Girl with all the Pain

by Michael Herman

  “No, I mean getting them into one of the bungalows here.”

  “Oh that, yeah. They move in tomorrow. Each gets her own bedroom.”

  “That should make things easier for them,” Zed says.

  When Isabel arrives with her small bouquet of handpicked flowers, Twizzle shoves her glass of water towards Isabel and offers it as a vase for the flowers.

  “Beautiful, Isabel,” Twizzle says in Spanish about the flowers. “So did you sleep well last night?”

  Isabel glows. “Yes, Mrs. Mundoz, I did sleep well and I had magnificent dreams.”

  Twizzle reacts with mock surprise. “Oh my, you’ll have to tell me about them.”

  Isabel launches into how Sister Mary and she were together in the dreams doing all sorts of wonderful things. While Isabel recounts her vivid dreams to Twizzle, Zed catches sight of Sonnet sauntering along the stone path from her small bungalow. She joins them at the table and, after a round of greetings, she asks Zed where the love of his life is this morning.

  “Sleeping. She’s always the last out of bed.”

  “And so did you propose to her last night in some delirious drunken moment of ecstasy? You were certainly going on and on about how the two of you were perfect for each other.”

  Zed shakes his head and says, “Too much wine last night. Was I really that bad?”

  Sonnet laughs and says, “Worse. You were the sappiest I’ve seen you in a long time.”

  Zed grimaces in sheepish embarrassment.

  Twizzle looks up from young Isabel and says, “Couldn’t have happened to a nicer girl, Zed. She is a lovely person.”

  Isabel chimes in, “I like Sofia. She’s fun. She said she was going to make me into a star player like her.”

  Zed changes the subject. “Ángel’s relocation to the Habladas Silencio community go well yesterday?”

  Sonnet replies, “Ask Uncle Forbes, he’s the one who took him and introduced him around. Dr. El was there to ease the way.”

  Rafa adds, “Forbes said it went well; in fact, Ángel had tears in his eyes when the kids greeted and hugged him at the local school where they are going to have him work. I think he has a real affinity for kids.”

  “You going to miss Ángel?” Zed asks Isabel.

  “He said we’ll see each other all the time if Sister Mary and I move into the same community with him instead of living on the farm.”

  Zed raises his eyebrows to that. “Now that is a conversation I’ve not heard about.” He turns to Rafa. “Is this news to you?”

  “It’s being discussed. Sister Mary may end up as a teacher there. Time will tell.”

  Zed looks around and asks, “So where is my favorite uncle this morning?”

  Twizzle answers, “Down under. Forbes is on reconnaissance today.”

  “Ah, forgot that it was his turn.” Suddenly a small hummingbird buzzes down to the flowers in the vase. It hovers, dips its beak into the flowers and then flies off.

  “Isabel? You care to demonstrate your incredible knowledge for us this morning?” Zed asks.

  “Green-backed Firecrown Picaflour chico,” she says without hesitation about the small hummingbird.

  “And Latin name?”

  Isabel frowns for a second then says, “Sephanoides sephanoides.”

  “Amazing as always,” Zed proclaims and gives Twizzle a look of knowing.

  “Endowed by the best,” Twizzle says.

  When the Isabel-Gi absorbed the twin-Gi and vacated the Isabel-body to kill the northern alien, it made a complete break with the Isabel avatar but left her perfectly intact to continue on as the small and pleasant little girl everyone knew. No longer housing the nearly eternal Gi, Isabel is left to age naturally, but that does not preclude her mental precociousness. She is for all intents and purposes, a normal little ten-year-old girl with certain unusually advanced aspects, one being her fascination with animals and the retention of their names.

  The hummingbird returns to hover in front of Zed for a moment, buzzes over to Isabel and then flies off.

  “Hello, and goodbye, Uncle Forbes,” Zed says dryly about the Forbes avatar that just buzzed the table.

  “There is talk of moving the champagne-making facilities down here from our Napa Valley winery.”

  “Orchid reserve?” Zed asks.

  Twizzle bows her head then looks beyond Zed to see latecomer Sofia walking towards them. Zed turns, sees Sofia and says, “Well, here comes sleeping beauty.”

  When she arrives, she bends down, plants a long steamy kiss on Zed’s lips and then gives the morning food a studied look. She pulls out the chair next to Zed, seats herself, gives greetings all around and starts to fill her plate up.

  “I’m famished,” she pronounces.

  “You have soccer practice today?” Zed asks.

  “Football, Zed. We don’t call it soccer in Chile.”

  “Right, right. Sorry.”

  “Apology accepted. And yes I have practice.” She gives Twizzle a glance and says, “You’re welcome to join us if you want, Twizzle.”

  Twizzle thanks her and declines. “Work calls, I’m afraid.”

  Isabel watches Sofia intently, fascinated by her silky raven hair, her sultry combination of full lips, flawless nose, full eyebrows, soft cheekbones and intelligent, but friendly eyes. Sofia meets Isabel’s gaze and smiles as she chews. An invisible understanding passes between them and Sofia gives her a quick wink.

  Isabel knows that Sofia feels Isabel’s residual power from when she served as an avatar to the Chilean Gi. It is an unspoken secret that only the two of them share, something that was realized only yesterday when they collided while playing soccer with the gang. When Isabel fell to the ground and Sofia took her in her arms to help her back up, it passed between the two of them, and both were shocked by the unexpected familiarity and shared secret. But Sofia quickly played it down and whispered, “No one needs to know. It will be just our secret.”

  From that moment on, Isabel has been intrigued with Sofia. Never has she had a friend who shared a secret like what Sofia and she share. Ángel had been close, but this is different. This is something that only the new Gi, (the union of the African Gi and the snake Gi) know. Now the three of them share the secret. Isabel knows that Sofia is more than just one of the Habladas Silencio. Isabel wonders what abilities Sofia might have beneath her simple athletic and fun-loving exterior. She can tell that Zed doesn’t see what she, Isabel, sees. In fact, she realizes that, of everyone around her, only she is aware of how special Sofia is. The two of them are on a different level than everyone else, she decides.

  But when Sister Mary joins the breakfast table, Isabel completely forgets about Sofia and becomes a planet that circles the sun that Sister Mary is for her. Just looking at Sister Mary transforms her into the loving daughter Sister Mary never had. She sees in Sister Mary the path to a wonderful new life filled with everything her former life didn’t have. She so wants to please Sister Mary in every way, to make her proud of her as an adopted daughter.

  What makes her devotion to Sister Mary easy is Sister Mary’s return devotion to her. When Sofia and Isabel collided on the soccer field yesterday, Sister Mary was quick to come running. Once she saw that Isabel was uninjured, she brushed Isabel off, urged her to get back into the game and then stood on the sidelines glowing with admiration and pride as Isabel dribbled the ball down the field to make a field goal. When Isabel heard the shouted “Bravo Isabel!” from the sidelines, she knew, without looking, it was Sister Mary, and it made the moment just that much more special for her.

  Sitting back in her chair, Isabel looks around at the people gathered for breakfast and knows that the future is going to be something entirely different than the past.

  If she were still that black yellow-eyed cat, she would be purring loud and strong.

  Purrrrrr.

  Chapter 44

  Day 10

  Santiago, Chile

  With the day’s activities ended, exhausted Isabel d
rifts off into blissful sleep.

  One-half hour later, Sister Mary lowers the book called Jerusalem Chamber that she’s been enjoying, and turns out the light next to her bed. She rolls off the mattress, goes to Isabel, gives her a soft kiss on the cheek and smiles warmly. Isabel doesn’t stir, she is so deep in sleep. Sister Mary returns to her bed, burrows under her blankets and nestles her head into her down pillow. In less than ten minutes she is slumbering.

  In an entirely different realm, Isabel stands below the tall statue of the Immaculate Conception looking out over the nighttime city of Santiago. A small snake is wrapped around her throat as if it were a piece of glittering lifelike jewelry. Its head lies flat and still against her trachea. Its tongue flicks out intermittently. Its small size belies the large presence that it is becoming as the new Gi for all of South America, as it watches over and protects the advancement of mankind’s destiny into space exploration.

  On one side of her stands Ángel, who looks off in the same direction. On the other side is Sofia, who looks down at her and smiles. Isabel smiles back then looks down below them at the scattered faces of the many people she had fused in panic. They all stare expectantly back at her. Her eyes travel from one face to``` the next, studying each of them with equal dispassion.

  “It is time,” she says in Spanish to them. She waves her arm at the young boys who trapped her on the rooftop, and they all disappear from below her. She waves at the three boys she fused into the red car and they too vanish. She waves at the many people killed from the street next to the ministry, and they evaporate also.

  Ángel makes a sound of approval and looks off towards the building top where the first set of boys disappeared.

  Sofia smiles and then points in the direction of the stadium.

  When Ángel and Sofia make sounds of assent, Isabel knows that she has just made things right. A feeling of great satisfaction fills her, and the corners of her mouth turn up. She closes her eyes and sees the first set of boys now on the rooftop from where they vanished. They are naked, confused and embarrassed as they look upon their bareness. She knows they will be all right.

  In the warehouse, she sees the three boys standing naked in the dark, only the small glow from a streetlight illuminating their bare bodies. They are also bewildered.

  In the stadium, nude people stand and gawk at each other, perplexed and with no knowledge of how they got there or where they have been. So it is for all the restored people. They have temporary amnesia that will slowly dissipate over time. They will return to their former lives, no wiser from their experience. The disappearance will just be a black hole for them to fill with their imagination. How they fill it is up to them. What matters is that they are returned unharmed to live on.

  She looks out over the horizon and feels the presence of no alien enemies in any direction–only mankind itself, which can be enemy enough sometimes, but tonight that is not her overriding concern. The part of her that is in touch with Gi knows there are greater things to worry about, greater creatures to be vigilant against, and greater events to prepare for. She and Ángel and Sofia and her new friends still have much work to do.

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