Chapter 19

The following characters return from previous stories:

Muadhnait Graham

Doctor, OB/GYN, an older woman of indeterminate age, but surely more than 70 years old. she is about 5’-6’’ tall and thin with short gray hair, her eyes are as black as coal

Ariana (Arlene)

Dr. Graham’s Daughter, 5’-7’’ tall, 140 pounds, medium size breasts, 750 years old, shoulder length medium brown hair with a touch of gray, coal black eyes like her mother

Moninne

Dr. Graham’s Granddaughter, Ariana’s Daughter, 5’-6’’, 130 pounds, medium size breasts, 500 years old, short brown hair, eyes as black as coal

Madailein has the Narrative

I was rather busy after my talk with Yvonne about what she had learned while checking on our investments. It wasn’t that there was that much wrong. The problem was that all of those in my family were also invested in those two stocks as well as Dragon Security, and our employees’ 401k plan. I wasn’t sure about what other stocks our employees were invested in. We would need to have a meeting at Dragon Security to discuss the problem and decide on how and when we would be selling off the shares of those affected stocks.

The other problem was that they had always been good performers and paid nice dividends quarterly. Those dividends would not be missed by the Kavanaghs and the Sweeneys, but by many of our employees. Yvonne had assured me that she would find other investments for us to replace the ones that we were selling. That was when I realized that I would need to visit the company that handles the Trust Fund accounts for our children and grandchildren. That could wait until everything else had been settled.

Having made up my mind, I began calling those who would need to attend the meeting at Dragon security to arrange when to hold it. Things were very hectic for a time, but we did work out a plan for disposing of the affected stock and the timing of it.

It wasn’t long at all before the day of Yvonne’s appointment with Dr. Graham arrived. We left for her office in my SUV. Yuryi could have taken his, but they didn’t know where the building was located. On arriving there, we found the parking lot fairly full as usual, but we located a parking spot not too far from the entrance. On entering, I led the way to the elevators. Yuryi had stopped to look at the entire entry area and its atrium that is lit by the light coming in through the window wall of part of the building.

“Very nice,” he said, “for here but not for Minnesota. It gets much too cold there.”

Arriving at the second floor, we turned right after exiting the elevator. A hundred feet or so down the hall, we stopped at the door reading:

Dr. Muadhnait Graham

OB/GYN.

Opening the door, we entered. Moninne was sitting at the receptionist’s desk as usual, but that was the last thing that was usual during our visit. She looked up as we entered and smiled at me.

“Good afternoon, Ms. Kavanagh,” she said. Next, she looked carefully at Yvonne beside me, and her mouth fell open, as a look of surprise appeared on her face. On recovering a few seconds later, she noticed Yuryi, who was behind both of us. Again, a look of surprise appeared on her face.

“By the saints above, I don’t believe this,” I heard her whisper with my Dragon hearing. Following that, she stood and addressed us.

“All of you, please follow me to the back,” she told us, much to the consternation of another pregnant woman sitting there. I could tell that she was a Witch and was unhappy that we were being shown directly to the back. I was a bit confused by this myself.

Just then, the door to the back opened, and Ariana, the nurse, appeared. She too looked at the three of us, and a shocked expression also appeared on her face. She quickly recovered.

“It will only be a few more minutes, Mrs. Reed,” she told the other woman and ushered the now four of us into the back and closed the door. We followed her down the hall while she called her mother.

“Mother, you aren’t going to believe this,” she called. Dr. Graham appeared from her office, took one look at us and smiled big time.

“By the Savior himself, I haven’t seen anything like this in I don’t know how long ... maybe never,” she said and smiled again. It was the first real smile I had ever seen from her.

“Moninne, take our guests to the back room. We still have Mrs. Reed to take care of. You can start explaining things to them. Mother and I will join all of you shortly,” Ariana told her daughter. The three of us were extremely confused by all of this, but followed Moninne further back into the office area.

The room that we entered was brightly decorated with images and things on the walls that would attract young children’s attention, and there were toys scattered about on the carpeted floor. There were four children in there, three girls and a boy. All of them were about four years old. Two of them, the boy and a girl, rushed up to Moninne shouting.

“Mommy ... Mommy look what we made,” they shouted in excitement and led their mother over to something they had made out of small plastic blocks.

“That’s very nice, children. Leave it like that. Ariana will be here soon with Grandmother, and you can show it to them,” Moninne told her children before turning to us.

“These are my children and Ariana’s. They are all about four years old,” she told us.

“You both had twins at nearly the same time?” Yvonne asked.

“Yes,” Moninne admitted but went no further.

“And you have them here at work?” she asked. “Don’t they get bored or cause problems?” she added.

“No, not really. They are old enough now to play by themselves with just a little supervision. When they were younger, there was a bit of a problem, but Vivian would come by with her twins and the cats to watch them for us,” she told us. I needed to explain to them about Vivian. I had just finished my explanation when Ariana and the Doctor arrived. The Doctor looked at both Yvonne and then at Yuryi very intently for a short time before saying anything.

“You are Yvonne, and you are here because you are worried that you are pregnant, and are too old to have children again,” the Doctor told her. Yvonne gasped in surprise.

“How can you know that? I haven’t even turned in my paperwork yet,” she asked in confusion.

“Allow me to introduce myself and my staff. Things will become clearer when you know more about us,” the Doctor told her.

“My name is Muadhnait Graham. I’ve been delivering babies for a long time. I was born in Drumcliffe, County Sligo, Ireland in the year 975 AD,” the Doctor informed her.

“But that would make you 1100 years old!” Yvonne said in amazement. Yuryi only smiled at this revelation.

“My Daughter Ariana serves as my nurse. She is over 750 years old. My Granddaughter Moninne serves as my receptionist. She is over 500 years old.

“All of us are what some have called ‘Immortals’. We, however, prefer the term ‘Long Life’ individuals. We each carry active genes for living long lives.

“Four years ago my Daughter and Granddaughter each delivered a pair of twins, who also have active genes for a long life. This was made possible when we found a sperm donor who also carried an active gene for long life as well as being a Dragon. They now have children whom they can love for the rest of their long lives, and who will live long after they and I are gone.

“A year or so after the twins were born, we were fortunate to have a patient named Vivian. She is an extraordinary Dragon with a huge Talent. Her husband turned out to be one of Moninne’s great, great grandchildren. He is a Dragon also and carried an active gene for long life. Their twin daughters are both long lived and Dragons.

“Now today, you come into the office, and Moninne is immediately shocked when she reads you to discover that you, Yvonne, are also an Immortal or ’Long Life’ individual, and that you are pregnant with twin daughters. What is your age?” the Doctor asked finishing her explanation.

“I’m forty-two years old,” Yvonne said looking at the other three women. “Apparently, I’m not too old to still have children!” she added in an amazed voice.

“My God, you’re only a baby!” Moninne said in surprise.

“And how old is your man?” the Doctor asked, glancing at him.

“My name is Yuryi. I was born in the Caucasus Mountains in the year 802 AD. My Father was a Dragon, and I now realize that my Mother must have been an Immortal,” Yuryi told a very stunned audience.

“Yes,” the Doctor said after a number of seconds. “You do carry an active gene for long life and you are a Dragon. You are only the second person that I have met who is older than I am and by 175 years or so,” she finished. “Nicolae is only 50 years or so older than I am,” she added after a few more seconds.

“What of your other Daughters? Have they inherited your abilities and your gift?” Ariana asked, having read Yvonne also.

“No, I don’t think so. Their Father was killed in a vehicle crash after we had been married for four years,” Yvonne told her. Doctor Graham had been examining Yvonne further during this conversation.

“You are NOT quite the same as we are, however,” the Doctor told her and us. “You can’t read people’s physical and biological characteristics, can you?” she asked.

“No, I can’t do that. Instead, I can read the future of financial investments like stocks, bonds, and other things,” Yvonne told her to a surprised look from all of them.

“That would be a very useful talent to have for someone who has a ‘Long Life’,” Ariana said with a smile, as she considered the possibilities.

The Doctor, however, had continued to stare at Yvonne with a very intense gaze. After a short time, she turned to Yuryi, and then to her daughter and granddaughter, but she still had the same look of concentration on her face. Finally, she seemed to relax.

“By the Savior’s Blood!” she said in an amazed voice and looked to be totally amazed by something.

“Why have I never looked at that area in our minds?” she asked, but she could see our confusion about what she meant.

“I was studying Yvonne to see what about her made her abilities different than ours,” she explained. “While doing that, I found what I can only think to call the ‘reset button’ for our immortality,” she continued.

“Reset button?” four voices asked at nearly the same time.

“Yes, it’s the place where the DNA instructions are located to bring us back to life if we are killed. The instructions also bring us back younger than we had been. This is why Nicolae appears to be only 36 years old though he is over 1100 years old.

“It is the same reason that Yuryi appears to be 46 years old, as I checked on him, also. The most important thing that I discovered, however, is that the instructions can be activated without you having to actually die first, and we, all of us, have this ’reset button’, if you will, in our minds. It only needs to be activated; what I am not sure of is exactly what happens when you activate it,” she told us before turning to Moninne. Everyone was stunned by this amazing revelation.

“Are there any more appointments for today?” she asked.

“No, no more regular appointments,” her granddaughter told her.

“This is the most important discovery I have ever made, and I intend to test it today. I will need Ariana to attend me while I test this. Can the rest of you remain here while I do that? Nicolae said that he usually recovered in an hour or so. Hopefully, I will know the answer in an hour also,” Dr. Graham told us.

“What if someone comes in for an appointment or needs to see you?” Moninne asked.

“Tell them that she is out. It isn’t unusual for her to be at the hospital delivering a baby at any time of the day or night,” her Mother, Ariana, told her.

“I have some things to do yet today,” I told them, “but I can be back in an hour or two.”

“That’s fine, Maddy. We can remain here to see how things turn out. In the meantime, we can entertain the children,” Yuryi told me with a big smile, as he took Yvonne in his arms for a really long kiss before I vanished.

Yvonne Takes the Narrative

When we came up from the kiss that Yuryi gave me, I was a little dizzy. We had never kissed for that long at one time before. He seemed very happy and started whispering in my ear.

“My darling Wife, we will be able to be together for a very long – long time. The Doctor and her family have lived a long time already, and they will apparently be able to live even longer.

“Since you are the same as they are, you will be able to live, at least, as long as the Doctor has already. Dragons can live 4,000 years, and since I appear to have this ‘Long Life’ gene also, there is no way to know how long I will be able to live. We will be able to stay together for centuries if not for millennia,” he told me in a very happy voice. “I have lost so many after a short time together,” he added in a sad voice and a sadder smile.