Chapter 17: Where to Go from Here?

Perdition Island Day 9 - 10

Blaine Murdock POV:

Yesterday we had quite a ‘party’ or ‘major event’, here at our beach.

Wayne, Steve and I were tending our salt farm when Zeus alerted us to a boat coming down from the North with four guys in it. They heard the barking and were waving at us, asking if they could stop and talk to us for a bit.

I recognized three of them from Ibera’s holding area, although I didn’t really ‘know’ them personally. They seemed friendly enough and other than having tried to ‘hard-sell’ George and his girls into joining up with them, they hadn’t tried threatening them at all.

After they beached their boat, I recognized the fourth guy as Chen, the guy who was the first one up here and lost his stuff in a storm.

Thanks to Ibera, we knew where their camp was, and I planned on using that information to check their honesty level.

They were using home-made paddles, so, they obviously weren’t on Ibera’s ‘favorites’ list. However, it looked like their four oar’s shafts were made from professionally cut hardwood, which I took to mean they weren’t on her ‘bad-boys’ list, either.

They were very friendly with little Zeus who seemed to take an instant liking to them, so, I dropped my guard and welcomed them with handshakes. They were honest about where their camp was, so, that was a positive sign.

They showed us their boat and the simple spears they made, then told us about their encounter with Vincent Normistronzo, some girl and three of Elmer’s goons. They related how they were attacked and had probably killed Vincent and wounded the girl before getting out of the area ASAP.

The guy named Chad Marek seemed to be their leader and introduced Shawn Peters, Fred Callas and their newest camp mate, Lin Su Chen.

Chad told us that he was sorry they’d inadvertently made the Normistronzos think their camp was in the general area that ours was and that’s why they felt the need to stop and warn us.

That spoke volumes for their level of trustworthiness.

Since he obviously didn’t know we were here at the time, I told him not to worry, but, thanked him for the heads up.

He told us they were looking for a new place to live. That, even though their camp was nice, it was much too close to Elmer’s Clan to ever be comfortable for just the four of them.

I told him that we didn’t blame them and were glad that we were as far away as we were. They said they planned on waiting until near dark, then sneaking back past Elmer’s area to gather their stuff and move.

Before we talked much longer, the girls and little Hera showed up and teasingly asked if we were going to have a ‘party’.

We’d just finished all the introductions when Zeus and Hera started barking and running to the South.

When we looked, we saw a fairly large boat coming this way and it had a nice sized sail, that seriously peaked my interest. There were at least five people crewing it, but, two of them appeared to be women. That put me at ease and, as they approached, I recognized my ole buddy, Tiny Molina.

They also had a little Chihuahua, who looked like the Ship’s Captain, standing proudly on the bow with what looked like a white ‘Mohawk’ on her head and down her neck.

Yeah, she was a cutie.

When Naomi said, “that’s Zeus and Hera’s ‘Pup’, Athena”, I said I doubted it, since we knew that Zeus and Hera had come from Ibera.

She insisted that Zeus had ‘told’ her that, but, I still had my doubts.

Those began to fade a bit, when the second their boat hit the beach, she ran right up to little Zeus and Hera. The three of them began nuzzling and chirping at each other like they were ‘talking’. As Naomi walked over to them, one of their girls, Annie, struck up an instant conversation with her. Soon they were both giggling and they and the dogs ran off towards our salt farm area where we had several logs for sitting.

I was more interested in how these guys had built their sail.

Tiny introduced Max Lester, the ‘Mastermind’ behind the sail, Lonnie Corrigan, (who I DID know and DIDN’T trust), Jasmine Tran then Annie, who was already off with Naomi and our girls.

When I asked where Josh Baldwin and Sly Willum were hiding, Lonnie started grumbling.

Tiny gave him a hard elbow to the ribs and an evil eye, making me wonder what I didn’t know.

Max and Lonnie glared at each other then Max told me, “The no-good bastards killed Annie’s dad, AL Hunt, Howard Humbacker, and my friend Sam! They planned to take our stuff and make Annie and Jasmine their sex slaves. They underestimated my friend Tiny, however. He told them their idea was fucked up, and they both got killed as a result. When we found out that Lonnie was also in on the planning and then killed Franklin, I got pissed-off and cut off his hand! We’ve since been trying to form a new team, but, Lucinda continues to be a problem, that’s why we left her behind.”

After another sour look at Lonnie, he added, “That’s also why we’re looking to see who might want to join us. We still have all of our fallen comrade’s belongings, so, we’re fat with men’s clothing and tools right now. We just need some guys who are willing to partner up with us and also be willing to help out with some of our crazy ideas.”

I pointed at his boat, “Like building that sail?”

Max grinned, then, showed me how he’d used some angle iron to attach the boom to the mast and also to anchor the mast to the underside of the seat with the anchor/boot point for the mast. The best news was they had more angle iron and would gladly exchange some for some of my moonshine!

He even promised to return the empty bottles, clean and unbroken, which dovetailed nicely into my idea that we ALL needed to recycle all the metal and glass items we had.

Just then, another boat was spotted, coming from the South, and THEY had a dog like Hera and Zeus, only pure white with golden ears, standing proudly on its bow.

The three dogs here were yapping incessantly when Annie and Naomi said the newbie was ‘Apollo’, another of Zeus and Hera’s pups!

We were alarmed, however, because the crew were immediately recognized as being Normistronzo’s.

Having worked for Guido, as they got closer, I saw they were Vincent and Marcella’s kids.

The question was, why were they coming from the south? There was no way they paddled all the way around the island.

I struggled to believe it when Naomi said, “They’re not a threat, Blaine, they broke away from Elmer and Vincent just before leaving Ibera’s place to try and create a good, honest life for themselves. Shouldn’t we at least give them a chance?”

Max and Tiny seemed to agree with Naomi, especially when Annie agreed, saying that Zeus and Athena assured them that they were good ‘Peeps’.

All this talk about our dogs seemingly ‘talking’ to Annie and Naomi was making me a little crazy.

Yeah, our two seemed to always do what we told them, but, that’s all that I thought was ‘special’ about them ... until I recognized this voice in my head, that I’d heard before, telling me to just believe! It sounded like James Earl Jones and Zeus was looking right at me and grinning, that grin that only a Chihuahua can give you.

I was flabbergasted.

I don’t think I took a breath until Naomi kissed me, then giggled, “So, you believe NOW, don’t you? You can thank Annie for waking us up to that. She can talk to all three dogs, too!”

I nodded, numbly, still looking at Zeus and his grin, “Yeah...?” Still looking at Zeus, I ‘thought’ to him to roll over and dayum, if he didn’t do it!

When I held out my arms, he ran and jumped into them and licked me like crazy.

As cool as this was, it was not going to be the most important thing I would learn today.

While Max and Tiny had been showing me their sail, Jasmine had gone off to talk to Chen and Marek.

Suddenly we heard Chen exclaim, “She actually gave him one of those!?”

Having missed the first part of the conversation, we ran over to see what made Chen so excited.

It was about how, one way or another, Ex CIA Deputy Director, Franklin, had talked Ibera into giving him some kind of alien communications device!

And, supposedly, before he died, Franklin told them that Chen knew how to use it!

He went on to say that he used to have powers like ‘Jonah’, the guy who caught us all and stuck us here!

Holy Super Sleuth!

AND, that while he was in Franklin’s old post in the CIA, had infiltrated a ‘Super Top Secret’ organization that worked with ALIENS ... on Earth!

Holy Starman!

Everyone was grilling him on whether or not he might be able to use it to get us all a ‘ride’ back to Earth!

Holy UFO Reports, ET Phone Home!

My head was spinning.

I’d never really thought much about UFOs before (Or ESP, for that matter.) and here, now, I find out that was all because the government had carefully PLANNED and WORKED it that way!

Chen now had a captive audience and it was apparent that at least Marek, Max and Jasmine totally believed him.

Jasmine explained that they, unfortunately, didn’t have this ‘Tray-something-or-other’ chingus with them, fearing they might lose it if their boat tipped over. When Chen pointed out that these ‘aliens’ weren’t always very friendly, the mood turned a bit somber.

Visions of flying home in a spaceship, slowly disappeared from everyone’s minds.

When the Normistronzo kids’ boat finally came ashore, their little dog, Apollo, quickly joined the other three in their own ‘Family Reunion’.

The youngest Normistronzo, Lolita, seemed to already know Annie and after being introduced to Naomi and the other girls, they all went off on their own.

The rest of the ‘cousins and brothers’ explained what had happened at Ibera’s that caused them to go off on their own at the last minute. That accounted for why we didn’t know they were camped out just to the south of us.

Discovering they’d been forced to give up their good food for the slop the Normistronzo bitches were getting, further explained everything.

At least to me.

When Mario said he hoped to never see ANY of his extended family again, that also helped me believe and trust them. They eagerly told us what they’d been up to and why they’d come this way.

I found them easy to talk to and they were very happy to be with people THEY now felt they could trust.

They also said they’d be interested in helping with anything I might need help with.

That made me very happy and further put me at ease.

The happy mood was soon disturbed when all four dogs went berserk and started running North, into the forest.

I was amazed when I ‘heard’ Zeus tell Annie that there were five people carrying spears and knives, trying to sneak up on us.

The wild barking had just settled down to menacing growls when we heard one of the dogs yelp in pain!

And somehow, I knew it was Hera, and that Marcella Normistronzo had kicked her like a football.

It was like I saw her do it?

I was so furious I could spit bullets. Then came another surprise.

I heard Zeus say, “You’re gonna pay for that, you evil witch!”

Then, the next thing we knew, many voices were screaming bloody murder and we saw a giant fire-breathing dragon fly over to us with Marcella in its maw, screaming hysterically.

Holy fucking Fairy Tales, from the Land of Honah Lee!

To my amazement, Max told me this was the second time he’d seen this dragon!

The first time, he watched it chase those two giant buzzards that we’d been warned about, away! Tiny and Jasmine confirmed his statement when they saw my expression of being totally fuck-struck.

I was so flabbergasted I could only ‘ask’, “Zeus ... is ... is that YOU???”

“Shhh! I was hoping to keep this a secret, okay?” I heard in James Earl Jones’ voice, “I was sent here to protect you all, so, PLEASE keep this just between us, okay?”

I tried my best not to gasp, then thought back to him, “Holy Puff, the Magic Super Dog! No problem, I’ll shut up now. Thanks for telling me.”

Suddenly, Lolita screamed at her, “You shouldn’t have kicked that little dog, god damn you, Aunt Marcy! Why the fuck did you do that? And, WHAT are you doing here?”

While Marcy continued screaming, pleading to be rescued, the four thugs with her came running out on the open beach, looking like cartoon characters after being blown up.

Marek recognized two of them and started laughing, seeing their clothes looking like they’d been burnt to a crisp and now, not having a hair on their heads!

I was stumped for a minute, wondering how to say something to Zeus.

So, I simply shouted, “Okay, Mr Dragon, you can drop that evil bitch now! We’ll take care of her! Oh, and thanks for avenging our little Hera!”

Hearing Lolita’s unsolicited indignant questions was my final step in now fully trusting them, at least the four of Vincent’s kids.

George, who until now had just been watching and mixing sociably with everyone, put his arm around Lolita and hugged her close. She looked up at him with an affectionate look on her face.

Her face turned sour when Marcella answered in a snit, “We’re looking for the bastards who killed my brother, YOUR FATHER, Vincent! AND for the bastards who stole our boat! We found it just a short distance up the beach where some fuckers tried to hide it!”

Uh-ohhh, I watched the kids’ faces, since I’d already been told about Vincent’s possible death by Marek and his friends. They looked sad, but not shocked.

Now, I was also getting indignant, being accused of stealing their boat. (Even though I did attempt to hide it and wasn’t wanting to give it back.)

I blasted her, telling her we found it floundering way offshore and went out to retrieve it. When she huffed, I told her we pulled it way up the beach so it wouldn’t drift away due to a high tide, like THEY had probably NOT done.

The ignorant bitch saw she wasn’t getting anywhere and attacked Chen, Marek and Callas, spinning a tale that not even a moron would believe!

Chen was stifling a laugh, then looked at me and repeated word for word what REALLY happened.

Marcella even had the gall to ask who we believed!

Annie giggled, then yelled, ““Athena! Can you tell who is telling the truth?”

I was surprised when I ‘heard’ Athena respond, “Yes! Marcy has told nothing but lies! Mr Chen tells the truth!”

Annie then yelled out, “The dogs know who’s telling the truth. Guys, go to the person who tells the truth!”

I would have previously never believed what happened next, when all four scampered over and sat quietly at Chen’s feet, looking up at him and slowly wagged their tails.

Chen was touched and bent down to pet and praise them all. That caused Marcella to lose it, ““And WHO believes that these mutts know anything? They weren’t even THERE!”

A chorus of nearly everyone else hollered, “WE DO!”

I’m still wondering what, exactly, happened next...

I was just trying to add insult to injury, telling Marcella to apologize to Hera for kicking her. She huffed, then paused, looking at Hera for a long few seconds. She did offer an almost sincere ‘I’m sorry’, but then, Hera offered her paw to Marcella.

I was stunned, but said, “I think Hera wants to bury the hatchet, by shaking your hand.”

You could have heard a pin drop when an open-mouthed, stunned Marcy bent down and gently shook Hera’s little paw. Hera wagged her tail, then licked Marcy’s hand.

It was like watching the Grinch’s heart growing when he learned how to love!

Marcy fell to her knees, picked Hera up and held her lovingly. When Hera licked Marcy’s cheek, Marcy broke into tears. “Oh God! Oh Hera, I’m SO sorry I kicked you! You are the most adorable little doggie I’ve ever seen! Will you be my friend, really?”

Hera was now frantically licking Marcy’s face and nose, and Marcy even gave her a kiss on the side of her face and hugged her as Marcy’s tears really began to flow. The other three came running over as Marcy sat on the ground, trying to pet all of them. They were nearly mugging her with licks and nuzzles, leaving everyone else virtually shell-shocked.

Was this a metamorphosis in the making? The people who knew Marcella the best seemed the most surprised. I was just buying in when I ‘heard’ a deep voice in my head, “That’s my Girl! Now we can keep an eye on her and her Clan!”

I was confused, “Say what?”

Little Zeus looked up at me and put his paw over his mouth, “I’ll explain later! We’ve got too many ‘ears’ in the ‘cornfield’ right now.”