Chapter 8B

Saturday night saw my return on yet another moonless night. Getting into the tunnel was a damn sight harder than getting out, but I made it with only one or two difficult moments. I tied the sloop up back where I found her. The remainder of the provisions were packed in the boxes that Bob had carefully carried, as were the rest of my belongings. I left the boat in much the same condition as I found her, or as far as I could.

I had decided that I would return to the island in the same way as I had left, and once all was ready, I slipped into the water and swam out into the open sea. Getting back onto the ledge gave me some trouble, but eventually a large enough swell rolled by and lifted me high enough that I could get onto the narrow rock ledge. Carefully, very carefully in the darkness, I retraced my path until I reached a suitable place to rest. The exertion made me quite warm. Hot enough, in fact, to be able to remove my clothing and wring out the water. I soon cooled off and rested in a hollow in the cliff until the sun rose. I spread my clothes out to dry in the sun and once they were dry enough to wear I could see well enough to climb back up the cliffs and eventually to Lookout Point.

Sometime during the early morning, Bob wandered up in much the same way as he had a few days before, carrying two mugs. He handed me the one with tea.

"I'm convinced."

I raised my eyebrows in question as I took a sip of the tea.

"Chang told me what you had told him and then, a little while ago, said that you were up here waiting."

"Hidden abilities."

"I'm not entirely happy about it."

"If those abilities ever save your life you will be."

Bob just grunted at that and we drank our tea and coffee in companionable silence.

"So, have you decided what you will do?" He asked.

"Not really. It needs to be a family decision."

"What do you think they will have decided? They've been going around in a god-awful mood since you left."

"Again, I hope they've decided nothing. Still, there are three I'm sure of, three I'm fairly sure of and the other five I haven't a clue about."

"So who's who?"

"Li, April and May will choose to stay with me whatever. As I mentioned before, they come from a different culture that instills a different set of standards for family dynamics than we are used to. They lived in a western society for some time, but all that has done is allowed them the choice. They can choose to live according to whichever of their standards they want, a western one or an eastern one. They will choose the eastern. In fact, they already had the night I left, and that is why they said what they said to you that evening. Of course, we don't live in either a western or eastern society anymore, so that will be tempered by what we have now. But, in essence, that's what they want."

I took another mouthful of my tea.

"The three I'm fairly certain about are the sergeants. They will also stay, I think. Their inclination is to belong to a unit with defined roles and responsibilities. That is their nature and their training. They like that structure and want to stay with it. Also, there's the problem that they are highly trained killers. Now, the three orientals are also trained killers in one sense with their martial arts abilities, but that is accepted in their native societies. In our previous western culture it was not something that was accepted. Even in our own culture now, it is something that, while seen as necessary, is not conducive to easy relationships. So, the fact that I totally accept Amanda, Amelia and Lesley as they are and love them means that, like Li, April and May, they would probably give their lives to protect me, as I would for them."

I stared into my cup for a moment.

"That sounds melodramatic, but it's true. I'd give my life to protect all of them, and gladly, if it came to that choice. As for the others? Well, they are caught in a bit of a trap. They are still acting like they are members of the old society with its extreme feminism, political correctness and lack of family values, real values, that is. So they still treat men the old way, as people to be manipulated into doing what they want not realising that we men have changed back into what we used to be. Hunters, gatherers and problem solvers and that we, at least, can see the problems ahead and try to solve them. They haven't yet absorbed the massive changes that have occurred, nor have they accepted that the old values have gone. You heard Liz the other night saying 'that's different'. She believed it and couldn't see anything wrong with it since she, like the others, has been brought up to believe that it isn't the same thing and that 'sauce for the goose' is not 'sauce for the gander'.

"They believe that what they consider to be perfectly acceptable behaviour for women, is not acceptable for men. That two faced, hypocritical thinking, though normal for our old society, just has no place here. Actually, it never had any place in my life, old or new, so it wasn't much of a change for me. For them it is as foreign as the dark side of the moon. Hopefully it won't be as inaccessible."

I finished my tea and emptied the dregs.

"And then there's Annie." I sighed. "She will stay with Sharon. She is still young and hasn't made up her mind quite where she belongs. Sharon will give her the stability she needs to grow into this new life and decide for herself."

"You've given it some thought."

"Not a great deal. I knew most of this when I left."

"So why didn't you explain it to them then?"

"Nobody ever wins an argument, no matter what it looks like. An argument is a 'no win' situation for all parties. I could have explained logically and consistently until I was blue in the face, but because we were arguing, even slightly, I would have been wasting my time. They had to come to their own understanding, and not because I told them or because I 'won' the argument."

"Do you think they realise that now?"

"Who knows the mind of a woman, any woman? Any man who thinks he knows the mind of a woman is a fool. They know what I think and how I feel. Whether or not that makes a difference to them or not is what we have to discuss."

"Ah, but how do you know that they know what you think and feel?"

"Because they've been listening to this conversation since it started."

"What?"

I gave him a wry smile.

"You didn't know?"

"No."

"I suspect that Li, April and May knew I was up here the moment I got here, and certainly Chang did. He would have told them if they asked. Even if they didn't, where would anyone think you were going carrying two mugs, one of which had hot tea in it?"

"Yeah, you're about the only person that drinks the stuff."

I raised my voice and spoke to the hidden audience.

"Are you coming out now, or are you going to sneak away and pretend you were never here?"

I heard the sound of footsteps behind me and turned to see my wives. April, May and Li came and stood in front of me, bowed their little bows and then hugged me.

"You are right about us, husband." Said April in my ear. They stood back and allowed Amanda, Amelia and Lesley their turn. They didn't bow, but they did hug me, all at once like the three before them.

"We chose well, husband." whispered Amelia.

"We'll be staying with you whatever." This from Lesley. Amanda just hugged. They too stepped back and I was left facing the rest.

"Bob, would you mind giving us a few moments. I believe we need to have a family discussion."

"Sure thing." He took my now empty mug and left Lookout Point to us.

"So," I began, "what do we do now?"

There was silence.

"Well, let me start the ball rolling by saying that I was not kidding or joking with you when I said that I loved you enough to give my life for you. I don't know, however, what you five think. These six have made their position eminently clear and I believe I have made myself clear to you. Now I need to hear from you what you want and what you feel.

Still silence.

"Am I getting the silent treatment or are you just unable or unwilling to start?"

None of them would look at me and still none spoke. I walked up to Sharon.

"Sharon, do you love me?"

She looked into my face.

"Yes."

I kissed her gently on the lips and moved to Julie and repeated the question. She too replied in the affirmative and got a kiss. Then Liz, Ayesha and finally Kate.

"So, that doesn't appear to be the problem. Next question. Do you want to stay in the family?"

Again the answers were affirmative.

"Do you really think we're as bad as that?" asked Liz. "Being two faced, I mean."

"Yes I do. I thought the same of 99% of the female population of the western world before IT happened, and that's how you've been behaving. You were the one that said it on Tuesday evening."

"How did you know about that?"

"I was there and heard you."

"That Bob, he said that he didn't know where you were."

"And he wasn't lying. At the time he didn't know that I was there either. I kept out of sight for a long time to make sure that none of you saw me. However, we're off the subject which was you being hypocritical. Basically, you accused Bob of doing something that you have been doing and then excused it by saying 'that's different', when it was exactly the same. For those of you that were not there, Liz accused Bob and the rest of us men of sticking together. Bob, quite correctly, mentioned that this is what you women do and that's when Liz put her foot right in her mouth. Either the behaviour is right or it is wrong. It doesn't matter who's doing it.

"Now, you women need the company of other women to discuss things that you feel you can't discuss with men. You also have a unique bond with other women that can't be had with men. We men do the same. There are things we can't talk about to you women, because you can't understand what it is to be male in exactly the same way that we can't understand what it is to be female. And we bond male to male just in a different manner to you females. Now for the kicker. If it's acceptable behaviour for you women, then it is also acceptable behaviour for us men. To say otherwise is discrimination, and sexual discrimination at that which is something that Dolphin's Retreat is completely against, in fact, discrimination in any form."

I took a deep breath.

"Now I've got off the subject. The subject is our family, and how we run it."

"We don't know," started Sharon. "we've been going along in the way that we thought was best and then this happened. As far as we were concerned, it happened right out of the blue. We didn't realise that it was such a problem, I think, because we couldn't see the wood for the trees. Personally, although I originally thought that you were acting like a spoilt child running off like that, now I think that you were right to do it. Every day that you were not around reminded us that we had something important to think about, and that it was serious.

"I think even then we didn't take you as seriously as we should have done, or at least I didn't, not until I heard what you said to Bob a little while ago. Now I don't know what to think, and any basis for what I want this family to be has gone. Wiped away by your description of us trying to live life like it was before the disaster happened.

"My sister wives over there," she pointed to the six who knew what they wanted, "have made up their minds in effect to defer to you in family matters." She held up her hand to forestall my interruption. "That's how I see it, not necessarily how it is, but that's what my mind interprets it to be. I'm not sure that it's what I want from the family. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yes I do. You don't know me well enough, perhaps, to realise that this is not how I want to run a family. I'm not BA and I certainly don't have his attitude towards women. As far as I'm concerned, how I treat women can be summed up in one word, 'correctly'.

"If a woman wants me to be dominant then that is what I will be for her. I can't be submissive, as it just isn't in my nature, but I can let the woman take control of a situation if that's what she wants. Li, April and May want me to be the head of the family in the sense that they are used to. Amelia, Amanda and Lesley want a mostly equal relationship but with someone, in this case me, in command. To an extent, Sharon, that's what you want as well as do you Ayesha. Look at how we work together on Spirit as Captain, First Officer and Ship's Doctor.

"When we're in that situation you're happy and contented. You like the semi-formality of the situation, but also like the fact that when you are off duty you are my wives and I am your husband."

I turned to the others.

"Kate, I don't know you well enough to know what you want, and I'm sorry for that. I'll try to spend more time with you to find out what you want and who you are. Liz and Julie. The same applies to you. You've been in this family from the start and I'm ashamed to say that I don't know you as well as I should. Perhaps I can lay some of the blame on our situation getting in the way, but that doesn't absolve me of my responsibility for finding time for you."

I turned completely around to look at all my wives.

"Perhaps that is what I'm really getting at. We haven't been finding time enough for each of us individually as well as a family. Do you remember when we first started a watch system on Spirit? I asked Harry to devise a rotating system where we would all have a chance to work with each other. Well, perhaps something like that is what we want to do for us. Each day we get together in couples and spend the day together, or as much as we can. That way we can each get to know everyone else in a much more intimate fashion."

"Am I included?" asked Annie.

"Do you want to be?"

"Yes."

"Then you are."

"In that case, could we make it half a day each? Rhat way we get to be with everyone else in six days, not eleven."

"Okay, that sounds reasonable. Is everyone happy with that?"

There were nods from them all.

"Good. I'm also suggesting that we all spend an hour together in the morning before work starts, and at the very least we spend the evening meal together. If we're asked to eat with others we can do so, but if we do or if we have others to eat with us, we spend an hour or so together, as a family, before or after. Reasonable?"

Again there were nods from all of them.

"Okay, finally, sleeping arrangements. I don't know how you ladies have been working that one out, but whatever you've been doing seems to work quite well. I will say that I'm happy to be sleeping with you two at a time on a regular basis and I'll let you decide the who and how many if that's appropriate. All eleven of you at once, although an incredible experience, is really too much unless I have the following day to sleep. For special occasions, like birthdays and so on, you can plan a one-on-one if that's what you want, or any combination. That's for the birthday person to decide.

"Tonight, I sleep alone." I had to raise my voice over the protestations. "Not because I want to sleep alone but because it's unfair to the rest of you. I can't see any way of sleeping with any of my wives this evening that isn't going to upset the rest of you in one way or another."

"Can I sleep with you, please?"

Annie's question silenced us all, and she blushed a deep red when we all looked at her.

"Sleep, I mean, I'm still not ready for sex. But I'm not a wife so it shouldn't upset any of you."

There was silence as we considered her request.

"Please?" She asked again when no-one spoke.

"Is everyone happy with that? I'm not asking if you find it acceptable, I'm asking if you are happy with it."

I looked at my wives one at a time starting with the ones that I knew would not have a problem with it. Li, April and May followed by the sergeants. They all nodded. Then Sharon. She looked at me and nodded, Ayesha the same. Kate nodded as soon as I looked at her. Liz and Julie wouldn't look at me, so I went up to them both and raised their eyes to look at me by putting a finger under their chins and lifting. They resisted at first but finally looked at me.

"Difficult question to answer, isn't it?"

They both nodded.

"She's not a wife, so it's not playing favourites, and I think she needs to have this special time. So why don't you both spend the rest of the day with me and have that as a special time together and tonight let Annie have her special time?"

I swear they were acting like twins. They simultaneously burst into tears and flung themselves at me, hugging me and holding on for dear life.

Gentlemen. If you're ever in that situation with even just one crying female, let me give you a piece of advice. Don't try to fix it. Just hold on and offer comfort. Hold on as long as they want to hold you. Hold on until your arms ache with holding and then hold some more. You can whisper sweet nothings into their ears, liberally spiced with 'I love you', but don't offer platitudes. Don't say that everything will be alright, especially when it probably won't. Just offer comfort.

This is one time when trying to fix it will only make it worse.

After a few minutes I noticed that Amanda and Li had slipped away. I wondered, briefly, where they were, then returned my attention to the two in my arms. The others gathered around and helped me comfort them and Annie who was also crying. She started to say that it wasn't necessary for her to spend the night with me, but I shushed her and gathered her into the hug.