I said, “We’ll move into the Haunted Mansion.”
She said, “And take the Vegetables?”
I said, “Probably so. If they want to.”
Jeannie and Toni both laughed.
Toni said, “If they want to! You should have seen their faces when Jeannie told them what was going on and that you were going to clean everything up. They practically had orgasms just hearing about it. They were meat. Hunted animals. Sweet things but harassed. You are the knight in shining armor. And they don’t give a damn that you have two or three girlfriends already.”
Jeannie said, “Yep. When Allie told everyone that Christie was going with you, they thought that Prince Charming had arrived, and they started making plans.”
Toni laughed and said, “They did? What about you?”
Jeannie got serious for a minute and said, “Toni, please don’t hate me.”
Toni said, “Of course not. We made out but we weren’t lovers, I knew that. You are my friend. I always knew that you were only with us because you didn’t fit anywhere else. This is better. I told you, I’m happy. I’m happy for you. I really hope that I can be friends with your family.”
I said, “I hope so too. Tell you what. You come visit when you want to. All of you.”
She laughed and said, “At the Haunted Mansion? I don’t think so! Well but then again, maybe if you guys are still alive in a week or so and don’t go insane, maybe I will. I’ll see you on trade day, anyway. You know what? This is nice. Kong, you’re the first boy I’ve had fun talking to in a very long time. I like you.”
Then she added, “Not like that. Um, well but you are kind of pretty, for a boy.”
Jeannie said, “I know, right!” Then she asked, “Toni, have you ever tried it?”
Toni said, “What? A penis? No, no, no! Not me.”
Jeannie said, “Are you sure? It’s better than any substitute you ever had; I promise you that.”
I said, “Only if the emotions are there. Only if you love each other. Otherwise, there’s nothing magical about it, or so I’ve been told.”
We watched as the Nomads carried away the dead from the circle. Except for the wind, things were quiet. The dead were dumped in a spare canoe and left on the beach.
I asked, “Do we have enough canoes? Did we give them all away?”
Jeannie said, “Nah, there are plenty. There might be 20 of them here and a few more scattered around. The men hoarded them, like everything else. There will be a few left over. Our family only needs one for now.”
Toni said, “It feels weird. All that’s left is us and the breeders and one little group of four men. It is kind of the end of things.”
I said, “Every death is the birth of something new. Every birth comes at the death of something we had known. A child being born is the death of the life that the parents had before. The death of a man is the birth of a new life for the survivors. They come in pairs. And we can’t focus on just one of them. This is the death of life as you knew it. This is the birth of a new life for all of us. Toni, based on the fact that the population is so low now that so many have died or left, does that change things for you and your tribes? Do you still want to be Nomads?”
CHAPTER Twenty-One - Becoming Friends
Toni leaned back on her arms and said, “This is weird. I feel kind of naked for the first time in years.”
Jeannie said, “I felt that way, too. But in a way, I like it better. I’ve been thinking about it. Now I have the choice to be nude. Before I was forced to be naked. I like the freedom. And there’s no one I need to hide from. We got to that point before but it’s weird, but I like it.”
Toni said, “Yeah, I guess so. No, I don’t think that this changes much. Well, it changes everything but not where we live. Or, maybe it does. Maybe it does. Do you think that we can be more civilized now? Maybe it does change things. Jeannie, we were nomads because it was safer. And Kong made those rules about welcome mats and all because it made things safer. I haven’t been friends with a man since the crash. And I guess I shouldn’t call you Kong now. We’re friends as far as I’m concerned. Three hours ago, I thought that we needed distance and privacy to maintain safety. But I feel really comfortable and safe right now. Florin, what would you say to having neighbors?”
Jeannie and Toni both smiled and Jeannie said, “Yeah. Totally. Here’s what I think. We move in there and call it the Presidential Mansion. The capitol of Florentine…, no, of Kongatania, is here at the trade village. This is the island of…I don’t know, how about ‘Remembrance’? No, then we have confusing things like Others and Them.”
I said, “It depends on the neighbors. But I think that we respect and even like each other. If you want to live here on the east side, that seems fine. If you think that your people will feel the same way that you do, and if we can actually be friends.”
Toni smiled and said, “No. I guess not. I may be your friend but there’s um…”
Jeannie filled in, saying, “Nine.”
Toni said, “Yeah, probably nine um…”
Jeannie said, “Man-haters.”
Toni said, “Yeah, man-haters.”
I said, “I don’t blame them.”
Toni said, “Neither do I but these girls hated men long before we got here.”
I said, “If you have two different philosophies, you may have two tribes.”
Toni said, “Yeah. That’s probably right.”
Jeannie said, “We can live with them though. Just don’t push them or try to dominate them or harass them and they’ll be fine. They saw how you are today, and they feel pretty comfortable, I think.”
Toni said, “Florin, we called her Bebe because she was a Big Bitch.”
I looked at Jeannie and she laughed.
Toni said, “Jeannie is better. Jeannie, I’m so glad that you feel happy. You were a good leader. But yeah, maybe two tribes is the way to go. It was kind of loose anyway. It’s like every canoe is separate, in a way. So, it would be OK if one or two canoes stayed on this side of the atoll? How close would be too close?”
I said, “I think as long as we’re friendly, as long as we are on our own little islands, it would be OK. Just far enough that we don’t wander into each other by mistake and we don’t hear each other talking, and we’re OK.”
Jeannie said, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking, Toni?”
Toni said, “Maybe. There are three little huts on the beach between here and the Haunted Mansion. On stilts. We stayed there sometimes. Maybe my canoes just move in there as a more permanent base.”
I said, “Now that we know the situation better, is this haunted place the best one for us?”
The girls assured me again that it was.
I said, “Call it ‘Legacy Village’. My grandfather would like that.”
Toni said, “Oh shit. Was that stuff about you owning the whole atoll true?”
I said, “My grandfather owns it, if anyone owns anything. He bought it before the cataclysm and moved everyone to a safer place in Tahiti. So yeah, it belonged to my family. The whole thing. The islands that Parker was headed to are abandoned. We moved everyone away from there, too.”
Toni said, “Wait, you knew? You knew it was coming?”
I said sadly, “Yeah. We did. We didn’t know when, but we had a few years warning and we prepared as best we could. My grandfather was really rich and…”
Toni said, “Florin, everyone knows who Robert Jensen was. I mean, no one knew him, but everyone knew he was super rich and stuff.”
I said, “Yeah, I guess so. But we had some warning. We shared what we knew but they were all still trying to deny it by the time it happened. It was predicted by an artificial intelligence and it seemed like the government scientists couldn’t follow the data. We trusted Alice and we knew that if she said it was happening, then it was happening. I came here on two trips to help out when I was a boy. There was this cute Polynesian girl my age…and well, maybe she was my first girlfriend…for two w
eeks.”
Jeannie said, “What happened to her?”
I said, “I don’t know. She got evacuated with the rest. When the cataclysm struck, there was no way to know what happened to anyone for the first four years or so. She might be alive but it’s not like I’m pining for her and plan to go look for her. I hadn’t thought about her at all until just now.”
About twenty minutes later, Allie and Christie came back, along with a few of Toni’s girls. Christie really did look much nicer with a good haircut. It was short but very attractive.
The girls were in a good mood and it seemed that they were friendlier with the others than they had been in the past. I didn’t mention it but there wasn’t any apparent animosity or distrust between them the way that there had been when Allie and I had first encountered Jeannie’s canoes a few weeks ago. They stood around and chatted with Toni, Jeannie, and me and seemed fairly at ease.
A bit later, a few of the others approached but stayed thirty feet away and called out to Toni to come talk to them. Toni and the three women from her canoes left us briefly and went off to talk. I didn’t pay any attention to them for a few minutes.
When I was alone with my girls, my canoe as Toni had put it, I complimented the two on their haircuts again and was surprised when Allie came and sat on my lap. I put my arms around her middle and held her there while we chatted. Mostly we just talked about how much things had changed and how we all felt about it.
Toni and one of her girls came back after a while and Toni said, “It’s not totally settled. We’ll all go together for now, at least until we have disposed of the dead. With the wind blowing like this, we don’t know how long it will take. There were actually quite a few more bodies than just the ones that were killed here in the circle today. We have three canoes stacked as deep as we dare. We’ll have to drag them behind us. We’ll need everyone. It might take a week. Depending on the weather.”
I said, “Toni, I think that every day is going to be windy like this for a while. But it might get even worse.”
She said, “We know. We’ll stay safe. We’ll start by taking the dead straight across the atoll tonight. If we don’t make it all the way to the east, we can sleep in the canoes and get blown north in the morning. We’ll land before we leave the atoll.”
I said, “Toni, I didn’t know that it was that much trouble. Why don’t we just burn them? If we have any dry wood, just take them up wind and burn them. Hell, we could just burn them here in the circle. It would be kind of fitting. Afterward, we take the bones away and the rain and wind take care of the ashes. This is kind of a place of death now, anyway.”
Toni and Jeannie seemed to consider the idea and Toni said, “I’ll be back.”
She and her minion walked away and conferred with the others and returned a few minutes later.
Toni said, “There’s a place, a sandbar, just north of here. Maybe two miles. We could take them and some firewood there. We burn them and the bones will sink into the sand over time. What do you think of that? Hey, we’d rather you don’t come. If you come, it becomes a ceremony. This way, it’s just disposal. Nobody wants a memorial.”
I said, “You’re right. I understand that.”
She said, “Good. We’ll go now, then. Some will take off and drag the dead to the place and the rest of us will gather the wood and follow them as soon as we can. You’ll see smoke in less than two hours. We’ll have to take your canoe, but we’ll bring it back for you before too long. You’ll be able to leave when the wind dies. If the wind dies. Otherwise, you might be here for a bit. If so, I’ll come stay with you and the others will come get me later. I hope that isn’t necessary. It’s been a hard day and they need time to unwind and process everything.”
Jeannie said, “Toni, don’t worry about us. I know where everything is and so does Allie. We’ll be fine. Bring us a canoe when you’re done and go take care of yourselves.”
Jeannie stepped up close to her old friend and hugged her and then kissed her on the mouth.
Jeannie said, “Toni, you are a good friend. I wouldn’t have made it without you. I love you. I’m glad that we’re still friends.”
Toni said that she felt the same way. She ended up hugging both Allie and Christie and whispering something to each of them and then she came to me. She opened her arms and I accepted her embrace.
Toni leaned into my ear and said, “Thank you. We probably owe you our lives. Call on me for anything you ever need. I am your friend. I know that I always will be. In a way, I love you, too. I’ll bring back a canoe in a few hours at most.”
She and the other girl walked away, and we watched them go down to the beach.
We sat together on a bench and Jeannie said, “Toni’s OK. She’s been a bitch, but I think she’s changing now, too. We got along OK, but I was pretty terrible myself.”
Allie said, “You didn’t hurt us, but you weren’t very nice.”
Jeannie said, “No, we weren’t. None of us were. Well, I guess the Vegetables weren’t as bad as all the rest of us.”
Christie asked, “Are we going home tonight? I mean to the little house? Or to the new house?”
I said, “I don’t know. I had assumed that we’d go back to the little house.”
Jeannie said, “It’s twice as far. But even if the new place isn’t haunted, I don’t want to go there in the dark.”
I said, “What if we just stay here? We can go early in the morning, before the wind starts up.”
Jeannie said, “What if we go halfway tonight and sleep on the beach, and go the rest of the way in the morning?”
It sounded fine to me. As long as we could get out of the wind, one place was as good as another. We had to wait until at least midnight. By then, maybe the winds would die down and Toni could bring us a canoe, and then we could take an hour to find a spot to the south.
After a half-hour or so, I asked the girls to take me on a tour of the village. It wasn’t in good shape. Some of the buildings had been torn down and used as firewood. All of them had been looted and vandalized. Many had roofs missing. The hotels had been built stronger and had survived better but they were in bad shape too. Over the years, all of the cloth and mattresses had been removed from all of the guest rooms. The doors had been left open and the weather had taken its toll. Some of the carpets had been stripped from the rooms but where they had been left in place, they were badly decayed and had vegetation growing in them.
We talked a little bit about my grandfather, and I related my story again for Jeannie’s benefit.
Jeannie said, “I bet your Pops would have a fit if he saw what happened here.”
I said, “No. Actually, Pops wouldn’t give a damn. The people that he wanted to save were removed. This place was counted a total loss before the cataclysm even hit. He believed that it would be destroyed anyway. If the whole place burned and crumbled, he wouldn’t care at all, as long as the people were safe. What happened to you girls and the others wasn’t his fault. He’d have had no way to do anything about your situation and he wouldn’t blame himself for any of it. Neither do I. I did what I could for the people where I was.”
Jeannie said, “And now you are doing what you can for us.”
We walked on, exploring here and there, stepping out of the wind occasionally.
I laughed and said, “Big Bitch, huh?”
Jeannie smiled and said, “Yeah. Not the biggest but big enough. We had to. If we showed any weakness, we were mush material.”
I said, “That’s all over now. At least I hope so. If not, I’ll put a stop to it again. I think that there are only 67 of us left, and 40 of those are the breeders; 30 plus the ten men who are probably joining them. That’s less than 30 of us left in the rest of the atoll.”
It got dark. But for the first time, we could see the moon now and then as a hole opened in the clouds above us. It was a strange sight and we sat on the beach and watched it for several hours. At some point, I fell asleep, and I think that at least some of
the girls did too. I woke up to the sound of canoes being dragged up onto the sand.
The wind had died down to where it was just a breeze now. Toni and one of her crew had paddled the canoe up to the beach for us and after the briefest of chats, the two swam back out to where the others were waiting for them. My new family and I launched our canoe and headed south.
We paddled against the breeze but made good progress. We made it about eight of the ten miles to our destination and then beached ourselves and slept on the sand of a little island. Christie and Allie curled up next to me and Jeannie slept about two feet away. She was with us but not actually sleeping with anyone. I kind of missed her. She had really grown on me in the past several hours.
It took me a few minutes to fall asleep. Wow, things had changed. First, Allie seemed to be more whole than she had been. I fully expected that she would remember everything when we woke up. Christie was still good and getting better. I loved her. She was sweet. She seemed very much attuned to me and wanted to take care of me. Jeannie was more of a leader. A kind of vice president to me. She wanted to get things done. Jeannie was happy to be with us and excited to make a new life for all of us.
We would all have roles. I didn’t know exactly what they would be, but it seemed like we were finding out. I would be the captain. Jeannie was the First Mate. Christie was going to focus on my emotional and physical well-being. Actually, she’d do that for all of us. She had been the one to make sure to tell Jeannie that she was loved and welcome. Allie was still a wild card. She would help out wherever she was asked. One thing that I knew for sure was that Allie would catch fish. She had been the most independent of all of the girls, so it made sense that she didn’t immediately fall into a specific role within our family. Yes, I loved them all. I did love each one differently, though. I would have been happy with any one of them.
Before I fell asleep, I remembered that there would most likely be more than just the four of us. We would see. Maybe not but I had to stay open to the idea. There were the three Vegetables out there in the darkness. And Jeannie had been a Nomad but had now “come in from the cold”. There might be others. It would be naive to believe that all of the new societal groupings were set and unchanging. There would most likely be adjustments. I just really hoped that there wouldn’t be any more wars. As long as the breeders kept to themselves, we might be fine. The Nomads might make adjustments to who was in each canoe and how many canoes they had but hopefully that would be peaceful and amicable.
The Dark Atoll: The Castaways: Book 1 Page 21