Chapter 10

I woke the next morning before sunrise, feeling tired from my evening exertions and the trip. I worked my way out of the bed and into the bathroom. I look for the waterfall to take a shower when I heard a giggle. Turning, there was Ali smiling.

"I did the same thing not five minutes ago, love, funny how we get used to things so quickly, huh? Now take a quick shower, the girls will be getting up soon. I will have a hell of a time explaining how the toilet and shower work to nine women and five children."

"If you like, Ali, I will take the boys to the other bathroom and get them squared away"

"Oh, could you, Jason, that would be such a help."

"No problem, love," I said as I got into the shower. Not for the first time did I thank my father for putting in a one hundred gallon water heater in the house, explaining to my mother that with three women in the house that all liked to take nice long hot showers or baths, a normal forty gallon tank would always have cold water when he wanted to take a shower.

"Hey, c'mon, I thought you were taking a quick shower."

"Sorry, babe, I started to reminisce about the old homestead there for a minute."

"I figured that, Jason, that's why I gave you those extra minutes," she said as she pulled herself into the shower and kissed me.

Our little interlude was interrupted by all three boys needing to go to the bathroom and not knowing where to go. I took hold of them and steered them to one of the other bathrooms, there I showed them the commode and how to lift the seat and piss into the water. We then proceeded to flush the toilet, this turned into a science project, because one would flush while the two would be on the floor to see where the water went. I tried to explain it was like the cave, but since there was no hole, they did not seem to grasp the concept. Suffice to say, we did not stop flushing for many minutes.

The shower was next, they had a better understanding of this because of the waterfall, and the only thing I truly had to teach them was to make sure they adjusted the water BEFORE getting in the shower. I demonstrated by turning on the hot water and told them all to put their hands in, after much yelling they understood. I told them to wash and comb their hair (it was down to their shoulders) then meet me where they had woken up.

I found their room easily enough, it was a shambles; they must have woken up and pulled out every drawer in the room throwing everything on the floor looking for new treasures. I waited for them to show up and immediately put them to work fixing the room. I told them their mothers would be in to show them how to dress.

I went downstairs, thinking I would start breakfast, and then remembered there was no food. Then remembered that there was no modern clothing for anybody either. Just then, Allison came bounding down the stairs to the back door, there on the side of the door were ten boxes from Sears.

"Please help me take the boxes upstairs, Jason, I ordered these clothes online the other day with next day express guaranteed delivery by five PM yesterday." I picked up half the boxes, while she took the rest and followed her upstairs. It was a madhouse, all the women were naked, waiting for clothes, the children were naked also, but were chasing each other all over the place laughing and screaming, having fun at their mothers' expense, and lastly two babies and a toddler walking around crying because they were wet from just being washed and hungry.

I threw up my arms in exasperation; I took my laptop from our bedroom and went downstairs. There I went online looking for a Car Rental agency. I noticed they would not be open for another hour. I checked to see if they had a seventeen-passenger mini-bus for rent, if not, I would buy the largest motor home I could find. Thinking further along those lines, I looked up several dealers within thirty miles of us.

I found one that was open early on Saturdays (at least now, I knew what day it was). I called and asked for a manager. I told him I had family visiting in the area and we would need a motor home large enough for seventeen to eighteen passengers, and if possible, be able to sleep them comfortably. I explained doubling and tripling up would pose no problem as long as the Master bedroom was large enough.

"Mr. Stevens" he said, "I have the perfect home on wheels for you. If you like I can have someone pick you up and bring you to our lot so that you may see it."

"I would love that, Mr. Janssen, the only problem is that if I buy the home without the approval of my wives, I will no longer enjoy the pleasure of their company at night."

"I understand, Mr. Stevens," he said with a little shake in his voice. "How about I send over a school bus we have for group rentals, and you can bring the whole family over."

"That will be perfect, may I call you Carl, and please call me Jason. Make sure there are three baby seats and one booster. When can we expect you?"

"I will have to find the booster and baby seats, so expect us in about an hour."

We said our goodbyes and hung up; if this worked, it would help us out immeasurably. Getting up and going to the stairs I yelled, "Allison, get everybody ready within the hour, I have someone coming by to pick us up."

"All right honey" she yelled back down.

Since I had some free time on my hands, I looked for and found a local farm supply store in the same part of northern NY as us on the web. I ordered one hundred, fifty pound bags of poultry feed along with waterproof barrels for storage, and as much wire fencing, chicken wire, and all the electric fencing stuff he had. I did not see any solar power equipment for the fencing, calling him on a whim, I asked if he had any solar power units to run the electric fence, he said he did, as a lot of farmers where going to solar and wind power for their farms. I ordered all the units he had in stock. I asked him if he delivered, he said no, as he ran the place by himself with a helper coming in only when he had deliveries. I told him I understood, and would see him probably sometime tomorrow.

My next internet stop was Craigs List, for used farm and carpentry equipment. I specifically was looking for a small portable sawmill and a portable log splitter, though not really farm equipment, most farmers had log splitters.

Just as I was about to start going through the ads, a stampede came down the stairs in the form of pre-teen and teenage children. They all wanted to be first to show me their new clothes. I oohhed and ahhed the girls first with ponytails, frilly shirts, and skirts with leggings and sneakers, making them look like they just got out of a women's magazine ad. The boys, more restrained but just as excited, wore t-shirts with different rock bands on them, straight leg blue jeans and square toed cowboy boots. You would never be able to tell that they came from twenty thousand years in the past.

The women all looked spectacular, their dress ranged from dresses to skirts, to pants with every imaginable top and shoe possible. I knew Allison picked the clothes for all the women and children, but how she managed to match each outfit to each of the women's personality is beyond me. She even had a thin silver collar for Alaina, accenting her long neck and subtly expressing her submissiveness, and a wider plain dog collar for Rialia, blatantly showing her status in the group, the latter wore plain baggy jeans and shirt which masked her figure. Her makeup was done to take away her beauty rather than show it. I needed to remember to speak to Allison as to Rialia's relationship to us. The most impressive change was Nadilla, she looked radiant in a simple sundress that did not show much. Dressed the way she was, she looked no older than forty years old.

I was about to compliment Allison on her choice of garments for everyone, when we heard a horn blowing outside and the doorbell ring ten seconds later. I went to the door and standing there was this short skinny guy standing at the door.

"May I help you?" I said.

"Yes, you may" he said, "I am here to pickup a mister Stevens and his family. I was sent by Mr. Janssen of Top Notch Motor Homes."

"Great," I said, "We'll meet you in the bus in two minutes"

He nodded and headed back to the bus, starting it back up. I yelled at everybody to get what they needed or wanted and get out to the bus. I was waiting for them at the door to get in when we hit a snag. They would not enter the 'mouth of the beast' as Galaita said, for fear of being eaten alive. Therefore, before we could continue, I had to convince everybody that the bus was safe, and would not eat them, I demonstrated this by going in and out several times, as did Allison. I finally convinced them. I got the older children settled and buckled in, then made sure that Koki was in the booster seat and had her seatbelt on. I put the twins in their baby seats in the middle of the bus with Rialia between them. Allison had all the other women seated and belted. I sat in the front by the driver, with Meela in her baby seat next to me, because she refused to sit anywhere but with me, and told him we were ready. We started; the women and babies started screaming that we were being eaten, they calmed down when they saw they were fine and the bus was moving. They immediately started talking back and forth excitedly, while the older children tried to get out of their seats, move around, and look out all the windows. Meela kept asking if we were going to eat something soon because she was hungry, and if we had to get the monster some food first, so that he would let us out of his stomach. I laughed at that, I guess the imaginations of children never diluted through the ages. I was surprised to see it only took us twenty minutes to get to our destination; to me it felt like twenty hours.

We arrived and were met by a big jovial fellow "howdy folks, I'm Carl," looking at me he said, "I'm going to assume you are Jason", he said sticking out his big hand.

"You would be right," I said chuckling.

"Well, lets get the show on the road, if you will all follow me, I will show you to your new home on wheels"

He was walking and talking at the same time. When he saw we were still getting babies and children out of the bus he slowed down. I had Meela in my arms as I walked up to him.

"Daddy, why are we here looking at these animals"

I smiled "These are not animals, baby, the are caves that people live in that move on those round things you see on the ground, they are called wheels"

"Daddy, will our cave really move on those round things" she asked. "Yes, baby, it will" I replied.

"Wow, that is very scary, daddy, will you protect us from it"

"Of course my sweet." I said.

"The family doesn't speak English, I see," he said to me. I realized we had better come up with a cover story. Allison provided it before I could speak.

"No, they don't, both my husband and I are of Greek descent, and our relatives come from a remote section of Greece, where they speak a little known dialect of mixed Greek and Latin."

"Well I hope they get to enjoy their stay here," he said. We were still moving to the rear of the lot, passing a lot of large bus types of motor home. We stopped at a huge mother, with one side pulled out and a canopy rolled out on the other side. It was painted a nice blue and white.

"Well, what do you think, folks? It is a 44-foot 'A' class gas coach. You do not see many of them. Usually bus conversions are diesel and you lose a lot of sleeping space. This one has a sleeping capacity of ten, but two of the beds are doubles, and the Master bedroom has a super king size bed in it. It was converted for some rich guy out in Arizona who died before he could enjoy it; I picked it up at an auction in Pennsylvania."

He handed me a card with all the features: 1999 Newell 44', 550 horsepower Cummins with 6 speed World trans, 10 kw generator, back up camera, powered Captains Seat (with arm rests, swivel, recline), extra wide passenger seat, and new 22.5" tires. A single slide-out, air leveling, tag axle, In-motion satellite, entertainment center, surround sound, 2 LCD flat screen TVs with DVD Player and CD Player. 3 roof airs, corian counters, natural cherry interior, leather sleeper sofa, j-lounge sleeper couch, large private head w/sink, full shower and 2nd sink, island super king master bed, washer/dryer. A central vacuum system, convection oven/microwave, four burner gas stoves, and a 4-door Norcold w/ice maker. Deep under carriage, Storage Compartments With Pass Through Black Bra to Protect the Front Easy to Use Dump Station. Girard automatic awning, full body paint, Air Suspension, Air Horn, Air Brakes, Jacob Brake Exhaust Brake (with auto tow equipment), and auto Leveling System (Power Gear Hydraulic at the Drivers Seat). Power Entry Step Exterior Outlets and Phone/TV Hookups, Cruise Control, Tilt/Telescoping Steering Wheel, CB Radio, 3 Mirror System (each side), security system, and keyless entry. I got tired of reading. I walked up the stairs and into the bus. I knew I bought the motor home from the looks on everybody's face.

"How soon can you have it ready for the road?" I asked, turning to him.

He smiled and said, "As soon as you can sign the papers, she is fully gassed up, all propane and water tanks are full, and has all her papers ready, we just have to put the title and register it in your name. I will send one of my associates to the DMV to do that while you and I talk money. I'll call him from here with the numbers."

As I filled out the paperwork for the registration, "How did you know I would buy it, Carl?" I asked suspiciously.

"I didn't" he replied, laughing "I get this baby primed and ready first thing each morning, I knew that the person that bought this beauty would want her on the road yesterday," Allison started laughing at Carl's ingenuity, so I joined in too. After his gopher left with the paperwork, I started with the money talk.

"Well, let's talk turkey, Carl; I have some cash, though I prefer to hold onto that. Will you take a credit card for the full amount?"

He sputtered, "You realize the amount we are talking about here, Mr. Stevens," returning to calling me by my formal name.

"Yes, Carl, do you think you can take anything off the price since we will not be financing?" he quickly took off twenty percent, and I handed him my credit card. It went through without even a hiccup. He called in the price and within twenty minutes we had our plates and papers ready to do some mean ass shopping. Allison and I packed everyone in our temporary home, making sure the younger children were in their seats. We turned on the TV's, letting everyone get excited, then I thanked Carl again and we drove off.

First stop was the local IHOP (International House of Pancakes), I found the bus parking in the back and parked. Before letting anyone out, I stressed the importance of keeping a low profile, that done we entered the restaurant. I told the hostess we needed a table for seventeen with three high chairs and one booster. We had to wait a few minutes while they moved a bunch of tables around in the back end for us.

Seated finally, I ordered for myself, but Allison proceeded to order for everybody else. She ordered a bunch of eggs, bacon, pancakes, waffles, fresh fruit, steaks, French fries, milk, orange juice, and a few other items, telling the waitress everything would be shared by the table.

She left shaking her head, while our table buzzed with anticipation of the food. When it arrived, Allison and I split everything, giving some to everybody, I noticed that it was on the meager side, so I ordered another round, along with extra pitchers of milk, orange juice, and of course coffee for me. by the time the second serving came in, all the plates were cleaned. By the time we finished the second helping there were smiling faces all around the table. The waitress asked if everything was OK, I told them all to nod their heads, and heads started nodding vigorously around the table. When the bill came, I paid in cash and left the girl a forty percent tip for her help. As we were getting into the bus, the young girl came running out.

"Mister, Mister, hold up" she yelled.

"What's wrong young lady; did I not pay the right amount?" I asked.

"Oh no sir," she said, "my mom said you made a mistake with the tip, you gave me too much."

I smiled at how in small towns honesty can still be found. I pulled another twenty from my pocket and handed it to her. I said, "the tip I gave you is the correct amount. I appreciated all your hard work, and will see you again before we leave. This twenty is for your honesty"; she thanked me again and ran back into the restaurant.

The time came for us to venture to the Mall, we went first into a Babies are Us, we asked a sales person who looked like a mother which baby carrier she would use for her child, she showed us her favorite one. I asked her if she had many in stock, she told us they were not very popular with the preppy mothers, so they always had ten to fifteen cases in stock. I told her we would buy them all. She went to call her manager.