if Vie is okay with that,” I told them. “However, it has to be cleared by Penny, and we will have to work out her new papers and passport and all. It could take a while.”

They all began chattering together excitedly.

“Michael?” Ileana asked. “What about Deedee?”

I looked at Deedee carefully. We had barely spoken since the incident at the ranch two days ago.

Deedee didn’t look away.

“I guess Deedee and I need to talk. She has some decisions to make. Catherine and Anna are going to start the probate process on her parent’s estate when we get to DC. In the meantime, she is welcome to be wherever she wants to be. After our trip to Tapato, she’ll be my sister-in-law. But as far as I’m concerned, she’s already family,” I said, directing my comments to Ileana as I looked at Deedee.

“I guess I should apologize for what I did at the ranch,” Deedee said hesitantly. For some reason, I didn’t sense much remorse for having interrupted Abby and me as she had done. Instead, I sensed an inner turmoil that hadn’t been there before. One that had her agitated and confused.

“That’s your decision to make,” I told Deedee. The others thought I was referring to her apology, but Deedee knew I was talking about her abrupt sexual awakening at my hands the other day. Pandora’s Box had been opened, and now Deedee must decide for herself whether to pursue those feelings, or try to reestablish her old equilibrium and maintain both her virginity and her Vodoun priestess powers.

“I think I need to go back to New Orleans and see what I can recover of Mother and Daddy’s things,” Deedee said. I recognized that she also need some space. And some distance from me. “Izzy said she would come with me. Abby is coming as well. We’re going to rent a car when we get to Dallas and drive to Houston to get Izzy’s car. Then drive to New Orleans. We should be finished and in Washington in time for the State Dinner.”

I nodded sadly. More goodbyes.

“Thank you for understanding,” Deedee told me as I moved on towards the galley to hunt for leftovers.

“Tell me what you want,” Karla said behind me, just as I began to nose around in the galley.

“Anything. I’m starved,” I told her. “I haven’t eaten since the celebration, and that was hours ago.”

“I’m pretty sure that it’s not the length of time since you ate that has you so hungry,” she quipped. “At least not as much as how you have been spending your ... er, energy.”

I didn’t bother with a comeback. Instead, I ignored it and found a seat in the closest booth while I waited on Karla to fix me something.

Grace came through the Dining Car in a hurry, but stopped long enough to kiss me.

“You once offered me a job as your assistant,” Grace reminded me with a big smile. “Does the offer still hold?”

“Only if you promise to keep kissing me like that!” I replied quickly.

“Deal!” Grace said even quicker. Then she kissed me passionately again before continuing down the aisle.

I was grinning as Karla sat a plate in front of me, laden with a half dozen different foods. They all looked like they were leftovers from the Omugi’s celebration. As I dove in, Penny settled into the booth across from me.

“I need to hire some more people,” she said without preamble.

“Do it,” I told her, cutting off her planned plea to convince me to spend the money. “And ask Tommy if he would mind flying back to Tapato and escort Mikeya and A’komi to DC for the State Dinner next week.”

“He’s flying out of DFW in the morning, we’ll drop him off, along with Natalie, as we go through Dallas,” she informed me.

“More goodbyes,” I thought, “even if only for a week.”

“Any limits on the hiring?” Penny asked.

“Wisdom guided by experience was always Nero Wolfe’s mantra when he talked to Archie Goodwin,” I told her. I was a big fan of Rex Stout’s famous orchid growing detective.

Penny looked at me as if I had two heads.

“Use your best judgment. I trust you,” I told her.

“Then I think I’ll borrow David and Beth for a few weeks until I can get them in place,” Penny told me.

“You’ll have to take that up with their employer,” I replied.

“Are you okay with me hiring Serkia and Vie,” she asked.

“No problem,” I told her between bites.

“What about Unevia?” she asked.

I choked on the bite I was chewing before swallowing hard. “You want to hire Unevia?” I asked. “Talk about hiring illegal aliens!”

“They’re more likely to assimilate into our world if they have productive careers. I was thinking of leasing some room at the ranch and putting Unevia and your two new wives through a crash course in security for a couple of weeks,” Penny explained.

This time I spewed the mouthful of tamale I had just taken a bite of, all over Penny.

“New wives? What new wives?” I sputtered with some food still in my mouth.

Disgusted at my sudden expulsion of tamale on her blouse, Penny couldn’t help chuckling at my surprise. I began scanning her and then everyone else on the train, looking for whoever’s idea of a bad joke this was. It sounded like a ‘Julie’ kind of practical joke, but I still scanned everyone as I worked my way towards her room. I had ways of getting even.

“MICHAEL GREGORY WAGNER!” Catherine admonished me from the other car.

“What?” I replied angrily. New wives were not particularly a funny topic with me.

“You’re going to have to do something about that temper, Michael,” Catherine admonished. “In this case, you need additional information before you go blaming others for what YOU did!”

“I did?” I asked incredulously. I certainly didn’t recall acquiring a new wife, let alone two!

“We tried to warn you,” Jenny and Julie said at the same time.

I suddenly realized that Vickie was eavesdropping again, and had tied in some of the others. I could hear their various comments all rolling in at the same time, along with their merriment at my dilemma.

“As your attorney, I’d advise you to cool it until you have more facts,” Izzy told me as she entered the Dining Car, settling into the booth beside me. She winked at Penny who just smiled knowingly.

“Okay. What’s going on?” I asked Penny.

“Wait!” Izzy told her. “The others are on their way.”

I could already tell I was in deep doo-doo.

They weren’t marshaling to attack me, or even to defend anything. Instead, it was as if someone had said that there was about to be a wreck on the highway and they just wanted to watch. They were simply spectators, anxious to witness my disaster.

Jenny, Julie, Eve, and Rose came barreling into the Dining Car, laughing and chattering excitedly. Abby and Hanna followed, asking, “What’s going on?”

I looked at Izzy with the slow resignation of the condemned being lead to the gallows.

“It seems, Michael, that you’ve really stepped in it this time,” Izzy said. “Were you or were you not aware that when you give Narexxians a name, you are claiming them?”

“Oh, shit!” I thought. Now I began to understand, as I recalled giving Nina and Terry their names, yesterday, in the infirmary.

“They’re anxiously waiting on you to talk to them,” Izzy explained. “And the other two are on pins and needles, not knowing what you intend to do with them since they refused to answer you in the infirmary.”

“Yeah. They think you’re going to punish them and then sell them into some kind of harsh slavery or a whorehouse or something like that,” Julie supplied.

“But ... but didn’t you explain that it’s not that way here?” I asked them beseechingly.

“Oh, they tried,” Narvenia replied. I hadn’t seen her come in. “But it’s complicated. Even Unevia is a little worried. Their ways are very old, Michael. And they have lived with those ways, in some cases for what amounts to centuries of your time. It’s very difficult for them to understand your ways, or adapt to them so quickly. And they are having difficulty dealing with your relatively short lifespans.”

I considered what they told me. I didn’t want anyone to suffer on my account, but the last thing I needed was two more ... no, make that four more wives.

“I need to talk to them, now!” I told my audience. “Where are they?”

“Unevia’s with Kip in the parlor. The other four are in the stateroom next to Penny and Karla’s room,” Narvenia told me. I asked her to bring the four in the stateroom to the forward part of this car, which had originally been built for news conferences. Then I asked Kip to bring Unevia.

“I hope you’ll stay with me when I talk to them,” I thought to Narvenia as she headed to get them.

“I wouldn’t miss it for your world!” she thought back merrily.

As I rose from the booth to move to the front of the car, I noticed the other girls following me.

“Where do you think you all are going?” I asked.

“Are you kidding? We wouldn’t miss this for the world, either!” Jessica replied, grinning broadly.

“Yeah,” said Kathy Lynn, coming from the parlor just in front of Unevia and Kip. “Just keep it down. I finally got Sunny to sleep.”

I waved Unevia and Kip to a seat as I waited for the other four aliens. The girls were all talking about how well Sunny had behaved during the invasion when Vickie and Adriana entered.

“Thanks for letting us know what was about to happen, Vicks!” Kathy Lynn told her.

“Yeah,” several of the others chimed in. “We wouldn’t want to miss this!”

I flopped down in a seat to wait on the other four. I didn’t mind an audience. And it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. It was a small train and there were a lot of people on board right now.

Soon, Narvenia came back, leading the four aliens. I rose, and bid them all to be seated, unsure how to greet them.

“First, my name is Michael, and I want to welcome you aboard my train. It’s called the Rowena, and if you get the chance, you can talk to Catherine about how it got its name,” I told them. At the word ‘name’, they all perked up. “All the people from my world have a name, and I’d like to introduce them to you.” Then I proceeded to introduce everyone.

“I did that so you will see that a name is used here to designate people. It is not used to indicate ownership or ‘claiming’ someone. When I gave Nina and Terry their names, it was to facilitate ... to make it easier for you to fit in on our world. I did not know of your customs and did not intend to claim anyone.”

“So, you do not want us?” Nina asked.

“I didn’t say that,” I replied quickly. Too quickly. They could easily see my discomfort. “The truth is ... I already have several women. In fact, I currently share a special connection with twenty-three women. Plus a four-year-old, almost daughter, and Narvenia, who is from a different world as well. There’s also a fourteen-year-old who it appears will share a special connection with me in the future.”

When I said that, several of the girls looked at me, questioningly. However, I sensed Vickie immediately supplying them with Trealyn’s name. I was surprised that none of them were surprised at this. But it would have to wait until later.

“So, it’s not that I don’t want you, it’s just that I already have so many females. What I want to do is be responsible for you; at least until you decide you don’t want or need me. If, as Unevia has done, you find one of our species whom you are interested in, I will assist you in any way I can. I will also offer you food and shelter, and even meaningful employment. We will train you on the ways of our world, and help you become accustomed to our ways.”

“But who will control us?” one of the unnamed females asked me. It was the first one I had healed, the one with the shattered femur.

“If you need someone to control you, then generally, it’s up to you to choose who you want. However, on our world, we have many nations and societies. In most, controlling someone is usually frowned on. I personally believe that anyone, including each of you, may do or become whatever would make you happy,” I told them. “But because you are not from our world, I must warn you. You will have to do several things to keep anyone else from finding out. Not because you are not welcome, but simply because you would probably not be believed, and therefore shunned as someone who is not truthful, even though you are telling the truth. Visitors from other worlds are not known here, or even thought to exist. And there are governments and agencies that if they suspected the truth, might do you harm.”

“So why do you not harm us?” the one with the shattered heel asked.

“I don’t believe in it,” was my simple reply. “I may be fairly unique on my world, but I have traveled to at least one other. And I have Narvenia as my guest now, from that world.”

Shattered heel looked to the others. “He did heal each of us,” she told them in their native tongue. She did not realize the rings allowed me to understand them. “And I will admit that I am confused as to the strange ways he describes. I know he defeated Tabita, and has taken her and the Kamadge somewhere. I had thought we were his prisoners as well, but he appears to be offering us freedom. The question is, do we trust him?”