Chapter 10

With respite came food, drink, and conversation.

I found a beehive of activity waiting me upon leaving the tent complex. Those who hadn't been actively involved in the fun and games in the tent had spent their time managing our settlement. New picnic tables had miraculously arrived and they had been moved into place so that everyone could eat in the same area. There were now three rows of four tables situated in front of our kitchen unit. These tables were sheltered from the afternoon sun by an extended canopy that was also new to me.

My family played host to Tilly's. My sisters had taken over the kitchen. They were busy cooking up an impromptu feast with the assistance of my sisters-in-law. It was going to be a late lunch. Their daughters were doing the fetching and carrying, while Tilly's extended family dug in. It was obvious that they hadn't had a home cooked meal in ages.

"I'm sorry..." I started to say as I sat down across from Tilly.

"Don't be." Tilly said forcefully, cutting off my apology. "Your wife already said that she was sorry and I accepted it. What happened wasn't your fault and it wasn't ours. In fact, it was beyond our control. Your wife did say things would be different in the future. I told her that I expected it to be so and we left it at that."

I kept quiet. There was no way I wanted to say another word and put my foot in it. Fortunately, I was saved when a plate of food was put down in front of me. There was a big hamburger with cheese, bacon, tomato, and lettuce on it. There was also a side of fries. A second later a beer was put down beside my plate. I thanked my niece Paula for her service and then dug in. I was pleased to see Tilly do the same. We both ate in silence for the next little bit. It was only after everyone had eaten did any real conversation start. I proved to be the guilty party.

"We didn't know that there were other people on this planet." I said starting the ball rolling.

"We didn't either." Tilly admitted, looking about as she spoke.

"So..." I continued hesitantly, "do you want to tell us your story."

That got me a deep, sorrowful sigh from Tilly's lips. It also brought silence from the rest of her family. Sensing her pain, I tried to take the question back. She wouldn't let me.

"We have to talk about it sometime," Tilly acknowledged in a tired voice, "and we might as well get it done now. Then hopefully we can move on."

So we fell silent and listened to her tale, keeping our own thoughts to ourselves.

"We're not sluts!" she declared forcefully, taking us by surprise. "I know we've moved past that but I need to make that clear. We're good women. I was a good wife and my daughters are good girls. We all are, but it's been a long time and the changes those aliens did made us ... needy. You'd be the same if you had to go without for so long!"

For a moment Tilly fell silent. Then she went on.

"We're from Ohio." Tilly informed us, glancing about as she spoke. "Toledo to be exact, but my husband worked in Dearborn. He was a good man. He worked for Ford on the assembly line. I worked as a teacher in Toledo. We had a pretty good life there. Better than a lot of other people we knew so there wasn't really anything to complain about. We were happy. We were having a family picnic when we got snatched. It was Labour Day. Everyone was there. For some reason the aliens took only us women and Rodney, my husband. They left behind my Dad, my son Robert, and everyone else's men folk. Of course by the time the aliens had dropped us off on this planet, we had stopped caring about that. Part of the conditioning I guess."

To that Emma's sisters and our nieces nodded their heads in agreement. Tilly just noted their response and went on.

"Anyway," Tilly continued, "we ended up on the other side of this continent. It was in a coastal region. They put us down on a beach. It was breathtakingly beautiful, a true paradise. Unfortunately, things happened ... Rodney as I said was a good man ... he didn't take to the task assigned him by the aliens ... the thought that he had to father children on his daughters and his mother upset him. We tried to convince him it was alright with us but Rodney needed some alone time. He wanted to think. Then he saw the surf coming in and he decided he wanted to go body surfing. Rodney always loved swimming, but there's a big difference between Lake Erie and an unknown ocean on an unknown world; unfortunately he wouldn't listen. He stripped down and dashed into the surf. We watched as he frolicked about for a minute or two. He was really happy! Then it happened. Some great big sea creature came up and ate him."

"No... !" my family all exclaimed softly, shocked to hear what had happened.

"Yes!" declared Tilly in a firm voice. "Rodney was eaten by a sea monster and we were left without a man. We were stunned for about two minutes and then the aliens interceded. They killed our feelings for Rodney right then and there, just as they'd done with the men we'd left behind. They didn't even let us mourn our loss. Instead all these ATVs appeared out of no where. They were all kitted out for a long haul. Mine had a map on it that gave directions like a GPS. It guided us to you. It took us three months to get here!"

"Wow!" murmured my daughter Karen who was sitting off to my right.

"Wow indeed," Tilly shot back in a matter of fact manner. "We didn't know what to expect when we got here or even if we would be welcomed. All the device did was show the way and tell us that a man was here. We've been driving hard every day, trying to make it here. Of course we had to deal with things along the way. The aliens had tweaked us real good. Every one of us was horny as hell and in need of a man. Unfortunately, the aliens made us drive here, so we had to work out our frustrations on our own."

"Oh... !" exclaimed my mother softly, her eyes going wide with realization.

"Yeah ... oh!" repeated Tilly giving us a questioning look. "It was all we had to keep us from going nuts."

"Its okay, Tilly." my mother said, reaching out and patting Tilly sympathetically on her forearm. "We've all had to resort to that from time to time since getting here. After all, there's only one man and we've had to learn to adapt."

"True," acknowledged Tilly thoughtfully, "which brings up a question that needs to be answered. Are you willing to share him?"

"Of course, Tilly!" Emma responded without hesitation. It was a sentiment echoed by every other female in my family. Their willingness took my breath away. All I could do was sit there with my mouth agape and think to myself about how I was going to keep thirty-five women happy. To me it was a pretty big deal.

"Are you okay with that Adam?" Bethany broached from the end of the table, bringing everyone's attention onto me. It took me a second to grasp that they were waiting for my reply. Bethany didn't give me a chance to do that.

"Adam's tongue is tied girls." She chimed in a moment later. "Hopefully, nothing else is tied or we're in trouble."

That brought me out of my daze. My temper began to boil and I was ready to put Bethany back into her place when I got distracted again. Tilly's mother raised a question.

"I thought his name was Jack?" Rebecca asked glancing from Bethany to me and then to my wife.