Chapter 5: The Family Grows Again

I gave her a wink as the man's voice rang out. "Attention. We have a female sponsor here looking for a replacement concubine. She's made it clear that she is only interested in a female who will be enthusiastic. If you are interested you can immediately wander over by the interview room."

Theresa raised an eyebrow and we headed over to the door. Sophie had seen the beds I had pointed out and led Alex to one, sitting him on one next to Tanya's pram. She sniffed the air for a moment, frowned, and then glared at me. "Yuck. I guess it's my turn isn't it."

Amber giggled and ran over to help as Sophie carefully removed Tanya and looked over for a spot to change her diaper. As she did, I could see a number of women approaching the door. Theresa watched for a moment and then leaned into my shoulder.

"How should I decide who to interview?" she asked me.

I looked at the women approaching. Most had obviously been given makeovers at some point and obviously matched the ideal of beauty for their previous owners. The apparent age varied between sixteen and twenty-four for most of the ladies, and most had model quality figures. The one thing I noticed was that many seemed almost disinterested in the process, so I turned to Theresa.

"I think the biggest question is going to be finding a woman who isn't so beaten down that she can't become part of the family. I'd say look for a woman who appears to be eager to be here. Most of the women approaching seem to be almost resigned to the interview." I said.

Theresa looked over the crowd and nodded. "They look like the concubines from the Park Avenue. Well, all except Traci, and Martha's Jon."

"How so?" I asked as the women began to form a rough line just beyond the door.

Theresa nodded to the first lady. She looked like a blond supermodel, but her eyes were on the floor, and her stance was dejected. "Many of them looked like that," Theresa whispered. "There was a lack of spirit in them. It was clear that the men who had selected them did not really worry about their feelings much. I tried to talk to a few, as did Traci, but it was always hard."

I nodded and stepped over to the bed to check on Alex as Theresa approached the first woman. I could not hear what words she said, but after offering the woman a gentle hug, she sent her off to the barracks, while beckoning the next one forward.

At this time, some of the children in the barracks finally wandered over to see what was happening. Theresa was concentrating on the women in line. Sophie had returned Tanya to the pram, and she and Amber soon were trying to coax some of the children over. I watched this with a smile as slowly more and more children appeared.

The children seemed timid and finally I looked over at Amber and winked. As she giggled in response I pretended to pull something from my loincloth to look at it.

"Oh dear! Look at the time. So busy, so busy," I muttered. I looked over at Alex who was smiling and winked. "And you sir, what is your pleasure today?"

Alex giggled and shouted back. "Soccer!"

"Soccer?" I responded. "But we don't have a ball."

Alex giggled and pointed at the pram containing Tanya. I made a huge show of looking in there. I lifted Tanya out and slowly checked again. Finding nothing I looked back at Alex. "There's no ball in here."

Alex giggled again and pointed at my hands, causing some of the children nearby to titter nervously. I turned slowly to look at Tanya in my arms and gave an expression of shock.

"Alex!" I cried. "When I said you were to play soccer with your sister, I didn't say you could use her as the ball!"

There was a burst of laughter around me as I carefully put Tanya back in the pram and covered her up. Alex had fallen over laughing and Sophie rescued me by providing me with a great line.

"David! You are such a fool!" she shouted as she came over to sit by Alex.

"A fool you say?" I said. "You don't know the half of it."

Sophie looked at me and at my wink giggled and said. "How so?"

I paused and stood proudly, trying to remember the pose Danny Kaye used when he sang this song. I was not sure I could do it right, but smiled and sang out towards Sophie.

"My lady, I have a confession, my secret I must now betray.
I was not a born fool, it took work to get this way.
When I was a lad, I was gloomy and sad
And I was from the day I was born."
When other kids giggled,"

I paused to tickle Alex causing him to squirm and giggle. I noticed that the second empty bed now had a small crowd of children and others were gathering, attracted by the laughter. I smiled inwardly and continued.

"And gurgled and wiggled.
I was proudly and loudly forlorn
My friends and my family look at me clammily
Thought there was something amiss
When others found various antics hilarious
All I could manage was this!"

I twisted my face into a huge frown and waited until the children started to giggle and then spoke. "Boo hoo." I then continued. "Or this!" This time I worked my face into an expression of complete boredom. "Hoo wah!"

At this point the gathered children were rolling on the floor and I just smiled. I was about to continue when Amber turned and started leading the older children in some crazy camp song. I was trying to follow the words when a woman brushed past me and tapped Sophie on the shoulder.

Sophie jumped up and stepped away from the bed. She stood so the lady was facing me and not the still singing children as the woman hissed. "What's this about you and that ... That thing having a say!"

Sophie appeared to gasp. She had her back to me and I could not hear her over the singing. I took a moment to look over the woman and felt myself frown.

The woman was not unattractive, at least not physically, but as I had already noted to Theresa, none of the woman in the barracks would look out of place in a beauty contest. However, she had a pinched face and there was bitterness in her expression that bothered me.

The children's singing was loud enough to drown out the conversation, but it was clear the woman expected to be able to bully Sophie into agreeing with her. Sophie tolerated it for a while before walking over to me and pulling my head down to whisper into my ear. "Theresa better not select that woman. She'll make us all miserable."

I nodded, and waved toward the door. "Go and let Theresa know."

Sophie headed toward the door. As she did the woman stalked up to me and glared at me. "You're going to ruin my chances aren't you? You're just another man, afraid women will figure out we don't need you. A turkey-baster could do your job."

I quietly looked at this woman and then looked at the children who were still following Amber's lead and singing. "I am sorry you feel that way," I said. "But I am not making the decision. My lady Theresa will decide as she sees best."

The woman lifted her hand as if to slap me, but then looked over my shoulder towards the door to the interview room. I could see her eyes widen for a moment and then she spun around and stormed off. I sighed as I watched her go, but then walked over to the bed, and started telling knock-knock jokes to the children.

I had worked my way through about six jokes when I felt a light touch on my shoulder. I glanced back to see a woman who appeared to be about twenty looking at me. I stumbled over the next joke, but Sophie jumped in front of me and smoothly started another song.

With the children distracted I turned to the lady and stepped away from the beds. She smiled at me. "I can't believe you really enjoy entertaining the kids. And where did that silly song come from?" she asked.

I blushed for a moment. Now that I was looking right at the woman, I placed her look as blond college co-ed instantly. She was tall and slender with long pale blond hair and just enough curves to look sexy. She saw my gaze and giggled. "And my sponsor didn't have to do a thing."

I whistled but then looked her in the eye. "Sorry, and to answer your questions, I love children, and entertaining them has always been part of my duties in the household. I'm the best with children out of the adults. As for the song, there is an old movie staring Danny Kaye where he sings that to a king. I actually sang less than a quarter of it, but it was enough to bring laughter to this place."

The lady nodded. "Yes, it's damn depressing here. Especially right now, since so many ships were lost recently, and all the concubines collected here until new homes can be found."

"So you lost your sponsor on one of those ships?" I asked.

We had ended up turned so I was facing the interview room as the woman faced me. Theresa noticed the conversation and quietly walked up behind the woman, holding a finger to her lips to indicate that I should not mention her presence. The girl just sighed for a moment and looked down.

"No," she began. "My sponsor dumped me here. Only a week after we arrived, he brought me here and took a different concubine instead."

I stood there and looked at the woman. Unlike most of the women in the area, she seemed to still have a lot of spirit and I was surprised to hear her admit that she had been abandoned. I noticed Theresa also looking puzzled and spoke. "Why would that happen? Do you feel you can tell me?"

The girl looked me in the eyes. "What about you? Why are you here?"

I laughed. "A question for a question. Well, I'm not too proud to tell my tale. My lady picked me when there was a pickup at a movie theater on Earth. Honestly, she and her senior concubine were long-time lesbian lovers, but they knew a man would be required, and decided to take a chance on a heart-broken wretch of a man caring for two children who weren't his. There are days I still wonder how it happened, but it did, and I'm very happy to be Theresa's junior concubine."

The girl's eyes widened. "You mean you don't have sex with her constantly?"

I shrugged. "Well, I think that's something she should talk about if you interview with her, but when I was picked up, I told her that sex was not required to get me to come. And for a long time, we did not have sex. She preferred Traci, and I understood. I'll admit that I am invited to her bed now, but for me, that's always been a pleasure and an honor. The fact that she trusts me enough to want me means a lot to me."

I could see Theresa with a hand over her mouth and tears in her eyes. It was fairly clear she thought I was not fully aware of her presence and my words definitely moved her. To my surprise, the woman in front of me smiled.

"Wow, I wish I had been so lucky. I guess you can hear my tale, although I still hope your mistress will listen," she said.

She looked off into the distance and sighed. I wanted to reach out to her, but waited as a brief moment of pained memory crossed her eyes. Finally she looked back at me. "My name is Nadia. I know it sounds funny on a girl with a midwestern accent, but my parents were originally from the Ukraine. I grew up as a bit of an all-American farm girl, in a loving family. My father had the CAP to volunteer, but I still wanted to go to college, and ended up attending UC Berkeley. I've heard he was picked up and selected my mother and some barmaid as his concubines. However, that's not my story."

She sniffled. "I was shy in high school. I had grown up fast and was taller than most boys my age all through my youth, and they teased me for it. I relaxed a bit my senior year, and enjoyed the dates, but it was always a bit awkward. I figured it was because I knew all the boys and that things would be easier once I left town to go to UC Berkeley."

I held up a hand. "Wait, you had the grades to get into UC Berkeley, but your CAP wasn't high enough for you to volunteer?"

Nadia blushed. "I'm passive and shy. I couldn't give an order to another to save my life, and I'm slow to respond to forceful people. I froze during many of the test sequences and scored poorly. You know the famous one where the woman is outside a burning house worrying about her dog. I just stood there. It wasn't even a conscious decision not to help; I just couldn't make a decision. I'm great in a classroom because I can relax, but make the decision about something that matters and I freeze."

I nodded. Theresa was looking more interested, and I tried to hide a smile as Nadia continued.

"Well, my choice of place to live on campus was Stern Hall, it's an all-girl dorm on the northeast side of the campus. My roommate was this incredible girl who grew up only three hundred miles from my home, and we quickly became fast friends..." Nadia paused blushing and I smiled.

"Do you mean friends, friends, or was it, you slept-in-the-same-bed type of friends." I asked.

Nadia blushed more. "We pushed our beds together after our first week of classes. But we invited guys in occasionally. Prudence and I were just so comfortable together. We were both so homesick, and sleeping together helped us forget."

I nodded. "Understandable, but that doesn't get you here."

Nadia giggled. "Well, you need to know that for the rest. Prudence convinced me to become a volunteer for a number of local high school events. It helped both of us stay busy. Well, at one job and college fair where we were passing out information about Cal, there was a pickup. Pru and I did not have the CAP to volunteer, but in the end we both were asked to be concubines. A boy who was a high school senior and champion of the debate team took her. I hope she is happy."

I could see the tragedy in her eyes and sighed. Theresa was nodding at me, but I stood silently as Nadia brushed a tear away and continued. "I was selected by this high school freshman who had never been on a date. He was sweet and charming and extremely smart, but naïve. His CAP was just under nine, and instead of finding a good balance, he choose six women, without asking how they would work together. Worse, I found out on the trip that beautiful women intimidated him. Once we were in the pod and on our way here, he started hiding from me. He had no problem with the other girls, who were all high school freshmen or sophomores, and none were great beauties, but he just refused to allow me close."

I frowned. "But didn't he go through medical and get enhancements? What about making the other girls look nicer? Or toning down your looks?"

Nadia nodded. "He did get enhancements, but he's Navy, and on some kind of a strategic planning track. He only did minimal changes to his looks. The other girls he had grown up with, and he got to know them before sending them for the cosmetic changes, so they didn't scare him. He couldn't do that with me, and since he was hiding from me, I couldn't try to improve it."

Nadia began to cry and this time I reached out and put my arms around her. "It got worse once the other girls were all pregnant. George revealed that he had made a mistake in his selection. None of the girls had any experience with children, and obviously I had none either, so he was going to trade me in for a woman who had been a mother before. He had given me hope and then he ripped it away!"

Nadia collapsed into my arms and Theresa dashed up to help me hold her up. Theresa looked at me for a moment, and I nodded without saying anything. I could see Theresa glance over at Sophie who had organized a strange game of tag among the children. Sophie saw Nadia in my arms and raised her thumb in the air.