Chapter 5

When he had been at Birch Falls for about five months, he had a surprise visitor when he was out in the woods. It was Anne! His heart leapt for joy when he saw her. He led her away to a spot where he was sure the others would not find them.

“You’re looking good!” he said, eyeing her large belly. “How are things?”

“Oh, just fine!” she said. “Though we miss you.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry ... I mean, not that I regret it, but I didn’t want to leave you. How are the other pregnancies?”

“Just fine. How are things here?”

“Fine ... fantastic. There are six who were at all likely to get pregnant, and I’ve knocked up five of them! And don’t go near the little girl, of course.”

“Wow, that’s impressive! James, quite the stud!”

“Well, it’s been nice, that’s for sure. The matriarch of the house also had this vision that the dear departed male relatives love it when the womenfolk have sex. And most of the girls are delighted to do it a lot -- a whole lot. My organ gets sore sometimes...”

“A sore penis? Awwwww,” said Anne. James shrugged. “Do you believe the matriarch?”

“Well, I’m skeptical, though I’m delighted to go along.”

Anne was silent a while. “It’s an interesting idea. It’s if nothing else a reaction to how prudish and guilty we all were before ... Anyway, I have news. I didn’t come all this way just to say hello ... If you like the news I’m going to tell you, will you promise to come back and see me and my sisters after we’ve had our babies?”

“Oh, um, sure! I would like to do that anyway.”

“I don’t mean just to visit, but to stay around long enough to start our second children?”

“Oh ... OK, I promise. Why wouldn’t I?”

“Wait until you hear ... There’s another place, about 15 miles from here, where there are seven girls of the right age to have babies, and their mothers who are in favor. They had been debating about whether they’d have to let this ugly, stupid local guy start babies, because he was the only one around who was available and willing, and they were getting desperate. But then they found out about you.”

A smile formed on James’s face, and it got wider and wider.

Anne smiled. “Yeah, I thought you’d react that way. So you promise you’ll try to come back to see us when it’s time?”

“Sure. I promise. Do you mean in a year?”

“No ... That would be too soon. How about three years?”

“Sure! ... What’s the new place called?”

“Shady Glen.”

“Good, good...”

“When would you go?”

“Pretty soon, I think. There’s only one more to make pregnant here, and she’s just 14. They’ll miss me a lot, but I think they’ll ultimately understand that starting babies is more important, and I can’t do much of that here at Birch Falls -- at least for a while. And as for making the deceased males happy ... They should understand that the deceased male relatives of this new place will presumably feel the same way.”