Chapter 165: Long Road to Longview

Monday, June 21, 1971

The Dining Car swayed on the rails as our small train left Union Station speeding east across the flat East Texas terrain. Our next stop was Tyler, Texas, so that Harvey could pick up a dozen or so loaded railcars destined for somewhere back east. Then, it was on to Longview, Texas and my confrontation, er, meeting with Hanna’s parents.

The girls who had stayed with me, Sandy, Grace, Rose, Eve, Ileana, Kalani, Narvenia, and of course, Hanna had all been flitting back and forth throughout the three railcars, getting everything cleaned up for our arrival in Longview. There was a feeling of excitement in the air as Hanna was nervously looking forward to showing her family through the custom railcars.

I had been sitting with Kip in the Dining Car, drinking coffee, and trying to stay out of the way. Finally, Kip deserted me, caving in to the girls’ threats to straighten his galley if he didn’t. “Sorry, Boss, but I’ll never be able to find anything if they get in there,” he said as he headed towards his galley. Alone, my thoughts soon turned back to my upcoming meeting with Hanna’s parents and I felt a knot of dread growing in the pit of my stomach.

“Stop that!” Sandy scolded me as she slipped into the booth across from me. “We keep telling you, it’s not going to be that bad. Quit trying to make out like it is.”

“I know,” I told her. “It’s just that I’m not really looking forward to this ... meeting.”

“Why not, Michael?” Narvenia asked as she slid in next to Sandy. “I don’t understand. You always seem to like meeting new people.”

Narvenia and her sister had been the one’s responsible for bringing me back in time to face Tabita’s invasion. Now that that ordeal was over, she was going to be spending the next forty years studying our planet, until her people returned to get her. So I understood Narvenia’s confusion. But how to explain it to her?

“Here on our world,” I began, “it is usual for the prospective groom to meet the bride’s parents. Many times, this can be uncomfortable for the groom, due to the fact that the bride’s family will be evaluating him as a prospective son-in-law. And most the time, it is almost impossible for the guy to live up to their expectations. After all, if you had a daughter, what guy could ever be good enough to marry her?”

“I understand your words, but I cannot recognize the emotions attached to them. I do not believe we share those same sentiments on our world. Our parents are usually thrilled when we finally announce that we have found a life-mate,” Narvenia explained.

“I am sure Hanna’s folks are nice, but when they find out that she is engaged to someone seven years her junior...” I paused for effect. “And who already has two wives and several more fiancées, along with eight buns in the oven, well ... I just don’t see any happy endings here,” I told Narvenia and Sandy sadly. It was the truth, and I didn’t see anything but a bad outcome from this meeting. The only other option was to lie, and I just wasn’t very good at that.

“What are ‘buns-in-the-oven’? Are you preparing bread for them?” Narvenia asked suddenly. I could see she was working hard to understand all that was said.

“He’s referring to babies. He means that he has gotten eight of us pregnant,” Sandy laughed as she explained.

“Not eight,” I interjected quickly, “only five of you. Mikeya, Abby, and Anna are all pregnant with twins.”

Narvenia smiled as she finally understood the strange metaphor.

“This is so much more complex than I imagined,” Narvenia exclaimed. “From what we discovered studying your culture, monogamy is not now and probably never was, the predominant mating system among humans.* Consequently I find it difficult to understand the emotions you are expressing.”