Chapter 8A

We celebrated the second anniversary of the founding of our island community in three ways. We gave ourselves a name. Officially, that is, as we'd been calling ourselves "Dolphin's Retreat" for some time amongst ourselves. We had thought about using Randal's Folly, but decided against it. Firstly, it let everyone with an atlas know where we were and secondly we didn't want to have a name that contained the word "folly". So we used "Dolphin's Retreat" in honour of the "Spirit of the Dolphin", and for the many dolphins that seemed to inhabit the waters around the island.

The second thing we did to celebrate was to throw a party. Admittedly, we had one last year but this one was different. This time we only used produce from our island. None of the many supplies we still had stored away were used, just what we had grown, harvested and processed ourselves. It was a proud moment.

Our final act of celebration was to officially change our language to Esperanto. Until then we still spoke English two days a week, but now there was no need to do this since all speaking members of Dolphin's Retreat could speak the language. So, while we still spoke English to keep in practice, the official language was Esperanto. Of course, we used whatever language we felt like, but that official change gave us a true sense of being different from before.

Personally, I have never been in such good physical condition ever in my life. I was slim, tanned and, according to Sharon, very healthy. I could work in the fields if required, and did as often as I could, I worked with all our troops to improve my military trade craft and I was very proud to say that I could satisfy all my eleven wives in one night, just not every night. To be honest, not even once a week, I'm not a young man, after all.

However, I did sit down a few days after the founding day party and have a chat with my wives. The occasion of the party had me thinking about my life in general and although I was happy for the most part, there was something that concerned me and the more I thought about it, the more it worried me.

"Ladies, most of the time I defer to your wishes and do so without complaint, but I'm afraid that I have to put my foot down about one thing at least. No more wives! There are eleven of you and I can barely cope with you all. Many times I have felt totally overwhelmed by the sheer number of you, and it depresses me. I feel that because there are so many of you I cannot spend as much time with you, on an individual basis, as I want."

Sharon, as usual, was the first person to respond.

"Have we ever given you cause to think that we might be dissatisfied with you as our husband?" She asked gently.

"No, but that doesn't stop me from feeling that way. There is also the problem that it's not about what is, it's about how I feel and I feel inadequate to the task you have set me up for."

I saw Annie quietly crying.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?"

"You don't want me."

"I certainly did not say that."

"You said no more wives. I'm not a wife, but you said that if I wanted to be I could."

"And I meant it. If you ever decide that you want to join us as a wife, then I will gladly accept you. I love you as much as I love my wives. Come here." She got up and came over to where I was sitting. I pulled her down into my lap and cuddled her.

"It's not that I don't love you all, I do, deeply, and I think I have demonstrated this to you, but you seem to think that it is acceptable to add wives to our family whenever you want. This is what must stop."

"We have always asked you before anyone else joined us," Julie commented. "You always had the final word."

"Exactly. The final word. No say in the discussions until then, and no real choice. You know that I find it almost impossible to say "no" when you ask me something, so my "final word" is just a formality. And I end up with more wives."

I stared at Sharon.

"Is this a family or not?"

"Yes it is."

"Then as a family member I should be involved, yet you have been excluding me. How do you think that makes me feel, more of a family member or more like a pussy-whipped husband?"

I looked at Julie.

"Is there some kind of competition going on? How many wives can the men have? The one with the most at the end of the year gets a prize?

"No." She replied, but would not meet my eyes.

"Sometimes it feels like it. I know that Bob and Pete have been resisting the efforts of their wives to add more, and I'm fairly sure it's because of you. All of you, not just Julie. They see what I have and how our supposed family works and they want no part of it. To put it bluntly, if I were in their place I wouldn't want it either."

"Do you want us to leave?" Asked Amelia. "I speak for Lesley and Amanda as well as myself."

"No, I said when you joined us that there was room for you and I haven't changed my mind on that. And, I have come to love you as I love my other wives." I looked at the rest of my wives. "I don't want any of you to leave. The point is that by making the decision for me, you are excluding me from the family. The way it stands at the moment, this family isn't working properly. I know you all quite well, but not as well as I feel is right in a family. I don't know what your concerns are or your thoughts about the future. Hell, I don't even know who wants children in the family and who doesn't. There just isn't enough communication."

I looked at them all.

"This isn't just about wives, it's a more general problem. You have the discussion about something, you make a decision and then, when it's all over, you ask me about it. Except that your 'asking' is only for show. Instead you are telling me what is going to happen.

"Seriously, the next time you tell me anything at the last moment, giving me the 'final word', the answer will not be a simple acceptance of your decision. I will probably reject your suggestion on the grounds that I was not consulted."

"What are you suggesting?" came Annie's voice from under my chin.

"I'm not sure. Things have to change in how this family works, but I'm not sure how they should change. I guess you probably all talk together about things that concern or worry you. Am I right?"

I felt Annie's head nodding against my chest and I could see others nodding as well.

"So why don't I know these things? Why am I excluded, again?"

"We didn't think that you were interested and you have a lot on your mind."

"So, perhaps I should leave the family and let you be a family by yourselves?"

That caused a shocked reaction from them all.

"To be honest, what difference would it make if I did leave the family? You all talk to each other, you all support each other. Okay, sexually you wouldn't have me but you all deal with that amongst yourselves most of the time anyway. So what am I in this family? The stud and no more?"

"That's not true." This vehemently from Kate.

"Then why do I not feel part of this family and why are we needing the conversation?"

"You are part of the family."

"But I don't feel like it. I feel excluded and left out. A second-class family member with no real say in what happens. How many things have you decided to do in this family where I wasn't informed at all? I know of a number of important things, and I'm guessing that not a week goes by where you all make a decision about something that affects the family and I only find out after it happens. Annie here is more a family member than I am, though she's not yet a wife, and may never be if she doesn't want to be."

Carefully I helped Annie off my lap and stood up.

"This has not been a sudden problem, but one that has been around pretty much since we started on the cruise ship. Little things all adding up to a big problem. It culminated in a way with the three sergeants joining us. That, in itself, is not the problem. Rather, the way in which it was carried out. I don't doubt that had I been involved in the decision it would not have turned out any differently than it has, but I wasn't involved. Our Founding Day party was deliberately a time for reflection and on reflection I found that I was dissatisfied with the way things were with us as a family.

"I've said all I'm going to say for the moment. Any more and I'll be saying things that I don't mean. I'm going to leave you alone to reflect. Personally, I don't want to see any of you for the rest of the week."

"What, you don't mean that!" The look of shock on Ayesha's face was almost comical.

"I do mean every word. You have a lot to think about and discuss about this family, and I have a lot to think about as well. It's Tuesday today. We'll have another family meeting on Sunday where we will decide, together, what our future is."

I turned to April and May.

"And that definitely includes both of you. I'm not in any danger on the island, so there is no need to shadow me the whole time. If I see you following me at any time between now and Sunday I'll assume that you've decided that what I've been saying is unimportant and that you want me to leave the family. If that happens I will be gone."

I know I was being very harsh, and my heart ached when I saw the tears trickling down their faces but I meant what I said, so I steeled myself and walked out of the room.

I found myself at Lookout Point. I always seem to end up there when I'm in a bad mood. Somehow, being able to see most of the island from there and the surrounding sea around makes me feel better, though I'm not sure why.

Some time later Bob appeared, a mug in each hand. He held out the one with tea which I took gratefully. He took a sip from his own mug and looked around.

"Came to a head?"

"Sure did."

"I'm not surprised, as we've been waiting for it for some weeks."

"Thanks for telling me." I retorted, somewhat sourly, which made him laugh.

"It wouldn't have helped to have told you, since it needed to be you that made the first move. I take it that it didn't go well."

"I'm not sure if it went well or not. I've told them all that I don't want to see any of them before Sunday, when we'll have another family meeting to decide our way forward. Perhaps that is a bit childish, but I needed some way to shock them and that's all I could think of at the time."

Bob looked at me for a long moment. "You need to get off the island until then, or at least camp out at the other end where they won't find you."

"Do you honestly think that there's anywhere on the island that they couldn't find me if they wanted to? Especially the sergeants."

"Off the island it is, then. I've got the very thing for you. Come down to the cavern after dark and you'll see. It's something I found a few days ago. I haven't had a chance to mention it to anyone yet."

"That's very melodramatic. Should I wear a red carnation in my button hole and carry a copy of the Financial Times?"

Bob roared with laughter. "You can if you want but it won't be necessary, just make sure that no-one sees you."

"That might be easier said than done. three of my wives could probably track a fly by the disturbances it made in the air and two of my wives, possibly three, could probably track me mentally."

"Mentally?"

"Yeah, as in telepathy or empathy."

"I'm not sure I believe that."

I shrugged my shoulders. "They come from an entirely different culture than us, both physically and philosophically. I know that Chang has abilities that he's keeping very quiet about."

"Maybe."

"You want proof?"

"Yes and no. Yes, because proof would take away the uncertainty and no, because I'm not sure that I want to believe in that sort of thing."

I closed my eyes and let my mind still, then in the quietness of my mind I concentrated on one thought.

<Chang, please do not tell anyone where I am.>

I sensed acceptance rather than heard it and I opened my eyes to find Bob staring at me intently.

"What did you just do?"

"I asked Chang not to tell anyone where I am. If you want proof ask him what I said. If you don't want proof, then don't ask."

"Thanks a bundle, friend."

It was my turn to laugh.

"See you later." He said as he turned and started back down the path.

I stayed on Lookout Point for some while, letting the events of the last few months play through my mind and trying to think of something that I could have done differently in the meeting with my family.

Finally, however, I got bored and started to explore. Instead of taking the path back down, I climbed down from the point on the southerly side. It was not a difficult climb, but not one that you could do on auto-pilot. Concentrating on where I put my feet and hands next soon drove every other thought out of my mind, so that by the time I reached the bottom I felt a lot more relaxed. Very Zen.

I found myself surrounded by trees and dense undergrowth. Spying an animal track of some kind I started to walk with no particular destination in mind.