Chapter 44: New Relationships

Island Day 39-40 (Earth Day- Dec. 24-25)

Darren POV:

(Back on Earth)

Today or tonight is when Jamie’s hubby, Greg, is finally due to emerge out of the wormhole he’s been stuck in for the last 3 months or so. Everyone has been on pins and needles for the last 24 hours trying to figure out who all should go up to Ibera’s to meet him. While, for the family, it was a joyous occasion, for Greg, it wasn’t going to be. Nearly everything he was going to learn that happened during his ‘absence’ would be bad!

I tried to put myself in his position.

After thinking about it, I suggested that only Jamie, Tyler, Ed, Gracie and little Crystal go, since, with the exception of Linda, they were the ones closest to him. Jamie thought about it and had to agree. Linda wanted to go too, but, realized that since almost everything Greg was going to learn was bad, that was the best idea.

I’d learned a lot about Greg and suggested to Jamie to just let him ‘pop’ to where he thought home was on his own. That way he’d fully realize, for himself, that damn near everything really had changed. Then, just she should join him there and see what needed to be said.

And, so she could bring him to his new home.

I was planning on watching everything, invisibly, just so I could gain my own insight and be better informed on how best to help him.

Since I had to work today, and Ibera said he wouldn’t get here till later this evening, I decided to check on what was happening on the Island.

Brad and Brenda had been watching for the last day or so and filled me in on the latest.

Holy crap! They said JB, Max and Chen decided to bring 9 native girls to their island!

And most of them were pretty young.

Brad assured me, however, that these girls were all more than willing to go there. The interesting thing would be to see just how they would adapt to not being the king’s concubines/slaves anymore.

And, how they would respond to seeing things they’d undoubtedly never seen before.

Brenda was intrigued with how Hugo and his buddies were all hopelessly infatuated with King Flombay’s four, former favorite concubines. Then, Chen and JB asked if they had any friends that might be interested in joining them.

Brad thought it was interesting that they did that, so that Fred, Shawn, Brad and Wayne might find love, too. The new girls were told they didn’t have to be with anyone if they didn’t want, but, to take their time in figuring out what they did want. The four ‘unattached’ girls were all giddy, just to be getting away from the King.

JB and Chen stressed to all the girls that they were no longer anyone’s concubines anymore.

Brad wondered how that might affect Hugo’s buddies’ girls, since they’d just been rescued from King Flombay and probably thought that now they ‘belonged’ to their new guys.

I was impressed that they decided to have a full blown ‘getting to know you’ party with everyone on the Island.

Brad said we’d all watch that together, after they showed me what happened on the small island that Elmer had been ‘rescued’ from.

Just as JB had suspected, Lola and Marcella had heard Elmer yelp in surprise when Chen ‘absconded’ with him. They actually ran over to where Elmer had been working in the garden only to see he was gone. They yelled for him and ran around searching for him for over an hour.

They were freaking out that he was apparently gone to, who knew where.

They were going to shit when, or if, they ever discovered where he really went.

Talk about going from the outhouse to the penthouse!

Anyway, after some loud bitching at each other, they came to the conclusion that either Mario, Max or Chen had to have had something to do with it.

They were just starting to calm down when suddenly, out of nowhere, King Flombay suddenly showed up right in front of them.

He was flipping out, looking up at (to him) the very tall Lola and Marcella.

Lola scrunched her neck and stared down at him closely, “E, what the hell happened to you!? Did those bastards fucking shrink you!? And what the hell’s up with those funky-ass clothes?”

Flombay’s eyes were bugging out as he chirped, “Who is ‘E’? I am King Flombay, ruler of all I survey! Who the hell do you two concubines belong to?”

Marcella broke out laughing, then scoffed, “Well, shorty, I’m Marcella and this is my little sister, Lola. We ain’t nobody’s fucking concubines! What the hell have you done with our brother!?”

Flombay’s eyes were like saucers, “Nothing! I do not know your brother! All I know is the last one I saw was a damned wizard named Chen?”

Both girls gasped, then frowned, “Ugh, we DO know a bastard named Chen! He ain’t no fucking wizard! He’s just an asshole who can do some kinda magic shit with his mind.” Marcella informed him.

It was funny when they all took a minute to reassess the situation. The women kept staring at Flombay, while he kept staring back and wondering how he was going to deal with these two ‘giant’ women.

Marcella smirked, “Look, forgive us for staring at you, but you look JUST like our brother ... IF you were about a foot and a half taller, that is!?” She said, using her hands to illustrate the difference in height.

Flombay blustered, “Well, I do not know what to say!? Where the hell am I?”

Lola looked down at him, snickering, “Well, just like the two of us, you’re on an island in the middle of the ocean! And, you, Shorty, had better change that attitude or you’ll find yourself tied up to a tree! Where we came from we have a saying that ‘might makes right’ and since there’s only the three of us here, YOU WILL LOSE!”

Marcella patted Lola on her back, then giggled, “And you better guess again if you think we’re going to call you ‘King’ anything! What is your first name?”

Flombay looked like a mouse, nervously eyeballing two hungry cats, “All right, I am sorry I have been so rude. My mother always called me ... Louis or Lou.”

Marcella grinned, then giggled, “Well Lou, how do you do? You can just call me Marcy and of course, my sister, Lola. Believe me, we are not very formal around here. Tell me, do you have any family that might be looking for you?”

His eyes lolled back and forth. He thought about it for a couple seconds then finally said, “I have two brothers, but we do not get along. The General of my army should be looking for me. Unfortunately, I believe now he is working with wizard Chen. If it is true what you say, that I look like your brother, I’m afraid it may be a very long time before anyone comes looking for me!?”

Lola frowned, scoffing, “Don’t you have any friends who might realize that our brother is not you?”

Lou’s shoulders slumped, “I can’t think of any at this moment. I had many subjects, most of them were loyal to me, at least until that thrice damned Wizard Chen showed up. I spent most of my time with my concubines and seldom left the Castle. So, if your brother does indeed look like me, I’m afraid almost no one would even notice I was replaced!”

That’s when I noticed Flombay squint, as if remembering something.

Marcella nodded her head, just once, then scowled, “That means, now I’m sure that Chen had everything to do with our brother’s disappearance. Even though Chen is a bastard, I’ll admit, he is one smart fucker. It’s too bad we couldn’t get your brothers to tell everyone that the guy who looks like you, really isn’t you!”

Lou looked to be deep in thought, “Do you girls have any idea where in the world we are?”

Marcella smirked, shaking her head, “Kind of, but not really. This is going to sound weird, but a strange voice told us were about 400 miles from the island we were originally put here on. Then, from everything I have heard, we’re still another 500 miles away from the mainland. I’m afraid, that without some kind of ‘divine intervention’, the three of us are fucking stuck here!”

“It’s too bad we don’t have a boat.” Lou said, dejectedly.

Lola grinned at Marcy, then said, “Oh, but we do have a boat. The problem is, we have absolutely no idea exactly which direction our Island is from here! I don’t know that we can put together enough food and water to go the entire distance to the mainland if we miss our island.”

Lou’s eyes popped wide open, “If you have a boat, wouldn’t it be worth a try? If I can get back to my kingdom, and find my brothers, I could return to power. If the two of you were to help me make that happen, I would gladly make both of you my Queens! Then you could live in my castle with me. I would give you anything your heart’s desire!”

Marcella giggled, then gave Lou a motherly hug. “That’s very sweet of you, Lou. Unfortunately, part of the reason we’re stuck this far away from our original Island is because we tried to do something stupid. Thinking about trying what you suggest just seems like déjà vu ... all over again.”

Lola pouted, “Lou, sometimes my sister can be like a stick in the mud. Marcy, remember, we now have three water jugs and I won’t be so stupid as to not fill them all this time. Once our garden comes in, we can concentrate on picking the vegetables that don’t have to be cooked. I’m not convinced, that if we can get lucky and catch the wind in the right direction, that we could possibly make it?”

Lou was looking at her, excitedly, while Marcy was grinning, but shaking her head. “Little sister, I’m trying not to sound like E did, but, we really would have to plan this out. Carefully. We will also have to figure out how to correctly build another sail. I will admit, that you do make a very compelling argument. Are you really sure that you want take a chance of going through all of that again?”

While Lola grinned and nodded her head, Lou, looking confused, asked, “What is this... ‘sail’ you are talking about? I do not understand what one of those is?”

Lola put her arm around Lou’s shoulders and looked down at him, still grinning, before scoffing, “You really don’t know what a sail is?”

Lou was looking up at her and shaking his head, “I am sorry, but I have no idea? The only boats I have ever seen all had places for many oars in them so many men could paddle, or row. Doesn’t your boat have oars, too?”

Marcella nodded, “Oh yes, and we have four of them. I guess we’re going to have to explain to you all about sails. You see, when the wind is blowing in the right direction, a sail will make our boat go much faster than we can row. Then, all we have to do is put one of our oars in the back and use it to steer us. Easy peasy.”

We left them at this point, figuring it would take them at least two or three weeks before they would even try it.

It will be interesting to watch how that all unfolds.

I asked Ibera how much longer it would be before Greg showed up. She said it was still going to be three or four hours, so Brad, Brenda and I decided to check in to see how all the new girls were working out on the island.

We had to back up the time to when they all arrived on Perdition Island.

We watched Hugo, Otis, Fredo and Lugo arrive with their cute little girls. They quickly led them into their cave, being careful not to let them see the family’s futuristic ‘house’.

At first, Otis’ girl, Jody, looked shocked, “Ugh, you guys live in a cave!?”

Otis tried to look casual, “Sure? But, it’s like the Taj Mahal compared to what we had before. It even has lights!” He said as he plugged in the cord of rope lights to the extension cord anchored to the wall of the cave.

The girls all gasped when the lights ‘magically’ came on, illuminating the entire inside of the cave.

Little Leah hugged Hugo’s arm, “Wow! That was like ... magic!? Don’t you guys have to use candles or torches?”

Otis grinned, “Heck no! Haven’t you girls ever seen electric lights before? They’re much safer and brighter than torches!”

Hugo saw Leah’s surprised look, then added, “If you think these lights are nice, look over there at our beds!”

Next, the four girls saw the strange ‘blanket-looking things’ on the even stranger-looking air mattresses.

Leah gasped, “What are those made out of!? I have never seen anything like this before.” She asked, while walking over to lay down on one. She looked like a kid, grinning, before standing up to bounce up and down on it, giggling like crazy. The next thing you knew, all four girls looked like they were on trampolines, giggling like crazy!

The guys were grinning, but, also looked a bit concerned, wondering if their precious mattresses would hold up to the abuse they were getting. Thankfully for them, these were very heavy duty mattresses and easily handled the smallish girls’ overzealous behavior. When they noticed the zippers on the sleeping bags they were even more befuddled. It was apparent they were just starting to realize their new ‘masters’ had many new and wonderful surprises in store for them.

We switched views and saw that Chen and Jasmine were struggling, trying to get Wanda to not want to immediately go and be with the others. They had teleported her straight to their ‘penthouse’ cave and her first question was where all the others were. She wasn’t happy that she was going to be several miles away from her 8 friends.

Since we were in the past, we couldn’t pick up on their telepathic communications. All we heard was Chen saying, “Don’t worry Wanda, tomorrow I plan on working with you to see if I can’t enhance some of your abilities.”

Her eyes lit up, “Really!? Like maybe this teleporting thing you used to get us here?”

He grinned, “Quite possibly. But first, I want our friendly ‘aliens’ to do a small check on you. They are most curious how our powers compare to yours. Don’t worry, they have already checked mine and Jasmine’s and it won’t hurt at all. I promise!”

Wanda grimaced, “That’s not what I heard from one of my friends who had a friend that was captured. He said they used this thing that was like being hit by lightning! His friend screamed and that was the last thing he ever heard from him!?”

Chen frowned, “I think I know what that thing was and the fuckers used it on a little girl that I know. That pissed me off and I can assure you it WON’T happen to you. They know I’d kill them if they ever tried that again.” He hugged her and she nodded, melting into his hug.

“If you say so and go with me, then, okay, I’ll do it.”

Chen grinned, “I’ll be with you every step of the way. Tonight, we’ll all get together where my friends’ houses are so you’ll get to meet everyone, even our Gromorik friends, who will be testing you.”

Wanda’s eyes narrowed, “Ugh, what is a house? Is it like the places where people live?”

Chen slapped his forehead, “Oh, yeah, I keep forgetting ... Yes, it’s where most of my friends live and it’s not like anything you’ve ever seen before.”

Like her little friends, she was overwhelmed with all of the new things she’d never seen before. She had a strange look on her face, looking at the flashlight Chen handed her. When she was shown how to turn it on she gasped when she saw the bright beam of light illuminate the inside of the cave. After shining it all around, she exclaimed, “Whoa! This is truly magic! Where did you get this?”

“Where we come from, this is just a tool we use when we don’t have electric lights and need to see in the dark. Tonight you will see those lights, too.”

The more Wanda looked around, the more Chen found himself explaining about the many items he and Jasmine had that she’d never seen before.

Finally, he just said, “I know you have many more questions, but, please wait till later, when we get together with everyone, okay? There are some things that we may as well explain to everyone at once. I have a feeling your girlfriends are asking the exact same things you are.”

Wanda agreed.

I had a feeling it was more to hurry along their meeting up with her friends.

They were just getting ready to teleport to Blaine’s area when Ibera said Jamie and the rest were here and Greg was due any minute.

I turned invisible and ported into Ibera’s ‘kitchen’ area.

When Greg stepped out of the portal, he looked confused and maybe hurt, that only Jamie, Tyler, Ed, Gracie and little Crystal were there. He walked over to Jamie and seemed to brace himself like he was ready to get slapped.

Linda and Jamie had said that Jamie had considered that, but, I’m pretty sure that she didn’t have the heart to do it. When Greg slowly opened his eyes he only saw Jamie starting to well up in tears.

The poor guy looked at Ed and noticed that he was nearly in tears, too. I ‘heard’ him ask, “Jamie, where is everybody?”

“Gone...” She weakly answered through bloodshot eyes.

“Everybody!?” He gasped, his face showing a look of horror.

Jamie slowly shook her head, “Linda’s at the trailer with the twins and Sarah and Darren are with Abby ... Emmy and Bill are still at her mother’s house in Glencoe with their kids.”

“Who’s Darren?” he asked, just before he must have realized she had finished saying who all was left.

“Oh NO ... WHERE’S SALLY, CHARLIE, BOB, MARY AND CJ?” he desperately shouted out loud.

Now Ed and Gracie started crying too, “They’re all gone, Greg.” Ed lamented, “Sally was killed, four months ago, the same day all of us, except you, got back from our trip to the Island. Bob, Mary and CJ ... well, we’re still not sure, but, we think they were abducted by aliens, possibly Gromoriks, according to Ibera. And Charlie ... he tried to save them, but rushed into the wormhole too late and just fucking disappeared! Ibera still has no idea ‘when’ he may turn up. We can’t even be sure if he went forward or backward in time!!!”

“But, but, isn’t he still in the wormhole, like I was?”

Ibera was shaking her head, sadly, “No Greg, he flew into an extremely tight window before I could tell him to stop! It’s different from your case. The wormhole is empty now, or I’d know where and when he was. I’m sorry.” Now she was crying, too.

The poor guy was absolutely stunned and I noticed all the color leaving his face. I saw his eyes roll back in his head and used my PK to catch him as he fell to the floor.

Jamie told everyone to go on home. She needed to be alone with Greg and I ported back to the Toy-hauler to be with Sarah. The rest showed up shortly after I got there. As much as I wanted to see Greg’s reaction to going to his ‘old’ home, I knew it would be emotional and felt I should let it be just him and Jamie.

Ed had little Tyler with him so he wouldn’t have to see his dad’s reaction to what was about to happen. The kids were all getting tired, so, Linda and Sarah helped put all of them to bed.

We’d been sitting around the table for about 20 minutes when the door opened and a somber looking Greg and Jamie entered. I stood up and offered my hand to Greg.

Sarah introduced me and I shook his hand warmly and firmly as I felt that would convey my desire to be his friend. I also smiled and kept eye contact.

When Linda told him the kids were all asleep, I walked over and pulled the curtain aside so he could see them. I know that one of my ‘gifts’ was empathy and that’s how I knew when his smile changed to a look of sadness.

He was thinking about little CJ who was missing from this group of kids.

I put my hand on his shoulder and whispered, “I’m missing little CJ nearly as much as you, my friend. I didn’t get to know him as well as you did, but, the little guy wormed his way straight into my heart. I know exactly what you’re thinking, so don’t think you’re alone, okay?”

I’m sure he noticed my eyes becoming moist, too. The next thing I know he gently pulled me into a warm bro hug. He looked back at the table and Linda showed him a tall glass with a lot of bourbon and some ice cubes.

I saw the bottle of Maker’s Mark and realized that was my favorite drink, too. I grinned and asked Linda if she’d fix one for me.

Greg grinned and clopped me on the shoulder, “A man after my own heart. A fellow bourbon drinker can’t be all bad ... I’ve always said ... that!”

The rest of the evening saw all of us drinking, somewhat heavily, as we began filling Greg in on some of what he’d missed.

Sarah told him all about how we’d gotten together and the funny story about my consoling her after she’d searched all day for a football bat! Linda added that she had begged me and my friend, JB, to stay with them when they found themselves all alone. I had to explain who JB was and that, thanks to Linda, he’d found his ‘true love’ and was now with her. I neglected to go into exactly where he was, knowing we’d have a lot of time to get into that later.

Greg kept looking around the trailer, then exclaimed, ““You know, we should probably just build ourselves a nice big house on this property!?”

There was silence for a good five seconds before everyone broke out laughing.

Linda slapped his thigh, “Gee, I wonder why we never thought of that!?”

Jamie giggled, then patted him on the knee, “That’s exactly why Charlie, Mary, Bob and Linda bought this place! Charlie and Linda were designing our dream house ... right before everything ... happened.”

Things were awkward for a second before Linda added, “Luckily, Charlie and I had a complete concept drawing finished before he disappeared. Charlie, in your absence, had been working with a structural engineer, named Mark Steiner, with Jeffries and Associates.

“I knew with Charlie gone”, Linda continued, “I was going to need help to turn our concept plan into a true design set of plans. So, I went to Mark, to see if he knew any architects that would help me. When I went in to see him, who should I run into, but our old friend Larry Jones!

“He and Becky had been thinking about moving out here to get away from the nasty winters in Chicago. He was just visiting, but, volunteered to hurry back out and help Mark and me draw up the building plans! He, Mark and I are almost finished with the second half of the building plans now.

“We’ve already had the sewer and water crews out here, to bring those utilities up onto the site. They should be finished with that shortly after the first of the year. The builder’s crews are coming out, right after the first of the year, to layout the sewer and water locations for the first half of the house, because they need to be put in before we can pour the slab. The location is critical, since, once the slab is poured, it’s too late to change anything.”

Greg looked flabbergasted.

Then, he grinned like crazy when Linda rolled out the concept plan and he poured over it for nearly 10 minutes.

He gasped, “I was just thinking how I wish I could have been a part of the design process, but ... I don’t think I would have changed a thing! This isn’t just a house ... it’s a Hacienda, in every sense of the word! Linda, you and Charlie kicked ass with this design! I just have one question, well, maybe more than one, but, it has nothing to do with the design. I noticed several names Charlie wrote on these bedrooms that I don’t recognize? Who is this Charlene that seems to be ‘rooming’ with ... Charlie and Mary?”

I felt Greg get sad again after saying Mary and Charlie’s names. I was glad when Jamie suggested that maybe Greg needed some time to absorb everything he’d just learned and wanted to take him to their old 5^th wheel trailer, which was currently unoccupied, to have some alone time.

Early the next morning, I saw Greg and Jamie having coffee, sitting out in the captain’s chairs by the new 5^th wheel that Sarah and I have been using. I made a pot and decided to go out and join them. The sun was up and I love how it hits those chairs in the morning and warms everything up. It was only about 67 degrees out, but, the sun makes it feel perfect.