“Wow! You mean I’m going to see the person whose name I share?”
“Maybe. If she’s still around… and this is the place I think it is.”
“I bet it’s by the sea!” exclaimed Shaun. “There’s beach shorts here.”
“And another pair,” declared Bandi, “and a cool T-shirt.”
“Very summery,” said Jalli. “There are women’s shorts too! And a gorgeous top. And this pile is… definitely for you, Kakko.”
“Let me guess, Kakko, there are swimming things,” said Jack.
“How’d you know, Dad?”
“The briefest thing you will ever have worn in public. Am I right? At least you don’t have a massive bruise to show off.”
“Dad?”
“It’s alright Kakko. Dad’s reminiscing. I had a bruise when we first went to this place (if it’s where we think it is) and I wore my first bikini there.”
“Oh, right…” said Kakko a bit confused.
“Well let’s get on with changing then,” said Jalli, “then we will all write letters to whoever is expecting us tomorrow to say we’ve been summoned unexpectedly to somewhere else through a portal and we don’t know how long we’ll be away. And we’re very sorry to let people down. OK? Off you go!”
“Much more organised than we were when we found our first white gate,” observed Jack quietly. “We had had our first adventure, and our first kiss before we told anybody else about the gates.”
“Second,” said Jalli. Jack looked bemused.
“Second kiss,” explained Jalli. “We kissed twice in the garden before you saw me onto the bus in Wanulka. Do you remember?”
“Second kiss,” smiled Jack. “You were counting? How many is it to date?”
“One more than it was a moment ago,” said Jalli engaging him in lover’s kiss.
“Oh, sor-ry!” exclaimed Kakko reappearing at the door, “…but if you do choose to snog in the garden.”
“I don’t care where,” said her mother. “And, besides, it’s not snogging!”
“Sure looked like it to me!”
“OK,” laughed Jack. “We’re off to get ready!”
“That girl!” sighed Jalli. “That girl is quite…”
Jack took hold of his wife and declared, “I can’t concentrate. Come here.” And he collected Jalli into his gentle arms and kissed her again. “God bless our venture,” he murmured.
***
Twenty minutes later they were all dressed in their various clothes and were sitting at the table eating breakfast together. Matilda collected the various notes and surveyed the addresses. “OK, I’ll take the bus and get these to all the right people before the morning is out.”
“Let me go over to the college. I can manage that far,” said Momori.
“Sure?” asked Matilda.
“Quite sure. I can take it very steady.”
“Thanks Grandma,” said Jalli, and she put her arms around her. “I’ll miss you.”
“How long are you going for?”
“There’s no saying,” said Jack, “but I hope it’s not too long.”
“Will we be walking into a war or anything?” asked Shaun.
“Hope not!” replied his mother.
“You never know, do you?” wondered Bandi.
As well as the day-time clothes and the stuff for the beach, the cases contained formal evening wear – not too dressed up but still enough to impress Kakko who discovered a fetching dress.
“It looks like we’re going to a party rather than war,” she said somewhat allayed.
Soon they were all ready and they took their leave of the two ladies who watched as one by one the family melted through the hedge and were gone. Suddenly it was very quiet.
“That was an exciting hour,” said Matilda.
“Well, I don’t know about you but I’m ready to sit down to a cup of tea! And then I’ll wander off to the college. You know about fifty percent of the energy comes from Kakko. Bandi hardly says anything.”
“That bikini quietened her down a bit,” commented Matilda.
“For about twenty seconds. I’ve seen one like it before. Jalli brought one back with her from this place they’re talking about – nothing she ever wanted to wear in Wanulka. That was their first adventure to somewhere other than this garden you know.”
“You mean the place they decided they had better tell us what was going on.”
“Exactly. I wonder what they have to do as a family this time?”
5
As soon as they emerged into the new world, Jalli knew where she was. “Jack it is the place we were thinking of.”
“I know, it smells familiar.”
“And we’ve come out by the toilets again.”
“Yuk!” declared Kakko. “Wow, look at that ocean!”
“Glad we’ve got this stuff on,” said Shaun, “or we’d stand out like anything.”
“There, over there,” indicated Jalli, “it’s Pero’s restaurant. Gosh it’s changed. It’s still called ‘Pero’s Family Restaurant’ on the front, but beside it and above it is a massive hotel!”
In small letters at the top it bore a logo saying “Comfort Hotels” and underneath it, down the side of the twelve storey building large blue letters, designed to light up in the dark, spelled, “PERO’S FAMILY HOTEL”.
“Jack,” said Jalli, “Mr Pero must have turned his restaurant into a multi-storey hotel.”
“Cool,” said Bandi. “You know the owner of this hotel?”
“Yes, if he’s still around,” said his father.
“Can we go in?” asked Kakko. Jalli took Jack’s arm and they led their family past some outside tables into the restaurant. They took one of the larger tables and put their cases against the wall. The young people started looking at the menu while Jack and Jalli took in the surroundings. Inside the restaurant, things seemed to have changed little – only now there was a large glass door on the right that led into the lobby of the hotel.
“Wow, look at what they have!” exclaimed Bandi.
“You have just finished breakfast,” said his mother, “you can have a drink but leave the rest until lunchtime.”
“How come I can read this?” asked Bandi. “Do they use the same language as we do?”
“There’s some sort of translating going on,” explained his mother. “What we see and hear is what it all means, we don’t experience exactly what the locals see and hear.”
“You mean, like animals see the same thing but perceive it differently.”
“A bit like that, but not quite. These people are human. Like us they all owe their origins somewhere in the past to Earth One,” explained Jack.
A couple in their early forties sitting opposite started to stare in their direction and Jalli lowered her eyes.
Then, “Jalli, Jack?” called the woman. “Is it Jalli?”
Jalli looked up. “Kakko!” she exclaimed, pushing her chair back as Kakko came across the room. “And Tod! Whoa. It’s wonderful to see you.”
“What brings you here?”
“Same as last time,” said Jack reaching out and finding Tod’s arm. “It just seems to happen that way.”
“Have you come for Pero’s retirement party tomorrow?” asked Kakko.
“I g… guess so,” stammered Jack.
“What’s happening tomorrow exactly?” asked Jalli.
“There’s a reception in the hotel tomorrow afternoon, but Mr. Pero doesn’t know about it. It’s a surprise. He thinks the suite is booked for a wedding anniversary. So mum’s the word…”
“Sure thing,” said Jack, “shan’t say a word,” and, turning towards the young people, said meaningfully, “will we guys…”
Jack and Jalli introduced their children. Jalli’s friend was really delighted to discover they had named their eldest child after her. “You named her after me! That’s terrific. I’m so pleased to meet you, Kakko. Is she like me?” she asked Jalli.
“In some ways – ” Jalli began.
“No. I expect not,” broke in Kakko Smith. “I’m me. But I’m pleased to meet you.” She held out her hand and Kakko took it. Shaun and Bandi got to their feet and took Kakko’s and then Tod’s hands.
“So what’s with this?” Tod asked Jack. “This not being able to see. Is it temporary?”
“Oh. No,” replied Jack. “I’ve been blind for… well since about six months after we were last here. More than half my life now.”
“What happened? If you don’t mind me asking. Sorry, I shouldn’t pry…”
“No, no!” insisted Jack. “No. Just happened during one adventure. Bit of a shock at the time. It was a salutary reminder that I’m not indestructible. And anyway I am surrounded by a wonderful family so I don’t need to see.”
“He can read our thoughts,” contributed the younger Kakko. “You only have to think of doing something you shouldn’t – well, shouldn’t according to Mum and Dad – and he knows. And he’s got ears that can hear anything!”
“Yeah,” agreed Shaun. “He can hear round corners!”
“And smell,” sighed Kakko.
Jack laughed. “I don’t know what they actually look like these wonderful children of mine but I know if they haven’t washed! Anyway they’re getting rather grown up now.”
“They are about the age you were when you were last here.”
“That is true, eighteen, sixteen and fourteen.” Kakko screwed up her nose. What secrets would her parents reveal next? They all crowded around the large table and ordered coffee and croissants.
“OK, Kakko. I’m not going to say anything else. I’ll leave all the rest of your exploits up to you to tell,” said her father.
The older Kakko exclaimed, “You really do know what they’re thinking! Impressive. I wish we had children,” she sighed, “but it just didn’t happen. Still I’m really happy for you guys.”
“When did you marry?” asked Jalli.
“A couple of years after we met you. How about you?”
“About the same time. Jack and I were not actually together as boy and girl friend when we came here. We were just friends then. We had, kind of, just bumped into each other.”
“But it was kind of obvious you were… an item,” said the older Kakko.
“No. We weren’t at the time. We hadn’t known each other very long at all.”
“You could have fooled us!” said Tod. “You were clearly in love. We always thought of you as more than friends.”
“It was obvious,” concurred Kakko. “You were clearly meant to be together.”
“We hadn’t even shared a kiss when we were last here,” giggled Jalli.
“Your lips might not have, but your hearts had,” said Kakko. “I bet you kissed for the first time very soon after you left here.”
“Same day… er… twice, I’m told,” grinned Jack.
“There you go,” enthused Kakko, “and not long after that you were married…”
“Two years,” said Jack. “It looks as if you can read hearts like I’m supposed to read minds.”
“Well, I guess we could… in your case.”
Just at that moment Mr Pero appeared. “Well if it isn’t my friends Kakko and Tod,” he said coming over to them.
“Hey, Papa, you remember our friends Jack and Jalli?”
“It was a long time ago,” smiled Jalli, taking Mr Pero by the hand.
“Yes, I remember. You were here on the wonderful weekend. The weekend that started everything.”
“We were here when the place got wrecked!”
“Yes. That wonderful weekend when I met so many wonderful people. I remember you both. You are very, very welcome.”
The young people sat taking it all in; listening to what their parents had done twenty-plus years ago was both fascinating and amazing. They felt rather proud of their parents, something that doesn’t always come naturally to teenagers.
The conversation went on over several cups of coffee – which Mr Pero refused to allow them to pay for. He explained how things had developed in the last quarter of a century. At first his restaurant had grown so much in popularity that people were booking even midday meals up to a month in advance. When the shop next door became vacant, he had been tempted to expand but felt that that would alter the atmosphere too much. But then Comfort Hotels had approached him. They had a middle-of-the-market chain of hotels around the planet but none in this resort, which was now becoming more popular with the better-off clients. They did not want to buy him out. That was not the way they worked because they believed on building on the local ‘flavour’, as they put it. What they wanted was to go into partnership with Pero. They had wanted to buy the land out the back, which was at that time unoccupied, and the shop next door and build the hotel onto the restaurant. Mr Pero had driven a hard bargain.
“I told them I did not need them,” he explained, “which was true. If they wanted to build a hotel they could go somewhere else. I was doing OK as I was. But, if they were willing to let me buy the shop next door and the land out the back, I would go into partnership with them for thirty percent plus ground rent, so long as I had a controlling say on what happened on the ground floor. They were all too pleased to agree to that because they wanted to preserve the restaurant as it was,” declared Mr Pero. “Oh, and I insisted on the name too. ‘Pero’s Family Hotel’!” he said jocundly.
He went on to explain that that had happened twenty years ago. Now, however, the time had come to retire. Jack guessed he must be a rich man. Thirty-percent of the income plus ground rent of that vast hotel over twenty years must have added up to quite a lot.
“Where are you going to retire to?” asked Jalli.
“Oh. Nowhere. I still have my flat over there,” he indicated in the general direction behind the sea front. “It’s all I ever wanted. My wife died very soon after we were married, you see…”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” said Jack.
“No. Don’t be. I have the best family I could ever want!” he declared. “There is Kakko and Tod here, and all the others. Some of them have grandchildren now and they all call me Papa. I have been to many weddings and blessings for their children.”
“And he comes to our worship fellowship every week without fail and has met lots of people his own age too…” put in Tod.
“And they also called me Papa,” Mr Pero laughed.
“So you are retiring?” said Jack.
“Tomorrow is my last day. We are catering for a wedding anniversary. When that is done I shall hand over the keys and become a ‘sleeping partner’.”
“Whatever will you do with yourself?” asked Jalli.
“He’s going to work part-time in the street children’s centre,” explained Kakko. “Well, almost full-time really. So Papa’ll do very little sleeping!”
6
Pero checked the Smith family into the hotel with rooms on the top floor with a magnificent view across the beach and the ocean beyond. From that height they could make out an island that was not visible from down below. Bandi began explaining about angles and how it was possible to calculate the distance of the horizon using trigonometry, and from that, come to some conclusion about the radius of the planet. Kakko wondered if there were boat trips to the island.
“But Kakko,” sighed her mother, “you haven’t even explored a square metre of this part of the new world yet!”
The rest of the morning was taken up with enjoying the sea and sand, and then stuffing themselves with the local shellfish and sweet iced treats sold from cabins under the palm-like trees. In the afternoon, Tod and Kakko had organised for them to meet up with some members of the fellowship. It was wonderful to meet the group again twenty-two years on with teenagers of their own. Kakko, Shaun and Bandi were quickly absorbed into the group, grateful for the clothes and swim-wear supplied beside the white gate. They explained how it worked, but the local young people found it hard to grasp.
“You mean you just appear out of nowhere. Poof!”
> “No. Not out of nowhere. We just stepped through from one place to another like entering into another room. Only those who are called can do it. Only those meant to pass through can see the gates.”
“So you could just come here and go whenever you liked?”
“No. Only when the gate is there.”
“Could you decide to walk through, nick a million diamonds and disappear? The police wouldn’t ever be able to catch you!” said a young lad.
Shaun laughed. “You get me the million diamonds and I’ll try it!”
“It wouldn’t work,” said Kakko crossly. “If you tried to do that I bet the gate would just vanish and you would be stuck here to face the music.”
“I was only joking, sis!” said Shaun. “Oh, my sister can take things so seriously,” he laughed.
“So was I,” said the lad a little troubled, “joking, I mean!”
“Of course! Who wants a million diamonds anyway when you’ve got lots of good friends like you have… got a ball?”
“Sure.”
“Know how to play football?”
It didn’t take long for Shaun and Kakko to organise all the young people into playing football. Shaun captained one side and Kakko the other.
“The only rules are that you can’t touch the ball with your hands or arms or deliberately push and trip your opponent. That’s a ‘foul’,” said Shaun. And then pushed Kakko over to demonstrate. “See, she’s not happy! And retaliation is an even worse foul,” he added as Kakko got up with a threatening face. “You’ll get sent off for that!” The teenagers laughed and, just in time, Kakko pretended she was acting.
“Whoops,” said Jalli watching from the top of the sand.
“What?” asked Jack.
“No… It’s OK. For a moment I thought Kakko was going to attack Shaun but, thankfully, she’s thought better of it.”
Just then a large, flashy, open-topped car parked up and a couple of boys and a girl pulled themselves out of it. The car caught Jalli’s eye. It was designed to make a statement. Its occupants couldn’t have been much above eighteen and Jalli thought the car was a bit posh for young people. They wore little more than the other kids, but somehow she could tell it was expensive kit, and the girl had a bag that looked really special, probably a designer brand, that seemed rather too grand for a beach. They glided down the sand and spread large brightly coloured towels. In Wanulka, thought Jalli, they would have been the type to have had a private beach somewhere. They looked a bit out of place here. She couldn’t imagine them joining in the football. The game, however, seemed to fascinate them, and after Shaun called for time out they sauntered over to Kakko and Shaun’s friends.
Ultimate Justice Page 4